Most Popular Trek Films According to TrekBBS Denizens

[Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos]

I agree it is not Cumberbatch's fault. I still feel he was wrong for the role.

 

[fireproof78]

I agree it is not Cumberbatch's fault. I still feel he was wrong for the role.

I do too.

And I love the film and his performance.

 

[dupersuper]

I feel like BC doesn't get enough credit for playing the role in Into Darkness. Was the decision to make the villain "Khan" a questionable one? Yeah sure. Was the casting of that character questionable given the ethnicity and background of said character? Yeah absolutely.

Is any of that Benedict Cumberbatch's fault? No, of course not...and in a vacuum, I think he actually did a really nice job.

I mean, he accepted the whitewashed role...

 

[Rusty0918]

Might as well give my two cents here:

13 - TWOK
12 - TUC
11 - FC
10 - TVH
9 - TSFS / TMP: Director's Edition (OK latter doesn't count)
8 - Beyond
7 - 2009
6 - TMP (Non Director's Edition)
5 - INS
4 - TFF
3 - NEM
2 - GEN
1 - ID

I hope my choices don't garner flame wars. I do think the Director's Edition is a huge improvement over the original cut (and the VHS longer edition).

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I mean, he accepted the whitewashed role...

My ideal Khan would have been Dev Patel. It was a major misstep to cast Cumberbatch. Not that he isn't good in the film, but he's as white as alabaster. You'd think the name Khan Noonien Singh would have given somebody the idea that they were doing the wrong thing.

 

[fireproof78]

My ideal Khan would have been Dev Patel. It was a major misstep to cast Cumberbatch. Not that he isn't good in the film, but he's as white as alabaster. You'd think the name Khan Noonien Singh would have given somebody the idea that they were doing the wrong thing.

Unfortunately, even with Montalban it still wasn't the right ethnicity. So I imagine, especially with TWOK, there was less concern about the ethnicity and more about the villainous character.

 

[Sakonna]

My ideal Khan would have been Dev Patel. It was a major misstep to cast Cumberbatch. Not that he isn't good in the film, but he's as white as alabaster. You'd think the name Khan Noonien Singh would have given somebody the idea that they were doing the wrong thing.

Unfortunately, even with Montalban it still wasn't the right ethnicity. So I imagine, especially with TWOK, there was less concern about the ethnicity and more about the villainous character.

Even as a fan of Into Darkness, I do agree they should have picked a lane here. If literally Khan, cast someone who made sense in that role. If Cumberbatch, just let him play John Harrison as a Khan-like character. We can have more than one villainous augment leader character, it doesn't have to be Khan all the time.

 

[fireproof78]

Even as a fan of Into Darkness, I do agree they should have picked a lane here. If literally Khan, cast someone who made sense in that role. If Cumberbatch, just let him play John Harrison as a Khan-like character. We can have more than one villainous augment leader character, it doesn't have to be Khan all the time.

Same. Harrison works very well.

 

[Farscape One]

While Cumberbatch is a great actor, I Khan...'t believe they couldn't just keep him as John Harrison. It's yet another bad mark for a bad movie.

 

[fireproof78]

While Cumberbatch is a great actor, I Khan...'t believe they couldn't just keep him as John Harrison. It's yet another bad mark for a bad movie.

The writing process for this film was bad, hands down. It's why I don't hold Lindellof in high regard. There was a lot of back and forth about Khan, not Khan, and what villain they wanted. And it came down to that they wrote a draft without Khan as a villain and then rewrote it with Khan as the villain.

John Harrison as another augment, or a genetically engineered super-soldier by Section 31 would have been awesome.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Agreed they should have just gone with John Harrison. Different augment. Problem solved.

Unfortunately, even with Montalban it still wasn't the right ethnicity. So I imagine, especially with TWOK, there was less concern about the ethnicity and more about the villainous character.

They knew better in 1967, but they didn’t give a shit and neither did most viewers. That kind of racially insensitive casting was culturally ingrained. Like in the U.K. we still had The Black and White Minstrel show into the 70s. Then TWOK just rolls with the casting.

You’d think by 2013 that someone would have put some thought into it but… well, it is what it is. Cumberbatch’s performance is
strong however. I just wish they’d gone another route. The funny thing is most fans weren’t arsed about a rebooted Khan and the movie was promoted whilst keeping Khan a secret… so what was the point?

An unwanted Easter Egg kept out of sight of the general audience.They wanted to have the cake and eat it and it’s a sour point in an otherwise enjoyable movie.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I guess all the ranking is over then?

Okay, I put 29 posts into a spreadsheet and here's what it said:

1. TWOK - 322 (out of a possible 377)
   
2. TVH - 292
3. TUC - 279
4. FC - 247
5. TSFS - 232
6. 2009 - 216
7. TMP - 211
8. BEY - 187
9. TFF - 165
10. GEN - 161
11. ID - 124
12. NEM - 104
13. INS - 99 (with the minimum possible being 29)

Here's a chart of the average points to make it easier to see:

That's four even movies followed by six odd movies, so the evidence suggests that the odd/even rule was an actual thing until Nemesis broke it.

The movie that was ranked in last place the most times was Into Darkness.
Every film is somebody's least favourite however, except for TUC, TVH and TWOK.
Most films were also someone's favourite, but Insurrection never got more than 7 points.
Almost half the lists had The Wrath of Khan at the top.
Star Trek 2009 had the most even spread of scores.

The Original Series era is people's favourite by a considerable margin, with the Kelvin Timeline coming second and the Next Generation era coming last. But you can tell that just from the chart.

 

[Oddish]

Love the analysis, and I think it's on target. My four favorite films are in the top five.

 

[fireproof78]

You’d think by 2013 that someone would have put some thought into it but… well, it is what it is. Cumberbatch’s performance is
strong however. I just wish they’d gone another route. The funny thing is most fans weren’t arsed about a rebooted Khan and the movie was promoted whilst keeping Khan a secret… so what was the point?

An unwanted Easter Egg kept out of sight of the general audience.They wanted to have the cake and eat it and it’s a sour point in an otherwise enjoyable movie.

Here's my thoughts and I have limited info so it's a lot of speculation.

"What's the point?" The point is that Khan was a character who kind of transcended the ethnicity that he was supposed to be. In Space Seed he was Indian, a Sikh specifically. By TWOK I would be hard pressed to say that he looked it though. And the iconic visage of Khan, especially in TWOK, basically made it so that his ethnicity was less important than his huge presence as a villain, casting a very long shadow. So, why keep it a secret? Because it's meant to be a fun little surprise of this new take on an old menance.

Unfortunately, it's landing was uneven. I think they put thought it to it and then over thought and over thought and then del Toro fell out but they were committed to the idea of Khan now so who was someone with enough presence to be villainous?

Personally, Harrison was good enough, and could have been fun with the creation (Harrison) turning on the creator (Marcus). But, as a data point, it's small enough to not ruin my enjoyment.

 

[Rusty0918]

It's clear that TNG didn't translate too well to the big screen; there was really only one movie of that bunch that is worth watching (First Contact), the rest of them are mediocre to awful. Although to be fair, some of that falls on Berman, who was on too long.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

I don’t even like First Contact, but then I don’t really like the Borg beyond a few appearances.

 

[Trelane_Squire_of_Gothos]

It's clear that TNG didn't translate too well to the big screen; there was really only one movie of that bunch that is worth watching (First Contact), the rest of them are mediocre to awful. Although to be fair, some of that falls on Berman, who was on too long.

The problem with the TNG films was that the plots were not well thought out. The writing was weak.