Everyone loves lists so from time to time I’ll post some of my Friday favorites. This week we’ll take a look at my favorite Star Trek movies.
Earlier this month at a Star Trek convention in Las Vegas the attendees voted on the best and worst Star Trek movies. It’s no surprise that they named Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as their favorite. It is a little surprising, though, that the attendees named Star Trek Into Darkness as the worst Star Trek movie. Into Darkness wasn’t my favorite Star Trek movie but it definitely wasn’t the worst.
Here’s my list of favorite Star Trek movies.
#1 – Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
It really is the best Star Trek movie. Ricardo Montalbán is absolutely amazing as the one villain who could match Kirk’s intelligence and intensity. The movie is also full of action but the relationships don’t get lost amidst the phasers and photon torpedoes.
#2 – Star Trek: First Contact
The Next Generation’s crew’s second foray onto the silver screen was much more successful than their first. First Contact has Picard wrestling with his own demons, Rker and Troi getting drunk and Work being all sorts of bad a.
#3 – Star Trek (2009)
I loved J.J. Abrams’s first Star Trek movie. There is much more to Gene Roddenberry’s vision than good-looking actors and slick action scenes. However, that entire vision can’t be explored in a two-hour movie. So, for the time allotted, I love everything about Star Trek.
#4 – Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
I watched Star Trek IV before I watched Star Trek III. I was confused as to why Spock was taking a bunch of tests and why Kirk didn’t have the Enterprise. Kirk and crew as fish out of water in 1980s San Francisco provided a lot of humor but it was also great to see a movie driven by the characters and their relationships instead of spaceships and aliens.
#5 – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
I think we watched Star Trek VI in class when I was in junior high. I don’t know why we watched it but I loved seeing all the Klingon blood floating around in zero gravity. General Chang was a great villain and I loved seeing Sulu as captain of the Excelsior.
#6 – Star Trek Into Darkness
I only saw Into Darkness once but I can’t wait to watch it again when it comes out on Blu-ray in a few weeks. I really like Into Darkness even with how it mirrored parts of Star Trek II.
#7 – Star Trek: Generations
This is definitely the part of the list where we leave the top half and enter the bottom half. I probably shouldn’t like Generations as much as I do but it’s the first movie about which I was really excited. It’s not that great but I loved seeing my beloved TNG crew on the big screen.
#8 – Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
I don’t like that they couldn’t get Kirstie Alley back to play Saavik and I think Christopher Lloyd is one of the worst Klingons ever. I liked everything on earth as Kirk attempted to hijack the Enterprise but, once they all got to Genesis, I sort of tuned out.
#9 – Star Trek: Nemesis
I only saw Star Trek: Nemesis once and it wasn’t very memorable. I probably should watch it again. I do remember that Tom Hardy was great as Picard’s clone and I was sad when Data died…spoilers.
#10 – Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
I’ve done my fair share of piling on The Final Frontier but, as I put my list together, I realized it wasn’t my least favorite. Apparently I really like the camping scene because I reference it frequently.
#11 – Star Trek: Insurrection
Insurrection was like an episode of TNG with a really big budget. And not even a great episode.
#12 – Star Trek: The Motion Picture
I’ve only seen Star Trek: The Motion Picture once and I was bored out of my mind. I watched it when I was younger so I should probably give it another chance. If it still bores me, though, it’s not going to move up the list.
There’s a good chance you don’t agree with my list and that’s ok. I’d love for you to share your list in the comments below.
I feel like there’s 4 categories of Trek movies. They’re hard to compare to each other, because they follow different rules and really have different goals, in terms of the kind of movie they’re aiming to make. In the end, they’re all Star Trek flicks and can all be judged in one category. But I tend to separate them into these groups:
1. Original cast
2. TNG cast
3. JJ’s new timeline
4. Star Trek : The Motion Picture
You just made me literally laugh out loud.
You nailed it, Scott! I would have put “Final Frontier” tied for last, though. It was an extremely disappointing last movie for the original cast; especially Shatner.
The original cast got another go in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”, which was really good.
The fact that they got together one more time was all right. The movie itself is another matter. I will really have to write something about how far ST VI misses the mark one of these days…!
I actually like Nemesis mainly because Data finally became human in that movie. Here’s my take on it from two years ago http://spiritualmusclehead.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/the-last-gasp-of-data-a-lenten-meditation/
I guess I really should watch “Nemesis” again.
You get it, Josh. It’s not my favorite Trek film, but, like TMP (which I cannot BELIEVE Scott ranked last – [in best Shatner voice:] SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTT!] – it is far better than most folks give it credit for, mainly because of the culmination of Data’s character arc. “Greater love hath no man…” (What is the opposite of apotheosis – incarnation?)
Where is Galaxy Quest?
jk
I would really love to see a sequel to GQ one of these days.
I’m ashamed to say I’ve never seen “Galaxy Quest”.
And all God’s geeks said: SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOTT!
You are forthwith assigned it for your weekend watching. You will LOVE it, or my name’s not Mike Poteet!