Animated Trek Vrs Animated POTA

[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.