Every ‘Star Trek’ Movie Ranked from Worst to Best

We boldly go through the Enterprise's 13-film journey on the big screen.

Star Trek has had an unusual road to its fandom. It began as a short-lived television series, and yet it’s a highly influential and long lasting franchise that has spawned four sequel series and thirteen motion pictures. These two formats can be incredibly different, both in terms of tenor and tone, despite taking place in the same universe with the same casts. It is, to quote Mr. Spock, “fascinating.”

Some make the case that this is a story that deserves to be told on a cinematic canvas, while others argue that Trek is best served as an episodic series. Some pay great homage to the feeling of the original series, while others feel like they should have aired on television. It’s a rich, diverse film franchise where even the failures are intriguing.

So let us boldly go, and start with the weakest entry in the series thus far:

13.) Star Trek Into Darkness

I must politely disagree with my colleague Chris Cabin on the merits of Star Trek Into Darkness . While it’s not as bad on a second viewing, it’s still suffering the growing pains of not knowing what Star Trek really is.

That’s the conundrum with the J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies: if you want to take them as simple action movies, they’re serviceable enough, but that’s a waste of a world and disrespectful of what Trek is about. If you’re not a Trek fan, I doubt you’ll care, but imagine if someone made a Star Wars movie and tried to take the mystical force and turn it into something scientifically measurable (oh wait). It’s fine to update Trek with new uniforms, a new ship design, a new score, etc. That’s the artistry, but that’s not the core of what makes Star Trek tick.

Star Trek is about science fiction, and J.J. Abrams isn’t interested in that. He’s interested in making Space Adventure! and he does a poor job of telling the story. It may stimulate the lizard parts of your brain with the bright colors, canted angles, lens flares, and set pieces, but it’s bad storytelling that tries to steal from a far superior picture.

I understand that for Kirk, this is a learning experience film for him, and he has to overcome his cockiness and irresponsibility (you wonder how someone who responds to breaking the Prime Directive with “Big deal,” should ever be a captain in Starfleet -- assuming you care about Starfleet), but it’s such a drag, and the character is so deeply unlikable that you’re almost rooting for him to fail. It also fails as a friendship tale, as there’s little chemistry between Pine and Quinto, so the big “Khan!” moment comes off as laughably terrible.

Rather than boldly build a new world, Into Darkness steals from the old one, and does so poorly. For some it may pass as mindless entertainment, but it’s mindless to waste Trek in such a vicious, vacuous manner.

12.) Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Someone give William Shatner a participation trophy. Watching Star Trek V , it’s like Shatner saw the lighthearted success of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and wanted to redo it for his directorial contribution to the franchise. Unfortunately, Star Trek V is constantly silly and nonsensical rather than fun and upbeat. It starts out from a promising position, but quickly falls into lethargy, and missing the point of what makes a Trek movie with The Original Series cast work so well.

When it comes to movies with the TOS cast, the best thing to do is keep the focus on the cast. Unless you have a villain like Khan ( Richardo Montalban ), a villain who is rooted in the old show and who’s utterly captivating on his own merits, then your greatest strength is the camaraderie of the old cast working together.

Unfortunately, Final Frontier shortchanges the original cast on two fronts. First, it invests far too much in its villain Sybok ( Laurence Luckinbill ). While I like that Sybok isn’t an outright evil person, he comes off like an overly familiar camp counselor. He’s not creepy so much as he’s irritating, and then there’s his whole spiel about tapping into a person’s pain, which then in turn somehow brainwashes that person into being completely loyal to him.

That leads to the film’s second major failing: separating Kirk ( William Shatner ) from his crew. If that’s the route they were going to take, then they really should have carried more major stakes with it. Instead, it feels like a cheap shortcut that in turn deprives supporting characters like Uhura ( Nichelle Nichols ), Sulu ( George Takei ), and Chekov ( Walter Koenig ) of character arcs and motivations. The movie also had an opportunity to delve into Spock’s loyalty to Sybok, but that plays more as ambivalence than a source of real conflict between the characters.

Caught between a weak villain and ignoring its greatest asset, you have a film that’s trying so hard to be goofy and constantly missing the mark. While it’s endearing in the odd way that Shatner is trying so hard to please his audience, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s missing the mark, and comes up with jokes like Scotty ( James Doohan ) hitting his head after saying he knows the ship like the back of his hand. So when we finally come to the comical “Why would God need a spaceship?” it’s just the summation of all of the film’s flaws rather than its final error.

11.) Star Trek: Insurrection

On the one hand, I can respect that the Star Trek: The Next Generation movies were in a difficult position. Unlike the TOS movies, which were set in the 23rd century and didn’t have to worry about how their events would affect the TV shows, TNG was right in the prime of other Trek on television even though their own show had ended. Rather than be audacious and tie into what was happing in the TV series (which, granted, is a big ask for any movie), the TNG films were largely content to tell standalone stories that only briefly acknowledge the larger Trek universe.

That’s how we get something as tepid and forgettable as Insurrection , a movie that could have delved deep into its interesting premise, and instead looks like a cheap, two-parter that went unaired because it’s the cure for insomnia. Insurrection had the opportunity to take on an interesting question: what happens when the Federation is wrong? It’s an issue that had popped up repeatedly during the series, but Insurrection could have tackled it on a massive scale, and even incorporated the weakened Federation brought low by Deep Space Nine ’s Dominion War.

Instead, rather than question what the Federation means and how important it is to the crew of the Enterprise (a crew that always agrees, which is nice, but doesn’t invite conflict), the plot to remove the peaceful Ba’ku (who look like they were pulled out of an L.L. Bean catalog) to profit the greedy Son’a and the Federation is the work of a couple of bad apples rather than something endemic to Starfleet. The lines are clearly drawn from the beginning, and rather than challenge the audience to question Starfleet and the loyalty of the Enterprise crew, the characters ditch their uniforms without much fuss and go help the Ba’ku.

10.) Star Trek: Nemesis

Again, it starts out from an interesting place—nature versus nurture, and who would Picard be if his life had been one of torment rather than one in Starfleet? Unfortunately, the film is so hard up to make its villain, Shinzon ( Tom Hardy ), unequivocally evil that there’s no dramatic pull. It’s not simply enough for Picard to see a dark mirror that reaffirms his righteousness. The film also doesn’t challenge Shinzon to find the good in himself. Had they pushed Shinzon in that direction, it would have made him a more tragic figure rather than the moustache-twirling villain who wants to destroy Starfleet with a super-weapon.

Nemesis also suffers from the same problem as all of the TNG films in that in cannot get enough Data. For some reason, even though you have a rich, diverse case with Next Generation , the movies treat Picard and Data as the main characters and ignore everyone else. This kind of thinking is how you get to disgusting things like Shinzon mind-raping Troi ( Marina Sirtis ) just because, and then doing nothing with that assault other than using it later for a plot device to let her empathically guide the photon torpedoes.

The movie also wants to get away with killing Data, but not having any of the emotional impact of actually killing Data. Data has to live, so his “sacrifice” is rendered meaningless because he has B-4 back on the Enterprise as a backup.

9.) Star Trek: Generations

This film seems to exist so it can pass a torch that never needed passing. Looking back on Star Trek: Generations , it’s a story that seems more suited to fan fiction than something that actually serves Star Trek of any generation. The original series cast had already gotten a great send-off with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , and it’s a bit of a bummer to see an incomplete cast some back for a second encore. Additionally, the Next Generation cast was already well-established and had a full series under their belt. The producers should have trusted them to carry their own story.

Instead, the movie tries to play to two audiences and ends up serving neither. Buried beneath all the dreck and talk of the Nexus and Data obnoxiously showing off his new emotion chip, there’s actually a compelling story about the cost of duty to Starfleet. Kirk and Picard are united by what they’ve personally sacrificed for Starfleet—and how they lost out on having families because they chose to be explorers instead. If you must have Kirk and Picard share the screen (and you really don’t), then this is solid thematic ground to walk.

But Generations bungles it completely with how tonally scattershot it is and the atrocious structure of the narrative. It’s a movie where you kill off Captain Kirk, an incredibly beloved and revered character, and then your next scene is the crew of the Enterprise-D playing dress up on the holodeck. They then keep Kirk out of the film until the third act, so there’s no real time for Picard and Kirk to build a bond before they have to take down Soran ( Malcolm McDowell ). And then Kirk gets killed by a bridge.

8.) Star Trek: The Motion Picture

The biggest problem with The Motion Picture is that it lost Star Trek ’s sense of identity. The film is trying to ape 2001: A Space Odyssey , and so it thinks that what the audience wants it a slow, meditative motion picture, and while there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, it loses Trek ’s greatest strength. It’s the opposite end of the spectrum from Star Trek Into Darkness —it’s not that Star Trek needs to be a non-stop action thrill ride, but it also shouldn’t be something understandably derided as “The Motionless Picture.”

There’s no good reason why the docking sequence should take as long as it does, and it feels like half of this movie is just people looking at the view screen. While I understand Star Trek taking a chance and going with something unexpected, The Motion Picture doesn’t play to the strengths of the original series or its cast.

It’s particularly frustrating that the movie pushes The Original Series crew to the background to play up new characters Decker ( Stephen Collins ) and Ilia ( Persis Khambatta ) to the point where it feels like The Motion Picture is their story that just happens to include The Original Series cast along for the ride. It doesn’t move the characters we know forward, and while the V-ger reveal is kind of neat, it elicits more of a shrug than any contemplation.

7.) Star Trek Beyond

I both kind of love and kind of dislike Star Trek Beyond . On the one hand, I knew I had a fun time while I was watching it. It felt like it was embracing classic Trek in a way we hadn’t really seen since Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . But that being said, it’s almost impossible to remember this movie because beyond showing its love of classic Trek , it doesn’t have much in the way of a personality.

The plot of Star Trek Beyond finds the gang stranded on an alien planet (The Enterprise is destroyed. Again.) where the natives are ruled by a mysterious leader Krall ( Idris Elba ) who wants to unleash a powerful weapon against the Federation. This crash-landing allows the group to pair off in ways that hadn’t really been done before and allows for unique pairings like Spock and Bones that give the movie a lot of its power. The strongest asset of the new Trek movies has been the casting, and that really gets to shine here.

Unfortunately, the film fails to leave much of an impact because it never makes any bold choices. You can feel that this is a movie caught in a post Star Wars world where as the first two rebooted Trek movies could simply be Star Wars substitute, Beyond is wrestling with what it means to try and get out from under the shadow of the mammoth sci-fi franchise. Sadly, it never really finds an answer to that question, so while it makes for a fun, enjoyable picture with a better script than 2009’s Star Trek , it also lacks the necessary punch to make it more than disposable summer fare.

6.) Star Trek

J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek is a movie I really enjoyed when I first saw, but it has not held up well on repeat viewings. On a surface level, it’s really shiny and fun, and Abrams has the wherewithal to give his Trek an interesting new aesthetic (lens flares and shaky camera aside). It’s a fun compromise between the iconography of the original (they use communicators instead of com-badges) and an energetic, clean art design that sucks you into this new world.

The problem with Trek 2009 is that its story falls apart if you so much as glance at it the wrong way. For starters, like Into Darkness , it could not care less about what makes Star Trek special. It’s a movie where a suspended cadet gets promoted all the way to first office because the captain likes the cut of his jib. It’s a movie that doesn’t have a sci-fi bone in its body beyond trying to make sure that the original continuity remains intact while also forging an alternate reality. It’s a movie where they build the Enterprise on land rather than in space just so there can be a shot of Kirk looking at it in Iowa.

But even if those Trek concerns don’t bother you, there are still the larger story problems. For example, Spock strands Kirk on a planet where Kirk could easily die, but it’s okay because Kirk conveniently runs into Spock Prime ( Leonard Nimoy ) and Scotty ( Simon Pegg ), the only two people who can help get him back to the Enterprise. Or there’s the moment when Kirk confronts Nero ( Eric Bana ), and there’s no emotional baggage to it even though this is the man responsible for the death of Kirk’s father.

The success of Star Trek is that you don’t really notice its myriad of problems until you start looking for them, because Abrams made such a tight, lighthearted action flick that keeps barreling forward at breakneck speed. At the time, it felt promising because you would think that with four years between Star Trek and its sequel, there would be time to really nail down the story, and Abrams’ direction would remain intact. Oh well.

5.) Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek: First Contact is an odd sort of movie. It’s the first time the Next Generation crew is really on their own, and they’re pulling from one of the strongest elements they ever contributed to Star Trek lore, the Borg. It’s a good setup and it also rewards those who saw the Next Generation series while not being so esoteric that it would alienate those who never saw the show.

And yet it’s still not quite Star Trek . It’s not a movie about anything. Say what you will about Generations , Insurrection , and Nemesis , but for all their faults, at least they’re about something (legacy, duty, and destiny, respectively). First Contact is an action-horror film, which is something you wouldn’t necessarily expect a Star Trek movie to be, but director Jonathan Frakes makes it work within the context of a new genre.

It’s just unfortunate that there’s no consideration of anything beyond Picard facing his old demons. Once again, outside of Picard, only Data really gets to shine, but at least they give Worf ( Michael Dorn ) more to do than Insurrection , which literally makes the character go through puberty because that’s the best they could come up with. The Borg are a compelling villain, and while you may have to cringe a bit with lines like “Assimilate this,” at least First Contact is fun, which is more than you can say than the other TNG films.

4.) Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

This is where on this list that Star Trek actually starts to feel like Star Trek . One of the great things The Original Series did was to tell narratives that reflected real-world tensions. Out of all of the Star Trek movies, The Undiscovered Country is the only one to mirror real world events. In this case, the script cleverly draws a parallel to the closing of the Cold War with the coming peace treaty between the Federation and the Klingons because the Klingon Empire is about to go bankrupt.

It’s also a story that’s rooted in the films that came before, as Kirk must wrestle with making peace with the people he holds responsible for the death of his son. It’s an issue that hadn’t been dealt with since The Voyage Home , but it adds personal stakes rather than keeping the issue nebulous. It also makes The Undiscovered Country a personal journey for Kirk, where he has to learn the importance of not only forgiveness, but also accepting a new status quo where the Klingons and the Federation can live in peace.

Undiscovered Country also gives almost everyone something to do. Kirk ( William Shatner ) and Bones ( DeForest Kelley ) are on trial on Kronos and are part of a prison break while everyone else (minus Sulu, who gets the short shrift in this picture despite finally becoming a captain) is busy playing detective up on the Enterprise. It’s a well-balanced story, and while the film tries too hard to turn Chang ( Christopher Plummer ) into the next Khan (the climactic battle has Chang shouting like he really wants to get his Shakespeare Quote-a-Day calendar out of his system), it’s still a fun dynamic that actually feels like a Star Trek story at its core.

3.) Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

There’s shorthand that claims that every even-numbered Star Trek is good and every odd-numbered Star Trek is bad. That’s a claim that should have been thrown out the window at Star Trek III , a film whose greatest flaw is following the classic Wrath of Khan . This is a movie that does nothing wrong, perfectly builds on what came before, and is a true test of the friendship among the Enterprise crew.

It would seem at first glance that a movie dedicated to undoing Spock’s sacrifice would be an ill-conceived idea, but director Leonard Nimoy absolutely makes it work by making this all about how the Enterprise crew works together outside the bounds of Starfleet. It turns them into a crew on the run, and they in turn sacrifice everything to save their fallen crewman. That’s a great story, and one worthy of Trek .

It also feels like Star Trek without feeling like an extended Star Trek episode. While other great Star Trek movies would echo what the series did at its best—whether it be traveling to unique locations, creating parables to real-world conflicts, or recreating the feel of a naval battles— Search for Spock is unique by building off Wrath of Khan , putting the crew of the Enterprise at odds with their duty to Starfleet, and plunging them into uncharted territory. And, Kirk has to make the ultimate sacrifice when he loses his son at the hands of the Klingons. How anyone could see Search for Spock as inferior Trek is beyond me.

2.) Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

This movie is just pure joy from start to finish. I’m sure it may have been tempting to try and do more of the same: send Kirk and the crew out on an interstellar mission to fight some intergalactic foe with some destructive weapon on the line. Instead, they go back in time to save the whales. It’s a plotline that sounds so silly that it shouldn’t work, and yet it does. This could have been, on a smaller scale, an episode of The Original Series , but it carries that charm and successfully transfers it to the big screen.

Voyage Home almost plays more like a sci-fi comedy (a dispiritingly rare hybrid) and watching the crew of the Enterprise as fish-out-of-water is constantly entertaining. The Original Series gave us the crew as outsiders on a fairly regular basis, and The Voyage Home harkens back to that feeling while still giving the audience the comfort of being more familiar with the world the characters are seeing.

It’s also got a good message! Yes, it’s a bumper sticker message to save the whales, but how many blockbusters give a crap about endangered species? It equates saving the whales with saving the world, and that’s a fine sentiment to have. Additionally, it helps bring the crew together and creates the stakes that could get the crew reinstated after stealing and destroying the Enterprise. It’s both a palette cleanser and a bold direction for the franchise.

1.) Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Is it the obvious choice? Yes, but it’s also the right one. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan isn’t just great Star Trek . It’s great filmmaking period. It’s everything someone could want from a summer blockbuster while also staying true to what makes Star Trek unique, especially from the original Enterprise cast. It’s a movie with deep thematic resonance, high emotional stakes, and a rewarding experience for those who had been Star Trek fans for decades.

It was a stroke of genius to make Khan the villain, not because he’s a lifelong nemesis for Kirk (Khan only appears in the episode “Space Seed”), but because he represents the sins of the past. Khan is a bad guy, but he’s not wrong that Kirk basically just abandoned Khan’s people on a planet and never bothered to check up on them afterwards. For a film about a man struggling with getting old, it’s important to take time to check on what Kirk did wrong as a young man, whether it’s stranding Khan on Ceti Alpha V or refusing the learn the lesson of the Kobayashi Maru. Wrath of Khan puts Kirk through a crucible of his past follies and makes him pay for it.

The movie also earns its emotional climax following a rousing space battle that would never happen today because it’s too “slow” (it’s basically a naval battle in space, which is what TOS would do sometimes). “I have been, and always shall be, your friend,” is a gut-wrenching line because you feel the history behind it. It doesn’t betray Spock’s Vulcan-side, nor does it lean too heavily on his human side. It’s a profound, honest moment where we see Kirk, finally faced with a no-win situation, lose his dearest friend. It’s a moment that only Star Trek could pull off, and it elevates Wrath of Khan beyond where most blockbusters have gone before.

Star Trek movies, ranked worst to best

Journey into the strange new worlds of the Star Trek movies, ranked worst to best. Live long and get some popcorn.

Star Trek movies, ranked worst to best

We're leaving the Neutral zone and taking a stand with our list of the best Star Trek movies.

Star Trek is going through a bit of a retro renaissance at the moment, thanks to a successful first season of Strange New Worlds, which takes place before Kirk ever took over as Captain of the Enterprise. It’s put many a Trek fan in the mood for more classic Trek action. You could cherry-pick the adventures of Kirk and Co. by watching the best Star Trek: The Original Series episodes or if you’re feeling more cinematic, pull from this list of Star Trek movies ranked worst to best. 

Some viewers will be tempted to skip to the top of the list — we get it, your time is valuable, so why bother with the losers? — but there’s something worth experiencing about each and every entry on this list. Even the misses have something interesting to say about Trek in general or the Enterprise crew specifically. This list includes all the Trek films, not just those of the original crew, so you can explore the Kelvin timeline as well as the Next Generation. And if you want to see how all the timelines fit together, check out our guide to watching the Star Trek movies in order too.

Here, then, is the definitive ranking of the best Star Trek movies. Don’t bother arguing with us: We know we’re right. If you’re still in the mood for intergalactic cinema, check out our list of the best space movies or see how the Alien movies ranked . 

13. Star Trek Into Darkness

  • Release date: May 16, 2013
  • Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana

How this film managed to make Khan a boring antagonist is a mystery that will baffle scholars for years to come. No shade to Benedict Cumberbatch, but he doesn’t have the charisma necessary to persuade viewers to overlook the plot holes and bizarre character choices that make Into Darkness unwatchable. The sacrifice that is so poignant in Wrath of Khan falls flat because the relationship between Kirk and Spock – roles reversed for the climactic moment – barely reaches the level of roommates, let alone dear friends. And don’t get me started on Carol Marcus in her underwear. 

12. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

  • Release date: June 9, 1989
  • Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

Final Frontier ’s core idea is actually pretty good: Spock’s half-brother hijacks the Enterprise so he can fly it into the middle of the Milky Way and meet God. Unfortunately, a writers’ strike grounded the script before it got off the ground. What remains is a muddled mess that still may have been watchable were it not for William Shatner. He’d been promised a turn in the director’s chair and this was what he did with it. If you’ve ever wondered if the stories about Shatner’s unbearable ego were true, look no further.  

11. Star Trek: Insurrection

  • Release date: December 11, 1998
  • Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner

Even hardcore Star Trek fans forget what Insurrection is about. Not because it’s confusing, but because it’s the cinematic equivalent of a filler episode. Starfleet decides to relocate a small (but immortal? Ok) population so that the Federation can claim their planet’s unique natural resource for itself. Feeling betrayed by Starfleet’s apparent disregard for the Prime Directive, Picard gets very, very annoyed. Nothing about this movie is particularly good or bad. It’s all just kind of there . Watching Insurrection will neither ruin your day nor make it any better, so do as you will with it. 

10. Star Trek: Nemesis

  • Release date: December 13, 2002

Before he was Bane, Venom, or Mad Max, Tom Hardy was Picard’s clone, Shinzon. He kills the Romulan senate, lures Picard and crew to Romulus under the pretense of peace negotiations, and oh, yeah, he has an android that looks just like Data. The plot is a hot mess of mistaken identity, telepathy, and revenge that never has stakes – or characters – worth caring about. Even the movie’s most emotional moment, when Data sacrifices himself to save Picard, is immediately undercut with a “Just kidding! I downloaded my brain into the android who looks just like me!” Troi and Riker got married, though, so that’s nice. 

9. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

  • Release date: June 1, 1984

On the plus side, it has Christopher Lloyd as a Klingon. On the minus side... is everything else. After his sacrifice saves the Enterprise from certain destruction, Spock’s casket is shot into space, eventually settling on the Genesis planet. Thus begins a “how do we get Spock’s consciousness back into his newly reborn body” reverse-heist film that is crammed full with awkward moments. Spock going through puberty? Yikes. Klingons murdering Kirk’s son? Oof. Also, the entire film looks bizarrely cheap. You could generously call it an homage to Trek ’s humble beginnings, but it’s very strange after the lush visuals of Khan . At no point is a viewer not acutely aware that this movie had to happen to get Spock back on the Enterprise, and it almost isn’t worth it.   

8. Star Trek: Generations

  • Release date: November 18, 1994
  • Cast: Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Malcolm McDowell

Generations was intended to pass the torch from the cast of The Original Series to that of The Next Generation , with Kirk and Picard teaming up to defeat not-quite-a-villain-he’s-just-sad-really Malcolm McDowell. The shoehorning of Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov into a film set a century after they were zipping around the universe is less than elegant, more than gratuitous. Generations spends so much time waving goodbye to the old crew that it never really gets going as a film, but it did its best with an impossible task. 

7. Star Trek Beyond

  • Release date: July 22, 2016
  • Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban

I’d put this here just for the line about the “beats and shouting,” if I’m honest. Featuring an unrecognizable Idris Elba as its villain, Krall, Beyond isn’t overly concerned with nuance. It’s fast and loud, the very definition of style over substance. Does the scene set to the Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” make any sense? Not a lick, nope, but damn, does it look cool. This is the Trek film you watch when you want to sit back, turn your brain off, and enjoy a lot of colorful, exciting fight and/or chase scenes. Now that I think about it, “beats and shouting” is a pretty apt description of Star Trek Beyond . 

6. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

  • Release date: December 7, 1979

The ponderous pacing and pure 70s-ness of the costumes makes The Motion Picture a slog, but at least it’s a spectacular slog. The plot is pure Trek : An energy cloud housing a living machine is headed for Earth, destroying everything in its wake. The Enterprise is the only ship within intercept range of the cloud, because how else is Kirk going to have an excuse to take over command? The Motion Picture shows its age more than most of the other films of the franchise, but was a perfect vehicle to move the Enterprise and her crew from the small screen to the theater. It has interpersonal conflict, heroics, hubris, and a brilliant reveal about V’ger’s true nature.

5. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

  • Release date: November 26, 1986

Aka “The One With the Whales”, Voyage Home leans heavily on humor to great effect. It eases off the sci fi, instead going for a classic fish-out-of-water scenario. An alien probe is trying to communicate with Earth, but the only creature that could respond, the humpback whale, is long since extinct. The crew of the Enterprise travel back to 1980’s San Francisco to snatch a mating pair of humpback whales and return them to the future, preventing the unanswered probe from destroying the planet. The ecological message wasn’t exactly subtle, but Voyage isn’t preachy. Chekov asking anyone if they know where the “nuclear wessels” are, Scotty cooing “Hello, computer” into a mouse, Kirk yelling “Double dumbass on you!” to an angry driver – it’s all immensely charming and genuinely funny.

4. Star Trek

  • Release date: May 8, 2009
  • Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg

Is it a great Trek film? Maybe. Is it fun to see Kirk and Spock’s origins stories? Absolutely. Watching baby Spock beat the snot out of someone at school is highly gratifying, as is seeing the father whose shadow Kirk can never quite escape. The story does a good enough job twisting the timeline so that the reboot won’t be hamstrung by everything that came before it, and Leonard Nimoy is a delight in his final turn as Spock. Star Trek embodies the spirit of unfettered adventure exhibited by The Original Series while simultaneously making the crew into more than just set dressing there to push buttons and open hailing frequencies. And “Hi, Christopher, I’m Nero” is straight up one of the greatest line reads in all of Star Trek . 

3. Star Trek: First Contact

  • Release date: November 22, 1996

Jonathan Frakes (aka Commander Riker) directed this absolute treasure of a movie, and his deep love of Trek comes through in every scene. This is a Trek movie for Trek fans, with nods to TV series Deep Space Nine and Voyager in what is essentially the conclusion to Picard’s arc in the legendary The Next Generation episode “Best of Both Worlds.” The Enterprise follows the Borg back in time to prevent them from disrupting First Contact, the event that introduced Earth to the universe. Picard must face the Borg queen (silkily played by Alice Krige) even as Data is tempted by her promise of humanity. The Earth-based subplot about getting First Contact back on track explores a different aspect of humanity, namely how people step up when they’re called to lead. 

2. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

  • Release date: December 6, 1991

Some of the entries on this list are little more than over-inflated episodes, but this... this is a movie. Not a film, thank you very much, a get-more-popcorn-and-shut-the-heck-up-until-the-credits-roll movie . The Klingons desperately need the Federation’s help after their moon explodes, and Kirk – whose son was murdered by Klingons just a few films ago – has to serve as liaison. That’s the set up for a murder mystery that will see Kirk and McCoy imprisoned and Spock turning the Enterprise upside down to find the true culprit. Christopher Plummer is having an absolute blast as a Shakespeare-quoting Klingon who has no interest in peace. Fun fact: This is one of two Trek films directed by Nicholas Meyer. The other one is... 

1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

  • Release date: June 4, 1982

First, and most importantly, yes, that is Ricardo Montalban’s real chest. Secondly, if you’re only going to watch a single Trek film, this is the one. Picking up the threads of The Original Series episode “Space Seed”, Khan is a retelling of Moby Dick as the genetically superior Khan chases his white whale, Admiral James T. Kirk. Montalban and Shatner are at the top of their games, effortlessly owning every scene they’re in, yet providing the perfect counter for each other. Director Nicholas Meyer, who also wrote Khan , shows exquisite patience in the film’s climactic showdown, drawing out the tension as Kirk and Khan hunt each other in the Mutara Nebula. The other Trek films are great space romps, but Khan feels deeply, deeply personal as you watch these great men spit and claw at each other with unfathomable rage. 

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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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best star trek movies ranked

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Total Recall

Every star trek movie ranked from worst to best, with star trek beyond hitting theaters, we count down every big screen voyage of the enterprise..

best star trek movies ranked

TAGGED AS: Sci-Fi

These days, cancellation isn’t necessarily the end for a television series; between DVD sales, the Web, and the ever-expanding cable dial, if a show has a fervent enough fanbase, odds are someone is going to come along to take advantage of it. Such was not the case 50 years ago, however – not that it mattered to diehard Star Trek fans, who so impressed Paramount with their passion for Gene Roddenberry’s characters that the studio brought the property to theaters a full decade after the show was unceremoniously dumped by NBC. Nearly four decades later, as we prepare to greet Star Trek Beyond , the franchise’s 13th feature, your pals at Rotten Tomatoes thought now would be the perfect time to take a fond look back at all the Enterprise voyages that got us here — from the beloved classics ( The Wrath of Khan ) to the ones that never should have made it off the holodeck ( The Final Frontier ). Where does your favorite rank? Read this week’s Total Recall to find out!

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

The-Final-Frontier

After churning out three consecutive installments that pleased fans as well as critics, the Star Trek  franchise was due for a fall – and it got one in the form of 1989’s The Final Frontier . William Shatner directed the fourth sequel, and helped come up with the storyline (which puts the crew of the Enterprise at odds with a God-like being who has nefarious plans for the galaxy), so he’s taken much of the blame for what’s regarded by many as the weakest film in the series – blame that, to his credit, he’s publicly accepted. But to be fair, Frontier  had bigger problems than Shatner; for starters, the 1988 writers’ strike left Paramount rushing to push out another Trek  before the series lost its momentum – and with a budget almost $20 million lower than that assigned to the first film 10 years earlier. Whatever the causes, Frontier  was a failure; although it easily recouped its budget, its grosses didn’t come anywhere near The Voyage Home ’s, and neither fans nor critics were charmed by the film’s comedic elements (including the infamous Yosemite camping scenes) or its thinly veiled attacks on televangelists. “Of all the Star Trek  movies, this is the worst,” wrote Roger Ebert – and for a time, it seemed likely that it would also be the last.

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  Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) 38%

Star-Trek-Nemesis

If 1998’s Insurrection found the Star Trek  franchise suffering from what seemed like audience fatigue, 2002’s Nemesis — the final picture to feature The Next Generation ’s crew – represented the onset of a full-on malaise. After over a decade of films that performed solidly at the box office and ran the critical gamut from great to respectable, Nemesis came as a profound letdown – not only with critics, who gave it the worst reviews the series had seen since The Final Frontier , but with the moviegoers who stayed away in droves; its $43 million domestic gross was almost as embarrassing as the fact that it made less than Maid in Manhattan  its opening weekend. In the hands of new director Stuart Baird, Nemesis presented a more action-heavy Trek than audiences were accustomed to; unfortunately, this shift in direction alienated hardcore fans, and the script – partially inspired by an idea from Brent “Data” Spiner – failed to take advantage of its departing cast. In the words of USA Today’s Mike Clark, “As spent screen series go, Star Trek: Nemesis  is… suggestive of a 65th class reunion mixer where only eight surviving members show up — and there’s nothing to drink.”

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) 53%

Star-Trek-Motion-Picture

With a full decade between it and the end of the original series, you might think 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture  would have plenty of time to work out all the kinks – but alas, as the movie’s dismal Tomatometer (and decades of fan gags about “ The Motionless Picture “) can attest, all of Trek ’s time off didn’t translate into an auspicious big-screen debut for the crew of the Starship Enterprise. The problem with the first Trek  film – aside from a dialogue-heavy storyline whose biggest villain was a cloud – actually had nothing to do with the franchise itself; instead, it was a series of corporate shenanigans, including an aborted attempt at a second Trek  television series, that left director Robert Wise with a patchwork script and neither the time nor the money to realize his vision. Although The Motion Picture  didn’t meet commercial or critical expectations (the Chicago Reader’s Dave Kehr called it “blandness raised to an epic scale”), it performed well enough to justify a sequel – and, in the bargain, kicked off one of the longest-running series in movie history.

Star Trek Generations (1994) 48%

Star-Trek-Generations

After seven years and 178 episodes, Paramount felt the time was right to give the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation  its cinematic debut – and since some members of the Enterprise’s original crew were either unwilling to return (Leonard Nimoy) or not well enough (DeForest Kelley), the seventh Trek  movie seemed like the perfect spot for a changing of the guard. With a behind-the-scenes crew that included a number of Next Generation  vets – including producer Rick Berman, director David Carson, and screenwriters Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga – 1994’s Star Trek Generations  should have been a slam dunk, especially given a plot that put TNG ’s Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) face-to-face with James T. Kirk for the first time, but alas, it was not to be. Though it did well enough at the box office, slightly improving upon The Undiscovered Country ’s worldwide tally, Generations  received a mixed reception from writers like the New York Times’ Peter M. Nichols, who simultaneously criticized it as “predictably flabby and impenetrable in places” and praised it for having “enough pomp, spectacle and high-tech small talk to keep the franchise afloat.”

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) 55%

Star-Trek-Insurrection

After handling screenplay duties for Generations  and First Contact , writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga disembarked from Star Trek ’s film voyage – but at this point, the Trek  creative universe had expanded to the point that producer Rick Berman had plenty of new collaborators to choose from. He settled on Michael Piller, with whom he’d created the Trek  TV spinoff series Deep Space Nine , and together – along with Jonathan Frakes, who returned to direct and reprise his role as Commander William T. Riker – they put together Insurrection , a story that introduced new wrinkles for familiar characters (such as LeVar Burton’s Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge briefly acquiring the ability to see without optical implants) while still holding true to the core themes of the series. Unfortunately, at this point, audiences were so used to seeing one Trek  TV series or another that they needed something truly extraordinary to hold their attention on the big screen – and Insurrection , as evidenced by a gross that fell short of First Contact ’s, wasn’t it. Still, even if critics didn’t find it to be the most compelling entry in the series, they weren’t completely dismissive; as Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote, “[It] lacks the adrenalized oomph of its predecessor, but no adventure of the Starship Enterprise is without its gee-whiz affability.”

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

The-Search-For-Spock

Leonard Nimoy a.k.a. Captain Spock, only agreed to return for The Wrath of Khan  because his character died in the last act; fortunately for the franchise, he later had such a change of heart that not only did he come back for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , he directed  it – and did an admirable job of continuing the series’ resurgence, piloting the third chapter to a respectable $76 million domestic gross and generally favorable reviews from critics like Time’s Richard Shickel, who praised Nimoy for “beaming his film up onto a higher pictorial plane than either of its predecessors.” Though further odd-numbered entries in the series would famously come to represent Trek  at its worst, Star Trek III  cemented Gene Roddenberry’s creation as a viable ongoing concern for Paramount – and set the stage for the film series’ fourth chapter, thus clearing the path for  Trek ’s eventual return to television in 1987 with Star Trek: The Next Generation .

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

The-Undiscovered-Country

It might have suffered a cinematic black eye with 1989’s The Final Frontier , but the Star Trek  franchise still had at least one thing going for it at Paramount – namely, the 25th anniversary of the series, which the studio was eager to capitalize on, even if it wasn’t willing to commit more than the $27 million spent to film the previous installment. Fortunately, the sixth Trek ended up in the hands of a director who knew how to make the most of minimal budgets: Nicholas Meyer, whose work on The Wrath of Khan was still, at that point, the critical apex of the series. Working from a Cold War-inspired story suggested by Nimoy, Meyer assembled The Undiscovered Country , whose 83 percent Tomatometer and nearly $100 million worldwide gross were not only fitting for a quarter-century celebration, but what ultimately ended up being the final voyage for much of the original cast. With series creator Gene Roddenberry passing away just prior to Country ’s release, and the future of the franchise in question, not a few critics were left feeling nostalgic – like Hal Hinson of the Washington Post, who wrote, “If, indeed, Star Trek VI  turns out to be the last of the series, it couldn’t have made a more felicitous or more satisfying exit.”

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 84%

Star-Trek-Into-Darkness

After leading the franchise to fresh heights of blockbuster glory, Star Trek  director J.J. Abrams was the natural choice to man the controls for the next installment in the series — and although the result, 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness , didn’t quite match the lofty standards set by its predecessor, it proved the Trek resurgence was no fluke. Continuing to explore the alternate timeline established by Abrams’ first chapter, Darkness  carried the rebooted mythology forward while weaving in some fairly major callbacks to iconic events and characters from the original films — including the nefarious Khan Noonien Singh, whose quest for vengeance against the Federation sends the crew of the Enterprise on a race against (and across) time. “ Star Trek Into Darkness  banishes, at least for the moment, the lugubrious mood and sepulchral look that too many comic-book movies mistake for sophistication,” wrote the Washington Post’s Ann Hornaday. “All hail an action film that isn’t ashamed to have fun and to be seen doing it.”

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

The-Voyage-Home

Having explored the outer limits of space, Star Trek  spent much of its fourth cinematic installment in decidedly more familiar environs – namely, the America (specifically the San Francisco bay area) of 1986, thanks to a storyline, conceived by returning director Nimoy, that had the crew of the Enterprise traveling 600 years back in time to retrieve a humpback whale in order to… well, it isn’t important, really. What mattered – at least to the folks who helped Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home  to a $133 million worldwide gross – was that it lived up to Nimoy’s goal of showing audiences “a great time” with a feature that played up the lighter side of a franchise whose humor was often overshadowed by its big ideas. Weathering a number of pre-production storms – including William Shatner’s refusal to come back without a raise and the chance to direct the next sequel — Voyage  triumphantly emerged as what Roger Ebert referred to as “easily the most absurd of the Star Trek  stories – and yet, oddly enough… also the best, the funniest and the most enjoyable in simple human terms.”

Star Trek Beyond (2016) 86%

best star trek movies ranked

The original Star Trek movie series was never really known for its blockbuster action, but director/producer J.J. Abrams took things in a far more fast-paced direction when he rebooted the franchise — and that continued after he handed the reins to Justin Lin for 2016’s Star Trek Beyond . Continuing to display the flair for thrilling set pieces he demonstrated during his tenure with the Fast & Furious  saga, Lin sent the crew of the Enterprise hurtling to a distant planet where they found themselves pitted against the alien warlord Krall (Idris Elba) with an axe to grind against the Federation and a dark secret hidden in his past. It’s a setup with plenty of room for pulse-pounding space battles, and Lin didn’t disappoint — but he also left room for the thoughtful progressivism that had always been a hallmark of the earlier films, adding up to a fun Starfleet adventure critics hailed as a tasty bucket of popcorn sci-fi that doubled as a worthy celebration of Star Trek ‘s 50th anniversary. The end result, wrote Katie Walsh for the Tribune News Service, is “everything you want a post-modern Trek  movie to be: funny, poppy, self-referential — and with Captain Kirk punching bad guys in rubber masks.”

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

The-Wrath-of-Khan

Sequels that expand upon their predecessors are exceedingly rare – but then, 1982’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan  is no ordinary sequel. After ponying up the then-princely sum of $46 million for the first Trek , Paramount was looking for two things: One, a scapegoat for the first film’s $136 million global gross (which ended up being series creator Gene Roddenberry, who was exiled from the decision-making process for Khan ), and two, someone who could head up a cheaper second installment. That someone was Harve Bennett, a Trek  novice who quickly immersed himself in the original series in search of a compelling villain for the sequel – and found him in Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban), a superhuman with a thing for mind-controlling eels. Khan ’s thrifty aesthetic may have inspired Bennett and director Nicholas Meyer to cut corners wherever possible – including reusing sets from The Motion Picture  — but the movie didn’t skimp on storyline, much to the delight of fans and critics, both of whom rank the series’ second chapter at or near the top of the franchise. “Here comes a sequel that’s worth its salt,” wrote Janet Maslin of the New York Times, concluding “It’s everything the first one should have been and wasn’t.”

Star Trek: First Contact (1996) 93%

First-Contact

After three decades, seven films, and four television series, most franchises would have long since exhausted their options – but as 1996’s First Contact  proved, the creative horizons of the Star Trek  universe were capable of expanding longer and wider than perhaps even Gene Roddenberry could have suspected. Now firmly in control of the franchise, the Next Generation crew – both onscreen and off – was able to expand upon themes and characters touched on during its own series, specifically the nature of the endlessly assimilative cybernetic Borg collective. Having already proven a worthy adversary during TNG ’s run – particularly during the classic episode in which they assimilated Picard himself – the Borg now propelled Trek to the best reviews (and some of the highest grosses) in its history. A sequel that both paid tribute to longstanding Trek  traditions ( TNG  vet Jonathan Frakes directed, proving Leonard Nimoy wasn’t the only member of the Enterprise crew who could successfully pull double duty) and broke them (Paramount ended decades of parsimony by breaking out $47 million for the budget), First Contact  earned the praise of critics like Time’s Richard Corliss, who wrote that “it stands proud and apart, accessible even to the Trek -deficient” before decreeing that “this old Star , it seems, has a lot of life in it.”

Star Trek (2009) 94%

Star-Trek-2009

After bottoming out with 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis , the series entered a state of suspended animation for over half a decade — and if it hadn’t been for the reboot mania that gripped Hollywood during the early 21st century, there’s no telling how long it might have stayed there. As it happened, fanboy-friendly director J.J. Abrams — then riding a hot streak as one of the creators/producers of the hit series Lost  — was handed a set of jumper cables and the keys to the franchise; the result, 2009’s Star Trek , managed to hit the reset button on Trek (along with the requisite hot young cast) while incorporating enough familiar touches to keep longtime fans feeling at home. In the end, Abrams’ Trek earned some of the most positive reviews in the history of the franchise, and its $257 million gross firmed up the future of a film series that had seemed thoroughly uncertain just a few years before. “With Star Trek  Abrams honors the show’s legacy without fossilizing its best qualities,” enthused Salon’s Stephanie Zacharek. “Instead, he’s whisked it off to a planet where numbing nostalgia can’t kill it, and where the future is still something to look forward to.”

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Den of Geek

Star Trek Movies Ranked From Worst to Best

Forget the "odd numbered are bad, even numbered are good" superstition about this franchise. We finally sat down and ranked every Star Trek movie.

best star trek movies ranked

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The villains from every Star Trek movie

You’d think there wouldn’t be all that many surprises in a ranking of the various Star Trek movies. Official fan doctrine tends to elevate a select handful of them to the very top (and rightfully so, because when this franchise is great, it’s really great) while dismissing, fairly or unfairly, others. But the reality is, there’s such a wide array of tones across Star Trek films that one fan’s skippable entry is another fan’s favorite (well…most of the time).

We chose a panel of our most decorated Starfleet experts to vote on the highs and lows of the Star Trek movie franchise. There’s probably a few surprises in here, but one thing we hope we managed to do, if nothing else, is dispel the “odd number/even number” superstition about these flicks.

13. Star Trek: Into Darkness

It’s hard to imagine any entry in the entire franchise straying further from what Star Trek is all about than Into Darkness . A laughably grim, mean-spirited film that tries awfully hard to conceal its weird “Space Seed”/ Wrath of Khan ambitions beneath some clumsy mystery-boxing and an almost absurd amount of violence, Into Darkness is more akin to a lesser Fast & Furious sequel than it is about “boldly going” anywhere other than into vague nods to absurd conspiracy theories.

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If JJ Abrams’ previous Star Trek (which we’ll get to below) was Trek-as-action-movie, proving that with some gorgeous production values and a talented cast that the franchise could once again compete on the big screen, then Into Darkness is Trek as pop culture ouroboros, foreshadowing the backwards-looking fan apologia of his The Rise of Skywalker by six years. Not even the brilliant cast, stunning special effects, and another great Michael Giacchino score can save this one, with the core crew reduced to delivering performances akin to SNL caricatures and a big “reveal” that everyone saw coming three months out. – Mike Cecchini

12. Star Trek: Nemesis

It’s true, even in a generous appraisal, Nemesis seems unlikely to be anyone’s favorite Star Trek movie. It’s yet another example of how studio execs learned all the wrong lessons from The Wrath of Khan , that amping up the action, and having a genuine, capital-V villain is the key to box office success. Here, a shadowy villain with a vendetta against Captain Picard (hmmmm…where have we heard that before) stages a coup against the Romulan leadership.

It’s not great, and so obviously derivative in its central villainous conceit (despite the twist) that it comes off as a little desperate. It’s notable primarily for being many folks’ first introduction to Tom Hardy as the young Jean-Luc Picard clone, Shinzon, the introduction of the Remans to Trek lore, and Ron Perlman under some cool Reman makeup. We wouldn’t go so far as to say that Nemesis is better than you remember if you were particularly allergic to it out of the gate, but without the weight of expectations surrounding it, and especially now that it’s no longer the final voyage of the beloved Next Generation crew, perhaps we can be a little more forgiving of it. – MC

11. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Ah yes, the one where they meet “God.” The deck was always stacked against The Final Frontier , coming as it did not only on the heels of the beloved Trek trilogy of The Wrath of Khan , The Search for Spock , and The Voyage Home , but also in the same summer that delivered bona fide classics in Tim Burton’s first Batman and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (not to mention other high-profile blockbusters like Ghostbusters 2 and RoboCop 2 ).

The film’s antagonist, Sybok, might be easier to swallow were he not Spock’s half-brother, a needless addition in a high-concept but ultimately convoluted film. William Shatner’s story and directorial ambitions never quite hold together here, with the film further hampered by some of the worst special effects of the entire film series. Still, there’s a hint of TOS -y weirdness to the concept of this one, but it’s not enough to make it feel like anything other than the most disposable entry in the otherwise sterling run of original crew films. – MC

10. Star Trek Beyond

Although 2009’s Star Trek was an undeniable hit, it’s easy to understand the skepticism that greeted 2016’s Star Trek Beyond . Not only did it follow up the misguided Into Darkness , but it also swapped out JJ Abrams with the even flashier, but far more competent, Justin Lin. Beyond certainly does have some of the things that made viewers tire of the Kelvinverse, including a battle sequence inexplicably set to The Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage” and nods to classic storylines. But it also had a lot more of what people say they want in Trek : characters exploring, building relationships, and maintaining hope. 

The exploration comes in the form of Jaylah (a variation of J-Law, based on the original plan to cast Jennifer Lawrence in the part), played with undeniable energy by Sofia Boutella. The stranded Jaylah forms a bond with Simon Pegg’s delightful Scotty, but the real pleasure of the film comes from the pairing of Spock and McCoy. The tension between the two has been a hallmark of the series since Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelly were in the roles, but Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban find new ways to antagonize and grudgingly respect one another, grounding even the biggest blockbuster moments of the movie in good ol’ Star Trek hang-out fun. – Joe George

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9. Star Trek: Insurrection

It is time to reevaluate Insurrection . On release it got a bum rap for being essentially an extra long episode the TV show, but in 2023 that’s no bad thing. Yes, there are moments we could live without (flying the Enterprise by joystick, the phaser bazooka, Data’s inflatable arse) but it is also, bafflingly, still the only Star Trek movie about landing on an alien planet and meeting the people who live there (apart from Beyond , maybe, if you squint).

But mainly, this film is really the last time (with the possible exception of upcoming Picard season 3) we get to see the TNG crew being a proper crew , with actors who’ve known each other a decade just hanging out and really enjoying playing off each other. It is much more fun than you remember it being. – Chris Farnell

8. Star Trek: Generations

When reviewing movies, it is always important to review the film you’re watching, not the film you wish you were watching. But that is so hard to do with Generations , even now. The film fans wanted to see in 1994 is still the film we miss now – Picard and Kirk in a buddy movie, their leadership styles clashing as they take on a galactic scale threat together.

Instead, they take on a member of the Enterprise’s bartender’s species while both captains are worrying about how they don’t really want to be captains anymore, and while it might be appropriate Kirk dies after a fist fight on some desert rocks, it still feels anticlimactic. It has some nice moments, but we’re always going to mourn what could have been. – CF

7. Star Trek (2009)

What if Star Trek was just a regular movie? In 2009, the J.J. Abrams reboot film accomplished the impossible: It tricked the general public into thinking of Star Trek as a brand-new phenomenon. On paper, almost nothing about the 2009 reboot movie should work, and it’s hard to imagine a film like this working today, either. Had this come out a few years earlier, or later, it probably wouldn’t have been as successful. But, in an era where the MCU hadn’t quite gotten going, and origin stories ( Batman Begins ) were all the rage, Star Trek scratched an itch the zeitgeist didn’t know it had.

What works about the 2009 reboot is also connected to what doesn’t work. Instead of being an outright remake or reimagining (like the 2003 Battlestar Galactica ) screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci split the difference; this version of 2258 predates The Original Series but is also an alternate dimension from it. Thinking too hard about the mechanics of all of this will certainly ruin your enjoyment of the movie (WTF is red matter anyway?) but what has aged well is the focus on the characters. Perhaps more than any other Star Trek movie, the TOS crew feels like a team of outer space superheroes. And, after seven feature films in which Captain Kirk (William Shatner) was moving through various midlife crises, it was refreshing to have Chris Pine remind us that at heart, Jim Kirk is forever young. – Ryan Britt

6. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

A lot of Star Trek movies want to be The Wrath of Khan , but they could all stand to be a bit more The Motion Picture .

Star Trek: The Motion Picture is, at heart, a pure science fiction movie – possibly the only Star Trek movie that can claim to be, taking its cues from 2001: A Space Odyssey rather than Horatio Hornblower . It is slow moving film, even in the newly released (and much improved) cut , but that’s not necessarily a flaw. In a movie series that is all too often about vengeful madmen and their personal vendettas, The Motion Picture is about voyaging deep into the unknown, and finding ourselves when we get there. – CF

5. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Arguably the most overlooked of the classic Trek films, The Search For Spock , is, nonetheless, perhaps the most formative Trek movie of them all . It was here that one of the Trek actors — namely Leonard Nimoy — became deeply influential behind the camera. This tradition would carry on for the rest of the TOS film series, and into The Next Generation , too. As a director, it’s easy to say that The Voyage Home was Nimoy’s better film. And yet, if you’re looking for a grab-bag of what made Trek great in the ‘80s, look no further than The Search For Spock .      

For aesthetics alone, it was in this film that Star Trek started to feel like the Star Trek we think of today. Designed by David Carson and Nilo Rodis at ILM, this film gave us the beautiful Spacedock, a design so perfect it reappeared not just in other TOS films, but in T he Next Generation , too (with an influence that extends to both Lower Decks and Picard ) The USS Excelsior appeared here for the first time, as did the immortal Klingon Bird-of-Prey. We also got Christopher Lloyd playing Klingon Commander Kruge, one year before he played Doc Brown in Back to the Future . After negotiations with Kirstie Alley didn’t work out, Nimoy recast Robin Curtis as Saavik. Curtis is the only actor in Star Trek history to play a Vulcan and be cast by Leonard Nimoy, and, in some ways, her take on the character was probably closer to being truly Vulcan than Alley’s take.

On top of all of this, the absence of Spock for most of the film, allowed the rest of the TOS cast to shine in a way they never had before. Based on his experience on Mission: Impossible , Nimoy was inspired to make The Search For Spock more of an ensemble piece than any previous Trek project. The final result is a movie in which the entire classic crew is showcased beautifully, and brings the Star Trek family closer than it ever had been before. – RB

4. Star Trek: First Contact

If you’re trying to explain why Star Trek was such a big deal in the 1990s, the best cultural artifact is easily the 1996 film First Contact . Released on November 22, 1996, just two months after the 30th anniversary of The Original Series , the second feature film focused on The Next Generation crew was a confluence of everything that was happening in Trek at that time, but also, a retroactive origin story about how it all started. Today, various MCU movies check continuity boxes like this all the time, but First Contact was unique because it somehow spanned three ‘90s Trek shows by not only featuring the TNG crew front and center but also referencing Deep Space Nine and Voyager .

Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart have never been better, but the guest cast for First Contact is the real proof of just how big this film was. Alfre Woodard’s Lily is the perfect audience surrogate for the poor soul who knows nothing about Trek (“It’s my first ray gun”) while James Cromwell reboots the father of warp drive, Zefram Cochrane, with charming (and drunken) panache. To top it all off, Alice Krige’s Borg Queen recontextualized the greatest Trek villain of all time, with a performance that is both understated and unique. In 1996, Trek traded “boldly go” for “let’s rock and roll!” and it worked perfectly. – RB

3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

It’s funny: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country – the final big screen voyage of the entire original series cast – never seems to get the same type of discussion or analysis as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , Star Trek: The Motion Picture , or even Star Trek V: The Final Frontier . Which is too bad, because it’s right up there with The Wrath of Khan as one of the finest of the bunch.

It’s no coincidence that it was directed and co-written by Nicholas Meyer, the same filmmaker who was in the center seat for Khan , and just as he did with that film, Meyer here crafts a character-driven space opera filled with excitement, suspense, Big Themes, and some of the best moments ever written for William Shatner’s Kirk and Leonard Nimoy’s Spock. Both men grapple with age, irrelevance, and their own flaws – Kirk’s bigotry on one hand, Spock’s hubris on the other – as they try to determine who wants to sabotage a peace process between the Federation and the Klingons and start a galactic war.

Highlights include a superb climactic battle against the rogue Klingon ship (commanded by an awesome Christopher Plummer ), Sulu (George Takei) in action as captain of his own starship, and a scene in Spock’s quarters between the Vulcan and Kirk that is both poignant and meta (“Is it possible that we two, you and I, have grown so old and so inflexible that we have outlived our usefulness? Would that constitute… a joke?”). By the time the Enterprise literally sails off into the sun at the end, you almost don’t want this to be this cast’s sign-off. But it was, and they went out like a nova. – Don Kaye

2. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek has always been goofy. Yes, yes, Star Trek can be lots of things, including exciting and romantic and philosophical. But it has always been goofy, with giant Spock heads and Worf assuring us that he is not a Merry Man. So it makes sense that the most popular Trek movie of all time would also be one of its silliest. But whatever you might think about a story that sends the original crew back to 1980s San Fransisco to save the whales, The Voyage Home always laughs with the characters, not at them. 

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Finally embracing his connection to the Trek world and stepping back into the director’s chair, Leonard Nimoy brings the same affection for his co-stars that marked Search for Spock . From that affection, Nimoy brings out the best in the cast, giving them delightful scenes in which Scotty talks lovingly into a computer mouse and Chekov seeks nuclear “wessels.” But as much as the movie shares the attention, the biggest chunk, as always, goes to William Shatner, who more than meets comedic task. That twinkle in his eye when he corrects Catherine Hicks’s marine biologist Gillian Taylor (“No, I’m from Iowa. I only work in outer space”), reminds us why, after all the jokes and horror stories, Kirk is still the captain. – JG

1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Can you honestly say you were surprised that this is Number One? More than 40 years and a dozen movies later, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is still the gold standard for what this franchise could and occasionally did achieve on the big screen. Conceived in the wake of the successful — but financially and creatively bloated — Star Trek: The Motion Picture as a smaller-scale adventure more in line with the TV show, The Wrath of Khan fulfilled its brief and then some, acting as both a sequel to a classic original series episode while addressing head-on the aging of the cast and the canon itself.

With Trek creator Gene Roddenberry kicked “upstairs” to an emeritus position, The Wrath of Khan proved that sometimes an established IP gets its best entries from people who have no previous attachment to the material. Executive producer Harve Bennett, writer-director Nicholas Meyer, and producer Robert Sallin were all new to Star Trek , yet ended up crafting a movie that felt in tone, pace, and theme like an expanded, outstanding episode of the TV show – a feeling missing from the first film.

Star Trek II also featured the return of arguably the original series’ greatest villain, the genetic superman Khan Noonien Singh, played once again with over-the-top relish by Ricardo Montalban. His obsessive, at-all-costs pursuit of vengeance against Kirk gives the film real stakes, as does the discovery that Kirk – the man who could never settle down and always fled to the stars – has a son he hadn’t seen in decades, who wants nothing to do with him. And then there’s Spock: his climactic self-sacrifice, capping one of sci-fi cinema’s most exciting space battles, never fails to be moving (even if the studio forced Meyer to slightly pull his punch at the very end). This is grand sci-fi, and even grander Trek , and somehow we think it will retain its place at the top of the heap for as long as Earth sails through space. – DK

What are your favorite Star Trek movies? Let us know in the comments!

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.

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star trek: the motion picture

The best and worst Star Trek movies, ranked

How does the new Star Trek Beyond movie rank within the 12 prior films? Let us count (down) the ways.

Joshua Rothkopf

With every new Star Trek movie, there’s a chance for greatness or awfulness. We’ll either be beamed up by the series-long spirit of rousing intergalactic adventure and warm crew camaraderie, or we’ll be gutted by dramatic gestures that felt exhausted decades ago. (Sometimes this happens within the same film.) Still, sci-fi movies wouldn’t be the same without Star Trek , and the 13 installments to date have supplied their share of action over the years. Here’s our definitive ranking—a list that includes summer blockbuster   The Wrath of Khan and  Star Trek Beyond , one of the best new movies to see—based on years of faithful Trekking.

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Best and worst Star Trek movies

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

13.  Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

  • Science fiction

More like Star Trek: Nadir . Future Mad Max Tom Hardy bores us as a power-mad dictator. A overall sluggishness signaled creative exhaustion. Were it not for rebooter J.J. Abrams, this would have been the tombstone.

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

12.  Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Fatigue sets in as Patrick Stewart’s Picard goes rogue in defense of an alien planet (and also gets it on with one of its inhabitants). The plot was about beneficial radiation, a hint of how confused this script was.

Star Trek Generations (1994)

11.  Star Trek Generations (1994)

Despite a fresh crew, the Next Generation team never got the big-screen vehicle it deserved, despite boasting strong writing on the TV show. Kirk is killed by Malcolm McDowell’s baddie, an undignified end.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

10.  Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

  • Action and adventure

After 2009’s thrilling reboot, audiences couldn’t help but be let down by this merely okay sequel (sort of like the franchise’s Quantum of Solace ). Coyness about Benedict Cumberbatch’s Khan was a major waste of time.

Star Trek: The Final Frontier (1989)

9.  Star Trek: The Final Frontier (1989)

Tellingly, William Shatner directed the most swooningly egotistical chapter in the franchise. It’s about an encounter with a self-proclaimed alien “God,” and includes plenty of manly showdowns with Klingons.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

8.  Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Reinventing the wheel with new ship designs, better special effects and more robust action, First Contact felt like a respectable sci-fi film—a modest goal in light of what this fan base expects (and deserves).

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

7.  Star Trek Beyond (2016)

The fun returns, as does a strong vibe of the ’60-era TV series. The latest Trek boasts strong special effects via the alien swarm, and much unexpected pathos with every onscreen shot of the late Anton Yelchin.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

6.  Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

It certainly starts off well, with Jerry Goldsmith’s soaring main theme virtually serving as the main character . But for a first chapter, this sure takes its time; audiences emerged from screenings light-years older.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

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

Excuse me, have you by any chance seen Spock around here? Pointy ears, implacable expression, given to mock profundity? If you run into him, tell him we’re looking for him. Thanks.

Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

4.  Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

A fine send-off to the original cast, this sixth film rebounded strongly from The Final Frontier’ s dullness, thanks to returning Wrath of Khan writer-director Nicholas Meyer and an abundance of Nixonian geopolitics.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

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

It’s still the funniest of the series, and that goes a long way given these films’ usual solemnity. Kirk, Spock and crew travel back in time to (then) present-day Earth to save the whales.

Star Trek (2009)

2.  Star Trek (2009)

Captain Kirk and company get an action-packed reboot in J.J. Abrams’s paean to space travel and lens flares. A fresh cast led by brash, rascally Chris Pine breathed vigor into the old character chemistries.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

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

Of course it’s in our top spot, for its killer villain (Ricardo Montalban) and nuanced development. This is the one in which Spock “dies,” but it also has one of the most moving final lines of any SF film: “I feel young.”

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10 Best ‘Star Trek’ Movies and TV Shows of the Franchise (So Far)

By Clayton Davis

Clayton Davis

Senior Awards Editor

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Star Trek Films and TV Shows Ranked

Captain James T. Kirk, better known around these parts as William Shatner, turns 90 years old on March 22. The actor, director, producer and writer has had a seven decade careers, with a community of devoted fans that revere not just his place as a figure in the universe but the entire canon of “Star Trek” and its various entities in film and television.

We’ve seen multiple starship captains and leaders over the decades, including Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), three Pikes (Jeffrey Hunter, Bruce Greenwood and Anson Mount), Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), a rebooted James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and the ultimate badass Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), arguably the best of them all.

The entire franchise has spawned seven spin-off television series, 13 feature films and two animated series. The original series ran from 1966 to 1969 on NBC and was canceled just after three seasons. After which, we moved to an animated series (1973-1974), “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (1987-1994), “Deep Space Nine” (1993-1999), “Voyager” (1995-2001). “Enterprise” (2001-2005), and the three still ongoing “Discovery” (2017), “Picard” (2020) and “Lower Decks” (2020).

In the film sector, the original series delivered six films — “The Motion Picture” (1979), “The Wrath of Khan” (1982), “The Search for Spock” (1984), “The Voyage Home” (1986), “The Final Frontier” (1989) and “The Undiscovered Country” (1991). “The Next Generation” provided four – “Generations” (1994), “First Contact” (1996), “Insurrection” (1998) and “Nemesis” (2002) while “The Kelvin Timeline” or rebooted version has given three “Star Trek” (2009), “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013) and “Star Trek Beyond” (2016), with all three having the highest box-office grosses of any film in the whole franchise. The 2009 film is also the only one to win an Academy Award for best makeup (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow), along with “The Voyage Home,” garnering the most nominations at four.

There are still more in development under Paramount Plus and on the studio side. “Star Trek: Prodigy,” an animated series co-written and created by Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman that focuses on a group of teenagers who get onto an abandoned starship, is set to drop later in 2021. From creators Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman and Jenny Lumet, “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” is a spin-off of “Discovery” and a prequel to the original series, following Captain Christopher Pike (Ansel Mount) and the crew of the USS Enterprise. Rebecca Romijn and Ethan Peck will also reprise their roles as Number One and Spock. Still yet to be confirmed, there is reportedly a Khan Noonien Singh limited series on the table, which explores the storyline from “The Wrath of Khan,” tentatively titled “Ceti Alpha V.”

Live long and prosper, Mr. Shatner.

Check out the full ranked list.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Star Trek First Contact

Released : November 22, 1996 Written by : Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore (screenplay by and story by) and Rick Berman (story by)

Cast : Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden. Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige

Defining moments : “Jean-Luc blow up the damn ship” and Data saying “resistance is futile.”

“The Next Generation” struggled the most when translating from television to the big screen. Of the four features, “First Contact” was the most enjoyable, assembling interesting set pieces and a few memorable one-liners. Deservingly picking up an Oscar nomination for best makeup for Michael Westmore, Scott Wheeler and Jake Garber (losing to “The Nutty Professor”), it’s Jonathan Frakes’ (First Officer William T. Riker) first outing as a feature director. What makes the film a success is it abandons the notion that all roads have to involve James T. Kirk, which is one of the main reasons “Generations” really missteps.

Deep Space Nine (1993-1999)

Star Trek Deep Space Nine

Series run : January 1993 to June 1999 Created by : Rick Berman and Michael Piller

Cast : Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, Cirroc Lofton, Colm Meaney, Armin Shimerman, Alexander Siddig, Nana Visitor, Michael Dorn, Nicole de Boer

Defining moments : Resistance with the Maquis, The Dominion War and The Mirror Universe

Commanding Officer and later Captain Benjamin Sisko (Brooks) was the best part of a series that wasn’t as consistently entertaining as its predecessors. Brooks is a grieving widower whose wife is killed by the Borg, an we follow him, along with his son Jake (Loft), and the rest of a fun crew that includes the Changeling Odo (Auberjonois), Medical Officer Julian Bashir (Siddig), Science Officer Jadzia Dax (Farrell), Operations Officer Miles O’Brien (Meaney) and a cult favorite Quark (Shimerman). The last two seasons of “The Next Generation” are set in the same years as the first two of “Deep Space Nine,” which then lines up with “Voyager” for the last five seasons.

Discovery (2019)

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY season 3

Series run : Premiered September 2017 (still running) Created by : Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman

Cast : Sonequa Martin-Green, Doug Jones, Shazad Latif, Anthony Rapp, Mary Wiseman, Jason Isaacs, Wilson Cruz, Anson Mount, David Ajala, Rachael Ancheril

Defining moments : The betrayal of Lieutenant Commander Michael Burnham

This series is still finding its footing and has lots to proud of thus far. It’s the first of the franchise to focus on a First Officer rather than the Captain, taking place about ten years before the original series. In the universe, we typically see someone going against orders for the “greater good.” Still, this series has taken that premise and expanded it with Commander Michael Burnham (Green), leading a mutiny against Captain Phillipa Georgiou (Yeoh) and starting a war against the Klingons, leading to the death of her captain. That alone creates a new type of storytelling for the franchise to explore and could help pull in more viewers of Paramount Plus’ show. It won a Primetime Emmy Award last year for outstanding prosthetic makeup for a series, limited series, movie or special, the first for the show thus far.

The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Star Trek The Undiscovered Country

Released : December 6, 1991 Written by : Nicholas Meyer, Denny Martin Flinn (screenplay by), Leonard Nimoy, Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal (story by)

Cast : William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Kim Cattrall, David Warner, Christopher Plummer

Defining moments : The final sign-off (“If I were Human, I believe my response would be, go to hell…if I were you human.”)

The original series saga’s final installment in feature-length form is enjoyable, showcasing a possible peace between the Klingon Empire and the Federation until a secret agenda is revealed that puts all our favorite heroes at risk. It also marks the final group appearance of the major cast members of the original series, with the late Christopher Plummer as the one-eyed Klingon General Chang, who is having the time of his life. We also have a cameo appearance by Christian Slater, whose mother, Mary Jo Slater, was the film’s casting director. The film was ultimately nominated for two Oscars (best sound effects editing and makeup) and, at the time, was the highest opener for the franchise. Before “Avengers: Endgame,” a reminder that the moving closing credit signature sequence was delivered in “The Undiscovered Country.”

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994)

Star Trek The Next Generation - Skin of Evil

Series run : September 1987 to May 1994 Created by : Gene Roddenberry

Cast : Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton. Denise Crosby, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton

Defining moments : Tasha Yar’s death in episode “Skin of Evil”

The evolution of “Star Trek” was helped immensely by “The Next Generation,” which delivers the classically trained Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard, with one of the entire franchise’s best crews. Sleeker, with more interesting characters (admittedly not as well explored as they could have been), the show also encompasses one of the most notable deaths of any of the television outings with Tasha Yar (played by Denise Crosby). In the 23rd episode of the first season, we’ve already grown a connection to the Enterprise-D crew. With a behind-the-scenes request by Crosby to be removed from her contract, the act gave us one of the most emotional episodes of the franchise. Also…the creature Armus is TERRIFYING.

The Search for Spock (1984)

The Search for Spock

Released : June 1, 1984 Written by : Harve Bennett

Cast : William Shatner, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Merritt Butrick, Christopher Lloyd

Defining moments : Spock’s “death.”

Let the great debate begin. Before #FilmTwitter quarreled about the merits of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (spoiler alert: it’s the second-best of the entire franchise), there was a discussion on the qualities of the third installment of the Kirk saga. It was a huge sequel weekend in June 1984, as it opened against the second weekend of “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and the fourth week of “The Natural,” emerging victorious. It also marks the directorial debut of Leonard Nimoy, who was the first cast member ever to helm one of its films.  The visual effects are really where the movie comes alive, showcasing beautiful sequences developed by Industrial Light & Magic. What the film does is give heft and agency to the friendship between Kirk and Spock, and although the death of Kirk’s son is done haphazardly, the action sequences are pulse-pounding.

Voyager (1995-2001)

Star Trek Voyager

Series run : January 1995 to May 2001 Created by : Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor

Cast : Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Jennifer Lien, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garrett Wang, Jeri Ryan

Defining moments : “Same to you old friend” from “Year of Hell” episode with Janeway and Tuvok

Nostalgia and purists will say that the original “Star Trek” is the best because without that, we don’t have anything else that follows. While correct, in terms of quality, acting, and sheer audacity of the canon, “Voyager,” is behind-the-scenes, the best of them all. Kate Mulgrew’s Captain Janeway is vivacious, and she’s undoubtedly one of the best actresses to grace our screens (as also seen in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black”) and Tuvok (played brilliantly by Tim Russ) is simply amazing. Also, “Seven of Nine” was my everything in my childhood, leading into my teenage years.

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966-1969)

Star Trek Doomsday Machine

Series run : September 1966 to June 1969 Created by : Gene Roddenberry

Cast : William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

Defining moments : “The Doomsday Machine”

You have to respect the origins of a franchise, and we should properly genuflect before the series that started it all. The entire cast goes for it, with little budget and strange scene constructions, but it has more highs than it does lows, featuring numerous memorable moments. Many will say that the defining episodes of the series fall somewhere between “City on the Edge Forever” (with the death of Edith Keeler) or the Kirk and Spock battle in “Amok Time” (thanks to “The Cable Guy” with Jim Carrey), but “The Doomsday Machine” has the most tension and an outstanding turn from guest star William Windom as Commodore Matt Decker.

The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star Trek - The Wrath of Khan

Released : June 4, 1982 Written by : Jack B. Sowards (screenplay and story by) Harve Bennett (story by)

Cast : William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Bibi Besch, Merritt Butrick, Paul Winfield, Kirstie Alley, Ricardo Montalbán

Defining moments : Spock’s “death”

If “Skin of Evil” defines the emotions on television, then “The Wrath of Khan” represents the silver screen for the franchise property. Our favorite Vulcan’s self-sacrifice, paired with Kirk’s eulogizing friend, is a tough one to stomach. It obviously is undone with the next entries of the cinematic universe, but it holds up immensely as a moving tribute to a beloved character. Sadly, no major awards love came for the film, which in many circles stands as the best in the franchise. Add the bombastic score of James Horner, and you receive amazing results.

Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek - 2009

Released : May 8, 2009 Written by : Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman

Cast : John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Winona Ryder, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimoy, Chris Hemsworth

Defining moments : The final battle (“Fire everything!”)

Let’s get this out of the way nice and early.

Star Trek” (2009) received four Oscar nominations – for sound mixing, sound editing, visual effects, and makeup, which it won – it’s the one film of the franchise that should have been nominated for best picture, especially in the first year of a guaranteed 10 films for the Academy’s top category. I would also put it on a ballot for adapted screenplay and film editing. You don’t get an action-packed film like this rebooted entry that focuses beautifully on the beloved characters’ origin stories, giving them alternate timelines that don’t feel forced and still capture the spirit of what makes the franchise so great. SAG Awards should have also jotted it down for best cast ensemble. While the sequels have never recaptured that early magic, J.J. Abrams has proven he knows how to set up a story arc properly (sticking the landing is still up for debate). I only hope as Paramount Plus progresses forward in the universe, they take plays from the Kevin Feige playbook and give themselves a long roadmap that will pay off to something truly extraordinary.

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All 13 Star Trek Movies Ranked

Live long and start arguments.

USS Enterprise

So, which movie gets to sit in the captain's chair?

Star Trek Into Darkness

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This is not the least enjoyable Star Trek movie. Not by a longshot. Like the J.J. Abrams reboot it succeeded, Into Darkness is at least an action-packed and rollicking romp, something its baffling script cannot diminish. It's watchable. The reason I don't like this movie, the source of that constant sour taste in my mouth, is the Big Reveal. Benedict Cumberbatch hisses, "My name is Khan ," is an timbre that's supposed to send chills down the fanboy's spine.

I'm not saying Star Trek shouldn't be in the business of fan service and intertextuality. When you're five decades deep in franchise with a dozen films and hundreds of television episodes, what else is there to do? But this. This is not J.J. Abrams listening to his better angels; it is a nonsensical and cheap way to draft the goodwill of the amazing Wrath of Khan .

I've seen Star Trek II . You're no Star Trek II , senator.

Star Trek Nemesis

Movie, Screenshot, Jacket, Fictional character, Leather,

I have seen it, twice. Other than the fact that Data dies, I could not remember what happens in this movie until I re-read the Wikipedia summation. Sure, The Final Frontier is a bad movie. But Nemesis is just so forgettable.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

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Everything about the first movie is just so… odd. The glacial pacing and 2001: A Space Odyssey sparseness. The baby blue and brown color palette, compared to the blood red uniforms of the other original series movies. (Maybe it was a failed Starfleet rebranding?). Decker. Even the name is odd. "The Motion Picture" sounds like something a producer from the 1920s would say—talking pictures, they're the next big thing.

Yet there is something so particularly Star Trek about the core themes—a machine that thinks and maybe feels, new life and new civilizations, what it means to be human—that the convoluted Frankenstein of a movie actually works on some level, even if its template was to be thrown out to make way for a vastly superior movie in Trek 's second outing. This movie is a re-edit away from being a very solid Saturday afternoon TBS outing.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Mountainous landforms, Mountain, Mountain range, Travel, Human, Sky, Photography, Tourism, Cloud, Recreation,

"Oh, The Final Frontier ? It's a William Shatner passion project that questions whether man can ever truly find God, but with camp songs. Wait, where are you going?"

Star Trek V is easily the most ragged-on in the series, and the driving force behind the commonly held belief that the odd-numbered Trek movies stink. I'm not going to sit here and tell you this movie is good. I am going to tell you that I'd rather watching this preposterous Mad Max -meets- The Ten Commandments spectacle than the ponderous Motion Picture, or Nemesis .

Star Trek: Insurrection

Games, Gesture,

To recap: The good race of people are immortals—because, it turns out, they are shielded by magical radiation. The bad race of people want to steal this radiation for themselves, wrecking the pristine planet in the process, and bad dudes high in the Federation are helping them do it. The big reveal is that the two are the same race, with the latter being rebels who left the immortal colony on a forever Rumspringa to embrace the technological life.

You don't have to be an English major to get the environmental subtext here. But it's a bit weird coming from a franchise built upon techno-utopianism, where technology has led the way to a more or less peaceful, money-free, pretty great world of tomorrow.

Then again, "The Next Generation" always lusts after what it cannot have. Insurrection finds Picard falling in love with a woman in paradise, following the show's familiar trope of teasing him with hints of romance, family, more to life than captaining a ship. Sometimes it works. Any list of the best TNG television episodes will contain "The Inner Light," a brilliant hour in which Picard lives a lifetime as a husband, a father, a family man who put down roots and saw them grow, only to wake up from the fever dream alone again, gazing across the starfield.

The what-if stories are fine, but let's be real. Everything about "The Next Generation" works because of who Jean-Luc Picard is—the wise, stubborn stoic married to his career. The man alone in the ready room. TNG stories are the strongest when the captain is the captain.

On the other hand, HMS Pinafore .

Star Trek: Generations

Human, Geology, Tourism, Adaptation, Smile, Temple, Travel, Rock, Formation, Geological phenomenon,

This is Star Trek's version of a comic book movie, something that came to the cineplex because somebody important enough in Hollywood finally said, "wouldn't it be cool if these two iconic characters finally shared the screen?" Generations feels a bit slapdash as a result of its genesis, its time-defying plot line totally contrived in the name of fan service.

That said: It's kind of fun even though it's corny, right? Also, Generations is not a 2010s comic book movie. It didn't end with a post-credits scene that leads into three more mediocre movies meant to milk the money out of you. It was just an entertaining one-off that killed James T. Kirk, and that's it. As such, it deserves a place below the good movies but above the bad ones.

Star Trek Beyond

Fictional character, Games,

Star Trek Beyond is the first film of the new trilogy that actually feels like a Star Trek film. Where the previous two entries misplaced the charm of the crew of the Enterprise, Beyond tapped into Kirk and Spock in ways that made you care about the characters.

The film opens with Kirk doubting his future aboard the Enterprise and in the Federation, and then the evil Krall attacks the Enterprise during a rescue mission. What unfolds feels more like a tight, well-done episode of Star Trek rather than the boisterous action films where entire planets and races hang in the balance. The action is more sparing, making it feel actually exciting when it happens, but the movie still comes with great visuals and plenty of plot twists.

It won't ever be remembered as one of the greats, but it certainly isn't the worst.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

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There's nothing like the sight of Christopher Plummer in heavy makeup declaring the superiority of Shakespeare in the original Klingon to make you think, okay, this is the last go-round and they are Going For It. Still, The Undiscovered Country remains a fulfilling watch, especially its opening. It's got Spock in his own detective story, Kirk and Bones on a final sardonic adventure together, and an allegory about the Berlin Wall in space that somehow doesn't feel too ham-fisted or stuck in 1991.

Without the narrative trappings inherent in being a Star Trek movie and a finale for the original cast, the sixth film might ascend to the truly great movie status of The Wrath of Khan (which Nicholas Meyer also directed). Instead, it is a good Trek movie, and that's fine.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Movie, Human, Adaptation, Fictional character,

Bringing a beloved character back from the dead is a storytelling trope best left to soap operas and Game of Thrones . So on its surface, resurrecting Spock right after the most dramatic moment in the Trek canon is a major cop-out. What saves the old Star Trek movies is that they don't just revive the science officer, reset the series, and go about their merry way. Spock's death and then life have consequences that reverberate through this movie and the next, creating a continuity that turns II, III, and IV into a sort of accidental trilogy that has to resolve Spock dying, the Enterprise blowing up, and the crew finding itself on a leaky Klingon bird of prey.

Speaking of: Bonus points to The Search for Spock for blowing up the Enterprise , pioneering a Trek trope to be repeated in Generations and Star Trek Beyond .

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Event, Conversation, White-collar worker, Official,

Imagine trying to explain the plot of The Voyage Home to somebody who'd never seen Star Trek. I'd give you time travel, humpback whales, and a colossal malevolent paper towel roll in space before they cut you off. Even so, this silly outing is one of the best of the original cast movies.

Like First Contact , this is a fish-out-of-water story that gets the characters off the ship and onto the streets of a place basically recognizable as Earth. The real genius of IV is that once the exposition is out of the way, the great whale caper forces the crew to divide up into pairs, a plot device that drives lots of little buddy-cop scenes. "Double dumb-ass on you," "nuclear wessels ," neck-pinching the bus punk, Scotty inventing transparent aluminum—all these memorably fun scenes are made possible this way.

And then they save the planet. I just want some Italian food. And so do you.

Star Trek (2009)

Head, Lip, Hairstyle, Sleeve, Chin, Forehead, Eyebrow, Red, Style, T-shirt,

Forget the two Spocks and the dynamite cameo by Leonard Nimoy. Forget the inspired branch-off timeline that let J.J. Abrams start over with Kirk and Spock without negating the original series. And forget the raw power of seeing Star Trek reimagined as a proper 21st century action movie. What really grabs you about the 2009 reboot Star Trek is that they're so young .

The '80s and early 90s brought all these cinematic adventures in which the original crew coped on screen with the onset of middle age, handled admirably in a way that advanced those stories. But four-plus decades after the original TV series, it was a jolt to see Uhura, Sulu, Scotty, and the rest as young things fresh out of the academy.

Origin stories are boring now thanks to the current glut of superhero movies. But James T. Kirk never really had one, so it's a hell of a lot of fun to watch him crash sports cars and get in bar fights.

Star Trek: First Contact

Fictional character, Movie, Action film, Hero, Armour, Belt, Journalist, Animation, Camera,

Finally, a freewheeling action movie and not a ponderous meditation about the Prime Directive. A much-needed shot in the arm for a franchise that too often settles for preachy talking. These are the kinds of notions we heard plenty of when J.J. Abrams revived the series in 2009. They are the same kinds of things you could have said about First Contact , the first movie to feature the Next Generation cast exclusively and the best of the trio by far.

The creators clearly recognized the good thing they had going in the two-part TNG episode " The Best of Both Worlds ," when Borg assimilation and de-assimilation lets the philosopher Captain Picard play warrior-poet. First Contact stretches Picard's personal war into a feature-length film that's a little heavy on the Moby Dick symbolism, but totally works. As is the case with The Voyage Home (another whale movie), time travel cooks up a stranger-in-a-strange-era scenario that loosens up and enlivens the characters.

Where the "Next Generation" TV episodes (mostly) used the Enterprise 's weapons as a deterrent, First Contact is an all-out war movie more in the spirit of what "Deep Space Nine" became. Where the NCC-1701-D looks like a bubbly platform of peace, the E is a proper military machine that gets down to deadly business right after the opening credits.

Must the line be drawn here? It must.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Face, Head, Nose, Finger, Chin, Forehead, Gesture, Temple, Conversation, Thumb,

I have been, and always shall be, the best Trek movie.

Headshot of Andrew Moseman

Andrew's from Nebraska. His work has also appeared in Discover, The Awl, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Playboy, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn with two cats and a snake.

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Aerospace engineering, Experimental aircraft, Vehicle, Aviation,

'Picard' Is Star Trek Done Right

Text, Font, Logo, Space, Graphic design, Electric blue, Atmosphere, Sky, Graphics, Design,

Everything We Know About 'Star Trek: Lower Decks'

On the set of the TV series Star Trek

Do We Really Need an R-Rated Star Trek Movie?

Space, Star,

Star Trek: DS9 Gets the Documentary It Deserves

Blue, Human, Electric blue, Photography, Wetsuit, Jacket,

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Pianist, Technology, Musician,

'Star Trek: Discovery' Gets Back to Basics

Building, Room, Lobby, Architecture, Interior design, Leisure, Sport venue, Games,

'Discovery' Wants You to Forget About Season One

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What We Know About 'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 2

star trek house survivors malibu

Mysterious Star Trek House Up For Sale

2018 Star Trek Convention Las Vegas

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2018 Star Trek Convention Las Vegas

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TheWrap critic Russ Fischer ranks “Star Trek Beyond” among all of the Enterprise crew’s big-screen adventures

Star trek split

13. “Star Trek Into Darkness” (2013)

“Star Trek” borrowing from itself is fine (see a good use of ideas from “The Voyage Home” in “Beyond”), but the second J.J. Abrams film plunders “The Wrath of Khan” like Doctor Frankenstein’s assistant seeking raw monster material. The appropriation and reversal of the emotional crescendo of “Khan” lands with a thud, as does the illogical, witless script and its muddy 9/11 allegory.

best star trek movies ranked

12. “Star Trek Nemesis” (2002)

There are good elements in the final “Next Generation” outing: Tom Hardy ‘s preening, arrogant interactions with Patrick Stewart ; Ron Perlman ‘s “Nosferatu”-inspired makeup, which looks like a Guillermo del Toro dream; one of Jerry Goldsmith’s final scores. But Stuart Baird’s atonal direction makes for a dull action slog stained with the psychic rape of Deanna Troi — a scene which becomes merely setup for a battle maneuver. “Star Trek” was forced into a seven-year theatrical hiatus after this movie. Frankly, the break was needed.

best star trek movies ranked

11. “Star Trek: The Final Frontier” (1989)

William Shatner ‘s directorial outing is all about Kirk as an ’80s action hero, but the film oddly undermines the captain as often as it beefs him up. That interesting tension is lost in a plot about Spock’s long-lost half brother, written as a forgettable combination of Jesus and Charlie Manson, seeking God at the far end of the universe. The goofball script, with ideas like Uhura distracting enemies by dancing atop a sand dune, goes full-on silly at the patchy, forgettable climax.

best star trek movies ranked

10. “Star Trek Insurrection” (1998)

“Insurrection” strives to be lighter than other “Next Generation” movies, with more jokes and a distracting love affair for Picard, but its “fountain of youth” plot leads to indignities such as Worf suffering a giant zit. A decent story kernel — the Federation is beginning to appear weak and out of date — hides within this film, but few scenes support or expand that idea. Instead, “Insurrection” works with a limited visual and story palette better suited for a TV episode.

best star trek movies ranked

9. “Star Trek Generations” (1994)

Cinematographer John A. Alonzo (“Chinatown”) ensures this first “Next Generation” movie often looks tremendous, and the opening with Kirk, Scotty and Chekov is a pleasant callback to the original crew. Yet the script’s big-screen ambitions are squandered on a mediocre Enterprise-breaking set piece. The film’s sagging midsection shows how poorly theatrical films explored Data’s yearning for humanity as a replacement for Spock grappling with the meeting of Vulcan and human instincts. Some good interaction between Kirk and Picard notwithstanding, their meeting is saved for the last reels, and Kirk’s final send-off is so lame that casual viewers probably won’t even remember his fate.

best star trek movies ranked

8. “Star Trek First Contact” (1996)

The best of the Next Gen movies fuses Borg invasion and time travel plots, throwing the Enterprise-E into Earth’s past on the trail of the cybernetic collective as it attempts to prevent humanity’s first contact with Vulcans, thereby destroying the Federation at its root. “First Contact” has more action than most Picard stories, but it’s still padded with a lot of corridor-crawling filler. For all their visual menace, the Borg aren’t particularly frightening, and even Alige Krige’s Borg Queen never gels as a villain. Points go to Alfre Woodard , however, for dressing down Picard.

best star trek movies ranked

7. “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” (1984)

After the grandeur of “The Wrath of Khan,” director Leonard Nimoy ‘s first Trek feature feels cheap, even though it is the first “Star Trek” film to destroy the Enterprise. The Genesis planet created in “Wrath of Khan” is a great setting, but “The Search for Spock” is saddled with stilted staging and mediocre villains. This chapter succeeds by bringing Spock back to life in a way that prevents a simple reunion with his former crew members, but it serves best as a bridge between the second and fourth film.

best star trek movies ranked

6. “Star Trek Beyond” (2016) The streamlined, effective third outing for the reboot crew is free of baggage — no need to justify its own existence or kooky fan-service tricks. Having firmly defined their roles, the cast has room to play and riff off one another, aided by a script that traps the crew, broken into pairs, on an alien planet. As Kirk says early on, things feel a bit episodic, but that’s “Trek,” and in this case the vibe of “Beyond” is calibrated to evoke the spirit of the original TV series. That task is accomplished well, and while Idris Elba ‘s villain first seems growlingly rote, he grows into a respectable counter-balance for Kirk.

best star trek movies ranked

5. “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979)

The series’ first film is slow even by 1979 standards, though a 2001 director’s cut has better pacing and character work. Even with the glacial movement, the crawl through V’Ger’s environment and loving pans across the Enterprise — a gift to fans who waited a decade for new live-action adventures — are glorious. The story offers a welcome window on the running of the Enterprise and develops the sort of hardcore sci-fi story even “Star Trek” doesn’t often get to do.

best star trek movies ranked

4. “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” (1991)

Gene Roddenberry often pushed his series to explore stories as allegories for modern life and politics; here “Trek” becomes a Cold War story in which the Federation and a nearly bankrupt Klingon Empire are dropped into the context of a political thriller. Christopher Plummer adds weight as a key villain in a dark and heavy story that folds in murder mystery elements. It’s not always successful, especially in obscuring the culprit, but this look at the Federation is unlike anything else in the “Star Trek” film series.

best star trek movies ranked

3. “Star Trek” (2009)

The script for J.J. Abrams ‘ franchise reboot takes big swings and doesn’t always connect, especially in the villain department. Yet the cast is so well-chosen, with chemistry and charisma to spare, that the new ensemble explores the dynamics of Roddenberry’s old crew with apparent ease. Rather than replicating the interaction between Shatner and Nimoy, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto find their own rhythm and quickly make a case for their versions of the well-known pair. Sure, the the lighting and camerawork can be distractingly overbearing, but in all other respects the new “Trek” is a warp-speed success.

best star trek movies ranked

2. “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” (1986)

Aided by an expanded budget and directorial freedom after “The Search for Spock,” director Leonard Nimoy ditched weapons and villains to shoot on location in San Francisco. In what seems like a contradiction for the series, “The Voyage Home” explores the characters in a new light by pitching the crew back in time to rescue two humpback whales in an effort to save Federation-era Earth. The script can veer into the didactic and the sun-slingshot time-travel device is kooky as hell. Even so, this sequel is a wonderfully entertaining high-water mark for the series with some of the best character beats for every crew member.

best star trek movies ranked

1. “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” (1982)

To counter the heady and slow-moving debut film, director and co-writer Nicholas Meyer fashioned a high-spirited naval adventure with Ricardo Montalban delivering an all-time melodramatic villain performance and battle scenes energized by James Horner’s ringing score. The movie can turn on a dime, from the opening thrills of the Kobayashi Maru test to the alien weirdness of brain parasites. Spock’s final scenes etch the Kirk/Spock relationship in stone and set the standard for character relationships in all genre films, to say nothing of future “Star Trek” sequels.

Eugene Levy (Getty Images)

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Every Star Trek movie, ranked

Boldly go on a ranking of all 13  Star Trek  films.

Star Trek Wrath of Khan

Credit: CBS via Getty Images

In 1979, Star Trek warped from television to the big screen. The franchise expanded faster than V'Ger. On December 6th, one of the franchise's best movies (and one of our favorites), Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , celebrates its 30th anniversary.   

The films began with the original cast from Star Trek: The Original Series . After six films, the movies transitioned to feature the cast from Star Trek: The Next Generation , and then in 2009, a new timeline of films branched off with recast legacy characters and much bigger budgets. What will the next Trek movie be, and which crew will it feature? Who knows, but it’s only a matter of time before some Trek project boldly goes to the cinema once more. 

In the meantime, we’re going to rank all of the existing 13 films in the canon. It’s more of a celebration than anything else; most of these movies we love. We don’t dislike any of them. Which one are we going to throw on at any given moment? It depends on the day, it depends on the hour, it depends on which crew we want to journey with. 

Full impulse and prepare for warp, because only Nixon could go to China. Here’s our ranking of the 13 Star Trek feature films. 

13. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

J.J. Abrams' last Star Trek movie as director, Into Darkness , is his worst film. His much-loved “Mystery Box” approach, which only really works as a marketing tool, fails him on a story level when we learn who the villain really is (as if we didn't know already). It's a movie where the head of Starfleet is totally fine violating Federation principles and risking war with the Klingons to cover up his secret plans with an all-out military strike (which, as cover-ups go, not very discrete), but, if you’re Jim Kirk and you're caught lying, then he must uphold the very rules he's taking seven photon torpedoes to. If you like movies where heroes lie to save their own ass and put their crews’ in a wringer, or stories that lurch from one set piece to another with inconsistent characterizations and little emotional resonance, or that remix bits from Wrath of Khan without earning it, then appreciating why it is the best, then Into Darkness is for you.

12. S tar Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Traditionally, even-numbered Trek  films are high points for the franchise. The tenth installment, and the fourth film featuring the Next Generation  cast, broke that tradition.

Nemesis is a dull, rough draft of a movie that feels and operates like big-budget fan-fic, one that is surprisingly tone-deaf in regards to how to portray these characters — especially, and frustratingly, Picard in the first half. An overabundance on Romulan political intrigue gets in the way of enjoying or appreciating what few moments in the story are truly worthy of our attention, as Tom Hardy's Shinzon (a young and bald clone of Picard) challenges his (wait for it) nemesis in a big CG space battle where Shinzon's massive planet-killing ship and Picard's Enterprise collide. The movie bombed, killing future missions from this crew. It would take Paramount seven years to recover with J.J. Abrams' reboot.

11. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Saddle up, lock and load! The second Trek movie directed by Jonathan Frakes is, rightfully, the movie that gave us the "Riker Manuever." Turns out that it has nothing to do with the way Riker sits in chairs. 

Picard and the Enterprise crew get swept up in a rather uneventful conflict between the nasty Son'a and the ever-peaceful Ba'ku. The latter alien race inhabit a lovely planet that keeps you young and has various other magical powers. Starfleet wants to work with the Son'a to harness the planet's abilities, thanks to another wicked Admiral, and he's dealing dirty with the lead Son'a... played by none other than Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham. Picard won't stand for it, so he launches the titular insurrection and goes after Space Salieri to save the Ba'ku. 

Insurrection  plays like an extended episode of TNG ; no more, no less. Donna Murphy plays a love interest to Picard, and though we are big fans of hers, giving more screentime to, say, Beverly Crusher, would have been a better choice for this story. After the glory of Star Trek: First Contact , the stakes felt a little small but we still enjoy it. 

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

"What does God need with a starship?" Good question.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier got clobbered in the Summer of '89 by the likes of Batman and Indiana Jones; William Shatner's directorial debut's low, low budget and really bad special effects just couldn't compete with the other blockbusters. Neither could Final Frontier 's messy and largely passive story that tries too hard to capture the lighting-in-a-bottle mix of comedy and sci-fi that turned Voyage Home into a hit. Despite being one of the lowest grossing Trek s ever, this misfire does feature a few strong moments, especially when God-searching Sybok confronts his half-brother, Spock, and McCoy with their secret pains. (And we don't mind the funny campfire scene with Spock and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" either.)

9. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

The one with V'Ger.

The first big-screen Trek movie is definitely an acquired taste. Legendary director Robert Wise made a great science fiction movie, but it doesn't always feel like Star Trek . The pace is slow, but the ideas and themes the movie explores during its slog of a runtime are incredible. You just have to get past the blaring alarms, the nonsensical murdering transporters, and the cabana boy beach uniforms. 

William Shatner brings a lot of hubris to this new Kirk, and Kirk makes some bad decisions because of it. Leonard Nimoy is the highlight of the movie (shocker), giving us a Spock that wants to purge himself of emotions. That changes when he discovers the V'Ger entity. The mysterious being that is moving toward Earth is cold and unfeeling, and Spock realizes that he doesn't want to be like that. V'Ger's true identity, once revealed, is a great payoff. 

Still, most of the movie features one ship trying to stop a giant cloud. Patience will be rewarded here, and the rewards include some of the weirdest and most beautiful images in any Trek movie. Jerry Goldsmith's score is likely the movie's greatest asset, as none of it (especially Kirk and Scotty's famously long shuttle approach to the Enterprise) would work without it.

8. Star Trek: Generations (1994)

The one with Malcolm McDowell.

After Picard and company sailed off at the end of their television finale, they flew right into this 1994 film from David Carson. It was the first big-screen showing for the TNG crew, and it brought some old favorites back as well. Captain Kirk, Chekhov, and Scotty start off by christening the Enterprise-B back in their era, and, in record time, the ship gets caught up in an anomaly called the Nexus. Kirk is lost and presumed dead. Cut to the TNG era, and a dimly-lit Enterprise-D encounters the Nexus' number one fan, the sinister Dr. Soran (McDowell). He wants to get back to the Nexus, having survived the encounter that Kirk didn't aboard the B. The Nexus is pure joy, and it is only there that Soran feels he can escape the pain of having lost his family to the Borg years ago. 

Captains Kirk and Picard finally meet to stop Soran and save the galaxy, but the end result is rather "meh." A great (if too long) crash sequence involving the Enterprise-D and vivid cinematography are among the film's few high points, unless you have always wanted the greatest captains ever to meet-cute over (we sh** you not) chopping firewood and making eggs. And Kirk's death lacks the emotional impact that both the iconic hero and his fans deserve.

7. Star Trek Beyond (2016)

The best odd-numbered film since Star Trek III: The Search for Spock , Star Trek Beyond is waaaay better than its predecessor, Star Trek Into Darkness (Phew.) It celebrates what makes Trek  so great, its themes and characters, while honoring the franchise's 50th anniversary with a very entertaining mix of humor, heart, and spectacle. We'd rank it higher if not for the problematic execution of villain Krall (a surprisingly ineffectual Idris Elba), whose motivations (while solid  on paper) are denied the necessary screentime to truly connect. But director Justin Lin (of Fast & Furious  fame) mostly overcomes that, as well as certain tonal and narrative bumps, thanks to making the first of these nuTreks to feel like a $200 million episode of The Original Series . Beyond leaves us feeling that which STID failed to do: Wanting more.

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

Leonard Nimoy returns as Spock with his feature film directorial debut that bridges the events of  Star Trek II  with  Star Trek IV  with an earnest and assured, if not visually dynamic, approach. The story packs a considerable emotional punch, as well as some of the series most iconic moments — the death of Enterprise, Kirk's heartsick reaction ("Klingon bastards!") to the murder of his son, David — as the Enterprise's crew puts their careers and lives on the line to save both a resurrected Spock and a compromised McCoy. The latter is suffering from the effects of a super Vulcan mind meld; Spock used it to transfer his essence and consciousness into McCoy like one would backup files to the Cloud. 

The Search for Spock  competently explores the toll of Kirk's efforts to prove to Spock that sometimes the needs of the one outweigh those of the many, even if it means stealing the Enterprise in a stirring sequence. While Trek III  isn't the most ambitious or exciting  Trek  movie, it is one of the most heartfelt adventures in the series. A necessary throat clearing of sorts before the franchise can reach its then-highest point. 

5. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

While Star Trek: First Contact is the second film featuring Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the rest of the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew, it is the first full solo outing for the TNG cast. The hit sequel, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, also proved to be better than TNG ’s maiden big-screen voyage, 1994’s uneven Star Trek: Generations . Free from the studio-imposed story mandates that Generations had, writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga delivered an action-packed and emotionally compelling adventure that pit Picard against his most lethal enemy: The Borg, a race of cybernetic beings hellbent on going back in time to assimilate Earth at a vulnerable point in its history. Making the stakes that much higher was how Picard’s past trauma with the Borg threatened to get in the way of saving humanity’s future, as his experience being assimilated into their collective boiled over into revenge. 

In between explosive space battles and tension-filled set pieces featuring a Borgified new Enterprise, first-time feature director (and Next Gen actor) Jonathan Frakes gave fans a Star Trek movie unlike any other; a riveting, action-horror sci-fi blockbuster that was only the second Trek film at the time to ever achieve crossover audience appeal outside the core fanbase. (The first was 1986’s time-traveling, “save-the-whales” romp Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ). 

4. Star Trek (2009) 

It’s telling that J.J. Abrams has remade Star Wars twice and that his actual Star Wars movie is the second-best one.

2009’s Star Trek  is still a nearly unparalleled dazzler, a canny prequel and inspired reboot that feels wholly fresh and original, with a nifty plot (involving time travel and alternate timelines) that wisely (albeit in a complicated way) doesn’t negate the films that came before it. Abrams brilliantly cast the movie, introducing a host of fresh faces playing iconic roles that, by the time the film was released, had become more punchline than anything else. ( Star Trek: Nemesis was an inglorious end to the Enterprise’s big-screen adventures, critically lambasted and commercially ignored.)

Breathlessly told, Star Trek  has some of the biggest and most inventive set pieces (the opening attack sequence, particularly when the sound drains away during a key moment to leave room for only Michael Giacchino’s soaring score, is enough to bring tears to your eyes), as well as  memorable new characters (Eric Bana’s Nero is a wry and scary baddie). After the promise of Mission: Impossible III , Abrams showed himself to be an honest-to-goodness filmmaker, able to improbably invigorating moribund franchises with vitality, humor and boundless energy. It feels like we have watched Star Trek a thousand times and it also feels like we could watch it a thousand more.

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

The one with the whales.

It's not just the funniest Star Trek movie, it's one of the funniest movies ever. Large credit goes to director Leonard Nimoy and the movie's late producer and co-writer, Harve Bennett. 

A weird probe (its origins never explained) comes to 23rd-century Earth looking for whales. Humpback whales, specifically. But, since they are extinct, Kirk and his crew aboard a stolen Klingon vessel must slingshot around the sun to travel back in time to 20th-century San Francisco and save two whales just in time to warp back to the future and save the day. 

It's such a cockamamie plan, sure, but part of the fun is seeing the characters both acknowledge it is a stretch and then commit fully to it. There are no consequences to messing with time, the crew just romps around San Francisco and does what they want. They alter history (hello, transparent aluminum!) and invade Naval vessels. But along the way, the movie takes some big comedic swings with the hilarious "fish out of water" story Spock and Kirk find themselves in as they don't need photon torpedos to save the day. Just their wits. The film is full of sweet, funny, and surprisingly poignant moments and still remains, 35 years later, a classic comedy and essential  Trek  film.

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

It’s fitting that one of the filmmakers responsible for putting Trek ’s big-screen franchise back on track would return to wrap up the voyages of the The Original Series cast. Wrath of Khan writer-director Nicholas Meyer’s second Star Trek feature, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is, at times, arguably more confidently executed and rich with character beats than his former (and well-regarded) entry. The movie embraces the characters’ twilight years as a plot point by putting the aging crew of the past-her-prime Enterprise in the middle of a conspiracy that threatens to light the fuse on continued conflict between the Federation and the Klingons.

The Cold War parallels here between the then-fall of the Berlin Wall and our sci-fi heroes and their nemesis lend Trek VI  an urgency and intrigue on par with ‘60s political thrillers, with Meyer’s propulsive whodunit of a script (cowritten by the late Denny Martin Flynn) affording the franchise to boldly go explore new genres like the murder mystery and POW, Great Escape -esque war dramas. (There’s also some great courtroom drama flourishes as well, on top of an exceptional Run Silent, Run Deep -inspired space battle between the Enterprise and a Klingon bird-of-prey that can fire while cloaked.)

From Kirk sporting grey hair, to the characters expounding upon their relevancy and usefulness as they are all that stand between us and the brink of full-scale war, Star Trek VI is a taut, clever picture that always puts story and character first and never fails to deliver on the emotional resonance of either.

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

Following the events of "Space Seed" in The Original Series , Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) comes to get revenge on Admiral...  Admiral ... James T. Kirk in the rousing intimate epic that is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . A cat and mouse game of dueling starships ensues, with Kirk commanding an Enterprise full of trainees. A dangerous science project called "Genesis" is in the mix, too, and Khan wants it to help him conquer the galaxy. Kirk wins in the end, bit loses his best friend in the process.

The most thematically and emotionally rich film in the series,  Khan  is still the benchmark to which all subsequent Treks aspire to match or exceed. Not only is it the best big-screen mission ever for the Enterprise, it's also one of the best science fiction films of all time.

This movie set a new bar for Trek greatness. We don't think we're being hyperbolic when we say that it is damn near perfect. We'll watch it "'round the moons of Nibia, and 'round the Antares maelstrom, and 'round perdition's flames before we give it up."

Watch Resident Alien

  • Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan
  • Star Trek Into Darkness

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All The Star Trek Movies, Ranked

This is my definitive list.

William Shatner screaming as Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

There are so many Star Trek movies to enjoy -- 13, to be exact, and soon we’ll have 14 when Michelle Yeoh’s Section 31 movie is available for those with a Paramount+ subscription -- but which among them are the best of the best? That’s what I’m tasked with deciding here today, and I can certainly say there are some I like more than others. 

Opinion, by its nature, is subjective. I’m not sure I’ve seen any Star Trek fan with an identical top list of movies online, but I will say I enjoy most every Trek series I’ve watched. Therefore I wouldn’t expect this lineup to be too controversial, but I’ve been surprised before. Let’s dive in, and boldly go and make a definitive ruling on where each Star Trek series belongs. 

13. Star Trek: Generations (1994)

It’s a shame that Star Trek: Generations is near-universally panned as the worst of the Star Trek movies. Seeing Patrick Stewart ’s Jean-Luc Picard and William Shatner ’s James T. Kirk team up should unquestionably be the greatest thing that ever happened to the franchise. Unfortunately, the movie wasn’t quite all that, and what should’ve been a great introduction to The Next Generation crew making the transition from television to movies is a sloppy movie that delivered one of the most controversial moments in the sci-fi series’ history.

The movie killed off Captain Kirk by having him fall from a collapsing catwalk. I get that death comes for anyone in unexpected ways but in a scripted movie? They could’ve done better even if William Shatner had his reasons for how it was done. Still, the unique time travel elements and story has given this movie its fair share of fans over the years, so I’d say it’s still worth a watch. It wouldn’t be my first, second, or even 12th choice though, hence its rating on the list. 

Watch Star Trek: Generations On Max

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

William Shatner has undoubtedly played a big part in Star Trek ’s early success. While his acting work as Captain Kirk will live on for decades, the same can’t be said for his directing. That may sound harsh to say, but when Shatner himself admitted directing Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was a mistake , it’s kind of hard not to agree with him.   

I don’t think it’s unfair to say Star Trek V: The FInal Frontier is the worst of the TOS movies, especially after the streak of movies that came before it. With that said, had it not been for this movie, we wouldn’t have gotten the subplot in Strange New Worlds with Spock running into his half-brother Sybok’s lover Angel , who I do hope we’ll see at a later date. 

Watch Star Trek V: The Final Frontier On Max

11. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Star Trek: Nemesis was, in many ways, a failure. The movie did not perform at the box office like previous movies and ultimately encouraged Paramount to go in another direction with its franchise. Critics panned the movie, and even the cast of The Next Generation was not a fan of the final project. In fact, it was why actress Marina Sirtis was grateful for Star Trek: Picard Season 3 years later, as she felt the cast was robbed of a proper send-off.  

The Next Generation crew dealing with a clone of Picard in control of the Reman people, played by a young Tom Hardy , sounds awesome. In execution, the whole thing fell flat. Even the memorable parts have aged poorly. Data, for example, was resurrected in Picard , killed, and then resurrected again. In fairness, Star Trek fans were glad to see him back in the mix again, but if they’re thrilled about a retcon to something established in Star Trek: Nemesis , it may speak to their overall enjoyment of the movie as a whole. 

Watch Star Trek: Nemesis On Max

10. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

A lot of the older generation would rank Star Trek: The Motion Picture a lot higher than I have, and I think it's a matter of experience. Those who lived through the cancellation of the original series, only to see it return to the big screen after success in syndication? It was a huge coup for a new fandom, and the beginning of great things to come. 

I’m of the mind that Star Trek: The Motion Picture has gotten a bad rap as it aged, and suffered from being the first movie in the franchise ever made. There’s no way for younger generations to understand just how awesome it was to see the Enterprise from front to back. I still can appreciate it, but even the brutality of the transporter accident can’t stop me from glancing at the time on my phone while watching.  

Watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture On Max

9. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

If there was a list of sins a Star Trek movie could commit to gain the ire of the fandom, Star Trek Into Darkness created perhaps the biggest. Trying to recreate a storyline involving Khan, the most notable villain of TOS , was going to set a high bar. 

Of course, these are the feelings of someone who is a true blue Star Trek fan. The mass audience reception to Star Trek Into Darkness was pretty good, and people were all about Benedict Cumberbatch as a villain. Even so, it wasn’t worthy of comparison to Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan , which is hard to ignore. 

Watch Star Trek Into Darkness On Paramount+

8. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Star Trek: Insurrection had the impossible task of following up First Contact , which proved to be a huge challenge. Additionally, Paramount was interested in switching up the tone to something lighter than the previous movie, so the challenge to deliver to producers and audiences was high. 

Insurrection feels like a long episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. That's not a terrible thing, but when it comes to movies, the bar should be a bit higher than what audiences can already view on television. Frankly, Insurrection doesn't prove to be more entertaining than the best of TNG . 

Watch Star Trek: Insurrection On Max

7. Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984)

Similar to Star Trek: Insurrection , The Search For Spock had the insurmountable challenge of following up the greatest movie to date. Perhaps even worse, the third TOS movie had to reverse the heart-wrenching death of Spock in a way that didn't upset audiences. 

I think it's fair to say the latter goal was a success, but is rescuing Spock's spirit from Bones' mind as thrilling as a face-off with Khan? It is not, but it's still a decent movie, and one worthy of its middling status in this ranking. 

Watch Star Trek III: The Search For Spock On Max

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

In hindsight, maybe Nicholas Meyer should've helmed all the Star Trek TOS movies. One can't help but wonder what these movies might've looked like had he kept runnings things post Wrath Of Khan . 

The Undiscovered Country , I think is a look at what could have been, and it's pretty damn promising. Of course, having big stars like Kim Cattrall and Christopher Plummer only bolster the enjoyment of a movie that feels like a return to form for the classic Enterprise crew, right before sending them off into the sunset. 

Watch Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country On Max

5. Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Star Trek Beyond is the newest film in the franchise, as Hollywood struggles to try and make a fourth installment in the Kelvin timeline. Fortunately, if there's never another one, the third movie is a delightful send-off to the Kelvin crew and all they accomplished, after Star Trek Into Darkness left a sour taste in my mouth, Beyond is the perfect palette cleanser. 

If there is any part of Star Trek Beyond that isn’t enjoyable, it’s that the entire crew doesn’t spend a ton of time together. Instead, they’re sectioned off with their own respective storylines, which worked well for the actors and their increased fame. Unfortunately, it feels like if they had found time to do more scenes with the entire ensemble, this might’ve been the best movie of the Kelvin timeline. 

Watch Star Trek Beyond On Paramount+

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

The whale one? Yes, the whale one. It's always fun when a Star Trek project travels back to our present timeline, if only to remind us how strange our world would be to them, and how strange they'd be to us. 

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is funny, wholesome, and a good time all at once. It's not the best TOS film, but it's pretty high up there in comparison to everything else that was released. 

Watch Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home On Max

3. Star Trek (2009)

J.J. Abrams ’ 2009 re-imagining of Star Trek isn’t just a great movie, it could be the most significant film in the history of the franchise. The Next Generation crew’s set of movies didn’t perform quite as well as the TOS movies, and Enterprise was the last Trek series in five years leading up to this film. Had this re-imagining of Star Trek in another timeline flopped, the franchise might’ve died. 

Fortunately, that didn’t happen, and the more action-driven narratives of the movie bled into the new generation of Star Trek shows. While there are critics of the modern style of storytelling and increased action, the fact that there are plenty of upcoming Trek shows in the pipeline and people still clamoring for a fourth installment of the Kelvin movies. 

Watch Star Trek On Paramount+

2. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Star Trek: The Next Generation didn’t have as much success critically or financially as the TOS movies, but it still managed to make one of the best movies the franchise has ever delivered. First Contact is required viewing for any Star Trek fan, especially those who wish to see the origin of how the story of mankind’s massive leap into space exploration came to be. 

The success of the movie solidified Jonathan Frakes status as a reputed director, and he’s gone on to play a big part in directing episodes of Star Trek ’s new era. This is a movie that I would say is so good, it appeals to even the non- Star Trek fans despite being heavily entrenched in the lore of The Next Generation . For that reason, it’s ranked among the very best. 

Watch Star Trek: First Contact On Max

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

I spent far too many years having not seen Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan , but after seeing it for the first time , I can see the hype. I don’t think there’s any real dispute this is the best film in the franchise, as much as I love First Contact . Seeing James T. Kirk in the Captain’s chair in a battle of wits against a former villain from the series is not only captivating, it’s “fascinating,” as Spock would say.

Speaking of Spock, it's his noble sacrifice that lays out the entire theme of the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few. A dark ending, to be sure, though of course, we all know Spock didn't stay dead! This, plus the fantastic showdown between Kirk and Khan make this the definitive best Star Trek movie, hands down. 

Watch Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan On Max

Currently, the Star Trek movies are available to stream either over on Max or Paramount+. It’s really convenient for anyone who wants to make their own ranking list of the movies, though I’d like to think no one can do it better than I just did. 

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Mick Joest

Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.

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Star Trek Movies Ranked From Worst To Best

Star Trek cast

In the four decades since  Star Trek:   The Motion Picture hit the big screen,  Star Trek — a franchise already more than a decade old when it first made the leap to cinemas — has flourished , spawning five more television series, countless novels, toys, comic books, video games and, most importantly for our purposes, a whopping dozen additional films with three different casts. 

An impressive and expansive history like that is bound to spawn debate, and the flames of those debates are always fanned by the intense passion that comes with  Trek fandom. With that in mind, figuring out which  Star Trek film is the best and which is the worst can be a tricky process. You have to weigh a lot of things — casting, sci-fi storytelling, faithfulness to the "spirit of the franchise," which itself carries a different meaning for everyone — and no matter how carefully you weight them you'll always find a few people ready to tell you how wrong you are. Still, the upside is that through ranking each  Star  Trek film, you get to boldly go where no one has gone before more than a dozen times. With that in mind, here's our ranking of every  Star Trek film so far, from the worst to the best.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

At this point in the history of the franchise, labeling The Final Frontier the worst Star Trek movie ever made almost feels like cheating, as if fans are meant to search for some angle of re-appraisal that will allow it to rise above its reputation if only for a moment. Alas, it feels like that will never happen. The film starts with a particularly ambitious premise: a rogue Vulcan full of mystical ideals wants to lure the Enterprise to his planet so he can essentially head to the center of the galaxy and find God. But the story keeps crumbling in one way or another along the journey before finally delivering an anticlimactic conclusion. 

In the end, what holds it together is the chemistry of the original cast, whose roles fit them so well at this point that they could probably play their parts in their sleep, but that's not enough to save the movie. An uneven tone ( Uhura does a sultry fan dance at one point on this quest for God), rocky plot, and subpar special effects weigh The Final Frontier down despite its lofty ideas.

Star Trek: Insurrection

The most common criticism you're likely to encounter with regard to Star Trek :  Insurrection , the third outing for the Next Generation cast, is that it plays mostly like an extended episode of the TV series. That's still a fair observation 20 years after its release. The film follows the Enterprise crew as they visit a planet emitting a radiation that rejuvenates the inhabitants, rendering them basically immortal. Of course, another race hopes to take the planet and harvest that radiation for themselves, with the help of forces within the Federation. Picard and his crew rebel against direct orders to stop it, even as they experience certain effects of the planet themselves. 

It's a solid concept, but it falters when stretched to a feature length film. The pacing can't compare with the other films of the TNG era, particularly First Contact and Nemesis . As with The Final Frontier , though, the cast is well-versed in their respective characters, and each one of them has an opportunity to lend some charm to the film, from Data belting Gilbert and Sullivan to the resurgence of the Riker/Troi romance. Patrick Stewart is also brilliant, as usual, but even his commanding presence can't lift this film very high.

Star Trek Into Darkness

The second film in the " Kelvin timeline " reboot continuity that began with Star Trek in 2009 has a lot going for it. The near-flawless cast from the first film is back, along with the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch as the film's villain and the return of J.J. Abrams in the director's chair. As a result, the film is peppered throughout with memorable moments, from ambitious action setpeices and character comedy to some truly thrilling sequences when everything really does come together. 

Unfortunately, if you look at the film as a whole, everything actually comes together pretty rarely overall, and the central problem is the Khan reveal. The "twist" that Cumberbatch is not playing "John Harrison" but instead this timeline's version of Khan Noonien Singh (something fans suspected for months before the film's release only to be told over and over that they were wrong ) is a twist that only exists for the audience, not the characters, and it drags the film down. From there, everything devolves into a weird mirror universe Wrath of Khan remake that's not nearly as satisfying as the film that inspired it, and far too many things happen just to move the right pieces into place to achieve this. It becomes a film engineered to deliver a few key moments, and everything around those moments suffers.

Star Trek: Generations

The first film to feature the Next Generation cast is also the film that finally gave an answer to one of the ultimate Trekkie questions: What would happen if Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) met? The answer: not as much as you'd like. In Generations , the crew faces a villain played by Malcolm McDowell who wants to find his way back to a realm called The Nexus, where the laws of time don't seem to apply and you can live out your deepest desires. To do this, he's willing to destroy any stars and planets in his path, and that's where Picard and Kirk, who entered the Nexus after seemingly dying decades earlier, come in. 

There are a few wonderful sequences here, including the first meeting of the two captains and an unforgettable crash landing of the saucer section of the Enterprise, but overall Generations is a very mixed bag. It stutters in its pacing, pulls back from big ideas just when they seem to be getting interesting, and sometimes even sacrifices what could be great character moments for scenes of things like horseback riding instead. For a film with such titanic characters at the center of it, it's sadly underwhelming.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

The first big screen outing for the Star Trek franchise ever is famously — or infamously — slow, even by the standards of 1970s science fiction. In the years following the blockbuster success of Star Wars , the environment was finally right for the original crew of the Enterprise to see their return to live action. And while it's certainly a sentimental favorite for many fans, the thrill just isn't there, or at least not as much as it should be. 

On the positive side, there are many truly gorgeous shots of the Enterprise gleaming in all its Hollywood glory...so many of them that you sometimes start looking at your watch waiting for a plot point to come along. There are also the familiar faces from the original series cast, who somehow feel like they never lost a step between the cancellation of the TV series and the beginning of the film. The film also has the advantage of some big sci-fi ideas to help carry it to an at least semi-compelling ending. But then there's the rest of it...the dragging plot, the drab uniforms , and the overall focus on the spectacle of finally getting a Star Trek movie instead of actually delivering a Star Trek movie that was truly worth waiting for. It's a milestone, to be sure, but better things lay ahead.

Star Trek: Nemesis

Nemesis , the final film to feature the Next Generation cast, is not a great Star Trek film, but it is a ridiculously entertaining one. The film sees the crew of the Enterprise — fresh off celebrating the wedding of Riker and Troi — visiting the Romulan homeworld of Romulus, where a new praetor (Tom Hardy) has taken over the Empire. The big twist: He's actually a clone of Picard, created by the Romulans years before to serve as a covert replacement for the captain, until the Romulan government changed hands and he was left to die as a slave. Now he's back, he's seized power, and he's ready to wipe out of the Federation with a superweapon. 

It's far from the most intellectual of Star Trek films, but the whole cast shines in their respective roles, and Hardy chews every piece of scenery in sight as the newcomer Shinzon. He's gloriously campy, and it sets just the right tone for this dark, strange film that's as close to B-movie sci-fi glory as any Trek film gets. It's a fun, if very flawed, installment, and a solid send-off for the second generation of the franchise's stars. It might be goofy, but it's definitely not boring.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

The best way to follow a classic like The Wrath of Khan is to do everything you can to avoid copying Wrath of Khan , and in that respect The Search for Spock succeeds very admirably. It does take another risk, though, and that's making the driving force of the whole film a mission to essentially undo the great emotional punch that came to define The Wrath of Khan . Every Trek fan knew going into this film that Spock was dead, and yet the idea that he would live again was right there in the title. How do you possibly pull that off? By making the film about Kirk and McCoy suffering to save their friend — Kirk through the ultimate death of his son, and Bones through the mental anguish that comes from having Spock's life force knocking around in his head. 

It makes the trinity of stars at the heart of the original series cast shine even when they're not sharing the screen. Throw in a new Klingon menace led by a wonderful Christopher Lloyd performance and the gorgeous green Klingon Bird of Prey, plus a fun and funny ship-stealing sequence, and you have a winning third installment that kept up Trek 's hot streak.

Star Trek Beyond

This Star Trek film from 2016 completes a trilogy of movies starring the Kelvin timeline cast and succeeds, in part, by both running away from Into Darkness and by doing some of the things that film did — but better. Like the second film in this franchise iteration, the focus is again on a villain intent on vengeance against Starfleet, someone who seems to be thinking several moves ahead of the Enterprise crew. Unlike that film, however, Beyond more-or-less kicks off with throwing away many of the franchise hallmarks, crashing the Enterprise and leaving the crew with whatever hope they can find on an alien planet. 

The same energy that drove the first two films is there, the cast still looks like they're having fun, and the setpieces this time around are far more inventive than the more formulaic approach of Into Darkness . Plus, this film's climax heavily depends upon playing a Beastie Boys song as loud as possible. That's always fun, but it's especially fun in space.

Star Trek (2009)

The film that began the most recent big-screen timeline of Star  Trek films had a very tough assignment from the start. Not only was it an attempt to jump-start a franchise that hadn't been at the multiplex for seven years and hadn't released a new episode of television in four years — it was also an attempt to jump-start the franchise with familiar characters played by entirely new faces. How do you recast Kirk, or Spock, or Uhura? How do you possibly replace faces that have loomed in the public imagination for decades, and through six fairly recent films of their own? Somehow, J.J. Abrams and company pulled it off. 

The first great success of 2009's Star Trek is in its casting, which is stellar across the board but particularly in the forms of Chris Pine as Kirk, Karl Urban as McCoy, and Zachary Quinto as Spock. Then there's the story, which found a way to render everything in a new way without sacrificing the old timeline. The film, in fact, even incorporates some of it thanks to Leonard Nimoy's return as an older, alternate Spock. It's not a perfect film, particularly when it leans too much on action and not enough on character, but it's about as good as we could have dared hope for in a reboot of this kind.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

The last ride of the original series cast is a timely Cold War metaphor that still holds weight nearly three decades after its release. The film begins with a big Chernobyl metaphor when an energy-producing Klingon moon explodes, then transitions into a story about the Klingon Empire essentially wanting to bring down the wall that separates them from the Federation, which could, in effect, render Starfleet obsolete. Led by Kirk — who has no love for Klingons, the Enterprise crew is sent to escort the Klingon negotiators, only to have it all fall apart as a conspiracy unfolds around them. 

It has everything you want from an original series cast movie: big ideas, high stakes, a cool space battle centerpiece, Kirk and Spock being best friends, Kirk kissing a pretty alien woman, a Klingon quoting Shakespeare, and Spock taking command of the ship for a little while. Plus, everyone seems to know it's their last hurrah, so the film is packed with unforgettable sendoff moments.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Even people who have a hard time calling it the objectively "best" Star Trek film will rather quickly admit that The Voyage Home might at least be their favorite film in the franchise. The Voyage Home — or "the one with the whales," as it's known to casual fans — is perhaps the best example ever of Star Trek 's ability to adapt itself to fit different genres, and sometimes even fit more than one genre into a single story. 

The  Voyage Home begins with a sci-fi high concept: the crew must go back in time to rescue some extinct whales because they're the only beings capable of communicating with a dangerous object out in space in the present of the timeline. Soon it evolves into an endlessly charming character comedy once the gang arrives in 1980s San Francisco. Even Kirk, the self-proclaimed expert on past human culture, is a fish out of water, but any sense that you're about to watch something far too silly for Star Trek is quickly washed away by the film's overall arc. It's Star Trek at its most pure fun, but it never sacrifices the core of the franchise.

Star Trek: First Contact

The Next Generation cast got to make their own time travel movie too, and it's the best film of their era by a large margin. In First Contact , the Enterprise crew follows a Borg ship through a time vortex to prevent the cybernetic race from altering history and assimilating all of Earth through intervention on the 2063 day when humans first made contact with Vulcans. 

So, the element of fun that's inherent in the franchise's time travel plots is there almost from the beginning, but then the film gets into deeper territory. It retains all the fun and charm of the Next Generation series at its best moments (including a very clever Holodeck sequence) while also becoming a meditation on the nature of history, how we define our heroes, and what it means to be human. Plus, it's a chance for the franchise to finally showcase the Borg in all their terrifying glory on the big screen, a spectacle that still holds up today.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

It is exceedingly rare to find a sequel that surpasses the first film in a series . There are a few of them — The Godfather Part II , Terminator 2: Judgment Day , The Dark Knight — that arguably fit the bill. But perhaps none loom larger in the history of a franchise than Wrath of Khan . 

After Star Trek: The Motion Picture arrived — pretty and ambitious, but lacking the energy the franchise needed to survive on the big screen — the future of Star Trek 's films got revamped, and we got a revenge tale about an old enemy from the TV series rediscovering the Enterprise crew and wreaking havoc on them. Ricardo Montalban is deliciously nasty as the title villain, and the film manages to be a showcase for everyone else in the main cast while it barrels forward through threat after threat. 

The space combat sequences are wonderfully tense, the mental chess match between Kirk and Khan is unforgettable, and of course the climactic moments that built to the loss of Spock make the film an inarguable classic. You can show Wrath of Khan to almost anyone, even someone who's never cared about Star Trek at all, and odds are they'll find something to like in it. It's not just the best Star Trek film. It's one of the best science fiction films ever made.

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All 24 Star Trek Series & Movies, Ranked by Trekkies

Aaron Edwards

Between TV shows and films, it’s safe to say Star Trek has become a fundamental pillar of our culture. The best Star Trek series make us reexamine ourselves and our society, which has been key to the franchise’s ability to stay in our hearts and minds after so many years. Really, Star Trek  has the capacity to be just about any genre it wants: an exploration show, an action thriller, or a character piece. Anything works, as long as the writing and acting are good enough.

But sometimes, the quality of Star Trek varies. After all, with hundreds of episodes produced, they can’t all be “City on the Edge of Forever.” Sometimes you get a “Threshold” or a “Spock’s Brain.” But which series are the best? And for that matter, how do they rank against the films? Well, now’s your chance to help us figure it out. Below, Trekkies ranked have every Star Trek  series and movie ever released. Where do your favorites place? Check the list and vote for what you think are the best Star Trek series and movies!

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation

The first two seasons may be rocky, but seasons 3-6 (AKA the Riker's Beard seasons) are some of the best science fiction TV ever made. There are too many standout and classic episodes to count, and it launched the careers of many notable TV writers including Ron Moore and Naren Shankar. The crew of the Enterprise-D has become just as iconic as their original counterparts, and in many ways made a bigger impact on the franchise as a whole. 

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

In many ways, this movie was the best and worst thing to ever happen to Star Trek . Yes, its story about Khan seeking revenge and Kirk suffering from a mid-life crisis allowed for some of the most human and emotional moments of the franchise, but it dared every film after to live up to its perfect mix of character drama and smart action. It revitalized the franchised even if it had to kill its most beloved character to accomplish the goal. 

Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek: First Contact

An action movie so well paced it’s hard not to be impressed. Picard’s quest for revenge as he's in danger of losing his future and his ship to the Borg is full of passionate moments, while the humor on the planet actually plays pretty well. Even Data’s new emotion trip is used to enrich his character and the story being told. But as well as the Borg Queen worked, her existence did take away from some of the menace of the collective. 

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

One of the few attempts Star Trek ever made at comedy that actually intentionally worked. The idea of a probe looking for humpback whales is a little weird, but it’s played with just the right amount of creepiness and mystery that you don’t question the premise. The fish out of water moments in the second act have become comedy classics in their own right, from Kirk screaming “Double dumbass on you!” to the hysterical chase sequence in a hospital, to Scotty desperately trying to use a Mac. It’s such an earnest movie with a good message and a pure heart, you can’t help but love it…

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: The Original Series

The first two seasons are just spectacular television, full of subversive (for the time) storytelling and imaginative world building. The crew of the original Enterprise was so idealistic and charming it was hard not to think of them as family. The stories themselves, including "Balance of Terror," "Journey to Babel," and the "Devil in the Dark" have become true television classics. The third season doesn't quite reach the pinnacle set by the two preceding seasons, but it still isn't too bad.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Because the show wasn’t in the spotlight of the public zeitgeist the same way The Next Generation was, the writers of DS9 were free to do just about anything they wanted. What we got was a show that not only examined the dark underbelly of Gene Roddenberry’s utopian future, but gave us fantastic characters that grew tremendously over the course of seven years. Oh, and the Dominion War. The Dominion War was just amazing. 

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

A Cold War thriller that perfectly plays on the hopes and fears that came with the fall of the Iron Curtain. The film smartly doesn’t try to be Wrath of Khan , but instead plays with a murder mystery in space that ties into the very heart of its characters. It not only works as an engaging movie, but as a wonderful send-off for the original crew. Oh, and Captain Sulu rocked our world. 

Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager

Voyager throws Star Trek into the deep end of the Delta Quadrant, with the crew struggling to return home for seven seasons. However, it almost never showed them in deteriorating conditions or questioning their ethics. Many of the characters also don’t get the growth or attention they deserved. But seasons 3, 4, and 5 were very solid TV, the Doctor and Seven of Nine really shined with some wonderful characterization, and it did succeed in giving us strange new worlds and civilizations. 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Simultaneously a spin-off and a prequel, Strange New Worlds tells the story of Captain Christopher Pike - Kirk's predecessor on the USS Enterprise. Pike and others on his crew had been introduced in previous episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, including a young science officer named Spock. Set in the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series , there's a charming wide-eyed, and optimistic energy that accompanies the retro vibes of the show's design.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

The Search for Spock movie has so much raw emotion that it’s hard not to be swept up in the story. Sure, the idea that they have to put Spock’s soul back in his body is a little silly, but this is character resurrection done correctly: it costs our heroes their career, their ship, and Kirk loses his son. It also gave us the Excelsior and the Bird of Prey… so it made a pretty big mark on the franchise all things considered. We also dare you not to tear up when Spock recognizes Kirk at the end. 

Star Trek

The movie is so well acted, directed, and paced that it completely fools you into thinking it makes sense. While there are plot holes big enough to tear Vulcan apart, it’s also hard to care when the movie is just so much fun. The new cast sizzles, the new aesthetic (one too many lens flares aside) is awe-inspiring, and Leonard Nimoy’s return as Spock is bound to induce more than a few tears.

Star Trek Generations

Star Trek Generations

Writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga crafted a script that’s equal parts an exploration of mortality and a mind bending sci-fi mystery. Also, it's pretty great to see Kirk and Picard together and both get some good lines to play off each other with. The film is brimming with emotion and nostalgia for fans of The Original Series and The Next Generation alike.

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star Trek: Enterprise

This series gets a bit of hate, but it’s aged much better than people give it credit for. Sure, it had a ton of growing pains and missteps, but the plot lines that mattered (minus the Temporal Cold War) built on themselves until Enterprise  became the show we always wanted it to be in the fourth season. We got a really fun Wrath of Khan prequel, a mirror universe two-parter, and even an explanation for why Klingons didn’t have ridges in The Original Series . At the center of it was Trip and T’Pol, who by the end actually made quite a wonderful romantic pairing. 

If you're a fan of this one, be sure to vote for the best Star Trek: Enterprise episodes .

Star Trek: Picard

Star Trek: Picard

Set 18 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis , Picard is a major departure from the tone and style of the upbeat, optimistic  Next Generation TV series. It's a dark, introspective, and deliberately paced series that aims for real-world relevance. The series introduces a Federation that has turned isolationist after a series of galactic calamities, and a Jean-Luc Picard who has retired to his family vineyard in France. When a mysterious young woman comes to him for help, Picard is forced to not only return to space, but also to confront his own mortality. This might be the most grown-up Star Trek series ever.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Star Trek: The Motion Picture  is a film that had a lot to say and in many ways it’s the only one of the movies that has the same spirit of exploration and introspection found at the heart of Gene Roddenberry’s vision. Pacing issues aside, it featured amazing special effects for the era. Fun fact: Originally, Paramount wanted to create a new Star Trek show tentatively titled Star Trek: Phase II , but the success of Star Wars made them reconsider that plan.

Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek: Insurrection

This movie went through so many rewrites it’s hard to tell what it was originally supposed to be about. What we end up getting is a story about two not-too-dissimilar groups of aliens battling it out, with the crew of the Enterprise stuck in the middle and having to choose a side. In a plot twist out of left field however, it turns out that both groups of aliens are one and the same. Ultimately, Insurrection feels more like an episode of The Next Generation than either of the two films preceding it.

Star Trek Nemesis

Star Trek Nemesis

Few stories in Star Trek , save for some choice episodes, are as action-oriented as Nemesis . Much of the character development from the series is put on the backburner as adrenalin and special effects take main stage in this Trek movie. Tom Hardy plays the villian Shinzon, who is a clone of Picard created by the Romulans but then discarded as a failure. Nemesis is the first and so far only Trek movie to feature the Remans, a offshoot race of the Romulans and by extension, Vulcans.

Star Trek: The Animated Series

Star Trek: The Animated Series

While Star Trek fans had plenty to be sad about after the cancelation of TOS, Paramount did at least green light the production of an animated series with all of the major cast returning to reprise their roles. Though it had a short two season run, there were some fairly strong episodes. After the Animated Series was canceled, it would be five more years until any new Trek came out.

Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek Beyond

A movie that acts as a celebration of everything that came before while still daring to tell a fresh and original story. Beyond managed to feel like an episode of the original series, but still didn’t shy away from the modern attitude that made Star Trek ( 2009) such a success. The call backs were tasteful, the action was inventive, and the characters were as charming as they needed to be. While the villain and his plan were pretty standard stuff, Idris Elba did a fantastic job bringing him to life. 

Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness

Star Trek Into Darkness is a well acted, well directed, and well shot re-imagining of Wrath of Khan , with the titular villain played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Trying to one up the original however, the creators thought to put a side-story villain played by Peter Weller. While the film is far from perfect story-wise, it is one of the most beautiful Trek films ever.

Star Trek: Lower Decks

Star Trek: Lower Decks

This animated entry into the Star Trek franchise is boldy going where no previous Trek series has gone before - workplace comedy. The second animated Star Trek series since the 1973-1974 series, Star Trek: Lower Decks follows the less prestigious crew members of the Cerritos. Focusing on the ensigns of a not very important ship, the series is primed to play with the tropes and themes deeply familiar and beloved by fans, it's yet unknown if Lower Deck 's embracing  the weird and goofy aspects of the franchise, rather than the somber space show parts, will make for a sucessful mission.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

If Leonard Nimoy could direct two Star Trek movies, why couldn't William Shatner? So direct he did. The Final Frontier's plot is about the Enterprise being hijacked by Spock’s half-brother who is looking for God. Ultimately, the god they find turns out to be nothing but an imprisoned being. Odd plot aside, we have to give writer/director William Shatner credit for trying to say something with this movie. Also, the camp scenes are pretty fun and the sequence where Spock and McCoy face their personal demons is pretty good. 

Star Trek: Prodigy

Star Trek: Prodigy

The third animated series in the Star Trek franchise, this series designed for the younger set is exploring new worlds in Trek audiences. Originally set to air on Nickelodeon, but premiering first on Paramount+, the series also has no human main characters - which makes sense as it begins well outside Federation Space. Rebellious teens commandeer an abandoned Star Fleet ship to escape their mining colony, but luckily a holograph of Janeway is there to assist as they all learn to work together.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery

Launched to anchor the new CBS All Access service, Star Trek: Discovery rockets the Trek TV franchise into the streaming era by going back in time to an era before Captain Kirk took command of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Created by Bryan Fuller (who left the show during production of season one) and Alex Kurtzman, Discovery follows the adventures of the experimental U.S.S. Discovery during a turbulent time in the history of the Federation. Some fans find the more emotional, action-packed Discovery (which leans heavily on the style of the JJ Abrams feature film trilogy) to be a welcome change from the more staid Treks of the past. Others see the show as too self-referential and too much of a soap opera. Whatever you might think, Star Trek has once again been successfully reinvented for a whole new generation of viewers.

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7 best Star Trek parodies, ranked

Joe Allen

For more than 50 years, Star Trek   has been an institution, especially among the nerds of America. The original Star Trek series has spawned various movies and additional shows in the years since it aired, and those shows have been met with various levels of acclaim and criticism.

7. Star Trek: Lower Decks

  • 6. The Muppet Show – Pigs in Space

5. Animaniacs: Star Truck

4. the orville, 3. futurama: where no fan has gone before, 2. black mirror: uss callister, 1. galaxy quest (1999).

Alongside all of these more faithful series, though, there have also been a number of parodies of  Star Trek , its tropes, and the world it’s set in. We’ve gathered seven of the very best of those parodies for this list, which range from TV episodes to entire movies.

Why not kick this list off with a show that allows  Star Trek  to make fun of itself? Lower Decks  follows the support crew on a fairly unimportant interspace vessel as they try to manage their personal lives, even as they deal with all sorts of sci-fi invaders.

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As this list proves,  Star Trek  has become such an institution that it can be effectively parodied from dozens of different directions, but this show, which plays with the series’ tropes while offering a new perspective on the action, is a delight from minute one, and is still going strong after its fourth season.

6. The Muppet Show – Pigs in Space

The Muppets may not be as widely beloved today as they once were, but Pigs in Space was once a regular segment on The Muppet Show.  The segment was flexible enough that it could parody any beloved sci-fi property, but  Star Trek  was undoubtedly a mainstay.

This was underlined by the fact that Captain Link Hogthrob seemed to be a pretty overt Captain Kirk riff, and Miss Piggy’s ship was called Swinetrek. Still, Pigs in Space was not particularly biting. Instead, it was the kind of sweet, earnest parody that the Muppets were so often great at.

When the Animaniacs got a chance to invade their favorite TV show, they didn’t miss an opportunity to cause plenty of havoc. Star Truck follows the rascals at the show’s center as they meet characters like Dr. Squat and Captain Kork while also delivering the kind of jokes that only hardcore fans of both shows would fully understand.

If you’re a  Trek  fan, you probably loved this episode, which also gave Maurice Lamarche the chance to do pretty impeccable impressions of William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelly.

When Seth MacFarlane set out to create his own version of Star Trek , many people were alarmed by how genuine and sincere it seemed. The Family Guy   creator has long been a megafan of the series, and while  The Orville  has elements of parody, it also seems to be a loving tribute to the show that spawned it.

The show featured notable guest stars from various  Star Trek  shows, and also captured the spirit of the planet-of-the-week adventures that made the original  Star Trek  so widely beloved. While it’s certainly jokier than the original series,  The Orville  is ultimately a loving tribute to what made  Trek  great.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this Futurama  episode  is that the show manages to reunite almost every member of the original cast to deliver voice performances. The episode imagines that the crew of the Planet Express stumble upon a planet where the entire original cast of the series is alive and well, having been revived hundreds of years after the show’s original run.

The notion of giving these actors a chance to live in a far different future than the one their show imagined was brilliant enough, but all of the actors brought their A-game to these versions of their actual personalities.

Not every Black Mirror  episode  is as sharp and compelling as  USS Callister , which is both a parody and a critique of the entire  Star Trek  ethos. The episode follows the crew of a  Star Trek -esque ship as they’re tortured by their captain. Eventually, we begin to realize that this entire world is a virtual reality, and the entire crew are avatars for co-workers of a single isolated man.

USS Callister  is specific in its references to the original  Star Trek , but it’s also a pointed critique of the misogyny that could underlie much of what that original show tried to achieve, and more crucially, of the show’s many fans who totally misinterpret its message.

One of the great parody movies of any kind ever made,  Galaxy Quest  is set in a universe where a show like  Star Trek  was a phenomenon when it first aired. Now, the cast assembles for reunions, but have grown to hate one another. When real aliens recruit them based on the belief that they are actually the characters they played on the show, they’re forced to prove that they have what it takes to be real heroes.

Thanks to a great ensemble cast that includes Alan Rickman and Sam Rockwell in standout performances,  Galaxy Quest is genuinely funny. What has helped it endure, though, is that it’s also one of the more earnest movies on this list, and it manages to balance those tones beautifully.

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When it comes to an iconic show like Friends, it’s tough to break out which seasons are the best. Every season has memorable episodes, moments, plot points, guest characters, and phrases that have become part of pop culture, from “We were on a break!” to “Pivot!” It might have taken Friends some time to hit its stride, but once it did, the sitcom solidified its position in pop culture history as one of the best to ever grace the small screen.

Whenever a plot twist occurs in a film, it can either make or break the story for its audience. Some classic movies like Psycho and Planet of the Apes and more recent movies like 2022's Nope have presented iconic twists that nobody could have dreamed of upon release, while others did not have as much success in defying viewers' expectations.

Such predictable plot twists don't necessarily ruin the story, but if the filmmaker's goal was to trick everyone watching and blow them all away, these eight movies didn't exactly fool their audience.

Fifty years ago, Steven Spielberg directed his first theatrical film, The Sugarland Express. Since then, Spielberg has established himself as one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation, with a long list of blockbusters and critically acclaimed movies to his name including Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, and many more.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Spielberg's first film, we're looking back at the seven best Steven Spielberg sci-fi movies. For someone who broke into the industry with genre flicks, there aren't a lot of science fiction films in Spielberg's filmography. But the ones here rank among the greatest sci-fi movies of all time. 7. Ready Player One (2018)

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Best Fall Layer – 9to5chic

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best star trek movies ranked

Science fiction enthusiasts had much to revel in this past year with an exciting array of Star Trek episodes that took us on a journey through strange new worlds, unexplored phenomena, and thought-provoking moral quandaries. As we reflect on 2024, here is a ranking of the top 10 Star Trek episodes that stood out for their storytelling, special effects, character development, and the indelible mark they’ve left on the franchise.

10. “The Quantum Divide” (Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 8)

In an episode that challenges reality itself, the crew of the Discovery must navigate a universe with constantly shifting physical laws. The imaginative premise allows for mind-bending visuals and a deeply philosophical examination of identity.

9. “Shadows of Risa” (Star Trek: Picard Season 5, Episode 4)

Retired Admiral Picard finds himself embroiled in a complex mystery on Risa. Combining classic noir elements with the charm of The Next Generation era, this episode is a thrilling throwback for fans.

8. “Into the Hive” (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 5)

A heart-pounding encounter with the Borg has Captain Pike and his crew fighting not just for their lives but for their very humanity. This episode stands out for its intense emotional stakes and haunting atmosphere

7. “Legacy’s Echo” (Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, Episode 12)

Delivering a powerful message on heritage and destiny, this animated treasure proves to be both visually splendid and narratively gripping as the young crew grapples with the weight of history.

6. “Songs of the Dark Stars” (Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 6, Episode 3)

With its unique blend of irreverent humor and homage to deep lore, this musically infused outing hilariously explores first contact scenarios gone awry and cements Lower Decks’ place in the Trek pantheon.

5. “Sins of Memory” (Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 13)

Revealing stunning truths about key characters’ pasts and delivering emotional gut punches, this penultimate season episode elevated drama to interstellar heights.

4. “Remembrance of Andor” (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3, Episode 9)

Diving deep into Andorian culture and delivering poignant social commentary, this beautifully shot episode enriched the tapestry of Federation planets with grace and complexity.

3. “Endless Horizons” (Star Trek: Voyager – A New Journey Season 1, Episode 1)

Relaunching Voyager into the unknown once more, this ambitious series premiere offered nostalgia mixed with fresh narrative horizons that thrilled long-time fans and newcomers alike.

2. “Eclipse Irae” (Star Trek: Picard Season 5, Episode 11)

Picard faces down personal demons from throughout his storied career in an emotionally resonant episode meant to bridge generations of Star Fleet officers—old fear versus new hope.

1. “Galaxy’s Shadow” (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Revisited Season 1, Episode 6)

Reviving the beloved series after years away was no small feat but standing tallest among its impressive run was this instant classic—a nuanced exploration of war’s aftermath on both individuals and civilizations that showcased why Deep Space Nine’s legacy endures.

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Screen Rant

What's going on with star trek movies "there is a plan", says roddenberry exec.

Exclusive: 8 years after Star Trek Beyond, fans are still waiting for the next Star Trek movie, but Paramount is working on Trek's big screen return.

  • Paramount Pictures is actively working on new Star Trek movies with a plan in place for future releases.
  • Roddenberry Entertainment ensures new Star Trek projects align with Gene Roddenberry's vision.
  • Expect a new Star Trek film to hit the big screen soon, despite secrecy and challenges behind the scenes.

Paramount Pictures are still working on new Star Trek movies says Roddenberry Chief Operating Officer Trevor Roth. Roddenberry Entertainment not only produces Star Trek- themed podcasts and content, but Roth and CEO Rod Roddenberry are executive producers of Star Trek on Paramount+'s TV series. Roddenberry Entertainment's focus is to ensure Star Trek' s new projects align with the vision of Gene Roddenberry.

At SXSW, Roddenberry COO Trevor Roth spoke to Screen Rant about all aspects of Star Trek . When talk turned to the Star Trek movie franchise overseen by Paramount Studios (which is separate from Star Trek on Paramount+'s TV series), Roth shared his insights on the state of the Star Trek movies, assuring that "there is a plan" at Paramount. Read Roth's quote below:

I am not able to say much, but I can say that it is Paramount's intent to figure out the Star Trek side of movies and what's going on there. There's every intent of a new movie coming out in the very near future. There's a lot of secrecy around what's going to happen there. But there is a plan getting into place. And we're very excited to see it return to the big screen.
And I will tell you that you want to do it the right way. And yet, practical things get in [the way]. People a lot of times are like, ‘Oh, why isn't this happening or that happening?’ And sometimes those questions are really good questions. And other times, there's a lot you don't know that is happening behind the scenes that can make things more difficult than you would think. So all in all, we're getting there to my understanding, and we're excited, and plans are being put in place. And I know that from the standpoint of the studio, there is no lack of recognition of wanting and needing a Star Trek film coming out.

Star Trek Beyond, directed by Justin Lin, was the last Star Trek movie released in theaters back in the summer of 2016.

13 Star Trek Movies Ranked By Worst To Best Box Office

What is the state of star trek movies, the next star trek movie is coming to paramount+.

The Star Trek movie franchise remains in drydock as Paramount continues to develop the next big-screen feature films. In January, Deadline reported that Paramount is developing two separate Star Trek movie projects : a Star Trek origin movie set "decades before" J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) to be directed by Toby Haynes (Star Wars: Andor) and Star Trek 4 , said to be the "final chapter" of the USS Enterprise crew led by Chris Pine's Captain James T. Kirk. However, Paramount has not officially confirmed either project and there have been no updates since Deadline 's article.

Star Trek theatrical movies have delivered some of the most widely seen and best-known Trek stories ever.

Yet there is a new Star Trek movie on the way, but it's coming to Paramount+: Star Trek: Section 31 starring Academy Award-winner Michelle Yeoh returning as her Star Trek: Discovery anti-heroine, Emperor Philippa Georgiou, is filming in Toronto. Section 31 will have a new cast joining Yeoh's Georgiou, and, if successful, the film is the first of a planned series of Star Trek movies made for streaming on Paramount+ every two years. Star Trek theatrical movies have delivered some of the most widely seen and best-known Trek stories ever, and it seems fans must continue to be patient as the next Star Trek movies are developed for the big screen.

Source: Screen Rant+

best star trek movies ranked

Every Star Trek: TNG 2-Part Episode Ranked, Worst To Best

  • TNG established two-part stories and season cliffhangers, building on The Original Series' foundation.
  • The top 10 TNG two-parters all feature well-developed stories that allow each character to shine.
  • Iconic episodes like "Chain of Command" and "The Best of Both Worlds" showcase TNG's storytelling depth.

Throughout its seven seasons, Star Trek: The Next Generation had some of Star Trek's best two-part stories. Following the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the USS Enterprise-D, TNG began in 1987 with a feature-length premiere entitled "Encounter at Farpoint." After its initial release, this premiere was broken into two episodes, making it TNG's first two-part story. Two-part stories would become a staple of Star Trek moving forward, with nearly every season of TNG , Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and Star Trek: Voyager incorporating them. TNG also established the practice of ending each season with a cliffhanger that was resolved in the first episode of the following season.

Star Trek: The Original Series had Star Trek's first two-parter in TOS season 1, episodes 11 and 12, "The Menagerie." These episodes included footage from the original unaired Star Trek pilot, "The Cage," and introduced Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter), as well as several other elements that became important to the franchise. Star Trek: The Next Generation has ten two-part episodes, none of which rank among the worst episodes of TNG . With two episodes, these stories have more room to breathe and can easily incorporate stories for multiple characters without feeling overstuffed. Here are all 10 TNG two-parters, ranked from worst to best.

Best Star Trek: TNG Episode Of Each USS Enterprise-D Main Character

"encounter at farpoint", star trek: the next generation season 1, episodes 1 & 2.

"Encounter at Farpoint" is not a bad Star Trek story, but it pales in comparison to the phenomenal television that Star Trek: The Next Generation would produce in later seasons. Still, none of those later stories would exist without the history established in TNG's feature-length season premiere. Captain Picard leads the first mission of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise-D , as the crew investigates Farpoint Station and encounters the powerful entity known as Q (John de Lancie). With a quick cameo from Admiral Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley), "Encounter at Farpoint" ushers in a new era of Star Trek, introducing the world to a new Enterprise crew who would become just as beloved as the original.

Q went on to become one of Star Trek's best recurring characters, and a major influence in the life of Captain Picard. Q returned to antagonize Jean-Luc in Star Trek: Picard season 2, and appeared before Jean-Luc's son Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) in Picard season 3.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 7, Episodes 4 & 5

When the USS Enterprise-D crew members hear that Captain Picard has been killed while on an archeological dig, they set out to discover the truth. During the investigation, Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) is captured by the same mercenaries who had captured Picard and faked his death. Picard and Riker then secretly work together to infiltrate the mercenary crew, eventually discovering the ancient Vulcan artifacts the mercenaries have been searching for. "Gambit" is an incredibly fun two-parter, but it has few lasting implications, and the story probably could have been trimmed down to fit in one episode.

"Birthright"

Star trek: the next generation season 6, episodes 16 & 17.

In "Birthright, Part I," Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) and Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) both set out to learn more about their fathers. After an energy discharge strikes Data, he begins experiencing bizarre dreams, in which he encounters his creator, Dr. Noonien Soong (Brent Spiner) . Worf's story follows the Klingon warrior as he investigates an ultimately false claim that his father is alive in a Romulan prison camp. "Birthright, Part II" focuses entirely on Worf, as he teaches the young Klingons in the prison about Klingon culture. While Data and Worf's stories are both interesting, the two episodes of "Birthright" feel more disparate than other two partners, and some of the questions raised in "Part I" go unanswered.

The Enterprise-D is docked at Deep Space Nine throughout "Birthright," and Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) visits the Enterprise and helps Data investigate his dreams.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6, Episode 26 & Season 7, Episode 1

When the Starship Enterprise encounters a strange group of Borg, Data experiences anger for the first time. At the end of "Descent, Part I," Data's evil brother, Lore (Brent Spiner) , reveals himself to be the leader of this Borg group, and Data and Lore declare their intent to destroy the Federation. Later, Data's morality subroutines are reactivated, releasing him from Lore's control. He then turns against Lore, just as Riker and Worf arrive with a group of rebel Borg led by Hugh (Jonathan Del Arco). "Descent" marks an important step in Data's journey to explore his humanity, and follows up on Hugh's story that began in TNG season 5, episode 23, "I, Borg."

Which Star Trek Shows & Movies Do The Borg Appear In?

"time's arrow", star trek: the next generation season 5, episode 26 & season 2, episode 1.

In a classic Star Trek time travel story , Data, and later more of the Enterprise-D crew, travel back in time to 19th-century Earth after they discover a 500-year-old version of Data's disembodied head buried in a cavern. In the past, Data encounters future Ten Forward bartender Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), as well as American author Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain (Jerry Hardin). "Time's Arrow, Part I," ends with Captain Picard and his crew about to join Data in the past. While this may not be the most exciting cliffhanger, the 19th-century misadventures of Data and Mark Twain, in particular, make for some incredibly fun moments.

"Unification"

Star trek: the next generation season 5, episodes 7 & 8.

When Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) is reported missing, Captain Picard takes the Enterprise-D to investigate his last known location - Romulus. Picard and Data then disguise themselves as Romulans, eventually finding Spock working underground on a "personal mission of peace" to reunite the Vulcans and Romulans . Spock gets great moments with both Data and Picard in "Unification." He and Data speak about their opposing desires - Spock wants to be logical without emotion, while Data wants to feel emotions. Picard shares the news that Spock's father, Sarek (Mark Lenard), has passed away, and Spock later mind melds with Picard to experience the memories Sarek had previously shared with the Captain.

TNG's "Unification" aired just before the release of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , and teased the events of the upcoming film.

"Redemption"

Star trek: the next generation season 4, episode 26 & season 5, episode 1.

Throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation , Worf often struggles to reconcile his Klingon heritage with his duties as a Starfleet officer, and that struggle comes to a head in "Redemption." With the looming threat of a Klingon civil war, Worf and his brother Kurn (Tony Todd) help install Gowron (Robert O'Reilly) as the Klingon Chancellor, angering Lursa (Barbara March) and B'Etor (Gwynyth Walsh) Duras. Although Picard cannot get involved in the fighting, he does assemble a group of ships to create a blockade between the Klingon and Romulan border (including the USS Sutherland under the command of Data ). Not only do both parts of "Redemption" have some tense action sequences, but they also offer a glimpse into Klingon culture and more insight into Worf as a character.

"Chain of Command"

Star trek: the next generation season 6, episodes 10 & 11.

In one of Star Trek: The Next Generation's most harrowing stories, Captain Picard is kidnapped by Cardassians while on a covert mission. Although Picard is subjected to various forms of torture at the hands of Gul Madred (David Warner), he defiantly refuses to break. Patrick Stewart and David Warner both deliver powerhouse performances, making it impossible to look away any time the two are onscreen. ​​​​​ Ronny Cox, too, delivers a solid performance as Captain Edward Jellico, who commands the Enterprise while Picard is being held captive. As Jellico's command style is vastly different from Picard, he and Riker butt heads and he eventually relieves Riker of duty.

"Chain of Command, Part 2" was the last TNG episode to air before the premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , and it set up the Cardassians to be major antagonists on that show.

Captain Picards 10 Best Star Trek TNG Episodes, Ranked

"all good things...", star trek: the next generation season 7, episodes 25 & 26.

Star Trek: The Next Generation's two-part finale brilliantly wraps up the series, while bringing the entire story full circle. Q returns to continue humanity's trial, but this time he helps Captain Picard jump through time to find a way to stop a potentially catastrophic anomaly. Picard jumps from the present to the past just before the Enterprise-D investigated Farpoint Station, to an alternate future where he works on his family's vineyard. After Picard successfully solves Q's riddle, he finally joins his crew members for a game of poker , in an iconic final scene that was recreated for the finale of Star Trek: Picard season 3.

"The Best of Both Worlds"

Star trek: the next generation season 3, episode 26 & season 4, episode 1.

"The Best of Both Worlds" is often cited as one of Star Trek's best stories for a reason. When Captain Picard is assimilated by the Borg, Commander Riker takes over command of the Starship Enterprise and must face off against his former Captain. The effects of Captain Picard's assimilation and the subsequent Battle of Wolf 359 continue to reverberate throughout the Star Trek universe. Star Trek: Picard season 3 , in particular, references Picard's time as Locutus of Borg and brings back Admiral Elizabeth Shelby (Elizabeth Dennehy), who first appears in "The Best of Both Worlds."

The "To Be Continued" at the end of "The Best of Both Worlds, Part 1" remains one of the best television cliffhangers of all time , and it established the Star Trek tradition of season-ending cliffhangers. The second part of the story may not be as tension-filled as the first, but it does a good job of wrapping up the story in a satisfying way. Although TNG rarely followed up on specific stories, the episode that directly follows "The Best of Both Worlds," entitled "Family," shows the aftermath of Picard's assimilation and how profoundly it affected the usually unflappable Enterprise Captain. "The Best of Both Worlds" remains one of Star Trek: The Next Generation's finest hours, and it established a tradition of Star Trek two-parters that produced some truly amazing episodes.

Cast LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Wil Wheaton, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, Marina Sirtis

Franchise(s) Star Trek

Showrunner Gene Roddenberry

Every Star Trek: TNG 2-Part Episode Ranked, Worst To Best

COMMENTS

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    10 Best 'Star Trek' Movies and TV Shows of the Franchise (So Far) By Clayton Davis. ... Check out the full ranked list. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Released: November 22, 1996

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    Star Trek Nemesis. CBS. I have seen it, twice. Other than the fact that Data dies, I could not remember what happens in this movie until I re-read the Wikipedia summation. Sure, The Final Frontier ...

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    10. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) JJ Abrams' second Star Trek movie should have, and indeed could have, been one of the best science fiction movies ever made. A great cast from the previous entry, aided by the modern-day icons Benedict Cumberbatch and Peter Weller, amazing effects (despite the over-use of lens flare) and riding the hype-train of the previous entry's success, it should have ...

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    Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Sometimes, the conventional wisdom is right. The Wrath of Khan really is the best Star Trek movie: the greatest of them all, surrounded by other top-notch competitors. Blending swashbuckling action, tension, and adventure with a grounded story about Kirk coming to terms with life and death, it's Star Trek ...

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    1,220 votes. A renegade Vulcan makes Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and the Enterprise go to a planet at the center of the galaxy. More Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. #280 of 399 on The Best Movies Of The 1980s, Ranked. #143 of 178 on The 150+ Best Movies With Aliens.

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  23. 13 Star Trek Movies Ranked By Worst To Best Box Office

    The popular Star Trek IV was a box office success, grossing $109,713,132 at the domestic box office, and it stood as the highest-grossing Star Trek movie for 23 years until the J.J. Abrams films supplanted it. Star Trek IV has a score of 82% on Rotten Tomatoes, with many praising its sense of humor and broad audience appeal.

  24. 7 best Star Trek parodies, ranked

    1. Galaxy Quest (1999) One of the great parody movies of any kind ever made, Galaxy Quest is set in a universe where a show like Star Trek was a phenomenon when it first aired. Now, the cast ...

  25. 10 Best Star Trek Episodes of 2024 Ranked

    Spread the loveScience fiction enthusiasts had much to revel in this past year with an exciting array of Star Trek episodes that took us on a journey through strange new worlds, unexplored phenomena, and thought-provoking moral quandaries. As we reflect on 2024, here is a ranking of the top 10 Star Trek episodes that stood out for their storytelling, special effects, character development, and ...

  26. What's Going On With Star Trek Movies? "There Is A Plan", Says

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  27. Every Star Trek: TNG 2-Part Episode Ranked, Worst To Best

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