All language subtitles for The.Center.Seat.55.Years.of.Star.Trek.S01E02.Saturday.Morning.Pinks.720p.WEB.h264-KOMPOST

(narrator)
At the dawn of the '70s,

"Star Trek" looked
like a doomed mission.

Officially canceled,
Gene Roddenberry's

wagon train to the stars
had come to a halt.

It was the beginning of years
out in the cold.

The only hope for "Star Trek"
lay in a mysterious,

unknown parallel universe,

otherwise known
as Saturday mornings!

- What are you talking about?

(narrator)
So beam aboard

and hold on tight
as we boldly go

into the depths
of "Star Trek."

♪♪

And you can see it all from here

in "The Center Seat."

♪♪

(William Shatner)
These are the voyages

of the starship Enterprise.

Its five-year mission--

To explore strange new worlds...

- Yes, there was
a "Star Trek" animated series.

It was not a fever dream.

- I don't understand.

(Aaron)
It was, you know, like finding

a whole missing season
of the original series.

- I watched the animated series
religiously when it came on.

I was very excited.

- What was interesting is
the darn thing won an Emmy.

(bell dings)

(narrator)
The story of how Kirk

and his crew went from three
to two dimensions

is the story of "Star Trek" 's
greatest demotion.

- The original series
was canceled in 1969,

the third season.

The ratings just weren't there,

and NBC moved its show
around so much.

(narrator)
Roddenberry had been promised

a primetime 8:00 p.m. slot,

but "Star Trek" would sink
to the depths of late night

to die a quiet death.

- So they gave "Star Trek"
10:00 on Friday night,

so Gene quit the show.

(narrator) "Star Trek"
had lost its creator,

its time slot,
and the backing of its network.

But even drifting through
the abyss,

the show still had the backing
of a loyal band,

the very first members
of a brand-new species--

Trekkies.

(Rich)
You had the first convention,

the "Star Trek" convention
in New York City.

And it just became
a phenomenon all of a sudden.

(narrator)
Away from primetime,

NBC had inadvertently scattered
the seed of "Star Trek"

through syndication.

And it had taken root.

- "Star Trek" was growing
in popularity in syndication.

It had taken off.

People who hadn't seen it
originally

got a chance to see it
on kind of a daily basis

after school or after work.

And a whole new audience
was born.

- As soon as "Star Trek" hit
the after-school market,

you know, the audiences doubled.

(narrators)
Reruns had connected "Star Trek"

with a new legion of fans.

Like this guy.

- My name is Fred Bronson.

(narrator) And when it
came to their favorite show,

Trekkies weren't going
to stand by and watch it die.

(Fred)
I marched on NBC to protest

the cancellation of "Star Trek."

- The fans refused to let
the show die.

And they were determined
to bring it back on.

(narrator)
Their protests were too late

to spare the original series,

but they had caused ears
to perk up at NBC.

- In early 1973,
Gene had a meeting with NBC

and they expressed interest
in wanting

to bring "Star Trek" back.

(narrator)
The question was, how?

(Marc Cushman) Because
they had destroyed the sets,

they had given away
the Enterprise

to the Smithsonian Institute,

and the expense
was just too high.

- They needed a cheaper version
of "Star Trek,"

and it just so happened
that someone working

in a little-known studio
had thought of one

about four years earlier.

(Aaron) The animated
series came about in 1973,

but a lot of people don't know
that it was actually

originally pitched in 1969.

(narrator)
The animation house Filmation

had conceived a kind of
junior version of "Star Trek"

and took it to NBC.

(Aaron) It was going to be
a Starfleet Academy show.

Each of the crew members
of the Enterprise

having basically a cadet
in training with them.

Spock was going to have
a Vulcan named Steve.

(laughter)

(narrator) Sadly, Steve the
Vulcan never came to be.

Gene Roddenberry didn't see
"Star Trek"

as just an educational tool,

but he was intrigued by
the possibilities of animation.

(Aaron)
He liked animation because

his big thing was,
you can animate lava.

(eruption)

He's always wanted to do lava
apparently

on the original series.

- Go!

(narrator)
Of course, Gene had a much

bigger goal than
simply indulging

his love of molten rock.

(Marc) His ultimate goal
was to get "Star Trek"

back into production.

And he felt that the animated
series, if it did really well,

could bring that about.

(narrator)
But fans hungry for more

had no interest in a smaller
serving of "Star Trek"

let alone one ordered
from the kids' menu.

- And there was
a lot of resistance.

The audience was very unhappy.

(Aaron)
At conventions, people were

passing around petitions
to stop the animated series

from coming to television

because it wasn't "real"
"Star Trek."

- There were a lot of people
who thought that a cartoon show

would be the death of any kind
of "Star Trek" revival

because it wasn't real life,
it wasn't live action.

- And, you know,
and they would say to them,

yeah, but you're getting more
"Star Trek," shut up.

(laughs)

(narrator)
Gene had his own concerns,

not wanting to see his
sophisticated sci-fi creation

reduced to child's play.

- Gene really just was
not interested

in a kiddie version
of "Star Trek."

(narrator) But desperate
to keep the franchise alive,

he agreed to an animated series.

- The only thing
that convinced him

was the idea, we will do
real "Star Trek"

as an animated series.

(narrator)
To guarantee that,

Gene brought in one of
the original series'

most respected writers
to run the show.

- Dorothy Fontana came aboard
as the producer.

(Bob)
She was the guiding force.

She was the one that really
wanted this to be wonderful.

(narrator)
Dorothy, or D.C. Fontana,

was a very talented
screenwriter.

But as a woman, she could not
yet afford to trade on her name.

(David) In those days,
it wasn't common for a woman

to be a scriptwriter.

Women were hiding
behind their initials--

V.N. McIntyre and C.L. Moore

and D.C. Fontana--

Because there was this belief
that women couldn't write.

- I was trying
and I had an agent,

but people, they were saying,

"Oh, I don't think
she can write our show.

I don't..."
But why not?

Well, she's a woman.
Okay, fine.

So I wrote a "Ben Casey"

and I put "D.C. Fontana" on it.

They'll at least read it
without knowing I'm a woman.

That helped me get in that door.

But there were very few
actual, uh, woman writers

doing action-adventure.

(Nichelle)
She was a great writer.

The stuff she wrote was
just so darn good.

"Star Trek," she knew
what she was doing.

She was a fan.
That was her show.

(narrator)
Not only was she a woman

who was young
and in charge of men,

she also had the intimidating
task of marshalling

some of the foremost minds
in science fiction.

- Gene and Dorothy brought in
all these amazing talents,

science fiction authors--

Harlan Ellison,
Theodore Sturgeon,

Larry Niven.

- Dorothy Fontana invited me

to write a "Star Trek" cartoon.

And it sounded like fun.

(narrator)
But Gene Roddenberry kept

a hand on the tiller.

(Aaron)
He still had the last word,

much like anybody who's creative
has that need

to want to influence
whatever is going out

if it's under your name.

- Gene Roddenberry's
big breakthrough,

he used science fiction writers
instead of scriptwriters

and taught them
how to do the scripts.

(narrator) But D.C. Fontana
and Gene Roddenberry

were united by the same
prime directive.

- Gene said we're gonna do
"Star Trek" in a cartoon.

We're gonna do it
as "Star Trek."

- Dorothy, she brought in
"Star Trek" writers

and she said,
"Write a 'Star Trek' episode."

(keys clacking)

And we can show things that
we could not do live action.

So you can be a little broader
in what you design.

(Dorothy)
The glory of the animated show

was we could do anything
on any planet.

Any kind of creature,
any sort of situation

that you could dream of
that could be drawn

was there on the film.

(narrator) So, for years
after first floating the idea,

Filmation was contracted to
create a new animated universe

for a "Star Trek" cartoon.

- Filmation was
an animation company

out of Reseda, California.

(narrator) Which had grown
from humble beginnings

to become part of
the cartoon cartel.

Very humble beginnings.

(Aaron) They literally had
a mannequin dressed up

just so it looked like there was
somebody at the front desk.

They were doing industrial films
and religious cartoons,

but it just wasn't making it.

DC Comics came to them

when they were just about ready
to shut down.

- Look! Up in the sky!

(narrator)
And oddly enough,

Filmation was saved by Superman.

- We want you to do
this Superman cartoon.

They actually started
the first superhero

cinematic universe
on television.

(Fred)
Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott

made the decisions
and ran the company.

And it was a well-oiled machine.

(narrator) Dorothy
Fontana's first challenge

was convincing the original cast
of something

that even most fans
didn't believe,

that an animated "Star Trek"
was worth doing.

- If you had somebody else
doing the voice of Captain Kirk

or Mr. Spock, that just
wouldn't have been right.

(narrator) But even if
she could convince them,

could she afford them?

- Originally they did talk
to everybody

and they realized that
the budget wasn't supporting it.

You had somebody like
Shatner and Nimoy,

the amount of salary
that they commanded,

it just became
a very expensive show.

(narrator)
The producers' solution--

The Enterprise key crew
would return.

But for two of the actors,

an honorable discharge.

- Can you give us any more?

- They, for cost savings,
were going to have

Majel Barrett
and James Doohan...

- Aye.

- voice Nichelle Nichols'
role and George Takei.

(narrator)
But NBC had underestimated

the esprit de corps
of the Enterprise crew.

- When Nimoy was in the studio,
Leonard realized

that Nichelle Nichols
and George Takei,

two people of color, were not
going to be in "Star Trek."

(narrator) Leonard didn't
need his Vulcan logic

to realize this wasn't right.

- Nimoy, when he was there,
he said, "Where's George?"

And they were like,
what do you mean?

Well, why isn't George back?
Why isn't Nichelle back?

And they told him,
we don't have the money for it.

- When he found that out,
he said, "I will not come back

"and do this show unless
you bring back

the entire original cast."

- Yes, that's quite true.

(Leonard Nimoy)
Captain, we're under way.

(narrator)
Day one of recording

for "Star Trek:
The Animated Series"

would prove to be one
of the few days

the whole cast would gather
in one studio.

Well, almost the whole cast.

- The day they had the first
recording session

with William Shatner
and Leonard Nimoy,

DeForest Kelley, James Doohan,

but no Nichelle Nichols,

no George Takei.

- We came here looking
for some friends.

- And Leonard was very upset.

(Rich)
George and Nichelle,

they represented diversity
in "Star Trek."

And Leonard felt very strongly

that if you're gonna continue
to do "Star Trek,"

you need to have
the representation,

that Pan-Asian character,

the African-American character
on the bridge,

how powerful those
two roles were.

- And so he made it known
to Filmation

that if Nichelle and George
were not gonna be part of this,

neither was he.

(narrator)
The producers relented.

- Well, obviously they did not
want to lose Leonard Nimoy.

(narrator) George Takei
and Nichelle Nichols

were enlisted.

- Standing by, sir.

- I wrote the press release,

and my press release didn't say

that Leonard Nimoy was upset.

My press release said,
"Nichelle Nichols

"and George Takei added
to the cast

of 'Star Trek:
The Animated Series.'"

(narrator)
Nimoy had managed to get

most of the band back together,

but there was still
one player missing.

- Phasers armed and ready, sir.

I wasn't going to be
in the animated series.

I didn't know that.

I found that out from a fan

at a convention in L.A.

- Chekov was supposed to be
a part of the animated series.

They drew the character,

but they couldn't afford
to bring everybody back.

(narrator)
It was a double blow

for the descendant
of Russian immigrants,

who perhaps more than
any of the original cast,

needed the work.

(Walter) After "Star Trek,"
I didn't work at all.

You know, I spent
three or four years

never having the phone ring,

resorting to writing and
actually writing for television.

(narrator) So Roddenberry
threw Walter a bone.

- He asked me if I'd like
to write one of the episodes

of the animated "Star Trek."

(narrator)
With all the original cast

now playing a hand
and Nimoy signed on,

"Star Trek:
The Animated Series,"

known simply as "Star Trek,"

was starting to look like
"Star Trek."

- Just like that, Captain?

- So it would appear,
Mr. Sulu.

- "Star Trek" was back.
- Wonderful.

- They handled
the animated series

like they did
the original series.

They got the same writers,
the same voice cast,

the animation department
used Matt Jefferies' blueprints

for the Enterprise.

So they made "Star Trek."

- Captain's log,
stardate 5554.4.

(narrator) Make that
"start" date 9/15/1973.

The animated series
set out to go

where no "Star Trek"
had gone before.

- Where?!
- To Saturday morning

kids' cartoons.

- When we talk about
the animated series,

we always make a point
of saying "animated."

We don't say
"Saturday morning cartoons."

(narrator)
And yet that's exactly where

the Enterprise found itself,

rubbing shoulders
with Saturday morning celebs,

like the Jetsons, the Bradys,

a pair of crime-fighting dogs,

and civic-minded superheroes.

- The funny thing
about the animated series

was it was too good
for Saturday morning.

- Oh, I've got a hangover

to shame all previous hangovers.

(narrator) With the nation's
most impressionable minds

now in their care,
"Star Trek" producers

naturally played it safe
by sticking with gentle,

easily understood material
suitable for kids,

like suicide.

- All unsuccessful Orion
missions end in suicide.

- That was not for kids.

It should not have been
for kids.

(narrator)
It was a subject matter

rarely dealt with
on network TV anywhere.

But "Star Trek" had its own
hot take for kids

called "The Pirates of Orion."

- Destroy the Enterprise.

And the only way to do that
is to destroy ourselves, too.

(Bill)
Suicide bombings,

to even think about that
in those days...

- Your ship will be destroyed.

- But so will yours.

- Having those stories
be that mature

and fun to watch
from a story standpoint

was just splendid.

- We're not going to let you
commit suicide.

- Disarm the self-destruct
system.

(narrator)
Dorothy Fontana was determined

to continue "Star Trek" 's
mission,

and that meant
an intrepid approach

to subjects like death.

- Murderer!
You've killed Spock!

(Fred) Because they wanted it
to hit adults

as well as children,

and also to honor
what "Star Trek" was,

was never to dumb it down.

(narrator)
But in just the second episode,

Dorothy Fontana went
much further

with her own life lesson

for an unsuspecting audience.

- "Yesteryear" is, by far,
everybody's favorite episode.

- That is a brilliantly written
episode, one of the best.

- It would be in the top
five episodes

of all time of any series.

(narrator)
A half-hour cartoon was

putting the backbone
into the backstory

of "Star Trek" 's
most loved characters.

- "Yesteryear" represented
everything that Gene and Dorothy

wanted to do with
the animated series.

(Aaron)
"Yesteryear" is kind of

a seminal history
of the Spock character.

What Spock became, a lot of it
is due to that episode.

(narrator)
Writer Dorothy Fontana

returned to her perennial
"Star Trek" theme-- time.

(William Shatner) We are in orbit
around the planet of the time vortex,

the focus of all the timelines
of our galaxy.

- Dorothy was very excited
about the fact that

there was a wide-open canvas,
they could go back in time

and tell the story
about Spock's childhood.

- What happened?

(narrator)
In "Yesteryear,"

the Enterprise crew
discover a rip

in the fabric of space time.

- They go back in time

and when they return
to our time,

nobody knows who Mr. Spock is.

- Who's he, Jim?

- What do you mean, who's he?

When we were in the time vortex,
something appears

to have changed the present
as we know it.

(narrator) His mission
is immediately obvious--

Spock has to go back in time
to fix things.

- So they use
the Guardian of Forever

to send him back in time
to basically save himself.

- I wish to visit
the planet Vulcan,

30 Vulcan years past.

- Spock goes back in time
and sees himself as a child.

- You could never be
a true Vulcan.

- He helps himself
through a maturity test

in the Vulcan forge,
their desert.

(Leonard Nimoy) The personal
ordeal upon which I embarked

was meant to determine
the course my life would take.

- This was the time that
he basically tried

to prove himself
by doing the kahs-wan.

- A survival test traditional
for young males.

(narrator)
And the episode even referenced

some backstory that had been
set up in the original series.

- (whimpering)
- No, I-Chaya.

This is my own test.

I have to do it alone.

- They had mentioned
in the original series,

in "Journey to Babel,"

that Spock had a childhood pet,
a sehlat.

- "Sahlat"?

- It's sort of a...
a fat teddy bear.

- And McCoy goes, oh, really?
You had a teddy bear.

- A teddy bear?

- And so we finally got to see
Spock's sehlat.

- I-Chaya, what if I'm not
a true Vulcan like they say?

(narrator)
The shaggy look of Spock's

previously unimagined pet

owed something
to the musings of fans.

- The fanzine "Spockanalia"
had a lot of fan art.

Alicia Austin had speculated on
what a sehlat would look like,

and the illustrators
at Filmation used that

as the basis for their design.

(narrator)
But this fat teddy bear,

brought to life by fans,

was now to be sacrificed
on the altar of life's lessons.

(Aaron) Spock, he is
attacked by a mountain lion.

I-Chaya tries to prevent him
from being attacked

and unfortunately
is mortally wounded.

They try to save I-Chaya.

They go back to the city
and bring back a healer.

(healer)
I can prolong his life,

but he will be in pain.

Or I can release him from life.

- It tackled the idea
of euthanasia.

So Spock had to choose
between letting his pet die

or having him be alive
in great pain.

- And he made the decision.

- Release him.

It is fitting he dies
with peace and dignity.

(narrator)
And so an adolescent Spock

decides his pet can't
live long and prosper.

(Aaron)
Dorothy was really concerned

that people might have
a problem with this.

(narrator) Somehow "Star Trek"
had conspired to air

one of the most controversial
issues in American society,

on children's television.

- And NBC was really
worried about this--

Showing a pet dying
on Saturday morning television.

And NBC actually got a flood
of telephone calls

thanking them for tackling
such a difficult subject

on Saturday morning television
with their kids watching.

- It really cemented
the character of Spock

and how he treats
his Vulcan and human side.

(narrator)
The theme of sacrifice

was something Spock was
destined to explore

to its logical conclusion.

- It is logical

the needs of the many
outweigh...

the needs of the few...

- I give you credit, human.
You are not afraid to die.

(narrator)
"Star Trek: The Animated Series"

had shown a willingness
to slaughter the sacred cows

of Saturday morning cartoons.

And it was just getting started.

(Rich) "Slaver Weapon"
is a real interesting episode.

First of all, the only time

any characters die
on the animated series.

- I give you credit, human.
You are not afraid to die.

- Characters die.

They end up being killed
by their actions in the episode.

- (groans)

(explosion)

(narrator)
Don't blame the writer.

If there was a rule about this,
no one told Larry.

- To my knowledge,
I don't think they had barred

killing from children's shows.

- Kids aren't used to seeing
that on Saturday morning.

(narrator)
A bold choice of subject matter

was not all that distinguished
the series,

because an animated "Star Trek"

could do things its predecessor
could only dream of.

- Commander BEM,
what are you doing here?

(David)
We could write a character

that splits himself into parts.

In those days, you couldn't do

those alien characters
live action,

but you could do
on the animated show.

So we got a lot of very
interesting aliens.

- An uncharted
star system ahead, Captain.

(narrator)
For the first time,

the original series
"Star Trek" cast was expanded,

and new crew members
made an entrance.

- (whistling)

- I really like the alien
character who was at the helm.

(narrator)
That would be this guy.

- You can have Lieutenant Arex
or Lieutenant M'Ress.

- (purrs)
Lieutenant M'Ress here.

(narrator) And so "Star Trek"
fans got to meet

a purring
communications officer.

- (purring)

(narrator) And a tripodal
lute-playing navigator.

(David)
M'Ress was catlike.

I always thought of Arex
as kind of a camel.

- Anybody keeping a trace
on the captain and Mr. Spock?

- What I was trying to do
with that character

was to make him humanoid

and make him an appealing and
accessible-looking character.

- Hey, wait a minute.

- He was a truly alien character
that you could have seen

on the live action
television series, I loved that.

- (cackling laugh)

(David)
You could do the M'Ress makeup

if you want in live action,

but it would be three hours
in the makeup chair

every day that you want
to use that character.

And it would be a budget thing,
so you don't want to do that.

I mean, Spock was spending
an hour in the chair

getting his ears put on.

We weren't getting Disney
level of animation,

but we were getting to do a much
broader palette of "Star Trek."

(narrator) While animation
meant a world of new possibilities,

it was not without its limits.

- Animators were cutting corners
every way they could.

- They gave it a low budget

not thinking
it was gonna be popular.

(narrator)
Director Bill Reed became

adept at using a system
Filmation had perfected

to deliver with
a smaller budget.

- The thing that saved Filmation
was the stock program.

- The stock system
was a cornerstone

of all of the Filmation
products.

(Bill) The main characters
each had a stock scene,

a close-up, a medium shot,
a walk, and a run.

And those were used
over and over again.

(narrator) And so Mr. Spock
became Mr. Stock.

- Most logical.

(narrator) Lending
the animated first officer

even more Vulcan serenity.

- Spock is looking
into his viewer.

That's a stock scene.

You can spot a stock scene

because they use the same setup
over and over again.

It saved them a lot of money.

(dramatic music)

- I love those scenes of Spock
and Kirk running and the music

because it's the same Kirk/Spock
running scene every time.

I just love it.

- Oops!

- Amazing.

♪

(Fred) The animation,
it may seem a little primitive,

but back then it might have been
a little cut below

some other animation.

But it wasn't that far off.

I think it was a product
of its time.

- However clunky Captain Kirk's
groove may have seemed,

there was no denying
his 2-D likeness

was a dead ringer
for the real thing.

- This is Captain James T. Kirk
of the Starship Enterprise

representing
the Federation of Planets.

(narrator)
Spock was spot-on too,

and Bones looked like
the real McCoy.

- McCoy here.

(narrator)
It was all thanks

to the keen eye of one man.

(Bob) Herb Hazelton was
real important to the show

in that he designed
all of the prime characters.

I mean, he was a fine artist.

He drew people
better than anyway.

He worked from photographs
to create these likenesses

just the way an artist
would draw from a model.

(Rich)
For a little television show

with a quick turnaround
for all these episodes,

what they did was
pretty impressive.

It looked like "Star Trek."

- But something was changed.

(narrator) The animated series
was "Star Trek"

in all its true colors,

except when it came
to true colors.

- There are some interesting
color choices.

- Most peculiar.

(narrator)
Producer D.C. Fontana

knew fandom did not
like grandom.

(Larry) This ain't no other
Saturday morning show.

People care about this.

We will be drowned in letters

if you put the wrong color here.

(narrator)
Sure enough there were

quibbles over tribbles.

- Captain,
these are safe tribbles.

- You know, you've got
pink tribbles.

(narrator) So what was behind
this kaleidoscope of color?

- The tribbles are pink in
"More Tribbles, More Troubles"

because the man who chose
the colors was color-blind.

- Aren't you going
to sit down, sir?

- I think I'll stand.

(narrator)
That would explain it

if the truth were that simple.

- So color-blindness
on the animated series

is one of those fun
urban legends.

(narrator) Right, would a
color-blind person paint like this?

- Well, yes,
the art director did have

some color-blindness issues.

(narrator) That's art director
Don Christensen.

- Don Christensen
was color-blind.

- He wasn't the one
choosing the color palette.

That was Irv Kaplan.

And that was his color palette
of choice.

He loved to use those colors.

(Bob)
I disagreed with Irv

every time he painted
something pink or red

or that was just outrageous
for that character.

- He did pick out
some pretty strange colors.

- You're saying we can't escape?

(narrator) Which made
some of "Star Trek" 's

more menacing villains were
surprisingly pretty in pink.

- We are prepared to go
to war if we have to.

- When you saw the purple pink
Klingon uniforms,

the Kzinti
from "The Slaver Weapon"...

- Identify yourself.

(Bob) That was one
of the famous situations

where Irv Kaplan decided they
needed to have pink outfits.

And it was just
astonishing to me

that that was his solution.
(laughing)

- (grunts)
- (narrator) Dorothy Fontana,

who had little control
over art direction,

found she could only apologize
to her writers.

- It was like, no!
That-- it can't be.

- I thought that was just fine.

- Larry was like
totally okay with it

because he's like, well,
there was orange and red

vegetation on the Kzinti
home world anyway.

- I'm not sure I can take
too much of this.

- I want to protect her.

Hold her...

in my arms.

- There were two things
that Gene Roddenberry

always had notes for
for the writers

for "Star Trek" episodes.

He wanted to have more
relationships.

(narrator) Just like
its live-action sibling,

the animated series
wasn't afraid of live action...

- Love?
- Yes.

(narrator)
Nor one other big thing.

- The other one was God.

- Excuse me, I'd... just like
to ask a question.

What does God need
with a starship?

(David)
This was Gene's story.

Whenever the story
got bogged down

or he didn't know what to do,
he said, "Let them meet God."

- Magic,

- Larry Brody, who wrote
"The Magicks of Megas-Tu,"

knew that Gene would love
a God story.

So he pitched a story
with God in it.

(narrator) But on network
television in the '70s,

God might find an audience
on Sunday morning,

but not Saturday morning
cartoons.

- But NBC said, no, no, no, no,
the crew's not meeting God.

But you know what, you can
meet the Devil instead.

- It is not logical.

- (laughs) Which is crazy.

(narrator)
To the writers of "Star Trek",

this was a temptation
too good to resist.

- Ah, humans.
Lovely primitive humans.

Can't you do anything right?

(Larry)
"The Magicks of Megas-Tu"

is an episode that the newest
generation of fandom

has all kinda like woke up to.

- Call me Lucien.
Call me friend.

- Oh my God, it's Kirk,
Spock, and the Devil.

What-- what?!

(narrator)
The character of Lucien

certainly looked the part,

but "Star Trek's" devil
was no traditional Satan.

- Never could I abandon those
who've come to rollick with me.

(narrator)
He was less Devil-ish...

- I knew eventually humans
would come searching for me.

(narrator)
more devilishly charming.

(laughing)

- Captain, good Captain,
always so curious!

That must be why I've always
liked you Earthlings so much.

- Eight year old kids
were watching this

on Saturday morning?

- Let us leave this vessel

and go where true delights lie.

- Wait a minute, you're
glorifying the Devil?

(narrator)
Not only did "Star Trek" dare

to give Satan an acceptable,
even child-friendly face,

it went to bed with them
on the big issues.

- To isolate someone
like Lucien,

that's the same as
sentencing him to death.

- Kirk was defending the Devil
in a courtroom, basically.

(Kirk)
He's a living being,

an intelligent life form.

- Would you defend him still
if you knew he had

another name too?
Lucifer!

- And he's like,
"Hey, no, he's a good guy."

(narrator)
And what better thing to do

with a good guy than
share a drink.

- Why I love the episode is
because it's not the Devil.

(narrator) And if this
handsome Devil wasn't enough,

how about a side of the occult?

- Inhabitants of Megas-Tu
had hooked feet, had horns.

They actually were on Earth
during the 1600s

and they could do magic.

That idea that Lucien
was something evil

was because humanity
made him that way.

- When the aliens put
our crew on trial,

it looked like we're
in ancient Salem.

- We are gathered here today,
good citizens,

to see justice done.

- The whole idea of Salem
and the witches,

it probably triggered something
in people about Satanism

or witchcraft.

(narrator)
The idea of Satan on the bridge

proved a bridge too far
for some Southern viewers.

(Fred) A lot of people,
especially in religious areas,

the Bible Belt,
took offense to it

and complained to NBC.

- They mobilized, they called,
they hammered NBC.

(phones ringing)
They did not get a lot of

positive phone calls
for this episode.

The funny thing is is that
NBC was the one that said,

"make it the Devil,
that'll be okay."

(narrator) Following
the outcry, NBC caved.

- "Magicks of Megas-Tu"
got pulled because

40 rabid Baptists wrote in
letters of protest.

"How could you make
the devil a nice guy?"

- They actually did make
some adjustments

from the time
it aired originally.

- It's one of those things
with a little hindsight

and a fresh filter,
you're thinking, "What?"

- It was just a trippy episode.

- These are the most beautiful
women in the galaxy.

- Oh, sorry, sir.

- Are you injured?
- No.

No, I-- I'm fine.

(narrator)
Adult themes were surprisingly

interwoven throughout
the animated series--

Including the most adult
of them all.

- My world, there's a lot
of females, not so many men.

Come we find a man attractive,
we say so.

I'm saying so.

(narrator)
Whether it was Friday night

or Saturday morning,
Captain Kirk would

still be a sex object,
even in 2-D.

- You're more handsome
than ever.

- It goes back to that
whole idea of Kirk

being that, you know, ladies man
from the original series.

- How do you find me?

- Mmm, fascinating.

- In "The Jihad"...

- It definitely wouldn't
get that title today.

(narrator)
Laura, the expert hunter,

brings sexual tension where no
sexual tension had gone before.

- You know, she's flirting
with him the whole episode.

- But we're not here on
a pleasure trip, Laura.

- All the more reason
to take what pleasure

there might be in it.
(laughs)

- It's hilarious because again,
it's adult subject matter.

- If we were together,
the trip would be easier.

- You know, she says
something about

we can make green memories.

- And if anything happened,

why, we'd have some
green memories.

- You know, she's talking
about making green memories

and Kirk's like...
- I already have

a lot of green memories.
- Oh.

(narrator)
In case you're wondering

about green memories, it's true.

Kirk had formed
a few over the years.

(Rich) I can only imagine
a kid talking to mom and dad

and going, "Mom,
what's a green memory?"

- It was on purpose,
but it wasn't like a plot.

"Oh, we'll fix them."
I think they wanted

to tell great stories.

- Goodbye, James Kirk.
Too bad.

(narrator)
But telling great stories

meant having great scripts,

and Dorothy was about
to run out of those.

- "Star Trek: the Animated
Series" wouldn't have turned out

the way it did if there wasn't
a writer's strike at the time.

(narrator)
But being a writer herself,

Dorothy knew
a clever workaround.

(Aaron) The guild rules,
you could not write

live-action television
if there was a strike,

but you could do
one animated episode.

- Yes, that's right.
- (narrator) Dorothy exploited

this little-known loophole

in union rules to keep
her writers working

and the show in production.

(Aaron) Dorothy approached
people who had written

original "Star Trek" and said,
hey, you can't write

anything right now, but you can
do this animated show.

(narrator)
As the animated series was

a unique gig, it was a chance

for pigeonholed writers
to flex their muscles.

- It was enticing to somebody
like David Gerrold

who was able to do
his BEM character.

(narrator)
This David Gerrold.

- I always wanted to do BEM.

So with the animated show,
I said, you know,

we can do BEM now.

(William Shatner)
Honorary Commander Ari bn BEM.

(narrator) "BEM" stood for
bug-eyed monster.

- Because we don't have
to build a costume,

it's easier to draw
this character.

- This one must disassemble.

(Aaron)
That was an idea that came over

from the original series
into animation.

(narrator) Also picked up
from the original series,

"Star Trek's" continuing
mission for diversity.

- Gentlemen, we've just been
through one civil war,

let's not start another.

(Rich) Gene Roddenberry
didn't do an interview saying,

hey, we've got
a Black woman on our bridge,

hey, we've got
a Japanese American

on our bridge, they just did it.

(narrator)
The animated series did it too,

and did more.

- Infinite diversity

in infinite combinations.

(Aaron) The characters
all got something to do,

they didn't have to
just be one-liners.

- All right, you lovelies,
all together.

(narrator)
In this universe,

"Star Trek's" minorities
could even take control.

- Lieutenant Uhura, place
the ship on yellow alert.

- Aye, sir.
Yellow alert.

(Aaron) Lieutenant Uhura
had a whole lot more to do

than she did in the original
series when you look at it.

- Fire.
(lasers blasting)

- She actually finally got to
take control of the Enterprise.

- What are you doing?
- Taking command of this ship.

- When she read the script,
she yelled out loud, "Finally!"

- I am assuming command
of the Enterprise.

(Nichelle) Uhura got
to captain the damn bridge.

It was so satisfying,
and I loved it.

(narrator)
And while the show was among

the first on many fronts,
including Kirk's

split-focused interracial kiss
with Lieutenant Uhura,

there was one notable
and unexpected first

the animated series could claim.

- The legend of
a winged serpent god

who came from the skies
bringing knowledge.

- It was one of the first times
that they actually brought in

Native American culture
into "Star Trek".

(narrator)
Writer Russell Bates

was invited to introduce
his own culture

into the "Star Trek" universe.

(Rich)
He was a Native American.

Dorothy wanted him
to write something

towards his experiences.

- Aye, sir.
Warp factor two.

- So that's how we had
Ensign Walking Bear.

- Mr. Walking Bear.

- The first Native American
in Starfleet.

(Ensign Walking Bear)
I am a Comanche, Captain.

- Another one of those
groundbreaking moments

for "Star Trek".

(narrator) On a Saturday
morning in the '70s,

the kind of ethnic culture
that American kids encountered

was usually no more than phooey.

- ♪ Hong Kong Phooey ♪

♪ Number one super guy ♪

- Not the best portrayal of
people of color, unfortunately.

- We work only to create peace.

(narrator)
The humble animated officer

Ensign Walking Bear
was lightyears beyond

earlier brushes with
Native American cultures.

- Give him the medicine badge.

(narrator)
The episode entitled

"How Sharper Than
A Serpent's Tooth..."

- Which is a quote from
"King Lear."

- How sharper than
a serpent's tooth it is

to have a thankless child.

(narrator)
Went on to win an Emmy for...

- Outstanding Daytime Children's
Television Series.

(narrator)
The Emmy ceremony itself

was also outstanding.

- This was the first
and last year

that the Emmys
were done on a boat.

- They told me this is
really the way to do a show.

- Well, I suppose it is,

but what I wouldn't do for
a cooling breeze.

- (laughs) Yeah.
- Geez.

(narrator)
Well, it was the '70s,

and they simply didn't
know any better.

(Aaron) Lou Scheimer heard
that the winner was actually

"Captain Kangaroo."
Lou got drunk,

and they announced that
"Star Trek" has won the Emmy.

- To all those
great, great people

who produced for us in
the art of animation

at Filmation
those wonderful shows.

- He's about ready to fall over.
- Thank you very, very much.

(Larry)
The animated series to this day,

whatever you think about it,
is the only "Star Trek"

to win an Emmy as a program.

(narrator)
"Star Trek" shows have won

twice for makeup,
btu the animated series

stands alone for writing honors.

Despite the accolades,
this chapter was

always going to be "Star Trek's"
least watched.

(Fred) We did get high praise
from television critics.

I think they saw that children
could appreciate the show,

adults could appreciate
the show, the stories had

the quality that
the original series had.

(narrator)
The LA Times called

"Star Trek: The Animated Series"

"a Mercedes in
a soapbox derby."

- I like the fact that they
said it was a Mercedes.

(narrator) For a kids show,
"Star Trek: The Animated Series"

had achieved something
very grown up.

- It won an Emmy as
Best Children's Show

and there was nothing
"children" about it.

(narrator) That was something
the original series

never managed in 79 episodes.

Nevertheless,
this upstart cartoon

would suffer the same fate
as its mothership.

After 22 episodes
over two seasons,

the show was retired.

- The animated series was not
cancelled for bad ratings,

it just was a point where
we have enough episodes

and now we can run these forever

and it doesn't cost us
any more money.

(narrator)
The animated adventures had

found an audience,
btu it was the wrong audience.

(Aaron) "Star Trek" might
have actually continued

if it didn't have sort of
this dual identity

of being a children's program

and original "Star Trek"
at the same time.

(announcer)
The "Star Trek" USS Enterprise

gift set with five
"Star Trek" action figures!

(Aaron)
The advertisers didn't quite

know what to do with it,
are you advertising

to the dad that's watching
the show with the kids,

or are you advertising to
the kid that wants the toy?

(announcer) "Star Trek"
action figure sold separately.

(narrator)
But can an obscure kids cartoon

that ran for just two seasons
legitimately be part

of the "Star Trek" legacy?

(Aaron) Today you often
hear the refrain of

"that's not 'Star Trek'."

(narrator)
This debate goes all the way

back to the beginning.

- That started in 1973

when they announced
the animated series.

You had that loud,
vocal minority saying

"don't do this to my show
that I love."

People took out newspaper ads
asking that they not put

"Star Trek: The Animated Series"
on the air because

it's a cartoon,
it's not real "Star Trek".

(narrator)
There was one true fan

who really was dedicated
to proving that idea wrong.

- Someone special.

(Fred)
Dorothy of course was

fiercely protective
of "Star Trek".

(narrator)
But in the male-dominated world

of fast turnaround cartoons,

Dorothy Fontana was on her own.

- No one is thinking they're
upholding the legacy

of some already
undervalued show,

and Dorothy, just trying to
enforce "Star Trek" continuity

from the original series,
for the first several episodes,

she didn't see final cuts
of the shows

and was totally blocked
out of the process.

And it was a real
frustration point for her.

She knows there's a little
controversy about people

seeing these animated shows
as a consolation prize

for "revival",
so the last thing she wants

is any fans to be upset.

- And so Dorothy made sure
it was "Star Trek".

(narrator)
After all, that's what

it says on the can,
but is it canon?

- This whole debate about canon

for the animated series
is just amazing.

- The animated series is canon.

(Larry)
A lot of us took it as canon,

we just kind of held our nose
a couple of times and kinda

tried to look the other way
on a couple of areas.

(narrator) Well, after
all, it was for kids.

- Dorothy says it's canon,
she treated it as canon.

(Aaron) She felt that
the animated series

was the unofficial fourth season

of the original series.

(narrator)
Some might see a cartoon "Trek"

as a crime against canon,
but there's no denying

the animated series checked
a load of boxes.

Like original cast...

- It's the voices,
it's those guys.

- Nothing's changed.
(ding)

(narrator)
Check, but not Chekov.

- Mr. Chekov, join us
in the transporter room.

- Walter Koenig didn't make
the cut for this show.

(narrator)
And while Walter did get

to add to the series by
writing an episode...

- "The Infinite Vulcan."
- (narrator) After that,

Chekov checked out.
- When I got done

with the animated show,
they offered me a second one.

I just turned that down.

- Explain it to me, sir,
explain it to me.

(narrator)
Because Gene Roddenberry

wanted too many rewrites.

- I got crazy with it.
Gene is the master rewriter.

(narrator) Which is another
check on the canon checklist.

- If it has Gene Roddenberry's
name on it, it's canon.

- (narrator) Check.
- He put his name on it,

and he collected his paycheck.
- (narrator) Another check.

- It's canon.
- (narrator) Original writers?

- It was written by the writers
the wrote the original stories.

(narrator) And they
weren't the only returnees.

- You have a lot of
returning characters.

(ding)
You have Sarek and Amanda,

you have Harry Mudd.
- Captain Kirk!

- You have Cyrano Jones.
- What can I do for you?

- You even have
fictional characters

like "Alice in Wonderland" from
the Shore Leave planet.

- I beg your pardon,
but did you see a white rabbit?

- There's just so many
returning bits and pieces.

(narrator)
Not to mention sequels.

- These tribbles
don't reproduce,

they just get fat.
(ding)

- "More Tribbles,
More Troubles,"

that's a sequel.
"Once Upon a Planet"

is a sequel to "Shore Leave."

(narrator)
Some of them were even prequels.

(grunting)

(Aaron)
Without the animated series,

a huge chunk of what Spock is
would not have existed.

(ding)
- (Bob) The animated series

is becoming more canon
because they're

using stuff from it.

(Rich)
They have taken the ideas from

the animated series,
like the rec room holodeck.

- Just imagine what it was like.

No engine, no computers.

(Marc) There were a lot
of things that came out of

the animated series
that became part

of the "Star Trek" universe.

- Unbelievable.

(narrator) Including
another animated series

that would join the fleet
46 years later.

(Bob)
Watching "Lower Decks,"

I was very excited to see
that a species relative

of Lieutenant Arex appears.
- This is no joke, sir!

(narrator) And let's
not forget this little gem.

- This is Captain
James Tiberius Kirk.

- The animated series is where
we got on-screen Tiberius.

- James Tiberius Kirk.

- Well, that convinces me.

- So these stories
still hold up.

Each story has an idea,
there's a reason why

they're telling this story,
it's a "Star Trek" idea.

It continues the story.

- What was important about
the animated series

is that it was a big and very
important stepping stone

to getting "Star Trek" back.

- Captain!
- I appreciate the welcome.

(Fred) Anyone associated
with "Star Trek"

can hold their head up high

if they worked on
the animated series.

It was a quality product,
it won an Emmy,

and it won the hearts
of "Star Trek" fans.

- My dear friend Spock.

- It's good to have
a friend like you.

- The animated series
is "Star Trek".

- Exactly.
- (Fred) It was a smart show

where they had ideas about
all kinds of things,

life and death, women's issues,

diversity, they were
all worked into the stories

and they were not
talking down to kids,

and that's one of the reasons
50 years later,

we're still interested,
talking, and watching

the animated series.

(narrator)
But you know what?

There's a lot more
"Star Trek" to talk about.

♪♪