Rank the Star Trek movies

[Scott Taylor]

Wrath of Khan is my favorite, but it definitely has a few issues.

The scene with Scotty showing up on the bridge with Peter Preston makes no sense to me. Surely if his nephew was that badly injured he'd go straight to sickbay rather than wasting valuable time going to the bridge. Seemed to serve no purpose than to be dramatic. Which leads me on too my other issue; Saavik.

Saavik's characterisation is all over the place. She's introduced as having a touch of Vulcan arrogance, and also the way she speaks about Kirk (he's so human) and her reaction to his joke in the turbolift indicate she's a typical Vulcan, but then suddenly she's displaying emotions. The gasp when she sees Scotty's nephew, the tears at Spock's funeral... not very Vulcan at all. I thought Robin Curtis did a much better job playing the character in The Search for Spock.

Yes, lol. The effects are also not all that great. I saw this film last year in a re-release on the big screen and the painted backdrop scene on the Genesis Planet, where Carol had used the technology, was pretty much comical in its fakeness. Forgiveable considering the circumstances behind the movie - they were basically forced to make it, barely anyone really wanted to and it had this amazingly tiny budget because people figured the franchise was totally over.

As I said though, it's still my favourite Trek film. It hits the right emotional notes despite its flaws, and has some of the best examples of Kirk's strategic ability in combat you're likely to find. Plus Ricardo Montalban hams it up brilliantly.

Oh its mine, too. Definitely. So brilliantly constructed with such great lines and hammy acting. I can't not love it.

[kingaliencracker]

Wrath of Khan
First Contact
The Undiscovered Country
Search for Spock
Voyage Home
Beyond
Star Trek '09
Into Darkness
Generations
Insurrection
Nemesis
The Motion Picture
The Final Frontier

[ChrisIII]

Yes, lol. The effects are also not all that great. I saw this film last year in a re-release on the big screen and the painted backdrop scene on the Genesis Planet, where Carol had used the technology, was pretty much comical in its fakeness. Forgiveable considering the circumstances behind the movie - they were basically forced to make it, barely anyone really wanted to and it had this amazingly tiny budget because people figured the franchise was totally over.



Oh its mine, too. Definitely. So brilliantly constructed with such great lines and hammy acting. I can't not love it.

Yeah, Khan was really low budget-pretty much all the sets are reworked TMP sets, as are many of the space shots of Enterprise in the first half of the movie. Regula One is actually the office complex from TMP upside down. Also it looks like some of the sets have been darkened to cover up some of the problems-although basically the same sets as TMP, for some reason the Bridge and Kirk's quarters appear particuarly dark.


The next couple of films largely got a budget increase I think, although there were still ocassional uses of stock footage (Mainly involving the Bird of prey or the Enterprise in spacedock) III and IV I think are probably the best FX out of the original films-III in particular added a ton of new ships and stations that would pretty much set the visual standard for years. IV also did pretty well with the whale props/animatronics.

[StanBelarsky]

For all the Star Trek Fans, what movies were the best, least favorite or worst.

Original Star Trek Movie series.

1.Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
2.Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
3.Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
4.Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
5.Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
6.Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

The Next Generation Star Trek Movies.

1.Star Trek Generations.
2.Star Trek: First Contact.
3.Star Trek: Insurrection.
4.Star Trek: Nemesis.

Star Trek movie reboot series.

1.Star Trek (2009).
2.Star Trek Into Darkness (2013).


As far as the Star Trek films go, How would you rate each of them.

My favorite is TMP. Really looking forward to the rumored 4K remastered release. Just wish they had TWOK uniforms.

TMP, TWOK, First Contact, TUC, TVH, TSFS, Generations, TFF, Nemesis, Insurrection. The JJ movies don't exist.

[WebLurker]

That always bothers me as well. And the fact that no one had a radiation suit for Spock or whoever to put on. Seriously, these guys go into space and all sorts of hostile alien environments all the time. An ensign could have done the work Spock did, and probably would have done training in just that scenario as part of Starfleet training for working in Engineering.

It is explained in the movie that it's become too toxic for a human to survive the radiation long enough to do anything (presumably most other non-human crew members, if there were any), but a Vulcan could last long enough to do it. As to why Spock didn't get a radiation suit (assuming it would'v been effective in the first place against that level of radiation), he didn't have the time to get one (as indicated when he chooses to nerve pinch McCoy since he doesn't have the time to explain the logic of him going on a suicide mission to save the ship and crew from being destroyed anyways).

Saavik's characterisation is all over the place. She's introduced as having a touch of Vulcan arrogance, and also the way she speaks about Kirk (he's so human) and her reaction to his joke in the turbolift indicate she's a typical Vulcan, but then suddenly she's displaying emotions. The gasp when she sees Scotty's nephew, the tears at Spock's funeral... not very Vulcan at all. I thought Robin Curtis did a much better job playing the character in The Search for Spock.

That was something of an artifact of the character intended to be half Romulan and not being as well-trained in emotional suppression (or just not taking to it as a personality quirk). In the third movie, director Leonard Nimoy went out of his way to have Curtis play the character more as a traditional Vulcan and less according to what the previous movies had shown. IMHO, I never really had a problem with the first movie, esp. since it would make a lot of sense that while some Vulcans would be well-suited to the lifestyle of emotional control and logic, others would struggle with it more. Heck, it was outright stated that ENT Vulcan character T'Pol's personality was one of the emotions being closer to the surface then normal, so it does fit into the franchise.

[ChrisIII]

It's kind of interpeted by many fans that Spock's encounter with V'ger sort of helped settle his dueling Vulcan/human nature; he seems noticeably more laid back and emotional in II (Then again, everybody was generally more relaxed in II compared to the stiff acting of TMP-especially Kirk). In IV of course he seems to largely be "full Vulcan" for a while, but eventually seems to settle back into that persona by the end of IV. VI has him particularly angry and saddened about Valeris's betrayal.


TNG's Unification strangely seems to state Spock was, at the time, trying to go back to Vulcan ways (his conversation with Data), but the reboots pretty much gave us back "emotional" Nimoy Spock.

[WebLurker]

It's kind of interpeted by many fans that Spock's encounter with V'ger sort of helped settle his dueling Vulcan/human nature; he seems noticeably more laid back and emotional in II (Then again, everybody was generally more relaxed in II compared to the stiff acting of TMP-especially Kirk).

Interesting idea. Not sure there's much canon evidence for it, but there it is.

In IV of course he seems to largely be "full Vulcan" for a while, but eventually seems to settle back into that persona by the end of IV.

More like his brain was still sorting itself out, but yeah, the "how are you feeling" bookends fit that pretty well.

VI has him particularly angry and saddened about Valeris's betrayal.

Oh, yeah.

TNG's Unification strangely seems to state Spock was, at the time, trying to go back to Vulcan ways (his conversation with Data), but the reboots pretty much gave us back "emotional" Nimoy Spock.

Well, we do see Spock showing emotion when Picard lets him access the echo of his father's mind, so I don't think he was supposed to have totally rejected his more balanced outlook from the movies. In fact, as I recall, when working with the Romulan underground for reunification, he didn't have any pretense of the Romulans forsaking emotion. I got the idea that his thought was that they'd carry that forward alongside Vulcan teachings.

[Beaddle]

I forgot that apart from Batman and X-Men, this is another uneven franchise, there is the legendary theory in star trek movies that only the even numbered films are good.

Best

Wrath of Khan
Star Trek 2009
First Contact


Good
The Voyage Home
Star trek Beyond
The undiscovered country


Okay
Generations
Search for Spock
Motion Picture
Star Trek Into darkness

Disappointing
Insurrection
final frontier
Nemesis

[Doctor Know]

New list to reflect Beyond and my changing tastes.

1. The Wrath of Khan
2. First Contact
3. Beyond
4. 2009
5. Undiscovered Country
6. The Voyage Home
7. Into Darkness
8. Nemesis
9. The Search For Spock
10. Insurrection
11. Generations
12. The Motion Picture
13. The Final Frontier

[sunofdarkchild]

Guess I'll also update my 2015 picks with Beyond

1. Wrath of Khan
2. Undiscovered Country.
3. First Contact
4. Beyond
5. Voyage Home
6. Star Trek 09
7. Into Darkness
8. Search for Spock
9. Insurrection
10. Nemesis
11. TMP
12. Final Frontier
13. Generations.

My opinions haven't changed on any of the movies in the last 4 years. Beyond really surprised me with how much it felt like classic Trek while maintaining what was appealing about the 2009 reboot.

[Zero Hunter]

Wrath of Khan
First Contact
The Undiscovered Country
Beyond
Search For Spock
Voyage Home
Star Trek '09
Into Darkness
Generations
Insurrection
Nemesis
The Motion Picture
The Final Frontier

The really sad thing is that outside of First Contact most of the New Gen movies were not good at all. The Motion Picture to this day is hard to actually sit through because it is just so boring for 80% of the movie with those slow panning shots.

[ChrisIII]

Interesting idea. Not sure there's much canon evidence for it, but there it is.



More like his brain was still sorting itself out, but yeah, the "how are you feeling" bookends fit that pretty well.



Oh, yeah.




Well, we do see Spock showing emotion when Picard lets him access the echo of his father's mind, so I don't think he was supposed to have totally rejected his more balanced outlook from the movies. In fact, as I recall, when working with the Romulan underground for reunification, he didn't have any pretense of the Romulans forsaking emotion. I got the idea that his thought was that they'd carry that forward alongside Vulcan teachings.

Some of the books (not canon of course) suggest that Spock didn't take the presumed death of Kirk and presumably Amanda well (Although it's probably due to old age rather than what happened in the reboot movies) and sort of withdrew himself, once again creating the rift with his father as well.


There's one curious TNG thing that's never explained: I think Picard says he attended the wedding of Sarek's son. Can't be Sybok really unless he somehow came back, so presumably it would be Spock, unless Sarek had kids with his second wife or adopted more like Michael. So some people say that Spock married. A popular candidate is Saavik of course.

[stargazer01]

I think the Genesis cave in Wrath of Khan is the only disappointing thing for me in the movie. The rest was fine/great to me, especially the character development and continuity. This is why it's the best Trek movie for many, not because it was flawless. It got the characters so well.

[WebLurker]

Some of the books (not canon of course) suggest that Spock didn't take the presumed death of Kirk and presumably Amanda well (Although it's probably due to old age rather than what happened in the reboot movies) and sort of withdrew himself, once again creating the rift with his father as well.

Maybe, although the TNG episode where Spock reappeared did explain why they were on the outs by them (disagreement on the how the end of Fenderation/Cardassian conflict was resolved).

There's one curious TNG thing that's never explained: I think Picard says he attended the wedding of Sarek's son.

Yep, that was in "Sarek" (TNG), the episode that Mark Lenard's character first came back to the franchise in the 24th century era.

Can't be Sybok really unless he somehow came back, so presumably it would be Spock, unless Sarek had kids with his second wife or adopted more like Michael. So some people say that Spock married.

Apparently, Gene Roddenberry was of the opinion that it was Spock. Certainly, there are no other known candidates (although there is nothing to preclude other children that were never mentioned), and the old reference material, like the official Chronology has noted that there is circumstantial evident; Picard notes in the "Unification" two-parter that he met Spock one before that episode, which would fit perfectly with the idea that the wedding he had gone to was Spock's. It would fit perfectly two if it was a sibling (full, half, or step) for that matter, too. Kinda the way it breaks down is if it was Spock, his wife was never seen or mentioned anywhere in canon, leaving her a total mystery. If it wasn't Spock, it means that there's family members that only exist in the realm of fan theories.

It's also not the only odd detail in that episode; Picard indirectly notes that Amanda Grayson was Sarek's first wife, despite the infamous third movie noting that before that, he and a Vulcan princess (whatever "princess" means to a culture without a royal family) were the parents of Sybok, suggesting three marriages total and Grayson not being the first. (I've gathered that popular answers are either that Picard's line should be glossed over as a script error or that Sybok was born out of wedlock, given that Spock never actually states that his father and the princess were actually married, just that they are his half-brother's parents).

It's a shame that the vagueness and references create a bunch of unanswered questions and sloppier continuity, but apparently, since "Sarek" was the first time that a crossover from another part of the franchise was okayed after a film policy to never do something like that (excusing "The Naked Now"), the people creating the episode were moving carefully as a first run. (Ironically, this episode would open the floodgates to allowing for extensive crossovers and cross-referencing, something that I think was both a blessing and an occasional curse, depending on the specific story in question.)

A popular candidate is Saavik of course.

They actually did get married in the "mainline" novel-verse (although it's not mentioned very much). The novel that depicted it actually told the scene from a young Picard's perspective, to tie into the TNG episode.

Alternatively, the Crucible novel trilogy that was set in its own isolated continuity had him marrying a human woman he'd known over the course of his life and ended with them adopting a human baby girl (it ended with the christening, so no idea what would've happened to them by TNG era). A short story from the Strange New Worlds anthology series (all tales intended to be set in their own continuities, although some have been grandfathered into the main novel-verse) also had Spock returning to Vulcan to assist Saavik with a young Vulcan child, with all clear signs that they were never married -- although the story does keep us wondering if the child is the product of them having sex in the third movie (actually, it's kinda surprising that the discarded idea of Spock fathering a child with Saavik wasn't brought back for the novels, given how stuff like that sometimes gets a second life in the tie-ins).

[ChrisIII]

I've read that Gene Roddenberry didn't really consider The Final Frontier to be canon at all. I think even the old Skybox cards at the time said the film was "possibly apocryphal". Curiously, it was around this time that Paramount seemed to really clamp down on Star Trek licenses to be more in line with the shows/movies; Peter David's second Star Trek series actually had it's first few issues be redrawn because he intended it to be a continuation of the previous comics, which played a bit more loose with series continuity (The whole storyline with Kirk as captain as Excelsior for example).

Spock also had a son in the novels with the "All our Yesterdays" Character.

Wouldn't McCoy's appearance in EFF also count as a bit of a crossover?