Star Trek: Generations
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Star Trek: Generations was supposed to act as a bridge film for casual fans who might have been aware of Kirk and Spoc,k and liked a good space adventure but were mostly unfamiliar with The Next Generation.
Unfortunately, because it is committed to featuring both eras it can properly serve neither. The story would have been better had they just focused entirely on Picard and the crew of Enterprise D, or at the very least hurried through the Kirk-centric prologue. Still, there is some novelty to watching two legendary captains share some screen time, albeit briefly, and Malcolm McDowell is a fine villain to pair with Patrick Stewart.
Star Trek: Insurrection
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Star Trek: Insurrection was the Next Generation crew’s third voyage into theaters, and they faced an uphill battle to follow the previous entry, First Contact. Jonathan Frakes returned to the director’s chair, but unfortunately, the curse of the odd-numbered Trek movies reared its ugly head.
The most common criticism you’ll hear is that the movie plays out like an extended episode of television — which is true! The real issue is the story spends too much time in one location and doesn’t feel as kinetic as some of the better entries in the series. Still, there are far worse films in this series and it’s nice to finally see Captain Picard finally turn on the charm and woo an alien woman of his own.
Star Trek: Beyond
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Star Trek Beyond is the third (and to date, last) of the “Kelvin timeline” Star Trek films. Produced by JJ Abrams and directed by the man who helped revitalize the Fast & Furious franchise, Justin Lin, Beyond made the bold choice to abandon Into Darkness’ obsession with exhausting references to the existing IP and instead focused on making a fun, original, self-contained Star Trek story.
It isn’t a perfect film, but it lets the characters shine and has enough engaging set pieces to breeze through its 122-minute runtime.
Hopefully, this isn’t the last time Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and the rest of this cast don their Starfleet Uniforms.
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
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Critics will tell you that all odd-numbered Star Trek films are bad. But this is not entirely true.
The Search for Spock is uneven. For example, the scenes on the Genesis planet before Kirk and company arrive are a slog — and it hurts the film that the ending is essentially a foregone conclusion once you read the title.
On the other hand, this entry arguably features William Shatner’s best work in the series, and Christopher Lloyd’s performance as the villainous Kruge set the template for every actor who would play a Klingon. Also, as the middle part of a trilogy, it’s an Empire Strikes Back-esque downbeat to lead perfectly into the joyous finale.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
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For many people, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is “the boring one.” And that’s understandable. The movie has much more in common with the 1960s TV series than a modern science fiction film. In many ways, TMP is a rejection of the thousand Star Wars clones that were produced post-1977. Instead, it appears to take most of its cues from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.
However, if you can adjust your expectations and settle into the rhythm of the film, you’ll find a surprisingly mature and well-written story about growth, identity, and what it means to be human.
And even if you don’t, there are enough insane choices with the late 70s wardrobe and hairstyles that there will always be something interesting to look at.
Star Trek
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Credit to JJ Abrams for the brilliant decision to use a little time travel and silly Star Trek technobabble to set his reboot film in an alternate timeline. It pleased long-term fans obsessed with continuity while still feeling like the start of something new.
When they stop racing from scene to scene long enough to talk, the cast is fantastic. Each performer completely gets their character and does enough to elevate their performance above impression and make it their own.
Honestly, the funniest part of Star Trek (2009) is that to broaden the appeal of Star Trek as a franchisee, JJ Abrams ended up making an incredible audition tape for taking over the reins of Star Wars.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
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The final voyage of the full, original crew of the USS Enterprise, Star Trek VI moves away from the action and humor of the previous entries — and instead makes the fascinating decision to ostensibly be a political thriller in space. Serving as an extended metaphor for the geopolitical changes people were experiencing in the post-Cold War world, the movie bravely lets beloved characters that fans have known for thirty-plus years reveal deep-seated prejudices and biases and how that might influence their attitude on accepting allies who once were foes. It isn’t a perfect film, but credit the producers for being willing to try something different in what might otherwise have been a retread victory lap.
Star Trek: First Contact
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Star Trek: First Contact was the closest the franchise got to a pure, dumb action film before JJ Abrams got involved. It is also one of the highest-grossing films in the series and among the best it has to offer.
A little time travel sees the Enterprise-E crew chase the villainous Borg back to the time just before humanity makes First Contact with an alien species to prevent the future from being changed for the worse. The film also famously introduces the Borg Queen, a controversial antagonist that works great in the movie but does irrevocable damage to the larger Borg species as ongoing franchise heavies.
If you’ve never seen a Star Trek movie before, this is likely the best place to start.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
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It’s the one with the whales!
It is a small miracle this works as well as it does. The movie begins slowly, setting up the central threat of the film (this time an existential threat versus a straight villain) and dealing with the housekeeping of wrapping up threads from Search for Spock.
But once we get to the 1980s (yet more time travel) the movie drops all pretensions and becomes a broad fish-out-of-water comedy that makes a brilliant, self-aware decision to have our heroes be the butt of many of the jokes. Suddenly, any of the hokiness of Star Trek is a feature, not a bug, and this is the reason why Voyage Home is not only the most accessible but also adjusted for inflation, one of the highest grossing of the series.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
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The best indicator that Wrath of Khan is the best Star Trek film of all time is that they’ve more or less attempted to remake twice, once in Nemesis with the TNG crew and then again with Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness.
Star Trek II isn’t just great Star Trek, though. It is great science fiction. Effectively a submarine film, it’s the story of a man having to reckon with the mistakes of his past and learning to accept his mortality. Jack B. Sowards script should be taught in University classes about how to take an existing IP and elevate every element.
