flesh out the animated series

Sort of! I'd love to see some more depth to some of these stories but have misgivings about two of your ideas.

I oppose CGI in any form unless it's making stuff like balrogs, which can't be effectively staged using puppets or prosthetics. CGI animation shows also lack the kind of fiber and soul of hand drawn animation, and like it or not one of the charms of TAS is the klunky, kitschy hand drawn approach. It gives the show an identity that is pretty unique: I don't know any cartoons that have the "look" and feel of TAS, which seems very real when compared to more modern approaches like "The New Adventures of Jonny Quest", a show I always hated even though the original Jonny Quest series remains one of the most effective animated adventure shows ever. The series was made in 1964 and it's still fresh today. The 1990s update looks like 1990s cartoons and part of the reason is the animation techniques used. It's a stylistic or aesthetic approach issue rather than making stuff look realistic, an attitude I also extend to the "remastered" DVD versions of the original series. Loosing the dopey looking models and creaky looking production design solutions makes the show into a re-packaged commodity. They were fine as they are, and if convincing slick special effects are all that matter one can turn to any of the contemporary series. Kind of like melting fresh cheese over leftover food.

I also strenuously object to removing Arex and M'ress. They were part of the equation -- I still remember being puzzled by just who they were and wanting to know more about their characters when first seeing the show as a kid. The animated series is made significant by their presence, since the Federation is supposed to be made up of dozens of different species working together to explore the universe, not just humans. For instance there is reference to Horta Federation personnel, an intriguing idea I'd love to see. What kind of uniforms would they wear? How would they pilot a ship? Having M'ress and more importantly Arex present shows us how other alien races would interact with the human crewmembers. And also in reference to Arex there is a canonical reference to Arex having been Chekov's navigation instructor back at the Academy, so he has a very specific place in the Star Trek legacy that deserves to be respected, though I do agree that M'ress is a somewhat more lightweight contribution that seems to have been arrived at out of convenience when Nichelle Nichols' schedule conflicted with the production of TAS.

If anything I'd encourage a re-packaging of the stories as expanded by Foster's Log books (which I have also enjoyed reading) to further flesh out these two new characters as well, and perhaps work Arex more into the crew by having some of his scenes alternate with Chekov, and have Sulu alternate with Ensign Walking Bear -- who's sole appearance has always struck me as being a contrivance. How lucky it was that they encountered an alien with ties to American pre-history that they have a Native American at the helm with an interest in that pre-history. I'd like to see more of Walking Bear, more of Arex, maybe even more of M'ress not as replacements but alternate crew members, in the same way that one of the Next Generation episodes had a subplot about how Dr. Crusher & Troi were training to command the bridge during "night crew" shifts when the principal crew would be off duty.

So YES I agree that it would be nifty and even economical to have Paramount expand the 22 episodes into hour long installments by reverse engineering Alan Dean Foster's book adaptations, which were already expanded versions, but NO I object to updating to CGI solely for technique and have grown fond of the three armed orange dude over the years, and think M'ress is a fox.

My main concern is that they should expand the episodes to an hour in length.Get D.C.Fontana back involved in the writing.Or use Fosters books.Bring back Checkov and Yeoman Rand. They can keep Arex and Mress if they want to. Alternate them each episode.The animation does not really bother me. Just clean up certain mistakes like pink aliens,stock footage, giant cloned Spock etc.Also, CBS/Paramount should buy the video game episodes from the 90s that featured the original cast. Make them into hour long animated episodes. 7 episodes of 25th anniversary edition, 8 episodes of Judgement Rites and the unreleased Secret of Vulcan Fury could make for a complete 2nd season of the animated series. About 44 hour long animated episodes would act as the 4th and 5th season of the original 5 year mission.