Which film had the best opening scene/sequence?

[Kegg]

I like TMP's opening also, and TWOK's. As far as punchy 'impact' openings go, the Aliens-esque fake-outs with Picard in FC are also quite good.

I generally do not like the fast/chaotic filming style and I don't get the love for Robau. He did nothing but leave the ship and let Kirk handle it all.

I was there. I was there at the dawn of the third age of mankind...

*cough*

Ahem. Robau was turned into a fan meme shortly after it was announced Tahir had been cast as a badass starship captain, and before we'd learned he was just some faceless nobody who's job is to die nobly when walking into a trap.

But Boba Fett-esque fanboying aside, it's the whole sequence which is excellent rather than Robau, and for me especially the bit where George Kirk is talking with Winona as to what they should name their boy. It's his father's heroic death coupled with the birth of JTK - and damn is the score Giacchino uses in that moment rather touching. Punchy little bit of cinema that and I unashamedly loved it.

 

[Firebird]

TFF has always been one of my favorites. The combination of the scenes of Kirk climbing the mountain, giving a taste of something different than what we'd been used to seeing in a Star Trek film, and Jerry Goldsmith's sweeping, epic score are a winner every time for me.

I certainly makes me feel like I'm about to watch a David Lean-esque Star Trek film... only to be somewhat spoiled by the end of the flick.

 

[RyuRoots]

The Kelvin sequence in Star Trek XI is by far the best ST movie opening to me. It's very powerful, very cool visually, and Robau is an officer who dies horribly not long after his introduction, yes, but he seems pretty competent and it was great seeing that he wasn't at all intimidated by Nero (or his cronies) despite what was happening.

FC's dream sequences with Picard were great, but in a very different way. Kind of surreal, y'know? Helped drive home how affected Picard was by the whole Borg thing.

I'll also always love the GEN intro with Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov. I've heard people say they only used them because they couldn't get Nimoy and Kelley, but personally, I don't think Spock and McCoy would've made that segment work as well as what we got. But that's me.

 

[trevanian]

TFF opens with Sybok, not Kirk. And yeah, that is my fave, because it is a pre-title teaser, the way they should all have been done (esp TMP.)

 

[Alrik]

Another vote for The Kelvin with TUC as runner up.

 

[Alientraveller]

Voted for the Kelvin prologue: one of the few times I almost cried in a film.

 

[Bones2]

Voted for the Kelvin prologue: one of the few times I almost cried in a film.

Yeah, me too. I'm no lover of the film by a long shot, but to see Star Trek back on the big screen and opening with such a big emotional scene was very moving.

Of course, than the rest of the film happened. Rather squandered the goodwill I had towards it.

 

[cooleddie74]

TREK XI

followed by:

TMP

TUC

TWOK

and

GENERATIONS.

 

[The Borgified Corpse]

I'll also always love the GEN intro with Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov. I've heard people say they only used them because they couldn't get Nimoy and Kelley, but personally, I don't think Spock and McCoy would've made that segment work as well as what we got. But that's me.

I'm mostly fine with it. I think they work really well with the characters. I'm still not entirely sure why Chekov went down to sickbay though. It's one thing having Scotty take over Spock's techno-exposition. It's quite another to try to replace Dr. McCoy's medical expertise.

Scotty spouting out all that theoretical TNG-style mumbo jumbo took me out of the scene.

Yeah. You can tell Doohan just wasn't at all comfortable stringing that much technobabble together at once. He says, "resonance burst" VERY deliberately, as if he just fluffed the previous 20 takes.

 

[AnyStar]

i voted Generations for the title sequence alone, if i were to go by the complete full scene i would have voted First Contact for the reveal of the new E and the borg attack!

 

[Voyagerian]

TrekXI's Kelvin vs Narada; seeing 1701-B for the first time with that wonderful A. Courage intro; the K'Tinga-Class battlecruisers sweeping in to attack V'Ger, and Excelsior encounters the shock wave from Praxis...

 

[Eleanor_zhDarjel]

I love the one where Praxis explodes...it's the first movie I was able to see in a cinema, so I have special care for it. Kelvin is great, no dought, but Nr. 6 is my happy place.

 

[lucas1701]

This is tough, because most of the Trek movies have excellent opening sequences, even those which fail to live up to them.

I went with the Kelvin in 2009 because I love the opening shot of the ship, and the entire sequence is exciting, powerful and emotional.

As for the others, it really depends on what you mean by opeing sequence- i.e. the first 'shot', or the first 'act' of a movie. For example, all the good stuff in First Contact (IMO) happens during the first act, ditto for Generations and Voyage Home. Undiscovered Country also had a superb opening scene, but better was to come later (ditto for TWOK and TSFS).

 

[The Castellan]

Hm...if Robau hadn't left the ship things probably would have progressed the same way except that Kirk would have left the ship with his wife...wait a tick...

Or they all would have been snuffed out.

The Motion Picture. Big, epic, scary. Suddenly space was seen as it really is, truly alien, truly vast and deadly. You have to very bold to go out there. Star Trek on the big screen had finally arrived.

Yesh, it is, and always shall be, my fav of the films. And I liked the several minutes of Ilea's music before the film actually started....to me, that's just a classy touch I wish all the Trek films would use.

 

[Wes-Cutting]

1. Star Trek (2009). Not only is it the best opening of the 11 films, it's also one of the absolute best scenes from any of the films. The birth of James Kirk coinciding with the death of George Kirk is absolutely epic. Plus, you have the all-too-brief general baddassery of Captain Robau.

2. Star Trek: Generations. Again, it may be the best scene of the film. While I'm a big fan of the Next Generation cast, I felt like this film clearly demonstrated that Kirk "still got it" and could have kept doing these movies for a few more years yet.

3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. I love the way the tension builds as the shock wave begins to hit the Excelsior. The vibrating teacup is a great image. I love Captain Sulu's very basic reaction to the image of the shockwave heading for the ship. "My god. Shields. Shields!" Also:
"'An incident'?!"
"Do we report this, sir?"
"Are you kidding?"
Like the rest of this film, Meyer crafted a scene with style up the ying-yang.

4. Star Trek: First Contact. I love the very impressionistic style they used to recap "The Best of Both Worlds."

5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Way to throw the spoiler whores off the scent by giving Spock that early fake-out death. I also love the exchange between Kirk & Bones:
"Physician heal thyself."
"That's all you have to say? What about my performance?"
"I'm not a drama critic."
(I just had a thought. What if Kirk had used the opportunity to turn McCoy's catchphrase back around on him? "I'm an admiral, not a drama critic.")

6. Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I'm generally not a huge fan of this movie but they do succeed in making space seem very alien & dangerous. Plus, Jerry Goldsmith's Klingon theme is classic.

I agree with your descriptions here but would have to change the order for me.

I would put TWoK at the top of my list with Gen and XI coming in second and third. I simply loved TWoK, in my eyes that movie saved TOS after the Motion Picture. That is only my opinion.

Also all the foreshadowing they do at the very beginning of TWoK sent chills down my back after going back and watching it again. You know what happens and it is plays so well together.

 

[cooleddie74]

To this day, even after almost 30 years, the opening Klingon-V'Ger sequence of TMP remains profoundly creepy, eerie and even scary in large part thanks to the awesome Jerry Goldsmith Klingon score and what still ranks as the creepiest, scariest Klingon makeup in the entire history of the TREK franchise.

 

[Ghrakh]

GEN: It had all the elements I like in ST condensed into one sequence: adventure, danger, cool visuals, engaging characters, humor, and sadness.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
And...in many ways...the first ten minutes of GENERATIONS was the highpoint of the entire movie. An emotional rollercoaster that the remainder of the film had a helluva time matching or surpassing, which it may or may not have ever done depending on your opinion of the film in-general.

 

[RyanKCR]

To this day, even after almost 30 years, the opening Klingon-V'Ger sequence of TMP remains profoundly creepy, eerie and even scary in large part thanks to the awesome Jerry Goldsmith Klingon score and what still ranks as the creepiest, scariest Klingon makeup in the entire history of the TREK franchise.

What really does it for me is the lightening effects as the ships were "scanned absorbed."

^
And...in many ways...the first ten minutes of GENERATIONS was the highpoint of the entire movie. An emotional rollercoaster that the remainder of the film had a helluva time matching or surpassing, which it may or may not have ever done depending on your opinion of the film in-general.

The best part of the movie was:

"My God was anyone in there?
"Aye."

And then the pullback.

 

[The Castellan]

To this day, even after almost 30 years, the opening Klingon-V'Ger sequence of TMP remains profoundly creepy, eerie and even scary in large part thanks to the awesome Jerry Goldsmith Klingon score and what still ranks as the creepiest, scariest Klingon makeup in the entire history of the TREK franchise.

Wish they could have kept the Klingons like that.
If JJ uses Klingons on the next film....make them like the TMP Klingons....make them scary, make them creepy. And if he could get that score to play, all the better.

Plus the Klingonese being spoken also sounded creepy.
Would it not be cool to see the Amar in the next film?