# Worst parts of the "good" Star Trek films **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 16, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152 "2015-03-16T22:51:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/1 "2015-03-16T22:51:30Z")
I thought the other thread needed a counterpart. What things in the generally accepted to be “good” films just annoy you? For me, in TWoK, it really pisses me off that Scotty takes badly burned Peter Preston to the bridge rather than sickbay, where you know, they have people and equipment to handle injured crew. And it’s not even like the bridge is on the way! It comes across more like Scotty is deliberately taunting Kirk - “here’s what your recklessness causes! (dumps body on bridge floor) Why do you live when good people like him die?” (Hmmm…not bad. We’ll use that in the “gritty” reboot.) The whole Peter Preston character is so badly handled due to all the scenes that explain he is Scotty’s nephew were cut in the theatrical release. In _Insurrection_ it bugged me in the scene where Anij is injured and Picard helps her. I quote Memory Alpha: Holding her hand, he asks her to help him keep her in this moment until help can arrive. As she begins to fade, dust falling from the ceiling suddenly slows and time around them moves slowly enough to allow Data, Crusher, Worf and Troi to break through the rocks and come to the rescue. You don’t want perceived time to go _slower_ in this case. You want the world to move _fast_. You want dust to fall fast, time to go by in a blur. You want actual hours to seem like minutes, so you don’t die from your injuries, not minutes to seem like hours, where it takes “days” to be rescued. I never understood what the filmmakers were thinking in that scene. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/2 "2015-03-16T23:00:15Z")
Star Trek V The Campfire scene, where Spock pulls out a Kraft “Marsh Melon” (and Bones teases him); then they sing “Row, Row, Row your boat.” (ETA: Oh wait, this isn’t considered a “good” Trek film. So NM!) ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/3 "2015-03-16T23:08:26Z")
First Contact - that woman lecturing Picard. Was kind of a weak plot point to bring her onto the infected ship anyways (tho it wasn’t yet known it was infected) One of The Reboot flicks - Spock yelling “KHAN!!!” Yeah, we get it. It’s just like TWOK TVH - Big Bubble Head race at the trial ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/4 "2015-03-16T23:11:30Z")
I could probably do without Shatner Vs. Shatner in ST VI…and do really need Troi getting drunk as comic relief while the crew is horrifically turned into cyborgs in First Contact? ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/5 "2015-03-16T23:12:11Z")
TWOK - they killed off Paul Winfield ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/6 "2015-03-16T23:59:30Z")
TWOK: They have to jump through a ton of hoops to get the Enterprise involved with the story when it is on a training cruise with cadets. ST IV: They play fast and loose with history. I get the movie’s a comedy but they could have at least addressed it it a bit more seriously. ST VI: My girlfriend at the time broke up with me after we went to see this. (What? He said the Worst parts…). First Contact: I know I am alone but I don’t like this movie all that much. Its worst mistake is it completely undercuts the character of Picard. It essentially writes him as if he is Kirk. Not saying Kirk is bad, but Kirk isn’t Picard. ST 2009: It’s a fun and entertaining movie but it is basically Star Wars with Star Trek pants on. The only time it feels like Trek is Kirk’s speech at the end of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/7 "2015-03-17T00:24:24Z")
ST IV: I started a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=592966) about minor nitpicks with this one, but the major ones for me: That whole helicopter scene, where Sulu somehow is allowed to take a Huey from the military and fly it off into Golden Gate Park, where it hovers just over the treetops while lowering a giant sheet of plexiglass-looking something into something invisible, guided by a half-invisible person, and no one notices. Also no one ever uses that empty field in the middle of Golden Gate Park for anything where the Bird Of Prey remains cloaked for days. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/8 "2015-03-17T02:37:20Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Also no one ever uses that empty field in the middle of Golden Gate Park for anything where the Bird Of Prey remains cloaked for days. Well, obviously the cloaking device is ACTUALLY [an SEP field](http://hitchhikers.wikia.com/wiki/Somebody_Else%27s_Problem_field), and everybody actually saw it but didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/9 "2015-03-17T16:36:07Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > In _Insurrection_ it bugged me i… The whole plot of Insurrection bother me to shit and gone. What’s that bit about “needs of the any outweigh the needs of the few”? And that planet was so empty both races plus a billion more could have lived happily. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/10 "2015-03-17T16:57:39Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > ST IV: I started a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=592966) about minor nitpicks with this one, but the major ones for me: > > That whole helicopter scene, where Sulu somehow is allowed to take a Huey from the military and fly it off into Golden Gate Park, where it hovers just over the treetops while lowering a giant sheet of plexiglass-looking something into something invisible, guided by a half-invisible person, and no one notices. He didn’t take it from the military, he borrowed it from PlexiCorp. That was part of the deal McCoy and Scotty made with Marcus Nichols for the transparent aluminum molecule. > [@DrDeth](#): > > The whole plot of Insurrection bother me to shit and gone. What’s that bit about “needs of the any outweigh the needs of the few”? Ask the Native Americans how _they_ feel about it. > [@](#): > > And that planet was so empty both races plus a billion more could have lived happily. In the Briar Patch? The only people wanting to live there, already did. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/11 "2015-03-17T17:19:41Z")
> [@CaptMurdock](#): > > Ask the Native Americans how _they_ feel about it… Actually they were quite willing to _share_. Not get kicked out. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/12 "2015-03-17T17:28:56Z")
Wrath of Khan: The Khan squad has the Reliant and all comforts/resources of a modern starship at their convenience. Do they all really need to look like unbathed ragged Mad Max rejects? At least put on a crew shirt, after 20 years those clothes rags have got to be rank. ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/13 "2015-03-17T19:10:00Z")
I mentioned this in the companion thread, but in WoK there’s no reason given why the Ceti eel chooses to slither out of Chekov’s ear and get vaporized by Kirk, rather than staying in Chekov’s head and killing him as it presumably would have anyone else. But what really bothered me about that movie? Spock’s coded message to Kirk after the first battle with Reliant is **so fucking obvious**. “If we went … _by the book_ … hours could seem like days.” And Khan the super-genius, listening to all of this with a satisfied smirk, has no idea he’s being conned? ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/14 "2015-03-17T20:27:02Z")
> [@AncientHumanoid](#): > > TWOK - they killed off Paul Winfield He was a great actor. They brought him back as Captain Daithon (“Darmok”), one of the best Trek eps of any era. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/15 "2015-03-17T21:17:03Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > For me, in TWoK, it really pisses me off that Scotty takes badly burned Peter Preston to the bridge rather than sickbay, where you know, they have people and equipment to handle injured crew. Actually what has bothered me most about this scene is Saavik’s reaction when she sees the burned up Preston. She’s a full-blooded Vulcan, and she has a definite OMG reaction including gasp. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/16 "2015-03-17T21:35:11Z")
I mentioned this somewhere before and many disagreed, but it’s always bugged me that Khan died thinking that he’d taken Kirk down with him. He didn’t see the Enterprise speed away. I wanted to see him react to his final defeat. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/17 "2015-03-17T21:38:38Z")
TWOK, would it have hurt Kirk to go to yellow alert, given the reasonable warnings his bridge crew gave him about how odd the Reliant and crew appeared to be acting? > [@CaptMurdock](#): > > He didn’t take it from the military, he borrowed it from PlexiCorp. That was part of the deal McCoy and Scotty made with Marcus Nichols for the transparent aluminum molecule Ah, makes sense, I watched it not knowing if the model was used a lot by civilians, so I was never sure where Sulu was at the time. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/18 "2015-03-17T21:44:43Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > He was a great actor. They brought him back as Captain Daithon (“Darmok”), one of the best Trek eps of any era. I hate that epi. I mean say you wanna have your assistant hand you the #2 wrench, so you have to say “Hansel & Gretel in the Forest” or some other fable?:dubious: Impossible, and a language couldn’t have evolved in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/19 "2015-03-17T21:49:03Z")
> [@cormac262](#): > > Actually what has bothered me most about this scene is Saavik’s reaction when she sees the burned up Preston. She’s a full-blooded Vulcan, and she has a definite OMG reaction including gasp. In addition to deleting the part where they tell us Preston was Scotty’s nephew, IIRC it was also supposed to be part of Saavik’s backstory that she was _not_ a full-blooded Vulcan; she was supposed to be half-Romulan. (There was some elaborate story of how Spock had rescued her as a starving orphan from some refugee planet someplace, and of course as a half-Vulcan/half-\_\_\_\_\_ himself, he naturally sympathized with her plight and acted as her mentor in Federation society.) None of this made it into the movie, and the “half-Romulan” thing basically was dropped in Robin Curtis’ portrayal of the character in _Star Trek IV_. But it does serve as a possible explanation why Kirstie Alley at times seemed to be portraying the character as being rather emotional, albeit with emotions usually under tight control. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152/20 "2015-03-17T21:55:54Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > But it does serve as a possible explanation why Kirstie Alley at times seemed to be portraying the character as being rather emotional, albeit with emotions usually under tight control. Or maybe it’s just that she was _always_ a craptasic actress. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-parts-of-the-good-star-trek-films/715152.md?page=2)