See where all 13 films fall on the franchise list.
13.Star Trek Generations(1994)
EveryStar Trekmovie has problems.
There are nonsense villains, unconvincing pseudo-science, lead-actor ego-stroking, and aimless plotting.
Paramount Pictures
Read the full deep dive intoGenerationshere.
Read the full deep dive intoSearch for Spockhere.
It’s a soft-touch comedy.
Paramount Pictures
Read the full deep dive intoInsurrectionhere.
10.Star Trek Into Darkness(2013)
The fan outrage overJ.J.
But at least this most expensiveStar Trekmovie is pretty to look at.
Paramount Pictures
Read the full deep dive intoStar Trek Into Darknesshere.
The cosmography feels like it was sketched on a whiteboard the Great Barrier at the Center of the Universe!
butFinal Frontieris some kind of magnum opus for Shatner.
Paramount Pictures
Wait, here it is: “What does God need with a starship?”
Read the full deep dive intoThe Final Frontierhere.
Read the full deep dive intoFirst Contacthere.
Paramount Pictures
Then the film begins…and a l-o-o-o-o-o-ong origin-story first act brings everything to a screeching halt.
LikeFirst Contact, 2009’sStar Trekhas some eye-popping set pieces (that space jump!
), but the film dead-ends into an oddly plotty final act.
Paramount Pictures
Read the full deep dive intoStarTrek ‘09here.
For the first time in the film franchise, the rhythms of life onboard don’t feel unnecessarily magnified.
Then the crew crash-lands and the film crashes with it, descending into a muddled second act.
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(And that Troi brain-rape scene is the lowest point in the franchise.)
But there are ghoulish delights in this vampiric B-minus B-movie.
A very youngTom Hardygnashes on scenery as Shinzon, the Picard clone with a whisper-scream.
Kimberley French
Read the full deep dive intoNemesishere.
If you thinkStar Trekneeds to be a fast-paced action movie, this is probably your least favorite film.
Read the full deep dive intoThe Motion Picture.
Paramount Pictures
Read the full deep dive intoThe Undiscovered Countryhere.
2.Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan(1982)
KHAAAAAANNNN!
Nicholas Meyer’s hotblooded debut as aStar Trekfilmmaker ignoresThe Motion Pictureand reconceives the utopian series with a naval inflection.
Paramount Pictures
It also gives Kirk an identity crisis: Middle-aged and shipless, the Admiral looks a little lost.
“I feel old,” Kirk says at the beginning.
“I feel young,” he says at the end.
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You know how he feels.
Read the full deep dive intoThe Wrath of Khanhere.
There’s a mysterious alien intelligence destroying the Earth saving the future means saving the whales.
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The crew travels back in time, and then something quite lovely happens: They go exploring.
and Spock as a holy-fool Harpo who’s not above going for a swim with a humpback whale.
The peculiar magic ofThe Voyage Homeis difficult to graph.
Paramount Pictures
And the supporting cast!
Read the full deep dive intoThe Voyage Homehere.
