BEST OF TAS

[TheLonelySquire]

Guys,

I don't know if this has been asked before, but for those that have TAS, how would you rank your top 5? And are there any sleepers in there (good ones that fly under the radar)?

I'm just nuts about Trek. Last Sunday I was cleaning the man cave and my wife heard me watching TAS cartoons. She thinks I'm about 10 y/o. lol.

Thanks.

 

[Kagan]

TheLonelySquire said:
Last Sunday I was cleaning the man cave and my wife heard me watching TAS cartoons. She thinks I'm about 10 y/o. lol.

Your wife can join mine. I'm in the same boat with you; except mine thinks that I'm 7.

We have done this before, but give me a chance to think about them for an hour before I post my favorites.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

"Yesteryear" of course would be my top choice, it gives great insight into Spock's past.

As for the rest, I'm not too sure. I have the box set but I've never sat down to watch the whole thing.

"The Slaver Weapon" is a bit more general Trek history and gives others a chance to shine in the absence of Kirk. One of the more interesting aliens of the week too.

"The Ambergris Element" I'd rate higher than other TAS episodes for no better reason than having Kirk and Spock swim around as fish

"The Terratin Incident" is a bit of technobabble of the week, but gives us a whole new view of the ship and is notable for that reason.

The others, I'm not too sure about. "Bem" perhaps and "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" and "The Counter-Clock Incident". I'd have to sit down and watch some more to be sure.

 

[Kagan]

I would imagine that most would universally place Beyond the Farthest Star and Yesterday as the best of TAS, and I would agree. So let me give my four best of the rest.

1) The Survivor - This included the first Trek alien that could not have been done in 1960's live action. Romulans are in the shadows.

2) The Time Trap - Again, '60s art and makeup departments would have been taxed by this episode. All Trek races and numerous starships. Great story idea...a pocket universe with time in neutral.

3) The Ambergris Element - Again, it was improbable for live action '60s. Kirk and Spock together in danger was a common theme from mid-second season onward. However, the whole water world setting gave this story a little more intensity.

4) The Eye of the Beholder - I really wish that this show had been 50 minutes long with another twist or two, but overall a great "first contact" concept story.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
With a little more development The Lorelei Signal could have been a great Uhura story, but alas the episode as shown wasn't about her. Jihad also didn't have enough time dedicated to pulling it off properly. Finally, I liked Mudd's Passion more than I, Mudd...it's sad that Stephen Kandel wrote them out of order IMO.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

1) Yesteryear - a good look at Spock's past and a rare instance where Spock admits to young Spock that Vulcans do have emotions rather than trying to deny their existence like he did in the past (e.g. Dagger of the Mind )

2) Albatross - a good look at an incident in McCoy's past 19 years ago. A rather paint-by-numbers plot but it does give a clever insight of McCoy, an outstanding Starfleet physician, expressing some self-doubt about his competence during his earlier years. Loved the weird looking and sounding Dramians.

3) The Pirates of Orion - another straightforward plot but I like it because of the interaction of the Big Three again. Kirk and McCoy overprotecting Spock, who thinks he's invincible. McCoy expressing his distrust of technology and its limitation over the past 25 years of being a doctor. Was this a coincidental foreshadowing of The Final Frontier where McCoy's distrust of technology stemmed from its inability to save his father before he died??

4) The Slaver Weapon - a change of pace story featuring Spock, Uhura and Sulu as the only regular charcaters appearing. Interesting to see Larry Niven's work as adapted for Trek. Curious, that the Kzinti having fought mankind on numerous occasions is still a footnote in history of the series.

5) The Jihad - A space opera for sure but the bickering of the aliens joining Kirk and Spock on the expedition make it interesting from the usual technobabble on the ship. The mad planet once appeared really hokey but not so much after seeing the failed Genesis Planet of the movies.

 

[Basill]

I have to agree with Kagen. Beyond The Farthest Star and Yesteryear are my two absolute favorites. Most of the other mentions by The Squire of Gothos and Kagen are also quite good (though I have never seen Lorelei Signal or Ambergris Incident. I do like Bem, but probably only because it was the first TAS episode I ever saw. It really reads like an episode of Gilligan's Island for me these days.

Another I am particularly fond of is [/i]Albatross.[/i] I think I like it because the aliens are particularly unique and, though the plot is superficially similar to TOS's Court Martial, it really goes beyond the standard threat of the week and shows what was essentially a planet wide catastrophe. Pretty heavy stuff for a kid's cartoon.

And although I don't care for giant Vulcans, I was rather taken by the Asparagus people of The Infinite Vulcan.

 

[Mallory]

One that I liked that no one else has mention is One of Our Planets is Missing. Yeah, it's pretty much ripped off from The Immunity Syndrome but I still liked it.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

The Squire of Gothos said:
"Yesteryear" of course would be my top choice, it gives great insight into Spock's past.

As for the rest, I'm not too sure. I have the box set but I've never sat down to watch the whole thing.

"The Slaver Weapon" is a bit more general Trek history and gives others a chance to shine in the absence of Kirk. One of the more interesting aliens of the week too.

"The Ambergris Element" I'd rate higher than other TAS episodes for no better reason than having Kirk and Spock swim around as fish

"The Terratin Incident" is a bit of technobabble of the week, but gives us a whole new view of the ship and is notable for that reason.

The others, I'm not too sure about. "Bem" perhaps and "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" and "The Counter-Clock Incident". I'd have to sit down and watch some more to be sure.

Thanks Squire, I appreciate the input!

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Thanks to all of you guys. Good, good stuff! I've seen many of these and actually I've seen all of them 35 years ago.

Let me ask you guys, had you seen them since their original airing in syndication or no? It's not like TOS, where it's been all over tv for 40 years.

 

[TheLonelySquire]

Mallory said:
One that I liked that no one else has mention is One of Our Planets is Missing. Yeah, it's pretty much ripped off from The Immunity Syndrome but I still liked it.

Watched it last Sunday. Fantastic!

 

[Mallory]

TheLonelySquire said:
Let me ask you guys, had you seen them since their original airing in syndication or no? It's not like TOS, where it's been all over tv for 40 years.

The last time I saw these was on TV. I think it was the late 80's or early 90's and I believe they were on Nickelodean.

 

[MANT!]

Last time I saw TAS was back during it's first run...but the memories...the memories..

 

[Supervisor 194]

"Yesteryear"
"Beyond the Farthest Star"
"One of our Planets is Missing"
"Time Trap"
"Eye of the Beholder"

I was so excited when I got this set! New Trek (to me at least) with the original cast!

My wife was less than thrilled BUT after seeing some of these, she felt they were better than many live action episodes.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

Yeah, they've been in syndication after the original network run. Ch. 32 WFLD in Chicago used to strip them 5-days a week on numerous occasions in the late '70s. They happened again for a really brief run on Ch. 60 WPWR in Chicago around '85. Plus the aforementioned Nickelodeon run.

 

[TigerOfDarkness]

I must agree with Superviser 194, it is great to have additional stories with the original cast voices. A number of the scripts would have looked good in a fourth seaso of TOS.

My Top Five (maybe - the good-to-bad ratio is surprisingly high and I tend to change my mind a lot over the last two...):

Beyond The Farthest Star
Albatross
Pirates Of Orion
Time Trap
Yesteryear

Honourable mentions to: Lorlei Signal and Practical Joker - both fine (IMHO) examples of TOS' camp/lighter side.

I also agree with the poster who favours "Mudd's Passion" over "I Mudd" - the bit with the rock monsters is one of the most memorable (if silly) bits in the series.

Arex and M'Ress are also good additions to the cast - shame they didn't get more to do.

 

[Smiley]

"Eye of the Beholder" and "Yesteryear" are the standouts in my mind from watching the DVDs last year.

 

[Therin of Andor]

"Yesteryear", of course. Possibly also the first ST episode I ever saw? (Thelin returns for more action in the recent novel "Crucible: Spock" by David R George III.)

"The Counter-clock Incident" - silly premise but I loved the characters of Robert and Sarah April.

"Bem" - the background jungle colours on the DVD are amazing! But I was quite enthralled by this episode's ideas in the 70s, when I saw it in b/w.

"The Practical Joker" is an odd one, more miss than hit, but I loved the scene between Arex and M'Ress in the mess hall. Had the episode been TOS length, we'd have seen a cute scene here between them where we learn a bit about their backgrounds.

"The Terratin Incident" remains very strong in my memory from the 70s, but so do "The Eye of the Beholder", "The Jihad", "Albatross" and "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth".

It was great seeing these shows in first-run on Saturday mornings in glorious b/w (even "Albatross" where everyone turned various shades of grey when the Auroral Plague hit), then in repeat on midweek breakfast television in colour in 1976, and back to Saturday mornings in about 1990. But finally owning all 22 eps on DVD is amazing.

The novelized adaptations ("Star Trek Logs") were reprinted in new collections recently, with Alan Dean Foster's new introduction serialized across the five volumes.

 

[TigerOfDarkness]

I love that scene with M'Ress and Arex in The Practical Joker as well - I was convinced it was longer until I saw the DVD. I must have been remembering the version in Alan Dean Foster's Log book.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I read some Foster adaptations first, and saw actual episodes of other scripts first.

What really threw me, when watching repeats of TAS, were the Tuttle & Bailey collectible TAS cels that used to be promoted in a little coloured postcard bound into the reprint editions of the Blish books. The one for "The Jihad" was called "Composite of aliens", and had M'Ress standing in for Lara, caught up by Tchar, with Arex standing in for Kirk. I was a bit disappointed watching the episode, because I really thought Arex and M'Ress were finally getting the limelight, even though the cel didn't seem to reflect the Foster adaptation either.

The long-defunct Japanese Starlog carried a second batch of TAS cels, including another "composite of aliens", this time from with kzinti Chuft-Captain of "The Slaver Weapon". The weapon must be set to "watermelon power".

 

[DumbDumb2007]

The episoide with Spock going back in time and the episode with the crew against backwards were the two best stories.