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Okay, let’s fire up the Filmation animation cels and talk about Star Trek: The Animated Series! This often-overlooked series is a fascinating piece of Star Trek history, continuing the adventures of the Enterprise crew after the original series ended. While limited by the animation technology of the time, TAS managed to tell some surprisingly sophisticated and imaginative stories. Here’s my take on the Top 10 Episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series:
Top 10 Episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series
- “Yesteryear” (Season 1, Episode 2): This is widely considered the best episode of TAS, and it’s a genuinely touching and well-written story. Spock travels back in time to his own childhood on Vulcan, and we get a glimpse into his past and the challenges he faced growing up. The episode is a powerful exploration of identity, belonging, and the importance of family. It’s also notable for featuring the voice of Mark Lenard as Sarek.
- “The Slaver Weapon” (Season 1, Episode 14): Written by Larry Niven, this episode is based on his Known Space series and introduces the cat-like Kzinti to the Star Trek universe. It’s a fun and action-packed adventure that features Spock, Uhura, and Sulu on a mission to retrieve a powerful ancient weapon. The episode is a great example of how TAS was able to incorporate elements from other science fiction works.
- “More Tribbles, More Troubles” (Season 1, Episode 5): A sequel to the classic TOS episode “The Trouble with Tribbles,” this episode features the return of the furry creatures and the intergalactic trader Cyrano Jones. While not as iconic as the original, it’s a fun and lighthearted episode that captures the spirit of the original TOS episode.
- “The Lorelei Signal” (Season 1, Episode 4): This episode features a group of alien women who lure men to their planet with a hypnotic signal. It’s a notable episode for giving Uhura a chance to take command of the Enterpriseand for showcasing the female crew members’ competence and bravery.
- “The Infinite Vulcan” (Season 1, Episode 7): This episode features a giant clone of Spock and explores the ethical implications of cloning. While the animation is a bit clunky, the story itself is quite thought-provoking and raises some interesting questions about identity and the nature of humanity. Also, who doesn’t want to see a giant Spock?
- “The Jihad” (Season 1, Episode 16): This episode involves a multi-species team assembled to recover a stolen religious artifact. It’s a unique and interesting story that explores themes of faith, cooperation, and the importance of understanding different cultures. It’s a good example of TAS trying to tackle more complex themes.
- “The Terratin Incident” (Season 1, Episode 11): The Enterprise crew is shrunk down to microscopic size and must navigate the dangers of a miniature world. It’s a fun and imaginative episode that makes good use of the animated format to create some visually interesting scenarios.
- “The Ambergris Element” (Season 1, Episode 13): Kirk and Spock are transformed into water-breathers and must adapt to an underwater environment. It’s another episode that takes advantage of the animated format to explore a unique setting and tell a story that would have been difficult to do on the live-action series.
- “Mudd’s Passion” (Season 1, Episode 10): Harry Mudd returns, this time peddling a love potion that causes all sorts of trouble on the Enterprise. While not as memorable as his appearances in TOS, it’s still a fun and silly episode that captures the lighter side of Star Trek.
- “Beyond the Farthest Star” (Season 1, Episode 1): This is the first episode of TAS, and it features the Enterprise encountering a powerful and dangerous alien entity at the edge of the galaxy. It’s a solid introduction to the series and sets the tone for the more science fiction-oriented stories that TAS would explore.
Honorable Mentions: “The Eye of the Beholder,” “Albatross,” “The Pirates of Orion,” “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth.”
Star Trek: The Animated Series is a product of its time, and the animation is certainly dated by today’s standards. However, the series deserves recognition for its ambitious storytelling, its willingness to tackle complex themes, and its contribution to the Star Trek canon. It brought back the original cast to voice their roles, and it featured scripts by some of the same writers who worked on TOS, as well as other notable science fiction authors. If you can look past the limitations of the animation, TAS offers some genuinely entertaining and thought-provoking Star Trek stories, and further adventures of the Enterprise crew we all love.
10 Best Selling Books About Star Trek
The Fifty-Year Mission: The First 25 Years by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman
This Star Trek history book uses an oral-history format to document how the franchise was conceived, produced, and sustained through its first quarter-century, with attention to creative decisions, studio dynamics, and shifting audience expectations. It is often selected by adult readers looking for a Star Trek behind-the-scenes book that focuses on the people who built the original era of the franchise rather than on episode recaps alone.
The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman
This follow-on volume continues the Star Trek production history into the period dominated by The Next Generation and the later screen era, capturing how the franchise expanded in scale, tone, and business structure. It serves adult, nontechnical readers who want a detailed Star Trek book that connects creative choices to the realities of television production, film development, and brand management over time.
The Star Trek Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded Edition by Michael Okuda
This Star Trek reference book compiles in-universe entries that organize characters, places, species, technologies, and organizations into a single navigable guide designed for fast lookup and cross-referencing. It is frequently used as a Star Trek companion book by readers who want consistent terminology and continuity cues across multiple series without needing a technical background.
Star Trek Chronology: The History of the Future by Michael Okuda
This Star Trek chronology organizes major events into a timeline-style narrative, helping readers place missions, political changes, and cultural milestones into a coherent sequence across eras. It is commonly used by readers who want a Star Trek timeline book that clarifies when key developments occur and how separate storylines relate without requiring deep prior knowledge of every series.
Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual by Rick Sternbach and Michael Okuda
This Star Trek technical manual presents a structured, readable model of how the Enterprise-D and its systems are portrayed to function, using diagrams, subsystem descriptions, and operational concepts that remain accessible to non-engineers. It is often chosen as a Star Trek design and technology book by adult readers who enjoy the “how it works” side of the franchise while still wanting a narrative-friendly presentation rather than dense engineering text.
The Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion: Revised Edition by Larry Nemecek
This Star Trek guidebook provides a structured way to revisit The Next Generation through episode-focused entries that prioritize clear summaries and context for how the series was made and received. It is often used as a Star Trek episode companion by readers who want a practical, quick-reference format that supports rewatching while still supplying production-facing details in plain language.
The Star Trek Book New Edition by Paul J. Ruditis
This illustrated Star Trek overview surveys the franchise across multiple eras, using short topical sections to explain major themes, settings, ships, and recurring ideas in a way that supports browsing rather than linear reading. It is often selected by adult readers who want a single Star Trek book that orients them across series and films while still offering enough detail to be useful between viewings or while sampling new parts of the canon.
Imzadi by Peter David
This Star Trek novel centers on character-driven consequences and personal history within the Next Generation cast, using a plot that balances relationship dynamics with a broader sci-fi mystery structure. It is regularly recommended as a Star Trek Kindle book for readers who prefer Star Trek fiction that prioritizes voice, emotional stakes, and continuity-aware storytelling over purely episodic adventure.
Spock’s World by Diane Duane
This Star Trek Original Series novel uses the political and cultural history of Vulcan to frame a larger story about identity, governance, and the long-term pressures of federation membership. It is frequently picked up by readers seeking Star Trek books that develop worldbuilding through society-level detail while still keeping the narrative focused on recognizable characters and accessible themes.
The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence M. Krauss
This nonfiction Star Trek science book uses well-known concepts from physics to discuss which elements of Star Trek align with real-world scientific understanding and which remain speculative, while staying readable for general audiences. It is commonly chosen by adult readers who want a Star Trek-themed way to think about space, energy, and constraints on technology without needing advanced math or a specialist background.
