Retro Saturday Morning: Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-1975) | Retro TV Rewind

Star Trek: The Animated Series, originally titled Star Trek and The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, continued the voyages of the USS Enterprise following the original live-action show. NBC's interest in reviving Star Trek came after they discovered, through their updated Nielsen rating system, that the original series had actually been one of their most successful shows, particularly with their coveted male 18-45 demographic. This realization came too late, as Paramount had already cleared out most production assets, making a live-action revival cost-prohibitive at approximately $750,000. Instead, NBC commissioned an animated version.

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Filmation, which had been interested in producing an animated Star Trek since 1969, created the series that aired 22 episodes between September 1973 and October 1974. The show was exceptionally high-quality, featuring scripts by professional science fiction writers including Larry Niven, D.C. Fontana, and David Gerrold. Many stories served as sequels to original series episodes, such as "More Tribbles, More Troubles." Almost all original cast members returned to voice their characters, with Leonard Nimoy being the only actor to voice his character (Spock) in every episode. The series introduced new crew members like Arex and M'Ress, and showcased technologies like the recreation room (a precursor to TNG's holodeck) and non-humanoid aliens that would have been impossible in the live-action show due to budget constraints.

The Animated Series achieved what the original couldn't by winning a Daytime Emmy Award for "Best Children's Series" in 1975—the first Emmy win for the franchise and the only best-series Emmy ever won by Star Trek. Though initially not considered part of official Star Trek canon by Paramount, the studio has gradually changed its stance, with references from the series appearing in later shows like Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. Many fans and creators, including D.C. Fontana, view these episodes as representing the fourth year of the Enterprise's five-year mission, with StarTrek.com considering the two animated seasons collectively as the fifth and final year.

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