Absolute worst odd-numbered Star Trek movie

Cafe Society
21

I’ve heard other complaints about The Wrath of Khan, such as, in the nebula battle, Spock discovers that Khan is only thinking in two dimensions (which is funny because the entire Star Trek Universe is CONSTANTLY treating space as two-dimensional. Their solution? Use the 3-dimensional nature of space - to sneak up on him from behind. Rather than simply firing on him from below or something.

I’ve always felt that, despite all the “needs of the many” speeches, Spock’s death seems very tacked on and pointless at the end. I also felt it was cheap since they wasted very little time getting him back.

That being said, I still think Khan is the best of the bunch, but then, I’ve never been much of a Trek fan. None of them are that great, IMO.

Also, I don’t want this thread to go by without someone mentioning “Generations”. Oh my god what a load of stupidity. I remember looking at my watch at one point and saying “Holy crap, this movie is almost over and nothing’s happened!”

22

I would have said V, until I saw Insurrection. I was so horrified that shuttles come equipped with Karaoke machines that I almost walked out. I groaned out loud when Ryker piloted the Enterprise by a joystick. I swore off Star Trek movies altogether when Data said “Lock and Load”.

23

You sure that wasn’t a replicator?

Stupid but cool. I wouldn’t want to fly with buttons. :slight_smile:

Hell, Data is goofy.

24

He is. In fact, he did a guest turn on X-Files last season. Remember that strange guy who lived out in the desert with former alien abductees? That was him.

BTW, Insurrection was generally crummy, although I can forgive them, somewhat, because of the extensive use of G&S (a sequence, I know, which everyone on the entire planet but me detested :D).

25

Insurrection was indeed a stretched-out regular episode, and not one of the better ones, either. Generations, I thought, was vastly overrated, but I seemed to be in the minority when it came out (although Roger Ebert panned it, too, if I remember correctly). The thing that made #V the worst of all, though, was it also looked cheap. All the scenes looked muddy, as if they didn’t even bother cleaning the camera lens. III takes too much unwarranted abuse, I think.

26

Exactly. ST:5 is the worst because, for all its other faults, it looks bad. I read the “making of” book by Shatner’s daughter where Big Daddy complains about how little money he has to fulfill his “vision” of the ultimate Trek adventure (particularly the ending). What a whiner!

Generations and Insurrection rank higher than Final Frontier simply because they are nice to look at. John Alonzo’s cinematography in ST:G is quite good – unfortunately, the plot stinks to the edge of the galaxy, which is why I rank Insurrection slightly better. Both are forgettable, however – a sin which First Contact has the decency to not commit.

ST:TMP is a bad movie, too. In fact, all four of these bad ones are quite unwatchable (Insurrection merely for being pointless). But TMP at least has memorable lines and images. “Spock, transmit now!” to name only one.

27

A little addendum: Voyage Home actually has some chintzy looking photography and staging, but it is redeemed by a worthwhile plot, characters, and dialogue.

28

So, can we agree that Star Trek III: The Search For Spock is the best of the odd-numbered films, great in its own way, despite its flaws (bad science, terrible Saavik, etc.)?

Sir Rhosis

29

“Then I hope pain is something you enjoy.”

30

“Wow, that’s a great question – tough one, though. But what does one gauge his response on? Physical prowess? Keen detection skills? The ability to banter well with super villains?”

I would have to say Final Frontier was too high and mighty for itself; seriously.

31

Old cast, no contest Final Frontier was so bad that I could have shredded the video cassette in order to fertilize my garden if I’d been out of horse manure.

New cast, Generations – but ONLY after the new cast put in their appearence. I thought the first 20 or so minutes with the oldsters was great. The mysterious/heroic death/disappearence of Kirk was by far and away a more appropriate way out for a space legend (I’m talking the character here, not Shatner for heaven’s sake)than what happened later. As far as I’m concerned it’s a great short that should have ended with that sequence.

32

Yep.

Disclaimer: I take “the Star Trek Films” to mean I through VI inclusive, and that’s it. There. Were. No. Movies. After. That. One. Don’t even try to tell me otherwise.

That said, I agree it was V. III was actually decent, it only suffered from being compared to its immediate predecessor. I used to think the first one sucked pretty bad too, but on repeat viewing (and, I admit, access to the fast forward button) I have mellowed out on that one.

33

Star Trek: The Motion Picture was horribly dissapointing in most every way at the time, as I recall from watching it in 1980 (?) when it came out. It was first and foremost nothing more than a remake of an episode of the original series. Second, it has absolutely no plot to speak of beyond hang around alien life form, do nothing to stop alien life form, watch in wonder as alien life form transforms into even more alien life form. A most un-Trek-like movie. AND, it really could have lasted only about 50 minutes, which is about how long it actually is if you cut out all the stupid time spent surveying the newly rebuilt Enterprise and the grand tour of the alien.

Star Trek: The Search For Spock was the best of the odd-numbered movies. It is still a poor entry, mostly for being over-acted, but you have to love some of the things that happen. My worst memory of that movie is having the drama of the destruction of the Enterprise taken totally away by the premature marketing of Taco Bell’s glasses which included one showing “Enterprise Destroyed”.

The cross-over movie actually shows quite well the main difference between the original series and the Next Generation. In most original series episodes, you have one main plot. There are no side plots or stories. The whole show revolves around the main plot, usually resolved in some dramatic way by the main characters (with occaisional whimsy thrown in; A Piece of the Action is a great episode, and TTWT is just great TV). TNG, on the other hand, always has an A plot and a B plot, with often a C plot tossed in for good measure. As the show proceeds, you have the crew attempting some resolution of the A plot, during which the B plot results in some character development for someone on the Enterprise. In some cases, the damn show was so wimpy, you were tempted to think the B plot was actually the A plot, and with the notable exception of episodes involving the Borg, there rarely was much drama involved in resolution of the A plot (unless your idea of drama is Denise Crosby battling some alien woman with a metal “claw” on one hand in a cage … ok, ok, don’t get me started).

The cross-over movie shows the difference quite well. The original characters are dealing with a dramatic situation, with no distracting side-plots. Then we switch to the later series, and all of a sudden, bingo, A plot, B plot, relatively benign resolution of the A plot, yadda yadda.

Thank goodness they made First Contact.

34

It would appear that the IMDb poll linked to in the OP is now:

Of the even-numbered–and usually better–entries in the Star Trek movie series, which was the best one?
The Wrath of Khan is winning by a landslide.

35

Hmmm… I seem to remember not disliking any of the Star Trek movies, though I’ve yet to see Insurrection.

Perhaps my tastes are unusually low.

36

So, I take it that I’m the only one who thinks Insurrection is the best of the Next Generation films so far?

But I have to agree with the concensus–Final Frontier is the worst Star Trek movie, of any number.

37

It’s a shame that the only way they could get “The Wrath of Khan” to be as good as it was was to exclude poor old Gene Roddenberry from the entire process. From what I’ve read, if he’d had his way, there never would have been a ST III, because he would have made such a stinker nobody would ever pay to see a Star Trek movie again.

I thought one of the many neat touches in “The Wrath of Khan” was that Kirk and Khan never met in the film, mano-y-mano. They did all their fighting at a distance. Originally they planned a hand-to-hand battle but decided to keep it the way it ended up being, which is unusual in a space opera and yet seems so appropriate.

IMO, “The Wrath of Khan” is so much better than any other Star Trek movie it’s embarassing. But “The Final Frontier” makes the rest all look good anyway…

38

I’m not a Trekkie or Trekker by any means, but I’ve always enjoyed watching the original series and the movies. I haven’t seen Insurrection, but I’ve seen the rest, and would rate them thus:

Wrath of Khan
First Contact
The Voyage Home
The Undiscovered Country
Generations
Search for Spock
TMP
Final Frontier

39

Deanna crashing the ship the first time she gets to drive happend in Generations.

I hate V and I hate IX. I especailly hate that all the next gen movies end with Picard fighting some old man while on scaffolding. (ok in 8 it was the Borg Queen and it was cool)

Since I like TOS better than Next Gen I’ll say Insurrection is the worst.

40

Generations was redeemed entirely by the saucer section crash-landing on the planet and the aftermath of that, when Data found his cat alive and burst into tears. There has been no better sequence than that one in all the movies.

Insurrection was utterly pointless, and it undermined all Data’s growth as a character by having him “leave behind” his emotion chip when he went off on his assignment.