History WesternAnimation / StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries

* ActingForTwo: Everyone, besides the Enterprise crew and a few returning characters, are voiced by James Doohan or Majel Barrett.

* ExiledFromContinuity: By Gene Roddenberry himself.

* RecursiveAdaptation: "The Slaver Weapon".

* TalkingToHimself: Characters voiced by Majel Barrett and James Doohan.

** Played with by the titular weapon in "The Slaver Weapon". Spock and Sulu discuss the potential for such a weapon to destabilize the entire galaxy if it were to fall in to the wrong hands; however, [[AIIsACrapshoot the weapon is self-aware]] to the extent that it can determine that it's not being handled by an authorized user and [[TakingYouWithMe self-destructs when the Kzinti try to activate it]].

* HumanityOnTrial: "The Magicks of MegMegas-Tu." Humanity is put on trial by the Megans, for the crime of being xenophobic jerks. The trial is actually for "humanity and those who would aid them" in order to account for the nonhuman crew members. Humanity initially has its sentence suspended because it is concluded that they do not pose a threat to the Megans since it is nearly impossible to locate the Megan homeworld. Humanity is found not guilty after Kirk risks his life to protect a Megan who had been sentenced to A Fate Worse Than Death for associating with humanity. When asked why they didn't just use the Enterprise's records to discover for themselves that humans were capable of things like a HeroicSacrifice the Megans reply the records could have been faked.

* HumanityOnTrial: "The Magicks of Megas-Tu"

* {{Novelization}}: The animated episodes were novelized by Creator/AlanDeanFoster.

* RoleReprisal: The entire cast, minus Walter Koenig, reprised the roles they played on the original series — William Shatner as Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, [=DeForrest=] Kelly as [=McCoy=], James Doohan as Scotty, George Takei as Sulu, Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, and Majel-Barret Roddenberry as Nurse Chapel.
** Instead of providing Chekov [[TheOtherDarrin another voice actor]], they instead replaced him with two new characters: Arex (voiced by James Doohan) and M'Ress (voiced by Majel-Barret). Koenig would wind up contributing to the series by writing the episode "The Infinite Vulcan".

* EmpoweredBossNormal: Kirk (and a few others) gain magical abilities in "The Magicks of Megas-Tu".

* EmpoweredBossNormal: Kirk gains magical abilities in "The Magicks of Megas-Tu".

However, the franchise creator, GeneRoddenberry, later insisted that the animated show be kept out of continuity since he never anticipated that ''Star Trek'' would later be revived in live action on such a scale as would happen. Still, many fans insisted that at least the best episode, "Yesteryear", be counted, considering that it gives a valuable look into Spock's youth and character as well as the planet Vulcan as told by the most authoritative voice on the matter, D.C. Fontanta. Because of the information about Vulcan presented in the show, the introducing of the Holodeck, giving Kirk his middle name, and the fact that many of the ''Star Trek'' writers and actors were involved with the show, many fans consider it a part of their personal ''Star Trek'' {{canon}} of it depicting the final two years of ''Enterprise's'' five year mission. In addition, the producers of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' used numerous references from this series. The ExpandedUniverse, already having less of a need to adhere to strict canon, even went so far as to revive the series' SixthRanger alien crew members, CatGirl Lt. M'Ress and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous tri-symmetrical Lt. Arex]].

* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture: Thanks to a blooper involving the mustached Lt Kyle, one shot of Scotty working the transporter momentarily showed him with a mustache, five years before his live action mustache's debut in ''StarTrekTheMotionPicture''.

* [[TitleTheAdaptation Title: The Adaptation]]

* LighterAndFluffier: One of the main reasons given by GeneRoddenberry as to why he chose Filmation out of all the animation companies who made a pitch at doing ''The Animated Series'' is because they were the only company who didn't suggest giving the ''Enterprise'' crew "funny animal sidekicks". Interestingly, ''after'' getting the job, the idea apparently did surface at pre-production meetings... but it was quickly (and rightly) kyboshed by Roddenberry.
** Regardless, Filmation didn't let the concept of "funny sidekicks in space" go to waste and created the live-action series ''SpaceAcademy'' a few years later.

* SingleBiomePlanet: A Volcano Planet in "The Jihad" and an Ice Planet in "The Slaver Weapon".

* SingleBiomePlanet: A Volcano Planet in "The Jihad".

* AbsenteeActor: Everyone ''except'' Spock, Sulu, and Uhura in "The Slaver Weapon".

However, the franchise creator, GeneRoddenberry, later insisted that the animated show be kept out of continuity since he never anticipated that ''Star Trek'' would later be revived in live action on such a scale as would happen. Still, many fans insisted that at least the best episode, "Yesteryear", be counted, considering that it gives a valuable look into Spock's youth and character as well as the planet Vulcan as told by the most authoritative voice on the matter, D.C. Fontanta. Because of the information about Vulcan presented in the show, the introducing of the Holodeck, giving Kirk his middle name, and the fact that many of the ''Star Trek'' writers and actors were involved with the show, many fans consider it a part of their personal ''Star Trek'' {{canon}}. In addition, the producers of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' used numerous references from this series. The ExpandedUniverse, already having less of a need to adhere to strict canon, even went so far as to revive the series' SixthRanger alien crew members, CatGirl Lt. M'Ress and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous tri-symmetrical Lt. Arex]].

However, the franchise creator, GeneRoddenberry, later insisted that the animated show be kept out of continuity since he never anticipated that ''Star Trek'' would later be revived in live action on such a scale as would happen. Still, many fans insisted that at least the best episode, "Yesteryear", be counted, considering that it gives a valuable look into Spock's youth and character as well as the planet Vulcan. Because of the information about Vulcan presented in the show, the introducing of the Holodeck, giving Kirk his middle name, and the fact that many of the ''Star Trek'' writers and actors were involved with the show, many fans consider it a part of their personal ''Star Trek'' {{canon}}. In addition, the producers of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' used numerous references from this series. The ExpandedUniverse, already having less of a need to adhere to strict canon, even went so far as to revive the series' SixthRanger alien crew members, CatGirl Lt. M'Ress and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous tri-symmetrical Lt. Arex]].

Given the reality that it was produced by Creator/{{Filmation}}, the animation is typically the studio's ultra-cheap style. However, they more than made up for that with most of the original cast and the writers as well (although Creator/LarryNiven was a tad lazy in squeezing ''The Slaver Weapon'' from his ''Literature/KnownSpace'' universe into that of ''Star Trek''). The result is a show that might not have the best animation, but still boasted spectacular imagery and believably non-human aliens that the original show could never depict, while still reasonably keeping to its artistic spirit. For instance, this series took home the franchise's first Emmy Award.

'''''Star Trek: The Animated Series''''' is an AnimatedAdaptation and the first SpinOff from [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]].

Given the reality that it was produced by Creator/{{Filmation}}, the animation is typically the studio's ultra-cheap style. However, they more than made up for that with most of the original cast and the writers as well (although Creator/LarryNiven was a tad lazy in squeezing ''The Slaver Weapon'' from his ''Literature/KnownSpace'' universe into that of ''Star Trek''). The result is a show that might be badly animated, but it still boasted spectacular imagery and believably non-human aliens that the original show could never depict, while still reasonably keeping to its artistic spirit. For instance, this series took home the franchise's first Emmy Award.

However, the franchise creator, GeneRoddenberry, later insisted that the animated show be kept out of continuity since he never anticipated that ''Star Trek'' would later be revived in live action on such a scale as would happen. Still, many fans insisted that at least the best episode, "Yesteryear," be counted, considering that it gives a valuable look into Spock's youth and character, as well as the planet Vulcan. Because of the information about Vulcan presented in the show, the introducing of the Holodeck and giving Kirk his middle name, many of the Star Trek writers and actors involvement in the show, many fans consider it a part of their personal Star Trek {{canon}}. In addition, the producers of ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' have used numerous references from this series. The ExpandedUniverse, already having less of a need to adhere to strict canon, even went so far as to revive the series' SixthRanger alien crew members, CatGirl Lt. M'Ress and [[MultiArmedAndDangerous tri-symmetrical Lt. Arex]].

Creator/{{CBS}} recently declared this series full canon around the time they released it on DVD.

The title used here and on the DVD release is a back-formation. The show originally aired as simply ''Star Trek''. It's also known by the more ponderous title of ''[[LongTitle The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek]]''.

!!Tropes found in this series:

* AbsenteeActor: Everyone ''except'' Spock, Sulu and Uhura in "The Slaver Weapon".

* CatFolk: The Caitian Lieutenant M'Ress, as well as the Kzinti in "The Slaver Weapon". Some of the ExpandedUniverse material around it suggested that the Caitian relationship to the Kzinti is essentially the same as the one between the Vulcans and the Romulans, only with the ones that left (the Caitians) being the 'good guys' that ended up part of the Federation and the ones that stayed (the Kzinti) as the militaristic bad guys with historic conflicts with the Federation (and possibly with some ill-advised genetic engineering on the part of the Kzinti).

* ChildrenAreCruel: in "Yesteryear", we get our first glimpse at Spock's childhood... and it's not pretty.
* CloningBlues: Spock in "The Infinite Vulcan."

* [[Funny/WesternAnimation Crowning Moment Of Funny]]: "The Jihad" and "Bem".
* DarkerAndEdgier: Than most other cartoons on television at the time. ''Star Trek: The Animated Series'' tended to work with the same style of cerebral stories that the previous live-action series did, and references to death were not glossed over at all. In fact, the episode "Yesteryear" deals with [[spoiler: a child version of Spock losing his beloved pet]], and the "death words" were not glossed over or replaced with LighterAndSofter equivalents. This has helped the series gain a strong following within the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' fan community, as well as with the creative staffs involved with the franchise.
* DerelictGraveyard: "The Time Trap"

* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: "Once Upon A Planet"

* EnergyBeings: "Beyond The Farthest Star", "Bem"
* EnthrallingSiren: "The Lorelei Signal"
* EveryoneIsASuper: "The Magicks of Megas-Tu"

* FemalesAreMoreInnocent: "The Lorelei Signal". The women of the planet Taurus II are effectively psychic vampires who drain the energy from men to survive, [[InferredHolocaust and have been doing so to the crew of passing ships for at least 150 years]]. They try to do the same to Kirk, Spock and Dr. [=McCoy=] and are only stopped by threat of force from Uhura... yet they are still presented as sympathetic to both the viewer and the heroes because they "cannot bear children" and the end of the episode has the Enterprise crew promise them [[KarmaHoudini a ship to be able to leave their planet and thus escape the 'curse' of immortality.]]

* FiveYearPlan: TOS's three seasons plus the animated series' two seasons.

* [[GirlsNightOutEpisode Girl's Night Out Episode]]: "The Lorelei Signal"
* GodGuise: Keniclius 5 with the Phylosians in "The Infinite Vulcan" and Kukulkan by the ancient Mayans in "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth".

* HighTechHexagons: The episode "Beyond the Farthest Star". The Enterprise crew discovers a highly advanced alien ship in orbit around a dead star. The alien ship's interior structure is made up of interlocking hexagons.

* ImprobablyHighIQ: The Lactrans in "The Eye of the Beholder". A six year old Lactran has an IQ in the thousands.

* IndyHatRoll: In "Once Upon A Planet" Captain Kirk leaps through a sliding rock door in the side of a mountain just before it closes.

* IntelligentGerbil: The Kzinti in "The Slaver Weapon" and the Caitian M'Ress.
* ItBelongsInAMuseum: Lt. Sulu in "The Slaver Weapon". Spock sets him straight.
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: 'Orion' in "The Pirates of Orion" is pronounced 'OH-ree-on'.

* LostColony: Terra Ten in "The Terratin Incident"; only it wasn't really lost--just shrunken to an extremely tiny size.

* MegaNeko: The Kzinti in ''The Slaver Weapon", as well as Lieutenant M'Ress.

* MobileFishbowl: "The Ambergris Element". At the end of the episode two Aquans (aliens who can only breathe water) are shown on the bridge of the ''Enterprise'' wearing water-filled helmets on their heads.

* PettingZooPeople: Lieutenant M'Ress
* ThePlague: "Albatross," "The Infinite Vulcan."

* PlantAliens: The Phylosians in "The Infinite Vulcan."

* TheQuest: The hunt for the "Soul of Alar" artifact in "The Jihad."

* RecycledSoundtrack: Well, duh. It's Filmation (although admittedly this was also done on the live-action show - not to the same extent, though).

* RetGone: Spock in "Yesteryear."
* RippleEffectProofMemory: Only Spock and Kirk remember the original timeline in "Yesteryear."

* RoleReprisal: The entire cast, minus Walter Koenig, would return to voice the characters they previously played on the original series(William Shater for Kirk, Leonard Nimoy for Spock, DeForrest Kelly for McCoy, James Doohan for Scotty, George Takei for Sulu, Nichelle Nichols for Uhura and Majel-Barret Roddenberry for Nurse Chapel)
** Instead of providing Chekov [[TheOtherDarrin another voice actor]], they instead replaced the character with two new characters: Arex(Voiced by James Doohan) and M'Ress(Voiced by Majel-Barret). Walter Koenig would wind up contributing to the series by writing the episode "The Infinite Vulcan."
** Mark Lenard would later reprise his role of Sarek in the episode "Yesteryear." Stanley Adams would reprise his role of Cyrano Jones in the episode "More Tribbles, More Trouble," And Roger C. Carmel would reprise his role of Harry Mudd in the episode "Mudd's Passion."
* {{Rotoscoping}}: How the animation of the USS Enterprise was created.
* SequelEpisode: "Mudd's Passion", "More Tribbles, More Troubles" and "Yesteryear", to ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' episodes.
* SdrawkcabName: The retlaw plant in "The Infinite Vulcan" and the planet Arret in "The Counter-Clock Incident".

* SecretTest: "The Magicks of Megas-Tu". The Megans test the Enterprise crew to verify their good intentions.

* SickeninglySweethearts: Spock behaves this way toward Christine Chapel for a large part of "Mudd's Passion". This is because he's reacting to a LovePotion.

* SnakeOilSalesman: Harry Mudd in "Mudd's Passion", Cyrano Jones in "More Tribbles, More Troubles"

* SpiritualSuccessor: "One Of Our Planets Is Missing" to [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries TOS]] episode "The Immunity Syndrome".

* StarfishAliens: Edosians, Vendorians, Phylosians, Lactrans and M/3/Green. The production team was clearly thrilled to not have to worry about budget constraints when designing the aliens, to the point that they probably went overboard with it.

* SufficientlyAdvanced - "Bem", "The Eye of the Beholder" and "The Jihad".

* TieInNovel: Creator/AlanDeanFoster wrote adaptations of the episodes, and many Trek novels referenced it.

* ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill: "The Slaver Weapon," a ''hand weapon'' capable of generating a Hiroshima-like detonation complete with shock wave!

* VengefulVendingMachine: The episode "The Practical Joker". After the Enterprise passes through a mysterious energy field the ship's computer starts playing practical jokes on the crew. When Mr. Scott tries to obtain a sandwich from the food synthesiser it sprays food all over him, including a custard pie in the face.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: The Vendorian in "The Survivor."

* WorldOfChaos: The planet in "The Magicks of Megas-Tu" and the so-called "Mad Planet" in "Jihad".

* YouAreInCommandNow: Lt. Uhura in "The Lorelei Signal" (something which never happened on the live-action show).

* YouWontFeelAThing: In the episode "The Pirates of Orion":
-->'''Dr. [=McCoy=]''': [about to give an injection] This won't hurt a bit, Spock.\\
'''Mr. Spock''': An unnecessary assurance, doctor, in addition to being untrue.\\
'''Dr. [=McCoy=]''': That's the last time I waste my bedside manner on a Vulcan.

* LighterAndFluffier: One of the main reasons given by GeneRoddenberry as to why he chose Filmation out of all the animation companies who made a pitch at doing the cartoon version is because they were the only company who didn't suggest giving the Enterprise crew "funny animal sidekicks". Interestingly, ''after'' getting the job, the idea apparently did surface at pre-production meetings... but it was quickly (and rightly) kyboshed by Roddenberry.
** Regardless, Filmation didn't let the concept of kid sidekicks in space go to waste and created the live action series, ''SpaceAcademy'', a few years later.

Given the reality that it was produced by Creator/{{Filmation}}, the animation is typically the studio's ultra-cheap style. However, they more than made up for that with most of the original cast and the writers as well (although LarryNiven was a tad lazy in squeezing ''The Slaver Weapon'' from his ''KnownSpace'' universe into that of ''Star Trek''). The result is a show that might be badly animated, but it still boasted spectacular imagery and believably non-human aliens that the original show could never depict, while still reasonably keeping to its artistic spirit. For instance, this series took home the franchise's first Emmy Award.

* CanonImmigrant: LarryNiven's Kzinti and Slavers in "The Slaver Weapon".
* CatFolk: The Caitian Lieutenant M'Ress, as well as the Kzinti in "The Slaver Weapon".
** Some of the ExpandedUniverse material around it suggested that the Caitian relationship to the Kzinti is essentially the same as the one between the Vulcans and the Romulans, only with the ones that left (the Caitians) being the 'good guys' that ended up part of the Federation and the ones that stayed (the Kzinti) as the militaristic bad guys with historic conflicts with the Federation (and possibly with some ill-advised genetic engineering on the part of the Kzinti).

* DolledUpInstallment: "The Slaver Weapon", from LarryNiven's "The Soft Weapon".

* {{Fainting}}: Kirk does something akin to the exhaustion-based variety in "Albatross" when ThePlague kicks in. Luckily, Spock is there to catch him.