Star Trek: The Animated Series: "More Tribbles, More Troubles"

It's Stardate 5392.4, and the U.S.S.Enterprise leads a convoy of robot ships and their grain shipment to Sherman's Planet, a developing world where both the United Federation of Planets and Klingon Empire have staked a claim.

The Enterprise must divert course, however, to rescue a single-man spaceship under attack by a Klingon battle-cruiser. Aboard that tiny ship is Cyrano Jones, "intergalactic trader and general nuisance."  

The Klingons, lead by Commander Koloth, accuse Jones of being an "environmental saboteur" and will stop at nothing to secure his capture, including invade Federation space and utilize a new weapon, a "projected stasis field."

While Kirk contends with the Klingons, he must also tussle with Jones, who has "genetically altered" his multitudinous tribbles so that they don't reproduce.  Instead, they merely grow to colossal size...

Cyrano has also brought aboard another animal, a genetically-engineered tribble predator called a "glommer..."

I enjoy tribbles as much as the next Trekker, but the Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) sequel "More Tribbles, More Troubles" reminds me of a great line from the classic, live-action tribble episode: 

"Too much of anything, even love, is not necessarily a good thing."

Given the possibilities of Star Trek in animation, this is a story that might have gazed at tribbles from almost any viewpoint, or in any environment.  

What if they -- cute little parasites -- got loose on a Federation world and were causing starvation and famine? 

What if the Enterprise found the tribble home-world?  

What if we saw an episode from the Klingon perspective, in which the tribbles represented an environmental threat?

Those are just a few story-telling possibilities that would have extended audience understanding and enjoyment of those delightful, purring little fur-balls.

But instead, "More Tribbles, More Troubles" is content to rehash all the funny scenes from "The Trouble with Tribbles" and hope that the audience will find them funny on witnessing them a second time.  

Some specific examples:

A tribble decides to make a nest of Captain Kirk's command chair, much like one did in the live-action show.  

In this animated episode, the tribbles get into the all-important grain and eat it, just like they did on K-7.  

Here, a put-upon Captain Kirk gets buried in a pile of tribbles, just as he did near the storage compartments of that space station. 

And, in the end, the answer is to beam the tribbles over to a Klingon ship, just as it was before.

Both episodes even end with a play on words from Scotty, replacing "trouble" with "tribble."

I'm mindful that this story was designed for children, to air on Saturday mornings, but Star Trek, even at its lightest and least ambitious ought to be more than play time with tribbles, and most other episodes of this Saturday morning series certainly are.   

There will no doubt be people who note in defense that this episode is supposed to be fun, or just plain funny,  and I agree that this was no doubt the intention.  But the massive, wholesale repetition of concepts and ideas does a lot to mitigate any sense of fun the episode hopes to engender.  

Deep Space Nine's "meta" tribble episode, "Trials and Tribble-ations" is a lot more fun and original than this particular episode of the animated series is. Overall, there's a self-congratulatory feel underlying "More Tribbles, More Troubles." It feels like a victory lap instead of an original, self-contained story.

I know the budgets were low on this series, but it's also a shame that the tribbles are portrayed here as identical....and pink. In the original episode, the tribbles showed individuality in size, shape, color and movement. Here, not so, and since they are the focus of the story, their uniform presentation is disappointing.

Also, "More Troubles, More Tribbles" doesn't really examine any of the moral implications of its narrative. 

Kirk stands by and watches as a glommer devours a living tribble, and doesn't say a word, or complain about it being, well, inhumane.  I know tribbles are "just' animals, but for a series that had recently presented a moving story in "Yesteryear" about the bond between human and animal pet, "More Tribbles, More Troubles" feels like a big step backwards.    

Also, I've never been really happy with the idea of beaming tribbles onto a Klingon ship as the solution of the week.  It got a pass on the live action show because the resolution was funny and unexpected.    But by using it again, "More Tribbles, More Troubles" gives audiences time to think about the implications. 

Essentially, Scotty is sending those tribbles over to the Klingons to die.  

Does anyone believe that the Klingons won't start murdering the tribbles --  creatures they consider vermin -- to clean up their battle ship?

Star Trek isn't often about passing your problems on to someone else -- passing the buck, as it were -- so I find it doubly disappointing that this episode repeats all the plot-points of "The Trouble with Tribbles," and then re-asserts a resolution that was borderline questionable in the first place.   

All those tribbles may be a nuisance, and they may be a threat.  But do they deserve to be exterminated by Klingons, when they weren't even responsible for leaving their natural environment in the first place?

Yep, too much of anything, even tribbles, isn't necessarily a good thing...

Star Trek: The Animated Series: "The Lorelei Signal"

The fourth episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 - 1974) is "The Lorelei Signal" by Margaret Armen, author of "Gamesters of Triskelion," and "The Paradise Syndrome" on the original series.

In this story, the U.S.S. Enterprise explores the Taurean solar system and hopes to investigate a long-standing mystery.  Specifically, every 27 years, a starship disappears near this section of the galaxy...never to be heard from again.

Soon, the Enterprise falls into the same trap. 

The lovely women of planet Taurus II transmit a signal that hypnotizes all the males aboard the Starfleet vessel.  When Kirk, Spock, Bones and a landing party of men beam down, they are immediately drugged by the beautiful, technologically-advanced sirens of this world, and then forced to wear head-bands which cause rapid aging, and which drain their life-forces.  The women of this world thrive on that life force, and need it to survive...

On board the Enterprise, Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) assumes command of the Enterprise and promotes Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett) to the role of chief medical officer.  Then, Uhura leads a landing party of female security officers to the planet to rescue the helpless males...

"The Lorelei Signal" utilizes as its source material the Greek myth about sirens who call to passing sailors, and then lead them to their doom.  The sirens appear in Homer's The Odyssey, but a variation of these beautiful (but deadly) creatures also appears in German folklore, which accounts for the title of this Star Trek episode.  In Germany, "Lorelei" (or sometimes Loreley) is a rock on the eastern bank of the Rhine.  It is also the name in folklore of a "feminine water spirit" associated with that rock.

The myth of the siren has been a near constant in science fiction television circles.  Space:1999 (1975 - 1977) -- which shot in 1973 -- featured a great variation called "The Guardian of Piri," in which the Siren was a computer, and its call was heard by all on Alpha, save for Commander Koenig (Martin Landau). 

Star Trek featured another, perhaps-less memorable variation of the idea in the 1997 Voyager tale: "Favorite Son," involving Harry Kim (Garrett Wang).

Some folks have complained, vis-a-vis "The Lorelei Signal" that the alien sirens might have just asked for help from Starleet, rather than abduct and drain male passers-by. 

Although this is true, it isn't a particularly strong criticism in terms of the Star Trek universe.  Alien races in "Wink of an Eye," "Mark of Gideon," "The Corbomite Maneuver" and many, many other installments might also have just asked for help, rather than act in what might be interpreted in hostile fashion. That's not the point. 

The point is that alien races think differently than we do, as human beings.  The arc of every Star Trek is to begin with distrust, hostility and confusion, and end with rapprochement and understanding.  "The Lorelei Signal" conforms well to this outline, and it seems silly to slam it on the basis of a criticism one could apply to probably fifty Star Trek episodes over six TV series.

I've always appreciated this episode for the opportunity it presents regarding Lt. Uhura. As I child, I remember reading that she was fourth-in-command of the Enterprise after Scotty, although I suppose Lt. Sulu could make an equal claim. Still, I would have very much enjoyed seeing Uhura take command in an Original Series episode or three, though it was not to be.  I do find it unfortunate that the only opportunity she gets in the center seat arises because ALL the men are incapacitated.  That's a bit insulting.  Uhura should command because she is a highly-qualified officer, plain and simple.

On the other hand, this Star Trek episode is extremely forward-looking because it portrays female security officers in action.  The original series never hinted at the existence of female security officers, though by the time of The Next Generation, Tasha Yar commanded the Security Division on Enterprise-D.  Still, as late as the 1990s, women in Star Trek were still seen smashing crockery over the head of the bad guy, rather then engaging in fisticuffs ("Q-Who") or phaser play, a fact which makes this episode all the more important.

One other negative observation about this particular installment: the purse strings are showing. 

I love Nichelle Nichols and Majel Barrett as much as any Trekker, but they not only voice their regular characters here, but the computer, the female security teams, and the alien sirens.  There's no attempt to disguise these voices (save for in the case of the ship's computer), and so throughout the whole episode, it sounds like only two women are talking.  Maybe one other actress could have been hired to play a role?

Star Trek: The Animated Series: "Yesteryear"

The blockbuster J.J. Abrams' Star Trek film (2009) is not the first (or only...) Trek installment over the years to alter the franchise time line in some fashion (or, more accurately, create a separate or alternate time line). 

In fact, this kind of temporal tweaking was occurring in the series as early as 1973. September 15, 1973, to be precise. 

That's the air date of story-editor D.C. Fontana's heart-felt episode, "Yesteryear." 

It's the second episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series broadcast on CBS in most U.S. cities, and -- not entirely unlike the popular Abrams' film - it was heavily Spock-centric in nature.

"My ideas were these," Fontana told me in an interview for Filmfax in 2001: "Can we see Vulcan? What kind of story can I tell there? And can I involve Spock?" 

In answering those questions, Fontana created what is undeniably the most popular episode of the animated series, and one that is also regarded as "canon" by most Star Trek fans.

"Yesteryear" opens at the planet of the Guardian of Forever (as seen in "City on the Edge of Forever.") A group of Federation scientists stand watch at the mysterious time portal as Kirk and Spock return from a visit to Orion's past.

However, something strange has occurred in their absence. The scientists don't appear to remember Spock at all. A baffled Captain Kirk hails the Enterprise, and Scotty has no memory of the half-Vulcan science-officer either. "Something appears to have changed in the time line as we know it," Spock suggests.

Indeed, this is an accurate supposition, and the first officer of the starship Enterprise in this "new" time line is now an Andorian, Mr. Thelin. Upon returning to the starship, Spock also learns that in this universe, he died at age seven, during a dangerous Vulcan rite of "maturity" called the Kahs-wan. 

Equally as troubling, Spock's death at a young age caused the dissolution of Sarek and Amanda's marriage, and Amanda was subsequently killed in a shuttle accident on her way home to Earth.

Again, I thought reflexively of the new Star Trek film, which also makes Amanda a casualty in an alternate time line.

Kirk and Spock soon realize that, in their original timeline, Spock must have actually traveled back in Vulcan history and saved his younger self from dying on Vulcan's Forge during the Kahs-wan, a ritual involving 10 days in the desert without food, water, or weapons. However, when the Federation scientists "replayed" that part of Vulcan history (some twenty-to-thirty years prior...), Spock was unavailable -- in Orion's past with Kirk -- and therefore unable to return to Vulcan and save his younger self.

In hopes of restoring himself and the timeline, Spock masquerades as Sarek's (Mark Lenard's) cousin "Selik," and returns to Vulcan in the past, near the city of ShiKahr.

There, he comes to the assistance of his younger self as the seven-year old Spock and his pet sehlat, I-Chaya, are attacked by a Vulcan dragon called a le-matya. Fans of Godzilla will recognize the roar of the le-matya as being that of their favorite Toho monster...

Unfortunately, I-Chaya is poisoned by the dragon and young Spock seeks help from a local healer, braving Vulcan's Forge and thereby passing the Vulcan rite of adulthood. For his beloved pet, however, it is too late, and the healer offers Spock a choice. The sehlat's life can be prolonged for a time -- but the animal will feel terrible pain, or the healer can release the beloved pet from all his suffering...and end his life now.

Young Spock makes the decision to end his pet's suffering, and in doing so decides that the path of his own life will follow in the Vulcan way: logic and the total repression of all emotion.

When elder Spock returns to the present on the Planet of the Guardian of Forever, he informs a waiting Kirk that the timeline has indeed been altered (or a new one created...). "One small thing was changed...a pet died," Spock informs his Captain. "Times change..." he concludes later, and in a way, that could be a tag-line for the new Star Trek too.

"Yesteryear" has always been one of my favorite episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series, in part because of the difficult but valuable message about pets, and caring for pets. When young Spock asks whether it is right to mourn the loss of his pet, his older self notes with compassion that "every life comes to an end when the time demands it," and thus there is no need to be sad about it. 

What is sad, Spock insists, is a life that has not been lived well.

Frankly, I'm amazed that a pet's (on-screen...) death made it past the censors and onto network television, on Saturday mornings, no less, in the 1970s. Filmation's Lou Scheimer, producer of the Star Trek cartoon, told me in an interview in 2001 that "a pet's death had never been done on a children's program, and it was touching and provocative. Dorothy was instrumental in making it so creative." 

When I interviewed Fontana, she told me that there was indeed a "worry about the death of the sehlat," but that "Gene Roddenberry told the networks" that she -- Fontana -- would "take care of it," in a way that acceptable. It was a story, that Fontana put "so much" of herself into...and it certainly shows, even today. If you've ever lost a beloved pet, or worse, had to make the choice of life for death for a beloved pet, you will find yourself quite moved by the last act of "Yesteryear."

Watching this episode again last night brought me right back to a terrible Thursday in April 2003, and the death of my first cat, Lulu. Our doctor offered us a similar choice: a short-term respite (through a difficult blood transfusion), or a merciful "passing" right there...and thus an end to suffering. We chose the latter option and it was -- and remains -- devastating, but I've always believed we made the right choice for her; the same choice Spock makes for his pet in this Star Trek episode. Perhaps Vulcans and humans are quite alike after all... 

Another intriguing aspect of "Yesteryear," especially in light of the 2009 film, is a scene involving young Spock being bullied by other Vulcan children about his human half. Although in the cartoon (again, a Saturday morning show...) nobody calls Amanda "a whore," the insults are still pretty harsh. 

One child tells Spock that Sarek brought shame to Vulcan by marrying a human. Another informs Spock that he can never be a "real Vulcan." This scene -- with different costumes and sets -- is played out almost exactly in the Abrams film. (And indeed, it was a moment mentioned in passing by Amanda as early as the Fontana live-action episode "Journey to Babel.")

Another reason to admire "Yesteryear" is the scope of the story. Before Abrams' film, this cartoon segment probably represented the best view of Vulcan we were afforded in Trek history. In "Yesteryear," we see the interior of Sarek and Amanda's home, the deserts of Vulcan's Forge, and a futuristic metropolis (not to mention some hover cars). These things were possible only because of animation...a live-action series of 1973 could simply never have afforded so many varied sets, props or locations.

In light of the 2009 chapter of the Star Trek story, "Yesteryear" looks even more fascinating than ever. In it, we see how a time line is changed permanently (if only in regards to a pet's destiny...), get more than a passing glimpse of modern Vulcan, and once more delve into the difficult choices Spock made in childhood: the selection between Vulcan or human philosophy. 

All in all, this may be Star Trek: The Animated Series' finest hour.

Ranking Star Trek: The Animated Series: Best to Worst

The Great:       

1.         “The Jihad”

2.         “The Slaver Weapon"

3.         “Yesteryear”

4.         “The Survivor”

5.         “The Magicks of Megas-Tu”

6.         “The Time Trap”

The Good:       

7.         “Beyond the Farthest Star"

8.         “One of Our Planets is Missing”

9.         “The Ambergris Element”

10.       “The Counter-Clock Incident”

11.       “Albatross”

12.       “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth”

The Fair:       

13.       ‘The Lorelei Signal”

14.       “The Eye of the Beholder”

15.       “Once Upon a Planet”

16.       “The Practical  Joker”

17.       “Bem”

18.       “The Pirates of Orion”

19.       “The Infinite Vulcan”

The Bad:          

20.       “The Terratin Incident”

21.       “Mudd’s Passion”

22.       “More Tribbles, More Troubles”

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Star Trek: The Animated Series: "The Counter-Clock Incident" (October 12, 1974)

STARDATE: 6770.3

The U.S.S. Enterprise ferries Commodore Robert April, the first captain of the starship, and his wife, Sarah, to the planet Babel, where they will be honored for their many years of service to the Federation.  In fact, Robert is now nearing the Starfleet’s “mandatory retirement age” of 75, and laments the fact that his journey is nearing its end.

Captain Kirk (William Shatner) diverts the Enterprise’s course, however, when sensors detect an alien space vessel traveling at Warp 36 and heading straight into the Beta Niobe supernova.  The Enterprise uses a tractor beam to grab the racing vessel, but only ends up being pulled into the nova itself.

Miraculously, the Enterprise and the other starship survive to emerge in another universe, one where the stars are black, and space is white. As Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) soon learns, however, time is also moving backwards, meaning that the crew will soon become too young to manage the controls of the starship. 

As the Enterprise teams with the captain of the alien ship -- which sought to return home to the negative universe -- Commodore April assumes command of Kirk’s starship to help guide the Enterprise safely back to its own plane of existence…

At first blush, “The Counter-Clock Incident” is another one of those very gimmicky Star Trek: The Animated Series episodes; one that seems to exist primarily because the concept is highly visual, not because it makes good story (or scientific…) sense.   Here, the Enterprise crew ages in reverse, becoming young children in the process, and yes, we’ve seen this kind of tale before.  “The Terratin Incident” featured the crew shrinking while “Mudd’s Passion” involved a love potion, and so on. 

But two qualities make “The Counter-Clock Incident” an enjoyable episode.  First and foremost, the episode examines the issue of ageism in Starfleet, which we learn here possesses a mandatory retirement age of 75.  “The Counter-Clock Incident” should indeed be commended for noting that people of various experiences and ages have something valuable to offer. 

I wonder, does the age requirement also apply to Vulcans, or only to humans? 

And also, I couldn’t help but think about Peter Capaldi here and his recent casting as the new Doctor in Doctor Who.  Have we learned anything in almost forty years, or are we still judging a person by his or her age?

Secondly, “The Counter-Clock Incident” practically overdoses on original series continuity, and frankly, that’s impressive.  Here, we learn of the building of the Enterprise at the San Francisco shipyards, and get mentions of Babel (“Journey to Babel”) and f the super-novas at both Minara (“The Empath”) and Beta Niobe (“All Our Yesterdays.”)  A Capellan flower also makes an appearance, and Capella was visited in the Star Trek episode “Friday’s Child.”  Considering that this episode was aired in 1974, before our culture had overdosed on sequels and such, it’s rather remarkable to consider the internal continuity.  Clearly, someone was paying close attention to the details of the mythos.

Still, the whole person “aging backward” trope in “Counter-Clock Incident” is one that has appeared frequently in cult-television history, and is one which I actively dislike.  This concept doesn’t possess even a borderline plausibility.  How is a baby-sized mammal (an elder) to give birth to a full-sized body (a youngster), purely from a physical standpoint?  Series such as Buck Rogers in the 25^th Century (“The Golden Man”), Mork and Mindy (in terms of Mearth), and Star Trek: Voyager (“The Innocents”) have utilized this illogical idea too, and it never quite seems plausible, in my opinion.  Is the idea that as an old person, or baby, you are just spontaneously born from “death?”  If so, how do you get the genes from your parents?

By the same token, “The Counter-Clock Incident” uses the same deus-ex-machina ending as “The Terratin Incident” and Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes such as “Lonely Among Us” and “Unnatural Selection.”  The sick or “affected” individuals go through the transporter device and are restored to normality.  As I noted a few weeks ago, the transporter is really Star Trek’s miracle medicine.  It can be used to fix anything, and renders Dr. McCoy a dunsel.

Despite the illogical story I do feel like “The Counter-Clock Incident” is one of those “feel good” episodes of Star Trek (not unlike The Voyage Home [1986], one where the happy, re-assuring emotions and pro-social value in some way trump science or even believability.  The head may be unimpressed, but the heart flutters.

“The Counter-Clock Incident” is the last episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, and I must say, I’m sorry to be at the end of the catalog.  I have thoroughly enjoyed re-visiting these stories, and feel that there are several “undiscovered” gems here.  Sure, there are stinkers too (“More Tribbles, More Troubles,” “Mudd’s Passion,” “The Terratin Incident”), but there are perhaps six-to-ten absolute stand out installments too, and that’s not a bad batting average for a series that ran for 22 episodes.

Next week for Saturday morning blogging, I start two new series.  I'll begin my retrospective of the 1990s Land of the Lost and also the 1975 animated series, Return to the Planet of the Apes.

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Star Trek: The Animated Series: "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" (October 5, 1974)

STARDATE: 6063.4

The U.S.S. Enterprise tracks the origins of a mysterious alien space probe which recently scanned Earth and headed out into deep space.  The ship encounters on its path a giant space vessel surrounded by an "immense energy field."  

The incredibly-advanced ship, which can transform into a giant serpent, is the home of an alien called Kukulkan.  As ship's navigator Ensign Walking Bear notes, Kukulkan is also the name of a God from Aztec and Mayan legends: a winged being who came down from the sky and brought "knowledge" with him.  Unfortunately, this "God" is also a vengeful one, and demands that the Enterprise crew worship him...

Written by Russell Bates and David Wise, "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" takes its title from Shakespeare's King Lear.  The rest of the quote goes "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child."  Therefore, this episode's title takes Kukulkan's perspective, and  refers to humanity as his "ungrateful" children.

This is an important aspect, actually, of Star Trek's creative equation.  On more than one occasion in the franchise, mankind is described as being a "child-like" species, one taking its first steps into a larger universe. 

And simultaneously, in episodes such as "Who Mourns for Adonis Adonais" -- a clear antecedent to this animated entry -- man is seen as ungrateful, but ultimately necessarily so.  None of us can remain children forever, and any parent figure, whether Apollo or Kukulkan, who asks us to do so is asking for something that can't be given.  "We've grown up now," Kirk tells Kukulkan here.  "We don't need you anymore."

Those words are a knife in any parent's heart, to be certain, but also an expression of the fact that the task of parenting has been accomplished in sterling fashion.  The goal of all parents is -- or should be -- to raise self-sufficient, self-directed beings, ones capable of thriving and growing independently.  Still, those words must hurt, and I like that Kirk very much acknowledges that hurt in the coda of this story by referencing the line from Shakespeare.

Although some viewers may perceive "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" as a rehash of other tales, I've always enjoyed this episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, in part because I like the idea of God as an old, lonely being, a parental figure who doesn't know, in the end, when it is time to let go.  This makes the God in this case rather sympathetic.

Secondly, I like the new character, Ensign Walking Bear character, and his contributions to the story. I suspect that Walking Bear is the first Native American crew member we meet on the Enterprise, though the DC comics of the 1980s also featured a Native American named Bearclaw, if memory serves.  And of course, Chakotay was a major character on Voyager in the 1990s.

From a visual standpoint, this episode of the second season is also, surely, a budget-buster.  Kukulkan not only boasts an alien zoo (replete with a horta...), but a spaceship interior which can re-form into a giant interactive puzzle built from the architectural flourishes of various Earth cultures.

Next week: the final episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series: "The Counter Clock Incident."

Star Trek: The Animated Series: View Master

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Star Trek: The Animated Series: "Albatross" (September 28, 1974)

STARDATE 5275.6

The U.S.S. Enterprise delivers life-saving medicine to the planet Dramia, and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is surprised when the planet’s Supreme Prefect produces a warrant for the arrest of Dr. Leonard McCoy (De Forest Kelley). 

The Prefect claims McCoy is under arrest for the “wanton slaughter of hundreds of people” during a plague that ravaged Dramia 2 some nineteen years earlier.

Kirk can do nothing to prevent McCoy’s incarceration since the warrant is legal and binding. However, he orders the Enterprise to Dramia 2 to investigate the doctor’s guilt or innocence.  One of the Prefect’s men comes aboard the Enterprise to demand the investigation be dropped, but Kirk impounds his craft and classifies him as a “stowaway.”

On ruined, abandoned Dramia 2, Kirk and Spock meet a witness, Koltai, who will vouch for McCoy’s innocence, and he volunteers to speak at the doctor’s trial. 

On the return trip to Dramia, however, the Enterprise passes through a mysterious aurora, and the nineteen year old plague suddenly re-asserts itself, infecting Koltai, Kirk, and the entire Enterprise crew save for Mr. Spock.

Now, only Doctor McCoy -- a man still in custody -- can save the Enterprise.

Over the years, Star Trek has often returned to the idea of an officer on the Enterprise being accused of a crime, an accusation that then warrants an investigation by his dedicated friends.  

On the Original Series, Kirk was held for trial in “Court Martial,” Mr. Spock was held in “The Menagerie” and Scotty in “Wolf in the Fold.” 

In later generations, Riker faced trial in The Next Generation’s “A Matter of Perspective” O’Brien did the same in Deep Space Nine’s “Tribunal” and Paris was tried and punished in Voyager’s “Ex Post Facto.”

McCoy gets his turn on trial in this Animated Series episode, “Albatross.”  Despite the (over)familiarity of the premise – a hero wrongly accused of a crime – this episode nonetheless counts as one of the best of the cartoon canon in my estimation.  

In part, this is because the episode isn’t a sequel to another episode, doesn't feature familiar villains (like Klingons or Romulans), and isn’t pitched on a juvenile or "kiddie" level.  On the contrary, the teleplay by Dario Finelli would fit right in on the Original Series, save for the budget-busting depiction of the Dramians, their shuttlecraft, and their plague-ridden world. I particularly enjoyed the latter element of this story, the excursion to the ruined planet surface, a place now abandoned and feared by citizens of the solar system.

But I also appreciate this episode because it takes time to develop McCoy, a character whom we know very little about.  I know that The Final Frontier (1989) isn’t a popular film with fans, but it is nonetheless one of the few franchise entries to provide any character background whatsoever on Bones.  

“Albatross” fits in the same small category.  

We know that, according to this episode, he was on Dramia 2 nineteen years before was serving aboard the Enterprise, and furthermore, we get to witness the essential nobility of his character here.  Bones doesn’t argue that it is impossible that he caused a plague; he merely argues that if he is responsible, it was the result of a terrible mistake.  Furthermore, he resists jailbreak on Dramia, so as not to make a bad situation worse.  He is, in short, a real hero.

By focusing on McCoy and the crew’s efforts to clear his name, and by avoiding gimmicks like giants or love potions, “Albatross” emerges as one of the most adult and satisfying of Star Trek: The Animated Series.  It’s an episode that deserves a better reputation than it currently possesses.

The only negative in "Albatross:" a big blooper in the final scene. In one frame set in the transporter room, McCoy is seen to be wearing a gold tunic instead of his standard blue one.

Next week: “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth.”

Star Trek The Animated Series: Board Game (Hasbro)

Star Trek: The Animated Series: Nickelodeon Promo

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Star Trek: The Animated Series: "The Practical Joker" (September 21, 1974)

STARDATE: 3183.3

The U.S.S. Enterprise conducts a routine geological survey of “Type 4” asteroids, but comes under surprise attack from Romulan forces. 

The Romulan commander accuses the Federation starship of violating its territorial space, and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) engineers a dangerous escape by ordering the Enterprise through an “unidentified energy field” of “highly-charged subatomic particles.”

Although Kirk’s ship and crew are safe from further Romulan attack, his ship begins to suffer from a series of strange practical jokes.  Spock (Leonard Nimoy) ends up with black-eye circles on his lids after gazing through his library computer hood, and the food dispenser throws a pie in Scotty’s (James Doohan’s) face.

Meanwhile, Bones (DeForest Kelley), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Sulu (George Takei) become trapped in the Enterprise’s rec room, which is able to create any environment known to man by rearranging matter and energy.  Soon, they find themselves moving from one environment to the next, including a blizzard, in an attempt to stay alive.

Kirk and Spock soon realize that an alien entity from the space cloud -- a practical joker -- now inhabits the Enterprise’s main computer.  Worse, the Romulans are back!

The Star Trek: The Next Generation plot-device of the “holodeck malfunction” gets its first try-out in this Star Trek: The Animated Series episode from 1974. 

In “The Practical Joker,” the audience witnesses members of the Enterprise crew visiting the so-called “rec room,” and there’s even an early version of the control arch seen in various frames (though it is a stand-up console, and not a door-arch.)

I’ve always considered the holodeck to be a writer’s crutch on The Next Generation, so I’m not thrilled to see it here, but this episode undeniably forecasts the use of the plot device (and the idea of crew men being caught in a blizzard, a notion re-visited in “The Big Goodbye.”)  In a sense, this plot-line actually goes back to Original Trek, and the episode “Wolf in the Fold.”  There, a non-corporeal life form (Jack the Ripper) “possessed” the ship’s computer.  Virtually the same thing happens here, except the entity is not evil, merely naughty.

Impressively, “The Practical Joker” also manages a budget-buster that only the format of animation could have achieved and afforded in this era.  One scene reveals the Enterprise crew experiencing weightlessness when the alien being begins to play with the starship’s gravity control.  Star Trek fans would have to wait for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) to see a starship crew (Klingon in this case…) rendered weightless in live-action..

Less enjoyable by far is the underwhelming depiction of the Romulans in “The Practical Joker.”  In this story, they attempt to start a war with the Federation, even though the Enterprise never wandered into the Empire’s territory.  In “The Survivor,” the Romulans used a similar gambit, with the same lack of success.  It seems odd that the Romulans of the Animated Series are so hell-bent on luring the Federation into a war, and using the Enterprise as the flash-point of such a conflict. 

Finally, the episode’s valedictory conceit, that the alien cloud/practical joker should be transferred to an enemy, the Romulans, is a clear reflection of the resolution in the original “The Trouble with Tribbles.”

Next week: “Albatross.”

Cult-TV Gallery: Star Trek: The Animated Series: The Finest Crew in the Galaxy...

Saturday Morning Cult-TV Blogging: Star Trek: The Animated Series: "Bem" (September 14, 1974)

STARDATE: 7403.6

The U.S.S. Enterprise explores a world called Delta Theta III, and discovers that a race of aboriginal Saurians dwell there.  These aliens are under “Prime Directive protection” according to Captain Kirk (William Shatner), and this means any landing parties must explore the world with discretion.

Unfortunately, a colony creature known as Ai Bn Bem (from the planet Pandro) -- an honorary Starfleet Commander and independent observer -- demands to be included on the landing party and is “adamant” about his participation.  Almost immediately, however, he interferes with standard operating procedures, fooling with the ship’s transporters and Starfleet equipment such as the communicators.

The Enterprise landing party soon learns that the aborigines are protected by a Mother-like “God” alien, one that doesn’t want anyone to hurt her “children.” 

Bem’s actions, however, threaten that divine edict and the safety of the landing party…

David Gerrold’s second contribution to Star Trek: The Animated Series is brimming with good, inventive ideas, but ultimately they don’t cohere into a better-than-average installment of the series.  

Is “Bem” a wacky comedy, one in which Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk crack-wise and do pratfalls?  Here, they accidentally beam down...into the water, and at one point, Kirk jokes about wishing he were a librarian instead of a Starfleet Captain.  

If the episode is supposed to be a comedy, however, Bem's actions are hardly funny. He sabotages Starfleet equipment, constantly puts Starfleet officers in danger, and finally even jeopardizes the normal development of a primitive alien culture.  The Prime Directive may be bent, stretched or broken in Star Trek, but it is rarely a laughing matter.

Or, contrarily, is "Bem" a parable about parenting, right down to its discussion of the merits of discipline and punishment?  I think it actually works better if considered in this light, but again, the comedy shtick seems to work against the narrative and theme.

The answer regarding "Bem's" tone isn’t entirely forthcoming, and so this episode doesn’t reach the series’ highest tier.  This fact established, “Bem” is a veritable well-spring of ideas, and many of the concepts featured here recur in later franchise entries, notably The Next Generation’s “Justice” and “Matter of Honor.”

In the former TNG episode, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew visit a planet where a God-like being -- in this case a father, not a mother -- protects a race of innocents, not Saurians but “the Edo,” from off-world interference.   

In the latter episode, the Enterprise plays host to another alien exchange students of sorts, a Benzite officer who has trouble integrating his behavior with Starfleet protocols and decorum.  “Bem” is pretty clearly an early version of both of these tales.

Despite its introduction of these concepts, there’s the unshakable feeling with “Bem” that everything is just a little off, perhaps the result of a hurried or difficult schedule. For instance, Shatner’s reading of the Captain’s Log introduction is bizarre to say the least, almost like he is confused about the details he is relaying. His reading here, in fact, feels totally out-of-step with the Captain’s Log entries of every Animated Series episode thus far.  Seriously, listen to his line readings and cadences here.  What was he thinking?

The most visually distinctive but also, alas, juvenile concept of “Bem” is the idea that the alien visitor is a “colony creature.”  This is a concept already utilized by Gerrold on this series, in “More Tribbles, More Troubles.”  There, giant tribbles weren’t actually giants at all…but colonies of the creatures forming together as kind of gestalt organisms.  Bem is the same deal all over again, but to see the alien’s body parts fly off, independently of one another, fails to inspire or awe. Bem seems, in visualization, more like a high-concept gimmick than a legitimate alien life form.

Such criticism duly noted, I should confess that I've always appreciated “Bem’s” final human and humane point: that capital punishment isn’t very useful or productive.  How can a victim of such punishment learn from his errors if not granted a second chance?  After all, the death penalty doesn't bring anyone back to life. “What is punishment? Revenge?” asks the gentle God creature (voiced by Nichelle Nichols), and that’s a nice Star Trek-ian message.  

You just know a Saturday morning TV series is operating on a commendable level of complexity if an episode like "Bem" is able to explore so profoundly the line between vengeance and justice.  I've always been a big fan of David Gerrold's work (non-fiction, fiction and for television...), and there's a lot to like about "Bem" even if it doesn't entirely come together in the end.

Next week: “The Practical Joker”