Can it be it’s been 50 years since the animated Star Trek premiered on television? Yes, it’s true. To commemorate the anniversary, Michael Coate of The Digital Bits assembled a team of Trek experts to talk about it on his website, here. The speakers are myself, plus animation historian Jerry Beck, Michael and Denise Okuda, Jeff Bond, Scott Mantz, David Gerrold, Mark A. Altman, and Daren Dochterman. We were each questioned separately, and now that our opinions have been collected, it’s nice to see that we’re pretty much in agreement.

Here’s a taste.

How, or why should the show be remembered? My response was this:

(1) As a noble effort to keep the Star Trek franchise alive until a better incarnation came along.

(2) For expanding the potential of Star Trek in the medium of animation, allowing for extensive use of nonhumans, exotic worlds and wondrous starships (e.g. “Beyond the Farthest Star”).

(3) For its cheap production values.

In 2022 Gazelle Automations replicated the Filmation style for Star Trek: The Next Generation,

and Star Trek: Voyager.

(4) For introducing new concepts into Star Trek canon—such as the holodeck (called a “rec deck” here), visualizing Spock’s pet sehlat, Robert April as the first captain of the Enterprise, and David Gerrold identifying the “T” in James T. Kirk: “Tiberius.”

(5) For continuing the Enterprise’s five-year mission. (Though, does Captain Pike’s tenure count or was that a separate five-year mission?)

(6) For daring to tell mature stories on Saturday morning. (Well, some more than others.) Some characters actually died.

(7) For keeping American animation artists employed. This was a time when American studios—other than Filmation—started sending animation work overseas. Star Trek: The Animated Series was an early credit for Glen Keane, who served as a layout artist. He later joined Disney and became one of their top animators.

(8) Showcasing James Doohan’s talent as a voiceover actor, performing multiple roles including Lt. Arex. He had done voiceovers as well in the original series. He would later play Commander Canarvin in the first season of Filmation’s Jason of Star Command.

(9) For continuing Gene Roddenberry’s philosophies torn from the pages of The National Enquirer: that Outer Space Aliens visited Earth, masqueraded as deities and gave us culture, and that mankind will one day evolve into Giant Space Slugs.

(10) As the only Star Trek series to win an Emmy Award in a non-technical category.

Go to Digital Bits for the rest of our comments.