Worst Star Trek film

[Smokey]

I was watching Star Trek Nemesis last weekend, and must say that was probably one of more boring ST movie. The special effects were alright, but the plot was way too thin. As the last Star Trek movie for the next generation crew, it sure was a week ending.

So the question is which ST movie would you consider the worst (or the weakest) in the series. Although have not seen the latest one with Chris Pine as Kirk, I would say it is probably a toss up between The Final Frontier or the Nemesis. So lets see how this poll turns out.

Ranked by release date:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture


Star Trek III: The Search for Spock


Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home


Star Trek V: The Final Frontier


Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country


Star Trek Generations


Star Trek: First Contact


Star Trek: Insurrection


Star Trek Nemesis


Star Trek

[Ajani]

I guess you really loved Wrath of Khan, since it's not even an option on your list!


Anyway, deciding on which film is the worst is far too difficult... Of the 11 films I only liked:

Wrath of Khan
The Undiscovered Country
First Contact
Star Trek

All the remaining films are up for worst film IMO...

[Smokey]

All the remaining films are up for worst film IMO...

But, but, but.... Search For Spock and Voyage Home were decent movies and probably not the worst in the series. As you said there are alot of candidate for worst ST movie as some of them surely did not measure up.

I watched Nemesis again tonight (too much talking) and will pick this one as worst in the series over The Final Frontier more due to nostalgic than being better

[RGA]

I chose Voyage Home as the best of the lot followed by Wrath of Khan and First Contact.

The worst for me was the first one. The execution of Star Trek V was lousy but I didn't mind the idea of the thing. The Motion Picture was about as interesting as watching paint dry.

Nemesis was lousy on a number of fronts. The dune buggy bit was just so BAD. The plot holes would blow the shocks on Hummer. Insurrection was basically a two part TV episode which isn't too bad since at least they tried to do what made Star Trek good in the first place.

Voyage Home had the widest appeal keeping light and not getting bogged down int he message. 2 and 4 really are a cut above the rest of them IMO. Even First Contact I have problems with - mainly the writing of Picard and the inconsistency from series to movie.

Generations was also pretty bad but I liked the attempt.

[GMichael]

It's a toss up between the first one and The Final Frontier for me. I'll have to agree with Rich though. The first one was like watching paint dry on a humid day. It seemed like a 1 hour episode that got stretched to 3 hours with a ton of filler.
And yeah, the second one was too good for this list. There are just so many slots to fill with these polls. Why waste one on a movie that had no chance of winning?

[Kam]

Undiscovered Country, Wrath of Khan and Abrams' Star Trek are the only good ones. The rest are all horrendous in their own right.

And as a vote for Insurrection and First Contact, there's these reviews on Youtube by the guy who did the long Phantom Menace review that shreds them to pieces, in a very logical, Spock-like manner. I'll try and find the links

[TheHills44060]

The only Star Trek movie I have seen is number IV and it was painfully awful. Was forced to see it in the theater during a friend's birthday party. I should have just given him his gift and called my mom to come pick me up instead of sitting thru the torture.

[Kam]

Very entertaining:

Nemesis part 1 of 4:
Star Trek: Nemesis Review (part 1 of 4) - YouTube

Insurrection part 1 of 4
Star Trek Insurrection Review (Part 1 of 4) - YouTube

[Jack in Wilmington]

The only Star Trek movie I have seen is number IV and it was painfully awful. Was forced to see it in the theater during a friend's birthday party. I should have just given him his gift and called my mom to come pick me up instead of sitting thru the torture.

You are obviously not a Star Trek fan. Did you watch the Star Wars movies, or is this type of movie not to your liking?

[Smokey]

Very entertaining:

Nemesis part 1 of 4:
Star Trek: Nemesis Review (part 1 of 4) - YouTube

Insurrection part 1 of 4
Star Trek Insurrection Review (Part 1 of 4) - YouTube

I have heard of that guy reviewing Phantom Menace, and after a while he can get kind of annoying. His reveiw of Nemeisis and style of talking sometimes is slow as the movie itself

The result of this poll so far turned up a surprise as first ST film seem to take the lead. But you'll should have felt the excitment among teenagers when it fist came out in theaters back in "79. And see the ST crew that we all grew up with for the first time on big screen. It was a celebration.

[Jack in Wilmington]

I have heard of that guy reviewing Phantom Menace, and after a while he can get kind of annoying. His reveiw of Nemeisis and style of talking sometimes is slow as the movie itself

The result of this poll so far turned up a surprise as first ST film seem to take the lead. But you'll should have felt the excitment among teenagers when it fist came out in theaters back in "79. And see the ST crew that we all grew up with for the first time on big screen. It was a celebration.

I was 30 when the first movie came out and to go to the first showing with all the trekies is an experience.

[GMichael]

I have heard of that guy reviewing Phantom Menace, and after a while he can get kind of annoying. His reveiw of Nemeisis and style of talking sometimes is slow as the movie itself

The result of this poll so far turned up a surprise as first ST film seem to take the lead. But you'll should have felt the excitment among teenagers when it fist came out in theaters back in "79. And see the ST crew that we all grew up with for the first time on big screen. It was a celebration.

I was 19 at that time and just as excited as the rest of the Trekies. I just enjoyed their other movies more. The first one had a lot of filler.

[Feanor]

So many bad Star Treks, but I when for The Final Frontier.

[RGA]

The problem with some of the Star Trek movies is they lost site of the original TV series. The Wrath of Khan is a giant action film - A submarine movie in Space and it's arguably the best film of the lot in the "movie sense." Part IV though is arguably the best in keeping with the original Roddenberry ideology. You could argue they were going for too many laughs but the commentary of the future of mankind looking at the idiocy of what present man is doing to the environment is a good premise to have. What if a big space alien Whale comes to earth and sees what is being done. Oh that tangled web humankind is weaving with its treatment of other creatures. It had the widest appeal because it largely got away from space and kept to commentary on earth. To me it had a larger story scope and for that I give it the nod over part 2 (slightly).

I like the serial killer critic linked above - he ripped Avatar nicely as well.

My ratings would go something like this: (out of 5) 3 or better is thumbs up.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture *1/2
Star Trek II - ****
Star Trek III - **1/2
Star Trek IV - ****
Star Trek V - *1/2
Star Trek VI - ***
Star Trek: Generations **
Star Trek: First Contact ***
Star Trek Insurrection **1/2
Star Trek Nemesis **
Star Trek ***

As an aside

Still there were episodes of TNG that I would have rated 4 stars (the borg encounter, measure of a man, etc - basically for TNG when Riker got the beard onwards the show was a lot better, DS9 seasons 4-6 and parts of 7) Voyager seasons 4-7 - basically when Seven showed up the series was much better).

The Scott Bakula Star Trek: Enterprise series I rate *1/2 - BORING, bad stilted acting, really quite boring, bad casting, boring, bad overall look, shockingly boring, uninteresting stories, and boring - did I mention how boring it was? Coming off 4 Star Trek series with cool characters like, Spock, Data, Guinan, Barclay, Seven, The Holographic Doctor, Q, Odo, Quark, and Garak and Gul Dukat, and all 4 Captains to get to a crapfest show like Enterprise - the mind boggles.

What was Star Trek: Enterprise's answer to Spock? TPol? Heaven help us. And what was the answer to the Holographic Doctor in Voyager - A doctor with a big smile and herbal medicine? geez. What was Enterprise's answer to Deanna Troi or Data? An Asian chick who speaks multiple alien languages. The computer on TNG was more interesting.

Set Design. Star Trek ships actually looked interesting from the original series all the way to Voyager. DS9 looked a bit dark but they did manage to make it look like a flying city. In many ways DS9 was the best of all the Series. It had the deepest story arcs, and arguably the best overall acting. It had a larger scope due to continuous season long story lines.

Enterprise had zilch. A ship that looked bleak dark and dank. Characters with no personality - it should have been cancelled after the first horrendous season. And I was hugely excited to see it as I loved Bakula in Quantum Leap - a much better show. Basically it killed any hope for another series. Prequels are usually a terrible idea (see the terrible Star Wars prequels as a guide) and as expected this is lived down to expectations.

[bfalls]

I believe I've seen them all at one point. The only one to stick in my mind as bad was "The Voyage Home". I believe their mission was to go back in time to retrieve the then extinct Humpback Whale to speak with an alien probe which was endangering the earth. Nuff said.

[Ajani]

I believe I've seen them all at one point. The only one to stick in my mind as bad was "The Voyage Home". I believe their mission was to go back in time to retrieve the then extinct Humpback Whale to speak with an alien probe which was endangering the earth. Nuff said.

LOL... That's exactly how I remember that one... I know some persons really liked it, but I just found the story to be a lame PETA ad...

[Jack in Wilmington]

LOL... That's exactly how I remember that one... I know some persons really liked it, but I just found the story to be a lame PETA ad...

That's funny that you and bfalls find IV the worst and RGA and I find it the best. Now I want to sit down and watch them all again. Right after I watch Star Wars in Blu-Ray.

[Ajani]

That's funny that you and bfalls find IV the worst and RGA and I find it the best. Now I want to sit down and watch them all again. Right after I watch Star Wars in Blu-Ray.

I'm not sure if it's the worst as there are so many contenders for that title, but I thought it was pretty bad... But yeah, I'm aware that some Trek fans regard it as the best (or at least one of the good films)...

[RGA]

I'm going with Roger Ebert on Star Trek IV.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

[Jack in Wilmington]

I'm going with Roger Ebert on Star Trek IV.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

Hey RGA remember the question, "Worst Star Trek Film"

[Ajani]

I'm going with Roger Ebert on Star Trek IV.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

Thanks for the link. I think Ebert's opening paragraph perfectly sums up why there are such mixed reactions to this film:

When they finished writing the script for "Star Trek IV," they must have had a lot of silly grins on their faces. This is easily the most absurd of the "Star Trek" stories - and yet, oddly enough, it is also the best, the funniest and the most enjoyable in simple human terms. I'm relieved that nothing like restraint or common sense stood in their way.

I can imagine that persons like yourself and Jack, who looked past the absurdity and lack of restraint or common sense in the film, were rewarded with a very funny and enjoyable movie experience. While persons like me and bfalls, who just couldn't get past the absurd plot, were not able to enjoy the film.

[Jack in Wilmington]

Thanks for the link. I think Ebert's opening paragraph perfectly sums up why there are such mixed reactions to this film:



I can imagine that persons like yourself and Jack, who looked past the absurdity and lack of restraint or common sense in the film, were rewarded with a very funny and enjoyable movie experience. While persons like me and bfalls, who just couldn't get past the absurd plot, were not able to enjoy the film.

"Absurd Plot" I think that covers about half the stuff that comes out of Hollywood these days. I think is was easier for me to enjoy these movies because I grew up with the original series.

[Ajani]

"Absurd Plot" I think that covers about half the stuff that comes out of Hollywood these days.

Agreed!

[Smokey]

Hey RGA remember the question, "Worst Star Trek Film"

Sometimes RGA like to "expand" on the subject. Bless his heart, some of his posting can be long winding

I can imagine that persons like yourself and Jack, who looked past the absurdity and lack of restraint or common sense in the film, were rewarded with a very funny and enjoyable movie experience. While persons like me and bfalls, who just couldn't get past the absurd plot, were not able to enjoy the film.

But I think we all agree that was pretty good story that probably could have stood on its own.

On the DVD commentary of Star Trek IV, they said when they took script to Paramount studio to be aproved, the studio liked the story so much that they said in case Star Trek did not go with this subject, Paramount would be interested to do a science fiction film based on the story.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

For me the Final Frontier is by far the worse. Visually the CGI is really bad(they had no money to do it properly), the story line sucked, and it was the only one I did not enjoy one bit.