Editing Star Trek: The Animated Series (section)

== Production ==
=== Development ===
[[Lou Scheimer]] of [[Filmation]] was in talks with ''Star Trek'' producer [[Paramount Television]], TV network [[NBC]], and creator Gene Roddenberry to create an animated spin-off series while ''The Original Series'' was still on the air, during its third season (1968–69).<ref name=RetFan1>{{cite journal |last=Mangels |first=Andy |date=Summer 2018 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IeNgDwAAQBAJ&q=Mangels%2C+Andy+%28Summer+2018%29.+%22Star+Trek%3A+The+Animated+Series%22.+RetroFan&pg=PA25 |title=Star Trek: The Animated Series |journal=RetroFan |publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]] |location=United States |issue=1 |pages=25–37 |access-date=2020-10-28 |archive-date=2020-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201117212623/https://books.google.com/books?id=IeNgDwAAQBAJ&q=Mangels%2C+Andy+%28Summer+2018%29.+%22Star+Trek%3A+The+Animated+Series%22.+RetroFan&pg=PA25 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Paramount's director of special programming Philip Mayer and Filmation writer/animator Don Christensen worked together to create a proposal for a series that would target a young audience and have an educational spin. The main cast of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' would train the teenage crew of a ship called ''Excalibur'' about space exploration; the new teenage crew included a Vulcan named Steve, an African-American boy named Bob, and a Chinese boy named Stick.<ref name=RetFan1/> Due to the bitter relationship between Roddenberry and Paramount at the time, however, Scheimer was not able to get the two parties talking to each other in order to agree on a deal for several years. During this time, the project in its original form was phased out.<ref name=RetFan1/>

A deal was finally reached in early 1973, and publicly announced in early March 1973. Because of NBC's strong interest in the series, Roddenberry and Filmation were allotted very generous terms: a guaranteed minimum of two seasons with a combined 22 episodes; a budget of US$75,000 ({{Inflation|US|75000|1973|fmt=eq}}) per episode; and full creative control in Gene Roddenberry's hands.<ref name=RetFan1/>

Roddenberry and Filmation agreed that the series should be for all ages, rather than the children-oriented approach of the original proposal, and at Roddenberry's suggestion ''The Original Series'' script editor [[D. C. Fontana]] was hired as the series' story editor and associate producer.<ref name=RetFan1/> Despite the meager payment for writers ($1,300 ({{Inflation|US|1300|1973|fmt=eq}}) per script, with no residuals), the opportunity to write a ''Star Trek'' episode without the special effects limitations of live action proved appealing, and many of ''The Original Series'' writers joined the staff.<ref name=RetFan1/> Fontana steered the series away from the romantic and sexual elements of ''The Original Series'', as she felt children would not be interested in them, and she wanted ''The Animated Series'' to appeal to children as well as adults.<ref name=RetFan1/>

=== Writing ===
The series' writing benefited from a [[Writers Guild of America, East]] strike in 1973, which did not apply to animation.<ref>{{cite book|title=Introduction to Star Trek: The Classic Episodes, Volume 1|year=1991|author=D. C. Fontana}}</ref>  A few episodes were written by well-known science fiction authors:

* "[[More Tribbles, More Troubles]]" was written by [[David Gerrold]] as a sequel to his episode "[[The Trouble with Tribbles]]" from the original series. Here Cyrano Jones is rescued from the [[Klingon]]s, bringing with him a genetically altered breed of [[tribble]]s which do not reproduce but do grow extremely large. (It is later discovered that these are really [[Colony (biology)|clusters of tribbles who function as a single tribble]], and it is decided that the large numbers of smaller tribbles are preferable to the larger ones.) The Klingons, because of their hatred of tribbles, are eager to get Jones back because he stole a creature they created: a predator called a "glommer" that feeds on tribbles.
* "[[Yesteryear (Star Trek: The Animated Series)|Yesteryear]]" is a time-travel episode in which [[Mr. Spock]] uses "The Guardian of Forever", a time gateway from the original series episode "[[The City on the Edge of Forever]]", to travel back to his own childhood. This is the only animated ''Trek'' episode written by original series and later ''Next Generation'' writer [[D. C. Fontana]]. This was the first actual appearance of Spock's pet sehlat, first mentioned in "[[Journey to Babel]]" and finally named I-Chaya in this episode. One element from "Yesteryear" that has become canonical by depiction within ''Star Trek: The Original Series'' is the Vulcan city of ShiKahr, depicted in a background scene wherein Kirk, Spock and McCoy walk across a natural stone bridge (first depicted in ''[[Star Trek III: The Search for Spock]]'') in the [[Star Trek: The Original Series#Remastered edition|remastered]] "[[Amok Time]]". Elements of Spock's childhood from "Yesteryear" are also referenced in the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' episode "[[Unification (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|Unification]]" as well as the 2009 ''Star Trek'' feature film.
* [[Larry Niven]]'s "[[The Slaver Weapon]]", adapted from his own short story "The Soft Weapon". It includes some elements from his ''[[Known Space]]'' mythos such as the [[Kzin]]ti and the [[Thrint|Slavers]]. This is the only Kirk-era television or movie story in which Kirk did not appear. This episode is also the only animated one in which characters are shown dying or being killed.

=== Casting and voice recording ===
''The Animated Series'' featured most of the original cast voicing their characters. The major exception was the character of [[Pavel Chekov]] ([[Walter Koenig]]), who did not appear in the series because the series' budget could not afford the complete cast.<ref name=RetFan1/> He was replaced by Lieutenant [[Arex (Star Trek)|Arex]], whose Edosian species had three arms and three legs; Lieutenant M'Ress, a female Caitian, sometimes stood in for Uhura as communications officer. Besides performing their characters [[Montgomery Scott]] and [[Christine Chapel]], [[James Doohan]] and [[Majel Barrett]] also performed the voices of Arex and M'Ress, respectively. Barrett also voiced various other characters and the main computer.<ref name="Burton"/>

Initially, Filmation was only going to use the voices of [[William Shatner]], [[Leonard Nimoy]], [[DeForest Kelley]], Doohan and Barrett. Doohan and Barrett would also perform the voices of [[Hikaru Sulu|Sulu]] and [[Uhura]]. Reportedly, when Nimoy arrived at the initial recording session for the first few episodes, he immediately noticed the absence of [[George Takei]] and [[Nichelle Nichols]]; when informed they had not been hired for the series due to budgetary reasons, Nimoy refused to voice Spock unless Takei and Nichols were added to the cast, stating that Sulu and Uhura were proof of the ethnic diversity of the 23rd century and should not be recast. Nimoy also took this stand as a matter of principle, as he knew of the financial troubles many of his ''Star Trek'' co-stars had experienced after cancellation of the series.<ref>{{cite book|title=To the Stars: The Autobiography of George Takei|url=https://archive.org/details/tostarsautobiogr00take_0|url-access=registration|first=George |last=Takei|year=1994 |publisher=Pocket Books|isbn=9780671890087 }}</ref> According to Scheimer, when Nimoy pointed out that the casting would cut the only two minority actors from the series, "We were horrified at our unintended slight, made all the worse because we were the one studio who had been championing diversity in its output." Takei and Nichols were quickly hired and the recording session was rescheduled. <ref name=RetFan1/> Koenig was not forgotten, as Filmation were able to assuage Nimoy's complaints on his account by buying a script from Koenig for one episode ("[[The Infinite Vulcan]]").<ref name=RetFan1/>

Voice recording began in June 1973, with the first three episodes recorded as an ensemble, i.e. all the [[voice actors]] for the episode in the room at the same time.<ref name=RetFan1/> Later episodes used the now more typical model of recording the voice actors separately to work around their other commitments. William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, who were both touring in plays at the time, recorded their lines in whatever city they happened to be performing in and had the tapes shipped to the studio.<ref name=RetFan1/> Doohan and Barrett, besides providing the voices of their ''Original Series'' characters and newcomers Arex and M'Ress, performed virtually all of the "guest star" characters in the series, with exceptions such as [[Sarek]], [[Cyrano Jones]] and [[Harry Mudd]], who were performed by [[Mark Lenard]], [[Stanley Adams (actor)|Stanley Adams]] and [[Roger C. Carmel]] respectively,  the original actors from ''The Original Series''. Other guest voice actors included [[Ed Bishop]], who voiced the Megan Prosecutor in "[[The Magicks of Megas-tu]]", and [[Ted Knight]], who voiced Carter Winston in "[[The Survivor (Star Trek: The Animated Series)|The Survivor]]". Nichelle Nichols performed character voices in addition to Uhura in several episodes, including "[[The Time Trap]]" and "[[The Lorelei Signal]]".

Because of an unusual interpretation of the [[FCC fairness doctrine]], the premiere episode was not aired in the Los Angeles market. Takei was a political candidate for a seat on the city council, and [[KNBC]] feared that allowing his voiceover work to be heard would force the station to provide equal time for Takei's opponents.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Smith |first=Cecil |date=1973-09-10 |title=Star Trek Bows in Animated Version |pages=18, Part IV |work=[[Los Angeles Times]]}}</ref>

=== Animation and design ===
[[Image:ST-The AS.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The characters of ''TAS'']]
Similar to most animated series of the era, the 22 episodes of ''TAS'' were spread out over two brief seasons, with copious reruns of each episode. The director of the first season (16 episodes) was [[Hal Sutherland]] and Bill Reed directed the six episodes of season two, though the first four episodes of season two erroneously credit Sutherland.<ref name=RetFan1/>

Don Christensen, creator of the original proposal, remained involved as art director. Other animation staff included Reuben Timmins (who oversaw all shots involving the ''Enterprise'') and Bob Kline. The animators [[rotoscoped]] the animations for the ''Enterprise'' and the original cast from [[35 mm movie film|35 mm film]] footage of ''The Original Series''.<ref name=RetFan1/> The chevrons were enlarged to make them easier to animate, but otherwise the crew's uniforms were unaltered from ''The Original Series''.<ref name=RetFan1/> Due to the hiring of nearly the entire regular cast of the original show, little money was left in the budget for the animation, so Filmation cut costs by using stock footage and shortcuts such as having a character put a hand to their mouth while speaking (thus eliminating the need to animate the lips) and silhouetting characters in action.<ref name=RetFan1/>

''Star Trek: The Animated Series'' was the only ''Star Trek'' series not to be produced with a [[cold open]] ("teaser"), instead starting directly with the title credits sequence. However, some overseas versions of the original live action series, such as those aired by the [[BBC]] in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s, were edited to run the teaser after the credits.

=== Music ===
The animated series dispensed with the original series' theme music, composed by [[Alexander Courage]], in favor of a new theme credited to Yvette Blais and Jeff Michael, but actually written by Filmation composer [[Ray Ellis]]. Ellis used the pseudonym Yvette Blais (the [[maiden name]] of his wife) due to complications with royalties and publishing companies, while Jeff Michael is a pseudonym for producer [[Norm Prescott]], who received a pseudonymous credit and a cut of the royalties on all of Filmation's music as part of a standard deal for the time.<ref name=RetFan1/> Writing on [[Facebook]]'s ''[[Starlog]]'' Magazine official page in March 2021, David Gerrold revealed that the reason for this was a longstanding feud between Courage and Roddenberry over [[Residual (entertainment industry)|residual payments]] for airings of ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek: TOS]]'' episodes using the original theme: "When Courage turned in the original music, Roddenberry added his own lyrics to it, thereby depriving Courage of half his residuals. Courage never forgave Roddenberry and refused to give permission for the reuse of the theme. That's why new music was written for the animated series and again for the movies."<ref>{{Cite web|last=Gerrold|first=David|date=March 3, 2021|title="12 Fascinating Facts About 'Star Trek: The Animated Series," comments section|url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarlogMagazine|access-date=March 6, 2021|website=Facebook}}</ref>