The Animated Series 1x16 "The Jihad"

rating: *

Memory Alpha summary

via Gutter Talk Comics

Sort of a mix between the original series episode "Journey to Babel," Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, and the Next Generation episode "The Chase," "The Jihad" is a group quest that's rife with peril and betrayal.

It's another episode that's pretty series-specific otherwise, what could easily have been a defining story.  And it happens to be the first season finale.  If things had been different, and the series lasted much past a few episodes in the second season, "Jihad" might have a more significant reputation, because in a lot of ways it's almost a prototype for how later Star Trek would begin ending seasons.

Instead it's another more or less one-and-done episode with a one-and-done significant new species never seen again, and a bunch of others besides.  Sounds less impressive that way, doesn't it?  What I mean to say is, "Jihad" is a transition between what the franchise had been and what it would become.  Or almost.

Perhaps most interesting is guest voice actor David Gerrold, who is best known as screenwriter for the classic "Trouble with Tribbles" from the original series as well as "More Troubles, More Tribbles" and "Bem" from this one.

four quarter analysis
franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:
James Doohan
David Gerrold

The Animated Series 1x15 "The Eye of the Beholder"

rating: *

Memory Alpha summary

via the Agony Booth (still fun for the whole family!)

Perhaps bearing the distinction of the most subdued episode of the series, "Eye of the Beholder" takes the opposite tack seen in various other franchise stories concerning the relative intelligence of humans.  Whereas it was common for god-like beings to belittle the idea, "Beholder" is actually more akin to the revelation about the Horta in the original series episode "Devil in the Dark."

As in, don't judge a book by its cover.  Our heroes are put in an alien zoo, and must convince their captors that they don't belong there.

And that's about it, really.  A pretty simple affair, nothing too flashy, a much more cerebral experience than is typical for the series, less dominated by the visual flair animation made so tempting, or falling back on familiar elements.  It's an episode, generally, that could easily have fit in with its live action predecessors.  

four quarter analysis

franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:

Majel Roddenberry

James Doohan

The Animated Series 1x14 "The Slaver Weapon"

rating: ***

Memory Alpha summary

Continuing the series-specific hotstreak from "The Ambergris Element," "The Slaver Weapon" is another quintessential episode.

via the Viewscreen

In a one-and-done affair, "Slaver Weapon" features the Kzinti, who might be considered this show's true Klingons (featured for the only time in "Ambergris").  I've always wanted to reconcile the Kzinti with a hostile species mentioned in Deep Space Nine ("The Adversary"), the Tzenkethi.  (Apparently Robert Hewitt Wolfe agrees.)

The Kzinti might be considered at the very least the Gorn of the series.  They're one of several distinctly alien species that have never appeared elsewhere, even in the expanded CGI depictions from Enterprise, and they alone merit an entire episode featuring their impact as a species as well as a fairly extensive look at their culture.

In the episode, they contend with Starfleet in pursuit of an ancient weapon.  The only truly unfortunate element is the name of the species who created the weapon.  

This is your chance to see what Kirk-era Star Trek is like without Kirk, by the way, and of course that's the more objective selling point of "Slaver Weapon."  It's an episode that features Spock squarely in the lead, supported by Sulu and Uhura.  Scotty and McCoy join Kirk in omission, though Jimmy Doohan remains in his versatile voice acting capacity.  As a Spock episode, it's perhaps not very enlightening, other than the fact that he clearly can carry Star Trek just as well as Kirk.  Historically significant in that regard.

four quarter analysis
franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:
James Doohan
Majel Roddenberry

The Animated Series 1x13 "The Ambergris Element"

rating: **

Memory Alpha summary

"The Ambergris Element" may be the best possible example of what only this series could get away with.

via Let's Watch Star Trek

A combination of the pacing that syncs up perfectly with the animation style and the storytelling itself makes for an episode that is quintessentially Animated Series.  Kirk and Spock end up being transformed into water-breathers.  Watching them cope, or even just watching them swim, in the way the series tended to recycle scenes, puts a focus on the key differences between what was at that point the two contrasting Star Trek experiences.  While everything at that point was virtually the same, style and cast members, the expanded possibilities of animation had always promised to expand storytelling potential.  Here, in its own element, the series achieves exactly that.

It's almost sublime, really, watching this moment finally happen, as if the creators stopped trying to force it to happen, and stopped trying to recreate the original series itself.  Watching "Ambergris" ought to be considered the ultimate test as to whether or not you "get" the series at all.

Otherwise it really is just another episode of the series, with all the same basic elements, a heavy emphasis on a strange environment and strange aliens inhabiting it, the essence of the franchise in many respects, just having fun, which is something you realize perhaps this series does best as it nearly completely dispenses with any real concern over how the characters react or if they have lives of their own going on.  Given the failure of Deep Space Nine to find a significant portion of fan support, one might argue that this may in fact be the ideal.

four quarter analysis
franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:
James Doohan
Majel Roddenberry

The Animated Series 1x12 "The Time Trap"

rating: *

Memory Alpha summary

via Agony Booth (ouch!)

The Voyager episode "The Void," Enterprise's Xindi Council, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Next Generation's "Birthright Part II," and indeed the whole concept of the Federation all feature elements viewers of "The Time Trap" will find familiar.

It's the idea of an interspecies coalition.  As in "The Void," "Time Trap" features a reluctant one intended to make the best of a bad situation, and the featured crew looking for a way out of the unique circumstances that have forced everyone together, a given region of space that is the true trap of the story.  The other trap, the one concerning time, is an unnecessary layer that is basically irrelevant except as an element of added danger.

More significantly, perhaps, is that "Time Trap features Kor, one of the major Klingons of the franchise, usually portrayed by John Colicos but here voiced by Jimmy Doohan.  Kor debuted in the original series episode "Errand of Mercy" and was one of three Klingons from that time to later appear in Deep Space Nine ("Blood Oath"), ending up the longest-tenured in that regard with two additional appearances ("Sword of Kahless," "Once More Unto the Breach").

Which of course also makes this a Klingon episode.  As with Klingon appearances in the preceding live action series, the famed warrior race to this point has perhaps a far greater reputation than actual presence.  It isn't until the next Klingons appear in the franchise, with newly-revised appearances, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, four major roles in subsequent sequels, and the figure of Worf, that they're actually as prominent as they seem to be all along.  Without any of these later appearances, Klingons would have gone the way of Harry Mudd.

Thankfully they don't.  "Time Trap" is in some ways a rehash of previous Klingons episodes, a forced alliance and stab at peace, that sort of thing.

Perhaps the most significant element is a far harder one to recognize: this is the first time George Takei is allowed to join the voice actor talent pool outside of his most familiar role (Sulu), something Doohan and Nichelle Nichols, along with Majel Roddenberry, have been during throughout the series already.

The interspecies alliance features cameos from a number of familiar aliens, from Romulans and Orions to some that are unique to the series.  But this is not a particularly notable showcase for any of them.

four quarter analysis

franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:

George Takei

Nichelle Nichols

James Doohan

The Animated Series 1x11 "The Terratin Incident"

rating: *

Memory Alpha summary

Honestly, if Deep Space Nine hadn't also done an episode where the crew shrinks ("One Little Ship"), I'd be tempted to dismiss "The Terratin Incident" as completely skippable.

And there you are, too, what happens for the majority of the episode: the crew shrinks, making various comments about their predicament.  It's exactly the kind of episode you'd expect from a show that can get away with anything without worrying about the budget.  The later (and in fact final) episode "The Counter-Clock Incident" features a similarly silly premise, the crew aging backward all the way to infants! but at least features a guest character who can carry the dramatic weight that otherwise keeps the action grounded in something fans can take a little more seriously.

via Tumblr.  Look at the size of that Kirk!  (Best I got.)

You have to wait until the end of the episode for any other element to be featured, which actually isn't that bad.  Honestly, a lot of otherwise bad stories, not just from Star Trek, could easily be redeemed if the good stuff weren't buried.  In this instance, "Terratin" turns into a kind of Kirk version of Brainiac from Superman lore.  Brainiac is a collector of worlds, famously creating the Bottle City of Kandor in the midst of Krypton's last days.  Unlike Brainiac, Kirk is doing the Terratins a favor.

Some allusions could be made to other franchise adventures in population relocation, but none of them like this.  

Otherwise, this is a silly episode.  It's a prime reason why most fans have a hard time taking the series seriously.  But then "One Little Ship" had to happen later.  And so we have yet another reason to reappraise the show's creative decisions, for good and otherwise.  

four quarter analysis

franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:

Nichelle Nichols

Majel Roddenberry

James Doohan

Roddenberry, Kelley, Doohan, and now Nimoy

Gene Roddenberry: October 24, 1991
Mark Leonard: November 22, 1996
DeForest Kelley: June 11, 1999
James Doohan: July 20, 2005
Majel Roddenberry: December 18, 2008
Ricardo Montalban: January 14, 2009

and now

Leonard Nimoy: February 27, 2015