So about The Animated Series. I remember watching it when I was little. I was impressed with how good the voices were, since I knew that there's no way they'd actually get the original cast to do the voices for the cartoon show. Turns out they did get most of the original cast, which is why the voices were so good.
I was also impressed with some of the storylines. Turns out they got a bunch of the original writers on board as well.
Basically, it was another season of The Original Series, but animated rather than live action. Once you get past the fact that it's animated, it's pretty much TOS.