Ok, so the first part of ranking the Star Trek movies caused quite a stir. A lot of people didn’t like where I had a couple of the films, and I get it. Any time you’re talking about things like this, everyone has an opinion, and some people are passionate about it. I think one of my favorite things about this site is that I have an opportunity to talk about things that I love and things that I am passionate about. Even more fun is hearing from you about what you love. So I welcome the comments and enjoy hearing your point of view. If you didn’t read the first post, you can click here to read it. In case you don’t want to read it, here is a quick rundown of how they were ranked:
10. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
9. Star Trek: Nemesis
8. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
7. Star Trek: Generations
6. Star Trek Insurrection
It was not pretty for our TNG crew films, having three of their four make the bottom five. As I stated in part one, I am not including the re-boots in this list. This is prime universe only. So, without further ado, here are the top 5.
5. Star Trek The Motion Picture
This was not a great film, and I can admit that. This makes the top five simply because it brought Star Trek back. After the original series was canceled, the franchise really began to develop a huge cult following. Enough so, that the studios saw value in bringing the franchise back. The Motion Picture did just that, and it also gave Roddenberry the resources needed to really bring his vision to life. The Motion Picture may not be overly exciting, but it was Star Trek. It was Kirk and Spock and Bones, and it was back. It laid the foundation and the groundwork for the films that would follow, as well as the series that would follow. I am not sure that Star Trek as we know it would still be around today, celebrating 50 years, if not for The Motion Picture.
4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
This is one of my favorite movies of all time. I watched this so many times growing up. I love a good time travel story. Then you throw in whales, and I loved whales when I was a kid. Really, for me, this movie had it all. I loved seeing the people from the future interacting with the people of the 80s. Watching it now is just pure nostalgia for me. I love Chekov walking around San Francisco asking everyone where he could find the nuclear wessels, during the height of the Cold War. I love when Scotty sits down at the computer and begins talking to it, and when that doesn’t work, Bones hands him the mouse, and he talks into that. I especially love when Kirk tells Gillian that Spock had done too much “LDS” in the 60s. Love it all. Plus, you see the heroism of the whole crew as they are willing to risk everything to save Earth, even though they are in the middle of being court mortadella and could possibly lose everything. It is a fun movie, and the only reason I can’t rank it any higher is because of the three films I have at the top.
3. Star Trek: First Contact
Apparently that whole “being abducted and assimilated by the Borg” thing really messed Picard up. This movie was everything that I ever wanted from a TNG cast movie. It had the perfect balance of action and story. Plus, we see Picard being the tough guy we always thought he could be. Ok, so maybe he was a little obsessed, but who can blame him? This was probably my favorite Borg story in all of Star Trek. In addition, we also get to see a pivotal moment in Trek history- First Contact. It’s the moment that really changes everything and brings us out of our constant fighting and into a new era of peace and prosperity. Of course, another reason I love this movie is because we get to see the Enterprise E for the first time. The E is probably my favorite Enterprise, and that may or may not be because of this movie.
2. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
One of the only things better than Picard vs. the Borg is Kirk vs. Klingons. Star Trek VI is so good. Star to finish, there really isn’t any part of this film I don’t enjoy. Some of my favorite moments include Chekov making his comment about if the boot fits, wear it to an alien that obviously can’t and Kirk kicking an alien in the knees, only to discover those weren’t knees. This was such a great send off for the original crew, that it almost makes one forget totally about Generations. The Klingons in this film are also fantastic. If this were a movie in any other franchise, or in a universe where Wrath of Khan didn’t exist, it would be number on the list.
1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
I know this is predictable. I am sure no one is surprised to see this film on the top of my list. There’s no way I could rank only of the other films above this one. Khan is the greatest villain in Star Trek history (sorry Q), this is also the most well done of all the Star Trek films. This is a great follow-up to The Motion Picture, and really showed that this franchise could be great source material for some great movies. Also, this is where i get my irrational fear of falling asleep and waking up to find creepy crawly things in my ears. This is not just the best Star Trek movie ever, it is also one of the best SciFi movies, period.
There you have, the completion of my ranking of the Star Trek films. What do you think? How did I do? Which films on the list did I get right, and which ones did I totally mess up on? Let me know in the comments below, or you can send me feedback directly at [email protected].
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