Star Trek: The Next Generation wasn’t the first time Gene Roddenberry’s sci-fi franchise was brought back to television following the cancellation of The Original Series. No, that honor belongs to Star Trek: The Animated Series. Lasting just two short seasons from 1973 to 1974, Star Trek: The Animated Series brought back the entire original cast (except for Walter Koenig’s Chekov) for more adventures that are probably better than you remember. It took some time before the franchise would return to animation, but YouTube channel Gazelle Automations have created a spot-on imagining of what an animated Star Trek: The Next Generation series could have been.
If you’re familiar with Star Trek: The Animated Series then you’ll appreciate just how well done this take on The Next Generation is. From the soundtrack to the stiff animation style, Gazelle Automations have done an exemplary job. Little touches like Riker’s run towards the camera (something that was done a lot on the Animated Series), the pink Borg cube, a Kzinti at the helm, and smudges on the frames just drive home how perfect this video is as a homage to both Star Trek: The Animated Series and The Next Generation. I could watch a whole series of these.
Although Star Trek: The Animated Series didn’t last long, it was the first Star Trek series to win an Emmy Award and elements from the series have found their way into many of the franchise’s other shows. It was only recently that Star Trek returned to animation with the release of Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy. The third season of Lower Decks will debut on Paramount+ later this year as will as the second half of Prodigy. If you’re hungry for more of The Next Generation cast, you’ll want to check out the third season of Star Trek: Picard next year as LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, and Brent Spiner will all be returning to join Patrick Stewart.
