MartinHafer I am amazed to see so many glowing reviews for this short-lived "Star Trek" animated series. This is because although many score it 9 or 10, I cannot for the life of me understand this. Even if the shows had been well written (they often weren't) the animation is abysmally bad. In fact, in an era where the quality of animation was at its nadir, "Star Trek: The Animated Series" is possibly the worst--with incredibly low cell-counts and often ridiculous animation quality. To make things worse, the writing was all over the place. For every excellent script, there were several that were just awful--either due to bad ideas, terrible dialog or both. Yet, inexplicably, the Kool-Aid drinkers say it's the best animated show ever!!! Hello...get a bit of perspective here!!! While I have seen every live action Trek series and loved them, I think I can be objective enough to realize not every single episode of every single show is perfect....and this cartoon is about as far from perfect as they come!!! Watch if you dare, but you're in for a disappointing ride.

siderite This series started in 1973, but it is almost the same as Star Trek the Original Series. The drawing is horrible, as the US animation of the time was really primitive, but the stories are fun enough, even if really naive. Imagine a cross between ST-TOS and Snow White and you get this thing.There is something rebellious about this series, though. It's like an organic response to the fan reaction to the closing of the series. It's not enough, but it shows that budget cuts can be fought and executive decisions can be swayed by fan action.Right now the only hope for Star Trek is to be taken by Japanese manga artists and redone with sensible scripts. The stuff Hollywood releases as movie scripts these days is beyond salvation.

Callum Gee I was an avid fan of the Original live-action TV series when I was a boy which was being re-run at the time - unrealistic 'Jelly' Monsters and the like were fascinating viewing for a 6 or 7 year old.But, "Star Trek: The Animated Series" offered something a little more believable, in a sense, because we were able to view more realistic 'Jelly-type' monsters in a true cartoon fashion. The series itself, which is not considered as part of the 'canon' for the franchise, stands out remarkably well on it's own merits and I am of the opinion that all age groups will be fascinated by it's concept and unique format.For starters, it is the original cast members who are providing the voice-overs for their own characters, and also aboard the enterprise are some of the original series best-loved writers. The main plus-fact is that it is a Gene Roddenberry project. 'Filmation' are the company who produced this animated series - a company who have come into criticism because of it's lacklustre quality of cartoons throughout the years. But, surely with "ST: TAS" this is one of it's true exceptions.There are some very good half-hour episodes in this series, beautifully written and designed and it's a crying shame that a number of 'Trekkies' don't give this series the praise and recognition it deserves. I, for one, am not a 'Trekkie' but I am a big fan of this animated classic of which I would prefer to sit down and watch an episode of as opposed to the original series. This so-called cartoon is not strictly a 'kiddies' production - a fabulous factor indeed.I've just recently purchased the well-packaged DVD release of this series and it is the only piece of 'Trek - related' merchandise I own, and I am likely to own forever."Star Trek: The Animated Series" should be spoken about in the same context as the Series' and the feature films. It has been, and still is, so undervalued.A true EMMY AWARD WINNER - no joke!

George Mussman (GEM-20) Many fans have looked negatively on this series. That is too bad, and they do not give it the attention and credit it fully deserves. Sure there is an episode or two that was simply okay, but overall, I enjoyed all of it.Gene Roddenberry, the creator of "Star Trek", was paid money for this series. He said that it was not part of "official" Star Trek. I think that is ridiculous, since he had the final approval of all of the scripts, and there were some great ones.If anyone faulted the animation of this show, it must be remembered of what the state of animated films was in 1973. Even Disney had cut back considerably by that time; look at Disney's "Robin Hood" to see what I mean.Because "Star Trek - The Animated Series" had a limited budget, there was not enough money to bring back Walter Koenig to play Chekov. But the show is a fine example of how "Trek" could work in animation.And that is its finest accomplishment of all.