Favorite Star Trek Movie (of the first 6)

[jimi_hendrix]

I am getting a relative and major ST:TOS fan (who has never actually seen any of the movies, and neither have I) the first six Star Trek movies for Christmas. Whats your favorite and which should we watch first?

[doas777]

I'm gonna suprise everyone and say 6.
in ranking
6
4
2
3
1
there is no five.

do not start with 1. it is boring. if you watch 2,3,4 or 6 though, it is advised to watch them all, and in order.

[Exodist]

Damn I am a huge fan of all 6. I chose voyage home because its the funniest.

[CharlesA]

Heh, I got the Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection, and watched all the movies in order. :P

The one I liked most would probably have to be The Voyage Home, but The Wraith of Khan was awesome too.

I'd say start with 1 and work yer way thru 6.

[Exodist]

Heh, I got the Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection, and watched all the movies in order. :P

The one I liked most would probably have to be The Voyage Home, but The Wraith of Khan was awesome too.

I'd say start with 1 and work yer way thru 6.
I agree

[ve4cib]

#6 is my favourite of the entire franchise (including the TNG films, and that travesty they called a reboot). There's something about the combination of Cold War allegories, military aesthetics, and general Trekishness that just makes that one stand out as what Star Trek is all about.

The Wrath of Khan is probably my second-favourite. The submarine-style battle between the Reliant and the Enterprise is wonderfully put together, and Khan (KHAAAANNN!!!) is such an iconic, intelligent villain. Plus it introduced us to the Miranda class ships, which are just awesome.

I'm also (strangely enough) a big fan of The Motion Picture. Yes, the costumes are terrible (those red uniforms with the turtle-necks are the best uniforms of any period of Star Trek), but it reminds me a lot of 2001: A Space Odyssey (which is my favourite movie of all time). It's a much more cerebral, sedate film than most of the others. It's not a space-adventure like The Wrath of Khan, nor is it a quasi-political thriller like The Undiscovered Country. It's a science fiction film, first and foremost; it sacrifices almost everything from any other genre. Unfortunately that makes it largely unrelatable, which I suppose is why most people tend not to like it very much.

The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home are nice sequels to the Wrath of Khan, but they just lack something for me. I think I overdosed on The Voyage Home when I was younger, and I'm just not much of a fan of it anymore. It's got some nice laughs in it though, which puts it ahead of The Search for Spock in my books. That one is kind of a snoozer, especially compared to The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country.

Anyway, just for completeness sake, here's my ranking from best to worst of the original six:

- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

And, as another poster said, there was not Star Trek V.

_______________________

I'm not entirely sure how to rank the Next Gen films. One one hand I really like Nemesis since it's largely a remake of The Undiscovered Country (but with Romulans instead of Klingons). On the other hand they made some stylistic and canonical decisions with that film that I disagree with. Inventing the Remans, and making them look like Moria Goblins in cheesy holographic jumpsuits was a bit ham-handed.

First Contact is great, even though it's really just a zombie thriller set on a spaceship. But again, it suffers from some odd canonical decisions: namely the introduction of the Borg Queen. The Borg were much more intimidating when they were a single consciousness without any single face to them. The Queen really took away from that, and turned them into "just another bad guy."

What First Contact may have lacked in its presentation of the Borg it certainly made up in giving us some awesome new ships. The new Sovereign-class Enterprise is the obvious one. (So much better-looking than the slightly-dumpy-looking Galaxy class!) But then they also tossed in the Akira, Steamrunner, Norway, and Sabre classes. It's a ship-lover's dream!

Insurrection I quite liked. Plot-wise it wasn't as strong as First Contact or Nemesis, but it felt like a good two-hour episode from the series. It had the nice moral dilemmas, the action sequences, and finally a post-Vash love interest for Picard.

Generations is definitely my least-favourite of the Next Gen films. While it's nice to have it finally confirmed that Picard is the more awesome (and better-acted) of the two captains, the plot just felt cobbled-together, and the way they tried explaining Guinan's species' backstory just felt awkward. But it's still miles ahead of Star Trek V (which, as you recall, never actually existed).

[SunnyRabbiera]

I am a big fan of Voyage home, for its humor mainly.
I say do the Spock trilogy, start with II, then III then voyage home.
As a TOS fan your family member might more favor Wrath of Khan as ST:II I consider a good starting point for any future/current trekkie after watching space seed.
Then I would show them III as even though its a bit of a sleeper it does have a lot to do with Voyage Home.
But let them see the others too, undiscovered country is a good one to watch then let it off with Star Trek V and Motion Picture.
I am admitted fan of Star trek V, yes its a bad trek film but its not as slow as motion picture.
Or as blunt as a post as Generations
Or completely buttf#&@ like the J.J Abrams piece of #@^*

[doas777]

I recall seeing a fan reedit of 5, that cut out most of the less than stellar plot threads. it was a short movie, but not bad, minus the cruft.

[thegreenblob]

For me I would say it's a tie between the wrath of khan, and the voyage home, I voted for the wrath of khan though since it had less votes.

I like how the wrath of khan started from a TOS episode, and the voyage home was hilarious.

[HappinessNow]

I like the one by J.J. Abrams that came out last year the best.

[Technoviking]

Khan!!!

[adeypoop]

I never liked any of the next generation and onwards star trek episodes, original series with the original crew made in the 60's easily remains the best and only ones worth watching (for me). Those films weren't as good as the original tv series either. Only thing that comes close is the newest film that came out last year. i saw it last night and thought it was awesome.

[doas777]

I never liked any of the next generation and onwards star trek episodes, original series with the original crew made in the 60's easily remains the best and only ones worth watching (for me). Those films weren't as good as the original tv series either. Only thing that comes close is the newest film that came out last year. i saw it last night and thought it was awesome.

I don't know man. First contact was pretty good, and the STNG finalle "All Good Things", was certianly better than the dead-end story about kirks psycho ex-girlfriend, that closed out STOS. I did really like the new movie though. hopefully the reboot and subsequent kick in the posterior will help revitalize the franchise. though to be honest, they need to take 10 years off, so society can imagine more future for them to live out.

[jimi_hendrix]

As a TOS fan your family member might more favor Wrath of Khan as ST:II I consider a good starting point for any future/current trekkie after watching space seed.


Space Seed was coincidentally the first episode I saw. I may have to dig it up in my dvr so we can watch it as a prelude...

ST:V was really that bad?

[drawkcab]

Khan is the best followed by Undiscovered Country

[Chimmer]

I am getting a relative and major ST:TOS fan (who has never actually seen any of the movies, and neither have I) the first six Star Trek movies for Christmas. Whats your favorite and which should we watch first?

If you are buying all 6 movies, just watch them in order. II, III and IV are more or less a trilogy so those at least should be watched in order.

[Exodist]

I like the one by J.J. Abrams that came out last year the best.


I really liked it also. It added a breadth of fresh air on the old crew characters. It had comedy and suspense both that I enjoyed with the original startrek movies. I also find my self actualy liking shows produced by JJ Abrams before I knew JJ Abrams actually produced them. Like Fridge for example. I really dig that tv series.

I am hoping with to days special effects and a younger and very talented crew they can do a series of movies that predate the original trek1 movie.

The ST:TNG movies feel to mellow dramatic. Based way to much for morals and what not. Each one is about as exciting as watching the TV show.

[lisati]

Now how does Khan remember Chekov when he wasn't on duty the day they filmed Space Seed?

[Exodist]

Now how does Khan remember Chekov when he wasn't on duty the day they filmed Space Seed?
:shock: hmm.. will have to watch then report back...


EDIT:
Just watched it again.. No Chekov. LOL I guess hes psychic!

[Chimmer]

Now how does Khan remember Chekov when he wasn't on duty the day they filmed Space Seed?

This is a long debated argument since the character of Chekov wasn't introduced until the second season of Star Trek while "Space Seed" happened during the first season.

My explanation makes a lot of sense to me. Chekov wasn't a bridge officer during the first season so we didn't see him. Remember, the Enterprise had a crew of 430, but we only saw a fraction of them during the series, so Chekov was simply "off screen" during the first season.

In "Space Seed" Kirk so graciously gave Khan access to the ship's library computers (great command decision there!) Khan very easily could have accessed the ship's roster and due to his "superior genetic engineering" memorized the entire crew, so when he says to Chekov in ST:II, "I never forget a face" he remembers Chekov's file and the line makes sense. Maybe he even bumped into him during a commercial break. :)

I read where Walter Koenig was well aware of this inconsistency when he read the script, but since it was a great role for Chekov, he very wisely kept his mouth shut, otherwise the role may have gone to someone else.

[ve4cib]

...Chekov wasn't a bridge officer during the first season so we didn't see him. Remember, the Enterprise had a crew of 430, but we only saw a fraction of them during the series, so Chekov was simply "off screen" during the first season.

That's generally-accepted as the only canonical way of making that writing oversight work. I think most fans would agree that it's a reasonable ret-con to make to preserve continuity.

[BuffaloX]

Damn I am a huge fan of all 6. I chose voyage home because its the funniest.

Same here, plus I first saw Voyage Home in a very good big Cinema in London, which was impossible in Denmark because only geeks knew Star Trek here back then.

[jimi_hendrix]

This is a long debated argument since the character of Chekov wasn't introduced until the second season of Star Trek while "Space Seed" happened during the first season.


I never noticed his absence in that many episodes, and I have seen all of them but "The Cage" afaik...unless "The Cage" is the part II of "Menagerie", in which case I saw it.

[CarpKing]

I have to say Wrath of Khan. Voyage Home and Undiscovered Country are awesome in their own ways, but I like II the best. III is a good middle for the trilogy. I is a completely different sort of movie, which appeals to a different taste. Somehow they must have miscounted when they made Undiscovered Country, because they skipped a numeral in there. Oh well.

[Tristam Green]

I wish you'd have allowed for a dual-vote. II and IV were as close to Star Trek Perfection as it gets.

Outside of the original six, First Contact is the boss.

James Cromwell as a sauced Zefram Cochran? Bonus.

[jimi_hendrix]

Outside of the original six, First Contact is the boss.

James Cromwell as a sauced Zefram Cochran? Bonus.

Coincidentally, neither of us has seen any Next Gen stuff, so thats why I only got the box set for the first 6.

[Bigtime_Scrub]

My favorite is actually First Contact but of the original cast it would be VI almost tied with II. VI just adds so much to the story line in general and II was just great fighting.

[Exodist]

Hey for any Comcast Cable users, they are showing all the Star Treks new and old on On Demand. I just noticed and watched ST1:TMP.. WOOT!