Star Trek: Voyager Cartoon

Filmation’s Star Trek: The Animated Series ran in the 1970s and was meant to be a continuation of the original NBC show, which had been canceled some years earlier but its reruns very popular in syndication. It was overseen by Gene Roddenberry himself (the original title was The Animated Adventures Of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek which, woof, not great) and featured most of the original voice cast playing their Starfleet counterparts. The cartoon actually won an Emmy in 1975 for Best Children’s Series and has become a fan favorite due to its campy storylines and fairly awkward animation.

Well all of that goodness is back and better than ever in this terrific reimagining spotlighting Star Trek: Voyage instead of The Original Series. Gazelle Automations did a terrific job bringing the UPN show into the Animated Series’ design, complete with limited movements, repeated stock footage, and using the actors’ actual voices. That last bit is kind of a cheat as this isn’t a wholly new adventure for Janeway and her makeshift crew but an adaptation of an episode. Specifically Voyager’s most infamous episode (and not in a good way), “Threshold,” which finds Tom Paris genetically mutating into a new lifeform and then making Janeway also change…and then they have sex as space amphibians. It’s…not a proud moment for the franchise.

Gazelle Automations wisely condenses the entire story to highlight not only the plot beats but the same rushed yet standstill feeling of The Animated Series. There’s also randomly inserted alien crewmembers that mimic how the ‘70s cartoon would also feint at taking advantage of the medium but ultimately not really do much. Add onto this a score that is either far too ominous or whimsical, and the result is a delightful and brilliantly done throwback.

Be sure to subscribe to Gazelle Automations’ YouTube channel (they also did an episode of TNG in this fashion) and follow them on Twitter.