Animated Trek Vrs Animated POTA

[Seeker]

Time for another point counterpoint thread. In the 70s two very popular series branched into the Saturday morning line up.

First there was Star Trek. Voiced by several of the original actors and written by several series writers this show went were the origional could not go. More creative aliens, more space ships. Not limited by budget constraints. The sad thing is it only went on for 22 episodes.

Next is POTA. I havent seen it recently so I'm going by memory here. This was actually closer to the original book. The Apes had some modern technology. The astronauts, Two men and a woman also salvaged a laser from thier ship. The series expanded on the underdweller/mutants storyline.
There was also a cool WWII salvaged plane and a few mutated creatures one would expect after a few thousand years of radioactivity and evolution.

I liked both. I cant pick a better one. Animation was critisized on both shows but I was happy that they were continued in any form.

[Mikey]

I didn't care for the Apes cartoon

I never could get over the General sounding like Fred Flintstone

[raider5gt]

Star Trek annimated,all of the original cast from the tv series,in a cartoon :cool: it was a nice touch that they added the 2 alien officers LT. M'ress and LT Arex.

This series is on my DVD want list :grin:

Never saw POTA annimated.

[palitoy]

I never could get over the General sounding like Fred Flintstone

*Fake* Fred Flinstone you mean.

I enjoy both, they seem to have the same hangups, limited animation and a generous helping of cycles. The stories for both though are kind of above and beyond saturday morning kids shows ...

[jessica]

I haven't had the time to view the POTA cartoon series DVD yet. It was something I remembered looking forward to every Saturday morning. I don't think I would feel the same about the cartoon now as I did when younger.

I don't remember much of the animated Star Trek, but the renditions are beautifully made.

[toys2cool]

I thought the Star trek was alright,I've never seen the POTA

[Bo8a_Fett]

Trek animated all the way

[Hotfoot]

Have not seen either in years. Probably simplistic compared to todays toons but should be viewed in the mindset of when they were made. I liked both.

[Raydeen1]

Love them both but POTA for me. Mostly because it's POTA. I had no real memory of the show other than I watched it when I was little until I heard Zira call Bill Blue Eyes. That brought it all back. ;)

[shellhead]

I own the animated Star Trek and think it's every bit as good as the live action series.Story wise,I apreciate it more as an adult than I did as a kid.
On the other hand, I loved apes as a kid , but now I find the cartoon painfully slow moving and monotonous,and Fred Urkstone bugs the crap outta me!:ugh_y:

The animated Star Trek is also the first place you will hear Capt. Kirk's middle name of Tiberius, so in short ,it's real Star Trek!

[twilitezoner]

Here is a link to some Apes episodes on youtube. I don't have any childhood memories of this series, but I do remember the Trek series.

YouTube - First Ever Planet of the Apes Cartoon (1/3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VAKS-yBBIg)

[Seeker]

Here is a link to some Apes episodes on youtube. I don't have any childhood memories of this series, but I do remember the Trek series.

YouTube - First Ever Planet of the Apes Cartoon (1/3) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VAKS-yBBIg)


I was just viewing the old youtube Apes episode while you posted it here. It was alot better then I remembered. Really ahead of its time, Its a shame Trek and Apes didn't last longer.

[HardyGirl]

I love the Trek toon! I never saw it in it's first run, but when I came out to CA to visit my older brother when I was 11, it used to be on the afternoon cartoon line-up, and then my mom would take me to the park, where there was a huge flying saucer structure (Astro Park), and all us kids (whether we knew each other or not) would play Trek and fight over who was to be Captain Kirk. Now I own all of the Trek toons on tape, and love watching them all, and thinking of those times.

Regarding the Apes toon, I never saw this in it's original run either. I remember catching the end of it a few times on the Sci-Fi Channel when they had the Cartoon Quest. What struck me at first was the animation. Very classic comic book like. But as it turned out, that's all I liked about it. Yes, it's closer to the book, apes driving cars, listening to hick songs about humans on the radio, a few drawn out psychedelic scenes when they apes are after the girl...and I didn't care for it. In fact, I've been trying to get rid of my volume 1 video of this tape, and if anyone wants it, it's yours. Just PM me.

[AUSSIE-Rebooted-AMM]

LOVED the trek. . .never saw the POTA.. . . that I can rfemember anyway.

I still have my Viewmaster reels from the episode with Spocks Teddy Bear. I like the way that the treks were often expansions or sequels to some of the origial episodes.

[HardyGirl]

LOVED the trek. . .never saw the POTA.. . . that I can rfemember anyway.

I still have my Viewmaster reels from the episode with Spocks Teddy Bear. I like the way that the treks were often expansions or sequels to some of the origial episodes.

I have those too! The talking and plain versions. The ep was called Yesteryear, but the view-master called it Mr. Spock's Time Trek.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I finally got to see the Apes cartoon a month or so back; and I gota say I actually like BOTH. A LOT!

Overall Trek was probably the better one. Cheapie Filmation animation (and they were known for being cheap in the era of cheap cartoons....) simplistic designs; BUT they had a lot of good stories. Probably 'cos they brought along a lot of the writers from the original tv show. The best part was all the weird aliens and planets. Lots of imagination and apart form a few old standbys you never knew where the episode wasa gonna go.

The Apes cartoon was interesting; but hamstrung by the technical and fiscal limits of the day. More cheap animation and VERY slow pacing, but a LOT of neat ideas. AND the show was sertialized. That is, the whole thing was one big continuing atory; practicly unheard of in N. America at the time. They'd also added some weird details to the continuity; like the Underdwellers and the apes who lived in the mountains. That was a nice touch, since the ape kingdom as seen in the movies and live tv show seemed to cover a fairly small territory.

All told; I'd recommend both, IF you can get by the 1970's animation.

Don C.

[mego73]

I saw both as a kid and love both the Ape and Trek toons.

Both shows avoided the additional kid based elements that many live action show adaptations would have (adding kids or animals or both) and were true to the tone of the original source material.

Trek wins for me because it of them having the original cast and writers and the brighter, cleaner look of the Filmation art. Plus, it is my first Star Trek and I will always hold it high.

But that doesn't mean I don't like the Ape cartoon art. The backgrounds, especially are really well done. The character drawings were not as good as Trek though. But there were times that they would have one shot, non cel character drawings that had shading and a comic book look, and I thought that was great.

And they really succeeded in making the Under dwellers creepy. I like the serialized format too. The Apes toon had more silly elements than Trek but I get a kick out of that too. Like when the Astronauts were menaced by a giant spider under Ape city, a serpent bird thing and a sea creature (I guess these evolved after our nuclear war). The Astronauts and Cornelius also run into a peaceful sect of Apes that worship a King Kong sized Ape ice statue that a real Ape eventually breaks out of.

The titles are great too:

"Invasion of the Underground Dwellers"
"Flames Of Doom"
"Lagoon Of Peril"
"Terror on Ice Mountain"

and more

[bobws]

I vaguely remember the POTA cartoon but i enjoyed it as a kid and just watched the first episode now and thought it still held up some. however i'm a Big Trek fan and loved that cartoon series. i just wished they both ran longer than they did.

[Action Martin]

I recall watching the Trek cartoon maybe 3 times when it was originally broadcast. I was a faithful viewer of POTA since I was hooked on the movies and tv series. I purchased and viewed the POTA DVD collection when it was released and it wasn't as good as I remembered. The animation was horrible and the voice actors weren't the best. If you watch the DVD set the episodes are not shown in order so if things like that bother you be mindful.

[fallensaviour]

Trek wins hands down for me...Awesome stories and can't beat the actors voice overs.

[david_b]

Ditto here ~ LOVE the Trek animated series (have most of it on my iPod now), even love the POTA live action series, never seen/no interest in the POTA animated. It's just hearing the Trek actor voices really make it seem like canon, like TOS.

david_b

[cwilfing]

I remember waching both of them when I was a kid, and being a little dissappointed with them. The stories were good, but Iv'e always wondered why they didn't have Chekov guest star in at least one episode of the animated Trek.

[Drain]

POTA Cartoon Rules Star Trekkieee Drowl.

[HardyGirl]

I didn't like the Apes cartoon. In fact, I gave away my copy of Vol.1 to a member here. I do have all the animated Trek on tape and I just love it. Trek all the way!

[mego73]

Here's the deal, I'm pre-disposed to like most early to mid 70's Saturday Morning offerings. I am acclimated to the limited animation in these shows and don't mind it at all, sometimes I even relish it. Back in the day, what the animation didn't show or only suggested, our fertile minds filled in the gaps.

I still want to get good legit releases of the first Gilligan cartoon, Emergency+4 and others.

[cjefferys]

I like the Trek cartoons and also liked reading Alan Dean Foster's book adaptations of the series as a kid. On the other hand, while I'm a big POTA fan, I bought the cartoon series on DVD and haven't been able to even sit through the first episode.

[mego73]

I like the Trek cartoons and also liked reading Alan Dean Foster's book adaptations of the series as a kid. On the other hand, while I'm a big POTA fan, I bought the cartoon series on DVD and haven't been able to even sit through the first episode.

The first episode is a bit of a drag.

[apes3978]

The first episode is a bit of a drag.

I like the first episode (of RETURN)... One cool part about it was that they didn't just start off with the humans seeing apes within the first five minutes... I also like the way that RETURN took a few episodes before finding out that they're on future Earth... While a lot of it is dumb (monsters, the way the Mutants were presented, and a lot of the dialog) RETURN does have what could have been a decent storyline had it been executed properly...

[Drain]

One problem Return had, was the episodes were originally aired out of order.

[MegoMonk]

Here's the deal, I'm pre-disposed to like most early to mid 70's Saturday Morning offerings. I am acclimated to the limited animation in these shows and don't mind it at all, sometimes I even relish it. Back in the day, what the animation didn't show or only suggested, our fertile minds filled in the gaps.

I still want to get good legit releases of the first Gilligan cartoon, Emergency+4 and others.

I agree. I wish they would show more of this stuff on cable.

I own both series on DVDs I picked up at collector shows. I like them both although as a kid would have said I liked the Apes cartoon better than Trek.