TAS
Takei Wants A New TAS - Will Appear on NBC’s Heroes [update: also wants in on Trek XI]
As part of the promotion for the DVD release of Star Trek: The Animated Series StarTrek.com has a new interview with George Takei. The original Mr Sulu talks about his experiences working on the animated show, and speculates on the potential of doing a new TAS based on the Original Series
…the original is what is undebatably the most popular of all the series. So yeah, I’d like to see our generation of Star Trek revived in animated form. And, our voices more-or-less still resemble what we sounded like 40 years ago, so I think the original actors couldbe brought back for that.
Could a new TAS work?
Takei speculates that the remaining original actors could be supplemented with impersonators for the late De Forest Kelly and Jimmy Doohan. It is a bit hard to imagine that either Shatner or Nimoy would bother with a new animated show, neither speak fondly about their experiences with the show from the 70s. That being said, the notion of a new Trek animated show is something that comes up often and TrekMovie.com has heard that it has been talked about at CBS Paramount, but nothing is currently in development. That other big ’star’ franchise has recently dipped its toe in the animated waters. LucasFilm put out ‘The Clone Wars’ on the Cartoon Network to bridge the gap between Star Wars Episodes II and III, and they are at work on a follow-up animated series as well.
Read the rest of the interview for more on Takei’s thoughts on TAS and how it effected his run for City Council in L.A.
Father to a Hiro
While Takei dreams of ways to revive Sulu, he is getting some real work on network TV. E! is reporting that Sulu will play the father of the standout character Hiro Nakamura on the hit NBC show ‘Heroes’. This will be a bit of an inside joke, as the character Hiro often makes references to Star Trek and is capable of transporting himself through space and time (just like Trek but without a transporter). Oku is quoted as saying "This is absolutely brilliant…Hiro’s father is this big honcho who shows up in America with his bodyguard. He has this whole elaborate scheme to kidnap his son and take him back to Japan…I just hope I get to say, ‘Dad! Sulu is my hero, not you!’ The sci-fi fans would love it!" Look for Takei in a cliffhanger episode airing January 29th.
UPDATE: Takei Also wants to be in Trek XI…what a surprise
Trek Nation has a new interview with George Takei up where he discusses various things including Trek XI.He says that unlike Shatner he has not spoken to J.J. Abrams, but he would certainly "want to be a part of therevival of Star Trek as a movie." He also questioned the story that Nimoy told about having casting approval, and was certain he had no such rights for Sulu. Takei seems to have no issues with his and other classic Trek characters being recast, pointing out that even though the James Bond of the 60s is still iconic others have played the role. He seems to have a bit of a crush on the new Bond too "I’ve seen Casino Royale and Daniel Craig is amagnificent presence. He has the agility, the masculinity, the graceand suavity and the power that James Bond has to have."
Star Trek The Animated Series is available for pre-order at Amazon, ships Nov. 21
Read The TrekMovie.com review of the TAS DVD set
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26 comments for “Takei Wants A New TAS - Will Appear on NBC’s Heroes [update: also wants in on Trek XI]”
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I love “Heroes” - can’t wait to see Takei!
I think Bruce Timm (Batman TAS and Justice League) could head up a great new animated Star Trek.
A series is a bit ambitous. But how about an animated 70 minute special episode? 70 minutes seems to the length for a lot of animated features.
I think it should be a feature film, computer animated, in the vein of polar express, where the actors actually take part in the voice/ acting.
Yeah…a computer animated film done in the same quality of The Incredibles would introduce Star Trek to a new and much wider audience then the PG-13 (or whatever) feature film could ever hope for.
IF Paramount is wise they’ll pursue this in conjunction with Star Trek XI - one film could (should) come out before the other and explore new avenues that the regular film couldn’t pehaps due to costs and time.
Sort of remind me of the film Heavy Metal - that film could of been a true film icon music of the 1980’s of both picture and sound but they took the easy way out and just refused to devote the needed $$ at the time to make as good as it could of been. As a result the music and overall storyline was marginal (at best) and the animation was 3rd rate.
Good for George…I look forward to seeing him as Hiro’s dad. I have enjoyed the Trek references in the show.
In my opinion…you won’t see another animated Trek unless it’s produced by the fans. I grew up watching it too and enjoyed it, but the studio won’t put that (TAS) into production unless XI is a huge hit, and even then it’s unlikely because the effort will be on a XII.
I can tell you now trekkies that I would not be interested in another animated series the pain of standing in that studio doing nothing but talk for so long was…..frustrating however I would be more than happy to feature in Star Trek XI if I was asked to by Mr Abrams.
Bill, ya great prat ya. Ya dinna even come to the studio wi’ the rest of us. I dud mee own voice and a great bushel a’ aliens too.
I’d be there in minute ta make another animated shew. Aye, and me being dead and all wouldna’ stop me!
I think they should have Kail Tescar of StarTrekAnimated.com be at least used for production design and as a writer. Some of the stuff on his website, especially the online comics, has the perfect look for a Star Trek animated series
Oh Look……
God visited the forums.
Or was it some false prophet PURPORTING to be GOD ala the Bill Shatner Trek movie?…
The animated Star Trek is a fond memory from my youth, featuring original cast voice-overs and some terrifically atmospheric music.
For full details of the DVD series boxset with great extras, visit www.dvdactive.com
Beep, Beep, Beep.
If God doesn’t need a starship, why would he need another animated series….
Fine Bill! Be that way!
I’ll just do an impersonation of you and take the job myself! HAHAHAHA!!! Kidding…of course!
And…if that really is you…a shoutout from Houston that YOU ARE THE MAN!!! You RULE!!
Ok, fanboy embarrassing moment over.
THEETrekMaster
Beep-Beep! _______>>>>>>
I’ve long thought Trek would be good for a ‘proper’ animation. I think Paramount missed a trick not making a couple of animated movies in the 1990s after Star Trek VI, when the whole cast was still with us!
I’d love to see an animated movie… not sure which style I would prefer in terms of 2D or 3D…
A new cartoon would be great. In fact, if they wanted to, they might be able to even go back and “re-do” some of the classic cartoons using the original voices when they where recorded for those episodes.
four words
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SECRET OF VULCAN FURY
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Nuff said except for http://gaming.trekcore.com/secretofvulcanfury/
I have seven words
“Anthony, ban the ad links in here.”
Five words
Mozilla Firefox with Adblock Plus
Er…pardon the above post Matt Wright
I somehow missed the Animated Series thread a couple back!…in which YOU YOURSELF have given an excellent rundown of the full details of the DVD boxset.
To the Agony Booth with me…
PRE-ORDER TIP FOR TAS:
I ordered mine through deepdiscountdvd.com and got it for $27.50. Use this coupon code: DVDTALK. It will knock off 20% from the $30-some-odd price. I think the coupon code expires on 11/23. Amazon sells it for $38. DeepDiscountDVD has it for $27. There is no comparison! Good luck.
Am I the only Star Trek TOS fan here that really didn’t like the animated series?
I remember as a kid watching this series on Saturday morning thinking..gosh how boring and how crappy the animation looked!
I think if Star Trek- the Animated Series had been released today, with computer based animation and not geared for a Saturday morning release with the other kiddie cartoons, it could have been more successful.
Unfortunately, this animated series was released in the early 1970’s in an era of cheaply made cartoons. By 1973, and well before the advent of computer assisted animation, quality, labor intensive animation was becoming much too expensive to produce, especially for a Saturday morning cartoon.
I’ve read somewhere that this series was originally suppossed to air at night, in prime time. I’m not sure if it would have lasted any longer if it did, but it’s obvious the serious nature of this show didn’t belong on Saturday mornings next to such cartoons as Scooby Doo and the Smurfs!
Now that I’m thinking about it…has there ever been a serious, science fiction based animated series that has really been successful? (I’m not sure super hero type cartoons would be considered “serious”.)
Ever since the Flintstones became the first prime time animated series, it seems that all successful prime time animated series, including today’s Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park etc, have all been comedies.
Mike
Yes, those 70’s cheap animations are now quite dated, but definately remain a guilty pleasure to watch, and deserve a place in any Trek fan’s collection.