10 Things You Never Knew About Star Trek: The Animated Series

4. The First Appearance Of The Holodeck

When you think of the Holodeck in Trek…. the word malfunction usually isn’t too far behind. In fact, it’s almost abnormal if you saw an episode on the Holodeck that didn’t involve a malfunction.

But would you be surprised to know the Holodeck’s first appearance was in The Animated series?

In the episode, “Practical Joker”, Enterprise is attacked by the Romulans and to escape, the Ship flies through an energy field. This causes the computer to malfunction and start to play practical jokes on the crew. These involve Trick glasses, the food synthesiser malfunctioning and throwing food at Scotty and iced floor.

Perhaps best of all, it also involves printing “Kirk is a jerk” on the back of Kirk's uniform.

Not being aware of the danger, Uhura, McCoy and Sulu decide to take some R&R in the Rec Room, which is the Enterprise's Holodeck. In there, they choose between a swim at the beach or walk in the woods.

Unfortunately for the, the computer blocks off communication to the room and sets a trap for the officers. Eventually they get free but the computer decides to subject them to a blizzard.

There's also a quick Star Trek VI parallel in the episode. When escaping Rura Penthe, McCoy falls in the icy frontier, telling Kirk to leave him there as he’s finished. Here, he does the same, telling Uhura and Sulu to leave him.

In the end, Enterprise is pursued back through the energy field by the Romulans. This causes Enterprise to return to normal, but the Romulans are left to deal with their own computer malfunctioning on them.