Most Over-Appreciated Trek Film

[Michael]

For me it's Nemesis and Into Darkness. Personally, I'm able to find things to like in every Star Trek production, but before I joined the internet, I had no idea there were actually a lot of fans of Nemesis. My limited experience up to that point always had been that the film was almost universally hated. With Into Darkness I just don't understand why the movie was celebrated to such an extent by the general audience and the critics. It sure looked nice, but everything else about it pretty much sucked.

 

[alensatemybuick1]

As Harlan Ellison pointed out in his wonderful review in Harlan Ellison's Watching, (TMP is) a mishmash of four TOS plots with an ending ripped from another film (one writer dubbed it "The Forty-Million Dollar Fuck").

Nice to see someone else quote from that collection of Ellison movie reviews; his review or Star Wars is especially brutal (but spot on). I still like TMP (and Star Wars), but then I was 13 and 11 respectively when those films first came out, which probably influences how I view them now.

I say The Voyage Home is the most over-appreciated Trek Film. It has its moments, but being a period piece, it is terribly dated, the worst example being the "comedy" derived from Kirk's Klingon communicator going off and being mistaken for a beeper / phone, something only a doctor would have (of course). That bit of hilarity was outdated within 5 years or less of the movie's release. The "punk" scene made me groan when I first saw it (at 20).

 

[Vger23]

For me it's Nemesis and Into Darkness. Personally, I'm able to find things to like in every Star Trek production, but before I joined the internet, I had no idea there were actually a lot of fans of Nemesis. My limited experience up to that point always had been that the film was almost universally hated. With Into Darkness I just don't understand why the movie was celebrated to such an extent by the general audience and the critics. It sure looked nice, but everything else about it pretty much sucked.

Not sure this is in the spirit of the poll, since these are two of the most classically reviled-by-the-fans Trek outings in the whole franchise.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Not sure this is in the spirit of the poll, since these are two of the most classically reviled-by-the-fans Trek outings in the whole franchise.

As the other person (at this point) who voted Nemesis, I have to take issue with your pronouncement there. It most certainly is in the spirit of the poll, as what I am asserting is that the level of praise that the film does get, as @M observed that it does, is wholly unwarranted.

 

[sttngfan1701d]

Oh this is easy. First Contact. I mean, it's....okay? I've never really liked it as much as others seem to.

It made Star Trek TNG "work" as a cinematic property, I'll give it that. And the plot is serviceable. But I've just never liked it that much.

 

[Galileo7]

TFF or INS could never be found guilty of being over-appreciated and probably don't even belong in the poll because of that.

 

[TheAdmiralty]

As the other person (at this point) who voted Nemesis, I have to take issue with your pronouncement there. It most certainly is in the spirit of the poll, as what I am asserting is that the level of praise that the film does get, as @M observed that it does, is wholly unwarranted.

Nemesis is probably the consensus pick for the worst Star Trek film, though. How can it be rated any lower? Even if somebody wants to say TFF is the least liked Trek film, that would make Nemesis overrated by one spot, which isn't very overrated.

 

[DS9ers]

I voted the Wrath of Khan. Wrath is almost always held up as the pinnacle of Star Trek movies. It is a very good movie and I enjoyed it but for me it doesn't hold a candle to either Undiscovered Country, Voyage Home or First Contact.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Nemesis is probably the consensus pick for the worst Star Trek film, though. How can it be rated any lower? Even if somebody wants to say TFF is the least liked Trek film, that would make Nemesis overrated by one spot, which isn't very overrated.

This thread is about over-appreciated, not overrated.

 

[Sybok Was Wrong]

TWOK definitely.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Trek films tend to be either too over-appreciated or too under appreciated. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of middle-ground, especially how little they actually diverge in quality. The good ones aren't that good and the shitty ones aren't that shitty. But you'd never know it from peoples' reactions. The more popular ones are treated like cinema royalty, and the less popular ones are treated like they're festering piles of SF&F puss.

 

[TheAdmiralty]

Trek films tend to be either too over-appreciated or too under appreciated. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of middle-ground, especially how little they actually diverge in quality. The good ones aren't that good and the shitty ones aren't that shitty. But you'd never know it from peoples' reactions. The more popular ones are treated like cinema royalty, and the less popular ones are treated like they're festering piles of SF&F puss.

I'd say TMP, WoK, TUC, and maybe Beyond are rated about right.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Nope.

 

[suarezguy]

Trek films tend to be either too over-appreciated or too under appreciated. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of middle-ground, especially how little they actually diverge in quality. The good ones aren't that good and the shitty ones aren't that shitty. But you'd never know it from peoples' reactions. The more popular ones are treated like cinema royalty, and the less popular ones are treated like they're festering piles of SF&F puss.

I think the really good ones are some of the best sci-fi films, at least or especially in terms of personal enjoyment.

 

[velour]

TUC. It had a good story, peace between the Feds and their mortal enemy the Klingons. And it was a fitting one for the final voyage of the TOS cast. However, the movie seemed tired. The acting on the part of some was subpar and lackluster. Some of them looked like they were just going through the motions.

 

[maneth]

TWOK gets my vote. I've never understood the fan adoration of Khan, he's just as one-dimensional as almost all other Trek villains.

My second vote goes to STID, it seems to have been better received by critics than it, IMO, deserved.

 

[Qonundrum]

My choices:

ST First Contact: It's well-directed and has some terrific f/x, but without a good story those added bits don't hold up. The story is a retcon of the Borg, Worf and the Defiant come out of nowhere and not with the best crew on board given who the enemy is, what's Picard doing there in the flagship if Starfleet doesn't trust him, why does he break orders and all the Starfleet ships are quick to believe him so they all fire on cue -- and that's just in the first 10 minutes alone. Never mind the rest. Least of which is the Borg Queen. Alice Krige is awesome as the Borg Queen, true, but the Borg queen flatly contradicts the Borg's very premise so it was not easy to accept given every Borg story prior to STFC and how much even the most casual fan already know. Back to the first 5 minutes, even Picard disobeyed orders as a lame joke for us to laugh at, which "Insurrection" would later play straight. Barclay gets a nice shallow moment to devolve as a character into a caricature of himself as well -- he's used so much better in Voyager and had already made progress in TNG, so to see him as a disposable comedy act in an "event" movie... no thanks. It's a cast reunion shindig aimed at fans but isn't by any means a well-written movie event. Previous Trek films had continuity gaffes as well, but they're subtle (and very few) by comparison. (Do I dislike STFC as a whole? No, there are far worse movies. But on the storyline level, it's got problems. Lastly, did they get inspiration for looking at ships in the sky (where they look like dots) from "Blake's 7"? )

ST2009: It cashes in on name recognition, but offers nothing that Trek as a franchise holds unique, it's a caricature relying on the name and parodying a number of set-pieces than actually telling a story. Remember that 1995 comedy movie "The Brady Bunch"? ST2009 is in the same pastiche except it's not meant to be funny. Having said that, "Into Darkness" has a DS9-like quality regarding the double crossing and terrorism angles and to the point STID might be underrated in a couple of ways, and the pre-credits bit with the alien planet definitely had a TOS feel (despite the humor, which despite it all worked for me.) I've heard some good things about "Beyond" and am hoping to see that shortly.

Honorable mention: TVH. I loved the movie in 1986, but it set the stage for TOS movies' downfall with the insistence of comedy at the expense of depth. TVH was lucky that all the elements gelled and how the comedy worked with the plot, that usually doesn't happen. On the plus side, unlike STFC, TVH had a coherent way to get everyone back to their intended time period...

 

[Mirror_Barclay]

I was going to say Wrath of Khan but, on reflection, cast my vote for Beyond instead. That isn't to say either is a bad film, but both get more praise than they deserve.

WoK is not my favorite Star Trek film, but I can understand why many think it's the best, and it's certainly quite good. It's over-rated, but I think Wrath deserves a larger percentage of the praise it gets than Beyond does.

Beyond does several things very well. The performances are good (I finally liked Pine's performance), the chemistry among the cast is good, Jaylah is great, some cool effects. But I think much praise for the film fails to take into account Kirk's very odd and out-of-character arc, such as it is, and most importantly the extremely weak motivation for the villain (and poor execution of the reveal on top of that).