Wrath of Khan thirty Years Young Rank the Trek Films

edited July 2012 in General Movies & TV Posts: 2,341
maybe someone already started a chat but I'm gonna try anyway. I just realized that this is the thirtieth anniversary of Star Trek II ; The Wrath of Khan. Of the Trek films, the first ten at least, this one is generally rated as the Best. It started the "rule of even numbers" on the Trek films and it seemed to hold true until Star Trek 10: Nemesis.
Of the odd numbered ones, I must say that III: The Search for Spock was the best.

My simple Ranking
1. Star Trek II
2. Star Trek VIII First Contact (this comes in a close second)
3. ST IV : The Voyage Home
4. ST VI; Undiscovered Country
5. ST III : Search for Spock ( Of the odd numbers the best by far. )
6. ST VII: Generations Nothing to write home about, but decent
7. ST X: Nemesis (the theme was old by this time and this film should not have been made)
8. ST IX: Insurrection (just bad and boring)
9. ST The Motion Picture (good FX weak story)
10. ST V: Final Frontier ( a real stinkeroo)

Comments

  • Posts: 5,634
    Perfect timing but purely coincidental I assure you

    Already an 'all talk on Star Trek' on the pages somewhere that I initiated some months ago, but in any event, Wrath of Khan was released in theaters in 1982 and I can proudly say I was a part of it, easily the best of the series with the original 1960's characters, I never really liked the Next Generations collection with Patrick Stewart and the new crew

    #1 The Wrath of Khan 1982
    #2 The Final Frontier 1989
    #3 The Motion Picture 1979
    #4 The Undiscovered Country 1991
    #5 The Search for Spock 1984
    #6 Generations 1994
    #7 The Voyage Home 1986

  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Tied for #1:
    Wrath of Khan, Star Trek, Generations, First Contact

    Tied for #2:
    Insurrection, The Undiscovered Country, The Final Frontier

    Tied for #3:
    Nemesis, The Voyage Home

    Tied for #4:
    The Search for Spock, The Motion Picture
  • Posts: 5,634
    Never understood the adulation the Voyage Home gets, it starts of well enough, but Kirk and Crew - 'Save the Whales'.. WTF was that all about, as far detached from Star Trek as I found, at least the Klingons were about to keep things relevant. Star Trek should be about intergalactic adventures, not wasting time in San Francisco on a pointless objective. Damn stupid
  • edited July 2012 Posts: 2,341
    Funny trivia about The Voyage Home.

    Notice how Lt Sarvik choose to remain on Vulcan with Spock's mother?
    If you recall The Search For Spock during maturing Spock's needing to "mate". Well seems that in the script for Voyage Home it is revealed that Lt Sarvik is pregnant with Spock's child. She had obviously let him get in her pants while on the Genesis planet.!!
    References to this pregnancy was edited out of the final cut. All we get is her staying on Vulcan with little or no explanation.
    The joys of editing....
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Never understood the adulation the Voyage Home gets, it starts of well enough, but Kirk and Crew - 'Save the Whales'.. WTF was that all about, as far detached from Star Trek as I found, at least the Klingons were about to keep things relevant. Star Trek should be about intergalactic adventures, not wasting time in San Francisco on a pointless objective. Damn stupid

    Here are the only things I like about The Voyage Home:

    "Double dumbass on you!"
    "Nuclear Wessels."
    "Captain, there be whales here!"

    That's it. Honestly, though it's tied with Nemesis on my list, I prefer Nemesis.
  • edited July 2012 Posts: 1,817
    Is it true the rivalry between Star Wars and Star Trek? Personally I'm a big Star Wars fan... but I've never seen any movie of Star Trek, I don't want to, and I don't have much appreciation for them.
  • Posts: 7,653
    I love Star Trek;

    STar Trek season 1-2-3 - Kirk and company are bloody brilliant
    ST the motion picture - a brilliant science Fiction movie with the cast from ST, the first look at the Enterprise is pure spaceship porn, brilliant soundtrack
    The Wrath of Khan - A brilliant reboot of the franchise without rejecting anything before. Great soundtrack and one of the best space battles ever.
    The search for Spock - a great movie in the Genesis-trilogy and a goodbye to an Icon.
    The Voyage Home - Closing chapter in Genesis-trilogy with a funny and smart scifi adventure.
    The final frontier - A great store about the friendship between Spock, Bones & Kirk, too bad that the ending is not that impressive.
    The Undiscovered country - Glasnost/perestroika in space. A great adventure in which we learn about preconseptions of hero's and how they can grow beyond their original ideas.

    Generations - The poorly executed death of Kirk spoils the movie.
    First contact - The Borg were never scarier and Picard never as impressive

  • Posts: 638
    1. The Wrath of Kahn
    2. First Contact
    3. Final Frontier
    4. Star Trek 90210
    5. Undiscovered Country
    6. Voyage Home
    7. Generations
    8. -11 The rest, tough to line up.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited July 2012 Posts: 24,231
    1) Star Trek 2009
    2) The Motion Picture
    3) The Wrath Of Kahn
    4) First Contact
    5) Generations
    6) The Undiscovered Country
    7) The Search For Spock
    8) The Voyage Home
    9) Insurrection
    10) Nemesis
    11) The Final Frontier
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    edited July 2012 Posts: 7,854
    DarthDimi wrote:
    1) Star Trek 2009
    2) The Motion Picture
    3) The Wrath Of Kahn
    4) First Contact
    5) Generations
    6) The Undiscovered Country
    7) The Search For Spock
    8) The Voyage Home
    9) Insurrection
    10) Nemesis
    11) The Final Frontier

    EDIT: And now all is corrected. Didn't know you mods could correct your posts in our quotes.
  • Posts: 1,052
    I personally have no love for the Next Generation films but I love the films with the original crew, apart from The Motion Picture, which just doesn't feel like Star Trek to me, but the Wrath of Khan up to the Undiscovered Country are all superb in my book.
  • Posts: 2,341
    I personally have no love for the Next Generation films but I love the films with the original crew, apart from The Motion Picture, which just doesn't feel like Star Trek to me, but the Wrath of Khan up to the Undiscovered Country are all superb in my book.

    Have you even watched TNG films? If so, and you still did not like First Contact?
    Well to each his own...
  • Posts: 5,634
    I always prefered the original series with Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley etc, over the new crew in Generations, never could get quite used to them, although their movie debut in Generations (1994) is not too bad, and it helped having Kirk and some of the old faces involved that year, and Malcolm McDowell as lead villain, he did a great job

    I was geuinely a little upset when Ricardo Montalban was beaten and killed at the end of Khan when I first saw it all those years ago, he was such a great and commanding lead adversary, the Francisco Scaramanga of space villains almost, it was a genuine disappointment when Kirk got the better of him. The end in the radiation chamber with Nimoy is very well done, and they devoted a whole film to him the next time, but that was a bit of a letdown
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    I was geuinely a little upset when Ricardo Montalban was beaten and killed at the end of Khan...he was such a great and commanding lead adversary

    Y'know, it's kind of funny, I never felt Khan was a villain until Star Trek II. In "Space Seed" he never felt like a villain, even though he was.
  • Posts: 562
    1. The Wrath of Khan
    2. First Contact
    3. Generations
    4. The Voyage Home
    5. Star Trek (2009)
    6. Nemesis
    7. Insurrection
    8. The Search for Spock
    9. The Undiscovered Country
    10. The Final Frontier
    11. The Motion Picture
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,356
    1 Wrath of Khan :-bd
    2 Search for Spock :D
    3 Voyage Home :)
    4 Star Trek 2009 :x
    5 Undiscovered Country :-h
    6 First Contact \m/
    7 Final Frontier :|
    8 The Motion Picture I-)
    9 Insurrection #-o
    10 Nemesis :-L
    11 Generations killer... ~X(
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,231
    I know TMP ranks low in most lists so I feel compelled to explain why I like it so much.

    2001: A Space Odyssey!

    This is my favourite all-time film. Its long, slow scenes where spaceships do what they do, is one of the main attractions for me in that film. Well, this is also the major appeal for me in TMP. I for one love that long - long journey into V'ger.

    I understand the film's plot often seems low-key or hovering somewhere above our heads in a philosophical ether of sorts, well so does the plot of 2001 in most people's minds. Another complaint about TMP is that its character development is questionable or downright absent. Yet again something TMP has in common with 2001, where people aren't the main characters at all.

    Please don't think that I'm trying to justify TMP so that everyone henceforth would think better of it. However, I merely wanted to let you wonderful folks know why I like it so much. I'm not trying to be persuasive, more apologizing actually. ;-)
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    edited July 2012 Posts: 16,356
    @DarthDimi What I don't like about TMP is that it's basically a rehash of the episode "The Changeling." Kirk comes off as well a Jerk in the film, constantly arguing with Decker and is just annoyed the whole time. It's just a dull, colorless film. In my opinion of course. :|
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,231
    @Murdock, you are correct about that, friend. Kirk is quite an unlikable presence in this film and TMP seems like an extrapolated episode from TOS.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Murdock wrote:
    @DarthDimi What I don't like about TMP is that it's basically a rehash of the episode "The Changeling." Kirk comes off as well a Jerk in the film, constantly arguing with Decker and is just annoyed the whole time. It's just a dull, colorless film. In my opinion of course. :|

    But that is the point both Spock & Bones have been argueing namely Kirk should never have taken the admirals job at that point in his career. And indeed in the beginning of the movie you see a Kirk that is searching for his course and destination. Bones reminds him that unless he signs of on Kirk being the captain it never will happen. And somewhere in the middle of the movie Bones starts trusting Kirk again.

    In the novelisation it is far better written.

    The one thing I like best about TMP is how the crew has made choices but when push comes to shove they return to being a well oiled machine. That is also what Decker sees happening as well as the crew themselves recognises. A wonderfull start of a new series of adventures. Beginning with a great real scifi adventure...... unlike any of the future movies.

  • Posts: 5,634
    Don't know why another Star Trek thread was initiated. Yes, if you watch The Motion Picture, Shatner was a bit more snappy and ill tempered, while by 1982, despite looking considerably older than the three years passed, had become much more phlegmatic and accomodating. I really liked the Decker character and was harshly treated by Kirk sometimes. The Original crew didn't look too much older after the close of the original series by 1979, but James Doohan was an exception. I never liked the mustache either. It's been said of Shatner, that 'if there was only piece of pizza to be had' then 'Bill would shit on it, just to stop anyone else from having it'. Famously didn't get on with some other co-workers including Nichelle Nichols but in the end I think an understanding was reached. A couple of the original cast wanted to make another movie after 1991 again (The Undiscovered country) but by then, some of the older cast including Kelley had Nimoy had simply had enough. I was pleased to be a part of it all at the time though
  • Posts: 2,341
    I think The Motion Picture can be best forgotten. Always felt that Wrath was kind of a reboot and it got the Trek pictures off and running. Kirk an inspector admiral, Spock the captain of the Enterprise which is used as a training ship.
    In any event it started a story arch that carried us right up to and thru Undiscovered Country.
  • Posts: 5,634
    Motion Picture is one of the best with the Original series, seriously, it is a very good release, it only goes a downhill a bit towards the end when Decker sacrifices himself for V'ger but up 'til then it's good to meet up with the original 60's team for the first time on the big screen. Khan followed on from the original series episode of Space Seed as someone mentioned, and that in turn was the model for which The Search For Spock was initiated. After that, they became stand alone pictures I felt. I never liked 'Admiral Kirk' and was pleased when he was demoted back to Captain again. I prefered him as Enterprise captain over Jean Luc Picard
  • edited July 2012 Posts: 2,341
    The movies could stand alone but it was all driven toward an arch and all of it was a continuation of the Genesis/Khan stories. III picked up where II left off and IV took the handoff from III. Kirk demoted to Captain and given the Enterprise A then on to new frontiers...

    As for Kirk and Picard...I like Picard and TNG characters. they were endearing and actually grew on me. Kirk was great for his time but if I were aboard a galaxy class cruiser I would want Picard as my Captain. To each his own.

    BTW though Kirk is well loved, back in 1994 when TNG was preparing to air the series finale, a survey was conducted by TV guide and Picard won as most popular or best Captain.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,356
  • Posts: 2,341
    Samuel001 wrote:

    Cut me some slack, Jack. there's over 100 pages of posts dating back to last year. Some of us just don't have time to go back and check to see what has been initiated before.
    don't begrudge us.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited July 2012 Posts: 13,356
    OHMSS69 wrote:
    Samuel001 wrote:

    Cut me some slack, Jack. there's over 100 pages of posts dating back to last year. Some of us just don't have time to go back and check to see what has been initiated before.
    don't begrudge us.

    I'm not having a go at anyone, just linking threads...but if you want me to.

    If you view the forum with the category view and use the find function by typing in 'Star Trek' in General Movies & TV, you'll find the threads easily. There are also only ten pages.

    Of course, you'd never find anything by using the 'All Discussions'.

    Alternatively, Google what you're looking for and add 'mi6 community' on the end. For example 'star trek mi6 community' would have come up with what you were looking for - and neither option takes that long.

    Just trying to help, honest. No slack implied, Jack. :)
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