TNG - THE ANIMATED ERA? ------------------------- by Simon Plumbe ----------------- There are rumours currently circulating in Trek fandom about the possibility that Paramount is considering turning The Next Generation into an animated series, in the same way Classic Trek was in the early 70's. Why (if it is true) are they doing it, and is this really a good move to make? It's not uncommon now for major films and TV series to be transformed into animated shows. In recent years we have been treated to animated versions of "Beetlejuice", "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure", "Ghostbusters" (in the form of "The Real Ghostbusters"), "The Addams Family" (based on the 1991 movie) and "Batman" (based on the style of the Tim Burton film and featuring music by the film's composed, Danny Elfman). The advantages of producing an animated show are obvious - there are no major expenses for sets, location filming, actors (or at least, not to the extent of a live action show), special effects and the scope offered by stories can be far beyond that of any live action show. For example, in the Classic Trek animated show, there was far more variety in the alien races seen, primarily because there were no difficulties for the producers in making the aliens look "alive". When it's a drawing, anything is possible. When talking about TNG, one of the key reasons that will mean the inevitable end of the show is budget constraints. Season 6 is currently being filmed with a budget of $2 million per episode (although many episodes EXCEED this amount), a large percentage of which is spent on the cast. Now, as the cast are all only on 6 year contracts, if TNG is to continue past season 6, Paramount are going to have to re-negotiate with the actors (who have all become household names since they originally signed on the dotted line), which would result in the cast asking for several times their current salaries. In real terms, Paramount could be looking at needing a potential budget of $3-4 million per episode. Granted, Paramount make in excess of $10 million profit per episode, but that counts for nothing where profit is everything and cutting costs is important to the studio. However, as far as producing an animated show, the amount of time that the cast are actually needed for would be greatly reduced. A 26 episode season of TNG currently takes over 40 weeks to film, with the actors frequently being needed beyond this for final voice dubbing work. It's not unreasonable to expect that a 26 part animated show, of 25 minutes each, could have all of it's dialogue recorded in 5 weeks. (I don't think it's too difficult to record 25 minutes of dialogue a day, do you?). This would obviously mean that Paramount could continue to pay the actors thier current salary, who would, in real terms, be receiving an 800% pay RISE. I can't really see Patrick, Brent and the others complaining about receiving their current wages for only 5 weeks work. Obviously, cost isn't the only reason for an animated show. The long-term plans of Paramount is to turn TNG into a series of movies, in the same way that Classic Trek was. However, to suddenly stop filming a series and to start producing films would do nothing but harm to The Next Generation. The series would need some sort of break between the final season and the movies, to allow Deep Space Nine a better chance to establish itself amongst the fans. As long as TNG is on-air, Deep Space Nine will never be fully accepted. The reason TNG does so well is that there is no other regular weekly dose of Trek on air. I know of Trek fans who don't like TNG, but still watch it simply because it is Star Trek. An animated run of 2 or 3 seasons would be an ideal way to wind TNG down into the slower paced production of films. An animated series wouldn't have the same sort of following as the live-action show, and TNG would inevitably make way for DS9 to become the main source of regular Trek. Also, with TNG not being in the "limelight" as it were, it would also help to reduce the impact of fans making comparisons between the TNG and DS9. It WILL happen, but at least if TNG is produced as an animated show, it wouldn't steal all of Deep Space Nine's thunder. However, this IS a problem that TNG will have to face if it is produced as a, dare I say it, cartoon. When TNG was announced, it was immediately compared to Classic Trek; Deep Space Nine is being compared to TNG and I don't think it's unlikely that fans will think of the Classic Trek animated series from 1973/74, especially following their recent showings (in the UK at least) on BBC1 and SKY and the recent release on video of the whole series. This is a fair point though, as an animated Trek HAS been tried before and if nothing else, Paramount must ensure that they learn from the mistakes made last time (i.e. DON'T let Walter Koenig write for it!!). Seriously, the stories have to remain consistently good. If TNG started seeing stories with giant 100-foot tall Datas and talking plants, no-one would even consider watching another episode! It's quite possible that any writers would try to write for a younger audience, forgetting that the show is still STAR TREK. The producers have already been featuring more and more episodes based around children (including the dreadful "Imaginary Friend" and "Rascals") and it's all to easy for Paramount to decide that it should become a "children's" show. However, as long as the current writing talents of Ronald D. Moore, Rene Echevarria etc. are used, there shouldn't be any problems. For an animated TNG to work, Paramount MUST secure the cast to return to provide voices for the series. Most shows that make the transition into the world of animation manage to cope without the original cast (a good example of this is "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure"), but as we have already seen an animated Trek before, using the original voices, Animated TNG has got to have all the original cast if it is to hold any credibility. Could you imagine anyone else providing the voice for Picard or Data? Many of the cast have such distinctive voices that add to the depth of the characters that the characters would genuinely suffer with them. Another factor Paramount would have to keep in mind is the actual QUALITY of the animation. When the Classic animated series was released, the animation was rather crude, even for the early seventies, and a show with such incredible effects and direction as The Next Generation has got to have a very high standard of animation to "soften the blow" if you will, in the obvious change of production style the show would have to undertake. Fluid, smooth animation is essential, and any colour used has to be vibrant, with good use of shadows/light. Also, the backdrops for the regularly used sets need to be of an exceptionally high standard. We all know what the bridge looks like, so any paintings used of the bridge have got to look like it! Another point to realise is that is there is an large following building up of the high quality Japanese Anime animations through sci-fi fandom, and many of these tackle the hard-hitting issues seen in Trek. Could it possibly happen that Trek fans would rather see a Japanese animated show rather than TNG? Sounds unlikely? Well, just look at the amount of time given over at Trek conventions to Anime opposed to the amounnt of time to Classic Trek and you'll find the figures quite alarming. Overall, I'm in two minds as to whether I'd like to see an animated TNG or not. Although anything that keeps TNG in production is great as far as I'm concerned, if it's not handled well it could damage the prospects of turning TNG into a movie series (here's to Star Trek VII - Star Trek XII!). Obviously, it would be a further sign to see that TNG is following in Classic Trek's footprints and when it hits movies it will have completed the full transition that the original series made from TV to animated to films. Still, I'd rather see another six seasons of live-action TNG first! Here's to DEEP SPACE NINE: THE ANIMATED SERIES in 1999!