Customer Reviews

Star Trek - The Animated Series, Vol. 2: Yesteryear/ Beyond the Farthest Star [VHS]

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nitpickers will find plenty to criticize in the animated series. But I, for one, am glad to finally have them on video. These stories strongly influenced the early Trek novels, and I was reading those novels long before I ever saw the animated episodes (which were no longer on the air when I discovered the books.) Bjo Trimble also included these episodes in her Star Trek Concordance, and Alan Dean Foster novelized them in his "Star Trek Logs" series. The result is, that many Classic Trekkers (including myself) still think of these stories and characters as a part of the Trek universe.

A case in point is "Yesteryear," about Spock's childhood. In the "Journey to Babel" episode of Classic Trek, we were briefly told that Spock had a childhood pet called a "sehlat," described as a sort of teddy bear with long fangs. In "Yesteryear," we finally meet Eye-chaya (sp?) the pet sehlat, and see him sacrifice his own life to save young Spock from a vicious lematya, another Vulcan animal that is frequently mentioned in the novels.

Yesteryear" establishes that Spock's mother's maiden name was "Grayson," and shows us some Vulcan architecture, with abstract sculptures and water fountains. We see, too, how the Vulcan children mercilessly teased Spock for being half human. Vulcans, it turns out, are not born without emotions -- even those full Vulcan children are obviously acting out with emotion! This fact not only plays a part in the novels, it figures in the movies, too, where Spock finally finds a balance between his emotional and logical sides. In short, "Yesteryear" has had such a strong influence on how Classic Trekkers view Spock, that it is the only animated episode still considered to be official canon by Paramount. (The rest, like the novels, are now relegated to the realm of apocrypha.)

"Beyond the Farthest Star," the second episode on this video, was not as good a story in terms of plot, but it did give us another important detail that crops up in the novels: the life-support belts that the crew wears while visiting the derelict alien ship. These belts generate a protective force field around the wearer, enabling him or her to walk in space or in hostile planet atmospheres. The belt concept was not carried over into the movies, where crewmembers wear the more usual type of environmental suits on spacewalks. However, there is a hint of utility belts in the uniforms in Star Trek: The Movie.

Enough has been said of the original Star Trek series from the 1960s, where little needs to be said of it. Same for all the 1980s and '90s versions like The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, plus the movies from 1979 to 1991, and so on. What's often neglected are the animated series from 1973-74. I was too young to have seen these series when they first came out, but I do remember seeing them as re-runs in the early '80s, and once again in the late '80s/early '90s on Nickelodeon. Vol. 2 features Yesteryear (9/15/73) and Beyond the Farthest Star (12/22/73). The former was about Spock going back in time to save himself as a kid to restore the present, while the latter involves an ancient starship with invisible entities that try to hijack the Enterprise. My biggest complaints of these videotapes are the fact the episodes aren't put in chronological order, and the fact each VHS fits only two episodes (which they could easily cram as much as six). But at least you can enjoy these without the inconvenience of commercial interruption. It's too bad the animated series are often overlooked by Trekkies everywhere, if you're a Star Trek fan, you want to get the Animated Series collection as well.

Clearly the idea early on with "Star Trek: The Animated Series" was to come up with sequels to beloved episodes from the original series. It did not air until the fifth week, but the first episode filmed was a sequel to "The Trouble With Tribbles," while the third took us back to the Guardian of Forever from the classic "City on the Edge of Foreever." However, as you will see a couple of other familiar episodes resonate with this one as well. The important thing is that there were "new" episodes of "Star Trek" and that virtually everybody from the cast was doing the voices (with James Doohan doing most of the extra voices). Oh, and in case you were wondering, the fourth episode produced was the first one aired, and that is the second one here on Volume 2:

Episode 2, "Yesteryear" (Written by D.C. Fontana, First aired September 15, 1973), begins with Kirk, Spock and a historian named Erikson using the Guardian of Forever to explore the past of the planet Orion. However, when they return to the present they discover the First Office for the past five years on the "Enterprise" has been Thelin, an Andorian, and not Spock. A search of the ship's computer reveals that in this new timeline Spock died as a child, and his parents broke up as a result. Spock remembers that during his "kahs-wan," the Vulcan coming of age ritual, his life was saved by Selek, a cousin. To restore the proper time line, Spock plans to return to the past and pretend to be Selek to save himself. Of course things are not that simple. This episode surprised me a bit because I was anticipating some sort of diplomatic crisis having to do with Sarek, when this one is really about the young Spock. We heard in "Journey to Babel" about the pet sehlat, a teddy bear with fangs, that Spock had as a child, and now we get to see it and a pivotal scene in Spock's development. The credit here goes to Fontana, the might have contrived a strange situation but uses it to explore Spock's character in meaningful ways (Warp 4.5).

Episode 1, "Beyond the Farthest Star" (Written by Samuel A. Peeples, First aired September 8, 1973), finds the "Enterprise" pulled off course by Questar M-17, an imploded star. In orbit around it, the "Enterprise" encounters another starship inhabited by shapeless aliens who take control (I have lost count of how many times the "Enterprise" is taken overy by aliens, but you can see why Starfleet has the countermeasures employed in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan"). This is a rather pedestrian episode given that the alien creature is basically just evil, so there is no need to understand it. Kirk and Spock come up with a solution to both the problem of the alien and of being trapped orbiting Questar M-17, but despite the neat title (which was also that of a Lin Carter novel as I recall), there is nothing here to justify it being the first episode aired for "Star Trek: The Animated Series" (Warp 3.5).

IT IS TOO BAD PEOPLE LIKE RICK BERMAN CANNOT SEE THE GREATNESS OF THE ANIMATED SERIES. STORIES LIKE THESE SHOULD BE HERALDED, NOT PITITED. ANOTHER EPIC ADVENTUROUS STORY WHERE WE GET TO VISIT VULCAN AND CMDR SPOCK AS HE TRIES TO HELP HIMSELF, IN THE PAST.

I can't stop laughing -- TAS is hilarious! That said, from what I've seen so far, I can't rate it much above another mediocre cartoon. Yes, it has Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and the good Dr McCoy too, but instead of the actors' faces we get a bunch of cheap drawings which is so much less satifying than the visual display we had in TOS.

I've just made it through my first episode, so I probably can't say too much about the series in general, but judging from what was supposed to be a sentimental and perhaps heart-rending installment, it seems generally stilted and kiddish. Yes, I realize that it is a cartoon, but still... I'm disappointed...

The campfest continues!

As a fan of the original Star Trek series, I was overjoyed when the animated series aired and sad when it ended. I remember being impressed with the quality of the animation at the time and was impressed once again when I watched this tape. Produced in 1973, the animation was state of the art and allowed the producers to create space scenes that would have been impossible with human actors.
In the first episode, "Yesteryear", Kirk and Spock use the guardian of forever to go back in time to view the creation of the Orion culture. When they return, Spock has been removed from existence. Kirk and Spock are baffled, because they are certain they did nothing to change the course of history. Upon returning to the Enterprise, they do some historical research and learn that Spock died at a young age. By checking the dates, they realize that in their timeline, the young Spock was rescued by his "uncle", who was in fact an older Spock that had traveled back in time. Since Spock was now on Orion at the time of the rescue, he could not have been in two places at once, so the rescue did not occur.
Spock then uses the guardian to go back and rescue himself. During his time there, he gives some very sound advice to himself; the encouragement the young Spock receives is something that he is not getting from his father. The episode, written by original series writer D. C. Fontana, shows us aspects of Spock's childhood and what he lived through. Hints of this were given to us in the original series episode "Journey to Babel", in particular Spock's "Teddy Bear." With a few minor exceptions, the true timeline is restored and Spock is once again first officer of the Enterprise.
In the second episode, "Beyond the Farthest Star" the Enterprise is captured by a large gravity well and by using all available power, are able to achieve an orbit around it. They discover another ship in orbit around the well, they estimate that it has been there for 300 million years. Using environmental belts, the ship is boarded and they discover that the crew destroyed their own ship in order to avoid freeing a dangerous creature also trapped in the gravity well.
When the Enterprise crewmembers beam back to the Enterprise, the dangerous creature comes with them. It takes over the Enterprise and tries to force the crew to help it leave the well. However, by applying a strategy of brinkmanship, they get the creature to flee when it appears that the Enterprise will be destroyed. The Enterprise is then able to utilize a gravitational slingshot effect to escape the well and continue their mission.
The quality of the dialog of these episodes is outstanding, a tribute to the writers. Using the voices of the actors of the original series also enhances the realism; they are some of the best cartoons ever made for television. Every fan of Star Trek will appreciate them.

The first episode of the Star Trek animated series is "Beyond the Farthest Star". Here we find the Enterprise stuck in the orbit of the dead star. An alien comes abord following the enterprise away team that beams back. It takes over the ship and wants the crew to take it to the center of the galixy. At the end they trick the alien and get control of the ship back. While the animation is good and the people and things realistic, there are many point outs. Here's the good stuff that stayed true: McCoy and Spock's Badgering, the feeling in the voices of the characters; when I close my eyes I can almost forget that it is only animation, the storyline has a trekke kind of plot, while simplistic at best, the music sounds good and the details were all right. {like using manaual overide at the helm}

Now we go on to the bad stuff including corny jokes and illogical actions. Here is the most illogical thing of all: Spock speaks with feeling in his voice. He doesn't sound like the spock we all know and love. The time-warp is used in this episode {see "The Naked Time" and "Assignment Eternity"} but it is unlike anything in the show. In this it is a simple warp maneuver that can be accomplished very easily.

In conclusion the second episode "Yesteryear" has the same up's and downs. It uses the guardien of forever {see: city on the edge of forever} but the planet isn't evan close. Spock has so much emotion you might mistake him for a human. Despite this review I recomment that you buy this episode. I personally own all 11 volumes and 22 episodes. THe are all good and are still part of star trek. You can evan call them the forgotten trek. They are all worth your money.