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

2. The First Emmy Win

Across the series Star Trek has had over 150 Emmy nominations, with over 35 wins, though the wins usually converge around the technical side of the shows.

The Original Series had been nominated 13 times, including 3 for Leonard Nimoy’s portrayal of Mister Spock but it didn't pick up any wins. In fact, it was the Animated Series that got the first gold - winning the 1975 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s series.

What was important about the victory was, going back to the idea of the series, The Animated Series was not a compromise. Rodenberry didn’t want it dumbed down, as he believed kids were more intelligent than they are given credit for.

The episode specifically submitted for consideration was “How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth”. In it, Enterprise encounters an alien who once visited earth in the form of the Mayan God, Kukulkan. He is now angered that mankind has forgotten him.

Looking back on the episode, you can see why it encapsulated the high concepts of Star Trek, not least as diversity was represented with the first Native American character, Ensign Walking Bear.

To add to its complexity, the antagonist of the episode, like others in TAS, was simply misunderstood. The resolution of the episode had Kirk showing empathy for his plight and offering assurance as to mankind’s development.