What are your top 3 Star Trek films?

Star Trek The Motion Picture
Star Trek The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek The Search for Spock

 

I know IDIC and YMMV and all that good stuff....but it always amazes me how many fans put TUC in the top 3. I've never felt there was anything special or particularly interesting about that one.

 

Khan, the whales, TUC.

 

Chang and Gorkon.

 

Oh, easy one. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: First Contact, and Star Trek: Insurrection.

 

Cliff Eildelman's score.
Hiro Narita's cinematography.
Serving as a Series Finale, which TOS never had.

Those are the main selling points. Not enough to put it in my Top 3, but good enough that TUC and the 2009 Film are duking it out for my #4 Spot.

The main detraction for me is the movie feels a little too much like "1991 Current Events in Space!"

I don't have a problem with Kirk being a bigot. By this point, he wouldn't want to have anything to do with the Klingons after everything that had happened. Most people don't realize that time wears on fictional characters too. So it makes sense that Kirk would have a much more jaded outlook in TUC than he ever did in TOS. You can even see it in TFF; he was just better at handling it before he got even further worn down during the time between the two films.

 

Wrath of Khan
Undiscovered Country
First Contact

 

To this I would add: the refit Constitution class never looked as good as it does in this film, both inside and out. Visually it's the best-looking TOS film by a significant margin.

 

The Undiscovered Country: it’s got to be the most ‘Star Trek’ Star Trek movie. TUC has everything I like about the series wrapped up in a tidy package.
The Voyage Home: just a really good time. Though I’m pretty sure having spent a lot of time at cannery row and the Monterey Bay Aquarium has biased me towards this one. There’s a few shots in particular that always have me going ‘hey! I’ve been there!’
Beyond: Hands down the best kelvin movie. It’s surprisingly well plotted, full of solid character interaction, and it’s got Idris Elba.

The third pick was damn hard, but I eventually decided to go with Beyond due to how underrated I consider it.

 

You can see it in TOS too. There is already a veiled disdain for the Klingons, and Kirk plays the diplomacy far easier than as time goes on and the wounds are more personal.

 

I don't know. He saw them as enemies, but I don't think it went any further than that. Like you say, it wasn't personal yet.

 

I should say more the hints of it. There is a dislike but not a disdain.

 

Voyage Home
Wrath of Khan
First Contact


Undiscovered Country
Search for Spock
Beyond
Motion Picture
Final Frontier
2009
Generations
Insurrection
Into Darkness
Nemesis

 

It's a great story with great performances.

 

Insurrection
First Contact
Nemesis

 

I only like Undiscovered Country, I don't like the rest, so I don't have a Top 3.

 

Yeah, me too. I have it as a middle of the road film. I used to like it more when it first came out but certain things nag me about it in more recent years. I agree with Lord Garth that Kirk's bigotry toward Klingons makes sense. I saw the same thing with TFF, a simmering hatred that was still in its early stages, and probably built up as the years passed to TUC (one of the few things that I thought linked the two films together, other than the obvious set/ship design and characters). But the other command crew's bigotry just seemed out of place.

It's a decent film, I enjoy watching it still, but some of the sheen has worn off for me over the years.

But as I always say, my opinions aren't really all that main stream. TWOK is my 2nd favorite, so that one is among the norm I guess, but TMP being my favorite film is probably not that common, and of course, as I always say, I'm one of the 10 people that liked Nemesis so (not top 3 level, mind you, but middle of the pack).

 

That is a fair statement, although I do not see "major" plot problems with TUC or TWOK.

 

Yup. As well as what you find most engaging in the film.