This is what I mean about the animated series, on the surface it may seem kinda silly, but if you look underneath it has a deeper meaning. I believe most people are turned off of the animated series because of the bad animation. But limited animation is all they were given time for. In 1973 they didn't have computers to crank the toons out like they do today. If only they had put this on at night, if only they would have had more time and money, if only.........

Kail, there is still good animation done today that doesn't require a computer: Batman, Superman, Men in Black, Aeon Flux are all done in the traditional fashion.

The point Kail is making, Mike, is that TAS was not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. There were some very good/thoughtful story lines that the half hour format couldn't do justice to, and they used a *REALLY* bad animation house to do the animation.

I have always thought that Yesteryear should have been canon.

I'll cut the animated series this much slack--for it's time, the animation was no worse than most of the other Saturday morning cartoons. Which is not saying much.

I can almost give Filmation some credit for trying to do realistic human faces, rather than cartoonish ones. Unfortunately, the results are rather wooden, and the movement looks rotoscoped. Combine that with Filmation's standard technique of "looping" animation (for example, reusing scenes of characters running), and it weakened the overall look.

I'm sorry if I'm coming down on this show, but it does bring back bad memories of the Dark Ages of animation--Fat Albert, the Funky Phantom, the Brady Kids, oh, the horrible list goes on and on.

I did like the novelizations of the cartoons. Alan Dean Foster added lots of characterization to some flat stories. I didn't like M'Ress in the show, but I liked her in the books.

This episode reveals that the Enterprise has reverted back to using reel-tapes and punchcards for its computer records.
And what's the deal with that test-pattern background that appears behind Kirk when he fights the prosecutor?

This episode reveals that the Devil is an alien. Given this, and the events of "Who Mourns for Adonis?", and the fact that Kirk is NOT under Sybok's influence, why in STV, does he at first seem to believe that the alien is G-d?

I remember the Brady kids cartoon, and one episode where Greg joins a football team - and we see him playing football in his street clothes! BAD! But I think Filmation had some good points. The music in the Spiderman cartoons was awesome, and wasn't too bad for the Star Trek series, either.

Am I trying too hard to be nice?

The Magicks of Megus-Tu is currently the featured episode on my animated Star Trek site.
Lots of pictures, 3 avi's, RealVideo, a link to buy the video,
and the entire episode in RealAudio format.
http://mainengineering.simplenet.com/tas_main.html
Please stop by, and comments are always welcome. Thank you.

I may be on the wrong episode, but I think this is the one in which a stardate of 1257 is quoted- putting it pre-"Where No Man Has Gone Before" and thus making nits (i.e. why weren't they in "Cage"-style uniforms and why did certain characters such as M'Ress and Arex not appear in that Classic episode...)

Unlike TNG, neither TOS or TAS episodes should be placed in Stardate order to establish a timeline of events. Although Stardates in this era kept consecutive within an episode, they were randomly selected by the writers.

My favourite cute aspect of this episode was that even the illusion of the set of stocks for Arex was custom built: it included a third armhole!

>I may be on the wrong episode, but I think this >is the one in which a stardate of 1257 is quoted-> putting it pre-"Where No Man Has Gone Before" >and thus making nits (i.e. why weren't they >in "Cage"-style uniforms and why did certain >characters such as M'Ress and Arex not appear in >that Classic episode...)

Neither M'Ress or Arex were present in this episode, so it is at least consistent in that regard.

Arex was, at least. He was in the stocks.

Am I correct in believing that George Takei did the voiceover of the Megans when they invade the Enterprise and take the crew down for the trial? He tried to disguise the voice, but it still sounded like him.

Oh, and need it be mentioned that Asmodeus complains that the Megans of Salem were burned as witches when all but one of the accused there were hanged? And the exception was pressed under a weight of rocks?

I know, pick, pick, pick. . . . :-)

Is it really possible, even with warp technology, for the Enterprise to travel to the center of our galaxy?

Kirk asks Engineering for a damage report and Scotty responds, "Everything can be repaired." What kind of report is that? Shouldn't Mr. Scott let his Captain know exactly what needs to be repaired? And shouldn't Kirk be asking for that info?

A Vulcan chess set? This is something we've never seen before. Why didn't TPTB simply use the more familiar three dimensional chess set?

Approximately 16 crewmembers of the Enterprise are shown in the stock lineup. Where are the other 400 plus crewmembers?

The bit with Kirk using magic to fight the Megans and save Lucien reminds me of a similar situation in "Plato's Stepchildren".

"Live long and prosper."

Larry Brody, who wrote this ep, also wrote the Voyager ep, "Tattoo".

"Live long and prosper."

In the Transporter Room, when Scotty says, "I don't like it", it sounds like his voice is coming from the intercom system.

Very strange episode-- the Devil's a nice guy, and the accused at the Salem Witch Trials actually were witches. That's an odd view of history, even for Trek.

Also, why were the Megans so eager to let the Enterprise go? Their entry into Megas-Tu may have been an accident, but it sure seems like anyone could travel to the Galactic Core, ride the whirlwind, and presto! Another incursion.

During the trial, Spock is set free from the wooden stocks, but moments later, we see him back in stocks, and then later yet, out of stocks again.

Man this was a bad episode. It was at it's worst when Kirk & Asmodeus got into a magical fight like a cartoon superhero & villain.

At the beginning Kirk comments that if the universe was created in an explosion there should still be creation happening at the center of the galaxy.
Wha...?!?

With Lucien's appearance to Pan maybe they should have tried to pass off a relationship to Apollo?

Lucien is pronounced "Lucy-en" by most of the cast, but at one point Spock pronounces it "Loosh-en".

I wonder if the Megans were on Earth at the same time as Apollo & the other "Greek gods"?

So what drugs were the writers using when they came up with this episode? On the one hand I figured maybe there was some anti-religious attitude, what with making the devil a nice guy & all, but then ending with the idea of Kirk redeeming the devil, seemed like a very religious idea (everyone can be redeemed).

This was one of the weakest episodes of ST:TAS,the mixture of sf & magic comes off as silly & ludicrous.By now the old trope of aliens putting humanity on trial as used in this episode was cliched.On the surface of Magas-Tu McCoy tells Kirk that he wishes he had a Tricorder with him.There is a black strap over his shoulder & across his chest in a close up shot,isn't that a Tricorder? Isn't it strange that the Megans,with their incredible magic powers,couldn't protect themselves when they were on Earth against primitive humans? If humanity came to hate & fear the Megans why did the Megans remain on Earth? The Enterprise has a terrible time with external forces as the ship explores the center of the galaxy at the start of the show.Yet at the conclusion of the episode they have a calm exit from Magas-Tu as they return.Ed Bishop,who did the voice of Asmodeus,was the lead in the sf TV series UFO(1970-'71). He portrayed Cmdr.Ed Straker,head of S.H.A.D.O. in the Gerry Anderson produced show.

As the crew of Enterprise is experimenting with magic, a panicked Lucien intervenes and tells them to stop because the energy they use can be traced. Ok, but Lucien has already put some sort of barrier between his planet and the ship, and he performed some pretty intense tricks for Kirk, Spock and McCoy when he had them visit the planet, so shouldn't THOSE actions already have attracted unwanted attention?

Several themes in this episode are either revisits of themes previously used, or first instances of themes that will be revisited later, like powerful aliens visiting Earth in the past (Who Morns for Adonais?), Kirk using mental powers to do battle with powerful beings (Plato's Stepchildren), looking for the source of creation at the center of the galaxy (Start Trek V: The Final Frontier), the crew being put on trial for long past crimes (Encounter at Farpoint), and visiting a strange realm where things morph according to one's own perceptions, (the Q continuum and the weird place in the Next Gen episode Where No One Has Gone Before).