The Star Trek Movies: Were They Actually Any Good?

You may recall that we mentioned recently that we'd been rewatching the Star Trek movies.

Well, we've finally completed our review and it's time for the results. Are they all they've cracked up to be? Hit the jump to find out:


The Motion Picture

Lowdown: 2001 has a lot to answer for. Some reasonably nifty ideas for the Star Trek reboot were squandered on an attempt to cash in on the trippy, slow-moving nonsense vibe. Nevertheless, there are too many decent character moments to just write off the movie. Decker and Ilia, the prototype Riker and Troi, are too interesting to have been killed off so soon and V'Ger is the best McGuffin of any of the movies; just keep the fast forward button at hand.

Verdict: Worth another look


The Wrath of Khan

Lowdown: The film that set the template for the following eight films, with its continuation of a TV show plot, Hornblower-esque battle sequences and tremendous pathos. Still, there is more cheese here than you remember and later, less-iconic retreads have moved the format on somewhat. Nevertheless, you can't help but be swept up by the film all over again.

Verdict: Classic

The Search For Spock

Lowdown: The key word here is: "cheap". The sets wobble, the acting is shoddy and Robin Curtis is a step down from Kirstie Alley. True, we do have Christopher Lloyd as the essential Klingon, Kruge, and the early McCoy scenes are great, but this is still a let down.

Verdict: Not as good as you remember

The Voyage Home

Lowdown: You can see how this may have worked better at the time, to see Kirk and Spock in the middle of contemporary San Francisco, but nearly 25 years on, the setting is almost as alien as the final frontier. Taking this on board, you still can't let the film off; the jokes are as cheesy as if the new film started riffing about Twitter. We'd have rather seen the crew flying about in a Klingon Bird of Prey for two hours, to be honest, and let's not even mention the conservationist plotline [shudder]. The worst of them all.

Verdict: Best Forgotten

The Final Frontier

Lowdown: Much maligned as Star Trek: The Search For God, which it is, but, for all that, it isn't that badly handled. This is also the funniest of the series, with some great moments and a good implication of an expanded universe beyond its own events. The worst of its crimes is the complete irrationality of the ease with which Sybok's followers overtake the Enterprise; I know they only had a skeleton crew, but surely there would be some security? Not great, but not deserving of its reputation either.

Verdict: Worth another look

The Undiscovered Country

Lowdown: Taking its cue from TNG, the final outing for Shatner and co pulled old Trek into the modern age in a way that really worked for it. In many ways, this is more accomplished than Wrath of Khan, with a better balance of humour and action, as well as a more sunny disposition. Yes, Plummer's General Chang may be a bad Khan rip off, but you suspect this is tongue-in-cheek and it makes it even more of a joy when he snuffs it.

Verdict: Worth another look

Generations

Lowdown: Okay, let's start with a big admission, the whole "Nexus" thing makes not a remote jot of sense; it appears like one gigantic plot hole in space. Still, the rest of the film isn't that bad: the opening is a pretty good mini TOS adventure and the TNG section is pretty much just an epic, big-budget episode of the series - nothing wrong with that. Yes, Kirk is insufferably smug, but that is part of his charm, and, hey, Malcolm McDowell is the villain! Cashback!

Verdict: Worth another look

First Contact

Lowdown: This is widely believed to be the best of the TNG films, running, as it does, with the series' best villains. It opens with a rollocking good start, a nice big space battle and a nifty way of getting Worf back on board, likewise it has some creepy Borg scenes, some meat for Stewart and Spiner to act with and a descent finale; however, the Earth-set scenes are just painful. Clearly, Trek should stay away from the past. Not awful, but not a classic.

Verdict: Worth another look

Insurrection

Lowdown: Conversely, this is reputedly the worst of the Picard set. There's little doubt in that, but is it all bad? Well, Jean-Luc's romantic sub-plot is cringe worthy and what the hell is going on with the up-to-now-unmentioned auxiliary joystick control for the Enterprise? Nonetheless, I don't think there's much wrong here that couldn't be fixed with a swift re-edit and otherwise it's not a bad romp.

Verdict: Worth another look

Nemesis

Lowdown: Stewart was quoted as saying he knew it was time to give up after Nemesis as he thought this was the best movie the TNG crew had done and still no-one went to see it. We are prepared to put ourselves on the line by confirming this with the controversial opinion that this film offers everything you could want from a Trek movie: Tom Hardy gives us Picard's Khan and a cracking performance; we get an insight into Romulan culture; Ron Perlman; Wil Wheaton gets a cameo; there's some scifi; a car chase; humour; Riker getting his Kirk-style punch up on; and bloody-huge space battles. A fitting send off for the new generation.

Verdict: Classic

Star Trek

Lowdown: Oh, how we wish we could hate this movie. It urinates all over everything that went before with a casual disregard; it's filled with plot holes: Kirk is made Captain of the flag ship without even finishing Starfleet Academy, no-one queries that Romulans look like Vucans, the characters are completely different people before being affected by the different timeline, a tiny drop of "red matter" creates a black hole big enough to destroy a planet, but a whole load of it creates... a black hole just big enough to swallow a ship...; and it has a completely different feel to the films or TV series. It's Trek, but not as we know it. However, it's still the best of the lot and actually one of the best films of the last ten years period. Still, it feels like it's thrown out the baby with the bathwater. Time will tell if the sequel can bring back what made Trek great, without undoing the much-needed reboot....

Verdict: Classic