Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Animated Series

Posted on By Wil

I unironically ADORE the animated series from the 70s. I was squarely in the target audience, and I guess I’ve never left that part of me behind.

So since this came across my event horizon earlier today, I’ve been OBSESSED. I mean, I was legit bummed Wesley wasn’t on the bridge, but quickly realized it’s perfect that they replaced him what what I think is a Kzinti, the way TAS replaced Chekov with Arex, the Edosian.

I couldn’t remember what species Arex was, so I had to look it up, and I read this, so before we get to the video I want you to watch, check out Leonard Nimoy:

Initially, Filmation was only going to use the voices of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Doohan and Barrett. Doohan and Barrett would also perform the voices of Sulu and Uhura. Nimoy refused to voice Spock in the series unless Nichelle Nichols and George Takei were added to the cast, claiming that Sulu and Uhura were proof of the ethnic diversity of the 23rd century and should not be recast. Nimoy also took this stand as a matter of principle, as he knew of the financial troubles many of his Star Trek co-stars were facing after cancellation of the series.[6]

What an amazing human he was. And how fucking racist were the people who were like “yeah, replace those actors of color with white people to save money.” WOW.

Anyway, check this out. If you’re of a certain age, I expect you will share my reaction when that music starts playing.

Also, if anyone wants to animate Wesley Crusher in the style of Filmation, I would be massively supportive of that.

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Comments (17)

  1. OMG! I want this so bad! In grade school, I couldn’t wait for Saturday mornings for new Star Trek. Heck, the first chapter book I bought with my own money was Alan Dean Foster’s adaptation of ST:TAS, Star Trek Log One.

  3. Spent decades looking for a soundtrack to the animated series. Finally, a couple of months ago I found on Spotify the album “Music From The Star Trek Saga Volume 2” by The Meridian Studio Orchestra. The a section of music from Next Generation, Deep Space Nine…and the Animated Series. It’s rare to come across Star Trek music that sounds as good as the official release, but they did it.
    The CD is available on Amazon as well.
    Hope this helps.

  6. I was blown away when I saw this!! I doubt I’m the only one who sent this to you, but I’m really excited to see how much you enjoyed it! the video is so accurate to the style of Filmation’s work.

  7. Yeah, but…can’t we have both? I like Wesley! I know some people didn’t. But he’s super great to all of us bookish nerd types who really do try our best. I was really hoping Wesley showed up in Picard, because it would’ve been such a great boon to the GenXers who followed the script & then the world fell apart. What does that do to a person, particularly an overachiever like Wes was?

  10. Does anyone actually know how big a Borg cube actually is? I recognize that the animation here isn’t to scale. But I’ve always thought (and even fantasized) that, side by side, it would very much dwarf the Enterprise-D.

    1. @Eric
      Each edge of the Borg cube was about 3km per edge. 3000 meters to the Enterprise D’s length of 642 meters. So you’re absolutely not wrong.

  12. “How We Animated Star Trek: TNG: TAS” just landed yesterday, and I heartily recommend watching all the way to the very end.

  13. Pingback: STAR TREK: TNG – THE ANIMATED SERIES vignette quickly goes VIRAL! (interview with JUSTIN LEE) – Fan Film Factor

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