Star Trek movies in order: Chronological and release

Untangle the different timelines and get the popcorn: Here are the Star Trek movies in order — both chronological and release.

Commander Spock from Star Trek (2009)

  • Chronological order
  • Prime Timeline

The Original Series movies

The next generation movies.

  • Kelvin Timeline
  • Release order

Upcoming Star Trek movies

We've got a guide to watching the Star Trek movies in order, decloaking off our starboard side!

So long as movies stick numbers on the ends of their titles, it’s easy to watch them in order. Once they start branching out, however, things can get a little muddled, especially when reboots come along and start the whole process over from scratch. 

You may have heard that the even-numbered ones are good and the odd-numbered ones are not. That’s spot on for the films starring the cast of The Original Series (aka Kirk and friends) falls apart once you reach the tenth entry in the series. It would probably be worth your while to have this list of the Star Trek movies, ranked worst to best around to steer clear of the clunkers. Look, we’re not going to pretend everything here is worth two hours of your day, we’re just letting you know which came out after which.

Should your Trek appetite remain unsatiated after your movie watchathon, feel free to pull from either our list of the best Star Trek: The Original series episode s or best Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes . Either one will set you up for a weekend jam-packed with great Trek moments. Consult our Star Trek streaming guide for all the details on where to watch the movies and shows online 

Star Trek movies: Chronological order

Below is the quick version of our list if you just need to check something to win an argument, but it comes with a lot of in-universe time travel-related caveats that we'll explain below.

  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  • 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 Into Darkness
  • Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek: Prime Timeline

The first thing you need to know about the Star Trek films is that while they travel back and forth in time, they also diverge into two (for now) different timelines. The films of the original crew (well, the first iteration of them, anyway – more on that later) are all in what is known as the Prime Timeline. 

Within the Prime Timeline, the movies are then split between The Original Series movies and The Next Generation movies.

1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

  • Release date: December 8, 1979
  • Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

This is the film that brought the voyages of the U.S.S. Enterprise to the big screen. An energy cloud is making its way toward Earth, destroying everything in its path. Kirk and crew intercept it and discover an ancient NASA probe at the heart of the cloud. Voyager – known as V’ger now – encountered a planet of living machines, learned all it could, and returned home to report its findings, only to find no one who knew how to answer. It’s a slow-paced film, and the costumes are about as 70s as they come, but there’s classic Star Trek at the heart of this film.

2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

  • Release date: June 4, 1982
  • Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban

Ask a Star Trek fan what the best Star Trek movie is and more often than not, you’ll get Khan as your answer. A sequel to the events of the “Space Seed” episode of The Original Series, Khan is a retelling of Moby Dick with Khan throwing reason to the wind as he hunts his nemesis, James T. Kirk. Montalban delivers a pitch-perfect performance, giving us a Khan with charisma and obsession in equal parts.

3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

  • Release date: June 1, 1984

Spock might have died in The Wrath of Khan, but this third entry set up the premise for his return, with the creation of the Genesis planet. Essentially a heist movie in reverse, Search for Spock has the crew defying orders from Starfleet in an attempt to reunite Spock’s consciousness with his newly-rejuvenated body. It’s not a great movie, but it does include two very important events: the rebirth of Spock and the death of Kirk’s son at the hands of the Klingons. That’ll be important a few flicks from now.   

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

  • Release date: November 26, 1986
  • Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Catherine Hicks

If Star Trek fans don’t say Khan is the best Star Trek movie, odds are very high they say Voyage Home is. It’s a funny film where the mission isn’t destruction, but creation – or more accurately, repairing the devastating effects of humankind’s ecological short-sightedness. 

A probe arrives at Earth, knocking out the power of everything in its path as it looks for someone to respond to its message (yeah, it happens a lot). This time, however, the intended recipient is the long-extinct blue whale. To save Earth, Kirk and co. go back in time to 1980s San Francisco to snag some blue whales. The eco-messaging isn’t exactly subtle, but it doesn’t get in the way of a highly enjoyable movie.

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

  • Release date: June 9, 1989

A writers’ strike and Shatner’s directorial skills (or lack thereof) doomed this film before a single scene was shot. The core plot is actually pretty good: Spock’s half-brother hijacks the Enterprise so that he can meet God, which he believes to be… himself. Some Star Trek fans have an odd fondness for this movie, as it showcases the camaraderie of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy when they’re off-duty.

6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

  • Release date: December 6, 1991
  • Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Christopher Plummer

Right, so if that Star Trek fan you’ve been talking to doesn’t choose either Khan or Voyage Home as the best Star Trek movie ever, they almost certainly name Undiscovered Country (and if they don’t, they have highly questionable taste, frankly). The Klingon moon of Praxis explodes, putting the entire Klingon race at risk. The Enterprise hosts a diplomatic entourage of Klingons, much to Kirk’s discomfort. 

Remember how Klingons murdered Kirk’s son? Well, he certainly hasn’t forgotten. Kirk’s lingering rage makes him the perfect patsy for the murder of the Klingon Chancellor, sending him and McCoy to a prison planet and setting the stage for war. Christopher Plummer is perfection as a Shakespeare-quoting Klingon general with no taste for peace.

7. Star Trek: Generations

  • Release date: November 18, 1994
  • Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner

And thus the torch is passed from the crew of The Original Series to that of The Next Generation. It’s a bit of a fumble, to be honest, but they all did their best to get Kirk and Picard into the same film and have it make sense. Malcolm McDowell plays Soran, a scientist who will stop at nothing to control the Nexus, a giant space rainbow that exists outside of space-time. 

Soran lost his family when his home world was destroyed and he wants to re-join them (or at least an illusion of them) in the Nexus. He’s not so much a villain as a tragic figure, but the Nexus makes a meeting between Kirk and Picard possible. Not all that sensible, but possible.

8. Star Trek: First Contact

  • Release date: November 22, 1996
  • Cast: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Alice Krige

Okay, no, for real, if your Star Trek pal didn’t pick Khan or Voyage Home or… oh, nevermind. Cueing off the iconic two-part episode “Best of Both Worlds,” in which Picard is assimilated by the Borg, First Contact sees the collective traveling back in time in order to disrupt First Contact, the day Earth’s first foray into space attracted the attention of the Vulcans, kicking off the events that would eventually lead to Starfleet’s victory over the Borg. The Borg Queen torments Picard with visions of the past and tempts Data with humanity, going so far as to give him some human skin. 

The fight with the Borg aboard the Enterprise is thrilling, and the work on the surface to get first contact back on track is fun. Plus, there’s just nothing like Patrick Stewart turning it up to 11 as he lashes out at the enemy that haunts his dreams.

9. Star Trek: Insurrection

  • Release date: December 11, 1998
  • Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, F. Murray Abraham

Essentially an episode inflated for the big screen, Insurrection is about the Federation conspiring to displace a planet’s population in order to harvest the planet’s unique resource – super healing metaphasic particles. In addition to the rejuvenating natural resource, the Ba’ku also have access to exceptional technology, which they shun in favor of a more simple lifestyle. 

Data malfunctions, the villains are Federation allies (and former Ba’ku!), Picard gets to knock boots with a local – Insurrection is the very definition of “fine.” Chronologically, Insurrection is relevant for rekindling the romance between Riker and Troi, but not much else.

10. Star Trek: Nemesis

  • Release date: December 13, 2002
  • Cast: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Tom Hardy

Before he mumbled his way into our hearts as Bane, Tom Hardy was Shinzon, a clone of Picard the Romulans created in an eventually abandoned attempt to infiltrate Starfleet. Shinzon is dying, and all that will save him is a transfusion of Picard’s blood. Unfortunately, Shinzon also happens to be a megalomaniac who happens to want to destroy all life on Earth and maybe a few other planets, too, if he’s feeling saucy. 

Nemesis is notable mostly for killing Data with a noble sacrifice, only to resurrect him moments later in a duplicate body found earlier by the Enterprise crew.

Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline

The last of the Prime Timeline movies failed to impress at the box office, so it was a few years before anyone tried to bring the Enterprise back to the big screen. Rather than lean on any of the TV crews, this new slate of movies would serve as a reboot, welcoming new audiences while honoring long-time fans. Welcome to the Kelvin Timeline. (For all the ins and outs, check out our Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline explained article).

11. Star Trek

  • Release date: May 8, 2009
  • Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban

Back to the beginning! Star Trek introduces us to James T. Kirk, Spock, and “Bones” McCoy as they meet and join the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Though the plot is a relatively straightforward affair of a Romulan named Nero trying to destroy the Earth. His anger borne out of grief, what matters most is how it all came to be. In the future, Spock – the Prime Timeline version – tries to save Romulus from being destroyed by a supernova, but fails. Both his ship and Nero’s are kicked back in time, setting off a chain of events that diverge from the original, “true” timeline. 

The name “Kelvin” refers to the U.S.S. Kelvin, the ship heroically captained by Kirk’s father, which is destroyed in the opening moments of the movie.

12. Star Trek Into Darkness

  • Release date: May 16, 2013
  • Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch

The benefit of the Kelvin Timeline is that it not only allows Star Trek to explore canon material – such as Khan (he of the Wrath) – but to do something completely new with it. Khan features heavily in Into Darkness, but he has no beef with Kirk. Instead, a Starfleet Admiral is threatening the lives of Khan’s crew, forcing them to craft weapons of mass destruction. 

Khan inevitably eludes captivity and strikes out against Starfleet, killing Captain Pike (and a bunch of others) in the process. Kirk and company eventually take Khan down, but not before Kirk sacrifices himself to save his crew. Don’t worry, these things don’t last in either Star Trek timeline, as Kirk gets better moments later thanks to *checks notes* Khan's super blood.

13. Star Trek Beyond

  • Release date: July 22, 2016
  • Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba

Beyond leans into the camaraderie of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy now that they’ve had some time together, much to the movie’s benefit. The Enterprise is lured to Altamid under false pretenses, leading to much of the crew being marooned on the planet. The architect of the deception was Krall, who wants an opportunity to return to a galaxy where war is the order of the day. 

Beyond is a significant point in the timeline for two reasons. First, it sadly marked the death of Spock Prime due to the passing of Leonard Nimoy. Second, it culminates in the Enterprise embarking on the five-year-mission that started everything back in 1966.

Star Trek movies: Release order

If you can't be bothered remembering two different orders for the Star Trek movies then we've got good news for you — the release order is identical to the chronological order that we've shown above (accounting for the Kelvin timeline as it's own entity anyway).

The full run of Star Trek films currently tops out at 13 entries; the fate of the 14th was hidden within a nebula of conflicting information. “Star Trek 4” was slated for December 22, 2023, but given that filming had yet to begin as of July 2022, it seems inevitable that date will change. Back in February 2022, Paramount that the principal cast would be returning for the fourth installment of the Kelvin timeline, a claim quickly disputed by the agents of those selfsame actors. Awkward.

Soon after, however, Chris Pine eventually signed on the dotted line, and his shipmates reached their own agreements. As of right now, Kirk (Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), McCoy (Karl Urban, assuming he can make it work around filming of The Boys), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Uhura (Zoe Saldaña), and Sulu (John Cho) are all ready to beam up and get filming. Sadly, this will be the first of the Kelvin films to not feature Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov. Yelchin died in an accident at his home in 2016. It’s currently unclear if Chekov will be recast or if a different character will take his place on the bridge of the Enterprise.

Though the Kelvin timeline is often referred to as “J.J. Abrams Trek,” he won’t be directing Star Trek 4; Matt Shakman will take on that responsibility, leaving Abrams to produce. As for what it will be about, that’s anyone’s guess, but Chris Pine told Deadline he hopes this one tells a smaller story that appeals to the core Trek audience. “Let’s make the movie for the people that love this group of people, that love this story, that love Star Trek,” he said. “Let’s make it for them and then, if people want to come to the party, great.” It’s a strategy that makes sense; the disappointment with recent Trek films hasn’t been their content so much as their box office. A Trek film with a smaller scope (and budget) would almost certainly have a very healthy profit margin while also resonating with the fanbase.   

With no new announcements coming from San Diego Comic-Con 2022, it seems that we’ll have to wait for any more insight into the next Star Trek film. Sill, recent comments from Paramount CEO Brian Robbins have us cautiously optimistic: “We’re deep into [Star Trek 4] with J.J. Abrams, and it feels like we’re getting close to the starting line and excited about where we’re going creatively,” he told Variety . 

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Susan Arendt is a freelance writer, editor, and consultant living in Burleson, TX. She's a huge sci-fi TV and movie buff, and will talk your Vulcan ears off about Star Trek. You can find more of her work at Wired, IGN, Polygon, or look for her on Twitter: @SusanArendt. Be prepared to see too many pictures of her dogs.

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Star Trek films

  • View history

The Motion Picture artwork

This article concerns itself with the general production and performances of the official Star Trek theatrical feature films as produced and distributed by Paramount Pictures , having been the full rights title holder from 1979 ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture ) through 2002 ( Star Trek Nemesis ), and as licensee from 2009 ( Star Trek ) through 2016 ( Star Trek Beyond ), thereby constituting what is currently known as the " Star Trek film franchise ".

Within that franchise a further distinction is often made between the two prime universe film franchises, to wit,

  • The Star Trek: The Original Series or " Original Crew " film franchise ( Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country )
  • The Star Trek: The Next Generation or (less commonly) " Next Gen (TNG) Crew " film franchise ( Star Trek Generations – Star Trek Nemesis )

and the third, alternate reality or " Kelvin -timeline", film franchise,

  • Star Trek – Star Trek Beyond
  • 1.1 The Original Series films
  • 1.2 The Next Generation films
  • 1.3 Alternate reality films
  • 1.4 Television movies
  • 1.5 Footnotes
  • 1.6 Unrealized Star Trek films
  • 2.1.1 Gross vs net profitability
  • 2.1.2 Hollywood accounting
  • 4 Cast and crew listings
  • 5.1 The odd number / even number phenomenon
  • 5.2 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • 5.3 Star Trek: Voyager / Star Trek: Enterprise
  • 6 Further reading

As a franchise, the Star Trek films were almost conceived as an afterthought in the wake of the stupefying success of the very first Star Wars installment in 1977. The resulting movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture , came nowhere close to living up to the (too) high expectations of studio executives, who subsequently decided to kill off the fledgling Star Trek film franchise right there and then. The highest conglomerate executive though, Gulf+Western owner and CEO Charlie Bluhdorn , saw it differently and personally ordered his Paramount subordinates to pursue the franchise further. Having ordained the original film production in the first place, it was therefore Bluhdorn in person who in effect not only conceived the Star Trek film franchise, but also ensured its continuation as well (for further particulars, see: main article ).

In 2023 , it was announced that the franchise would have its first made-for-TV (streaming service) film, Star Trek: Section 31 . [1]

The Original Series films [ ]

Films which feature the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series .

The Next Generation films [ ]

These are films that feature the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation . Unlike the preceding TOS films, these did not carry sequel numbers – such as "Star Trek VII", "Star Trek VIII", "Star Trek IX", or "Star Trek X" – except in pre-production. However, these numbers do appear on newer DVD covers.

Alternate reality films [ ]

Films which feature different versions of the TOS characters portrayed by a new cast, and set in an alternate reality from earlier films and series.

Television movies [ ]

Footnotes [ ].

  • ↑ Approval rates as calculated by the critical film review website Rotten Tomatoes .
  • ↑ These figures include worldwide box-office takes only. Every other form of revenue, such as for merchandise, home media format sales, rentals, television rights and the like, are excluded from the figures. Revenue and cost figures as submitted by the studio to the film website IMDb
  • ↑ Percentages above 100% indicate profit, below 100%, loss and at 100% means the production exactly recouped its production costs.
  • ↑ In the 1980s and 1990s, a figure of approximately $45 million dollar was widely propagated in numerous publications, including those licensed by Paramount Pictures. For a treatment on the apparent discrepancy, please see: The Motion Picture : Costs and revenues .
  • ↑ The profitability of Wrath of Khan is flattered, as that production made use of a substantial amount of special and visual effects assets, such as studio models, props, sets and even complete visual effects sequences produced for the previous film, and which do not show up in its production costs. This also holds true, though to a lesser degree, for the subsequent four films.
  • ↑ Produced back-to-back with its television progenitor and therefore with much of its setup already in place, the profitability of Generations is, like that of The Wrath of Khan , also somewhat flattered, as that production too made use of a substantial amount of special and visual effects assets, such as studio models, costumes, props, and sets produced for the television properties, which do not show up in the budget.

Unrealized Star Trek films [ ]

Besides the above referenced films which had eventually seen a theatrical release, Paramount has over the decades embarked on the development of several other Star Trek film projects as well, they however, ultimately abandoned in various stages of development for a variety of reasons. Costs incurred for these unrealized projects were usually charged against the subsequent film project that was realized. ( see also: below )

Summary [ ]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) reunites the Star Trek: The Original Series cast aboard the original USS Enterprise , refurbished after its five-year mission as documented in the television series. The story was originally conceived as the pilot episode of the aborted Star Trek: Phase II series, in which the now- Admiral Kirk and crew must engage with a powerful, threatening force that is heading directly towards Earth .

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) together form a loose trilogy beginning with the reintroduction of an old enemy from a popular TOS episode (" Space Seed ") who resumes his conflict with Kirk in epic fashion, leading to the creation of the planet Genesis , the death of Spock and his subsequent "burial" on Genesis, the destruction of the Enterprise during Kirk's efforts to reunite Spock's regenerated body with his katra , and ultimately a time-travel adventure to 1986 aboard a captured Klingon vessel ( HMS Bounty ) in order to save Earth from destruction.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) moves Kirk, demoted back to captain as a result of defying Starfleet orders in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , and crew onto the new USS Enterprise -A , which is hijacked by a renegade Vulcan ( Sybok ) who pilots it to the center of the galaxy in an attempt to find the source of creation.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) sees Kirk and crew attempting to prevent derailment of the Federation /Klingon peace talks by conspirators from both sides. As well as bringing the TOS cast to its retirement, the film also ties up various threads first established in the series (most notably, the conflict between the Federation and the Klingons) and paves the way for the storylines of Star Trek: The Next Generation , set seventy years later. Produced during the fall of the communist Soviet Union, the film's plot may be regarded as a metaphor for those events and the effect they had on international relations at that time.

Star Trek Generations (1994) brings the cast of TNG to the big screen, set less than a year after the end of the series (" All Good Things... ") and filmed straight after the completion of its last episodes. Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise -D must try to stop a brilliant scientist ( Tolian Soran ) from committing an act of genocide in order to enter the Nexus , a mysterious hedonistic realm in which time has no meaning. Appearances by three of the TOS cast (Kirk, Scott , and Chekov ) and the heroic death of Kirk who joins Picard by means of the Nexus , served to "pass the torch" from the old generation to the next; the appearance of recurring enemies Lursa and B'Etor and the revelation of their fate provides a key link with the TNG series. The film also includes the destruction of the Enterprise -D.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996) brings back the TNG cast in their first truly independent big screen adventure aboard the new USS Enterprise -E . Picard and his crew are pitted against their deadliest foe from the series, the Borg , who travel back in time to prevent the first warp flight by Zefram Cochrane .

In Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), Picard and crew discover a covert effort by Starfleet, in co-operation with the belligerent Son'a , to relocate the inhabitants of a "fountain of youth" planet. Standing by his morals, Picard must take up arms against the Federation to save paradise.

Star Trek Nemesis (2002) sees Picard and the Enterprise ordered to investigate the sudden fall of the Romulan government, replaced by a leader from their neighboring race, the Remans . The dark secret of this new leader, Shinzon , brings Picard into conflict in a way he never thought possible, and culminates in a fight to save Earth from a terrible weapon – at great cost. With the death of Data and the departure of Riker , Troi , and Beverly Crusher from the Enterprise , this film marked the end of the TNG cast's adventures (until Star Trek: Picard , nearly two decades later). Much as with the (chronological) final big screen appearance of the original cast, which laid the foundations of peace between the Federation and the Klingons, this film implies the establishment of an alliance between the Federation and the Romulans, enemies throughout the TNG era just as the Klingons had been in TOS.

Star Trek (2009) creates a new timeline in the Star Trek franchise, which is tied directly to the prime universe, effecting a return to the TOS era, albeit one populated by an all-new cast of actors. It also features a completely new look, and remains in-universe by explaining all changes as being inadvertently caused by time-traveling Romulan villain Nero . This film focuses on younger versions of James T. Kirk , Spock , and the crew and showcases their very first mission aboard the USS Enterprise as they work together to stop the renegade Nero in his vengeful rampage to destroy Federation planets.

The sequel Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) picks up a year after the first film of the new timeline, where the crew is tested as they are sent to apprehend John Harrison , a traitor and mass murderer, and uncover corruption and a conspiracy to militarize Starfleet from within.

Star Trek Beyond (2016) picks up three years after the second film, where the crew is in the third year of its five-year mission . An encounter with an alien swarm, headed by the mysterious and powerful Krall , has devastating consequences for the Enterprise and crew, and reveals a serious threat to the Federation.

Performance summary [ ]

Domestically, combined and not taking inflation into account, the Star Trek features have grossed a little over US$1.4 billion. Prior to the release of Star Trek , Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home had grossed more than the other films, coming in at US$109,713,132, while Star Trek: First Contact had the largest-grossing opening weekend of all the films. The alternate reality Star Trek film surpassed both of these records, but was itself surpassed by its Star Trek Into Darkness sequel. [2]

Using the figures in the above specified tables, a "Top 5" worldwide performance record for the films as of 2016 is summarized in the table below, which hold a few surprises. The costs are, as expected, in accordance with the sequence the films were produced in, with The Motion Picture , being the sole exception due to various reasons . Rather surprising is that the best received films are not always also the highest grossing, The Voyage Home being the most consistent one. However, the biggest surprise in this regard, the bad press the film received in the 1980s and 1990s notwithstanding – among others by the studio itself, who considered the film a failure at the time – is that The Motion Picture as one of the worst received films, is not only the highest grossing Original Crew film world-wide, but concurrently also one of the most profitable films in the franchise. Likewise, but on the other end of the spectrum, Beyond became one of the best received films, but also the second-worst in terms of gross profitability.

The table shows that the TNG films were the least successful ones of the franchise in critical and financial terms, First Contact being the sole positive exception – even becoming the highest worldwide grossing Star Trek -prime film – the apparent profitability of Generations (see that film's footnote above) notwithstanding. In terms of gross profitability, the six Original Series films remain to date the most successful ones by far.

However, while there is a correlation between costs and profitability, the real surprise lies in the recent lack of positive correlation between gross revenues and profitability. That Nemesis and Insurrection occupy the first and third place respectively in the worst profitability ranking comes hardly as a surprise, considering their poor performance at the box office. But a break occurred in the correlation with the three alternate reality films, which were the most successful in terms of box office revenues of the franchise by far, but which also rank among the least profitable, even losing, ones – Star Trek Beyond in particular, taking second place in the worst profitability ranking – making it appear that the more successful a film is at the box office, the worse its profitability becomes.

The significant jump in production budget of 29% (over ten times the official inflation rate for the period 1996-1998) between the films First Contact and Insurrection , validated Adam Lebowitz 's assertion that the technique of computer-generated imagery (CGI) for producing visual effects , which was used almost exclusively for the latter film and contrary to popular belief, is not cheaper than the traditional way of producing these. " A lot of people say, 'CGI is a lot cheaper, isn't it,' but the way I like to think of it is that CGI is not cheaper necessarily, but you get a lot more for your money and you can tweak it a lot more. ", Lebowitz has stated. ( Star Trek: The Magazine  Volume 1, Issue 6 , p. 47) If anything has exemplified Lebowitz's assessment, then it must have been the number of staffers Industrial Light & Magic had employed on their Star Trek projects; whereas The Search for Spock "only" needed 42 staffers, the staff-count for Star Trek (2009) had burgeoned to no less than 315, virtually all of them working as digital specialists.

Star Trek Into Darkness marks the first time that a Star Trek film performed better in the foreign markets than the home market, confirming an industry trend that has started in the early 2000s. [3]

As already stated above , the 2016 film Star Trek Beyond , even though it even surpassed its predecessor critically, performed catastrophically at the box-office (see also below ) which became a major consideration for the cancellation in January 2019 of the planned fourth alternate reality film, slated to start production in that year.

Gross vs net profitability [ ]

It must be understood that when box-office earnings surpass the direct production budget (thereby achieving gross profitability), it does not automatically mean that a Hollywood studio has gone "into (net) profit", i.e. meaning that the studio has now funding available for investments, dividend disbursements to shareholders and third party investors, executive bonuses, royalties, and the like. Aside from the direct production costs, aka the production budget, the studio also needs to cover costs which, for legal as well as practical reasons, can not be directly assigned to a particular motion picture production and which are commonly referred to as "indirect" or "production overhead" costs, in parlance usually abbreviated to "overhead". The most obvious overhead elements consist of:

  • Operations/Management costs : These are incurred in order to maintain a studio, such as the costs for the upkeep of real estate and equipment, as well as the salaries for personnel who have studio tenure, such as executive, accountancy, administrative, technical and marketing staffers. The actual production staffers on any motion picture project, are contracted on a per production basis, and their salaries are therefore directly assignable to the production budget. ( See also in this regard: Desilu Studios . )
  • Distribution costs : These entail the box office percentages, distributors and theater owners charge the studio for showing their production to the public, in order to operate their own businesses. Since it is never known beforehand how many theaters will agree to show a studio production, these costs are traditionally considered overhead.
  • Marketing/Promotion costs : While the average " Trekkie " might mistakenly believe that any Star Trek live-action production sells itself, this is a viewpoint emphatically not shared by Paramount. In effect, the official standpoint taken by Paramount is to dismiss Trekdom altogether, deeming it too inconsequential, both in scope and in size, to warrant the consideration of any possible Star Trek live-action (both film and television) production development in and of itself. ( A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager , pp. 139-140) Paramount therefore treats each Star Trek production as they would any other, each required to attract a renewed viewership, and each therefore warranting considerable promotional efforts. While a general overall promotion strategy might be devised before the start of a production, the nature and extent is usually fleshed out over the course of the production (if only for the fact that trailers and commercials have to wait for footage to have been actually shot), meaning that cost totals can not be determined with any measure of objectivity beforehand, therefore causing them to be subordinated under overhead for practicality. Traditionally, marketing costs are a substantial part of the overhead, having inflated considerably from the early 2000s onward; David Gerrold has reported that these costs for The Motion Picture were already estimated at US$10-$20 million, accounting for a third to half of over-production budget expenditures alone, which, for those times, was already exceptionally high. ( Starlog , issue 30, p. 37) To an extent, Paramount's stance has validated itself by the considerable success The Voyage Home , First Contact , and the first two alternate universe films in particular have enjoyed, as these attracted a viewership (though not necessarily new fans) that went well above and beyond traditional Trekdom alone, as was evidenced by their respective outlying box office takes. Even more apparent, but then at the opposite end of the spectrum, became the validity, when Paramount failed to attract renewed viewership for Star Trek Beyond ; While the film was in general favorably received by critics and traditional Trekdom alike, the mere fact that others – enjoying a plethora of other alternatives by that time, most notably those of the by-then relaunched Star Wars and the ongoing Marvel Cinematic Universe film franchises – failed to show up at the cinemas, made Beyond at that time the second all-time worst performing Star Trek film for Paramount in terms of profitability. This became a major consideration for the decision to cancel the fourth alternate universe film in early January 2019, reportedly because of relaunched Star Wars , thereby conceivably cancelling the entire alternate universe story line all together. [4]
  • Sundry aka Unforeseen costs : While largely self-explanatory, these costs can also include actual production costs incurred after principal photography – traditionally seen as the "Production" stage of a film production – has finished, which were not foreseen when the production budget was calculated. For example, its visual effects sequences slated to be entirely produced with CGI, Star Trek: Insurrection was nearing completion in post-production when it was decided that for some key effects sequences the digital technique would not do, and that additional visual effects companies had to be brought in at the last minute to remedy the situation. Traditionally, the production budget is then not adjusted upward in these particular circumstances, with the additional expenditure booked as "unforeseen". Something similar had actually already occurred two decades earlier with The Motion Picture . When the February 1979 visual effects debacle took place after principal photography had wrapped, new effects companies had to be brought in by the studio at the eleventh hour to (re)produce these effects from scratch. In this specific case however, the studio decided to have the additional costs of approximately US$10 million included in its publicly divulged production budget as part of questionable studio politics, explaining the discrepancy between the official production budget listed above, and the widely propagated and best known one of US$45 million. (see: The Motion Picture : Costs and revenues ) Reshooting scenes after-the-fact for which principal cast had to be recalled, also fall under this heading, as was the case with Generations and Insurrection .
  • Corporate taxes : Self-explanatory.

The traditional Hollywood rule of thumb of determining the point when a motion picture production becomes net profitable for a studio, has been the application of a multiplier to the direct production budget, or as Gerrold has further explained, "(…) a film has to earn two to three times as much as it costs to make, before it breaks even . Otherwise, you have lost your shirt. " ( Starlog , issue 30, p. 37) Applying an average multiplier of 2.5 to the above listed figures, or achieving 250% of the production budget in box-office takes, reveal that two of the Star Trek films have barely broke even (unsurprisingly including The Final Frontier , but surprisingly the 2009 blockbuster outing as well), whereas the last two Next Generation films, as well as Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond have actually lost the studio money, substantial losses at that in the cases of Insurrection , Nemesis , and Beyond .

One obvious rationale for the lack of profitability of the alternate reality films lies in the circumstance that Paramount had, together with Warner Bros. in a US$60 million deal, partnered up with Bad Robot Productions in 2006 for the development of its motion picture projects, those of Star Trek included. [5] Therefore, in addition to the undisclosed, but undoubtedly hefty license fees Paramount had to pay franchise owner CBS Corporation, all income derived from the box offices takes needed now to be shared with a major co-producer as well, where there had been none before, cutting deeply in the gross profits. The fact that Bad Robot withdrew from the partnership in November 2018, was in effect one of the other major considerations for Paramount to cancel the fourth alternate reality film in January 2019. [6]

As a whole, the four decades old film franchise performance of all thirteen films combined yields the following, showing that the film franchise has been net profitable for the studio, albeit modestly so, mostly because of the alternate reality films as they involved he largest amount of money. When applying the 2.5 multiplier, an approximately 4.2% net return on investment remains, until the 2010s not even enough to cancel out inflation and then easily attainable by just putting your money safely away in a bank savings account. The studio therefore had to mostly rely on revenues stemming from other spin-off franchise elements in all forms and formats, such as television rights and merchandise, in order to show shareholders/investors a more healthy rate of return.

It is in this regard that another Paramount production deserves a mention, the 1997 eleven Academy Award winning Titanic , served by such Star Trek alumni as Robert Legato , Don Pennington , James Horner , and Tony Meininger . With a worldwide gross of US$2.2 billion – being the very first film in motion picture history to breach the two billion mark – against a production budget of US$200 million, it did achieve a (for the times) mind-boggling 1,100% gross profitability. This was especially astounding when the amount of money involved was considered, as that film alone, grossing the same amount as all thirteen Star Trek films combined, netted the studio US$1.7 billion in (net) profit, that is, in theory at least when discounting the below-mentioned " Hollywood accounting " phenomenon. [7] The film stands to this very day out as Paramount's biggest success in its entire history by far, as well as being universally considered as one of the motion picture industry's greatest triumphs for that matter. Like it had with The Motion Picture , the studio had staked its very continued existence on Titanic , in the process forced to seek out 20th Century Fox as a production production partner (see also: The Motion Picture : Costs and revenues ).

Still, while the rationale behind the net profitability determining methodology is valid, the methodology itself has proven to be susceptible to figures manipulation, leading up to the infamous "Hollywood accounting" phenomenon, possibly explaining not only the apparent high profitability of The Wrath of Khan and Generations – an absolute rarity where "Hollywood accounting" is concerned as explained below – but also the recent and apparent lack of profitability of the alternate reality films. It should concurrently be noted that additional revenues, derived from later merchandise, television rights and home media sales, are traditionally discounted by Hollywood studios in their public performance assessments for a film, meaning that even loss generating productions have the potential to turn net profitable in the long run. However, the circumstance that Bad Robot had, through its many subsidiaries, negotiated a substantial say – and thus a part of the revenue stream – in the resultant merchandise, including the home media formats, meant that that potential had for Paramount been considerably diminished as well where the alternate reality films were concerned.

Hollywood accounting [ ]

" Hollywood accounting ", or " Hollywood bookkeeping " as it is also referred to, is a particularly nefarious phenomenon in the motion picture industry which entails that, simply put, production stakeholders, such as shareholders, actors, producers, writers, production companies, local governments, and the like, who have entered in a net profit sharing agreement with the studio, are essentially "defrauded" as much as possible out of their legally entitled shares by means of untoward bookkeeping methods. These methods typically entail inflating expenses such as production, distribution, and marketing (a very popular one with studios, as these, whether or not justified, have gone truly through the roof from the early 2000s onward), overhead and, most notoriously, the production budget "sundry costs" with as much elements as possible, not rarely utterly undue.

The industry phenomenon is to date deeply ingrained, widespread, persistent, and pervasive and by no means limited to Paramount Pictures or film productions alone, as Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry found out to his detriment after he discovered he too was on the receiving end of this phenomenon when he signed both his 18 May 1965 Star Trek: The Original Series and 1978 The Motion Picture net profit sharing deals. " The greatest science fiction in show biz is in the accounting ", a chagrined Roddenberry declared when he ordered his attorney Leonard Maizlish to start legal proceedings against the studio in 1981, after being faced with the studio's emphatic assertions that he still was not entitled to his share of the profits since the Original Series was ostensibly still deeply "in the red", despite its wildly successful decade-long run in syndication . ( Starlog , issue 43, p. 14) A particularly notorious instance was, for example, Lucasfilm , who in 2009 still maintained that their 1983 third Star Wars installment, Return of the Jedi , "has never gone into profit", despite having earned a recorded US$475 million against a production budget of US$32.5 million (constituting a whopping 1,462% gross profitability, but while impressive, involving far less money than the above-mentioned Titanic ) by that point, shortchanging several actors who had unwisely entered into a net profit sharing agreement. [8]

Paramount itself got caught in the act when it was successfully sued by screen writer Art Buchwald (thereby succeeding where Maizlish, on behalf of Roddenberry, had seemingly failed seven years earlier) who found himself in a similar predicament in the case of Paramount's 1988 motion picture Coming to America (starring Eddie Murphy ), which grossed over ten times its budget of US$39 million. It was actually this case that brought the "Hollywood accounting" phenomenon to the full awareness of the general public. Finding itself highly scrutinized by the media at the time, Paramount was ultimately ordered by the courts to settle for US$900,000 in 1992. [9]

However, as it is still very much a gray area in corporate accounting law, it has, despite the adverse court ruling, not in the least deterred Paramount, or any other Hollywood studio for that matter, to continue with the practice unabated, to the point where it has become near-pandemic in the 2000s. Several Hollywood reporters have recorded that few, if any, of the biggest box-office successes of the past decades had, as of 2010, actually turned in an official net studio profit, that is, on paper at least. [10] [11] This actually made Hollywood studios one of the very worst properties to invest in, as many shareholders and third-party investors can now attest to. Despite a class-action brought against the entire industry before a Federal Court in 1996, [12] the financial gains apparently still far outweigh the costs of any possible legal litigation. The three alternate universe films, Star Trek , Into Darkness , and Beyond , for example, are officially reported as among the least profitable, even losing, Star Trek productions by Paramount, despite grossing close to US$1.2 billion dollar between the three of them, as specified above.

Stakeholders who still do enter into a profit sharing agreement have, however, learned the lessons of their unfortunate predecessors, and do so on the basis of gross profit (as indeed tax authorities have always done), instead of net profits, as gross profit is determined by only charging directly assignable production costs to the revenues under accounting laws. And indeed, creator Roddenberry himself did not repeat the mistakes he made back in 1965 and 1978, when he signed a profit sharing deal with Paramount in 1986 for Star Trek: The Next Generation , where it was stipulated that he was to receive 35% of the adjusted gross profits derived from the series. [13] (X)

Studios countered with transferring as much production unrelated expenditures to the (in)direct production costs as they possibly could get away with legally. Notorious in this respect is the transfer of the substantial executive bonuses, which, rightfully, should be paid from the net profits, to production overhead, from which regular salaries are paid. The even more savvy stakeholders will try to negotiate a gross revenue sharing, aka "box-office take", agreement, but this is, of course, vehemently opposed by Hollywood studios and is only reserved for the few very biggest and most powerful of the Hollywood stars, [14] such as Tom Cruise – who successfully reinitialized the Mission: Impossible franchise not only as the star, but as a co-producing company as well under which he receives his box-office takes [15] – and which Roddenberry was most certainly not.

In regard to the Star Trek films, it is known that Paramount has charged incurred costs for undeveloped film projects against either the production budget, the overhead, or both of subsequent films that were realized, most notably The Motion Picture and The Undiscovered Country . While the act is in itself not illegal, it is a practice not commonly followed in most other industries (the pharmaceutical industry standing out as a notorious exception) and actually debatable from a business economics point of view; research and development costs of projects that do not come to fruition are usually written off and are commonly charged against the balance sheets of corporations. This is a sound generally accepted accounting principle for businesses (as stated in any business economics textbook and where the principles are known under their acronym GAAP ) as it prevents unwarranted cost price inflation with undue elements – thereby avoiding pollution of pre-production viability assessments – for products that do come to fruition. Paramount's divergent actions therefore can be construed as an instance of Hollywood accounting.

The very rare positive – as in inflating the profitability instead of the costs – applications of Hollywood accounting by the studio executive echelons in the cases of The Wrath of Khan and Generations were motivated by internal studio politics. In the former case the goal was to convince the outside world that Gene Roddenberry was a complete and utter failure as a film producer after his dismal performance on The Motion Picture , so that the studio seemed justified to sideline the Star Trek creator for any future project once and for all, (See also in this regard: The Motion Picture : Costs and revenues ) whereas the latter case was intended to convince shareholders and investors that the Next Generation film franchise would potentially be as succesfull, or even more so, as the Original Crew film franchise had been. Both instances of positive Hollywood accounting succeeded admirably in their intended goals.

The 2006 separation of the Star Trek television and film productions under two newly-formed independent holding companies, resulting in that Paramount Pictures, now a holding of (new) Viacom , had to pay licensing fees to newly-formed CBS Corporation in order to produce subsequent Star Trek (and Mission: Impossible [16] ) films, aggravated the situation. A closely guarded trade secret, the amount of the fees were now a newly-added part to the production budget/overhead which was not there previously, and might partly explain the apparent lack of net profitability of the three alternate universe films. Some critics have surmised that this had been part of the split considerations all along, somewhat supported by the fact that both new entities have remained under the ultimate ownership and control of holding conglomerate National Amusements (NAI), and to an extent implicitly conceded as such in actuality by NAI owner and CEO Sumner Redstone, who had expressed his desire to "unlock value" by boosting stock value – for the CBS shareholders that is, not for those of (new) Viacom/Paramount, where the licensing issue is concerned – and earning potential of the at the time faster growing soon-to-be "new" Viacom. [17] [18]

Incidentally, since NAI's core business is the operation of one of the largest chains of movie theaters in the USA, the fact that the costs they charged Paramount (which they own) for showing their productions appear in the Paramount's income statements as well, can also be construed as an instance of cost-price inflating Hollywood accounting.

In a November 2015 Wired article discussing the recent popularity of shared universe s on film, Paramount Motion Pictures Group president Marc Evans acknowledged the possibility of spin-off films. He said, " I often think about the areas of the Star Trek universe that haven’t been taken advantage of. Like, I’ll be ridiculous with you, but what would Star Trek: Zero Dark Thirty look like? Where is the SEAL Team Six of the Star Trek universe? That fascinates me. " [19]

On April 25, 2018, it was confirmed that two Star Trek films were in development. [20] However, on 10 January 2019, pursuant the dismal profitability performance of Beyond and a little over ten months later, Forbes magazine reported that the fourth , yet untitled, Kelvin -timeline film had been canceled, which in itself followed in the wake of earlier reports that main performers Chris Pine ( James T. Kirk ) and Chris Hemsworth ( George Kirk ) had all already withdrawn their commitments to the project. While not overtly evident at the time, this decision had for all intents and purposes all the hallmarks of the definitive termination of the Kelvin timeline in the Star Trek (film) franchise. [21] It conceivably entails for the time being the end of the Star Trek film franchise proper as well (even though the Quentin Tarantino Star Trek XV pitch was at the time still under consideration, though apparently no longer on the table due to Tarantino's withdrawal from the project in January 2020 [22] ), especially in light of the film franchise being virtually rendered insignificant by those from the Star Wars and Marvel Comics ones in particular, [23] and in light of the December 2019 " reunification " of he television, and film franchises under the consolidated end auspices of Secret Hideout , [24] after which Tarentino has indicated his disinclination to further pursue the project. [25] [26]

The cancellation of the fourth alternate reality film could have serious consequences for Paramount, but for production partner Bad Robot Productions in particular, at least where alternate reality Star Trek is concerned, as a production license of the kind extended to the studio and its partner usually includes a timetable clause in which a franchise-licensed production company is obligated to produce sequential franchise film outings within a preordained time-frame. When defaulting on the clause, the film production rights then automatically reverts to the licensor, in this case CBS Corporation (franchise owner as of 2006, then ViacomCBS from December 2019 to February 2022; now rebranded as Paramount Global ), who is then free to do with it as it wills. With the establishment of ViacomCBS in December 2019, and the resultant reunification of the two Star Trek franchises, this has indeed become the case, with the fate of the Kelvin timeline as expected hanging in the balance, it as of 2020 being under re-evalution of the new management. [27]

It is against this background that new plans, separate from the Tarantino project, for a fourteenth film were reported in November 2019, involving prospect Writer/Director Noah Hawley , [28] though by May 2020 it too has not evolved beyond the consideration stage, its development apparently stuck in limbo. [29]

  • See Star Trek XV for further details.

It was in the same month that Beyond Performer/Writer Simon Pegg has expressed his personal suspicion that the end of not only the alternate reality, but also the entire film franchise proper had indeed come to pass, when he stated in an interview for Collider ,

"The fact is, the appeal of Star Trek is slightly more niche than the appeal of, say, the Marvel movies, which make huge amounts of money, and have this really, really broad appeal and they do very well. I think Star Trek is just a little bit more niche, so it isn’t gonna hit those kind of numbers. So yes, the obvious thing to do would be to not go for that massive spectacle, go for something a little bit more restrained in the vein of the original series. Yes, that would be a brilliant thing to do, and I’m sure it probably has been discussed… You specialize a little bit more. (… )Maybe TV is a better place for [Star Trek] now. Television has evolved so much. It’s become something which is very much a contemporary, a peer of cinema. It’s simply viewed in a different way. It isn’t a reduced scope anymore. You can still do masses of interesting things, and it can still look modern and not inexpensive. Maybe television is a better format for Star Trek. That’s where it started, you know." [30]

In this Pegg has joined the ranks of those who were already of similar mind, such as the Forbes editors who argued as early as November 2016, a mere three months after the Beyond premiere and its resultant box-office failure, " The thing that made [ Beyond ] most appealing to the fans, that it played like a smaller-scale 50th anniversary homage to the spirit and tone of the original show, was the thing that arguably doomed it in terms of blockbuster success. Star Trek Beyond was what its fans wanted it to be. There is value in that over the long run. But Paramount and friends need to realize that Star Trek is never going to be a Guardians of the Galaxy -level success and plan accordingly. " [31] [32]

In November 2020, Hawley intimated that his film was definitively off the table as well. In a 29 November 2020 interview to Deadline Hawley responded to a question about the status of the film, " It doesn’t appear to be in my immediate future. I think when Emma came in, she took a look at the franchise and wanted to go in a different direction with it. But you know, life is long, we were very close to production but in this business that doesn’t mean much. You got to get out of the gate to be in the race if you know what I mean. " [33] The "Emma" Hawley referred to concerned Emma Watts , a Paramount executive, who was pursuant the 2019 remerger of Paramount and CBS into ViacomCBS, appointed by National Amusements head Shari Redstone to appraise the status of the Star Trek live-action franchise, both film as well as television, for its (commercial) viability. [34] Hawley's words were in essence Hollywood-speak for the definitive cancellation of his Star Trek film. As to Watt's "different direction", nothing, save some vague rumors, has been made public, making it appear that the entire film franchise too is terminated for the time being – all this being in line with Pegg's assessment.

Cast and crew listings [ ]

  • Credits for Star Trek: The Motion Picture
  • Credits for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
  • Credits for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
  • Credits for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
  • Credits for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
  • Credits for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
  • Credits for Star Trek Generations
  • Credits for Star Trek: First Contact
  • Credits for Star Trek: Insurrection
  • Credits for Star Trek Nemesis
  • Credits for Star Trek
  • Credits for Star Trek Into Darkness
  • Credits for Star Trek Beyond

Background information [ ]

  • There have been thirteen Star Trek cinematic features released between 1979 and 2016 . [35]
  • Three films were produced by Harve Bennett (he was also an executive producer on one), while Rick Berman produced all four films featuring the cast of TNG .
  • Nicholas Meyer , J.J. Abrams , Leonard Nimoy , and Jonathan Frakes each directed two of the films, with the latter two also appearing as co-stars in their respective roles as Spock and William T. Riker . One of the films ( Star Trek V: The Final Frontier ) was directed by its lead actor, William Shatner , appearing as Kirk .
  • Leonard Nimoy has made more appearances in the film series than any other principal cast member of any Star Trek series, appearing as Spock in the first six films together with an appearance in Star Trek and a brief cameo in Star Trek Into Darkness and his likeness is seen in Star Trek Beyond , as are those of his original cast mates. William Shatner, James Doohan , and Walter Koenig (Kirk, Scott , and Chekov ) all appear in the first seven consecutive films. Majel Barrett has also appeared in seven of the films, albeit playing different roles: she appears as Christine Chapel in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home , and supplied her voice for the Enterprise computers in Star Trek Generations , Star Trek: First Contact , Star Trek: Insurrection , Star Trek Nemesis , and Star Trek .
  • Michael Dorn is the only member of the TNG cast to appear in more than four of the films. He plays his familiar character Worf in all four TNG-based films and has a cameo as Worf's (presumed) ancestor in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .
  • Owing to Worf's transfer onto the crew of DS9 prior to the events of Star Trek: First Contact , Dorn is technically the only DS9 cast member to appear in any of the films playing his usual character. Rene Auberjonois appears in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country playing a different character than his usual one on DS9; his scenes were cut for the film's original theatrical release but subsequently restored for the film's VHS, DVD, and Special Edition releases. Both Armin Shimerman and Max Grodenchik filmed scenes for Star Trek: Insurrection – the former as his familiar character Quark and the latter as an unnamed Trill Starfleet officer – but these scenes were cut from the film as released.
  • Kate Mulgrew , Robert Picardo , Tim Russ , and Ethan Phillips are the only VOY cast members to appear in any of the films – Mulgrew plays her familiar character in Star Trek Nemesis , Picardo plays an EMH Mark I in Star Trek: First Contact , wherein Phillips also appears – uncredited, at his own request, as a different character. (Having never before appeared in a Trek production without heavy prosthetics, he thought it would be amusing to leave fans wondering if the holographic Human he played was or wasn't him.) Russ appears in Star Trek Generations as a Human USS Enterprise -B crewman.
  • To date, no principal cast members from Star Trek: Enterprise have appeared in any of the films, although Peter Weller (who guest-starred in two episodes of that series) plays a major role in Star Trek Into Darkness .
  • Between Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek , all the films were produced in tandem with one or more of the spin-off series. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country were made during the run of TNG; production on Star Trek Generations began while the final episodes of TNG were being shot, and while DS9 was in production; Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection were both produced during the runs of DS9 and VOY, and Star Trek Nemesis was made while ENT was in production. Star Trek was the first since Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home to be produced without any other Star Trek project in progress.
  • Perhaps reflecting their popularity as an alien race, the Klingons appear more than any other throughout the series of films – they appear, or are mentioned, in twelve of the films released so far. No Klingon characters appear in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Star Trek or Star Trek Beyond , although the former two films depict the Kobayashi Maru scenario which features Klingon ships. Scenes featuring Klingon characters were shot but not included in Star Trek .

The odd number / even number phenomenon [ ]

  • A number of Star Trek fans ( citation needed • edit ) have expressed the opinion that the even-numbered films are generally better than the odd-numbered ones. Such an appraisal is obviously subjective, but it has its roots in a number of factors. The even-numbered films (apart from Star Trek Nemesis ) have enjoyed relatively greater success at the box office and higher critical acclaim, as opposed to various lukewarm reviews received by the odd-numbered films (with the exception of Star Trek ). Fans and critics have also noted that, in their opinions, the even-numbered films are better paced and more action-packed, with more memorable story lines, eminently quotable scripts and exciting special effects. (The first two films are often held up as examples of this trend from the outset of the series: Star Trek: The Motion Picture has very few battle or dramatic action sequences, presenting Kirk and crew with a mostly cerebral challenge, while Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is dominated by epic conflict, resulting in several battle sequences and heavy damage to the Enterprise and its crew.)
  • By the time the TNG films were being produced, the "odd/even" phenomenon was effectively regarded as a curse, with members of the production crew fearing that, despite their best efforts, future odd-numbered productions were fated to be less successful than even-numbered ones. Jonathan Frakes , when interviewed by Star Trek Monthly ( citation needed • edit ) during pre-production for Star Trek: Insurrection , commented that he was looking forward to directing his second film "even though it's an odd-numbered Star Trek ." In 2002, however, the phenomenon was broken by the release of Star Trek Nemesis , which experienced the lowest box-office takings of any Star Trek film to date and was poorly received by even long-standing fans. (Though to a few ( citation needed • edit ) , this became an even further joke – a Star Trek film which was a multiple of five was cursed to fail catastrophically, as Nemesis pulled in poor reviews and revenue in a similar fashion to The Final Frontier .)
  • The phenomenon has seemingly been broken further by the critical success of Star Trek , which has obtained a 95% on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , as well as an opening weekend gross of nearly twice the full run of Star Trek Nemesis . [36] Sam Hughes, of the website, "Things of Interest", has suggested that the addition of "Galaxy Quest," the affectionate parody of Star Trek released in 1999, between Insurrection and Nemesis , as the "good" Star Trek movie fixes the odd-even curse. [37]
  • In a 1999 episode of the British sitcom Spaced , the phenomenon was mentioned by the series' lead character, Tim Bisley, who was played by Simon Pegg – an irony not lost on Pegg during and after his work on Star Trek .

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine [ ]

  • Whereas the preceding live-action television series had open endings that allowed for continuation into motion picture format, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ended quite firmly and conclusively, with all its various plotlines resolved and the departure of various main characters. Any subsequent film would therefore have required a significantly different premise and different casting, departing radically from the series' format which had been so familiar to its fan base. On the possibility of a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine film ever happening, Ira Steven Behr commented: " I don't think so. I think we could do a pretty kick-ass Deep Space Nine film, but not even in my wildest imaginations do I consider it ". He also commented " The only Trek I think about is Deep Space Nine , to be honest. If they did a Deep Space Nine film, I certainly would like to be involved if that ever happened, which I doubt ". [38]
  • After the release of Star Trek: Insurrection , Patrick Stewart commented, " I think we should pass the mantle on to the Deep Space Nine characters. We don't want to become The Rolling Stones of the Star Trek films ". [39] [40]
  • Andrew Robinson commented " My feeling is that there is never going to be a Deep Space Nine film, they still have more to go with The Next Generation . I think it (" What You Leave Behind ") was really the right way to end the series. [41]
  • A campaign for a Deep Space Nine film (or a miniseries) was launched in 2000 by fans Stacy Powell and Doug Wilson. Nana Visitor was thrilled to hear of the existence of the campaign and J.G. Hertzler and David B. Levinson joked with fans to " take one of these [flyers], don't throw it away or I'll come after you. " [42] [43]
  • Fans Terry Harris and Gisele La Roche also launched a petition for a Deep Space Nine film, receiving several positive responses from actors. [44] (X)
  • Notwithstanding the foregoing, elements from the series have appeared in all TNG films. The Enterprise -D crew wore the uniforms which had been introduced on Deep Space Nine (in addition to their own series' uniforms) in Star Trek Generations ; the uniforms were also used on Star Trek: Voyager , which premiered several months after the film's release. The USS Defiant appears in the Battle of Sector 001 during Star Trek: First Contact , under the command of Worf ( Michael Dorn ), who had become a regular character on DS9 by that time; he also appears in Star Trek: Insurrection . Both Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek Nemesis contain references to the Dominion War story arc from the series. For Star Trek: Insurrection , a scene was written and filmed involving an appearance by Armin Shimerman as Quark ; this was cut from the film, but a still from it can be found among the extras on the DVD release.
  • In 1998, Rick Berman commented " There are a few more movies left in the Generations franchise and there's a good chance we'll see a Deep Space Nine film. What we'd like to do is introduce a few of the characters from Deep Space into the next Generations movie just to tease audiences. " [45]

Star Trek: Voyager / Star Trek: Enterprise [ ]

  • The conclusive endings of both these series likewise indicate little or no probability of future films being based on them. During the run of Voyager , there was speculation among fans (via the internet and other media) that the series would end on a cliff-hanger, to be resolved in a theatrical motion picture, but the ultimate release of " Endgame " as the series finale proved that idea to be unfounded. The potential for continuation of the series has instead been explored in novels and fan-fiction.
  • There is a gap of six years between " Terra Prime " and " These Are the Voyages... " which could serve as the setting of an ENT film, although the timeline position of Star Trek and its sequel suggests that this would be unlikely.
  • Star Trek Nemesis features a cameo by Kate Mulgrew , reprising her role as Kathryn Janeway from Voyager and thus marking the only direct big-screen appearance of any character from that series. (An EMH Mark I , played by Robert Picardo , appears briefly in First Contact , but this is not exactly the same character as the holographic doctor in the series.)
  • Nemesis also features a graphic containing a reference to a USS Archer , named after Captain Jonathan Archer , the main character in Enterprise .
  • Additionally, Star Trek features a reference to "Admiral Archer 's prized beagle ", intended by the writers to be a reference to Jonathan Archer and his beagle Porthos . [46]
  • A replica of Enterprise NX-01 appears in Star Trek Into Darkness , marking the first appearance of any element from that series on the big screen. Star Trek Beyond refers to Military Assault Command Operations personnel and the Xindi encounter from ENT's third season, as well as depicting an early Starfleet ship whose design resembles that of the NX starships seen in ENT.

Further reading [ ]

  • "Rumblings: The Bottom line", David Gerrold , Starlog , issue 30, January 1980, pp. 37, 63

See also [ ]

  • Film performers
  • Film recurring characters
  • Film directors
  • VHS releases
  • LaserDisc releases
  • DVD releases
  • Blu-ray releases
  • 2 Star Trek: The Next Generation
  • 3 USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-G)

pop culture

A guide to the 'star trek' movies in order.

jael rucker headshot

Perhaps you've started watching Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and you're wondering where this whole thing (like the whole thing ) originated from. Maybe you're completely ingrained in the Star Trek universe but want to start all over from the beginning for the hundredth time. Whatever the case may be, you're currently reading this because you plan on watching or re-watching all of the Star Trek movies in order. No worries, we've got you all covered with everything you need to know before you get to it. When you're dealing with franchise that has been around many different decades and has had different iterations things can get a bit tricky.

We're going to break it down the best way we can.

RELATED: How to Watch the Marvel Movies in Chronological Order

How Many Star Trek Movies Are There?

Screen Shot 2023 06 30 at 5.47.45 PM

All-in-all, there are thirteen total films in the Star Trek franchise as of this writing. That's the simple version. Now we're really going to break it all down.

Star Trek "Original Series" Movies in Order:

Screen Shot 2023 06 30 at 5.54.03 PM

  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Star Trek "Next Generation" Movies in Order

Screen Shot 2023 06 30 at 6.07.53 PM

  • Star Trek Generations (1994)
  • Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
  • Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
  • Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Star Trek "Kelvin Timeline" Movies in Order aka the "New" Star Trek Movies in Order

Screenshot 2023 07 03 at 12.28.25 PM

  • Star Trek (2009)
  • Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
  • Star Trek Beyond (2016)

1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

  • Release Date: December 8, 1979
  • Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nicholas
  • Extra Recommended Viewing:  While it isn't required to watch Star Trek: The Original Series in its entirety before Star Trek: The Motion Picture , seasons one and two in particular can help prepare you for the overall pace of the movie and familiarize yourself with the characters as they are the ones that star in the film.

Ten years prior to the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , the television series, Star Trek: The Original Series , was cancelled after three seasons. Despite the cancellation, Paramount Pictures had been lobbying for a feature film which originally began development in 1975, but was scrapped in 1977 for another television series that was to be titled Star Trek: Phase II . However, after the success of Steven Spielberg's Close Encounter of the Third Kind in 1977, plans for a feature film were put back into motion since that particular film showed that science-fiction movies could be successful.

Finally, after many years, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was released on December 8, 1979, as we just mentioned, it featured the cast from the television series. Adm. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the Starship Enterprise is called upon by the federation to help contain an object that is on a crash course with earth. This object is an alien cloud that is wreaking havoc on everything getting in it's way. Kirk uses his leadership expertise to intercept the cloud, which eventually leads to an alien attack.

We then find out that Voyager aka V'Ger,  a 20th-century Earth space probe previously believed lost in a black hole, was found by an alien race of living machines, learned all the information it could, returned home to report what they discovered, but that nobody knew how to respond to the findings. Some people believe that you can skip this film altogether, but if you want to say that you've watched every single Star Trek , you've gotta get it in.

2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

  • Release Date: June 4, 1982
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: Similar to the first film, nothing is required to be watched in order to understand the movie. However, if you want to get super nerdy, you can watch "Space Seed" (season 1, episode 22) from the television series as that's when Khan is originally introduced.

Despite the mixed reviews of Star Trek: The Motion Picture , the follow-up Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was released three years later on June 4, 1982. Many consider The Wrath of Khan to be the best Star Trek movie of all time, which makes for a fun debate amongst fans and movie critics. Adm. James T. Kirk and Capt. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) are monitoring trainees at Starfleet Academy when they discover that another vessel from the United Federation of Planets is about to test the planet-creating Genesis Device, which leads to two of Kirk's officers being captured and a showdown.

The Wrath of Khan was a huge box office success, grossing $97 million at the box office along with positive reviews from critics.

3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

  • Release Date: June 1, 1984
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: For Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , you will need to watch The Wrath of Khan as this film is a continuation of the events that happened in that movie.

Fast forward two years later, Spock is dead. Or is he? Adm. James T. Kirk succeeded in defeating Khan, but that defeat apparently came with the cost of losing Spock. While investigating  the Genesis planet from aboard the science vessel  Grissom , they discover that Spock has been resurrected, but in the form of a child and that he has lost consciousness. The crew defies orders disables the USS  Excelsior , and steals the  Enterprise in the attempt to retrieve Spock's body. While The Search for Spock did gross $87 million at the box office (which in reality wasn't that much less than its predecessor), the film was still considered a "moderate" success compared The Wrath of Khan .

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

  • Release Date: November 26, 1986
  • Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nicholas, Catherine Hicks
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home completes the arc of The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock , so you will need to watch both in order to understand what's going on.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is another debate starter as it is frequently put up against The Wrath of Khan in terms of which one is better. In it, Adm. James T. Kirk and his crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve humpback whales — which is the key to communicating with a probe that's dangerously looking for somebody that understands it/them/whatever you want to call it. The plot is inexplicably corny 1980s, but you can't deny its charm as it pulled in $133 million worldwide at the box office, and received four Academy Award nominations for cinematography and sound.

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

  • Release Date: June 9, 1989
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: No required viewing, but it is recommended that you watch the previous films.

Alright, we're going to save you the trouble here — the mark was missed with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier . It has a case for being one of if not the worst Star Trek film of all time. That said, The Final Frontier centers around Sybok, the half brother of Spock, who hijacks the Enterprise in order to meet God, who he also believes is himself. Interesting. We're not going to say skip The Final Frontier completely, but we will say to have proper expectations before you watch.

6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

  • Release Date: December 6, 1991
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: While it's recommended you watch the previous films, it should be noted that some have started their Star Trek journey with The Undiscovered Country . You don't have to watch the television series to understand what's going on this film either.

Whenever Star Trek would take a step backward in terms of critical and commercial success, they would always follow it up with a stronger attempt. The Undiscovered Country is a whirlwind journey as Capt. Kirk and the USS Enterprise Crew are carrying Klingon Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) to Earth as leverage for a peace treaty with the United Federation of Planets. Their ship gets confused for firing on a Klingon vessel, which kills Gorkon. This leads to Kirk and Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) being arrested for murder as it is thought to be a revenge attempt by Kirk for the Klingons murdering his son. Now it's all left up to Spock to save the day.

7. Star Trek: Generations (1994)

  • Release Date: November 18, 1994
  • Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, William Shatner
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: It is our recommendation that you watch at least a few episodes of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series that ran from 1987 to 1994, as the movies are set at the end of series and preceded by the 1994 series finale "All Good Things."

And here begins The Next Generation era of Star Trek . While not as captivating as the prior films, the movie had its own strong points as the Starship Enterprise gets sent to a giant energy field on the verge of engulfing two ships that presumably kills Capt. Kirk. Fast forward several years later, Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart) learns that one of the survivors, Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell), has big plans to enter the field by destroying a neighboring star, and must be stopped. While The Next Generation received mixed reviews, it did gross $118 million at the box office, so it was a good first start to the new generation.

8. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

  • Release Date: November 22, 1996
  • Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Brent Spiner
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: "The Best of Both Worlds" (season 3, episode 26 and season 4, episode 1)

The story behind Star Trek: First Contact goes a little something like this — Paramount Pictures asked writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore to start working on the next film. Braga and Moore wanted to feature the Borg in the storyline, but Rick Berman, the producer, wanted the plot to focus on time travel. The solution? They decided to combine both ideas, pulling references from the two-part episode "The Best of Both Worlds" from Star Trek: The Next Generation , which served as both a season finale for season 3, and a season premiere for season 4.

First Contact features the crew following a Borg ship and traveling back in time to prevent the Borg from taking over the Earth in a past era. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and a space travel guru (James Cromwell) are stuck trying to create the first time warp, whereas Capt. Picard and mdr. Data (Brent Spiner) are trying to battle the borg queen as she attempts to take over The Enterprise. Fun stuff.

9. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

  • Release Date: December 11, 1998
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: Any episode from The Next Generation and the previous movies in The Next Generation series.

When a mission to planet Ba'ku gets disrupted by a malfunctioning android named Data (Brent Spiner) taking the cultural task force hostage, Capt. Picard and crew learn that the Federation mission was actually a ploy by the Son'a to remove the inhabitants of Ba'ku. There's also the romance between Troi and Riker that gets rekindled in the process. While some may argue other Star Trek films are more dynamic, we'd argue that Insurrection stands on its own two feet.

10. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

  • Release Date: December 13, 2002
  • Starring: Patrick Stewart, Stuart Baird, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Tom Hardy
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: You could watch the entire Next Generation series and all the prior films before tackling Nemesis , but it also works as a standalone.

The final film of The Next Generation series sees Capt. Picard diverting Enterprise's trip to Cmdr. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Troi's (Marina Sirtis) wedding in order to negotiate a peace treaty with the Romulans. Pre-Bane Tom Hardy takes on the role of Shinzon, the new Praetor of the Romulans, who needs Picard’s blood to survive. The only problem is Shiznon is also trying to destroy the entire Earth and take everyone down with him, so there's that.

11. Star Trek (2009)

  • Release Date: May 7, 2009
  • Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: The 2009 Star Trek essentially restarts the whole series. You can watch it without having seen any of the prior series or movies.

Back to the beginning we go! We get re-introduced to Kirk, Bones, Spock and the rest of the USS Enterprise crew as they are dealing with the villainous Romulan commander Nero (Eric Bana) who's kinda threatening all of mankind. It's up to Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), and everybody else to defeat Nero before it's too late. Nothing too complicated here — just a simple plot to introduce newcomers to the franchise.

12. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

  • Release Date: May 16, 2013
  • Extra Recommended Viewing: Star Trek (2009)

Capt. Kirk gets removed from his commander position by violating the Prime Directive, Admiral Pike replaces him, Spock gets transferred to another ship, and that's just the beginning. Khan is back, but he's actually kind of... somewhat... nice, and Kirk and the rest of The Enterprise team set out to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction which leads to a life or death battle. Fun stuff again.

13. Star Trek Beyond (2016)

  • Extra Recommended Viewing: Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

And this is where the Star Trek movies (emphasis on movies) leaves us in this era until Star Trek 4 which is currently in development. Star Trek Beyond was about The Enterprise being deceived by Krall (Idris Elba), a vicious enemy who gets his energy from sucking the life out of his victims. Long story short, Krall needs an artifact that's on The Enterprise ship, and Kirk and the crew have got to battle against him. The events of Star Trek Beyond effectively serve as a prequel to the 1960s series, so you can actually watch Star Trek: The Original Series after this.

The Star Trek Movies in Release Order:

Unlike other franchises or universes , the Star Trek movies in order of release date is actually exactly the same as the chronological order.

  • Star Trek: The Motion Picture - December 6th, 1979
  • Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - June 4th, 1982
  • Star Trek III: The Search for Spock - June 1st, 1984
  • Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home - November 26th, 1986
  • Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - June 9th, 1989
  • Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country - December 6th, 1991
  • Star Trek: Generations - November 18th, 1994
  • Star Trek: First Contact - November 22nd, 1996
  • Star Trek: Insurrection - December 11th, 1998
  • Star Trek: Nemesis - December 13th, 2002
  • Star Trek - May 7th, 2009
  • Star Trek Into Darkness - May 16th, 2013
  • Star Trek Beyond - July 22nd, 2016

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture

1979, Sci-fi, 2h 12m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Featuring a patchwork script and a dialogue-heavy storyline whose biggest villain is a cloud, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a less-than-auspicious debut for the franchise. Read critic reviews

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Star trek: the motion picture videos, star trek: the motion picture   photos.

The Federation calls on Adm. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the Starship Enterprise to contain an immense nimbused object that's on a crash course with Earth. After investigating, the crew discovers that the alien cloud harbors artificial intelligence with an ominous primary directive. Crisis strikes when a probe dispatched by the energy cloud attacks the crew, abducting navigator Lt. Ilia (Persis Khambatta). An android look-alike containing her memories shows up soon after.

Genre: Sci-fi

Original Language: English

Director: Robert Wise

Producer: Gene Roddenberry

Writer: Alan Dean Foster , Harold Livingston

Release Date (Theaters): Dec 6, 1979  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Dec 16, 2009

Runtime: 2h 12m

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Production Co: Paramount Pictures, Century Associates

Sound Mix: Dolby Stereo, Surround

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

View the collection: Star Trek

Cast & Crew

William Shatner

Admiral, Captain James T. Kirk

Leonard Nimoy

Commander Spock

DeForest Kelley

Lt. Cmdr, Leonard H. 'Bones' McCoy, M.D.

Stephen Collins

Capt., Cmdr. Willard Decker

Persis Khambatta

Lieutenant Ilia

James Doohan

Commander Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott

Nichelle Nichols

Lt. Cmdr. Uhura

Walter Koenig

Lt. Cmdr. Pavel Chekov

George Takei

Lt. Cmdr. Hikaru Sulu

Majel Roddenberry

Lt. Cmdr. Christine Chapel, M.D.

Grace Lee Whitney

Lt. Cmdr. Janice Rand

Mark Lenard

Klingon Captain

Billy Van Zandt

Alien Ensign

Robert Wise

Alan Dean Foster

Harold Livingston

Screenwriter

Associate Producer

Gene Roddenberry

Jerry Goldsmith

Original Music

Alexander Courage

Non-Original Music

Thane Berti

Cinematographer

Richard H. Kline

Todd C. Ramsay

Film Editing

Marvin Paige

Harold Michelson

Production Design

Leon Harris

Art Director

Joseph R. Jennings

John Vallone

Linda DeScenna

Set Decoration

Robert Fletcher

Costume Design

Phil Rawlins

Unit Production Manager

Daniel McCauley

Assistant Director

Douglas E. Wise

Second Assistant Director

News & Interviews for Star Trek: The Motion Picture

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Every Star Trek Movie Ranked from Worst to Best

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Critic Reviews for Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Audience reviews for star trek: the motion picture.

I've heard George Lucas talk about the change of pacing between films of the 1970's and of films now. He talked about how the pacing of the first Star Wars film was considered rapid at the time but by today's standards, pretty slow. I feel the same can be said about the first Star Trek film (The Motion Picture). The first hour of this film is quite a drag. The special effects are dated, but sometimes that can be forgiven if the story around it is epic (Original Star Wars). The story for this film is embroiled in mystery as we don't even know who or what the villain is for close to an hour and a half. Overall, I think I can say I enjoyed watching Star Trek: The Motion Picture as it brings back all of the same characters and dynamics from the original series, but the story dragged and I don't feel like this was the particular plot they should have revolved the first feature film around. The enterprise this time is investigating an alien spacecraft that gets mysteriously close to earth, known as V'Ger. Captain Kirk returned back to his position as head of the Starship Enterprise. Kirk replaced the new head of the enterprise, Decker. Obviously, you know that the dynamic between the two will have plenty of tension knowing there's two captains in the same ship, but it doesn't go to the extent that a normal Hollywood film would do. Yes, the tone and feel of the film is the same as the series but I think it was lacking the magic. There's a lot of time in the film spent on showing the numerous special effects shots and set pieces they created for the film. With that said, I don't feel like there was enough time spent on character development for people who didn't know the characters from the TV show. It's not that Star Trek: The Motion Picture isn't a good entry in the series, it's just that there's merely nothing special at all about the film. Its constantly told to us that this mission is to save the entire human race and has a huge scope, but we don't really see that being played out. I liked the ending reveal involving V'Ger, but it didn't save the film from being an average entry in a history franchise. +Same feel as the series +Cool reveal -Don't get a sense of the scope they were going for -Too much time spent on establishing shots and showing off average special effects 6.3/10

eerste star trek film

The first Star Trek film directed by Robert Wise manages to capture the vibe of the TV show and offer fans a good two hours of entertainment. Although, this film isn't a classic by any means, it's still enjoyable for what it is. There has been far better science fiction film, but this first film in the Star Trek franchise is quite good despite the fact that it does show its age. With this film, director Robert Wise crafts something entertaining, a film that has a good storyline, impressive performances and an effective mix of action and thrills. Fans of the show will surely enjoy this picture, and it's an effective continuation of what Gene Roddenberry accomplished with his show. I enjoyed this film, but like I said, it looks dated and the effects on-screen don't hold up too well. Nonetheless it's still an effective, entertaining Sci Fi film, one that should be seen by genre fans looking for a well constructed film. The sequel;, Wrath of Kahn would definitely improve on the elements that are lacking within the film, but as it is, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is entertaining from start to finish, but as a whole, it does leave a bit to be desired, which is what the follow up would improve upon. I must admit, I never was big into Star Trek, but I enjoyed this film and I felt that director Robert Wise, of whom I've enjoyed his previous work, is well suited to tackle this first big screen outing of the classic show. Despite the fact that I don't believe that this film is a genre classic, as it really didn't break new grounds in the genre, this film will surely appeal to viewers that are looking for a good Science Fiction film to watch.

Movie made to show how far special effects advanced and to make money thanks to success of tv show.

I have to admit, I've never really been a "Star Trek" fan. It's always seemed boring to me, and over my head. Heck, most sci-fi is, except the big alien invasion movies. Not sure what it is, the just don't really do much for me. However, when the J.J. Abrams reboot came out a few years back, I gave it a chance and loved it. With the sequel coming up, I figured I would go back and watch some of the old movies to get a grasp on "Star Trek" as a whole and see if I missed something and missed out, or if it's still just not for me. I was told by a true Trekkie to just start with the second movie, and he was probably right. But, my OCD prevailed and I started with number one. This first movie is horrible. If I were a Trek fan when this was released(1979) I would have been furious and may have given up altogether. It's long(just over 2 hours) and very boring. I understand "Trek" is more hardcore sci-fi than other movies/shows, but this is ridiculous. It's pretty much everyone on the enterprise sitting and talking the entire movie. At some point you need action, and this movie fails to deliver it. As for the acting, it's not all bad, because the characters are interesting and Kirk(William Shatner) is pretty funny. Shatner is easily the best thing about the movie, and if not for him and his charisma, this would be a complete waste. Also, this movie is very dated, and time has not been kind to it at all. I plan on watching more because I've heard it gets a lot better, but this is a horrible first movie for any franchise

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STAR TREK BEYOND, from left: John Cho, as Sulu, Anton Yelchin, as Chekov, Karl Urban, as Doctor 'Bones' McCoy, Chris Pine as Captain James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto, as Spock, Simon Pegg, as Scotty, 2016. ph: Kimberley French / © Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

A new “ Star Trek ” film is in the works at Paramount with “Andor’s” Toby Haynes on board to direct and Seth Grahame-Smith penning the script, Variety has confirmed.

While plot details are being kept under wraps, the upcoming feature will be an origin story that is set decades before 2009’s “Star Trek,” as well as an expansion of the “Star Trek” universe. J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot is producing.

A fourth “Star Trek” movie starring Chris Pine was first announced in July of 2016, with Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, John Cho and Simon Pegg expected to return. Chris Hemsworth, who appeared in the 2009 original, was set to return to the space saga as George Kirk, the father of Captain James T. Kirk (Pine). According to Paramount at the time, “Star Trek 4” would see Pine’s Captain Kirk cross paths with his father, who was “a man he never had a chance to meet, but whose legacy has haunted him since the day he was born.”

During a Paramount Global investors day presentation in February of 2022, Abrams announced that a new “Star Trek” movie would begin shooting by the end of that year with the Pine-led crew. Pine and his co-stars reportedly had no idea Paramount was moving forward with another “Star Trek” film, which was eventually removed from the studio’s film slate in September of that year.

Haynes recently directed six episodes of the “Star Wars” series “Andor,” starring Diego Luna as the titular role. He also helmed the “Star Trek”-inspired episode of “Black Mirror,” titled “USS Callister.” Haynes is repped by WME and attorney Peter Nelson.

Grahame-Smith is best known as the author of the best-selling novels “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” He also wrote and produced 2017’s “The Lego Batman Movie.” Grahame-Smith is repped by WME and attorneys PJ Shapiro and Wendy Kirk.

Deadline was first to report the “Star Trek” news.

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All Star Trek Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

Star Trek (2009) is back in theaters for Rotten Tomatoes’ 25th anniversary screening series at AMC — get tickets now !

We’re boldly ranking the Star Trek movies by Tomatometer, from the original film series (1979’s The Motion Picture to The Undiscovered Country ), into the handoff to films featuring the Next Generation cast ( Generations to Nemesis ), and through to the reboot series (2009’s Trek to Beyond ). – Alex Vo

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Star Trek (2009) 94%

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Star Trek: First Contact (1996) 93%

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Star Trek Beyond (2016) 86%

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) 87%

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Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 84%

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Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) 83%

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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) 82%

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Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) 78%

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Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) 55%

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Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) 53%

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Star Trek Generations (1994) 48%

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Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) 38%

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Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) 21%

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Every Star Trek Movie Ranked

Star Trek

One of the most beloved and influential science-fiction franchises of our time, the Star Trek universe continues to captivate audiences and expand into new worlds – from the Original Series, to the Next Generation, to the J.J. Abrams -led reboots, to the plethora of live-action and animated Enterprise outings on the small screen in recent years.

To mark the 40th anniversary of the all-time classic and many a Trekkie’s favourite, Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan , we’re boldly going where many have gone before, and wrangling the 13 big-screen Star Trek adventures into a definitive order of quality. Here’s Empire’s list of the best Star Trek movies, ranked from worst to best:

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

13. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

After two films directed by Nimoy, Shatner stepped up for Star Trek V , but it was a troubled production, beset by rewrites, re-shoots and industrial action. The results are, let's say, uneven: a collision of separate stories that don't really mesh, with some jarring tonal shifts. On one level this is a classic Roddenberry concept about exploring the universe and investigating its creation, but that sits alongside Klingon-Romulan-Human politicking and moments of comedy: Kirk and Bones ribbing Spock round a campfire, or Scotty knocking himself unconscious because he doesn't know his way around the new Enterprise. An impressive Dune -like desert sequence gives way to a knock-off Mos Eisley bar scene. Spock suddenly has a renegade brother we've never heard of before. And yet, while the separate parts might not add up to a cohesive whole, there's enough going on that some of it works. Fundamentally, this is a film where Captain Kirk meets God and is unimpressed . That might just be the ultimate Kirk moment, and getting there is worth a couple of hours of janky runaround.

12. Star Trek: Nemesis

12. Star Trek: Nemesis

A fairly catastrophic failure both critically and commercially, Nemesis did what no Trek film had done before: killed the franchise stone dead for almost a decade. It's still fun to hang out with the Next Generation crew, but that cozy familiarity aside, this is a disappointing experience. It's visually murky, bogs itself down with a leaden plot about Romulan intrigue, has its limelight hogged by Brent Spiner, and suffers from one of the weakest villains in the series: Tom Hardy 's Reman rebel leader Shinzon. This was one of Hardy's earliest roles, and it probably isn't his fault, but he's less than stellar in it and looks borderline ridiculous, sporting a prosthetic nose. His introduction is set up as a huge reveal moment - "Oh my God, it's Picard !" – except he looks nothing like Picard, and the only visual clue that he's Picard's clone is that he's bald. The action periodically delivers and Data's sacrifice – while not a patch on Spock's – gives it a little heart, but as the Next Gen crew's last hurrah, this one saw Picard and the gang go out with a whimper, not a bang.

11. Star Trek Into Darkness

11. Star Trek Into Darkness

The continuing mission of the rebooted Enterprise has all the pleasure of the 2009 film in its interplay between the principals, and some great San Francisco spectacle. But Into Darkness ' great weakness is its villain: in this instance, Benedict Cumberbatch inheriting the role of Khan from Ricardo Montalban. The problem is exactly the same one that Spectre had with Blofeld: Khan only means something to the audience. He doesn't mean anything to the characters on screen. This Enterprise hasn't even met him in Space Seed. So, the films whole agenda – it's a remixed Star Trek II with another Khan, hold on to your hats! – doesn't work. This Khan is just another bad guy doing generic bad guy stuff. His being Khan is ultimately neither here nor there. "I'm not Harrison, I'm Khan." – are you? Who's that then? If you need a Zoom call with your future self to explain the stakes, you've got more problems than you realise.

10. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

10. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

The frequent goofiness of the Original Series sometimes obscured the fact that it was often dealing in strong sci-fi concepts and attempting serious philosophical musing. There was even a high-falutin' pretension to some of the episode titles, like season 3's 'For The World Is Hollow And I Have Touched The Sky'. So, while in a post- Star Wars world, a straight-up space adventure might have seemed the no-brainer way to approach a Star Trek movie, you can see how Gene Roddenberry would have been more attracted to trying to do Kubrick's 2001 . Years in development, and at one point conceived as a new TV series before flipping back to film again, Robert Wise's film has been dubbed the Slow-Motion Picture by wags, and there's no denying its ponderousness. But where it achieves what it's aiming for is in the sequences designed to inspire absolute awe in the viewer – the early reveal of the new Enterprise in space dock, or Spock's solo float through the unbelievably vast V-Ger ship. It isn't to everyone's taste, it arguably doesn't make the best use of its cast, there's not much action and the new uniforms look awful. But there's a tone and ambition to The Motion Picture that's unique in Trek.

9. Star Trek: Generations

9. Star Trek: Generations

The long-heralded meeting of the generations kind of delivers on its promise, but instead of being great, it's only… fine. Part of the problem with Generations is its set-up, which shunts Kirk off into the time-defying Nexus. The plot device that gets him across the generations leaves all his own crew behind, meaning that the Original Series cast get cameos at best. Nimoy isn't in it at all. So, it's essentially a Next Generation movie with Shatner in it – less Enterprise meets Enterprise, more Picard meets Kirk. There are some Klingon shenanigans (hello TNG stalwarts Lursa and B'Etor), a wry Malcom McDowell is a solid principal villain, and the Enterprise is destroyed (again). But it never feels like the event it should, and Kirk's death, which ought to have been momentous, is badly fumbled; compare it to Spock's death in Wrath Of Khan and it's simply a shrug. Shatner was miffed enough that he brought Kirk back from the dead in a series of novels.

Star Trek: Insurrection

8. Star Trek: Insurrection

Of all the Star Trek films, Insurrection feels the most like a standard episode of the TV series (in this case, the Next Generation). The budget is obviously bigger, the screen wider, the effects more impressive, but strip those elements away and the story would barely have played any differently on the small screen. It's much lighter in tone than its immediate predecessor, First Contact , and therefore feels less consequential. But still enjoyable for all that. Largely a character piece focused on Data – as the Next Gen films increasingly were – it involves the Enterprise crew accidentally breaking Star Fleet's sacred Prime Directive of non-interference while on an observation mission on the peaceful backwoods planet Ba'Ku. The consequences draw the attention of the Son'A: Clive Barker-ish mummified aliens who keep themselves alive with frequent transplant surgery and are led by an unrecognisable F. Murray Abraham . The stakes are on the low side, but the set-pieces deliver. And you get to see Riker and Troi in the bath, if that's your thing.

7. Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

7. Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

Star Trek III can't help but feel smaller and less urgent than the extraordinary Wrath of Khan , and while clearly we want Spock back, this does feel like an entire film in the service of undoing Star Trek II 's most unforgettable moment. It's less flat-out and simply less fun than its predecessor, and that seems to be a deliberate choice: while not at Motion Picture levels of heaviness, it still seems to be aiming for more weight again. Leonard Nimoy directs – the first of many Trek cast members to make the transition to the other side of the camera – and he's clearly great at getting performances, but less sure-footed with pacing and action. And there's a lot of spoken exposition. The villains, too, don't seem as threatening, just a brigade of ornery Klingons, led, rather oddly, by comic actor Christopher Lloyd. You can argue that he wasn't Doc Brown yet, but he was the Reverend Jim. Even the destruction of the Enterprise doesn't quite have the impact that's intended (although maybe that's a function of our having seen it destroyed again so many times in the years since). Still, it's never less than enjoyable, particularly in the Bones Behaving Oddly strand that largely drives the story. This is amiable, watchable Trek , and sometimes that's enough.

6. Star Trek Beyond

6. Star Trek Beyond

After the misfire of Into Darkness , the clear mission here was simple: forget fan-pleasing that pleases no one, and deliver a straight ahead brand new Star Trek adventure with the characters we know and love, untethered from any weight of continuity or dour intertextual engagement with past glories. Beyond is a breath of fresh air and, creatively, a huge success, benefitting from the gonzo energy of multiple Fast & Furious movie director Justin Lin . Simon Pegg 's Scotty emerges as perhaps the film's MVP (odd that, considering he co-wrote it), and is given an amusing double-act with newcomer alien scavenger Sofia Boutella ("Beats and shouting!"). And Idris Elba is a solid villain, although you might wish the new series would play a different bad guy card than 'grudge against Starfleet'. Still, it's all such a blast that it's hard to mind too much, especially during the air-punching callback to the 2009 film's use of the Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage'.

5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Aka 'the one with the whales'. A family-friendly, fish-out-of-water comedy adventure, almost entirely set on (at the time) present-day Earth, intent on delivering an environmental message and with no real villain to speak of. An Enterprise crew who don't even have an Enterprise… Star Trek IV shouldn't work, but somehow it's one of the best, and certainly most beloved, films of the series. Maybe that's about its accessibility: it's Trek enough for fans, but un-Trekky enough to tempt the unconvinced. The comedy is great (particularly thanks to the revived Spock, whose befuddled weirdness goes barely remarked in 20th century San Francisco); the extended cast all get decent stuff to do (think Chekov's side-mission to find a 'nuclear wessel'); and Shatner gets a love interest that doesn't play as creepy. The whole film is like a warm hug. Is it Star Trek ? It seems from this evidence that Star Trek is whatever Star Trek says it is.

Star Trek - Chris Pine

4. Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek 's big comeback was a reboot and an origin story, re-casting the Original Series crew and telling the story of their first mission aboard the Enterprise, not long out of Star Fleet Academy. The surprise is the extent to which it's also Star Trek 11 : smartly setting up a branching timeline that allows it to remain canonical even as it contradicts the Trek that's gone before. It has its gagh and eats it too. Leonard Nimoy cameos as the Spock we already know, and the new cast ( Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Karl Urban , Zoe Saldana , Simon Pegg) do a great job at making their iconic roles feel both familiar and fresh. It's an energetic, colourful, pacy film, revelling in joyful nostalgia and a deep love for these characters. It's just a pity that, with the focus on building the team, Eric Bana 's villain ends up a bit sidelined. Even while he's destroying planets, he's somehow no Khan.

3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

The near-disaster of Star Trek V almost killed the franchise, so VI was returned to the safe hands of Nicholas Meyer, who'd previously snatched The Wrath Of Khan from the jaws of The Motion Picture . It doesn't quite hit Khan levels of excellence, but it does give the series its best villain since Montalban, in Christopher Plummer 's raging, Shakespeare-quoting Klingon general: a monomaniacal Ahab whose white whale is Kirk. Epic in scale, taking place across multiple ships and planets, the film's main plot hook is nevertheless a more intimate murder mystery, so there's room for character moments and effective storytelling. The obvious advancing age of the principals is explicitly acknowledged (adorably, the climax of the film genuinely rests on whether a portly old man can run up some stairs). And the wider context of peace negotiations between the Federation and the Klingon Empire serves to bridge the gap between The Original Series and the just-starting Next Generation , making this arguably a more effective handover than Generations. While some of the principal cast would return for guest appearances, either in subsequent films or on the small-screen Next Generation and Deep Space Nine , The Undiscovered Country feels valedictory, the last true hurrah of the original Enterprise crew.

2. Star Trek: First Contact

2. Star Trek: First Contact

With the Borg the stand-out villains of The Next Generation – they even assimilated Picard in a fantastic end-of-season cliffhanger – their progression to a big-screen face-off was almost inevitable. The results in First Contact make it one of Trek 's nailed-on classics. The implacable Borg's Giger-ish design and body-horror vibe don't necessarily quite gel with the Star Trek ethos, but the film balances those elements with some wide-eyed Roddenberry-ish wonder in a plot about humankind reaching for the stars: specifically the first Warp flight. Some have questioned the introduction of the Borg Queen – they were a terrifying hive mind but now they've got a leader? – but logic aside, she's an undeniably great character, played with insidious relish by the otherworldly Alice Krige. The scenes where she's tempting Data are hugely compelling, circling around one of those big sci-fi ideas that Trek loves and addresses so well: an android choosing to be human.

1. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

1. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

The film that ensured Star Trek 's future. A major regrouping and rethinking following The Motion Picture , it's thrilling, breathlessly action-packed, and emotionally hefty. The Motion Picture really only had a mystery, but The Wrath of Khan gives the Enterprise crew a truly credible – even frightening – adversary in Ricardo Montalban's aggrieved superhuman, and there's no greater illustration of how genuinely high the stakes of this film are than one of the main cast having to die: the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few. It's a straight-up, knock-down brawl across the galaxy, weaving in lore from deep Star Trek cuts but never alienating a non-expert audience (it's a sequel to a season 1 episode, but you don't really need to have seen 'Space Seed' to get immediately on board). There are new crew members - notably Kirstie Alley's Vulcan Saavik - but The Wrath of Khan proves that the legacy players are far from done, even as the film sweetly acknowledges their lengthening teeth (and faltering eyesight). And there is, of course, that Shatner moment ("KHAAAAAAAAN!"), reminding us that, while there are other space adventure franchises, there are some things that are just uniquely, gloriously Trek . Of all the films we have encountered in our Star Trek travels, this was the most… human.

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the franchise on the edge of forever.

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“Star Trek” as a concept has voyaged far beyond science fiction and into the safe waters of space opera, but that doesn’t amaze me. The Gene Roddenberry years, when stories might play with questions of science, ideals or philosophy, have been replaced by stories reduced to loud and colorful action. Like so many franchises, it’s more concerned with repeating a successful formula than going boldly where no “Star Trek” has gone before.

The 2009 “Star Trek” film goes back eagerly to where “Star Trek” began, using time travel to explain a cast of mostly the same characters, only at a younger point in their lives, sailing the Starship Enterprise. As a story idea, this is sort of brilliant and saves on invention, because young Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty and the rest channel their later selves. The child is father to the man, or the Vulcan, and all that.

Don’t get me wrong. This is fun. And when Leonard Nimoy himself returns as the aged Spock, encountering another Spock ( Zachary Quinto ) as a young man, I was kind of delighted, although as is customary in many sci-fi films, nobody is as astonished as they should be. Holy moly! Time travel exists, and this may be me! It’s more like a little ambiguous dialogue is exchanged, and they’re off to battle the evil Romulan Capt. Nero ( Eric Bana ).

Time travel as we all know, is impossible in the sense it happens here, but many things are possible in this film. Anyone with the slightest notion of what a black hole is, or how it behaves, will find the black holes in “Star Trek” hilarious. The logic is also a little puzzling when Scotty can beam people into another ship in outer space, but they have to physically parachute to land on a platform in the air from which the Romulans are drilling a hole to the Earth’s core. After they land there, they fight with two Romulan guards, using ... fists and swords? The platform is suspended from Arthur C. Clark’s “space elevator,” but instead of fullerenes, the cable is made of metallic chunks the size of refrigerators.

But stop me before I get started. I mention these details only to demonstrate that the movie raises its yo-yo finger to the science, while embracing the fiction. Apart from details from the youths of the characters and the Spock reunion, it consists mostly of encounters between the Enterprise and the incomparably larger and much better armed Romulan spaceship from the future. It’s encouraging to learn that not even explosions and fires can quickly damage a starship. Also that lifeboats can save the crew, despite the vast distance from home base.

That would be because of warp speed, which for present purposes consists of looking through an unnecessary window at bright lights zapping past. This method of transportation prevents any sense of wonder at the immensity of outer space and is a convenience not only for the starship but also for the screenwriters, who can push a button and zap to the next scene. The concept of using warp speed to escape the clutches of a black hole seems like a recycling of the ancient dilemma of the rock and the hard place.

But there are affecting character moments. Young Spock is deliberately taunted in hopes he will, as a Vulcan, betray emotion. Because Zachary Quinto plays him as a bit of a self-righteous prig, it’s satisfying to see him lose it. Does poor young Spock realize he faces a lifetime of people trying to get a rise out of him? Nimoy, as the elderly Spock, must have benefitted, because he is the most human character in the film.

Chris Pine , as James Tiberius Kirk, appears first as a hot-rodding rebel who has found a Corvette in the 23rd century and drives it into the Grand Canyon. A few years after he’s put on suspension by the Academy and smuggled on board the Enterprise by Bones McCoy ( Karl Urban ), he becomes the ship’s captain. There are times when the command deck looks like Bring Your Child to School Day, with the kid sitting in daddy’s chair.

Uhura ( Zoe Saldana ) seems to have traveled through time to the pre-feminist 1960s, where she found her miniskirt and go-go boots. She seems wise and gentle and unsuited to her costume. Scotty ( Simon Pegg ) seems to have begun life as a character in a Scots sitcom. Eric Bana’s Nero destroys whole planets on the basis of faulty intelligence, but the character is played straight and is effective.

The special effects are slam-bam. Spatial relationships between spaceships are unclear because the Romulan ship and the Enterprise have such widely unmatched scales. Battles consist primarily of jump-suited crew members running down corridors in advance of smoke, sparks and flames. Lots of verbal commands seem implausibly slow. Consider, at light warp speeds, how imprecise it would be to say “At my command ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...” Between “2” and “1,” you could jump a million galaxies.

I thought about these things during “Star Trek” because I could not help myself. I understand the Star Trek science has never been intended as plausible. I understand this is not science fiction but an Ark movie using a starship. I understand that the character types are as familiar as your favorite slippers. But the franchise has become much of a muchness. The new movie essentially intends to reboot the franchise with younger characters and carry on as before. The movie deals with narrative housekeeping. Perhaps the next one will engage these characters in a more challenging and devious story, one more about testing their personalities than re-establishing them. In the meantime, you want space opera, you got it.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Star Trek movie poster

Star Trek (2009)

Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action and violence, and brief sexual content

127 minutes

Anton Yelchin as Chekov

Chris Hemsworth as George Kirk

Eric Bana as Capt. Nero

John Cho as Sulu

Ben Cross as Sarek

Chris Pine as James Tiberius Kirk

Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime

Jennifer Morrison as Winona Kirk

Bruce Greenwood as Capt. Christopher Pike

Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson

Zachary Quinto as Spock

Zoe Saldana as Uhura

Directed by

  • J. J. Abrams

Screenplay by

  • Roberto Orci
  • Alex Kurtzman

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Screen Rant

Star trek's next movie gets new logo & heartfelt tribute from actor as section 31 wraps [updated].

Rob Kazinsky, one of the new cast members of Michelle Yeoh's Star Trek: Section 31 movie, posted a thank you to the cast and crew.

  • Star Trek: Section 31 wraps filming and actor Rob Kazinsky's posted a heartfelt tribute to cast and crew.
  • Kazinsky praises the Section 31's cast's chemistry and camaraderie, calling the experience "special."
  • Michelle Yeoh stars in the movie, reprising her role as Emperor Philippa Georgiou.

Actor Rob Kazinsky shared a heartfelt tribute to Star Trek: Section 31 after the newest Star Trek movie wrapped filming in Toronto. Section 31 is in production in Toronto as the first Star Trek movie made for streaming on Paramount+. Directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi and written by Craig Sweeny, Star Trek: Section 31 stars Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh, who is reprising her role as the anti-heroine Emperor Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek: Discovery.

On Instagram, Rob Kazinsky posted his thanks to the cast and crew of Star Trek: Section 31 after he wrapped filming his undisclosed role. Kazinsky, a lifelong, die-hard Star Trek fan, said "from day one [Section 31] was special..." and his fellow cast and crew will "blow the world of Star Trek off its hinges with the kind of chemistry and camaraderie you only dream of." In addition, Kazinsky shared a photo of a tablet with the movie's new logo: "Section Thirty One." Check out his post below:

UPDATE: Sharad Mohan (@mrm0han) shared a photo from the Section 31 wrap party on his Instagram Stories, including not-yet-announced actors Miku Martineau, Joe Pingue, and Augusto Bitter. See it below:

Where You've Seen Star Trek: Section 31's New Actors Before

What to expect from star trek: section 31, appropriately, michelle yeoh's star trek movie is shrouded in mystery.

Apropos for a movie about Starfleet's black ops organization, Michelle Yeoh's Star Trek: Section 31 movie is shrouded in mystery. Originally intended as a TV series spinoff of Star Trek: Discovery , Section 31 was reworked as a movie made for streaming on Paramount+. Yeoh is devoted to Star Trek and, after she won the Best Actress Oscar for Everything Everywhere All At Once , Yeoh used her clout to ensure Section 31 got made. Delayed by the dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, Section 31 finally began filming early in 2024 for a potential late-2024/early-2025 release window.

Star Trek: Section 31 is hoped to be the first of a series of made-for-Paramount+ Star Trek movies to be released every 2 years.

Star Trek: Section 31' s cast is comprised of actors who are new to the Star Trek universe , which begs the question of when, exactly, the movie takes place since Emperor Georgiou left the 32nd century for destinations unknown in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. Fans hoped Section 31 would cast Star Trek legacy actors and characters who have historic ties to the black ops agency, but it seems like Georgiou will meet all-new characters. But going by Rob Kazinsky's enthusiasm for the film, Star Trek: Section 31 is shaping up to be something special.

Star Trek: Section 31

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William Shatner

William Shatner on His Biggest ‘Star Trek’ Regret – and Why He Cried With Bezos

From Captain Kirk to ‘Boston Legal’ lawyer Denny Crane, the 92-year-old THR Icon reflects on career reinvention and what could lure him back to the captain’s chair.

By Aaron Couch

Aaron Couch

Film Editor

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When writing about a legend who’s still working as a nonagenarian, it’s almost obligatory to include a line about how they are seemingly busier than ever. William Shatner , 92, may no longer be on set 12 hours a day for the roles that made him the first Comic-Con celebrity ( Star Trek ), or that transformed him into a late-career regular at the Emmys podium ( The Practice , Boston Legal ), but it’s difficult not to marvel at the pace at which he lives his life. 

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Now, Shatner is the subject of the crowdfunded documentary You Can Call Me Bill (in select theaters March 22, his 93rd birthday), a meditation on his life, career and mortality. 

The Montreal-born actor began performing at the age of 6 at camp and never stopped, transitioning from Canadian radio dramas to Broadway to 1950s TV Westerns. He’s been an omnipresent pop culture fixture since 1966, when he was cast as Captain James T. Kirk in Star Trek under unusual circumstances never seen again in Hollywood. NBC had a pilot that didn’t work, but the network wanted to try again with a mostly new cast. Where the original pilot was a somewhat dry affair, Shatner brought much-needed humor to the Enterprise. 

Though the show was canceled after just three seasons, it earned a cult following in syndication, and Shatner reprised the role for seven feature films. 

His comedic chops led him to the Saturday Night Live stage — 38 years later, people still ask him about a sketch in which he mocked Star Trek fans with the exasperated line “Get a life!” — as well as multiple Emmy wins playing lawyer Denny Crane on David E. Kelley’s ABC procedural The Practice and then Boston Legal , which concluded after four years in 2008. And he has penned books, released albums and directed documentaries.

During a Zoom conversation in early March, Shatner discussed why Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , his first and only theatrical feature as a director, was the biggest regret of his career; that history-making Star Trek kiss with Nichelle Nichols; and what could lure him back to the captain’s chair.

Some say acting is a way to find the love they aren’t getting elsewhere. Was that true for you?

I’m sure it’s true. I spent a very lonely life in my younger years. Being able to join a cast and be a part of a group of people, I’m sure that was an element in my starting to be an actor when I was very young.

Though you acted throughout childhood, you got a practical degree, a bachelor of commerce, from McGill University in Montreal. Was the plan to use that degree? 

But as an actor, you do have some control, right? You understudied for Christopher Plummer on Henry V in 1956, and he once said, “Where I stood up to make a speech, he sat down. He did the opposite of everything I did.”

I had no rehearsal. I didn’t know the people. And it was five days into the opening of the show [when Plummer got sick]. The choreography was one of the other things that I didn’t know. I was in a macabre state of mind. So that had nothing to do with “I stood where he sat.” [It was, rather], “I’ve got to move around the stage somewhere. I think I’ll sit down here, I’m exhausted!”

You worked with director Richard Donner on the classic Twilight Zone episode “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet,” which was in fact a nightmare for him, as it was technically complicated and the shooting days were halved. Did you sense the pressure he was under?

It’s complicated. When you get those science fiction choices: The guy is dressed in a furry little suit and you say, “Well, why isn’t the suit aerodynamic? Why is it a suit that’ll catch every breeze that blows?” What kind of logic do you use in any science fiction case? When I looked at the acrobat [Nick Cravat, who played a gremlin terrorizing Shatner’s character from the wing of a plane], I said to myself, “That isn’t something you’d wear on the wing of a 747,” but then again, what do you wear on the wing of a 747? So yeah, it was complicated in that way.

He was in the military, and he was a policeman. So there was this militaristic vision of “You don’t make out with a fellow soldier.” There are strict rules and you abide by the rules. Around that, [the writers] had to write the drama. But within that was the discipline of “This is the way a ship works.” Well, as Star Trek progressed, that ethos has been forgotten [in more recent shows]. I sometimes laugh and talk about the fact that I think Gene is twirling in his grave. “No, no, you can’t make out with the lady soldier!” 

The writers of Star Trek: The Next Generation butted heads with Gene when he was alive. 

The fights that went on, to my understanding, were big, because the writers had their difficulties. “We need some more material.” “We need to get out of here. It’s claustrophobic.” 

When you joke that Gene is twirling in his grave, you mean he wouldn’t approve of onscreen romances between crewmates on the later shows?

Yes, exactly. I haven’t watched the other Star Trek s very much, but what I’ve seen with glimpses of the Next Generation is yes, the difficulty in the beginning, between management, was all about Gene’s rules and obeying or not obeying those rules. 

You and Nichelle Nichols are credited with the first interracial kiss on TV. Is it true that you pushed to make every take real, despite the network asking for faked takes so they would have the option?

After three seasons, NBC cancels Star Trek in 1969, and you find yourself broke, doing summer stock theater on the East Coast. Did you think acting might be over at that point? 

I’m broke, living in a truck, sleeping in the back and trying to save that money so I could support my three kids and my [ex-]wife, who were living in Beverly Hills. The only thing that ever occurred to me was, “I can always go back to Toronto and make something of a living as an actor there.” I never thought, “Oh, I’ve got to become a salesman.” It never occurred to me from the age of 6 to do anything else. Which is weird because [today] I hear it all around me: “God, I can’t make a living anymore [as an actor].” And that’s true. People with names can’t make a living under the circumstances that the business has fallen into. 

In 1979, Paramount needed an answer to Star Wars , so it revived Trek in the form of movies. Then T.J. Hooker came along a few years later. What did you get out of the show?

It was a terrific show. It had all kinds of drama. I got to direct several of the episodes. And some of my shots are in the opening. I was totally involved, committed to the writing, committed to the directing. You’re running all the time. You’ve got to make decisions and you don’t have enough money.

I wish that I’d had the backing and the courage to do the things I felt I needed to do. My concept was, “ Star Trek goes in search of God,” and management said, “Well, who’s God? We’ll alienate the nonbeliever, so, no, we can’t do God.” And then somebody said, “What about an alien who thinks they’re God?” Then it was a series of my inabilities to deal with the management and the budget. I failed. In my mind, I failed horribly. When I’m asked, “What do you regret the most?,” I regret not being equipped emotionally to deal with a large motion picture. So in the absence of my power, the power vacuum filled with people that didn’t make the decisions I would’ve made.

You seem to take the blame, but outside observers might say, “Well, the budget wasn’t there. You didn’t get the backing you needed.” But in your mind, it’s on you.

Paramount+ is rumored to have tossed around ideas for you to reprise your role, à la Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: Picard . Is that something you would entertain? 

Leonard [Nimoy] made his own decision on doing a cameo [in J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek ]. He’s there for a moment, and it’s more a stunt that Spock appears in a future. If they wrote something that wasn’t a stunt that involved Kirk, who’s 50 years older now, and it was something that was genuinely added to the lore of Star Trek , I would definitely consider it.

Did hosting SNL feel like a breakthrough, in terms of showing what you could do with comedy? 

That was a new show then, it was a big sensation, and hosting it was good. They really wrote comedy for me. I played comedy since I was 7. There is a timing. There is a way of characterizing a line. It’s a kind of spiritual thing playing comedy, letting the audience know they’re open to laugh.

After decades in the industry, you achieved your greatest critical success in your 70s playing Denny Crane on Boston Legal . What was the genesis of Denny? 

In 2021, at age 90, you became the oldest person to go to space. Upon landing, you had a tearful exchange with Jeff Bezos. How have you processed that? 

I was weeping uncontrollably for reasons I didn’t know. It was my fear of what’s happening to Earth. I could see how small it was. It’s a rock with paper-thin air. You’ve got rock and 2 miles of air, and that’s all that we have, and we’re fucking it up. And, that dramatically, I saw it in that moment.

What are your thoughts on legacy? 

At Mar-a-Lago, I was asked to help raise funds with the Red Cross. I had to be at Mar-a-Lago Saturday night, and Leonard’s funeral was Sunday morning. I couldn’t make both. I chose the charity. It just occurred to me: Leonard died. They got a statue up. It’s not going to last. Say it lasts 50 years, 100. [Someone will say], “Who is that Leonard Nimoy? Tear the statue down, put somebody else up.” But what you can’t erase is helping somebody or something. That has its own energy and reverberation. That person got help — and then is able to help somebody else. You’ve continued an action that has no boundaries. That’s what a good deed does

This story first appeared in the March 14 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe .

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Star Trek: Section 31 Has Finished Filming, And A Key Detail About The Michelle Yeoh Movie Has Finally Been Confirmed

I'm glad this has been settled.

Michelle Yeoh as the Mirror Universe's Philippa Georgiou in Star Trek: Discovery

There’s a decent amount we know about Star Trek: Section 31 , the upcoming movie heading to Paramount+ subscribers . For one thing, the project, originally conceived as a TV spinoff to Star Trek: Discovery , will see Michelle Yeoh reprising the Mirror Universe incarnation of Philippa Georgiou , who hasn’t been seen since Discovery Season 3. Now, thanks to a cast member revealing that Section 31 has finished filming, another key detail about the movie has finally been confirmed that had been the subject of much fan speculation.

First off, Robert Kazinsky, who has been cast in an undisclosed role in Section 31 , broke the news on his Instagram page that the movie had finished rolling cameras. Read what the EastEnders and True Blood actor had to say about his experience on the production, and then take a close look at what’s on the screen in the picture:

A post shared by Rob Kazinsky A photo posted by therobkazinsky on

It’s good to hear that Kazinsky had such a great time on Star Trek: Section 31 , particularly being directed by Olatunde Osunsanmi, who’s also helmed multiple Discovery episodes and two episodes of Star Trek: Short Treks. However, what’s really intriguing is the Starfleet delta on that screen positioned next to the Section 31 logo. As pointed out by Trek Central , this is the same delta used by the secret division in the 23rd century, i.e. during the time period when Star Trek: Discovery ’s first two seasons and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds take place. Or, to be even more specific, just a handful of years before the events of Star Trek: The Original Series .

So now we know that the Section 31 movie will take place sometime post- Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, meaning in the 23rd century after the crew of the title ship traveled to the 32nd century. Discovery viewers will remember that although Philippa Georgiou traveled with them to the future, she began deteriorating because her body couldn’t handle being in another universe and centuries ahead of her original time period at the same time. As such, at the end of the two-parter “Terra Firma,” the Guardian of Forever opened a portal to a time where the Prime and Mirror Universes were more aligned so she could continue living.

While there was always the possibility that Georgiou could have been sent to a different time period when Section 31 was operating, like in the era of The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine and Voyager , or perhaps even earlier in its existence around the time of Enterprise , the delta in Robert Kazinsky’s photo shows that won’t be the case. He and Yeoh are joined in Star Trek: Section 31 ’s cast by Omari Hardwick, Kacey Roll, Sam Richardson, Sven Ruygrok, Humbly Gonzalez and James Hiroyuki Liao, but Shazad Latif will not reprise Ash Tyler . This will be the first Paramount+ exclusive Star Trek movie, and 14th in the overall film series.

So that’s one mystery that’s been solved about Star Trek: Section 31 , but there are still plenty of questions left to be answered, including when it will be released. We’ll let you know about that and more once those details trickle in, and remember to also keep track of our coverage of the upcoming Star Trek TV shows .

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Connoisseur of Marvel, DC, Star Wars, John Wick, MonsterVerse and Doctor Who lore, Adam is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He started working for the site back in late 2014 writing exclusively comic book movie and TV-related articles, and along with branching out into other genres, he also made the jump to editing. Along with his writing and editing duties, as well as interviewing creative talent from time to time, he also oversees the assignment of movie-related features. He graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism, and he’s been sourced numerous times on Wikipedia. He's aware he looks like Harry Potter and Clark Kent.

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Star Trek (2009)

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one pl... Read all The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time. The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

  • J.J. Abrams
  • Roberto Orci
  • Alex Kurtzman
  • Gene Roddenberry
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  • 1.6K User reviews
  • 532 Critic reviews
  • 82 Metascore
  • 27 wins & 95 nominations total

Star Trek: Final Theatrical Trailer

  • Spock Prime

Eric Bana

  • (as Zoë Saldana)

John Cho

  • Amanda Grayson

Chris Hemsworth

  • George Kirk

Jennifer Morrison

  • Winona Kirk

Rachel Nichols

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Clifton Collins Jr.

  • Officer Pitts
  • (as Antonio Elias)
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Star Trek Into Darkness

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  • Trivia Simon Pegg did not audition for the role - he simply received an email from J.J. Abrams asking if he would like to play Scotty. Pegg said he would have done this for free, or even paid Abrams to be in this film, if he had not been offered a role.
  • Goofs After Spock boards the Vulcan ship on board the mining vessel, Kirk is seen walking through some pipes. His Starfleet phaser has switched to a Romulan gun (longer barrel and no lights), before switching back to the Starfleet one again in the next scene. He actually acquires the Romulan gun a few scenes later.

Spock Prime : James T. Kirk!

James T. Kirk : Excuse me?

Spock Prime : How did you find me?

James T. Kirk : Whoa... how do you know my name?

Spock Prime : I have been and always shall be your friend.

James T. Kirk : Wha...

[shakes head]

James T. Kirk : Uh... look... I-I don't know you.

Spock Prime : I am Spock.

James T. Kirk : Bullshit.

  • Crazy credits The first part of the closing credits is styled after the opening credits of Star Trek (1966) , where the starship Enterprise blasts off into space as a monologue describes its mission, and then the cast names appear as the famous "Star Trek" theme music plays.
  • Connections Edited into De wereld draait door: Episode #4.157 (2009)
  • Soundtracks Theme from 'Star Trek' TV Series Written by Alexander Courage & Gene Roddenberry

User reviews 1.6K

  • Mar 22, 2015

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Production art

  • If this premise is that an alternate timeline created when Nero traveled back in time, then what happened to James Kirk's older brother, Sam, aka George Samuel Kirk Jr.?
  • How can Spock's mother still be alive years later (original series) when she dies earlier on in this movie ?
  • What is Star Trek about?
  • May 8, 2009 (United States)
  • United States
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  • Star Trek: The Future Begins
  • Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park - 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California, USA (Vulcan)
  • Paramount Pictures
  • Spyglass Entertainment
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  • $150,000,000 (estimated)
  • $257,730,019
  • $75,204,289
  • May 10, 2009
  • $385,681,768

Technical specs

  • Runtime 2 hours 7 minutes
  • Dolby Digital
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  • 2.35 : 1 (original ratio)
  • 2.39 : 1 (original ratio)

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William Shatner Regrets His Biggest Star Trek Failure

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

In his vast career, William Shatner has directed five features. Three of them were documentaries about the making of "Star Trek" including "The Captains" in 2011, "Get a Life!" in 2012, and "Chaos on the Bridge" in 2014. Prior to these, Shatner also helmed a 2002 sci-fi film called "Groom Lake," which he co-wrote with the notorious "Star Trek" producer Maurice Hurley. 

Shatner's highest-profile directing gig, however, came in 1989 with the release of "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier." To this day, "Star Trek V" is considered the least of the "Star Trek" movies , lambasted for its clunky script, weird central conceit, and cheap special effects. In the film, the U.S.S. Enterprise is hijacked by Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill), the half-brother of Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Sybok flies the ship to the very center of the galaxy where he hopes to meet God face-to-face. Along the way, Sybok converts several Enterprise crew members to his cult of joy and pain-free living. The film's climax features the appearance of God Himself ... or rather a very powerful psychic alien who claims to be God in order to steal a starship. 

Kirk (Shatner) is the one who asks the logical question of why God would need a starship. 

It's an odd concept, but appropriately ambitious for the franchise. How would the humanist universe of "Star Trek" react to the physical appearance of God? It posits interesting questions about faith and the nature of the universe. Sadly, the film was largely bungled, mostly thanks to a rushed script, studio cuts, a writer's strike, and myriad other production troubles.

In a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter , Shatner expressed extreme regret over how "Star Trek V" turned out, feeling that he should have been able to push back against Paramount. 

The production of Star Trek V

When making "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home," Shatner had a pay dispute with Paramount, and he agreed to appear in "Voyage" only under the stipulation that he be allowed to direct its sequel. Shatner also had a clause in his contract (going way back to the 1960s) vis-à-vis Leonard Nimoy, stating that he and his co-star would be given raises and job opportunities at the same time. Nimoy directed "Voyage" as well as "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock," allowing Shatner to leverage his way into the director's chair. He also, as part of the deal, was allowed to write a treatment.

While making "Voyage," Shatner penned said treatment, coming up with a story about how the Enterprise was hijacked by, essentially, a televangelist. The idea was that the televangelist character would take the Enterprise to meet God at the center of the galaxy, but instead find Satan living there (which would have been in continuity with a "Star Trek: The Animated Series" episode). It was producer Harve Bennett who insisted that the idea be reworked.

Shatner could have pushed back, but didn't thanks to his inexperience as a director. He said: 

"I wish that I'd had the backing and the courage to do the things I felt I needed to do. My concept was, ' Star Trek goes in search of God,' and management said, 'Well, who's God? We'll alienate the nonbeliever, so, no, we can't do God.' And then somebody said, 'What about an alien who thinks they're God?' Then it was a series of my inabilities to deal with the management and the budget. I failed. In my mind, I failed horribly."

It was, it seems, a failure of command, not of ambition.

Ill-equipped for command

Trekkies weren't satisfied with "Star Trek V" and, it seems, neither was Shatner. The actor said: 

"When I'm asked, 'What do you regret the most?,' I regret not being equipped emotionally to deal with a large motion picture. So in the absence of my power, the power vacuum filled with people that didn't make the decisions I would've made." 

Of course, with a large studio project like "Star Trek V," it's wholly possible that the studio would have interfered even with a stalwart director. Even when the interviewer, Aaron Couch, defends Shatner's decisions, the actor insists that he was still to blame. He remembered his idea for a team of enormous rock monsters to attack Kirk on the Hell planet during the film's finale ... and how it just wasn't practical. Shatner's ideas were a little too big for what he was able to do. He recalled:

"It is on me. I wanted granite [monsters] to explode out of the mountain. The special effects guy said, 'I can build you a suit that's on fire and smoke comes out.' I said, 'Great, how much will that cost?' They said, '$250,000 a suit.' Can you make 10 suits? He said, 'Yeah.' That's $2.5 million. You've got a $30 million budget. You sure you want to spend [it on that]? Those are the practical decisions. Well, wait a minute, what about one suit? And I'll photograph it everywhere."

In 1989, it felt like "Star Trek" might be wrapping up, ready to let "Star Trek: The Next Generation" take over on the small screen . Luckily, Shatner and the original Enterprise crew returned for "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," a much better movie and a great way to wrap up the grand human adventure.

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy to Start Filming 10-Episode First Season This Summer

It may not air until 2026..

Adele Ankers-Range Avatar

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy showrunner and executive producer Alex Kurtzman has confirmed that the first season of the all-new original series will comprise 10 episodes, with filming beginning this summer.

In a recent interview with Collider at SXSW, Kurtzman revealed that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy is on target to start filming later this summer as the team has officially reached the "halfway" point in the writers' room. He warned fans, however, that they might not see the new Star Trek series beam onto Paramount+ for a while.

"It could end up not airing until 2026," Kurtzman said. "By starting [shooting in late summer], just building the sets alone is a massive endeavor, then six months of shooting, then six to eight months of post. If you recall, there was all this noise around Season 1 and Season 2 of Discovery because the streaming service, they were like, 'Oh, it's like a turnaround on a cop show.' I'm like, 'No, you don't understand. It's eight months of visual effects turnaround, and we're not gonna rush that.'"

Kurtzman asserted that the series will "come out" but only when it's ready, and he can't put a date on that yet because they haven't even "started casting the kids" who will appear as the new class of Starfleet cadets at the center of the story, though promises those characters will reinforce what fans love about Starfleet.

"There's a lot of different kids from a lot of different places," Kurtzman explained. "Some of them want to be there, some of them don't want to be there. It's gonna be a fundamental reinforcement of all the things we love about Starfleet, in general.

"You always want to ask yourself, 'Why this show now?'" he added. "I think that one of the big things that certainly my 17-year-old son is facing, which is kind of a fundamental 'Star Trek' question, is, 'How did we get here? How has this generation inherited the mistakes from previous generations? And what are we gonna do to fix it, to build that optimistic future that is Roddenberry's essential vision?' That is very much going to be at the heart of Starfleet Academy."

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Images

Paramount Plus

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy landed a series order from Paramount+ in March 2023, with Noga Landau joining Kurtzman as co-showrunner and executive producer on the show alongside fellow executive producers Gaia Violo, Aaron Baiers, Jenny Lumet, Rod Roddenberry, Trevor Roth, Frank Siracusa, and John Weber.

Paramount+ already has an expansive lineup of original Star Trek series, including Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Star Trek: Discovery's final adventure will also premiere globally on April 4 with a two-episode debut, followed by new episodes each Thursday.

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X/Twitter @AdeleAnkers.

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Filming On The ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Streaming Movie Has Wrapped

eerste star trek film

| March 21, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 81 comments so far

We have another Star Trek production update from Toronto, this time for Star Trek: Section 31 . Filming started in January for the streaming movie and now, according to an update from one of the actors, filming is complete.

That’s a wrap on Section 31

The news of the end of filming came on Wednesday from actor Robert Kazinsky who was one of seven new cast members announced on January 30th, when filming had started. Kazinsky shared an image on Instagram of what looks to be his wrap gift from the production with a personalized note, a rose, a bottle of wine, and the seatback from his Section 31 set chair. On his Instagram story, he wrote “That’s a wrap. Our trek is ended… for now.”

Kazinsky wrote a longer message in an Instagram post, calling filming Section 31 “one of the greatest experiences of my life” and saying “I have few bigger heroes in my heart than Star Trek and for the first time in my life a hero exceeded my wildest hope.”  He also went on to praise director Olatunde Osunsanmi as “the finest Captain I’ve sailed under” along with applauding star Michelle Yeoh, who is returning to her Discovery role as Emperor Phillipa Georgiou.

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Rob Kazinsky (@therobkazinsky)

Kazinsky appears to be a genuine Trek fan. Of the Section 31 production, he said:

As someone who has been watching a Star Trek show my entire life, who restarts as soon as I finish like so many others I know, to be a small part of that giant constellation is the fulfillment of a hope that I felt the first time I ever heard the words “Space, the Final Frontier” I hope you guys like what we made for you. As a die hard Trekker I think you’ll love it.

The English actor may be best known for a role in the Pacific Rim film. He recently appeared in the Russo Brothers-directed Netflix film The Gray Man . He also had a small part in Captain Marvel .

eerste star trek film

Robert Kazinsky at the Captain Marvel premiere (Getty)

More cast revealed

Kazinsky also gave a shoutout to the previously announced members of the cast: Omari Hardwick, Kacey Rohl, Sam Richardson, Sven Ruygrok, Humberly Gonzalez, and James Hiroyuki Liao. But he also tagged three additional actors not included in the original Paramount+ release: Joe Pingue ( Station Eleven ), Miku Martineau ( Kate ), and Augusto Bitter ( EZRA ). Just like the other seven, it isn’t known what roles any of the actors besides Michelle Yeoh are playing.

eerste star trek film

Michelle Yeoh’s Oscar shoutout to Star Trek

According to our previous reporting , production on the Section 31 movie was originally set to run for six weeks, wrapping up on March 13th. It looks like things took another week to finish up. They probably lost a little bit of time for star Michelle Yeoh to attend the Oscars on March 10th in Los Angeles. On March 12th, the 2023 winner for Best Actress shared a picture on Instagram of her presenting at this year’s Academy Awards along with the message “My Vulcan salute to my Section 31 and Star Trek family and ‘heart’ to all I love and who care for me ♥️ on Oscar stage.”

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Michelle Yeoh 楊紫瓊 (@michelleyeoh_official)

Little is known about the plot of the Section 31 movie. Here is the brief official synopsis:

In  Star Trek: Section 31 , Emperor Philippa Georgiou, joins a secret division of Starfleet tasked with protecting the United Federation of Planets and faces the sins of her past.

eerste star trek film

Official announcement image

Production on the Section 31 movie was completed in parallel with production on the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds , which just began filming the 7th episode (of the 10-episode season) yesterday . Both productions are shot at different studio locations in Toronto, but both also share the same AR Wall virtual stage. The Section 31 movie was shot primarily on the Pinewood Studio stages that were previously occupied by Star Trek: Discovery .

Paramount+ has yet to set any release date for either the Section 31 streaming movie or season 3 of Strange New Worlds .

Keep up with news about the  Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com

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Michelle Yeoh Talks Prepping For ‘Star Trek: Section 31’ Movie

Well, it’s not so much that the production is done, but principle photography is complete….

Hopefully we have a winner here.

Phil, I imagine it must be a tough pill for your swallow that a Star Trek movie actually got completed after so long? I feel you pain, man!

Been saying for a bit now that we’d likely see a feature made direct to streaming before one hit the big screen. This doesn’t bother me in the least.

I said the very thing two years ago now lol.

And it’s probably easier to greenlight a $20 million TV movie vs the ridiculous money they spent on the Kelvin movies.

In the Kelvin movies 20 mil probably wouldn’t even cover the cast costs.

Is that $20 mil number verified? That sounds low.

I’d read somewhere that PS3 was a 100MM expenditure, which works out to about 10MM per hour. I doubt they made S31 for 20MM, but given the similarities of the productions, maybe 30-40MM is a reasonable guesstimate.

Yeah, around 35 mil sounds more likely.

To be clear I have no clue what the budget is I was just making the point it’s probably not $150 million either lol.

Yeah it could definitely be more than $20 million. I just assumed that would be the bare minimum.

Picard season 3 was a very talky show and no way did it cost 100m for the 10 episode season. Season 2 of SNW cost quite a bit more I would say, there was more location shooting and the CGI was much better overall.

No it wouldn’t and not a shock why they’re currently dead in the water 8 years on.

Yeah. Completely mismanaged IMHO. Even Chris Pine said you can’t make a Trek movie with a Marvel budget and expect Marvel returns. Trek is just not that kind of franchise.

Easy for him to say given his, Zaldana’s and Urban’s costs are A-lister high.

If you said to him, “hey Chris, we want you and the others to take a 50% pay cut to help let us make the make the next movie for closer to $100 mil,” I think we know what the answer would be…lol

Also, “Marvel returns” ain’t what they used to be.

lol dude that’s exactly my point!! 🖖

I’m guessing Robert Kazinsky’s character was in the Amazon with Philippa’s mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.

An iconic line for the ages.

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Almost as bad as the tee shirt bots plaguing FB….

Perhaps if you cut back a bit on the toking your spelling might improve?

I really hope they don’t make this some stupid ‘Mission Impossible style’ Kurtzman-Trek abomination.

Actually I think Yeoh described it exactly as that in an interview.

I’m OK with it but I was hoping for something a little trippier like a time travel/multiverse type of story. But maybe that will come into play too.

I’d be up for that format, but only if it were based on Assignment: Earth, not S31. I’d happily watch a Gary Seven & Isis series, and it isn’t completely beyond the realm of possibility given it was mentioned in Picard.

My concern is, “will it say something about our world today?”

It better! That’s been Star Trek’s thing since the very beginning, with the Klingons and Romulans representing Russia and China during the Cold War, “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” TOS S3E15, and numerous others across all of the later series.

Coming in with low expectations but will give it shot. I’m in the minority but im not a fan of Michelle Yeoh as an actor despite being an Oscar winner. Have always found her acting to be rather wooden. I also strongly dislike the character she plays. So a bit of double whammy. Also think Section 31 was too heavy handed or over done on Disco.

BUT, I have a strange hunch that I will enjoy this movie for some reason despite all of that.

We will see.

You really need to check out her and Jackie Chan in Police Story III: Supercop. Just superb!

Hate MU Georgiou with a passion but always liked her in other things.

As a huge martial arts and action movie fan Yeoh is basically a goddess for me in that regard. So I’ll try to watch anything she is in. Also if she brings in more international fans to Trek, I think that will be for the better in the long run.

Heck yeah. What Yeoh does in movies like Crouching Tiger and Memoirs of a Geisha is incredibly underrated – she displays effortless grace and subtlety belying huge interior character work. That’s not easy at all, and the fact that it’s balanced with her doing truly magnificent physical acting as well, and I have always been in awe of her. But EEAAO was just a brilliant showcase of all she is capable of, and for decades she’s had an uphill battle in Hollywood to get the kinds of roles people who look and talk like her sadly aren’t considered for nearly enough. Her now getting to reap the rewards of her hard work warms my heart.

I will always maintain she wasn’t used properly on Discovery until her last two episodes. I don’t doubt there’s more soul searching for Georgiou in this movie, but now that they’ve gotten past the main jump of her redemption arc, such as it was, that does free her up to be more than a deliverer of awkward snark.

Those films aren’t bad, and are pretty much creations for western audiences, but some of her older Hong Kong martial arts films are much better IMHO. .

Supercop was my introduction to her, but we were all about her movies in my household – a martial arts star from Malaysia? Hell yes. HK films definitely let her run wild. The Hollywood films have been all over the place but also nice in that they let her flex acting muscles, even if they did often pigeonhole her as the elegant wise and reserved character. And then of course just seeing an Asian woman at every age she was being so visible and powerful has been fantastic.

Wow, that is quite the endorsement.

Extremely excited!

OMG, only Michelle Yeoh’s character is shown on the poster with none of the crew/staff? I can’t handle that. It’s so not fair and I am so tired of the focus being on her. Why does it always have to be about Georgiou? This is just awful! They should just call it “Star Trek: Yeoh.” What an effing disaster!

I know you were being sarcastic but I would 100% watch Star Trek: Yeoh!

Make it Yeoh. :-)

TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT all managed ensemble shows. Strange New Worlds manages it, so does Prodigy. Why can’t Discovery? (or Star Trek Mariner Lower Decks recently)

This from the person who claims all the time here that they want new and different types of Star Trek shows.

Make up your mind?

TOS was not an ensemble show. it starred William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and LATER Deforest Kelley. Till the movies the rest of the cast were co-stars.

Yea, I meant to mention that as well.

Agreed. TOS was mostly about Kirk and Spock with McCoy having a bigger role in seasons 2 and 3.

Yep. I don’t wanna get into certain disputes among the TOS cast but frankly it’s why sometimes I think a certain Captain has a point.

Awesome. Going to be interesting!

Real Star Trek is back.

I know, right!

Semi optimistic about this. Please don’t suck.

Same here Tiger2. There are so many great possibilities with this movie, let’s hope the writers have actually learned something and have come up with a great Star Trek story. With the exception of Michelle Yeoh, the cast is completely new and hopefully that new slate means there is no baggage from the past. We shall see… fingers crossed. Any word on when it will hit the small screen?

Yeah they have a chance to do something really special here so I’m hoping we get it. As you know never been a huge fan of the character but mostly because she was treated like a one dimensional caricature on Discovery. Hopefully that will change here.

And while no clue on when it airs my guess is it will be this year now that filming is over and post production on TV movies has a much smaller turnaround. Maybe in the fall?

And if SNW season 3 won’t air until next year they really need something else to attract fans if it’s only Discovery and LDS airing this year.

At the very least we know the talent is there. Now we have to see about the story and execution! Still bummed Alexander Siddig is not involved tho.

While highly doubtful he could still be in it.

Remember we didn’t know Seven, Troi, Riker or Data was in Picard until the first trailer arrived

Again I don’t think he is but I suspect we may see some familiar characters just the same.

🖖🤞One could only hope!

I’ll be watching this mainly because I absolutely love Michelle Yeoh. the Star Trek franchise lucked out by capturing her interest at all. I hope it’s worthy of her time and energy.

Right? Trek hasn’t had this much casting luck since Whoopi Goldberg!

Michelle Yeohs Character was the worst thing about Discoverys first three seasons. She might have done stuff she’s good in but she made Discovery a worse show. And that is saying something.

I don’t get why you would give a spin off to her of all people.

No Discovery made itself a worse show. She wasn’t in season 4 and it was still pretty bad.

I didn’t like her character either but you can’t blame the show’s shoddy story telling on one character alone.

I’d rather have a film about Georgiou Prime. She was interesting.

I wasn’t a fan of her Mirror character but even though this is the same character they almost completely reconned her to be more of the Captain Gergeau than the Empress one.

It was less of a retcon and more of a character growing beyond her original (MU) form. Georgiou went from villain to anti-hero. I don’t think she can ever become a full good hero, but she is definitely someone I hate to love. Plus, the only real anti-hero we’ve previously seen in Trek was Garak. His crimes, while not as widespread, were definitely on the same level, yet he’s beloved by the fandom anyway.

I absolutely see your point! Redemption in a story is always attractive. But this is SUCh a leap! Going from practically cannibal to defending those you used to eat??

This doesn’t interest me but I do have respect for Yeoh. I hope everyone who likes her character really enjoys this.

Maybe I will like it but really hated what they did with Section 31 on Discovery.

I’m glad it’s just a single film as opposed to a series. This way if it’s terrible we can give it the one watch, move on and forget about it. Like the Kelvin films, kind of – 😃

Same. I became much more excited when it was announced a movie and not a series.

I mean here we literally have an Oscar winner leading her own Trek film. When did that happen last time? If she can bring a whole new demographic to Trek then that will be a quite good end result of this film.

Patrick Stewart in another world would have chosen his movie roles a little differently and had at least an Oscar nod by now. His not even having an Emmy I can’t really put on him though. He’s put it all out there, and aside from maybe a couple shows not seeming to be worth it (unless he just loved making them of course), it’s on Emmy voters for not doing right by him.

I think we are all aware that other than a couple of the creative arts awards both the Oscar’s and Emmys are very biased against Star Trek. It’s almost a miracle TNG got even a nomination for Outstanding Dramatic Series in its final year.

Sadly I think that just goes for any Franchise at this point. Lord of the Rings was the rare exception to that rule.

Ya. That’s true for the “Star” franchises. But look at all the game of thrones type shows that are even more “out there” no issues with awards there 😡😡😡

Stewart at least should have gotten an honorary Oscar by now, heck I’d give one to Shatner too.

hopefully it comes out on standard clear blue case blu-ray so i can see it

Looking forward to this, with a grain of salt. You can never be to careful, especially when Discovery director is involved. I hope we don’t get too many “camera spinning around 2 people talking” moments :)

Huh – in Kazinsky‘s pic, it’s spelled “Section Thirty One” (stylized with a Starfleet delta in place of the “o” in “Section”), while everything else I’ve seen has shown the title using numerals for the number. Do we know yet whether it’ll be “Star Trek: Section Thirty-One” or “Star Trek: Section 31” (or just “Section Thirty-One” or “Section 31”, à la the first two seasons and two episodes of Enterprise)?

I’ve noticed similar adjustments in production imagery of other shows and films. I think it’s just a concept they were testing out when they made the graphics for the backs of the chairs. DC’s Arrow had a different logo during production of the first season but was changed by the time the show began airing, as did ST Voyager. It’s similar to projects having a code name displayed on the production materials instead of their final titles.

i prefer prime Georgiou just cause i feel like michelle ‘hams it up’ too much and plays it cheeky with the mirror universe Georgiou. prime Georgiou would have made for a great ST show

having said that i’m looking forward to this one and hope it leads to more tv movies for ST

Cautiously optimistic, but wish we knew a little bit more. The synopsis referring to Section 31 as “secret” raises my expectations a little, as I was disappointed in how Disco made S31 common knowledge and the use of black badges was just a bit too obvious for a clandestine division of Starfleet, but we won’t know until the film itself lands.

I’m very interested in the first trailer for this. Given this is the first streaming movie in the franchise, I’m wondering how much (if at all) this will visually differentiate from the other live action series and the first trailer will be our first look at that. I also wonder if a few theaters will have screenings a la anticipated series premieres.

I hope we love it too…

Well, that was fast. Hopefully, the finished product will be a treat to the fans.

I hope this opens doors for more Star Trek TV streaming movies.

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  1. Star Trek 1: The Motion Picture (1979)

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  2. Star Trek: The Original Motion Picture 6-Movie Collection

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  3. Star Trek Trilogy Collection [Blu-ray]: Amazon.de: Chris Pine, Zachary

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  4. Star Trek / The Motion Picture

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  5. Star Trek : Le Film

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  6. How to watch the Star Trek movies in order

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COMMENTS

  1. List of Star Trek films

    Logo for the first Star Trek film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise that started with a television series (simply called Star Trek but now referred to as Star Trek: The Original Series) created by Gene Roddenberry.The series was first broadcast from 1966 to 1969. Since then, the Star Trek canon has expanded to include many other ...

  2. Star Trek Movies in order

    4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) To save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales. 5.

  3. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

    Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Robert Wise and based on the television series Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, who also served as its producer.It is the first installment in the Star Trek film series, and stars the cast of the original television series.In the film, set in the 2270s, a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud known ...

  4. Star Trek movies in chronological order

    That'll be important a few flicks from now. 4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. (Image credit: Paramount Pictures) Release date: November 26, 1986. Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Catherine ...

  5. Star Trek films

    Films []. As a franchise, the Star Trek films were almost conceived as an afterthought in the wake of the stupefying success of the very first Star Wars installment in 1977. The resulting movie, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, came nowhere close to living up to the (too) high expectations of studio executives, who subsequently decided to kill off the fledgling Star Trek film franchise right ...

  6. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

    Star Trek: The Motion Picture: Directed by Robert Wise. With William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan. When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.

  7. 'Star Trek' Movies in Order: How to Watch Them Chronologically

    2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Release Date: June 4, 1982. Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Nichelle Nicholas. Extra Recommended Viewing: Similar to the first film, nothing is required to be watched in order to understand the movie. However, if you want to get super nerdy, you can watch "Space ...

  8. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

    Movie Info. The Federation calls on Adm. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the Starship Enterprise to contain an immense nimbused object that's on a crash course with Earth. After ...

  9. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

    Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a 1979 American science fiction film directed by Robert Wise and based on the television series Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry, who also served as its producer. It is the first installment in the Star Trek film series, and stars the cast of the original television series. In the film, set in the 2270s, a mysterious and immensely powerful alien cloud ...

  10. Star Trek: The Motion Picture movie review (1979)

    Epic science-fiction stories, with their cosmic themes and fast truths about the nature of mankind, somehow work best when the actors are unknown to us. The presence of the Star Trek characters and actors who have become so familiar to us on television tends in a strange way to undermine this movie. The audience walks in with a possessive, even patronizing attitude toward Kirk and Spock and ...

  11. Star Trek movies in order

    Star Trek II The Wrath of Khan. Where to watch: Paramount Plus One of the best movies ever made, The Wrath of Khan is set over a decade after The Motion Picture with Spock now the captain of the Enterprise. How times change. The movie is remarkably straightforward. Kirk is tricked into coming face to face with his old enemy Khan Noonien-Singh, before the USS Enterprise and USS Reliant engage ...

  12. Every Star Trek Show And Movie In Chronological Order

    Enter J.J. Abrams and his 2009 feature film "Star Trek" which takes place at the same time as "Strange New Worlds," but in a parallel universe where the characters from the 1966 show now look ...

  13. 'Star Trek 4' Still in the Works as Paramount Sets New Origin Story Film

    A new "Star Trek" film is in the works at Paramount with "Andor's" Toby Haynes on board to direct and Seth Grahame-Smith penning the script, Variety has confirmed. While plot details are ...

  14. All Star Trek Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)87%. #4. Critics Consensus: Considered by many fans to be the best of the Star Trek movies, Khan features a strong plot, increased tension, and a sharp supporting performance from Ricardo Montalban. Synopsis: As Adm. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Capt. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) monitor trainees at ...

  15. Star Trek (film)

    Star Trek is a 2009 American science fiction action film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.It is the 11th film in the Star Trek franchise, and is also a reboot that features the main characters of the original Star Trek television series portrayed by a new cast, as the first in the rebooted film series. The film follows James T. Kirk and Spock (Zachary ...

  16. STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE

    The definitive vision of Director Robert Wise debuts exclusively on Paramount+ April 5, 2022. Film arrives on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray in September with extensive...

  17. Every Star Trek Movie Ranked

    Every Star Trek Movie Ranked. 1 of 13. 13. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. After two films directed by Nimoy, Shatner stepped up for Star Trek V, but it was a troubled production, beset by ...

  18. Star Trek movie review & film summary (2009)

    The 2009 "Star Trek" film goes back eagerly to where "Star Trek" began, using time travel to explain a cast of mostly the same characters, only at a younger point in their lives, sailing the Starship Enterprise. As a story idea, this is sort of brilliant and saves on invention, because young Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty and the ...

  19. Every STAR TREK Film Ranked from Worst to Best

    7. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) Paramount Pictures. There is a longstanding notion that the odd-numbered Star Trek films are the "lesser" entries and the even-numbered ones the ...

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    In 2020 begon de achtste Star Trek-serie, genaamd Picard. Het eerste seizoen bestaat uit tien afleveringen. De serie speelt zich af 20 jaar na de laatste verschijning van Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in de film Star Trek: Nemesis uit 2002. Net als Star Trek: Discovery is de nieuwe serie elke donderdag te zien op CBS All Access.

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    "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" isn't quite like any other "Star Trek" show, and when it debuted in 1993, it was quite the departure from both the original series and "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

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    Star Trek (1966-1969) TV-PG | 50 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi. 8.4. Rate. In the 23rd Century, Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise explore the galaxy and defend the United Federation of Planets. Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, Nichelle Nichols. Votes: 92,262.

  23. Star Trek's Next Movie Gets New Logo & Heartfelt Tribute From Actor As

    Star Trek: Section 31's cast is comprised of actors who are new to the Star Trek universe, which begs the question of when, exactly, the movie takes place since Emperor Georgiou left the 32nd century for destinations unknown in Star Trek: Discovery season 3. Fans hoped Section 31 would cast Star Trek legacy actors and characters who have historic ties to the black ops agency, but it seems like ...

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  25. Star Trek: Section 31 Has Finished Filming, And A Key Detail About The

    So now we know that the Section 31 movie will take place sometime post-Star Trek: Discovery Season 2, meaning in the 23rd century after the crew of the title ship traveled to the 32nd century ...

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    Star Trek: Directed by J.J. Abrams. With Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy, Eric Bana. The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

  27. William Shatner Regrets His Biggest Star Trek Failure

    In his vast career, William Shatner has directed five features. Three of them were documentaries about the making of "Star Trek" including "The Captains" in 2011, "Get a Life!" in 2012, and "Chaos ...

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