Ranking the Star Trek Movies

 When I was 10 years old, my parents took me to see Star Trek. My 10 year old brain had little to no expectations as I had never seen anything related to Star Trek before. I'm happy to say that I thought it was the greatest movie I had ever seen. I quickly began watching all of the Star Trek movies. At first, I did so with my dad, but I soon grew impatient and started watching them as soon as the dvds came in their Netflix envelopes. Then I watched all of the TV Series as I couldn't enough Star Trek. I've been officially converted. I am a Trekkie. Only recently did I finally decide to go through all the Star Trek movies again to see which ones were actually as good or bad as people say. While watching through them, I decided to give them all ratings in order to rank them when I was finished. This list is the result of those ratings. Here is my personal list ranking all 13 Star Trek movies.

13. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

What kills this movie for me is how boring it is. I watched it with my wife because I began this Star Trek watch-a-thon hoping to watch all of them with her. Once the endless and repeating shots of the new Enterprise made their way on screen, my spouse lost hope of these movie being any good. Thankfully, I knew better and I was much more willing to sit through this movie's boringness. The saving grace of this movie is one interesting plot twist which ties the space travel at the time of the movie's release. I don't know if I'll ever watch this movie again in my life, and I don't feel bad about it at all.

12. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

To be honest, this movie was not as bad as I remember it being. What it does the best in my opinion is showing how Kirk and Spock's relationship has grown throughout the series and movies. They have a special bond as characters that not even Vulcan mind tricks can break. That is where the good in this movie seem to end. First of all, none of it really makes any sense. Is the point of this movie to explain away the existence of God? Is it to show how people over worship in vain? I don't know, maybe I'm looking into it way too much. This movie was plagued with production problems so its very possible that a feasible plot was lost in the chaos.

11. Star Trek Insurrection

There are parts of this movie that I love, and there are parts that I hate. Anything to do with Commander Riker is awesome. The Riker maneuver is just plain cool. He controls the enterprise with a joystick. I can only dream of doing something so amazing. It is also nice to finally see Riker and Troi solidify their romantic relationship as it was always meant to be. However, I'm not a fan of the "Insurrection" that takes place in this movie. The title gives the feeling that the Enterprise crew has gone rogue and is doing something really fantabulous. Instead they refuse to relocate a group of people from a planet that has magical healing powers. I won't go too into detail about why it makes no sense, but I will say that there are a lot of boring parts of this movie. Pretty much anything that doesn't take place in space is a slog to get through, and it's a shame because what does happen in space is nearly top tier trek.

10. Star Trek: Into Darkness

I loved this movie when it first came out. It was perfect for my 14 year old mind. It had tons of action, humor and plenty of call backs to the other Kahn related Trek film. Watching it now I have realized how flawed this movie actually is. Like its predecessor, the performances and special effects are all great. However, the plot of this movie feels like the writers sat around saying "wouldn't it be cool if..." and made the movie based on all of the crazy ideas they came up with. Another issue is that there isn't really anything new to the franchise. Even the main villain is stolen from a previous movie. Its a real shame that they killed off Admiral Marcus so quickly. I would've loved to see Kirk and Robocop go at it hand to hand.

9. Star Trek: Nemesis

Because of how much people seem to hate this movie, I went into it with the lowest of expectations. I think it helped because I actually found this movie kind of fun. The beginning is pretty cringe inducing, but once the action starts things get interesting enough. The concept of Picard battling himself was unique, however I wished they had explored this a little more. Maybe a Patrick Stewart played Shinzon would've made things less awkward. I also appreciate that this film actually progresses the Star Trek story beyond character growth. Data is dead, and Riker is the captain of the Titan. While not a perfect movie, it is a satisfying enough end to the next generation saga for me personally.

8. Star Trek Generations

Like Star Trek Nemesis, I watched this one with minimal expectations. It definitely paid off. As others will also say, people tend to think about what this movie could've been when they judge it. It could've been the perfect knot for the Original Series and the Next Generation. What we got instead was a good Trek movie that shows how dedicated to his crew and Star Fleet Captain Picard is, and a quick and near empty death for the other Enterprise great, Captain Kirk. Though it was brief, nobody can deny how cool it is to see the two Captains together.

7. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

My least favorite part of this movie is its existence. However, it's one that makes total sense. A major risk was taken in Wrath of Kahn by killing off Spock. I hate how easily that risk was undone. I do see why they did it though, you can't have Star Trek without Spock. In my mind, this movie basically serves as the wrapping paper for Wrath of Kahn. It doesn't introduce anything new but ties all the loose ends the previous film left behind. Other than the concept, the movie has no major flaws.

6. Star Trek Beyond

When Star Trek Beyond first came out, I swore it was my favorite Star Trek movie. Like the best Star Trek Movies, it felt like it could've been a two part episode in a TV series. Upon watching it with my spouse, she pointed out some pretty large plot holes. For example, why would Star Fleet send their flagship into a dangerous nebula because one mysterious alien claims to have crashed there? There are more, but I won't go into detail. Go watch the movie and you'll find them yourself. Beyond the plot holes I do love this movie. It does a great job of showing off the entire Enterprise crew rather than putting all the focus on Kirk and Spock. The plot isn't totally original, but it feels very Star Trek-esq.

5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn

I think for the most part, this movie is near perfect. It falls a bit flat near the end. Kahn is supposed to be the greatest foe that the Enterprise has and will ever face, yet the final battle is anticlimactic. Other than the loss of Spock, which is one of the best parts of the movie, nothing else really seems to happen. Beyond that criticism, the action is great, the writing is perfect Trek, and new uniforms are perfect. 

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

My favorite Star Trek stories are those having to do with time travel. This movie holds up so well today because I feel like I can relate to the crew of the Enterprise more than I can the people of 1980s San Francisco. The 80s were a weird and unique time that I don't understand. Seeing people from even further in the future not understand the 80s is a lot of fun. The plot is kind of silly, and the message is quite obvious, yet in my mind it all works very nicely. This is one of the Star Trek movies that I will constantly rewatch for the rest of my life. 

3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

I remembered this movie being fine before I watched it recently. I remember the crew feeling way too old to be performing the feats that they were. However, rewatching I realized that this feeling is what makes this movie so good. This crew is so afraid of giving up travelling the stars, they fearlessly put their lives on the line one final time to save the Federation from war with the Klingons. My favorite part of this movie is that we get a great look into Spock's leadership as Captain of the Enterprise. The movie also features a great mystery and plot twist. It's a great send off to the crew of the USS Enterprise A.

2. Star Trek (2009)

Ah, the movie that started my fandom. Looking back now it's pretty incredible what JJ Abrams did with this movie. It's not only a great reboot, but it is also still a continuation of the original Star Trek movies because it takes place in the multiverse. That also helps explain why the Enterprise crew all look so different. In terms of being a Trek movie, it is good and bad. The villain is great and the dynamics between Kirk and Spock are as well. The destruction of Vulcan showed that these new Star Trek movies weren't afraid to take risks and cause chaos (until the next film went back and it). This is the movie that gave new life to Star Trek and it's the one that gave birth to my own Star Trek fandom. 

1. Star Trek: First Contact

Not only is First Contact my favorite Star Trek movie, but it is one of my favorite movies of all time. I find it endlessly watchable and I feel genuinely sad every time I get to the end. As I mentioned previously, I love Star Trek stories about time travel. This movie's is the best. Not only is it time travel, but it's time travel to our future, 2060. Better than Star Trek IV, we get to see what people from the perfect future think of the flawed past. The horror elements that come through the conflict with the Borg are also great. We also get to see Picard pushed to his limits as a Captain as he navigates his lust for revenge. Just describing it here makes me want to go watch it again, so I might just do that...