Star Trek: The Animated Series - In Defense of the Humans

Spock speaks in defense of the earth humans when the Megans put the crew on trial for when they visited Earth centuries earlier. Full episode available www.cbs.com/cla....

[@michaelmartin9022]

That magical teleportation to the witness stand sure helped save the animation budget

[@oreally8605]

You win comment of the video 😆

[@edpriolo]

Who's the serial killer in your profile pic?

[@michaelmartin9022]

@@edpriolo 2006 me. I should probably get a new pic before 2026

[@jenisia3600]

A classic episode, very good story telling. TAS is very underrated

[@normanlee6609]

agreed. The stories are of excellent quality, thanks to D.C. Fontana. Personally, for me, the animation could be better. I always believed Filmation (who also did the animation for the "Archie" cartoon show) was not the best choice for Star Trek. I had always thought a Japanese anime style would have been a better choice.

[@promontorium]

Me: Hey this seems just like TOS. Maybe I should check out more episodes. Spock: Captain, use the magic you know. Believe! Kirk: whew whew whew ZAPPPP! WTF!!!

[@Tubeulous]

Please don't make you not watch the series, it's great

[@johnwang9914]

The animated series is from the 70's just after TOS. To a certain extent, the actors were so type casted by TOS that the voice acting for TAS was all the work they could secure. TAS did allow stories that they could not do in live action due to the limitations of special effects of the time.

[@MONGOOSE1ful]

This animated episode,"The Magicks of Megas Tu" used the voice of actor Ed Bishop,best remembered from Gerry Anderson's live TV series,"UFO" (1969-syndicated in the US in Fall 1972) as "Asmodious" the interegator,in this 1973 episode!

[@Watcher3223]

"Who will speak in defense of the Earth humans." Well, you certainly can't count on the Mysterons for positive testimony thereof, eh Captain Blue?

[@deangestner6708]

Lucian was voiced by Jim Dohan

[@Bargoth60]

Ed Bishop was also one of two pilots in a space shuttle skimming over the lunar surface in 2001: A Space Odyssey---I believe,though, that his scenes and dialogue had been edited out.

[@thcollegestudent]

It's not about being perfect, but trying our damnedest to be better.

[@johnwang9914]

There's also acknowledging we haven't been perfect and have made mistakes both as a culture and individually. A far more difficult task than one would think.

[@jenisia3600]

Facts

[@jenisia3600]

@@johnwang9914 well put

[@MisterLyn]

Never thought I would see Kirk having a magic battle against a Puritan lol

[@jeffclark1129]

At a time when humanity was ruled by irrational emotions like fear, Lucien thought mankind was interesting and worth investigating. So you can anticipate Lucien's joy of meeting humans again after six centuries!

[@Monkofmagnesia]

Trivia Buffs: Asmodeus was portrayed by Ed Bishop (Commander Straker from the British Sci-Fi show, "UFO"), and Lucien was portrayed by James Doohan!

[@williamschleyjr7761]

This is why I love Star Trek in any form. TV shows. Cartoon. Comic books. Movies. Personal appearances. It was fun growing up with this memories.

[@kwohlmut]

1:50 I just love how the "records of the Enterprise -- all the history of Earth and the Federation" are kept on reel-to-reel tapes and paper punchcards. I'm not trying to be snarky, I grew up in this era, I watched this when I was about 10 years old when it first came out. I have fond memories of paper punchcards. When I took my first computer sci class in college, they had electronic terminals, but we had the _option_ of submitting our projects on stacks of punchcards if we wished.

[@ktefccre]

I am now curious what paper punch cards do and will go look it up

[@kwohlmut]

@@ktefccre You're not even going to believe what you find out. But if you watch this cartoon episode again, you will see a stack of punchcards and reel-to-reel magnetic tapes flying in the wind towards the end.

[@kwohlmut]

The tl;dr version is, back in the early '70s, we had not invented convenient methods of transferring data from one place to another, or storing it. Memory was tiny (capacity) and very expensive. So instead of a floppy disk (which hadn't been invented) or a USB or whatnot, if you wrote a program on your terminal screen, a printer would spit out a whole bunch of small index cards with a pattern of punched holes in them. You would keep that stack of punch cards as your saved program. And for God's sake don't let the cards get out of order. Then you'd put the stack into a card reader, when you wanted to load or run the program you wrote. The reader would turn the pattern of punches back into binary computer language. If there was a mistake in your code, you'd have to print out a whole new stack of punch cards.

[@kwohlmut]

Back in college I would literally wallpaper my dorm room, with the hundreds of useless individual paper punch cards which would result when I made an error writing a program.

[@TheTrueAdept]

@@kwohlmut funnily enough, mag-tapes can store incredible amounts of data in a tiny, efficient package. We're talking hundreds of Terabytes if I remember the article correctly.

[@DWNicolo]

Sneakiest episode of Star Trek ever, Captain Kirk sticks up for Lucifer.

[@paradoxdea]

Agreed!

[@kellyrayburn4093]

He sticks up for an intelligent mind. Doesn't matter who it is. He wasn't interested in legend or the fears of his ancestors. All must be defended unless they prove themselves to be a current threat. Else they taint their ideals.

[@jenisia3600]

@@kellyrayburn4093 straight facts.

[@treeman101]

yes

[@notwho84]

Kirk is a good Man

[@michaelbowie3269]

"Sounds like brainwashing to me!" -McCoy

[@christhorton6512]

Dang, that Lucien is buff! A stud!

[@philiplovings1116]

Thanks for the memories to Mr Leonad Nimoy & All of the participants !

[@cooldude333]

Kirk was a Jedi before it was cool!

[@albartworld6474]

wow, wasn't this the 70's ... ? i'm surprised it was allowed on the air, very forward thinking ...

[@thcollegestudent]

Even being a bit campy, this is what Star Trek used to represent.

[@pvtrichter88]

forward and yet still campy it was all the more endearing for trying!!

[@DMSProduktions]

Then by YOUR 'reasoning', TOS should never have been aired either!

[@BurnRoddy]

Forward thinking is a relative.

[@frankschalk7790]

The seventies WERE FORWARD THINKING!! Unlike our polarized crappy excuse for society now.

[@turbotime1964]

Whoa, Captain Kirk is defending Lucifer, as in Satan? Pretty trippy stuff for a Saturday morning cartoon!

[@notwho84]

Satan and Lucifer are not the same

[@warhammernerd52Daxx-Lorenzo898]

3:13-3:50 *why is this so amazing?*

[@jenisia3600]

Cause it is amazing.

[@wreday720]

Kirk defends Lucifer in TAS and fights "God" in Star Trek 5

[@STho205]

Those two and several other plots seem to be drawn from: Marcion 2nd century Heresy Platoism 3rd century Coptic Sethian Gnostics Or most likely SCIENTOLOGY a craze in the late 60s, the 70s and into the 80s in Hollywood (and politicos). Several of the heresies above expand on the Theaetetus cobbled atop early Christianity but rejecting Judiasm and classifying as an evil or deceived practice. In those the universe is created by a false god trying to copy the power of the greater true highest God. The Serpent is leading man out of their prison nursery garden to discover knowledge. Everything you see is an imperfect corrupt copy of a perfect universal form. Makes for interesting Sci Fi. Dangerous road to tread though IRL.

[@anthonylowder6687]

Ironic that 23rd century technology is represented by 1970s technology in the form of magnetic tape and punch cards!!

[@gophersmith]

We had more wars, and had to rebuild over and over. It's also hard to imagine things that don't exist.

[@johcafra]

We truly have seen and heard Ed(ward) Bishop everywhere. That's him in two Stanley Kubrick movies and Diamonds Are Forever. My effective introduction to him (or at least his voice) was by way of the Gerry Anderson Supermarionation series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons. But if you want to see a surprising dramatic turn by him as an actor, seek, find and view an episode of the Highlander TV series, "Diplomatic Immunity".

[@guardian33]

He is so moving in Diplomatic Immunity in just about everything he dìd

[@christianinkster1729]

Sunday mornings at 11:00 on WHEC-CBS Rochester, NY circa 1980-81.

[@mego73]

I was watching too!

[@Mereologist]

Remember that time James Kirk used his magic to defend Satan? Yah... that was a classic Star Trek episode.

[@DropkickMurphysFan01]

I showed this episode to my high school English class when studying the Salem trials.

[@jerricho11]

I wish we could get Star Trek the animated series reanimated. That way we'd still have to voice acting from the original cast yet have visuals worth watching.

[@russell5078084]

Fear is the True enemy.

[@myriadmediamusings]

1:46 Yes, because a 23rd century futuristic spaceship is totally gonna have their records on reel film and punch cards.

[@Donleecartoons]

That didn't seem so anachronistic in the 1970s. Plus, you had to have visuals (punch cards and magnetic tape reels) that said "computer data" to a 1979s audience.

[@comchia4306]

1:50 >23rd century starship >uses punch cards and cassette tapes

[@Donleecartoons]

Wasn't so anachronistic in the 1970s. Plus, you wanted a visual cue -- punch cards and magnetic tape reels -- that instantly said "computer data" to a 1970s audience.

[@evanescapades2513]

This is by far my fave episode!!!!!

[@DWNicolo]

And Spock drinking beer!

[@brittanyhonaker8739]

Yeah what was up with all that drinking in the classic and animated versions of Star Trek

[@DWNicolo]

@@brittanyhonaker8739 Booze the final frontier.

[@kellyrayburn4093]

Probably ale rather than beer, but seeing where they are, it could just as easily have been Plomeek soup, in Spock's mug, anyway.

[@DWNicolo]

@@kellyrayburn4093 ale shamble.

[@cnfanldealt3]

Call me crazy, but Lucien's voice actor, James Doohan, also played Scotty. ☺

[@coatlecue]

Ending a harrowing mission with a jug and a few lines of "dilithium crystals" seems like an indulgence well worth the effort. Prepare those Orion Green 'ho's for our pleasure! !! !

[@Cxste11xn]

Me: *think i hear Spock call my name to the witness stand* McCoy's voice in my head: are you outta your rain-soaked mind??? Me: *rewinds to make sure i heard Spock correctly* *realises I did*

[@markmaiello9180]

Ed Bishop of UFO and the captain of the Orion moon lander in 2001…as Asmodius here…

[@Wolffen51]

Flmaton made the best cartoons right beside Hanna Barbera

[@lylejohnson7591]

The human race has a lot of growing up to do.

[@jimmytremarckethedoctor5199]

I really love this cartoon clip!

[@promontorium]

Thanks for the suggestions.

[@blueeyes57X]

Asmodius --- his voice, it's Ed Bishop (from the series UFO), I believe.

[@guardian33]

Yes.

[@broann4138]

1:23 Preach!

[@mr.g200]

Captain! Use the magic!

[@Zninety]

Lucien has some impressive abs.

[@cliffboulle2457]

my favorite version of star trek.

[@stevestumpy6873]

We have not changed

[@sandraqureshi9333]

The Evangelists must have had a field with this episode.😁

[@J.TiberiusKirk]

Spock takin' a big old swig of ale at the end there, who'd have thunk it?

[@zackkelley2940]

It would have been an insult not to.

[@twinpeaksfan929]

I always thought the prosecutor sounded like Jack Lemmon.

[@ReluctantWarrior]

The irony...the majority of humans have not changed or learned.

[@simoneg8979]

The majority of humans _now_. This doesn't take place in the now, but in a future some 300 years hence. Who knows what we'll have learned and the wisdom we'll have gained in 300 years.

[@ReluctantWarrior]

Simone G True, especially by the time TNG rolls arpund.

[@thcollegestudent]

Gene Roddenberry saw in us the ability to do great things, he believed that by showing us in detail what it might look like that we may one day aspire to reach it.

[@ReluctantWarrior]

***** Aye, the man was quite ahead of his time too.

[@LoesserOf2Evils]

Endora and others of Samantha’s ilk could learn from this.

[@DWNicolo]

Star Trek at it's finest, why the animated series is not considered part of Star Trek canon is beyond me. Shame on CBS/Paramount.

[@jenisia3600]

I always found TAS the Canon 4th Year.

[@NHLinden]

I think Gene Roddenberry made it not canon after the first season of tng.

[@leovalverde1508]

Some parts of TAS have been made cannon by later Trek. In particular, lots of the episode Yesteryear are now cannon. Don't forget the Recreation Room from "The Practical Joker" became the holodeck. Several species from TAS have been seen in Lower Decks.

[@JH-su9vl]

It has been made canon

[@Donleecartoons]

If you like the stories, and they're good stories that give you things to think about, who cares if they're canon or not? Considering Trek's notoriously loose canon, leave that discussion to the pedants and similar tiny minds and appreciate the stories being told on their merits. Even if the Salem "Witch" "Trials" are now known to be simple (if deadly) slanders over a property dispute.

[@EPiiCx5587]

Spock Ace Attorney

[@kurtb8474]

If this was a kid's cartoon, then I'm a Martian.

[@brittanyhonaker416]

It's Lucien Daniel ring

[@leovalverde1508]

BELIEVE!!

[@phoule76]

"rooce"? I think it's "ruse".

[@sarahindagubits593]

This is where they inspired to have the Q taking Picard to the court

[@koshi6505]

2:26 Why did he get a grin like he thought of something perverted right then?

[@gophersmith]

No. I risked death so that you wouldn't become even worse than he is.

[@maciejek3113]

“O NIEEEEEE KURWAAAAA”

[@MM22966]

You know, you listen to this, and if you allow for the period animation and stiff delivery, this is STILL better than that "Not Rick & Morty in Uniform At All" current series that is running. Star Trek is supposed to be about teaching kids (and adults) morality and science and the striving toward the betterment of mankind, not cheap laughs and bathroom humor. Let Trek be Trek.

[@jenisia3600]

Straight facts bro. Give me TAS and TOS any day.

[@josephmanno4514]

You're missing the point about Lower Decks. TAS was wonderful while playing it straight. Lower Decks is better than Picard or Discovery because it's in great measure tongue-in-cheek, while retaining many of Trek's core values. It's a delight, if you don't take it, or yourself, too seriously.

[@stephenfarthing3819]

Is that Ed Bishop in voice?

[@guardian33]

Yes. They wanted him to do more v.o. but he was already in England

[@thomaswhalley7088]

Lucien would have been voiced by Lennie weinrib

[@denisgauthier9191]

Kirk and his crew must be in the year 1621

[@blam320]

In this episode they were on a planet inhabited by psychic aliens who visited Earth during the 1600s. But Humans were very fearful and superstitious then, so they were attacked for being Witches, IE during the Salem Witch Trials. They never forgot about that 600 years later, so they flipped the script and made themselves the Salemites.

[@carlosalmonacid8958]

The star trek devil is a lot friendlier than the doctor who one

[@kryoruleroftheninthcircleo4151]

Funny there’s three demons here: Leonard (Spock), Asmodeus, and Lucifer.

[@MikePuorro]

Never trust a guy with horns named Lucien.

[@GirLikesFarming]

Why the magic fight interlude tho

[@voiceover-impressionist]

Defending Lucifer?

[@MM22966]

Big A didn't invoke God's name once....what kind of witch burning trial is this?!

[@blam320]

The kind where he is an alien flipping the script on Humanity. His people visited Earth in the 1600s and were burned as witches for their trouble.

[@MM22966]

@@blam320 ...and people why the Vulcans just did flybys until Cochrane....

[@markbaumgartner7261]

Are these the Q?

[@blam320]

Nope. Different species.

[@RCvolunteer1978]

this is very silly for me do this but ... FIRST to comment the Compassion of man kind may save us on Dec 21, 2012

[@swirvinbirds1971]

This didn't age well...😂

[@DocCivil]

@@swirvinbirds1971 Wrong! It's more relevant than ever!

[@swirvinbirds1971]

@@DocCivil 2012? Which decade are you in anyway?

[@BradiKal61]

would it have killed the animators to give the characters whites for their eyes?

[@brucedavis76]

Man holorith cards

[@vinny_the_kidd]

#KirkMartrix 😂

[@rosswalkman9652]

Goku has got nothing on Kirk!!!!

[@mmilller452]

You see CBS this is real star trek. And disgracery is not

[@williamwilson480]

That's a satanic pentagram in this episode clip that is not Christian

[@arturboras6615]

too many words

[@yummythatsalotofhats1032]

Tas tos

[@chrisjones-rd8it]

to deny the One True God is to welcome Hell forever

[@zackkelley2940]

An empty threat made up by a bunch of old men more concerned with controlling those in the here and now than what happens to them in the hereafter. Such a place serves no useful purpose and would be considered anathema to any god that was actually benevolent.

[@blam320]

If you watched the episode, you’d know that the stories of The Devil in Star Trek were written from a place of fear and superstition. He wasn’t actually evil, but encouraged free thought and curiosity.

[@mikemike8623]

this made me an athiest at 7 thanks trek

[@michaelpena9560]

This cartoon is trying to portray people against satan as evil

[@simoneg8979]

No. It is trying to say that fear and ignorance are the real enemy. That openness and friendship are the key to enlightenment.

[@steampunkster2023]

@John Toas heresy!

[@jenisia3600]

@@simoneg8979 exactly this

[@MyBenjamin66]

I'm glad they took it off of the air. This in its own way seems to run parallel with condoning the devil.

[@thomasmccullough7233]

MyBenjamin66 oh please!

[@badgerdog4809]

I said earlier I don’t believe this is the Lucifer as told of in the Bible. The one in the Bible is definitely driven by hate, greed rebellion and fear whereas this fellow was not.Nor was he in the end treated like a creation gone terribly wrong.

[@remingron]

@John Toas Oh My HoW eNlIGhTeNeD yOu ArE!!!!1!

[@jenisia3600]

@@badgerdog4809 exactly this. Im assuming he didn't watch the episode.

[@zoom0011]

Boring 👧

[@stab0stab]

3:34 o nieeee kurwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

[@yellowface9876]

Wtedy oryginalnie umarl xD

[@MulToyVerse]

@nextgeneration456 They could be the Q. They are are simular to Trilain, who was later to be a part of the Q in a Star Trek novel.