Star Trek: TAS (The Animated Series). 22 Episode Reviews.

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

Beyond The Farthest Star

On the fringe of the galaxy, the Enterprise encounters an old derelict but advanced alien ship of incredible size, and it's been there for 300 million years. The alien crew, long dead, seems to have scuttled their ship – but why? It's not long before they discover they are not alone – something has survived there all this time – something nasty, but this time it sets its sights on Enterprise.

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Apart from the blurb I'll write, like above, I don't really intend to recap the stories here - just comment on them, like you're familiar with them having seen them before or you're going to watch along, so you already know. But I'll also include a transcript link at the end.

As we get into TAS, it's important to remember how old they are – from the early 70's, and without benefit of modern remastering or current computer animation techniques, and due to low budget, how often we will be subjected to stock footage and music that, quite frankly, will never be as good as from TOS. But even apart from that, my personal belief is they just didn't care enough since the audience was not prime time viewing adults, but Saturday morning children, and back then some adults even felt TOS was a kid's show. So whatever they had to do was . . . "good enough."

TAS is an odd mix of more badly used or misused science in places – like whoever wrote that didn't have a clue, or whoever edited it and changed it didn't – and some good stuff, too, like it may have been from another source or writer, or from a left over script. It's far more inconsistent that way, and we will be subjected more often to gobbledygook and gibberish than jargon in TAS than in TOS, as if in some people's minds they are interchangeable. They're not.

That said, I think TAS is worth watching for a Star Trek fan, but I'm not sure I'd direct a newbie there for an introduction to the Trek universe – not even kids. They can watch it later after TOS, if they decide they're a fan of TOS.

So, this episode is still within the galaxy, and WTF the farthest star is, who can say? Probably it's just on the edge of known Federation space and they haven't gone farther yet – not that they can't.

I get the impression from this story that it, and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, were drawing from the same source or idea, rather than V simply reusing some ideas – a lonely god-like entity, and that it needed a starship to escape its prison, and why it wanted to go to the center of the galaxy where the other one was, it all seemed . . . familiar.

Anyway, some great ideas, too, and the fact they could easily do things in animation they couldn't do in real life shows – like force field belts instead of space suits and a totally alien navigator, Arex, to name a couple.

You know it, man. Left or right or center, I'm always here to give you a hand.

These belts are really handy. Why the hell haven't we been using them before now?

Or even a massive ship miles long.

I liked the story, but I hated unexplained things like negative mass, or the ability to use a sling shot effect from a low orbit but why not before when they had more momentum on the way in?

And I normally won't bother with outright mistakes - mutual control (manual control) or even Scotty having captain's stripes in one scene.

Tough ship, that alien insect-like construct, but without shields, phasers totally destroyed it – too easily, in fact. And I'm not sure why the alien wanted to – just grew to hate it, I guess.

And radio signals from an incredibly advanced ship – not subspace FTL signals at all.

Well, nitpicks will abound in TAS.

Still, this was a good start for TAS. I guess I'll give this a 7 out of 10 – after adding points for new things and subtracting points for nonsense – it comes out about there and it was overall mostly fine. But I admit I'm being generous and judging this from a fan's POV and not a newbie's, who might find it almost unwatchable, or at least, might feel they could find better, newer stuff to watch that they would like better.

Beyond The Farthest Star Transcript:
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS004.htm

Play along, if you'd like - comments welcome. :ohyes:

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

Yesteryear

After using the Guardian of Forever for historical research, the returning time travels discover nobody remembers Mr. Spock, and an Andorian first officer is even in his place. They quickly surmise when others were examining Vulcan's past, an event occurred that changed Spock's family history – he apparently died at the age of 7. Spock remembers his cousin saved his life, and Kirk realizes his cousin was Spock's future self. Now Spock has to venture into the past again to see if he can cause time to resume its former shape, or die trying.

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Jeff · 05 Oct 2006

I recently finished a podcast about the animated series. Actually it's about all Trek from start to finish, but I'm up to the animated series. Anyway, they actually did try to get Bart La Rue to come back and reprise his role as the Guardian of Forever in this one, but he wasn't available, so James Doohan did it (and almost every other male guest role). The reason for the excessive voice work of the main cast actors is if they did 4 voices, they got paid double salary, which was presumably still cheaper than hiring 3 or 4 actors to come in for an episode.

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

Doohan actually does a fairly decent job in most cases, at least insofar as he doesn't sound the same every time - but if he decided to make the Guardian of Forever sound like a badly done scary halloween ghost, it was a poor decision, IMO. It sucked.

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

One Of Our Planets Is Missing

An enormous, gaseous cosmic cloud is about to devour a highly populated planet. Can the Enterprise and her crew stop it, or will they merely become an appetizer? Worse, it may be an intelligent creature, so do they have the right to kill it? Even if they do, the only way to generate the blast necessary to stop it is to destroy the ship. Has Captain Kirk finally found a no-win situation?

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Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

The Lorelai Signal

A subspace siren's call lures the men of the Enterprise to a mysterious planet where the females first enchant, then ensnare the men to drain their life energies. Thankfully, Uhura takes command of the ship, and backed up by an all female security team, she proves she can kick ass as well as the men. But Kirk, Spock, and McCoy and the landing party of men have been drained, unnaturally aged, and are on the verge of senility. Was she too late?

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I concur with you, Uhura. Men are stupid. I mean, they're acting more stupid than usual.

I'm just going to say I didn't like this episode very much. They saw the problem, but walked right in on it anyway. And though it was great Uhura took command, she didn't really do the job necessary until Spock ordered her, or told her how and what to do. And worse, they did something pretty unforgivable at the end – their solution to their aging problem – use the transporter to go back to the way they were before. Oh, but keep the memories. And don't forget, when we really get old, this won't work – for some reason. Ugh.

Also, though old and decrepit and barely able to talk, suddenly when he's barking orders at a woman, he was back to a normal, steady, strong and commanding voice. WTF?

Anyway, though they should have known better, they sent an all male landing party down to see what was going on.

Hello, Boys. We love you, you know that, right?

McCoy can't tell the difference between the effects of brandy and having his life energy drained? They eventually escape and hide in an urn, but despite having a device that answers all questions, the women don't ask where the men are hiding. Duh!

Kirk and the boys did try to take off the headbands – several times, but each time they couldn't seem to do it. Maybe it caused pain or they felt compelled to stop, or maybe Chapel used some medical tool to help, but they did try – they just couldn't get it done.

I had to laugh my ass off at the incredibly slow speed the Enterprise moves across the screen in orbit while Scotty sings his Welsh ballad. Luckily, Uhura can only take so much.

Goodness, Spock can hit those high notes. So he gets his communicator and decrepitly tells the female officer what to do, despite the fact she should have already done it on her own initiative if they really wanted to show a woman could do that job as well as a man. Missed the boat there, IMO.

Put together an all female security team, and make sure they're all hot. We don't know what we'll be up against.

Damn, they're cute. And those freckles – adorbs.

And so they kick a little ass, which seems surprising to the women – maybe they never met any sizable female contingent from a starship before. Luckily, Starfleet command isn't as sexist as most of the galaxy – or something.

Then, almost painfully, the history is dragged out in a clunky manner of exposition.

But we did note she cried, so they didn't like what they had to do to survive and she felt bad about it, and again the Federation isn't in the business of punishing people. In a way, they were victims, too. True, they killed to survive and had been killing a lot of people every 23 years (or whatever it was – damn stupid Spock's got a handle on events to the nearest minute again when it was based upon hearsay and vague reports. I hate that). But wow, 20 light years away is a long ass way to send such a message. There is some impressive technology there – just not enough to get off the planet or take any of the ships after draining the crews of their life force. Really?

I know many want a different form of justice and dislike it when the Feds turn around and help out such a pack of murdering people, but ultimately, taking away their ability to lure men in and dumping them on a planet where they will finally die is enough – killing them or locking them up wouldn't bring anybody back from the dead, and they aren't able to do it again, so it seems enough.

But for stupid stuff, I'd give it a 3, but with Uhura stepping up, and the all woman hot security team, I'll go as high as 4 out of 10. But using the transporter that way? Ughh. I say again, Ughh. It's lucky I'll go as high as a 4 after using that trick.

The Lorelai Signal Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS006.htm

Jeff · 05 Oct 2006

You're going to be disappointed several times in TAS with the transporter abuse, in case you haven't seen these before.

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

I have, but I don't recall right off hand what they did, so I'm sure it'll bother me again when I get to it. Just don't ruin the suspense. :lol:

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

More Tribbles, More Troubles

While transporting grain vital to Sherman's planet, the Enterprise encounters a Klingon ship in hot pursuit of a small scout craft. Who are the Klingons chasing and firing upon in Federation space? Why, it's our old friend, Cyrano Jones, and he's not alone. It wouldn't normally be a huge problem when the Enterprise is on the scene, but the Klingons have a new weapon that might change the balance of power and force captain Kirk to surrender the space trader, Jones. Jones might even deserve it, but he is a Federation citizen, and like it or not, captain Kirk has to save Jones and keep him out of Klingon hands, regardless of what he's done.

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There might be thousands of tribbles in the one shot alone, stacked up like that. :think:

I have never thought as highly of the original TOS: The Trouble With Tribbles episode as many others have. Clearly, it was played for laughs and wasn't as serious a story as most. And this second installment, TAS: More Tribbles, More Troubles, didn't help improve my point of view.

I must confess, though, the excursion of the DS9 crew in Trials and Tribble-ations was fantastic, and vastly improved my whole appreciation for the earlier pair just for that. And they are funny episodes.

Besides, where else can we see Dax dressed in the TOS mini skirt? :bulging:

But by itself, More Tribbles, More Troubles just annoyed me a great deal. Not only did they beam through Cyrano's shields, they beamed through their own. And while the transporter didn't work in the static field in the opening, it worked just fine at the end when they beamed tribbles and then the glommer over to the Klingon ship.

Giant tribbles, too, and Scotty had zero trouble gathering them up, getting them into the transporter, and transporting them by the ship load in practically no time – unlike Kirk who can't seem to handle one giant tribble on the bridge. For the Scotsman, at least, more tribbles, no trouble. No trouble at all. But then, he is a miracle worker. :roll:

The very idea they would allow any tribbles to range freely on a starship seems impossibly stupid to me, given what they know, and yet they do. And how they get everywhere on the ship, or are given access to any food at all is incredibly stupid. Granted, once battle throws open some of the grain shipment they can freely gorge themselves, but how is one little tribble on the bridge doing that up there where there is no food?

Don't ask serious questions about this episode since it's not meant to be a serious story. At least the enforced Organian peace treaty seems to have vanished, and captain Koloth doesn't mind potentially starting an interstellar war. Really? Otherwise, the Klingons, who typically travel in packs of 3 just to match the power of one Constitution Class starship, would have an impossibly effective weapon, while one Klingon ship totally immobilized a Federation starship (or two or three) and the two other D7s could sliced it or them up in short order. And they call that ineffective? One-on-one, yeah, but there's no reason to think they would use it that way. Short sighted nitwits. I hate that. And, of course, we'll never see it again, despite how effective it could be in various applications.

And so the Klingons are so desperate to get this glommer back that they fired on Jone's ship and destroyed it. Huh? How did they intend to get the glommer back then? What was their plan? What morons. At least that tiny scout ship took dozens of hits from a warship and withstood the pounding like a full powered starship for quite a while. What? Huh?

My plan for Kirk to prevent me from destroying our main objective worked perfectly. That tinplated fool.

McCoy, too, despite examining the altered tribbles seems to have missed how dangerous they still were, but it's good for laughs later that he did, eh? Otherwise they would have kept them all in the brig or isolated in some room with no vents.

And quintrotriticale is so much more impressive than quadrotriticale, because, you know. My, how quickly genetic research occurs in the Federation.

Yeah, but it's, like, one more.

At least I'll give a good nod to the first new ship in the franchise for some time - and it'll be reused - and it's a nice looking ship.

And it's true, where is the wonderfully excited and bad reaction the tribbles have toward klingons? I was at least mildly amused when the klingon officer referred to multiple tribbles as "tribble," like a singular substance. The engine room is filled with tribble – not, the engine room is filled with tribbles.

And Cyrano changed the pronunciation of spican flame gems (spike-on to spic-en) – I just hate that – even the same actor who just had that line a few years earlier can't recall how they said it before and doesn't consistently read it the same way, either. It's weird. More to the point, it draws my focus – sure, a little annoyance, but it shouldn't happen at all.

I didn't mind the color change to the tribbles, or their uniformity, either, and sympathize with the animator's colorblindness (I've got the same red and green deficiency, so pink didn't seem an unusual color for tribbles to me at all).

And I didn't mind doctor Phlox had one, either. Even the fact he fed it to a lizard or something, despite it being hard to acquire, is not really surprising since he must be breading them and feeding just some of them to his other critters, keeping back one or so to make more and turn grain, or something, into meat for others. But he's keeping a much tighter control on them, obviously, since good doctors don't tend to let their specimens roam freely about the ship.

But ultimately, More Tribbles, More Troubles is an even less serious story than the original, and it's derivative, and too much crap is tossed in to make "things" work just for laughs. 4 out of 10, tops, in my book. More like 3 out of 10.

More Tribbles, More Troubles Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS001.htm

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

The Survivor

Incredibly, a famous philanthropist known throughout Federation space - and who has been missing for five years - turns up on a wrecked ship and is recued by the Enterprise. Even luckier, his fiancé is currently serving aboard the starship. But something's not quite right. Next thing you know, captain Kirk has ordered his ship into the Romulan neutral zone in clear violation of treaty, apparently on the word of this philanthropist who said lives were at stake. But then, oddly, captain Kirk doesn't recall giving those orders, and now the Enterprise is deep in the neutral zone facing two enemy Romulan warships and Kirk is being ordered to surrender his vessel.

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This episode was a little fun, and I like the general idea, but I think the execution was . . . cartoonish? Yeah, I know – it is a cartoon.

It's hard to show such a range of deep emotions, but we go with it.

I guess I never like it when McCoy is relegated to being the dope and saying or doing something stupid just to make the story work or move along. Why is it impossible for a missing man to be found? How is it you aren't the first to notice there's a whole extra examination table in your sickbay? Why are you so quick to dismiss what your instruments are telling you?

I'm not happy with other things, too, like when Spock just surmises an alien who can turn into a table is just as capable of turning into a shield and taking fire, no problem. It's a hell of a reach, unless Vendorians are immune to weapon's fire (but not acid). Or was he just mimicking some control parts he sabotaged, despite what Spock concluded?

And wow, the Enterprise, despite being sabotaged, fairly easily beat two Romulans – though they are still using that cheap Klingon design. It just seemed a little too easy. I would have to think the Romulans knew if they had to put up a real fight, certain things would come out, but if the Enterprise surrendered, no one would care enough to check the details. Since they didn't surrender, it was better to cut their losses.

And Carter seemed a little late to change his mind, too, for if he were that much of Carter Winston, you'd think he wouldn't have accepted such a job at all. Maybe only the presence of "his" fiancé made him care enough – so . . . her presence was vital to saving the ship and she wasn't just an inept security guard uselessly taking up space.

While I like the idea Anne could see beyond looks or was in love with an essence of the man who remained, the fact is she seemed a little too willing to forget Winston and move on with a cheap knock off. Maybe she was mostly over him after 5 years, but not enough to do her job effectively. I guess whatever feelings she had needed sorting out, and while she wasn't the best choice to guard the guy, if he needed guarding, I think it was O.K. since captain Kirk decided he didn't really need to be guarded that closely, considering he just saved the ship. And they got away, so no harm, no foul.

I'm not sure that was legal, or just saying "Unh-uh" would be that convincing a counter argument in court, but I'm not sure I'm getting a good feel for this formal treaty that legally gives the Romulans the right to take the Enterprise. Or why since they're in the neutral zone, too, they aren't in violation as well.

That small ship seems bigger than it must be, but we can't resort to saying the imaging screen magnified it when it's shown next to the Enterprise. But it was later inside a cargo hold, so it has to be relatively small.

The first appearance of M'Ress is O.K., though, again, having Majel do so many voices, all of which pretty much sound the same, is not a good idea.

But I still like the character.

You dirty skunk. By the 23rd century, it's pretty clear to most species that no means no.

I'd give this episode a 6 out of 10 – not too horrible, but nothing to raise it much above an average episode. A little, but not a lot.

The Survivor Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS005.htm

Brotoro · 12 Apr 2008

They had good voice acting for a Saturday morning cartoon.

Jeff · 05 Oct 2006

I love how McCoy is just "oh, I'm sure it's him and he's fine" about the guy, without any actual medical diagnosis or checks.

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

The doc's been slack, but when he isn't, there isn't much of a story.

It was weird the way he went from NO WAY to OF COURSE IT'S HIM in nothing flat.

That meddlin kid · 26 Mar 2007

I was very young when this series ran and have few memories of it. Just some scattered images and bits of dialog. I barely recall the Klingons' hopelessly overmatched tribble predator, and the line about the engine room being filled by singular tribble. I don't recall what the Guardian sounded like in "Yesteryear," but I do remember that the kids' voices were the same batch that Filmation used in all of their cartoons around that time--and that those voices usually grated on my ears. And the show featured Filmation's typically threadbare sound effects and music.

It's unfortunate that "Star Trek" couldn't have had a better animated series than it got. But 1970s TV animation just wasn't up to the job.

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

The TAS Guardian of forever sounded like they were trying to be a spooky ghost, like from a haunted house. Ooo Ooo Ooo Ooo. It was horrid.

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

The Infinite Vulcan

On a world of mobile plants, some of which are intelligent, Spock is abducted for mysterious reasons. After fighting their way past flying bat-plants to recover Spock, they find him on the verge of death. One Spock, anyway. But there is another Spock there, too, and he's a BIG surprise.

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Shades of the TOS episode, Spock's Brain are all over this one, and that's not exactly a ringing endorsement for anything good. But there are differences beyond needing Spock to fulfill some long-term need for an alien race, and the real Spock needing to die as a result of that. Here, he's to become a template for a protector class of giant Vulcans to become an army for a galactic peacekeeping force – perhaps to go forth in infinite numbers, or for all time. Of course needing to destroy the original to make a copy seems to contradict that. Ummm, and how is being 50 feet tall going to make that easier? It would make most things far harder, IMO.

Well, the science is dubious everywhere you look, but what do kids know? Walls 50 times denser than lead, because, you know, things are. Communications that work just by dumping extra power into them. Good thing Uhura explains it to Mr. Scott at length, and quite forcefully, too, since, you know, Scotty's pretty stupid when it comes to stuff like that. Weapon deactivators or shields that work so effortlessly even on the ship's phasers, though it's not the first time for such almost god-like abilities to be used. And they have medical science leaps and bounds beyond the Federation's, though they can't handle a simple bacterial infection like some stupid Martian invaders. But at least it works quicker than anything the Federation has (except great granddaddy's weed killer).

I like they point out the translator the plants are using – though the universal translator they must be using always seemed far more efficient and unseen, so why Spock is impressed with it seems weird.

Again, Dr. McCoy seems to play the fool, instantly dismissing an intelligent alien as a "thing" or a "whatever" instead of a "whomever" kind of moment, in a human centric kind of bigotry or something. Sulu is dying and I can't save him, but I won't let you try, you thing.

So he's more like Nigel Bruce's Dr. Watson that way, showing the fool's POV, or a normal person's reaction, before smarter or more enlightened people step in and get it right.

You'll have to forgive Dr. Watson, for though he's loyal to a fault, he understands very little.

Thank you, Holmes.

Later, McCoy's down home charming tale of his granddaddy's garden doesn't impress me, and IMO he's quite lucky it would work at all, let alone practically instantly since most weed killers I know take a long ass time to work – hours or days or more, and not seconds - and they're specifically formulated to kill those exact weeds and not some alien, never before tested creature. But they aren't normal creatures, are they?

♫ Bat Plant. Nana Nana Nana Nana, Bat Plant. ♪

And while I always like a good callback, and the Eugenics wars is fine for that, I'm not sure somebody (or their giant clone) from 250 years past could realistically be this deep in space, at the periphery of the galaxy, or would know anything about Romulans, Klingons, or Kzinti and how things have been lately in the galaxy (well, maybe that last one) since he's been out of touch too long.

The actions of Keniclius do not reflect a man of intellect, and his loss of purpose at the end seems to throw him for a loop far too easily. Perhaps he's not that good a copy. But then his belief in a master race is a pretty dim witted form of bigotry or racism, so that's not a good sign of intelligence, regardless. And the reason he needed Spock for all this just seemed foolish. I felt maybe Keniclius dressed that way to save on material for such a big guy, but they did make a huge Starfleet uniform for giganto Spock, despite it probably being totally inappropriate for his intended purpose.

And they are going to control the entire galaxy, too. They simply do not have the resources or the ability to reach that far, so it's a stupid plan. And he's had that plan for over 250 years, before we even had proof of intelligent life somewhere other than Earth. It makes little sense.

Didn't they take Spock out of that glass box already and have him on the floor – before Keniclius smashed the box?

Vulcan mind "touch?" Meld not good enough for you guys any more?

Quite frankly, I thought Walter Koenig did a bad job and it might be his best creative work for a Trek script, too. Some were just kinder on it since it was from a Star Trek alumni. Well, opinions vary.

But there are fun moments, like Sulu's inscrutability, Spock-on-Spock action with a twist on the self congratulatory manner, Uhura's commanding attitude, intelligent plant life, and a civilization that may have been beyond Federation science. Too bad there was too much nonsense thrown in and a derivative sense of borrowing too heavily from old ideas in other Trek episodes. I gave this a 3.5 out of 10. I've never cared for it.

I'm touched.

The Infinite Vulcan Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS002.htm

That meddlin kid · 26 Mar 2007

Jilerb wrote:

One Of Our Planets Is Missing

An enormous, gaseous cosmic cloud is about to devour a highly populated planet. Can the Enterprise and her crew stop it, or will they merely become an appetizer? Worse, it may be an intelligent creature, so do they have the right to kill it? Even if they do, the only way to generate the blast necessary to stop it is to destroy the ship. Has Captain Kirk finally found a no-win situation?

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It's not MISSING, it's just been demoted to a "dwarf planet."

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

The Magicks of Megus-Tu

On a mission of exploration near the center of the galaxy, the Enterprise encounters a cosmic whirlwind of creation and desperately seeks shelter in the eye of the storm. There, life support systems failing and on the verge of death, a magical alien rescues them. But the thing is, he seems to know about humans - and he seems awfully familiar.

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I have to say too many seem to have this idea the center of the galaxy is somehow magical and "should" figure prominently in their story. It's not Tahiti or anything. And the Big Bang creating matter seems a misstatement, but worse, how the center of the Milky Way galaxy is still "doing that" is a preposterous supposition. Not only is it ridiculously far away (much farther than they can realistically get) but being at the center of the galaxy is not where one really wants to be, and even in the early 70's when these were made, speculation was already theorizing a super massive black hole there. This is pretty bad science and bad science fiction. But then, they fully intended to use magic in this story from the off, so . . . fantasy time.

Also, this story does seem to be partially reused in TNG: Where No One Has Gone Before.

Still, I like the story as it sets up an obvious satanic character as the good guy, guiding us to grow beyond our preconceptions of good and evil based upon mere appearances. Even the devil himself may have just been a misunderstood individual, those pious few portraying him as evil only doing so because he wouldn't do their bidding. It might make you think, or even offend you if you take certain things too literally.

Have an Apple. It's real good, I assure you.

Sorry my voice is so annoyingly ridiculous.

Again, the idea one's computer records are potentially a deliberate ruse to hide our genuine evil intent is used, so a test is devised to uncover the truth (The Corbomite Maneuver) and Kirk's compassion is the key to proving Humanity's worthiness (Arena, Spectre Of The Gun).

These records could mean anything - except 23rd century technology.

One might note this episode is sometimes used to suggest it is canon fact Sulu is a heterosexual, having apparently conjured a woman and attempting to get intimate with her before being stopped. For what that is worth – which isn't much.

Sexism is alive and well, it seems, as women need a man, and using a love potion to ensnare them is an obvious thing women would do. Puh-lease.
"What? Ten for that, you must be mad!"

It's only logical this will work – here. Not really – but turns out it does anyway, so he got lucky there. Not as lucky as Kirk who seemed to acquire the skills of a wizard warrior for the trial, but there it is – it's just so he can fight for "the devil" and prove humans have changed. Yeah, like one still couldn't find a few in the Federation that would attempt to manipulate such power.

Really, all 430 crewmembers are in the stocks – you just can't see them all.

Curious they were so weak on Earth. I never felt any true witch could fall victim to such people – though falsely accused people certainly could.

And I never like it when the one and only place an alien culture visited just happened to be Earth – it's too cheesy and improbable.

Overall, though, I found more to like than dislike in the episode, and I thought it was a bit of fun. So I gave this episode a 6 out of 10.

Cheers.

The Magicks of Megus-Tu Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS009.htm

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

Once Upon a Planet

Upon a return visit to the shore leave planet, it quickly becomes apparent something is wrong – the place has become dangerous, despite their full knowledge of its intended function. They all get away and return to the ship, except Lt. Uhura, who is now missing. Now captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Lt. Sulu must risk their lives to rescue her, while Mr. Scott finds the ship has new troubles of its own.

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Gazing at one's reflection while humming is apparently Uhura's idea of R&R, I guess, but to each their own.

Of course, Uhura may just be fascinated by why her Enterprise insignia and rank stripes aren't reflected on her uniform. I know that would fascinate me. I'm not sure I'd be humming after such a realization, but that's me. At any rate, YMMV.

I guess the planet's master computer found her thoughts the most interesting or something since of them all, it captured her.

Think about music.
Uh uh!

It would seem for thousands of years the master computer has been growing in power and sophistication, and now it wants something more. But why now?

Topside, the landing party discovers the caretaker has died, finding his marker that states this fact in multiple languages and that he was the last of his race, too. We did not ever get this impression before, but then he may not have wished them to know he was the last of his kind, and when he said "we," he might have meant him and the computer, or maybe there were a few others yet. We just don't know. At any rate, what an incredibly advanced race they must have been, and what a mystery that they just died out.

After avoiding dangers no one was really thinking about, like a two-headed fire-breathing dragon or a giant cat, they plan to get underground by fooling the system into thinking Spock is dying so it would take him below, just as it had for McCoy when the knight ran him through years before, hoping the planet's automatic functions were still active. It works, and Kirk also slips in, unfortunately leaving McCoy and Sulu behind to fend off hostile entities.

Below, they confront the machine who has been laboring under the misapprehension the Enterprise and other sky ships enslave its inhabitants – a familiar theme amongst carbon infestations – though Spock clears up the misunderstanding in short order. I guess Lt. Uhura couldn't make those misunderstandings clear herself, but Spock understands and communicates with machines better, so I'll let it go.

And while the computer felt enslaved before, now that it had a different perspective, it understands, and from that new POV, it found it could continue its service and learning and explore the galaxy by learning from space farers who stop in for R&R, all now without feeling enslaved.

So, you feel better now?

All is well, for now, and Captain Kirk orders shore leave to resume, though some have already jumped the gun.

I have to marvel at such technology, to create whole planets, read minds, and produce things like grand southern mansions in seconds, but with transporter and replicator tech, and more, I guess such things are possible. It just takes a massive amount of energy, and with free access to a nearby star, it's virtually free. It may be hard for us to grasp how an economy works in such a place, or why that alien culture built such a place for itself and for others, but I suppose it's possible.

Therefore, there's nothing too wrong in this episode, and I rather enjoyed it, just as I did the TOS: Shore Leave, though the original was superior, and I certainly appreciate a call back to TOS without guking things up too badly. I'd say they did a good job here, so I give it 7 out of 10.

Once Upon a Planet Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS017.htm

Jeff · 05 Oct 2006

Jilerb wrote:

The Infinite Vulcan

On of world of mobile plants, some of which are intelligent, Spock is abducted for mysterious reasons. After fighting their way past flying bat-plants to recover Spock, they find him on the verge of death. One Spock, anyway. But there is another Spock there, too, and he's a BIG surprise.

Read Full Review

Spoiler: show

Shades of the TOS episode, Spock's Brain are all over this one, and that's not exactly a ringing endorsement for anything good. But there are differences beyond needing Spock to fulfill some long-term need for an alien race, and the real Spock needing to die as a result of that. Here, he's to become a template for a protector class of giant Vulcans to become an army for a galactic peacekeeping force – perhaps to go forth in infinite numbers, or for all time. Of course needing to destroy the original to make a copy seems to contradict that. Ummm, and how is being 50 feet tall going to make that easier? It would make most things far harder, IMO.

Well, the science is dubious everywhere you look, but what do kids know? Walls 50 times denser than lead, because, you know, things are. Communications that work just by dumping extra power into them. Good thing Uhura explains it to Mr. Scott at length, and quite forcefully, too, since, you know, Scotty's pretty stupid when it comes to stuff like that. Weapons deactivators or shields that work so effortlessly even on the ship's phasers, though it's not the first time for such almost god-like abilities to be used. And they have medical science leaps and bounds beyond the Federation's, though they can't handle a simple bacterial infection like some stupid Martian invaders. But at least it works quicker than anything the Federation has (except great granddaddy's weed killer).

I like they point out the translator the plants are using – though the universal translator they must being using always seems far more efficient and unseen, so why Spock is impressed with it seems weird.

Again, Dr. McCoy seems to play the fool, instantly dismissing an intelligent alien as a "thing" or a "whatever" instead of a "whomever" kind of moment, in a human centric kind of bigotry or something. Sulu is dying and I can't save him, but I won't let you try, you thing.

So he's more like Nigel Bruce's Dr. Watson that way, showing the fool's POV, or a normal person's reaction, before smarter or more enlightened people step in and get it right.

You'll have to forgive Dr. Watson, for though he's loyal to a fault, he understands very little.

Thank you, Holmes.

Later, McCoy's down home charming tale of his granddaddy's garden doesn't impress me, and IMO he's quite lucky it would work at all, let alone practically instantly since most weed killers I know take a long ass time to work – hours or days or more, and not seconds - and they're specifically formulated to kill those exact weeds and not some alien, never before tested creature. But they aren't normal creatures, are they?

♫ Bat Plant. Nana Nana Nana Nana, Bat Plant. ♪

And while I always like a good callback, and the Eugenics wars is fine for that, I'm not sure somebody (or their giant clone) from 250 years past could realistically be this deep in space, at the periphery of the galaxy, or would know anything about Romulans, Klingons, or Kzinti and how things have been lately in the galaxy (well, maybe that last one) since he's been out of touch too long.

The actions of Keniclius do not reflect a man of intellect, and his loss of purpose at the end seems to throw him for a loop far too easily. Perhaps he's not that good a copy. But then his belief in a master race is a pretty dim witted form of bigotry or racism, so that's not a good sign of intelligence, regardless. And the reason he needed Spock for all this just seemed foolish. I felt maybe Keniclius dressed that way to save on material for such a big guy, but they did make a huge Starfleet uniform for giganto Spock, despite it probably being totally inappropriate for his intended purpose.

And they are going to control the entire galaxy, too. They simply do not have the resources or the ability to reach that far, so it's a stupid plan. And he's had that plan for over 250 years, before we even had proof of intelligent life somewhere other than Earth. It makes little sense.

Didn't they take Spock out of that glass box already and have him on the floor – before Keniclius smashed the box?

Vulcan mind "touch?" Meld not good enough for you guys any more?

Quite frankly, I thought Walter Koenig did a bad job and it might be his best creative work for a Trek script, too. Some were just kinder on it since it was from a Star Trek alumni. Well, opinions vary.

But there are fun moments, like Sulu's inscrutability, Spock-on-Spock action with a twist on the self congratulatory manner, Uhura's commanding attitude, intelligent plant life, and a civilization that may have been beyond Federation science. Too bad there was too much nonsense thrown in and a derivative sense of borrowing too heavily from old ideas in other Trek episodes. I gave this a 3.5 out of 10. I've never cared for it.

I'm touched.

The Infinite Vulcan Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS002.htm

Don't forget this means that out there in the galaxy is a giant Spock, still going about his day.

Jilerb · 26 Jan 2009

He said he wouldn't make any more Spocks, and we really don't know they have the same longevity, perhaps suffering from more medical problems than a smaller version.

Ocean Doot · 25 Oct 2007

Jeff wrote:

Jilerb wrote:

The Infinite Vulcan

On of world of mobile plants, some of which are intelligent, Spock is abducted for mysterious reasons. After fighting their way past flying bat-plants to recover Spock, they find him on the verge of death. One Spock, anyway. But there is another Spock there, too, and he's a BIG surprise.

Read Full Review

Spoiler: show

Shades of the TOS episode, Spock's Brain are all over this one, and that's not exactly a ringing endorsement for anything good. But there are differences beyond needing Spock to fulfill some long-term need for an alien race, and the real Spock needing to die as a result of that. Here, he's to become a template for a protector class of giant Vulcans to become an army for a galactic peacekeeping force – perhaps to go forth in infinite numbers, or for all time. Of course needing to destroy the original to make a copy seems to contradict that. Ummm, and how is being 50 feet tall going to make that easier? It would make most things far harder, IMO.

Well, the science is dubious everywhere you look, but what do kids know? Walls 50 times denser than lead, because, you know, things are. Communications that work just by dumping extra power into them. Good thing Uhura explains it to Mr. Scott at length, and quite forcefully, too, since, you know, Scotty's pretty stupid when it comes to stuff like that. Weapons deactivators or shields that work so effortlessly even on the ship's phasers, though it's not the first time for such almost god-like abilities to be used. And they have medical science leaps and bounds beyond the Federation's, though they can't handle a simple bacterial infection like some stupid Martian invaders. But at least it works quicker than anything the Federation has (except great granddaddy's weed killer).

I like they point out the translator the plants are using – though the universal translator they must being using always seems far more efficient and unseen, so why Spock is impressed with it seems weird.

Again, Dr. McCoy seems to play the fool, instantly dismissing an intelligent alien as a "thing" or a "whatever" instead of a "whomever" kind of moment, in a human centric kind of bigotry or something. Sulu is dying and I can't save him, but I won't let you try, you thing.

So he's more like Nigel Bruce's Dr. Watson that way, showing the fool's POV, or a normal person's reaction, before smarter or more enlightened people step in and get it right.

You'll have to forgive Dr. Watson, for though he's loyal to a fault, he understands very little.

Thank you, Holmes.

Later, McCoy's down home charming tale of his granddaddy's garden doesn't impress me, and IMO he's quite lucky it would work at all, let alone practically instantly since most weed killers I know take a long ass time to work – hours or days or more, and not seconds - and they're specifically formulated to kill those exact weeds and not some alien, never before tested creature. But they aren't normal creatures, are they?

♫ Bat Plant. Nana Nana Nana Nana, Bat Plant. ♪

And while I always like a good callback, and the Eugenics wars is fine for that, I'm not sure somebody (or their giant clone) from 250 years past could realistically be this deep in space, at the periphery of the galaxy, or would know anything about Romulans, Klingons, or Kzinti and how things have been lately in the galaxy (well, maybe that last one) since he's been out of touch too long.

The actions of Keniclius do not reflect a man of intellect, and his loss of purpose at the end seems to throw him for a loop far too easily. Perhaps he's not that good a copy. But then his belief in a master race is a pretty dim witted form of bigotry or racism, so that's not a good sign of intelligence, regardless. And the reason he needed Spock for all this just seemed foolish. I felt maybe Keniclius dressed that way to save on material for such a big guy, but they did make a huge Starfleet uniform for giganto Spock, despite it probably being totally inappropriate for his intended purpose.

And they are going to control the entire galaxy, too. They simply do not have the resources or the ability to reach that far, so it's a stupid plan. And he's had that plan for over 250 years, before we even had proof of intelligent life somewhere other than Earth. It makes little sense.

Didn't they take Spock out of that glass box already and have him on the floor – before Keniclius smashed the box?

Vulcan mind "touch?" Meld not good enough for you guys any more?

Quite frankly, I thought Walter Koenig did a bad job and it might be his best creative work for a Trek script, too. Some were just kinder on it since it was from a Star Trek alumni. Well, opinions vary.

But there are fun moments, like Sulu's inscrutability, Spock-on-Spock action with a twist on the self congratulatory manner, Uhura's commanding attitude, intelligent plant life, and a civilization that may have been beyond Federation science. Too bad there was too much nonsense thrown in and a derivative sense of borrowing too heavily from old ideas in other Trek episodes. I gave this a 3.5 out of 10. I've never cared for it.

I'm touched.

The Infinite Vulcan Transcript
http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/TAS002.htm

Don't forget this means that out there in the galaxy is a giant Spock, still going about his day.

How come his hand is so big?

Star Trek: TAS (The Animated Series). 22 Episode Reviews.

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