saturday_am_80s | Fan Page: STAR TREK THE ANIMATED SERIES

Since today is the birthday of Star Trek, I've decided to put up a special 1980's Saturday Morning Historical Reenactment Society Fan Page for the Star Trek animated series that ran on NBC Saturday Mornings in 1973/1974.

Why YES, you are CORRECT, 1973/1974 is NOT the 1980's! So why do I include it here?

Because the Star Trek Animated Series is going to be the FIRST EVER "Syndicated" cartoon to be honored in our community!

I don't know about where you're from, but the local television station where *I* grew up filled EVERY SPARE SECOND of Saturday Morning with re-runs of this show! It was through the cartoon and a coloring book that I was first introduced to the world of Star Trek, and my life was forever changed.

Back in the 80's, there were still broadcast TV stations that weren't affiliated with any network. They filled their entire schedule with a good mix of re-runs and original programming. If you're a lucky 80's kid your first and possibly only memories of a "Kiddie Show Host" are from one of thee local channels trying to fill their Saturday morning schedule with old public domain cartoons and whatever else they could get for cheap.

So like I said, in my home town we had "Frisky Frolics". The disinterested voice of the Channel 12 news anchor would come blaring over a static image of the words "Frisky Frolics" on a circus banner, saying "Hey, kids... it's time for, *sigh*... 'Frisky Frolics'" and then SNAP! CARTOONS! Usually started with about an hour of Mighty Mouse and other cartoons from the 1940's, and then... STAR TREK CARTOON. Then something Canadian, then STAR TREK CARTOON, then more Bugs Bunny stuff, then more syndicated cartoons... it never really had a set schedule. TV Guide just said "Channel 12, 6am-Noon, 'Frisky Frolics'" and that was it. I think there must have been some nerdy little intern working there all alone on Saturdays and he was told to "Just play some friggin' cartoons for the little snots" and so he did... he also got us Doctor Who on Saturday nights, so I owe that kid A LOT to this very day :)
So this post is actually two-fold... share your memories of the Star Trek cartoon here, AND feel free to nominate other shows that weren't part of the standard network television line-up for inclusion in our adoration :)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't care if it's '80s or not; that's one of my favorite cartoons ever.

Me too... it fit in PERFECTLY to the Star Trek universe :)

I first saw this show (believe it or not) in the mid 90s on TeleToon. I had heard of it before but it was the first time I got to watch it. If I remember correctly it was about the same time I discovered that late night tv was awesome.

I also got to attend a panel with Hal Sutherland at a comic convention and got to hear him talk about the series. So cool :)

That's pretty darned cool! And gives me the chance to share my own Hal Sutherland story :)

Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, two years ago, I was thumbing through a bunch of super-cheap Filmation animation cels ($20 each) from Star Trek and He-Man, only kind of wondering why they were focused on just those two cartoons. A nice elderly gentleman started up a conversation with me about the cels, how he brought them to the show to sell because he had found a HUGE amount of them in a box and had been told by some art dealer that they were worthless so he'd try to sell them to the fans directly... nice guy! I then found an absolutely BEAUTIFUL "Orko" from Maters of The Universe, paid my $20 and the old man said "Thank you... would you like me to sign it for you?"

THE OLD MAN WAS HAL SUTHERLAND!!! I doubted him at first but then his agent pointed to the sign right there above their booth "Special Appearance By Hal Sutherland"!

So I now own a signed Hal Sutherland "Orko" animation cel!

lol. I was at that booth too!
I got 2 cels there but didn't get to talk to Hal as much as you did (he signed 1 of them and was busy with other people). My cels were of some super cute bad guys (not regular bad guys but some 1 ep bad guys). I will admit I was sad there was no Skeletor :(

He was the first guest that I knew and my friends didn't and was still one of my favourite panels (even though most of the planel was about Star Trek and not He-Man).

That's so awesome! Same convention! He was such a nice man :)

My signed Orko is the star of my collection :)

I met both of you in person at the same con, actually. I wish we'd found a way to spend more time together, though.

I know! ECCC is just so busy for us, though! All I can hope for is chance encounters with each person as I wade through ll the stuff I want/need to do :)

That's awesome! I got to meet him at the last one. He seems like such a truly nice and happy man. :)

Best animated series ever created, period.

Only runner-up is the Looney Tunes, who don't really count because they were originally made for theatrical release.

-The Gneech

Better than Rubik The Amazing Cube?!?!?

Sorry, Rubik, but yeah. Not even close!

-TG

I seem to recall Nickelodeon showing this in reruns, this and a cartoon called spartacus... I tuned in to every damn episode cuz I was technically a 70's kid and watched this in its original format. It was a great shot of nostalgia during my teen yrs!! Also do you remember menudo doing shorts for ABC?? Well at least I think it was ABC... their songs would come on in between the cartoons, it was great!!

We're actively looking for some high quality Menudo shorts to use in our next watch-along :)

Thats awesome to hear!! ;P

I didn't even know this show existed till they started airing it on Nickelodeon, but I loved it! In some ways superior to the original series. The episode with Kukulkan has always stuck with me, great stuff!

Fan Page: STAR TREK THE ANIMATED SERIES

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