Less organic intellectuals than morbid symptoms

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L.I. Underhill is a media critic and historian specializing in pop culture, with a focus on science fiction (especially Star Trek) and video games. Their projects include a critical history of Star Trek told through the narrative of a war in time, a “heretical” history of The Legend of Zelda series and a literary postmodern reading of Jim Davis' Garfield.

5 Comments

  1. Jacob Nanfito
    December 9, 2013 @ 8:15 am

    I absolutely adore The Animated Series and I can't wait to see some exploration of it here. It's criminally underrated in Trek circles, and I've yet to come across anyone seriously discussing it other than to say it's fun or make fun of it.

    This episode is magnificent … and presses all of my nostalgia buttons. I adore the look of this … limited animation and all … as you say, it's quite beautiful, and I think uniquely fits Trek in a surreal, comic book, Saturday morning kind-of-way. I wish they'd made a 1970s Doctor Who Pertwee/Baker cartoon in this style.

    Anyway, I think TAS is where Star Trek really takes off. The best is yet to come…

    Reply

  2. FlexFantastic
    December 9, 2013 @ 9:07 am

    I'll admit, I've watched TAS a couple times (I picked up the DVD set when it was released a few years ago) but never totally got into it. I remember being quite impressed with this episode – your enthusiastic review here seems to confirm my foggy memory of its quality – but only a few other episodes are really standing out in my mind right now.

    I look forward to seeing TAS get an in-depth treatment.

    Reply

  3. K. Jones
    December 9, 2013 @ 12:03 pm

    Thank god TAS is on NetFlix. The only episode I've really seen in full was the big Spock/Vulcan/Guardian of Forever one, and I found it brief but memorable, with little superfluous fluff. I anticipate the rest of the episodes will also feature punchy stories and little wasted space.

    The voice cast impressed me big-time. It is jarring, the disconnectedness of those voices dubbing in a studio – that technical bit always makes it hard for me to get into TAS – but never the ease in which the actors maintained their characters.

    Reply

  4. Daru
    January 28, 2014 @ 9:30 am

    I recently watched this first episode for the first time since being a child and it stirred such feelings of nostalgia. Love that you are writing about it. Looking forwards to rediscovering TAS with you.

    Reply

  5. Daru
    February 10, 2014 @ 7:16 am

    Gotta say – LOVE the english transporter operator.

    Reply

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