How would rank the Star Trek movie directors, from best to worst?
Ranking the Star Trek Movie Directors
- Thread starter The Overlord
- Start date
Yes, that is exactly how I would rank them.
And the non-smartass answer:
Meyer
Nimoy
Lin
Wise
Abrams
Frakes
Shatner
Carson
Baird
Edited to add JJ. I honestly forgot him.
And I couldn't help but let my bias of movie enjoyment dictate this list. There are people who are much better directors listed below people who aren't as good as them.
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Wise
Abrams
Lin
Meyer
Frakes
Carson
Nimoy
Shatner
Baird
Abrams
Lin
Meyer
Frakes
Carson
Nimoy
Shatner
Baird
I had trouble doing this as one list, because with the exception of the bottom two I kept getting very different placements in my head depending on whether I rated the director on their technical abilities or how well suited they were to Star Trek. So, screw it, here are my two lists!
Technical:
Abrams
Lin
Wise
Frakes
Shatner
Meyer
Nimoy
Baird
Carson
Affinity with the material:
Meyer
Nimoy
Frakes
Lin
Abrams
Wise
Shatner
Carson
Baird
Technical:
Abrams
Lin
Wise
Frakes
Shatner
Meyer
Nimoy
Baird
Carson
Affinity with the material:
Meyer
Nimoy
Frakes
Lin
Abrams
Wise
Shatner
Carson
Baird
Meyer
Nimoy
Frakes
Wise
Lin
Abrams
Carson
Shatner
Baird
Nimoy
Frakes
Wise
Lin
Abrams
Carson
Shatner
Baird
Wise - great director even if the movie is boring
Meyer - love the suspense and tension
Nimoy - an eclectic director
Lin - nicely paced direction (minus points for some OTT action sequences)
Abrams - not overly impressed with his directorial style but ST 2009 is good
Carson - felt like a movie version of the TNG show (that's a compliment)
Shatner - did his best with a reduced budget
Frakes - both movies feel like 2 part tv episodes (FC was great though)
Baird - just didn't get it at all
Meyer - love the suspense and tension
Nimoy - an eclectic director
Lin - nicely paced direction (minus points for some OTT action sequences)
Abrams - not overly impressed with his directorial style but ST 2009 is good
Carson - felt like a movie version of the TNG show (that's a compliment)
Shatner - did his best with a reduced budget
Frakes - both movies feel like 2 part tv episodes (FC was great though)
Baird - just didn't get it at all
Going purely by cinematic directing skill on display, and not (necessarily) by my favourite Trek films:
Abrams
Wise
Lin
Nimoy
Meyer
Frakes
Shatner
Carson
Baird
Abrams
Wise
Lin
Nimoy
Meyer
Frakes
Shatner
Carson
Baird
If we're going on cinematic skill, I'd rank them this way:
Lin
Wise
Abrams
Meyer
Shatner
Baird
Frakes
Carson
Nimoy
Lin
Wise
Abrams
Meyer
Shatner
Baird
Frakes
Carson
Nimoy
Going just by how well directed the films were ignoring the quality of the material-
Wise
Lin
JJ
Baird (not sure why he's ranked so low. Sure the cast didn't like him and the script was bad, but Nemesis is without a doubt the most cinematic ST movie aside from TMP and the new ones.)
Meyer
Nimoy
Frakes
Shatner
Carson
Wise
Lin
JJ
Baird (not sure why he's ranked so low. Sure the cast didn't like him and the script was bad, but Nemesis is without a doubt the most cinematic ST movie aside from TMP and the new ones.)
Meyer
Nimoy
Frakes
Shatner
Carson
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Wise
Meyer
Nimoy
Shatner
Meyer
Nimoy
Shatner
1. J.J. Abrams
2. Justin Lin
3. Robert Wise
4. Nicholas Meyer
5. Leonard Nimoy
6. Jonathan Frakes
7. William Shatner
8. David Carson
9. Stuart Baird
2. Justin Lin
3. Robert Wise
4. Nicholas Meyer
5. Leonard Nimoy
6. Jonathan Frakes
7. William Shatner
8. David Carson
9. Stuart Baird
I actually agree with the part about it being the most theatrical, certainly of the four TNG movies it feels by far the most like a movie, although I suspect the reason he's being ranked so lowly is because he failed to connect with the material or with the characters. It's kind of hard to be in charge of a movie based on a long running TV series and with characters whose histories stretch back that far, but then turn around and claim those histories don't matter (especially when your movie deals with the death of one of those characters!) Baird repeatedly made decisions in the editing room that were in the best interests of Nemesis had it been a stand-alone action movie, but which time and again disrespected the continuity and heritage he inherited. Something as small as cutting the (scripted) mentions of Lore, for example. I haven't any doubt Frakes could've gotten more heart out of the same material.
Compare with Meyer, who had a similarly cavalier attitude to wanting to make his own mark, but did so in compliment with the characters and their histories.
Anyway.....
My list: Wise
Meyer
Lin
Frakes
Nimoy
Carson
Shatner
Abrams
Baird
Wise, Meyer, Nimoy, Abrams, Lin.
Then everyone else.
Then everyone else.
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A lot of that is just the script though. Not a whole lot of "soul" to that material. It's pretty much like the writers said "whelp, time for another TNG movie, we don't know what to do so we'll just do TNG Wrath of Khan." I like the deleted character scenes, but they had nothing to do with the main Shinzon plot and would have made the movie far longer than Paramount would have released if they were all included. None of that is Baird's fault. The direction is actually the best thing about it, with the action sequences and the fact that it has a real sense of cinematic "mood" (as opposed to feeling like a normal episode of TNG) and I think putting it in a distant second behind First Contact in terms of TNG movies, despite having a crummy script.
Imo, switch Frakes and Abrams, and I think that's just about my list. Frakes is steady and consistent, but otherwise conventional. Abrams tends to think bigger scale, but his insistence on shaky cam is the deal breaker for me. Props to Lin for the steadier change.
