Pine was great as Kirk, but I thought his version of Kirk worked best as the anti-authority rebel with Captain Pike to play off of than being the authority himself.
most disappointing Trek movie?
- Thread starter Khan 2.0
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If I’m honest, The Next Generation movies in general were a terrible disappointment. It seemed as though “the sky was the limit” when the Next Gen cast transitioned to moviedom. I remember being so excited to see Generations in the cinema, only to be sitting there finding it strangely depressing and anticlimactic.
While First Contact was hugely enjoyable apart from the naffness of the Borg queen (a concept I hated in Voyager too, by which time the Borg were just a bore), the series was constrained by its strangely timid, formulaic approach to storytelling and its retrograde treatment of the characters.
By the time Nemesis came out, I think that worse than the fairly shit writing was the fact clearly no one really cared (audience wise). I remember how disappointing Enterprise was, I think it debuted around that time,and the sad realisation that Trek just wasn’t doing it for me anymore. Nemesis left such a bitter taste in the mouth and did so for many years.
I did have some issues with Picard, but I was so grateful that it at least served as a better coda for certain characters than Nemesis did. It didn’t undo the damage but it did feel like a satisfying damage control.
As much as many fans hated the JJ movies, I enjoyed them for what they were (excluding Into Darkness perhaps) and was at least was happy that they reinvented Star Trek for a new audience and resuscitated what by that point was a dead franchise.
While First Contact was hugely enjoyable apart from the naffness of the Borg queen (a concept I hated in Voyager too, by which time the Borg were just a bore), the series was constrained by its strangely timid, formulaic approach to storytelling and its retrograde treatment of the characters.
By the time Nemesis came out, I think that worse than the fairly shit writing was the fact clearly no one really cared (audience wise). I remember how disappointing Enterprise was, I think it debuted around that time,and the sad realisation that Trek just wasn’t doing it for me anymore. Nemesis left such a bitter taste in the mouth and did so for many years.
I did have some issues with Picard, but I was so grateful that it at least served as a better coda for certain characters than Nemesis did. It didn’t undo the damage but it did feel like a satisfying damage control.
As much as many fans hated the JJ movies, I enjoyed them for what they were (excluding Into Darkness perhaps) and was at least was happy that they reinvented Star Trek for a new audience and resuscitated what by that point was a dead franchise.
For me it started out as a toss-up between TMP, TFF and NEM.
I gave TMP a pass because it was the first feature film, and because I never saw it in theaters. While people may have been disappointed, anyone expecting it to be "just like" TOS was, to my mind, kidding themselves a bit. Also, for better or worse, each of the films that followed owes something to TMP, even if the something was a desire not to resemble it.
TFF and NEM I find pretty dire. But for "disappointing", I'm giving it to NEM. At least with TFF I didn't really think the films would stop there, and I feel TUC is a much better finale for the TOS folks. As a send-off for the TNG folks though, NEM is a significant disappointment.
I gave TMP a pass because it was the first feature film, and because I never saw it in theaters. While people may have been disappointed, anyone expecting it to be "just like" TOS was, to my mind, kidding themselves a bit. Also, for better or worse, each of the films that followed owes something to TMP, even if the something was a desire not to resemble it.
TFF and NEM I find pretty dire. But for "disappointing", I'm giving it to NEM. At least with TFF I didn't really think the films would stop there, and I feel TUC is a much better finale for the TOS folks. As a send-off for the TNG folks though, NEM is a significant disappointment.
TMP was huge in the theater. Literally and figuratively.
Y'know, you raise a point above, all the TNG movies feel like tv eps, some bigger, some smaller, a common complaint about INS. Made by tv people, story-told by tv people.
And yes, I know WOK was Harve Bennett from the tv side of paramount. But TNG flicks were made by the same dudes had had made the tv show just the year before.
The TOS flicks are their own thing. Well, TMP is its own-own, then the other are another thing, a set. But they weren't made by the same dudes who had just got done making the show. And though WOK was from the TV side, and it is less visually epic, it is more literally an epic than TMP.
Then, TSFS is a film set in the trekverse. TVH finally feels like an ep.
Y'know, you raise a point above, all the TNG movies feel like tv eps, some bigger, some smaller, a common complaint about INS. Made by tv people, story-told by tv people.
And yes, I know WOK was Harve Bennett from the tv side of paramount. But TNG flicks were made by the same dudes had had made the tv show just the year before.
The TOS flicks are their own thing. Well, TMP is its own-own, then the other are another thing, a set. But they weren't made by the same dudes who had just got done making the show. And though WOK was from the TV side, and it is less visually epic, it is more literally an epic than TMP.
Then, TSFS is a film set in the trekverse. TVH finally feels like an ep.
You know, I can understand TMP being a disappointment to people. I wasn’t around with it was originally released, and it wasn’t the first Trek movie I watched growing up (I think that was Search For Spock). But with I did see TMP, courtesy of a friend who lent me the VHS, I found it a chore to get through—so sluggish, serious and Seventies in style. For years I found it a bit of a slog. But somehow over time it’s become my favourite and most watched Trek film. Unlike any other Trek movie it feels like a cinematic experience. It pulls me into its world and is almost meditative; I don’t care about the flaws, the images and music and scope is just mesmerising and comforting to me. But yeah, it took years to appreciate it. No other Trek film was like that for me. If anything, the rest of them depreciated after the initial buzz. Much like life I guess.
I agree that it is cinema and spectacle. I wholeheartedly disagree about it being disappointing in '79, especially the "V'Ger shoots its load" sequence, which made me laugh out loud.
TMP worked much better for me when I got to see it in a theater last year.
I feel much the same way. I liked TMP when I first saw it, but I was probably 5 or 6 so I'd like ANYTHING that had Cpt. Kirk and Mr. Spock at that point! But once TWOK and TSFS came out, TMP quickly became the bottom of the barrel. Now, with the benefit of wisdom and age (haha)….I really appreciate TMP as a great movie.
TMP is a great movie.
It just isn't "Star Trek" to me in the same way.
It just isn't "Star Trek" to me in the same way.
?? What scene is that? I obviously didn't laugh out loud. Just thought the whole thing was amazing, as a 13-year-old nerd.
Star Trek XIV is pretty disappointing. It keeps alternating between "it could be made", "it will be made", and "it won't be made". My expectations keep shifting between "It'll be a fourth movie with the Abrams cast", "It'll be another new version of the TOS characters", or "It'll be totally new characters". Hell, with the track record for every film after TUC, there's a 50% chance I'll like it and a 50% chance I won't. I'd like to know what I'm looking forward to or not looking forward to. 
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I'm surprise to read fans hating the JJ Trek movies because I thought it did what it was supposed to do at the time was to reinvigorate Star Trek. I thought Insurrection and Nemesis almost buried Star Trek because of it's self righteous and preachy storytelling and didn't have the flavor I thought Star Trek was about: the path for adventure and fun. The JJ movies was never going to explore the heart of Star Trek but it could put new life into it and hopefully with other writing talent they could explore that world with the intentions of galvanizing what we knew. I guess the new "THING" is multi-versions of everything in Hollywood*, just shows how creatively bankrupt they truly are. JJTrek may have not resurrected Star Trek the one would've wanted it but at least it created a spark.
*Star Trek: Mirror Universes, Kelvin & Prime garbage. Marvel/Disney multi-verse starting with Doctor Strange 2. DC/ AT&T multi-verse starting with Batman v Superman and the CW DC tv series.
Into Darkness was pure spectacle and I don't think it was trying to be anything other than that. Nemesis felt like some Frankenstein monster trying desperately to be relevant. The production at the time just completely lost what I loved about TNG and I was saddled with two of the most bland interpretations of my favorite characters. JJTrek never had that kind of expectations but TNG movies were disappointing the moment it appeared on screen.
I disagree. I think the early parts of ID have a fair amount of things to say, but I'll admit that it turns into spectacle toward the back half of the film.
I'm certainly not going argue that NEM was quite the disappointment though...though I think INS is the movie that makes me more angry because of the story gaffes.
I'm certainly not going argue that NEM was quite the disappointment though...though I think INS is the movie that makes me more angry because of the story gaffes.
It made a very strong statement about the ethics of drone warfare. They flat out condemned it, while it was being frequently used by the US overseas.
Keep the first half of Into Darkness but rewrite the second half and I'd like it as much as the 2009 Film and Beyond.
I personally love all three of the Kelvinverse movies. I would say, with the original ten movies, that the one I was truly disappointed in was Insurrection. It felt off all around.