Star Trek movies - my reviews (in preferential order)

[Deja Q]

Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan (1982): Originally without the "II", there were numerous behind the scenes problems. However, a creative team turned these lemons into lemonade to make what is incontrovertibly the best Trek movie EVER. Kirk and Khan spar again, they never meet (which is poignant), the character depth returns... Spock dies. Kirk's got a son, who wants to kill him at one point too! For having only 2 big action scenes, the thing is a perfect blend. Best of all, there are sci-fi concepts that don't blither on in empty technobabble.

Star Trek III - The Search for Spock (1984): While the plot is flawed, the gravitas and depth of the characters more than makes up for it. It does seem silly that the Romulans became the Klingons, that the Genesis planet is considered a planet rather than an amalgamation of the Reliant transformed by the Genesis Torpedo, which also means we get a pointless moral preach when it is revealed David "cheated" in making the torpedo. (gee, the fact it wasn't a planet to start with has no relevance??) Still, Kirk and all sacrificing their careers for their beloved Spock - this flick is highly underrated. If only the producers didn't show off the Enterprise's destruction in the theatrical trailer!!

Star Trek Insurrection (1998). By far the best TNG movie, but it's from here on where the Trek movies show us they're not perfect... (the 'even numbered rule' is bollocks too...). But I digress. It's the first movie since IV that tries to be appealing to as mass audience, isn't riddled with too much technobabble (though as this is TNG, it's got enough), the best villain since Khan, a passable moral preach about imperialism, and the Federation showing it's not perfect either. There is a convenient self-destruct button at the end (why?), and it feels like a handful of season 3 and season 7 TV episodes lumped into a movie. But the direction and content (rogue Federation, Picard's love story, the music, et al) really make up for it. Even though its immediate predecessor took the concept of mutiny lightheartedly, this one makes up for it. Underrated.

Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country (1991): The big finale for TOS has not dated well. The basic plot is great, but there is some bizarre and shoehorned dialogue (ozone depletion, making history, Nixon going to China(?!)) and, worse, is a pastiche of previous movies. The "A lie?"/"A ____" scenes between Spock and Saavik (oops, Valeris) are repetitive and clearly a lame parody of Spock's coded transmission to Kirk in II. And as stated, Valeris is clearly meant to be Saavik. Pity they didn't get a third actress to play Saavik. At least the humor is well done, and competent actors brought in for the characters. Chang is a suitable ripoff of Khan, especially given the limited amount of time to create him as a nemesis for Kirk. But Kirk changing his stance at the end is wonderful.

Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (1986): The only Trek movie whose lighthearted, comedic spirit works. Let's be grateful Eddie Murphy did NOT appear in it. It's a bit dated in spots, obviously, but is a necessarily fun romp to make up for two very dark and powerful movies. Unfortunately, the suits noticed people liked the humor, so every subsequent movie (bar one) was forced to be filled with ha-ha moments...

Star Trek - The Motion Picture (1979): After a decade of having no new Star Trek, people flocked to see a grossly overbudgeted movie that was little more than a generic sci-fi plot with overly long scenes of the Enterprise. It's a feast for the eyes, but has little that's worthy of the name 'Star Trek'. Great for its time, and fortunately still made 3x what it had cost...

Star Trek Generations (1994): While it feels like a long TV episode, with the TV finale "All Good Things" being more worthy for a theatrical production, this movie has a lot going for it: Bridging Kirk with Picard, the nexus, crashing an Enterprise... dealing with mortality. Soran tries to be a 3D character instead of just another villain, but he doesn't quite work. Malcolm McDowell does what he can to improve on a weak character and generally succeeds. However, there are numerous continuity problems (Scotty sees Kirk die, Guinan flip-flops about being able to get into the Nexus, the location of the refugee Lakul ships (the Borg destroyed their race), Data's emotion chip (said destroyed in the tv show but perfectly fine here), why Data cannot have the chip removed seems to change, the shields are at a fixed frequency despite being modified years earlier as a defense against the Borg, and the revelation of Guinan (and effectively ruining her character)). Still, Data is a blast in this one and the mortality theme is very good. The incidental music is sublime too. Underrated, but flawed.

Star Trek V - The Final Frontier (1989): If more money was given to the production, we'd have something better. But this one is a huge mixed bag. The effects are substandard, which only helps show off how poor the whole event is. While we get a great scene with Spock, McCoy, and Kirk trying to be brainwashed by Sybok (a great character IMHO), there is a truckload of silliness in this story that just does not work. Paramount can be thanked for that, as they wanted the comedy injected. Most of the cast didn't want it either... the idea of meeting a critter that tries to pass off as God doesn't quite work either. (and the Great Barrier is at the galaxy's edge, not center... 2 barriers?)

Star Trek - First Contact (1998). This is a farce. One can tell something is wrong as music from Trek II is used as music for this movie's trailer. As usual, the comedy stinks. Until now, I never fathomed that a pee joke would ever be made in a Trek film. (to boldly go?!!) There are cameos from spinoffs all over the place and it's annoying; the whole thing feels like a party for the TNG cast. More continuity is broken; retconning is a particular annoyance of mine. And as Ruby (the best character of the bunch) gives Picard the phaser, the light on the end of it goes off - why didn't Picard get burnt to a crisp? Oh, the time travel aspect kills any suspense. Everybody survives, sorry. (ripping of Trek IV except nobody cares about the mid 21st-century except the fans with absolutely nothing better to do). The basic plot is also a reversal of Moby Dick! Picard = Ahab out to get the Borg. The Federation was right in keeping Picard out of things. There is a gem of a plot in this movie, but it's buried by a lot of fanwank and other garbage. Oh, Data can turn off his emotion chip at will. (wasn't it fused and stuck in the 'on' position in the previous one??) Mind you, Jonathan Frakes is one heck of a director, and while the Borg Queen shouldn't exist, she is well acted.

Star Trek Nemesis (2002) - Does anybody who made this movie (actors aside) actually give a damn about the franchise? Or did they want to kill it coldly and cruelly?! It's basically a Picard/Data piece. Brent Spiner did some of the writing, so it's no shock who came up with the "B-4" nonsense. Spock, I mean Data, dies too - a lame ripoff of II, complete with ripping off III's dialogue about absent friends. Are these fools so devoid of ideas they have to freely rip off Trek's glory days (II and III)?! At least there's no gaudy comedy or humor, but nothing feels suspenseful. It feels flat. And contrived. Shinzon is a semi-plausible idea, but we're supposed to believe he could take over one planet and have a ship that could wipe out entire fleets in the background for his disposal? Gimme a break. The science is daft too, what with two ships crashing into each other and then pulling themsleves apart as if the rules of gravity were meaningless (this is 2002, they should know better.) Also, why bring back all the sundry characters if nothing is done with them?! Also, why is Shinzon pissed off at the Federation? It's not well said and given the amount of hate this dude has for the Romulans, he gives that up easily as well. Oh, Troi has new powers as well. (in the theatre, the only time people reacted was when Riker does "The Kirk Manuever" which had people applauding. Problem is, why does TNG need to latch onto Kirk's era? Well, his era was better made...) Oh, Data seems to be utterly emotionless too... emotion chip stuff to 'off' now? This movie is by far the worst. Total garbage,

And your take?

[Love Bug]

1. Yeah, Nemesis sucked more than ST:V and that's sayin' something

The biggest problem I've had with most of the Next Generation films is the fact there are so many of their episodes that are superior, such as 'Yesterday's Enterprise' and the two-part Borg/Locutus ep.

[TOhioLiberal]

2. It's all good...

...I would have placed ST: Voyage Home a spot higher, perhaps. You are dead on accurate about Nemesis. That movie sucked and blew at the same time.

[Swede]

3. Here's my favorite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBXal1GAA4A

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. What part was Eddie Murphy going to play in ST IV? Never heard that before

[Deja Q]

6. He was offered a role in 1986...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Murphy

Murphy was also offered a part in 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, a role that, after being heavily re-written from comic relief to love interest, ultimately went to future 7th Heaven star Catherine Hicks. By this point (according to the autobiography of the film's director and co-star, Leonard Nimoy) Murphy's near-exclusive contract with Paramount Pictures rivaled Star Trek as Paramount's most lucrative franchise.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

5. Like you I think Nemesis is the worst movie

Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan (1982): The writers, cast and crew working under a tight-budget are forced to rely on a great plot and in-depth characters. The action sequences are suspenseful and well-done (but not over-done). The wonderful themes: Kirk is an Admiral, stuck behind a desk and suffering mid-life crisis, cap all this with an appeal from an ex-partner and meeting his son for the first time in over a decade. Khan as a villain is well-performed and avoids the danger of being an over-the-top performance. This movie is dark and it really works well.

Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (1986): An enjoyable fun movie that mixes comedy and excitement. Star Trek goes all environmental, but the proselytising does not take away from the plot. Time travel is an easy plot but ST4 does OK with it despite not dwelling on the "changing history implications." The end of the movie wraps things up well. Kirk is reduced to Captain as "punishment" and Spock makes peace with his once-disapproving father, and Spock begins to recognise his human side as a part of him rather than something undesirable.

Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country (1991): Undoubtedly inspired by the end of the Cold War, the movie is about Kirk's animosity towards the Klingons and Spock's desire to pass on his place to a younger replacement. The action sequences are well-done and come into play towards the end of the picture.

Star Trek - First Contact (1996): An enjoyable action movie but lacking in character development. The most interesting characters I thought were Cochrane and the Borg Queen. At the time it was nice to see a gothic-style Enterprise-E and there was plenty of space battle eye-candy. Time travel again, and messing around with canon (but this is minor compared with canon-fucking that were Voyager and Enterprise).

Star Trek III - The Search for Spock (1984): A good movie that was disappointing compared with its fabulous WOK forerunner, but still had merit. Kirk steals the Enterprise and sacrifices his career along with the crew to save Spock whose body had been regenerated by the Genesis planet and return his living soul (embedded in McCoy's mind) to his body. Sacrifice is the key theme here too. David Marcus is caught up on Genesis along with Saavik and a murderous Klingon commander who seeks the Genesis technology as a weapon. Dr. Marcus ends up sacrificing himself for Saavik and a quickly-growing child Spock. Some action and good characterisation but unable to live up to the high standards of WOK.

Star Trek - The Motion Picture (1979): A visually-stunning movie that didn't know if it wanted to be Star Trek or 2001:A Space Odyssey. The new refit Enterprise took forever to get out of space dock and you really began to feel fatigued after the first hour. There is an interesting plot hiding in there somewhere with a earth probe being found by an alien robotic intelligence, upgraded and sent back to Earth to be with its creator. This could have been a great movie but its bloated budget and emphasis on special effects greatly unbalanced this picture which lacked excitement.

Star Trek Insurrection (1998): A mediocre movie. It had the feel of a 2-part TNG episode than a motion picture but overall a forgettable movie.

Star Trek Generations (1994): Unfunny humour and a disappointing send-off for Kirk. Data is made into an annoying zany sitcom character cliché for this movie. Like Insurrection this has the feeling of a 2-part TNG episode but one which is lacking structure, good dialogue and a coherent message.

Star Trek V - The Final Frontier (1989): Baaaaad movie. The crew take a hardly-functioning Enterprise A to rescue its Federation Ambassador taken hostage by Sybok a Vulcan separatist that happens to be Spock's half-brother. Oh and they go looking for Gawd who lives on the planet in the centre of the galaxy. Row.. row, row your boat...

Star Trek Nemesis (2002): Truly awful. The director of the movie knew nothing about Star Trek and was even criticized by cast members for not bothering to watch any other films or episodes. The direction was terrible and the editing was as hack n' slash to make local TV news broadcasts look professional in comparison. We have messing with canon here which is enough to anger any Trek fan. The Romulans as a race are interesting but an opportunity was missed with exploring this race, the Remans come across as Jem Hadarr retakes and Shinzon is a one-dimensional psychopath who could have been something more. Oh and Data gets killed.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. I loved IV. Had my small fry watch it with me this summer