Bonus! Why was Star Trek: The Animated Series accidentally good?
The animated Star Trek spinoff should have been cheap and terrible ... but thanks to a fluke of timing and a very brave demand from Leonard Nimoy, it wound up having some surprising bright spots. (It was still pretty cheap, though.) So why is the writing and acting so much better than the same company's Archie cartoon that came before, and the He-Man series that followed?
Plus: A sneak peek at an upcoming Brokeback Mountain video, and its BONKERS straightwashing ad campaign from 2006.
Also, no Twitch livestream today, because I'm hosting a live book signing & sitcom hangout at the Northgate Barnes & Noble! If you're in Seattle, come take the train up to Northgate & say hello! More details here: https://www.mattbaume.com/events
Bonus! Why was the animated Star Trek so much better than it needed to be? (YouTube)
Comments (11)
I should re-watch Brokeback, but the last time I watched it, I cried the whole way through because Heath Ledger had died shortly before.
The brokeback mountain ad almost reads like an absurdist meme in 2025
I was a big Trekkie (not Trekker, as some friends insisted) and I loved the Animated series. TBC: I was a teen in the 80s, so it was all reruns. I became a huge Niven fan later. I ended up catching some of TAS in my 20s and nearly did a spit take when they said Kzinti. By then, the internet existed and I was able to look up the writing credits for TAS and it made me realize that although the Animation was cheap (I won’t say “bad,” it had style) it was the incredible roster of writers that made it way better than it deserved to be.
I like Star Trek, but I had never watched the original series cartoon. So I decided to start watching it this week. Holy cow, that is some really bad animation. But I agree with you, the writing is surprisingly good in some spots.
Lucian! That sexy Satyr/Demon/Satan was Sulu’s (and my) type.
An animator named Justin T Lee animated a couple scenes from TNG and Voyager and they are pretty fantastic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luEDui2zAUw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyz2pVqrEkI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcRzkRTlUY4
Haha this is so much better than I expected it to be. And how DARE he put a Kzin officer on the Enterprise D!!!
3:53 "David" Niven should, of course, be Larry Niven.
Oh geez thank you for catching that! I mixed up my Nivens!
I wish I were still in Seattle, I would totally come see your presentations. I lived in Seattle for 20 years, but moved to San Diego to get some sun, and now I live in Portugal, to get away from American politics. Thank you for another fun bonus video. Have you seen the film Norman is that you? It's a 1970's film with Redd Foxx and Waylan Flowers and Madam about Foxx finding out his son is gay and how he and his family deal with it. It was surprisingly fun and positive for the time it was made. Also, one of my other favorite Patreon/ YouTube channels started doing Reaction Videos for Star Trek The Animated Series. Check out Warp Reactor for his fun and insightful reaction videos, if you are interested.
Oh how do you like Portugal? That's at the top of my list for digital nomad travel as things get ... perilous ... here. And yes, I've been meaning to cover Norman Is That You for a while! I wish that would get a nicer transfer, the best version I've been able to find is still pretty careworn.