Name & Rank: Star Trek

[Neon Ignition]

It's been a few years since the last film and we still seem to be some way out from seeing another release, here we'll take a look at ranking our preferences for another long running sci-fi franchise.



Thirteen movies broadly covering around ten plots given how many times Khan's storyline has been retold.


Time for you to boldy go - and rank the Star Trek movies:


01 - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
02 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
03 - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
04 - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
05 - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
06 - Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
07 - Star Trek: Generations
08 - Star Trek: First Contact
09 - Star Trek: Insurrection
10 - Star Trek: Nemesis
11 - Star Trek
12 - Star Trek: Into Darkness
13 - Star Trek: Beyond


Which order would you rank them in and why?

[MartyG]

01 - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
02 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
03 - Star Trek: First Contact
04 - Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
05 - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
06 - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
07 - Star Trek: Insurrection
08 - Star Trek: Nemesis
09 - Star Trek: Generations
10 - Star Trek: Into Darkness
11 - Star Trek: Beyond
12 - Star Trek
13 - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

[Asura]

Oh wow, this is a doozy.

God Tier
02 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
08 - Star Trek: First Contact

Great Tier
06 - Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
07 - Star Trek: Generations (specifically when watched at Christmas)

"Put on while doing chores" Tier
04 - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
09 - Star Trek: Insurrection
01 - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
03 - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

(---- This is kinda the line; below this are ones that I will happily never watch again ----)

Kinda Bad Tier
11 - Star Trek
13 - Star Trek: Beyond

**** Tier
12 - Star Trek: Into Darkness
05 - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Actively Unwatchable Tier
10 - Star Trek: Nemesis

I find it easier to split them into tiers, and I'm not sure where each title lands within each tier.

I generally dislike Abrams Trek. I'm not a fan of Abrams full-stop (hate Lost, not a huge fan of his take on Star Wars, etc.), but Into Darkness is one of the worst movies I've ever seen in the cinema. @Blobcat and I talk sometimes about how we remember, when Kirk "dies", there were people crying in the cinema and we both looked at each other with a look we later confirmed to be "are they watching the same film we are?"

Actually a bit sad that Abrams didn't do a totally original Trek movie, because from what I recall, the bit of his Star Trek that was fantastic was the opening scene of the first one, before it introduced child-Kirk. But then maybe that's "careful what you wish for", because I disliked Lost and most of his stuff draws very heavily on pre-existing properties.

Nemesis is the absolute nadir for me. Disliked it on first cinema watch and it came up recently in the other thread, but I find it nigh-unwatchable.

[beecee]

Go to ST films

01 - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
06 - Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
02 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
08 - Star Trek: First Contact
04 - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
03 - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

watch if nothing else is on.

07 - Star Trek: Generations
05 - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
09 - Star Trek: Insurrection
10 - Star Trek: Nemesis

Don't much care for the reboots

11 - Star Trek
12 - Star Trek: Into Darkness
13 - Star Trek: Beyond

[wakka]

I honestly really like Star Trek 5.

[Blobcat]

I agree with [MENTION=5941]Asura[/MENTION] mostly about the list.

We have watched Star Trek Generations almost every Christmas and more since we have been together. Had the theme from First Contact playing at our wedding as part of the playlist when guests arrived.

[Dogg Thang]

I also like Star Trek V. Right, let’s do this.

01 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
02 - Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
03 - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
04 - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
05 - Star Trek: The Motion Picture
06 - Star Trek
07 - Star Trek: Beyond
08 - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
09 - Star Trek: First Contact
10 - Star Trek: Generations
11 - Star Trek: Nemesis
12 - Star Trek: Insurrection
13 - Star Trek: Into Darkness

Doing this, I learned that Insurrection is not my least favourite Star Trek movie. I also quite enjoy a couple of the newer movies. They’re kind of stupid and miss the mark in some ways but I enjoy watching them and definitely Beyond was better than I had expected.

[Asura]

Insurrection

We are enemies now

[Dogg Thang]

We are enemies now

I said it’s NOT my least favourite!

[prinnysquad]

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

[Travesty]

Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Star Trek: Beyond
Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek
Star Trek: Into Darkness

[Finsbury Girl]

I can't remember most of them so all I will say is this:

KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!

ps I like the Abrams ones as well

[Neon Ignition]

Number 01 - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan




Number 02 - Star Trek: First Contact




Number 03 - Star Trek





Number 04 - Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country





Number 05 - Star Trek: The Voyage Home





Number 06 - Star Trek: Into Darkness




Number 07 - Star Trek: Generations






Number 08 - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock





Number 09 - Star Trek: Nemesis




Number 10 - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier




Number 11 - Star Trek: Beyond





Number 12 - Star Trek: Insurrection





Number 13 - Star Trek: The Motion Picture






Controversy abound! I genuinely think Insurrection is a bad film but I know given the choice I'd watch it over TMP which is on paper stronger but I just find it endlessly dull. Into Darkness, for me, is flawed but I can't get on board at all with the calls that it's some sort of horrific travesty. Of the reboot trilogy Beyond is the weakest by quite some margin, an often cheap looking and empty husk of an addition that lives up to why few recall it even exists and wasn't followed up on. That being said, I don't find any to be absolutely horrific, it's a relatively solid franchise overall.

[Dogg Thang]

I think Into Darkness is easily the stupidest Trek film and also a prime example of Abram’s weaknesses. The Motion Picture is hideously dull but, for me, it is easily the most beautiful and cinematic of all the films and I can really enjoy that on a rewatch. It’s an incredible looking movie.

Insurrection, as many point out, is just a TV episode but, for me, it’s like a filler episode. Not movie worthy and barely TV worthy.

Generations, to me, highlights the difficulty of the Next Gen movies and it’s not really anyone’s fault. It was timing. The classic crew had more than a decade to age and change before jumping from TV to movies. The movies took quite a different approach, with TMP going with a very Trek storyline but aiming for grand serious scifi in its execution. It looked very different to the show and felt different too. And then it got to reinvent itself again with Wrath of Khan, settling into the feel that would define the movies and leaning into the ageing of the characters, exploring new themes. With the classic crew, the gap and changes mean the show feels like the show and the movies feel like movies.

In Generations, the opening feels like a movie to me and then it goes off the rails the instant we cut to the Next Gen crew. The movie stops dead and has a dicking about sequence on a holo boat that a 20-whatever episode TV show can sustain and a movie can’t. And because there is no distance between the show and the movies, the cast couldn’t grow. They couldn’t change. So people level the criticism that Insurrection feels like a TV episode but I feel that applies to all the Next Gen movies and any attempts to make it more action-packed or cinematic jarred because they’re just too close to the TV show. That’s why I feel Picard season 3 achieved more for the Next Gen cast than the movies - there was distance and growth.

That said, I think most Trek movies are entertaining. I’ll even watch Nemesis if it’s on.

Edit: oh, and I really enjoy Star Trek V. Yes, it’s goofy. But it also gets across the long friendship of those characters in such a warm, genuine way and is full of heart. Again, this is something that was almost always missing from Next Gen movies for me - it’s more of an ensemble approach but I never felt a real bond between those characters as much more than people who work together. It was a slightly colder show in that regard, with some beautiful character moments (particularly in Picard’s own development) but rarely about them as friends, with the exception of the end of the final episode (I’m sure you can point to many more examples but Kirk, Spock and McCoy’s relationship was core to every moment of the original rather than being a thing of moments). Star Trek V has heart. And I also think the story is totally Star Trek.

And Star Trek 3 is pretty dull and cheap and probably the weakest of the original movies in my view.

[Neon Ignition]

Edit: oh, and I really enjoy Star Trek V. Yes, it’s goofy. But it also gets across the long friendship of those characters in such a warm, genuine way and is full of heart. Again, this is something that was almost always missing from Next Gen movies for me - it’s more of an ensemble approach but I never felt a real bond between those characters as much more than people who work together. It was a slightly colder show in that regard, with some beautiful character moments (particularly in Picard’s own development) but rarely about them as friends, with the exception of the end of the final episode (I’m sure you can point to many more examples but Kirk, Spock and McCoy’s relationship was core to every moment of the original rather than being a thing of moments). Star Trek V has heart. And I also think the story is totally Star Trek.

100%, Star Trek V's biggest advantage over possibly all of the original cast films is that it probably showcases the core friendship between Kirk, Spock and McCoy the best and much of that is born from how long the cast had been going by that point. The conversation beneath the stars feels very natural in a way you could never picture cast from the other shows pulling off.