{"id":6983,"date":"2009-04-22T10:32:40","date_gmt":"2009-04-22T17:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/?p=6983"},"modified":"2019-12-23T14:10:04","modified_gmt":"2019-12-23T22:10:04","slug":"ranking-the-star-trek-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/2009\/04\/22\/ranking-the-star-trek-films\/","title":{"rendered":"Ranking the Star Trek Films"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='__iawmlf-post-loop-links' style='display:none;' data-iawmlf-post-links='[{&quot;id&quot;:4200,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com\\\/name\\\/nm0001626&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20100206204129\\\/http:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com:80\\\/name\\\/nm0001626\\\/&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/us.imdb.com\\\/name\\\/nm0001626&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-12 09:23:55&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-13 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02:19:13&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-07 02:19:13&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:4209,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.rottentomatoes.com\\\/m\\\/star_trek_generations&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260307031055\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.rottentomatoes.com\\\/m\\\/star_trek_generations&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/www.rottentomatoes.com\\\/m\\\/star_trek_generations&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-12 09:23:53&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-12 09:23:53&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:4210,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.rottentomatoes.com\\\/m\\\/star_trek_nemesis&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260212155713\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.rottentomatoes.com\\\/m\\\/star_trek_nemesis&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-07 02:19:26&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-12 09:23:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-12 09:23:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:4211,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/www.rottentomatoes.com\\\/m\\\/star_trek_v_the_final_frontier&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260207211724\\\/https:\\\/\\\/www.rottentomatoes.com\\\/m\\\/star_trek_v_the_final_frontier&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-07 02:19:30&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-12 09:23:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-12 09:23:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]'><\/div>\n<p>After having spent much of the past few weeks working my way through the Star Trek film series, this is how I rank them, best to worst. Obviously, this is my personal ranking. Feel free to disagree.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country<\/li>\n<li>Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan<\/li>\n<li>Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home<\/li>\n<li>Star Trek: First Contact<\/li>\n<li>Star Trek: The Motion Picture<\/li>\n<li>Star Trek III: The Search for Spock<\/li>\n<li>Star Trek: Generations<\/li>\n<li>Star Trek: Nemesis<\/li>\n<li>Star Trek: Insurrection<\/li>\n<li>Star Trek V: The Final Frontier<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The #1 and #2 spots are tough, very nearly a tie &#8212; and probably where I&#8217;ll get the most disagreement &#8212; but for me, that&#8217;s how they stack up. As good as TWoK is, the combination of the underlying theme of recognizing and overcoming racism and prejudice, and Christopher Plummer&#8217;s gleeful scenery chewing, Shakespeare-quoting, bolted-in-eyepatch General Chang (&#8220;Cry havoc! And let slip the dogs of war!&#8221;) make TUD <em>work<\/em> for me. Some of this may be that I saw TUD in theaters, which I was too young to do with TWoK, and I have very fond memories of the theater erupting in cheers watching the Enterprise and Excelsior hammer Chang&#8217;s Bird of Prey into oblivion &#8212; that scene <em>still<\/em> gets my blood pumping when I watch it.<\/p>\n<p>(Plus, while I know he&#8217;s done something like <a href=\"http:\/\/us.imdb.com\/name\/nm0001626\/\" title=\"IMDB: Christopher Plummer\">six million other things<\/a>, I <em>love<\/em> that General Chang and Captain Von Trapp from The Sound of Music are the same actor.)<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s how the rankings stand in popular opinion, as measured by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes\">Rotten Tomatoes<\/a> (which, suprisingly, ends up placing First Contact just above The Wrath of Khan&#8230;I didn&#8217;t expect that):<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>First Contact <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/star_trek_first_contact\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek: First Contact\">(91%<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>The Wrath of Khan (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/star_trek_ii_the_wrath_of_khan\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan\">90%<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>The Voyage Home (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/star_trek_iv_the_voyage_home\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home\">84%<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>The Undiscovered Country (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/star_trek_vi_the_undiscovered_country\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country\">82%<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>The Search for Spock (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/star_trek_iii_the_search_for_spock\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock\">no official rating<\/a>, 80% unofficial from eight positive and two negative reviews)<\/li>\n<li>Insurrection (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/star_trek_insurrection\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek: Insurrection\">56%<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>The Motion Picture (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/star_trek_the_motion_picture\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek: The Motion Picture\">52%<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Generations (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/star_trek_generations\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek: Generations\">50%<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>Nemesis (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/star_trek_nemesis\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek: Nemesis\">37%<\/a>)<\/li>\n<li>The Final Frontier (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.rottentomatoes.com\/m\/star_trek_v_the_final_frontier\/\" title=\"Rotten Tomatoes: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier\">21%<\/a>)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After having spent much of the past few weeks working my way through the Star Trek film series, this is how I rank them, best to worst. Obviously, this is my personal ranking. Feel free to disagree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2047],"tags":[4097],"class_list":["post-6983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-star-trek","tag-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6983\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelhans.com\/eclecticism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}