Star Trek: The Animated Series: Season Two (wrap-up)

Star Trek [The Animated Series]: Season Two, 1974.

Concept: 3/4 (Good). The concept of the show as a whole is good, although the episode-by-episode concepts only average out to about 1.8/4.
Story: 1/4 (Bad). Rounded down from an average of about 1.3/4.
Characters: 1/4 (Bad). Average: 1.0/4.
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad). Average: 1.0/4.
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent). Average: 2.0/4.
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent). Average: 2.0/4.
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good). Average: about 3.2/4.
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent). Average: 1.5/4.
Music: 4/4 (Great). Average: 4.0/4.
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad, 1/4). Average: about 4.7/10. Although I only thought one episode was really bad, the rest are all mediocre. The unrelenting barrage of mediocrity has a cumulative effect of A Very Bad Show Indeed.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.0/4 (Indifferent)

The Episodes, sorted by subjective rating (objective rating in parentheses)
5/10
- "The Pirates of Orion" (2.3/4)
- "Albatross" (2.0/4)
- "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth" (1.9/4)
- "Bem" (1.9/4)
- "The Practical Joker" (1.9/4)
3/10
- "The Counter-Clock Incident" (1.8/4)

Star Trek: "The Counter-Clock Incident"

Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "The Counter-Clock Incident," 1974 (the last episode of six from season two). Time moves in reverse in a another universe.

Created by Gene Roddenberry. Directed by Bill Reed. Written by Fred Bronson. Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols & James Doohan.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 0/4 (Terrible)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 0/4 (Terrible). The first ten minutes of the episode, before shit gets ridiculous, might have been good. Horrible performances by Nichols and Doohan ensure that it's not.
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad, 1/4). It hurts. It physically hurts to watch this one. So little of this episode is logical, it's remarkable that Spock's brain didn't explode.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.8/4 (Eh)

Star Trek: "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth"

Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth," 1974 (the fifth episode of six from season two). A former Mayan god is a found to be a conceited space monster.

Created by Gene Roddenberry. Directed by Bill Reed. Written by Russell Bates & David Wise. Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley & James Doohan.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). How many times has this plot been done on Star Trek? Enough already. It wasn't a good idea to begin with.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.9/4 (Eh)

Star Trek: "Albatross"

Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "Albatross," 1974 (the fourth episode of six from season two). McCoy is accused of starting a plague.

Created by Gene Roddenberry. Directed by Hal Sutherland. Written by Dario Finelli. Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley & Lou Scheimer.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). It promises to be some sort of legal drama, but they have to skip the entire legal part thanks to time constraints - which leaves you with... people turning color because of Space Magic? I don't even know. But the aliens look pretty cool.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.0/4 (Indifferent)

Star Trek: "The Practical Joker"

Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "The Practical Joker," 1974 (the third episode of six from season two). The Enterprise computer develops a bad sense of humor.

Created by Gene Roddenberry. Directed by Hal Sutherland. Written by Chuck Menville. Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy & DeForest Kelley.

Concept: 1/4 (Bad)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 1/4 (Bad)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). I guess it's a novel idea, but it's also a stupid idea. It's one of the (frustratingly many) episodes that are more Filmation than Star Trek.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.9/4 (Eh)

Star Trek: "Bem"

Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "Bem," 1974 (the second episode of six from season two). A visiting diplomat joins and sabotages a mission.

Created by Gene Roddenberry. Directed by Hal Sutherland. Written by David Gerrold. Starring William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy & James Doohan.

Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). The potentially interesting science fiction element is promptly ignored almost as soon as it's introduced. Meanwhile, we're supposed to care about the development of a character that would be annoying even if he were in a show with decent character writing. But at least there are no crimes against logic.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.9/4 (Eh)

Star Trek: "The Pirates of Orion"

Data
Title: Star Trek [The Animated Series]: "The Pirates of Orion"
Year: 1974
Network: NBC
Episode: the first (of six) from season two; 24 minutes
Creator: Gene Roddenberry
Director: Hal Sutherland
Writer: Howard Weinstein
Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley
With: George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Majel Barrett, James Doohan
Music: Alexander Courage (theme); Ray Ellis, Norm Prescott
I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently yesterday (have on DVD)
Synopsis: pirates steal medicine Spock needs to live

My reaction
Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 4/4 (Great)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). It's simple, lacking anything even remotely clever. But that can make for a better episode than when they try harder and end up with something that doesn't make sense.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)