# Star Trek Movies: Your Opinions Please **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115 "2009-06-08T17:41:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/1 "2009-06-08T17:41:11Z")
Okay - not including the current Star Trek movie out there - there have been 10 Star Trek movies made. Star Trek:The Motion Picture December 7, 1979 The Wrath of Khan June 4, 1982 The Search for Spock June 1, 1984 The Voyage Home November 26, 1986 The Final Frontier June 9, 1989 The Undiscovered Country December 6, 1991 Generations November 18, 1994 First Contact November 22, 1996 Insurrection December 11, 1998 Nemesis December 13, 2002 What is your favorite? What is your least favorite? In order of greatest to worst - how would you order them? If you had to choose one to represent Star Trek to someone who had never seen an episode - which one would you show them first? Discuss . . . ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/2 "2009-06-08T17:46:47Z")
**Wrath of Khan** is by far the best. **The Voyage Home** is my personal favorite. **The Undiscovered Country** has its moments. All the rest are mediocre or garbage. If I had to show one to someone who was totally new to the whole thing, I think it would be **Khan**. I could set up the back-story in less than 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/3 "2009-06-08T18:02:13Z")
I agree _Khan_ would probably be the best to show first to a ST newbie, with a little explanation beforehand. My overall order of preference: _The Wrath of Khan_ - action, adventure, revenge, snappy lines, deceit, heroic sacrifice. What’s not to love? _First Contact_ - All of the above, but with the ST:TNG crew. _The Search for Spock_ - Follows nicely on the setup from _Khan_. _The Voyage Home_ - Builds further still on that storyline, with a good ecology message and some funny gags. _The Undiscovered Country_ - I always liked Kirk and McCoy’s strength-in-adversity scenes on Rura Penthe, and all the Klingon intrigue is a bonus. _Generations_ - The best part about this movie is showing Picard’s strength of will in being willing to give up eternal happiness in the Nexus. But the script is a mess, with plenty of plot holes, and an almost willful destructiveness (Kirk dies! Picard’s brother dies! His nephew dies! The _Enterprise_ crashes and is destroyed! Jeez, lighten up on the losses, would ya?) _Star Trek: The Motion Picture_ - Great to see the crew gathered together again, and the ship looks great, but the V’ger scenes drag badly. _Insurrection_ - Just never clicked. The personal cloaking devices are also hard to square with ST canon. _Nemesis_ - Far more miss than hit. The dune-buggy scenes are just embarrassing. And to kill Data… aiyeeeeeeee! _The Final Frontier_ - The less said about this steaming pile, the better. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/4 "2009-06-08T18:08:42Z")
My favorites, from favorite to least: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Star Trek: First Contact Star Trek Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Star Trek: Insurrection Star Trek: Nemesis Star Trek: Generations Star Trek: The Motion Picture The best picture for a neophyte would be either Khan or Voyage Home. Mine was the latter. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/5 "2009-06-08T18:31:29Z")
In order from best to worst, my list would be: _The Wrath of Khan First Contact The Undiscovered Country The Voyage Home Generations The Search for Spock Insurrection The Motion Picture Nemesis The Final Frontier_ ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/6 "2009-06-08T18:35:42Z")
1. The Wrath of Khan 2. First Contact 3. The Voyage Home \<-------- (#11) 4. The Undiscovered Country 5. The Search for Spock 6. Generations 7. The Motion Picture 8. Insurrection 9. Nemesis 10. The Final Frontier ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/7 "2009-06-08T18:52:11Z")
Loved _Wrath_, _Search_, _Voyage Home_. Liked _Undiscovered Country_. _Generations_ was uneven, but it was nice to see the oldsters again and get some backstory on Guinan. Disliked _Motion Picture_ and _Final Frontier_. Disappointed with _Insurrection_. It felt like an unnecessarily extended NextGen series episode. Never saw _First Contact_ or _Nemesis_. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/8 "2009-06-08T18:59:41Z")
Definitely “Wrath of Khan” first. It’s the only one of the eleven that works well as a _film_ (and it does so exceptionally), even ignoring the franchise ties completely. Well-written, tightly plotted, funny and dramatic in equal measure, wonderfully acted (Nimoy and Shatner do the best work of their careers here), and the special effects work looks great even today. Second best is “Voyage Home,” which despite having aged poorly over the past twenty years, is still very entertaining. The most overtly comedic of the Trek films, with almost no action or dramatics. From there, it’s a pretty long drop in quality to the next on the list, “First Contact,” which is a fantastic “Star Trek” movie and easily the best TNG film, but probably wouldn’t interest anyone who didn’t already like Star Trek to at least some degree. Here’s my overall list: 1. Wrath of Khan 2. Voyage Home 3. First Contact 4. The Undiscovered Country 5. The Search For Spock 6. Generations 7. The Motion Picture 8. Nemesis 9. Insurrection 10. The Final Frontier Not sure yet where the new reboot fits in, but I’m guessing it’ll end up somewhere below “Undiscovered Country” and above TPM. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/9 "2009-06-08T19:14:34Z")
_First Contact_ is my favorite. Whatever you do, don’t kiss the Borg Queen, it’s just a bad move. _Voyage Home_ best of the old crew. Long drop to anything else, although it’s been a loooong time since I saw Khan, so perhaps a re-evaluation is in order. _the Motion Picture_ is just TOS episode _Changeling_ with a budget, lame. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/10 "2009-06-08T19:17:42Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > 1. The Wrath of Khan > 2. First Contact > 3. The Voyage Home > \<-------- (#11) > 4. The Undiscovered Country > 5. The Search for Spock > 6. Generations > 7. The Motion Picture > 8. Insurrection > 9. Nemesis > 10. The Final Frontier The old rule for geeks - sadly outdated since the death of DOS: “odd numbered DOSes - even numbered Star Trek movies.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/11 "2009-06-08T19:20:59Z")
Star Trek:The Motion Picture Just OK The Wrath of Khan Love it – that would be my representaive pick The Search for Spock Not as good as II The Voyage Home Best ever The Final Frontier Suck City The Undiscovered Country Very good, but not best Generations So-so First Contact Great Insurrection Meh Nemesis Just down the road from Suck City ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/12 "2009-06-08T19:24:45Z")
> [@outlierrn](#): > > _the Motion Picture_ is just TOS episode _Changeling_ with a budget, lame. “All that build up just for a cosmac space fuck!” -Old roommate’s father ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/13 "2009-06-08T20:19:31Z")
I think I’m the only person I know who likes ‘The Motion Picture’. Granted I never saw the original series episode it was based on, so maybe that’s the reason. But I liked the slow pace and building special effects, it was fun seeing the old characters back together and the plot was decent. To me, it seemed like someone had remade 2001 with characters I liked and an ending that made sense. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/14 "2009-06-08T21:09:33Z")
I liked _TMP_ a lot. Until _Wrath of Khan_ came out. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/15 "2009-06-08T21:20:04Z")
From best to worst: The Wrath of Khan June 4, 1982 The Voyage Home November 26, 1986 The Undiscovered Country December 6, 1991 First Contact November 22, 1996 Nemesis December 13, 2002 Star Trek:The Motion Picture December 7, 1979 The Search for Spock June 1, 1984 Insurrection December 11, 1998 Generations November 18, 1994 The Final Frontier June 9, 1989 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/16 "2009-06-08T21:23:25Z")
Looking at the names, I’m surprised how true it is that the even-numbered ones are better. My preference, in order: The Wrath of Khan The Voyage Home The Undiscovered Country First Contact and then the odd-numbered ones, in some order. The only one of any significance is The Search for Spock, mostly because The Voyage Home is a little confusing if you don’t know what happened in it. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/17 "2009-06-08T21:36:32Z")
1 Undiscovered Country 2 Wrath of Khan 3 First Contact 4 TMP 5 Nemesis 6 Generations 7 Voyage Home 8 Insurrection 9 Search For Spock X Final Frontier Which follows the Even/Odd rule, save for TMP and Voyage Home, both of which are close to the middle of the list. (6, 2, 8, 1, 10, 7, 4, 9, 3, 5) The final 3, it’s mostly arbitrary…I don’t really consider any of them to be better or worse than any of the others. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/18 "2009-06-08T21:48:25Z")
My ranking: 1. The Wrath of Khan/The Voyage Home (tie) 2. The Search for Spock 3. First Contact/The Undiscovered Country (tie) 4. The Motion Picture 5. Generations 6. The Final Frontier 7. Insurrection 8. Nemesis 3,141,456,922: Trek 90210 ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/19 "2009-06-08T21:53:36Z")
Ones I’ve rewatched multiple times and truly enjoy: The Undiscovered Country December 6, 1991 (I was three and a half when I saw this for the first time, so it’s partly on top because it’s great and partly because of nostalgia- I can remember being scared and hiding under my dad’s coat at one point, but loved the movie anyway. Because I got the name mixed up with The Final Frontier, I called this “Purple floating Klingon blood” as a kid. Still the one I rewatch the most.) The Wrath of Khan June 4, 1982 The Voyage Home November 26, 1986 (I watch this more often and with more glee than Wrath of Khan, but admit WoK is technically better.) First Contact November 22, 1996 (The only TNG-cast film I really like.) These I’ve watched much less often and like much less, but only the last two get outright hate from me: Generations November 18, 1994 (Haven’t seen in years, hardly remember anything but Kirk riding horses, cooking eggs, and getting killed by a bridge. Oh, and being annoyed, at the age of 6 and a half, that Scotty was there to see Kirk “die” when in “Relics” Scotty had asked about Kirk. I independently fanwanked the transporter buffer memory loss before I ever knew what fanwank was.) The Search for Spock June 1, 1984 (I just rewatched this a month ago and remember very little about it. Not a good sign, even if I was watching it with a distractingly cute boy.) Insurrection December 11, 1998 (Only seen two or three times, and not for at least 5 years, I think.) Star Trek:The Motion Picture December 7, 1979 (Boring. Establish shots that crawl on and on.) The Final Frontier June 9, 1989 (Please note I’ve only seen this about once, and I wasn’t paying much attention, because I physically couldn’t.) Nemesis December 13, 2002 (Only seen once. Will only rewatch again if it is part of a Watch Them All project, such as might come before the sequel to the new Star Trek.) The new Trek probably tops the list if we’re going by level of fun, but is somewhere in the middle of the ones I like lots if I’m a bit more thoughtful about it. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115/20 "2009-06-08T22:31:04Z")
One good thing about ST TMP was it had a killer music score, I still have my LP. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-movies-your-opinions-please/499115.md?page=2)