# Star Trek: The Animated Series (from the 70s) - discuss **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-the-animated-series-from-the-70s-discuss/205457 "2003-10-03T22:55:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-the-animated-series-from-the-70s-discuss/205457/41 "2003-10-08T20:17:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CalMeacham \* > \*\*Agree entirely with you. In fact, Fredric Brown’s “Arena” has to be one of the most-stolen SF works ever (“Outer Limits” ripped it off for the Original Series episide “Fun and Games” for instance), but no one’s ever done it straight. > Yeah, they savaged “Arena”, but at least some of Brown’s vision got to the screen. Imgine what they might have put in place of it if they hadn’t? \*\* My understanding (from one of the many books on TOS I’ve read) is that it was not originally adapted from Brown’s story. Gene Coon wrote it (and I’m not sure if it was ever established that he had read the story) with peace being made. Sometime during production they discovered the Brown story, and because of the similarity renamed the episode to match and gave Brown credit. I vaguely remember Brown being very pleased about this. Certainly the episode ending is more in keeping with the world of the series than Brown’s. The books, by the way, are not quite novelizations - there are two per book, and they are written by Alan Dean Foster. They give a lot more detail than Blish’s short story versions of TOS episodes, but are not as well written. I think there were six put out, I have at least five of them. I seem to remember a bunch of the original pbs collected into a larger hardcover book some time ago. At the time they came out, I seem to remember reading that Larry Niven was on the writing staff, which explains the appearance of the Kzinti and the Soft Weapon adaptation. I’ve never confirmed this, though - is he on the credits of the laser disk version? (One of the best things about getting cable 18 years ago was that Nickelodeon ran TAS back then!) ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-the-animated-series-from-the-70s-discuss/205457/42 "2003-10-08T20:44:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\*Well, you could start from **Cold Wars** (the New Frontier/Gateway crossover), then read **Excalibur: Restoration** (New Frontier #11) and continue on down. **Restoration** is not a perfect jumping-on point for new readers of the _New Frontier_ series, but it’s not hopeless for newbies, either. > > And it should be noted that M’Ress was not the only animated _Trek_ character that’s now in the _NF_ books – Peter David also grabbed Lt. Arex, the three-limbed alien, and has made him a security chief. 🙂 \*\* I forgot about Arex… I haven’t read the New Frontier books in a year or more and I don’t think I’ve even read the Gateway crossover. I was thoroughly confused by M’Ress being on the Excalibur when I picked up the book (Restoration?) following it. Same thing happened to me with the relaunch of the DS9 series. After so many years of the books being independent novels, they decided to make multiple issue story arcs and it was disorienting at first. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2003, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-the-animated-series-from-the-70s-discuss/205457/43 "2003-10-08T23:19:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Voyager \* > **At the time they came out, I seem to remember reading that Larry Niven was on the writing staff, which explains the appearance of the Kzinti and the Soft Weapon adaptation. I’ve never confirmed this, though - is he on the credits of the laser disk version?** Yes. The title screen reads, “The Slaver Weapon by Larry Niven. Adpated from his story “The Soft Weapon”” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-the-animated-series-from-the-70s-discuss/205457.md?page=2)