Star Trek animated episode reviews
FIRST SEASON
Beyond the Farthest Star - While exploring, the ship is pulled near a dead star and a really old alien ship...that still holds some sort of powerful being which wants to escape. This one served as the pilot of these continuing, animated adventures and was decent, with a believable bluff used at the end to break free of the entity. Other features: this series' episodes clock in at about 23 minutes apiece, just half the length of the original series' episodes. rating: fair
Yesteryear - This one's premise involved a problem in the present following the use of the Guardian of Forever...which necessitated another trip into the past. This just doesn't seem scalable - but it did give adult Spock a chance to shine and to influence child spock. rating: fair
One of Our Planets Is Missing - A giant space cloud is consuming everything it touches, but it turns out to be a living organism which means the crew can ultimately communicate with it and make it understand that what it's doing is bad. Given a severe choice here, Kirk opted to avoid further death and destruction. Oh, and the new navigator, Arex, finally speaks (although his perpetual grinning facial expression never once changes.) rating: fair
The Lorelei Signal - A certain area of space has been associated with starship disappearances every 27 years, and it's that time again, so of course the Enterprise heads there. This one had a small group of women who needed the life force of men to survive. Fortunately, Uhura takes charge and gets shit sorted out. rating: fair
More Tribbles, More Troubles - This one was a humor episode, featuring the return of smuggler Cyrano Jones and tribbles...and Klingons, plus a few plot twists. Entertaining, but not too serious. rating: fair
The Survivor - The ship picks up a celebrity but doesn't do a thorough job of vetting him, which leads to a misadventure with the Romulans. Other features: a shape-shifting alien, aggressive Romulans, and the first appearance of Lieutenant M'Ress, a feline-like alien crew member who filled in for Uhura. rating: fair
The Infinite Vulcan - They beam down to a planet and find a dying alien race led by a refugee from Earth's past - who have teamed up with a plan to bring peace to the galaxy. But to do that, they need Spock. Other features: plant-based life forms, the others walking calmly to investigate after hearing Sulu scream, a guy who clones himself every so often, a giant Spock-clone. rating: fair
The Magicks of Megas-tu - The ship explores the galaxy's center and is transported to a universe of magic, and magical beings. It had some interesting ideas, including the link to events in Earth's past, but ultimately...magic? Other features: a half-man, half-goat creature. rating: fair
Once Upon a Planet - The ship returns to the entertainment planet from Shore Leave but find that things aren't as they should be. Other features: An early instance of AI realizing things. rating: fair
Mudd's Passion - Scoundrel Harry Mudd returns, with a "love potion" that (along with his inherent nature) causes problems. Call me a heretic, but I never thought the Mudd character, or his episodes, were that good. Other features: the entire ship being impacted by the potion, giant rock monsters on the planet below. rating: poor
The Terratin Incident - While tracking a strange signal, they find themselves shrinking...and must figure out how to reverse this effect before they vanish. Other features: city full of tiny people. rating: fair
The Time Trap - Both the Enterprise and a Klingon ship end up in a group of ships trapped in a Bermuda Triangle of space, and they must work together to escape before it's too late. Other features: numerous alien races trapped in the void, the fact that all of them have completely given up on ever trying to escape, the joining of the two ships for the escape attempt. rating: good
The Ambergris Element - They explore a water planet, but Kirk and Spock get mutated into aquatic versions of themselves. This was a (mostly) underwater episode, and was a decent adventure. Other features: a shuttlecraft that can go underwater...after stunning the giant sea monster, they go check it out instead of fleeing. rating: fair
The Slaver Weapon - While transporting one valuable, ancient artifact, Spock detects the presence of another and goes looking for it...which results in his small team (and the initial item) being captured. Other features: this is a bottle episode featuring no Enterprise and only three crew members...powerful "stasis boxes" that are a billion years old and preserve anything inside...the hostile alien Kzinti from episide writer Larry Niven's other works, yet another appearance and use of the life-support belts. rating: fair
The Eye of the Beholder - The landing party is abducted and put into a giant zoo by super-intelligent alien slugs. This was a decent basic plot, but some aspects of their eventual escape didn't make good sense. Other features: members of a past Starfleet expedition who were also kept in the zoo. rating: fair
The Jihad - Kirk and Spock participate in a secret mission, teaming up with a group of assorted aliens to prevent a great holy war by a warrior race. Sorry, but this mission could have been done better and faster using all the many resources at their disposal; the plot felt like a way to force these people to work together with limited weapons and equipment, in a dangerous place. Other features: the same flying purple monsters as in the last eisde, a huntress-alien with a New York accent. rating: poor
SECOND SEASON
The Pirates of Orion - As Spock slwly dies of a disease, Kirk confronts some rather hard-headed pirates. rating: fair
Bem - A representative from a new planet interferes with a mission. Frankly, that guy was a damn idiot; he _caused_ serious problems and then criticized Kirk for not being able to solve them. The whole thing was just stupid and seemed pointless. Other features: the idiot was able to split his body into multiple pieces, the presence of yet another super-powerful alien intelligence on a primitive planet. rating: poor
The Practical Joker - After passing through a strange energy storm, the ship's computer is corrupted, which manifests as it playing jokes on the crew. I know this was a comedy episode, but I found it largely idiotic and difficult to sit through. Other features: Romulans itching for a fight, first appearance of the holodeck. rating: poor
Albatross - McCoy is accused of causing a plague 19 years ago, but all is not as it seems. This was somewhat entertaining but felt like a re-hash of some plots from the original series. rating: fair
How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth - They encounter an alien who seems to have been the root of multiple god-legends from Earth's past. This was a fairly standard deity-meets-people story, in which the superior being requires explanation of why it can't expect blind obedience and why a species needs to be left to mature on its own. Other features: random Native american crewmember shoehorned into the plot (and the bridge crew) to facilitate explanation and understanding of the ancient legends. rating: fair
The Counter-Clock Incident - The ship is pulled into a reverse universe where time moves backwards, and must escape before they de-age into babies. Interesting concept. Other features: guest-star Robert April (first captain of the Enterprise) and his wife, who end up being key to the plot...the ship moving at warp 22 for a short time. rating: fair