CELEBRATING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

            February is known as Black History Month in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. It began in 1926 as Negro History Week, proposed by historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History. It was set during the second week of February, chosen to coincide with the birthday of AbrahamLincoln and Frederick Douglass. The objective was to teach the history of America’s black population. In 1969, the leaders of the Black United Students at Kent State University proposed expanding it to a month, celebrating it independently the following year. In 1976 for the bicentennial, the expansion was formally recognized by the United States government. The UK followed in 1987, and then Canada in 1995.

First up this year is the imaginary antics of C-BEAR AND JAMAL, followed by cartoons' first African-American superhero couple SUPERSTRETCH AND MICROWOMAN.

Then, we take a trip to PRYOR'S PLACE while we examine our morality with THE GARY COLEMAN SHOW.

Finally, take to the skies with the SUPER GLOBETROTTERS and slice up a little cheese to go with your bowl of URKLE-O's CEREAL.

IN REMEMBRANCE: 2015

Let's take a moment to remember all the Saturday morning veterans we lost. You may not know some of their names, and likely may not know most of their faces, but these are just some of the folks who brought you your enjoyment on the best day of the week.

Lance Percival (January 6) – Actor, comedian and singer. He played both Paul McCartney and Ringo Star in The Beatles.

Chikao Ohtsuka (January 15) – Actor. Provided the original Japanese voices of Tao Pai Pai in the Dagon Ball series, Count Ledolly Sheldal in Yu-Gi-Oh! and Dr. Eggman in Sonic X. Also provided the Japanese dubbing for Dick Dastardly in Wacky Races and Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines,

Walt Peregoy (January 16) – Background artist and color stylist. Worked on The Adventures of Gulliver, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Wacky Races, Cattanooga Cats, The Perils of Penelope Pitstop, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, Help!...It’s the Hair Bear Bunch!, Sealab 2020, Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Emergency +4, Scooby’s Laff-A-Lympics, I am the Greatest!: the Adventures of Muhammad Ali, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show, Foofur, CBS Storybreak, and Tiny Toon Adventures.

Peggy Sundelle Charren (January 22) – Activist. Founded the Action for Children’s Television which led to the passage of the Children’s Television Act of 1990; mandating that networks with children’s programming increase the amount of educational programming per week.

Stephen R. Johnson (January 26) – Director, animator, painter and writer. Worked on the first season of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.

Gary Owens (February 12) – Actor, announcer and disc jockey. He was the original voice of Space Ghost on Space Ghost and Space Stars (with a non-Saturday reprisal on Batman: The Brave and the Bold) and the Blue Falcon on The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour, Scooby's All-Star Laff-A-Lympics, and Dynomutt Dog Wonder (again reprised off Saturday on Johnny Bravo), and served as the announcer and instructor frequently featured on Garfield and Friends and Eek! the Cat. He tapped his announcing skills as the narrator for Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, Yogi's Space Race, The Mighty Orbots, Yogi's Treasure Hunt, and the opening for Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, while also providing additional and guest voices for Bobby's World, Goof Troop, Raw Toonage, Tom & Jerry Kids, Skeleton Warriors, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, Aahh!!! Real Monsters, The Mask, and The New Batman Adventures. Rock 'n' Wrestling Saturday Spectacular, a spin-off film from Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling, featured Owens making an appearance as himself.

Leonard Nimoy (February 27) – Actor, director, photographer, author, poet, singer and songwriter. Originated the role of Mr. Spock and the majority of Vulcan culture in Star Trek: The Original Series and related movies, which he reprised for Star Trek: The Animated Series.

Allan Lurie (March 10) – Actor and writer. Starred as Uglor in Space Stars and Mezmaron in Pac-Man. Also provided voices for A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Tom & Jerry Kids Show and The Pirates of Dark Water.

Roger Slifer (March 30) – Writer and producer. Worked on Jem, RoboCop: The Animated Series, Bucky O’Hare and the Toad Wars!, Conan: The Adventurer, Superman: The Animated Series, Street Fighter: The Animated Series, Spider-Man Unlimited, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003).

Richard Dysart (April 5) – Actor, Dr. Bartholomew in two episodes of Batman: the Animated Series.

Richard LaSalle (April 5) – Composer, created music for Run, Joe, Run, Big John, Little John and the 1976 version of The Monster Squad.

James Best (April 6) – Actor, acting coach, artist, teacher and musician, starred as Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in The Dukes and its live-action counterpart.

Stan Freberg (April 7) – Actor, comedian, author, recording artist, puppeteer and advertiser. He was the narrator on Wuzzles, Skip Binford on an episode of Amazing Stories, Junyer Bear and Pete Puma on Tiny Toon Adventures, the Network Vice-President on Taz-Mania, Sidney the Dinosaur, Al and Schlocko the Insurance Agent on Garfield and Friends, Bo-Ron and Mo-Ron on Freakazoid!, Papa Boolie and J.B. Toppersmith on The Weirld Al Show, Ra on Hercules, Race Announcer on Stuart Little and Gopherius Rex, the Gopher King on Duck Dodgers. He also played various roles on The Bugs Bunny Show, The Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Hour, The Sylvester & Tweety Show, ABC Weekend Specials and The Bugs n’ Daffy Show.

Suzanne Crough (April 27) – Actor, began her career as Tracy Partridge on The Partridge Family which she reprised on The Partridge Family 2200 A.D. and a guest appearance on Goober and the Ghost Chasers.

John Stephenson (May 15) – Actor with a long association with Hanna-Barbera. His Saturday starring roles included Dr. Benton Quest and others on Jonny Quest, Chief Winchley on The Secret Squirrel Show and The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show, Fariik and Bakaar on The Banana Splits Adventure Hour, Luke and Blubber Bear on Wacky Races, Eustace P. Peevly on Help!...It's the Hair Bear Bunch!, Captain Mike Murphy on Sealab 2020, Mr. Socrates on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, Doggie Daddy, Hardy Har Har and others on Yogi's Gang, Hadji on Jeannie, Reuben Kinkaid on Partridge Family 2200 AD, Tom, Jerry and Spike on The New Tom & Jerry Show, Mildew Wolf, Doggie Daddy, Dread Baron and The Great Fondoo on Laff-A-Lympics, Captain Snerdley and General Blowhard on Galaxy Goof-Ups and Yogi's Space Race, Harry Scary and the Commander on Casper and the Angles, Chief Quimby in the original pilot of Inspector Gadget (1983), Beef Bonk on Galaxy High School, Doc, Philo and Grunge on Fraggle Rock: the Animated Series, and Professor X in Pryde of the X-Men.

He provided guest voices in episodes of The Magilla Gorilla Show, Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossibles, Birdman, Moby Dick and the Mighty Mightor, The Adventures of Gulliver, The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie, Inch High Private Eye, Super Friends, The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour and Dynomutt Dog Wonder, The Fantastic Four (1978), The Super Globetrotters, The Puppy's Further Adventures, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, ABC Weekend Specials, Pound Puppies (1986), The Flintstone Kids, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters and Duck Dodgers.

He served as narrator on The Ruff & Reddy Show and The Atom Ant Show, while providing additional voices on Abbott & Costello, Young Samson & Goliath,  Harlem Globe Trotters, The Addams Family (1973), Speed Buggy, Goober and the Ghost Chasers, CB Bears, The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, The Kwicky Koala Show, Drak Pack, Spider-Man (1981), Space Stars, Shirt Tales, Laverne & Shirley with Special Guest Star the Fonz, Rubik the Amazing Cube, Mister T, The incredible Hulk (1982), The Dukes, The Littles, Kissyfur, Centurions, Ruby-Spears' Superman and The Karate Kid: the Animated Series.

Christopher Lee (June 7) – Actor, reprised his role of Count Dooku for Star Wars: the Clone Wars’ introductory movie.

Rick Ducommun (June 12) – Actor, guest-starred in two episodes of Garfield and Friends.

Dick Van Patten (June 23) – Actor, guest-starred as a burglar in an episode of The Weird Al Show.

Jack Carter (June 28) – Comedian and actor. Guest-starred as Larry Madison in an episode of Saved by the Bell: the New Class, Harry on an episode of Superman: The Animated Series, and Tiresias on an episode of Hercules: The Animated Series.

Roger Rees (July 10) – Actor and director, guest-starred on Gargoyles as Prince Malcolm.

George Coe (July 18) – Actor, guest-starred on Camp Candy and portrayed Tee Watt Kaa on Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

“Rowdy” Roddy Piper (July 30) – Professional wrestler and actor. His likeness was utilized as the leader of the villains on Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling and he guest-starred on an episode in one of the live-action segments.

Brad Anderson (August 30) – Cartoonist. Created the syndicated comic strip Marmaduke that went on to have a Saturday morning program in the 80s.

Dean Jones (September 1) – Actor, played Col. Same Lane on an episode of Superman: The Animated Series. Also guest-starred in the Bamtan: The Animated Series movie Batman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero as Dean Arbagast and in the Saved by the Bell TV movie Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Style as Harry Bannister.

Marty Ingles (October 21) – Comedian and actor, played Autocat on the Motormouse and Autocat segments of Cattanooga Cats, Beegle Beagle on The Great Grape Ape Show and The New Tom & Jerry Show, Billy the Kid on The Ghost Busters, the titular character from Pac-Man, and The Devil on Darkwing Duck.

Michael C. Gross (November 16) – Film producer, artist, illustrator and designer, executive produced and wrote an episode of The Real Ghostbusters, as well as designed the no-ghost logo the debuted in the first Ghostbusters movie.

Michael Earl (December 23) – Puppeteer and actor. Guest-starred as a Penguin on an episode of Jim Henson’s Little Muppet Monsters and provided additional voices for Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?

Meadowlark Lemon (December 27) – Professional basketball player, actor and minister who was best known as the “Clown Prince” on the Harlem Globetrotters for 22 years. As a Globetrotter, his name and likeness was used on Hanna-Barbera’s Harlem Globetrotters, for which he supplied background vocals in the music, as well as all of the team’s appearances on The New Scooby-Doo Movies. He also starred and performed in The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine variety show.

Know anyone we missed? Drop us a line so we can pay them the proper tribute!

WELCOME BACK!

Have you missed us? We've missed you. But now we're back for season 3 of SMF! This year we'll be bringing you more of your favorite shows and cereals, and hopefully introducing you to some you may not be familiar with along the way. We've also been hard at work fixing up and improving some of the older entries, which you can read about in the UPDATES tab at the top of the page as we go along. 

While we do have some fun shows planned in the coming months, we're always willing to shift things if people request a particular show that falls within any of our planned themes. So, if you want your favorite show to jump the line tell us what it is through the contact form on this blog, or on one of our two Facebook groups. By the way, at both Facebook groups you can find additional photos and videos from the stuff we've already posted. 

Now that all that's out of the way, onward!

JOE ALASKEY DEAD AT 63

Joe Alaksey died on February 3, 2016. You can read the full story here.

Alaskey was Warner Bros.' permanent voice for such classic Mel Blanc characters as Daffy Duck, Yosemite Sam, Sylvester Cat, Tweety Bird and even Marvin the Martian. As such, he played Sylvester and Tweety on The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries and provided Daffy's voice for the opening of The Bugs n' Daffy Show. He was also best known by a generation as the voice of Plucky Duck, his father, the aforementioned WB classics and other minor roles on both Tiny Toons Adventures and The Plucky Duck Show and their related media, as well as the second Grandpa Lou Pickles and other voices on Rugrats, All Grown Up and their related media. 

He was also Sourpuss on Mighty Mouse, the New Adventures, the sheriff in two episodes of Back to the Future: The Animated Series, reprised his role of Stinkie from the Casper movie and played the Gorey Narrator on The Spooktacular New Adventures of Casper, was the short bug and a truck driver on an episode of Men in Black: The Series, a soda and news vendbot on an episode of Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, the chief in an episode of Teamo Supremo, and Sylth Vester, the Royal Tweetums, Stoney the Stone and Melvin the Martian on Loonatics Unleashed. 

He also provided voices in episodes of Where's Waldo?, Life With Louie and Timon & Pumbaa. 

ABE VIGODA DEAD AT 94

Unlike the previous announcement, this time it's true: Abe Vigoda has died. You can read the full story here.

Vigoda had a small role in the Batman: the Animated Series theatrical film Mask of the Phantasm as Salvatore Valestra.

RICHARD LIBERTINI DEAD AT 83

Richard Libertini passed away on January 7th. You can read the full story here.

A well-known screen actor, Libertini also spent some time on Saturday mornings as Dijon in both DuckTales and DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, Wally Llama on Animaniacs, Talleyrand on Pinky and the Brain, Ragtag on Static Shock and Dr. Myrell on The Zeta Project. He also guest-starred in an episode of Life With Louie.

PAT HARRINGTON, JR. DEAD AT 86

Pat Harrington, Jr. died on January 6th, 2016. You can read the full story here.

While best-known for his live action role of Dwayne Schneider on One Day at a Time, Harrington actually has a respectable Saturday morning pedigree. He played The Atom and Chrystal Man Officer on The Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, and reprised The Atom along with Speedy on Aquaman; the Inspector on The Pink Panther Show and The Pink Panther Laugh and a Half Hour and a Half Show on which he also played Sgt. Deux Deux; Hi-Rise and First Cyclone in Tabitha and Adam and the Clown Family as part of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie; Moe Howard on The New Scooby-Doo Movies; William Shakesbear on Yo Yogi!; and Shorty McGint, Cop #2, Washington and Boss on Aaaah!!! Real Monsters. He also provided voices for The Addams Family (1973) and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels.

COMING IN 2016

Here we are, at the close of yet another year. We here hope it was a good one for you all, and we thank you for sticking it out with us through whatever delays we may have faced. It's time for us to take our winter break, but the blog will be back up and running with new material on February 13th. So, now's the perfect time to catch up on some of our older stuff (which we'll be doing, fine-tuning with any new information, checking links and what not). As always, check us out on Facebook by clicking the badge on the right side or by searching us by name, and send us your comments, questions and requests. We can't make this blog awesome for you if you don't tell us how!

Here's a look at what's coming up in 2016:

February is our second BLACK HISTORY MONTH where we'll look at some more shows starring black characters.

March is JUSTICE LEAGUE MONTH. With Batman v Superman due out in theaters, we're going to take a look at a variety of DC Comics shows starring the members of the Justice League that will be featured in the movie.

April is SMF: CELEBRITY EDITION. This month, we'll look at shows featuring the voices, names, likenesses or characters of people not generally known for doing an animated series like movie stars, comedians and the like.

May is COMIC BOOK MONTH. We've done Marvel. We'll be doing DC. It's time to give the other guys a chance to shine. In time for Free Comic Book Day and the next Captain America movie, we'll look at some of the shows based on indie comics.

June is our second pass at VIDEO GAME MONTH where we'll check out some more programs based on popular video games.

August is our LIVE month. Believe it or not, not EVERY show on Saturday morning was a cartoon. This is the month where we'll look at shows starring living, breathing people.

As always, October is HALLOWEEN MONTH where we'll showcase Halloween-themed programs.

November we go to the land of the rising sun with JAPANESE IMPORTS MONTH.

And while we don't have banners ready for them yet, we haven't forgotten about the other months. July we'll go to the wild, wild world of SPORTS with athletically inclined programs. September is TV SPIN-OFF month, where we'll check out some of the prime time shows that were given the Saturday morning treatment. And in December we'll take another dip in the WARNER BROTHERS pool with a line-up of 1990s programs produced by Warner Bros. Television animation.

All this and more on SMF! See you then!

MEADOWLARK LEMON DEAD AT 83

Meadowlark Lemon died on Sunday, December 27th. You can read the full story here.

Lemon was a professional basketball player, actor and minister who was best known as the “Clown Prince” on the Harlem Globetrotters for 22 years. As a Globetrotter, his name and likeness was used on Hanna-Barbera’s Harlem Globetrotters, for which he supplied background vocals in the music, as well as all of the team’s appearances on The New Scooby-Doo Movies. He also starred and performed in The Harlem Globetrotters Popcorn Machine variety show.

STAR WARS CEREAL

STAR WARS CEREAL

Kellogg’s (UK)/General Mills

After Disney acquired LucasFilm in 2012, they quickly set about cashing in on the company’s biggest franchise: Star Wars. Within the next two years, plans were put in place to continue the movie saga with a new trilogy. December, 2015 would see the release of the first new movie, Episode VII: The Force Awakens. Directed J.J. Abrams, the film reunited the surviving original cast with a whole new set of characters to continue the struggle for the balance of the force in a galaxy far, far away.

As with Episode II, General Mills and Kellogg’s achieved a shared license to produce a cereal tie-in to the film; General Mills covering North America while Kellogg’s released in the United Kingdom. The Kellogg’s version actually came first, being released in March of 2015. Their cereal featured a dual-faced box with Darth Vader and R2-D2 on either side. The cereal itself was chocolate-flavored whole wheat and rice pieces in the shapes of stars and moons.

General Mills’ version was first announced on May 4^th (also known as Star Wars Day) and released in June. The cereal featured berry-flavored corn puffs meant to resemble X-wings and TIE fighters. Also included were marshmallow shapes mostly recycled from their Episode II cereal a decade prior, including red and blue lightsabers, R2-D2, Yoda and a Jedi Starfighter. The Clone Trooper face was redesigned to better resemble a regular Stormtrooper face by changing up the black areas of the otherwise white piece. The boxes came in two varieties at launch: one featured Yoda with a quiz on the back panel, the other Darth Vader with a Star Wars-themed checkers game on the back.

It was announced that new box designs would initially be released in October of 2015 before the movie, but they have been pushed back to February 2016. Instead, General Mills added Star Wars elements to a variety of their other cereals with Droid Viewers inside.

STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES

STAR TREK: THE ANIMATED SERIES

(NBC, September 8, 1973-October 12, 1974)

Filmation Associates, Norway Productions, Paramount Television

MAIN CAST:

William Shatner – Captain James T. Kirk

Leonard Nimoy – Mr. Spock

DeForest Kelley – Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy

James Doohan – Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, Lieutenant Arex, various

Nichelle Nichols – Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, various

George Takei – Lieutenant Hiraku Sulu, various

Majel Barrett – Nurse Christine Chapel, Lieutenant M’Ress, ship’s computer, various

“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before”

            These are the words that opened up every episode of Star Trek, highlighting the overall theme of the series. Creator Gene Roddenberry conceived of a program that would subtly deal with present-day issues in an idealized future setting; showcasing what humanity could develop into if it learned from mistakes of the past. At the center of his idea was the United Federation of Planets, or simply “the Federation,” which was a coalition of planets from various galaxies working together for the betterment of all sentient beings--like a space-age version of the United Nations. Their exploratory, peacekeeping and military arm was Starfleet, which employed a wide range of starships to carry out various missions around known space. Advanced technology introduced included energy-based phaser weapons, portable communicators (imagine a precursor to flip-open cell phones), tricorders that could read and analyze anything, transporters that could break anything down to the molecular level and reassemble them in another location, protective deflector shields and a warp drive that allowed starships to travel at great speeds.

The original Enterprise crew.

            Roddenberry was greatly influenced by Wagon Train, which his pitches for the series often included comparisons to, and by Gulliver’s Travels. He intended each episode to act as a suspenseful adventure and a morality tale.  In 1964, he presented a brief treatment proposal to Desilu Productions, and after some reworking the series was pitched to NBC. NBC was interested and commissioned the creation of a pilot. It focused on the adventures of the crew of the USS Enterprise: Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter); first officer Number One (Majel Barrett); Vulcan science officer Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy); Lt. Jose Tyler (Peter Duryea) and Yeoman J.M. Colt (Laurel Goodwin). 

The novelization of "The Cage."

            The pilot, known as “The Cage,” was finished and screened for NBC in 1965. While they found it “too cerebral,” “too intellectual,” and “too slow” with “not enough action”, they were convinced by Lucille Ball, co-owner of Desilu and believer in the project, to make the unprecedented move of commissioning a second pilot. Roddenberry wrote two outlines, which became later episodes of the series known as “Mudd’s Women” and “The Omega Glory”, and commissioned Samuel Peeples to write a third for consideration. Peeples’ script, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, was selected by NBC to be the new pilot (parts of the original were used in the two-part episode “The Menagerie”).

The second Enterprise crew.

             The entire cast was replaced save for Nimoy’s Spock, despite NBC’s petitioning for his removal due to his “satanic” appearance brought on by his pointy ears and eyebrows. Originally presented with youthful energy, he was given the emotionless demeanor of Number One and promoted to first officer. Nimoy would go on to craft much of the backstory of Spock and Vulcan culture, including the v-shaped hand gesture accompanying the phrase “live long and prosper.” Hunter was unwilling to reprise his role as he wanted to focus on a movie career, and he was eventually replaced by William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk (initially the “T” was an “R”). Pilot director James Goldstone cast his friend James Doohan as Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, whose name and culture was determined by Doohan believing Scotsmen made the best engineers after auditioning a variety of accents. George Takei was cast as Lt. Hiraku Sulu, initially the ship’s physicist but changed to a helmsman for the series. Rounding out the cast was Paul Fix as the ship’s doctor, Mark Piper, Paul Carr as navigator Lee Kelso, Lloyd Haynes as Communications Officer Alden, and Andrea Dromm as Yeoman Smith.

The final Enterprise crew.

             Screened almost a year after the first pilot, NBC was satisfied with the presentation and ordered it to series. The first regular episode, “The Man Trap,” debuted on September 8, 1966. Along with new uniforms for the crew, several cast members were changed. Piper was replaced by Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley, who was originally considered for the Piper role) while Kelso’s duties were taken over by Sulu. Alden was replaced by Lt. Nyota Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Yeoman Smith was replaced by Janice Rand (Grace Lee Whitney). Barrett would go on to rejoin the cast as Nurse Chapel in the 4^th episode, “The Naked Time”, as well as portray the ship’s computer voice (a role she had in almost every Trek production that followed), and Sulu would be joined by Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) at the helm in the second season.

             Star Trek (later known as Star Trek: The Original Series) enjoyed high ratings at the start of its first season, but they fell dramatically towards its conclusion. It was sufficient enough to warrant a second season, but NBC threatened to cancel it after that year. Science-fiction superfan Betty Jo Trimble (also known as Bjo) led an unprecedented letter-writing campaign to petition the network to keep the show (she also led the campaign to have President Gerald Ford change the name of the first NASA space shuttle to Enterprise, whose dedication was attended by the Trek cast in 1976). It worked, and NBC renewed it for a third season--but at a substantially reduced budget. Roddenberry protested by resigning as producer and reducing his direct involvement in the series, leading to Fred Freiberger taking over his duties for the season. Despite another letter-writing campaign, NBC cancelled the show after 79 episodes.

The fan mail just keeps pouring in.

             After its cancellation, Paramount Studios bought the show from Desilu and licensed the broadcast syndication rights to recoup production losses. Reruns began airing in the fall of 1969 and reached over 200 domestic and international markets. As a result, Star Trek was discovered by a new fanbase (soon to be known as Trekkies) and gradually achieved a cult following that rivaled its popularity during the original broadcasts. That culminated in the first Star Trek convention in January of 1972. While it was only projected to get a few hundred attendees, it ended up attracting several thousand.

The animated Enterprise.

             Paramount took notice of the series’ newfound appeal and toyed with the idea of bringing it back. Filmation had originally pitched an idea of adapting the franchise into animation (Lou Scheimer, one of the founders, was a fan of the original series) shortly after the show’s cancellation. While giving assurances that the cartoon would look and feel like original show, Filmation wanted to move the setting to a training ship and pair up all the crewmen with young cadets in order to have a larger appeal to children. Paramount passed on that idea, which later became the basis for Filmation’s Space Academy, but revisited the notion of turning Trek into a cartoon series and contracted Filmation to do it. A deal was arranged where Paramount, Filmation and Roddenberry would each control a third of the program’s rights, leaving the network out of any kind of creative control. NBC, who desperately wanted new Trek, readily agreed to the arrangement, as well as ordering 22 episodes up front.

Running a starship doesn't really require much movement.

             At Roddenberry’s insistence, original series story editor D.C. Fontana was appointed the story editor of the cartoon to best help maintain the voice of Trek. The writers of the cartoon would follow the same series bible used for the original series, and the use of animation afforded them the opportunity to introduce larger alien landscapes and less humanoid-looking aliens for the crew to encounter. However, like other Filmation projects, budget constraints and the fact they were producing several other shows at the same time often led to extreme cost-cutting measures. These included a liberal use of stock shots both created for the series or from other Filmation shows, or constantly recycling animation from previous episodes. While the majority of the animation quality was only fair with a number of errors, some parts of various episodes would achieve a near-theatrical level of quality. In many instances, the animators would rotoscope over footage from the original show for the actors’ likenesses and the ship, helping to keep them all looking as they should. Typical production turnaround for an episode was three months, and was one of Filmation’s highest-budgeted at $75,000 an episode.

The animated crew of the Enterprise.

             Filmation planned to only use Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Doohan and Barrett to reprise their roles and add extra authenticity, with Doohan and Barrett taking over the voices of Sulu and Uhura, respectively. Knowing that his fellow cast members were having trouble finding work since the end of the series and feeling that Sulu and Uhura were crucial for the proof of ethnic diversity in the 23^rd century, Nimoy refused to lend his voice to the project unless Takei and Nichols were cast. The budget wouldn’t allow for Koenig to reprise his role, although he was asked to audition for a small part. He did end up making a contribution by writing the episode “The Infinite Vulcan”, becoming the first Trek cast member to write a Trek story. The producers liked his work and invited Koenig to write another episode, but after the arduous process of rewrites demanded by Roddenberry and his own hurt feelings over being excluded from the show (he only learned of its existence during a Trek panel at a convention), he declined.

Arex (top) and M'Ress.

In Chekov’s place were two new alien characters: Lt. Arex (Doohan), an Edosian with three arms and three legs, and Lt. M’Ress, a cat-like Caitian (Barrett). The majority of the additional voices were handled by Doohan and Barrett, with Nichols and Takei providing several themselves. A few guest stars from the original series did reprise their respective roles for the cartoon, including Mark Lenard as Sarek, Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd, and Stanley Adams as Cyrano Jones. While the initial episodes were recorded with an ensemble, other commitments made it so some of the actors—typically Shatner and Nimoy—would have to record their dialogue wherever they were and send them in to be spliced together onto the episode’s soundtrack.

Cyrano Jones returned with even more Tribbles.

             The series’ writing stable benefited from the Writers Guild of America, West strike of 1973, which didn’t affect animated projects. This meant that Fontana was able to recruit many of the original show’s writers; either writing new stories or sequels to earlier episodes. Among them were Peeples, Marc Daniels, Margaret Armen, David Gerrold and Paul Schneider. Because they no longer had an hour to work with in crafting their stories, many have come to regard the more-focused scripts as some of the best of early Trek. Science fiction author Larry Niven even adapted his short story “The Soft Weapon” into the episode “The Slaver Weapon”. Other writers included Larry Brody, Chuck Menville, Len Janson, Joyce Perry, David P. Harmon, Stephen Kandel, Dario Finelli, Russell Bates, David Wise and Fred Bronson (as John Culver). James Schmerer wrote a single episode for the cartoon, “The Survivor”, on the basis that he was made to understand it would be geared towards adults like the original show and not to children as his previous dealings in animation had been strenuous. The scripts for the cartoon featured a lot of call-backs to the original series, as well as maintained the same kind of heady storytelling quality with deep stories and morality tales.

Despite the number of women on the show, Kirk's infamous romantic life was on hiatus.

             Star Trek: The Animated Series debuted on September 8, 1973; exactly seven years after the premier of the original series. While “Beyond the Farthest Star” was always intended to be the series premiere, some markets shuffled the airing order to show “Yesteryear” first. The reason behind that was at the time Takei was running for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council, and in order to avoid violating the FCC’s equal-time rule (wherein any radio or television station had to provide the same amount of air time for any and all political candidates if they requested it) they chose to stop airing reruns of the original series and aired an animated episode that didn’t feature Sulu.

The series retained the regular Star Trek naming on its title screen (with The Animated Series or The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek added in later references to distinguish the two shows), but Filmation opted to use a new opening theme composed by Ray Ellis (under the pseudonym Yvette Blais) and Norm Prescott (credited as Jeff Michael). It was the first Trek series to also do away with the cold open and began with the opening intro (not counting the United Kingdom airings of the original series, which moved the cold open to after the credits). An anti-pollution public service announcement was created in partnership with Keep America Beautiful and played throughout the series’ run.

Life support belts.

             Aside from the new crewmembers, the cartoon introduced several unique elements to the Trek mythos. It was the first series to have the holodeck (called the “Rec Room”), a room on the ship that could create three-dimensional and interactive holograms of almost anything that can be programmed. It wouldn’t become a Trek staple until the follow-up live-action series, The Next Generation, although its use was proposed during the production of the original. There was also personal force field technology located in a life support belt, which allowed the crew to journey out into space. The belt and a glow were added to the character that wore them, saving the animators the trouble of designing and drawing environmental suits for the characters. A version of the belt would be used in an early The Next Generation novel titled The Peacekeepers. It also became the first Trek show to show a different class of Federation starship besides the Constitution class of the Enterprise (whose model was constantly recycled to save on production of new ones). “The Time Trap” had the crew come into contact with the first starship to have a warp drive installed, the S.S. Bonaventure (also its class name), which resembled the Enterprise except with bulkier warp nacelles and a shorter saucer section. Although the ship’s design would change in later Trek appearances, the name continued to be used. The cartoon was also the first official use of Captain Kirk’s middle name, Tiberius, after Gerrold blurted it out when asked what it stood for at an earlier Trek convention.

Even giant Tribbles couldn't bring the kids on board.

            Although the series was popular with adults and older teens, the targeted younger demographic that NBC and advertisers wanted wasn’t tuning in. NBC followed-through with the abbreviated 6-episode second season they ordered, which was padded out with reruns from the first, but let the series end at its conclusion. The second season premiere, “The Pirates of Orion”, was written by Howard Weinstein, a fan who adapted it from a short Trek story he had published in the fanzine Probe. The script was taken on by agent Bill Cooper, who was a schoolmate of Weinstein’s father, and sent it to Fontana. However, since she had left the show, it was returned. The script was resubmitted and Weinstein was contacted by Scheimer, who would buy the script if the ending could be modified. Weinstein agreed and the episode was made, making him the youngest Trek writer (19 at the time) and the episode the first to introduce the male Orions. It also opened the door for Weinstein to work on future Trek projects. During its run, the cartoon received critical acclaim as well as a Daytime Emmy Award for the episode “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth”; the first of the franchise outside of technical awards.

             After the abandonment of an attempt to produce the first Trek movie, The Planet of the Titans, Paramount and Roddenberry began work on a new live-action series called Phase II. It was intended to be the flagship program for Paramount’s new television network, the Paramount Television Service, which was hoped to become the fourth television network (there were only three at the time). However, when the plan fell through the show was ultimately cancelled (Paramount would eventually get their own network from 1995-2006, UPN). When Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind became box office successes in 1977, Paramount revisited the Phase II idea and decided to recycle the pilot’s plot into Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The entire original series cast was reunited in live-action, and would be for five more movies.

"See? I told you one day they'd love us."

             In the meantime, Roddenberry was hard at work bringing Trek back to television. This led to the creation of The Next Generation in 1987 as a first-run syndicated show following a new crew on a new Enterprise. It would be the first of four new programs, most of them under the stewardship of Rick Berman after Roddenberry’s death in 1991, plus a new series of movies based on The Next Generation. At the completion of The Next Generation’s first season, Roddenberry’s office rendered the animated series non-canonical in Trek lore. However, while events from the cartoon were not explicitly mentioned, elements from various episodes such as character moments, alien races, ship names and characters themselves found their way into the programs, novelizations, comic books, video games and movies. In 2007, the cartoon was made part of the official canon when it was included in Star Trek’s official site library, with both Fontana and Gerrold regarding it as the long-desired fourth season of the original series.

The series novelization, vol. 5.

             All of the episodes were adapted into story form by Alan Dean Foster in ten volumes of Star Trek Logs by Ballantine Books. Initially, Foster featured three episodes per book, but the later books featured singular episodes expanded into full-length novels; sometimes with additional bonus original stories. They have since been republished several times. Tuttle Enterprises would release a series of animation cels taken from the show. “Yesteryear” was reproduced as a View-Master set titled “Mr. Spock’s Time Trek.” In 2003, Rittenhouse Archives released The Complete Star Trek: Animated Adventures Trading Cards set. In 2018, IDW Publishing released a mini-series called Star Trek vs. Transformers by John Barber, Mike Johnson, Philip Murphy, Priscilla Tramontano and Christa Miesner, which utilized The Animated Series’ art style for the Trek characters. In 2019, Weldon Owen published Star Trek: The Official Guide to the Animated Series by Aaron Harvey and Rich Schepis, containing background information on the show and numerous visual artifacts from its production. For the series’ 50^th anniversary, Paramount commissioned the production of five animated shorts rendered in the style of The Animated Series called Star Trek: Very Short Treks. They were released on the Star Trek website and official YouTube channel in 2023. In 2024, “The Time Trap” became a catalyst for the beginning of IDW’s Star Trek: Lower Decks volume 2, based on the fellow animated series, by Ryan North, Derek Charm and Clayton Cowles.

The DVD tin case.

The complete series was released to VHS by Paramount across eleven volumes in the United States, while the United Kingdom got theirs across seven volumes in 1992 by CIC Video. An Australian release was planned but never materialized. The complete series was released on laserdisc in 1990, and re-released in 1997. It later came to DVD in 2006 in a special tin package, becoming the last Trek series to be released on that format. In 2016, a Blu-ray release was included as part of the Star Trek 50^th Anniversary TV and Movie Collection and later on its own. The international versions soon followed. In 2011, the entire series was available to stream on Netflix and then on Paramount+ shortly after the streaming service’s launch. In 2025, the series returned to television on retro animation network MeTV Toons.

EPISODE GUIDE:

Season 1:

“Beyond the Farthest Star” (9/8/73*) – Trapped in the orbit of a dead star, the crew discovers an ancient ship trapped there with them.

*Aired 9/15/73 in some markets.

“Yesteryear” (9/15/73*) – Spock travels to the past to rescue his younger self.

*Aired 9/8/73 in some markets.

“One of Our Planets is Missing” (9/22/73) – The crew has to protect Mantilles from a cloud creature that feeds on planetary energy.

“The Lorelei Signal” (9/29/73) – Investigating starship disappearances leads to the discovery of a race of beautiful women.

“More Tribbles, More Troubles” (10/6/73) – The crew has to protect two ships of grain and Cyrano Jones from the Klingons.

“The Survivor” (10/13/73) – The crew discovers a ship manned by a philanthropist who disappeared five years prior.

“The Infinite Vulcan” (10/20/73) – Sulu ends up poisoned by a plant he picks up on an away mission.

“The Magicks of Megas-tu” (10/27/73) – The ship ends up stranded inside an energy/matter vortex until Lucien appears to rescue them and take them to his planet.

“Once Upon a Planet” (11/3/73) – The crew returns to the amusement park planet for some rest.

“Mudd’s Passion” (11/10/73) – The crew is ordered to arrest Harry Mudd for selling fake love crystals.

“The Terratin Incident” (11/17/73) – A message in an ancient code finds the ship while they observe a burnt-out supernova.

“The Time Trap” (11/24/73) – Investigating ship disappearances leads the crew to be attacked by Klingons and sucked into a spacetime vortex with one of the enemy ships.

“The Ambergris Element” (12/1/73) – Argo’s inhabitants turn Kirk and Spock into water breathers, leaving them needing to capture a snake in order to revert back.

“The Slaver Weapon” (12/15/73) – The Kzinti attack the shuttlecraft transporting a stasis box to Starbase 25.

“The Eye of the Beholder” (1/5/74) – The crew investigates the disappearance of a scientific team near Lactra VII.

“The Jihad” (1/12/74) – The crew has to prevent a holy war by investigating the theft of a religious artifact.

Season 2:

“The Pirates of Orion” (9/7/74) – The crew must encounter pirates for the cure to Spock’s illness.

“Bem” (9/14/74) – The crew is taken captive by natives to a newly-discovered planet.

“The Practical Joker” (9/21/74) – The ship’s computer plays practical jokes on the crew, which gradually become more dangerous.

“Albatross” (9/28/74) – Bones is arrested for causing the plague that ravaged planet Dramia.

“How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth” (10/5/74) – The crew has to solve a puzzle or be destroyed.

“The Counter-Clock Incident” (10/12/74) – The ship is pulled into a universe where time runs backwards.

Originally posted in 2015. Updated in 2025.