For years, though I still watched it here and there, I though TMP was a very boring film. Sure, the special effects and music were great but the pacing was poor and it lacked the camaraderie that I was used to from the series.
In recent years however, I began re-evaluating it. My favorite aspect of Star Trek has always been 'Boldly Go...' which is something that is not present in any of the other Trek films beyond TMP. In this film they are encountering the unknown. There is no real villain to fight, no ships blowing up. Just the encounter with an unknown. In my view this saves the film and has made it my favorite of the lot.
I never disliked
TMP, but I did find it boring. Then I saw
2001 and realizing that
TMP was
Trek's attempt at doing a movie like
2001 gave me a greater appreciation. Judging it against the other movies will only cause it to come up lacking, but judging it under different criteria makes it more enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't hold a candle to
2001, but understanding it's not meant to be an action movie in the vein of II, III, and so on, makes me enjoy it more.
As for the other movies, V was the first one I saw in the theater as a
Trek fan (I saw IV in the theater as a 7 year old, liked it, but had little idea about the backstory stuff, until I started watching
TNG and then went back to watch II and III). From V onward, I have always walked out of the theater satisfied and then later, for some of them, changed my opinion. Needless to say, my opinion of V went down over the years, while VI went up.
With the exception of V, the only one I don't currently have on disc, I did rewatch all of the
Trek movies recently and enjoyed each one for what it was. I didn't have a negative opinion of any of them. This was especially true of
First Contact and
Nemesis, two movies I had originally had favorable feelings towards (
FC moreso than
NEM), but my enthusiasm for them dipped a bit recently. With
FC, I caught a few scenes on HBO a few years back and thought it hadn't aged well. However, with my recent rewatch, I chalk that up to having to seen the entire movie, instead of scenes to really enjoy it.
I never felt
NEM was as bad as others made it out to be, especially my two friend who I went to see it with opening night. They walked out disappointed, where I walked out satisfied. However, a rewatch 2 years ago left me somewhat colder than my original viewpoint, but this recent rewatch elevated it a bit in my opinion.
I have to say though, and I know not everyone feels the same, that my opinion of
Trek '09 has not changed. I loved it to pieces the first time I saw it and I still love it. The same goes for
TWoK which I feel just as strongly now is a great movie as I did seeing it for the first time.
