Star Trek: The Animated Series Star Trek: The Animated Series Star Trek: The Animated Series ("ST: TAS"), originally aired as Star Trek and as The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, is an American animated science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry. It originally aired from September 8, 1973 to October 12, 1974 on NBC, spanning 22 episodes over two seasons. The second series in the "Star Trek" franchise, it is the first sequel to "". Set in the 23rd century, when Earth is part of a United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS "Enterprise" as it
Star Trek: The Animated Series into its library section, clarifying, finally, that the animated series is part of the "Star Trek" canon. Both David Gerrold and D. C. Fontana have stated that the animated series is essentially the fourth season that fans wanted originally. "Star Trek: The Animated Series" was named the 96th best animated series by IGN. They declared that although the series suffered from technical limitations, its format allowed the writers far greater freedom and creativity than was possible in the original live-action series. The comic "Star Trek vs Transformers" was inspired by the animated series, and takes place in a similar universe.