Bem

As usual, the animation quality of the show is sub-par--even by 1970s standards (which were extremely low to begin with). The cell count (which controls the fluidity and realism of the animation) is terrible, the drawings amateurish (as if done by children) and the show is an abomination to lovers of animation. Trek fans might be more forgiving of this than most because of their love of the franchise, but objectively speaking it is a lousy looking episode.

As for the plot, a Mr. BEM is serving, temporarily, aboard the Enterprise. This weird looking alien starts behaving strangely on a landing party and he's replaced Kirk and Spock's communicators with non-working fakes. It turns out he's testing the two to determine if the Federation is civilized or not--and there is a strange disembodied voice who gets involved as well. Do they pass? And who is that weird voice?

This show is kind of weird, as Mr. BEM can split in pieces and do really weird things! As it's a cartoon, this is possible--but there is no way such a character would have been possible on the live action show! Was it good? Not especially good but watchable if you are a die-hard Trek fan. Otherwise, easy to skip--mostly because the BEM character is so stupid and annoying.