What was your favorite TOS film?

[mattman8907]

I chose The Undiscovered Country because to me it felt like a true "Series Finale" of the TOS world. It dealt with many plot points that have been evident over TOS one. Kirk's animosity towards the Klingons killing his son, The Federation and the Klingons heading towards a truce of sorts. and the Enterprise finally being decommissioned (as mentioned in TSFS) and the crew (as well as the actors) moving on from what was basically the last 25 years of their life.

 

[Navigator_NCC2120]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Which way to the firing squad?

I'll go with you. "Shoot straight, you bastards!"

Me too, I voted for TMP as my favorite.

May we please be blindfolded before we are shot?


Navigator NCC-2120, USS Entente
/\

 

[Khan 2.0]

Another TFF vote!

TSFS still second to last

 

[Therin of Andor]

Whoever voted for The Motion Picture should be shot.

So shoot me now!

I was told exactly the same thing in 1980, as a newbie fan, but it is still my favourite movie of all time. I was lucky, perhaps, that I read the novelization first, but TMP and JJ's 2009 film were totally immersive entertainment that made me believe I was on a starship, with fascinating characters and aliens, amazing music and original SPFX.

 

[Chrisisall]

Whoever voted for The Motion Picture should be shot.

So shoot me now!

I was told exactly the same thing in 1980, as a newbie fan, but it is still my favourite movie of all time.

I voted for TVH, but I almost voted for TMP AND TUC. It's SO close; I love them all.

TMP- Best stand alone Trek move as well as one of the best straight up science fiction movies ever made. Visually stunning.
TVH- Funny warm, meaningful tale with Sarek, Amanda, colourful metaphors, whales, underwater stuff, love interest, I think I even saw a kitchen sink...
TUC- Best sendoff possible for our crew IMO, and Plummer was such a great villain! Plus: Kirk gets to do the summation speech!!

 

[Trimm]

Favorite and best are two different things, and my favorite since I received the movies on VHS the very first time has always been TSFS.

 

[The JediVulcan]

I like all the films but TWOK and TUC are my two favorites, and are basically tied at number one. But if I were forced to choose just one I guess I'd go with TUC but just by a nose.

 

[Rudi Brüggemann]

I had to choose between TWoK and TUC, but it was TUC, not sure why. I love to see that humans are not really perfect in the 23-24th centuries either, like the occasional racism (speciesism, I know) of Kirk and basically everyone. It also shows that you can get rid of that if you want to. Also, "target that explosion and fire!" I don't hate on other TOS movies though. TMP is a masterpiece, ingenious in its own way, but no way it would be my favorite. TSfS - not sure why I don't like it that much. It has its brilliant moments, and I love Christopher Lloyd, but that's it. TVH is awesome, but it's comedy for me and has less of the Star Trek elements I would get hooked on as a kid. TFF... simply no. No offense, but kinda stupid on many points.

It's not hate though, it's just that I love TFF the least from all the TOS movies.

And I never really figured out why the hell would God need a damn starship.

 

[Vger23]

I had to choose between TWoK and TUC, but it was TUC, not sure why. I love to see that humans are not really perfect in the 23-24th centuries either, like the occasional racism (speciesism, I know) of Kirk and basically everyone. It also shows that you can get rid of that if you want to. Also, "target that explosion and fire!" I don't hate on other TOS movies though. TMP is a masterpiece, ingenious in its own way, but no way it would be my favorite. TSfS - not sure why I don't like it that much. It has its brilliant moments, and I love Christopher Lloyd, but that's it. TVH is awesome, but it's comedy for me and has less of the Star Trek elements I would get hooked on as a kid. TFF... simply no. No offense, but kinda stupid on many points.

It's not hate though, it's just that I love TFF the least from all the TOS movies.

And I never really figured out why the hell would God need a damn starship.

I actually think TUC is my least-favorite original Trek movie.

 

[Chrisisall]

I actually think TUC is my least-favorite original Trek movie.

TMP is basically the finest.
The rest are varying mixes of adventure, character & humour. I really love them all.

 

[MANT!]

Since Nimoy's passing I've re watched all the TOS films

And still the best, in my humble opinion, is TWOK, after all, it was the film responsible for setting up the stories and the look for all the TOS films following...

An action adventure film that made Trek fun again...TMP was just too humorless, cerebral and was a bit too long.. TSFS followed naturally from TWOK then jumping into TVH, leaping into TFF and wrapping up with TUC... if TFF had more time in the editing bay and some tweaks in the special effects department, it would have rated higher than most of the TNG movies.. but alas, it was never meant to be.

So my personal order,

TWOK
TSFS
TVH
TUC
TMP
TFF


Your mileage may vary..

 

[Chrisisall]

Since Nimoy's passing I've re watched all the TOS films

Us too. Our findings are:
TMP
TVH
TUC
TSFS/STII
TFF

This is based upon personal preference, of course.

 

[fonzob1]

I had to choose between TWoK and TUC, but it was TUC, not sure why. I love to see that humans are not really perfect in the 23-24th centuries either, like the occasional racism (speciesism, I know) of Kirk and basically everyone. It also shows that you can get rid of that if you want to. Also, "target that explosion and fire!" I don't hate on other TOS movies though. TMP is a masterpiece, ingenious in its own way, but no way it would be my favorite. TSfS - not sure why I don't like it that much. It has its brilliant moments, and I love Christopher Lloyd, but that's it. TVH is awesome, but it's comedy for me and has less of the Star Trek elements I would get hooked on as a kid. TFF... simply no. No offense, but kinda stupid on many points.

It's not hate though, it's just that I love TFF the least from all the TOS movies.

And I never really figured out why the hell would God need a damn starship.

I actually think TUC is my least-favorite original Trek movie.

Uggh! I don't get it. It's one of the two best TOS films.

 

[Greg Cox]

I had to choose between TWoK and TUC, but it was TUC, not sure why. I love to see that humans are not really perfect in the 23-24th centuries either, like the occasional racism (speciesism, I know) of Kirk and basically everyone. It also shows that you can get rid of that if you want to. Also, "target that explosion and fire!" I don't hate on other TOS movies though. TMP is a masterpiece, ingenious in its own way, but no way it would be my favorite. TSfS - not sure why I don't like it that much. It has its brilliant moments, and I love Christopher Lloyd, but that's it. TVH is awesome, but it's comedy for me and has less of the Star Trek elements I would get hooked on as a kid. TFF... simply no. No offense, but kinda stupid on many points.

It's not hate though, it's just that I love TFF the least from all the TOS movies.

And I never really figured out why the hell would God need a damn starship.

I actually think TUC is my least-favorite original Trek movie.

Uggh! I don't get it. It's one of the two best TOS films.

To each their own. It's my third-favorite, after WOK and TVH.

 

[Vger23]

I had to choose between TWoK and TUC, but it was TUC, not sure why. I love to see that humans are not really perfect in the 23-24th centuries either, like the occasional racism (speciesism, I know) of Kirk and basically everyone. It also shows that you can get rid of that if you want to. Also, "target that explosion and fire!" I don't hate on other TOS movies though. TMP is a masterpiece, ingenious in its own way, but no way it would be my favorite. TSfS - not sure why I don't like it that much. It has its brilliant moments, and I love Christopher Lloyd, but that's it. TVH is awesome, but it's comedy for me and has less of the Star Trek elements I would get hooked on as a kid. TFF... simply no. No offense, but kinda stupid on many points.

It's not hate though, it's just that I love TFF the least from all the TOS movies.

And I never really figured out why the hell would God need a damn starship.

I actually think TUC is my least-favorite original Trek movie.

Uggh! I don't get it. It's one of the two best TOS films.

I like it, but I also think it's rushed, cheap, and illogical. It was a vanity project for Nick Meyer (the film title all the way to the hammy "look how smart I am" overuse of literary quotes) who was too busy being clever and not busy enough adding logic to the story. It has a middle 2 acts that are as bloated and ponderous as anything in TMP. I fall asleep now almost every time I try to watch it. Just dull, plodding stuff.

That said, there's some brilliant stuff too. The opening of the film aboard the Excelsior with the subspace shockwave (regardless of how idiotic and illogical this is) is the best since TMP's Klingon attack on V'Ger. The assassination scene aboard Kronos One was absolutely incredible, and still plays well today. There's some great character stuff between Kirk and McCoy (Rura Penthe) and later between Kirk and Spock (Spock's quarters).

Other than that, it was just uninteresting and nonsensical. I'd watch TFF and TMP 10 times to 1 over TUC.

My raking right now would be:

1. TWOK
2. TSFS

3. TMP


4. TFF



5. TVH
6. TUC

 

[Greg Cox]

What the heck. I'll play again. My rankings:

WOK
TVH
TUC

SFS
TMP

TFF

 

[Kilana2]

TVH
WOKhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan !!!!!
TUC
SFS
TFF
TMP

 

[King Bob!]

TMP
TUC
TSFS
TWOK
TFF
TVH

 

[BriGuy]

I voted for TMP just to piss off the OP.

 

[Greg Cox]

Whoever voted for The Motion Picture should be shot.

Why???

The first movie IN EVERY SERIES is usually the best

Jumping on this rather late, I have to question that premise. Often the second movie is best, because the filmmakers get a chance to expand and improve on the success of the first one. And may have a better sense of what worked and didn't work in the first movie. And sometimes one of the even later ones is the best. I mean, does anybody really think Dr. No is the very best Bond film? Or that the first Pink Panther movie is the best one? (With Peter Sellers, I mean. Not the remakes with Steve Martin.)

Other examples of sequels that are arguably better than the originals:

The Bride of Frankenstein, Tarzan and His Mate, After the Thin Man, The Wrath of Khan,The Empire Strikes Back, Addams Family Values, X2: X-Men Unlimited, Spider-Man II, The Dark Knight, etc.

And you can probably make a case for The Godfather II and Terminator 2 as well. And maybe even Gremlins 2.

(We'll just forget about the Highlander series, okay? And The Exorcist.)