Ranking Every "Star Trek" Movie, From Worst to Best

[sunofdarkchild]

1. Wrath of Khan-One of my favorite movies of all time. Very little action, but still moves at a fast pace with great performances and thematic weight. Also has my favorite Star Trek theme

2. The Undiscovered Country-A great and fitting end. Agree that it should have been Savik, but the writing was otherwise sharp and the film felt important.

3. First Contact-The only good TNG movie, but still very good. Good action, good to see the Borg again, and the context of the first warp flight just worked.

4. The Voyage Home-Stupid plot, but so much fun

5. Star Trek 2009-See above

6. Into Darkness-Also see above

7. Search for Spock-A number of good elements (Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon, the stealing of the Enterprise, ect.) that don't jell together because the movie is so focused on undoing Wrath of Khan.

8. Nemesis-A few great moments, but otherwise forgettable.

9.Insurrection-Completely forgettable and bogus morals.

10. TMP-Love the initial shot of the Enterprise. Bored to tears by the rest. Stilted writing for what could have been a decent plot.

11. Final Frontier-2-3 good moments, but otherwise horrible.

12. Generations-It's like they were trying to say 'f-u' to all their fans. Makes Final Frontier look well thought out. Kirk and Picard team up to beat up an old guy. The Enterprise D destroyed by an out of date Bird of Prey. Reusing footage from other movies. The stakes being a primitive world we don't even see. And the whole plot is because the villain is too stupid to realize he could just launch himself in a space suit instead of blowing up stars. The Phantom Menace is Citizen Cane compared to this steaming pile of crap. Not only the worst Star Trek movie by a wide margin, but one of the worst big budget movies of all time.

[Holt]

Generations was just a complete misfire. Ironically, I felt Kirk's fakeout death scene at the beginning was a much more satisfying sendoff than what the poor bastard actually got later.

I've noticed lately that CBR is experimenting with clickbait articles like this one. Why?

They get more page hits when you have to go to a new page for each bullet point. I complained about it on the Thor article.

[master of read]

Final Frontier should be at the bottom of the list.

nemesis beat it to the bottom. it just tried to hard to be "wrath of khan" but failed in every respect. at least with "final frontier" i can get some enjoyment out it. "nemesis"? it's just...........bad.

[healed1337]

I like The Voyage Home, but how is it the second best in the entire series? How is it better than Undiscovered Country or First Contact? It's just dumb fun that feels like an episode expanded into a movie, but somehow coming up with enough story to make it work.

[Michael24]

My personal rankings:

1. The Wrath of Khan - 5/5
2. First Contact - 5/5
3. The Undiscovered Country - 5/5
4. The Search For Spock - 5/5
5. Generations - 4/5
6. Insurrection - 4/5
7. The Voyage Home - 3/5
8. The Final Frontier - 3/5
9. Nemesis - 2/5
10. The Motion Picture - 2/5
11. Star Trek (2009) - 1/5

Haven't brought myself to watch the most recent two and probably never will. These movies just aren't Star Trek to me, especially after reading that the newest one is going to have a freakin' Rihanna song over the end credits!

[Pinsir]

Undiscovered Country > Whales > Khan > the rest > 1

[king of 72]

I have to say that I pretty much agree with these rankings. About every five years I rent through the entire series, and it is about time to go through the experience again.

[Doctor Know]

1. Wrath of Khan

2. First Contact

3. Star Trek 2009

4. The Undiscovered Country

5. Nemesis

6. The Search For Spock

7. The Voyager Home

8. Star Trek Into Darkness

9. Insurrection

10. Generation

11. The Motion Picture

12. The Final Frontier

[Scott Taylor]

1. The Wrath of Khan - Great story, great cinematography, great characters. The old cast at its best. The only thing that bothers me about this one is - why didn't someone put on a radiation suit at the end and fix the thingy? They enter radiated areas all the time, no problem.
2. First Contact - Perhaps the most complete and well thought out of all these movies. New cast at its best. Really liked it, but Kahn just had a better cast and plot.
3. The Voyage Home - Fun, fun movie. Stupid, but it just plain wins you over. Plus my wife likes it, which is a big plus!
4. The Undiscovered Country - Mix of good and "so bad its good" moments, but I find it good overall.
5. The Final Frontier - So bad its good. This is a horrific film, really, maybe the worst in terms of plot and characters. But its super entertaining. "YOU!"
6 (tie). The Search For Spock, Insurrection, Nemesis, Star Trek (2009), The Motion Picture - Barely watchable for me.
11 (tie). Generations, Into Darkness - Prefer to avoid, will leave room if on.

[bezero3]

Too true..

[nx01a]

[Vijinand]

Undiscovered Country and the Voyage Home are tied for my favorites. With Wrath of Khan and the new Star Trek tied for 2nd, and First Contact rounding out third.

[juggalord]

For my tastes, the JJA movies rank among the worst for numerous reasons.

First off, they're hopelessly dumb. By and large, the one major point that separated Star Trek from Star Wars was that intellectuality. Wars was always more of a VFX laden & action heavy fairy tale while Trek was more of an examination of humanity and social issues by way of phasers and rubber monsters. In allowing JJA to take the reins, they effectively allowed Trek to masquerade as Wars. That little ruse might play well to a modern audience which even finds it too much to even watch a 5 second Vine video. However, it totally craps on the spirit of Trek.

Second, in rebooting things, JJA's films basically say to viewers, "To boldly go where no one has gone before? Nah! Forget that." Reboots signal the end of originality and we all know it. Whenever Hollywood is desperate for easy money, but too lazy to actually put in the hard work they reboot some old property. JJA should NOT get a free pass for doing what internet trolls routinely crucify Hollywood execs for. Trek is all about moving forward and into the unknown. JJA's reboot is especially offensive because it does the exact opposite. And don't give me that sh** about how he's using it as an excuse to explore new relationships or fresh angles on old ones. The Uhura/Spock relationship is unsurprisingly insipid. If that weren't enough, JJA took what was arguably Trek's most memorable villain, Khan, and turned him into a boring, vanilla Hannibal Lecter wannabe.

Third, JJA's take essentially puts the pause button on the entire franchise. In practice, we know that this is a reboot. However, by having Old Spock co-exist with Sylar Spock, we're also being told that this is an alternate timeline that's being explored. In a sense, that takes a bit of the sting out of retreading old territory. However, it also means that there's a whole post-Voyager world that continues to do its thing. There are stories waiting to be told in that TNG world that are being ignored because we, the viewers, live in a world where it's much more important to be sexy than smart. (Ironic since we now live in the golden age of geekdom, yet not surprising considering how Enterprise tried desperately to make Vulcans sexy.) As a lifelong Trek fan, I don't want to see stories about an alternate timeline. I don't care about who Spock is banging. I don't care about Kirk's relationship with his dad. I want something new. I want my favorite sci-fi soap opera to get un-paused.

Finally, JJA's Trek manages to be simultaneously memorable and utterly forgettable. Visually, they're masterfully executed pieces. They're a sight to behold. Visual eye candy at every turn, provided that you don't mind lens flare. Unfortunately, despite having seen these movies at the theater and at home, I still cannot tell you what they were about beyond the key talking points. I remember the bits that anger me, but easily forget that stuff so many of JJA's fans rally behind time and again. It's as if one of the MIB guys does the flashy gadget thing to me 5 seconds after I see the movie. JJA's Trek movies are junk food. Like his Star Wars sequel, his Trek work stands as being pretty shallow and lifeless, yet pretty to look at.

I'm not saying that the pre-JJA Trek was perfect. It wasn't. It often had its fair share of problems. Tasha's death. Lore and the temporary neutering of the Borg. The rampant use of racial and ethnic stereotypes (eg. Ferengi). Poochies like Wesley Crusher and Nelix. Man skirts. Pre-JJA trek had its problems. I acknowledge that. I just don't think that using an alternate timeline as an excuse to reboot was even necessary. Fix what was wrong instead of dwelling on the past. Roddenberry's original Trek was a hit because it didn't go for the easy home run. Instead of playing it safe, it dared to scratch an itch we didn't know existed. nuTrek is just picking at scabs.

[Doodlee]

Nemesis and Final Frontier are unbearable to me and i agree with most of this list. except for Search for Spock, which i include in my perfect trilogy of 2, 3 and 4.

[DurararaFTW]

First Contact, Wrath of Khan and the Undiscovered Country are the best in my eyes. I also have soft spot for Generations.