What was the first ST movie you ever saw in theaters?

[The Old Mixer]

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Unlike many my age, I hadn't been into Trek during the rerun heyday of the 70s. I had caught TMP on Showtime and it held my interest...hadn't seen TWOK at all yet. I went to see TSFS with a junior high school friend who was into Trek. I made a point of checking out TWOK on home video that summer, and this proved to be a major stepping stone in my becoming a fan.

Even not knowing much about Trek at that point, I got a good laugh out of Bones' reaction upon finding out what Spock had done to him....

Finally a kindred spirit.

I should mention as an epilogue to my story that by the time STIV rolled around, I saw it in the theater four times. The only other movie I can recall having seen four times in first run was Batman in '89.

Of course, this owes partly to how old I was when these films came out...if I'd had my own money and transportation when the Star Wars OT came out, I would have seen those films a crazy number of times first-run.

(I did manage to see ANH and, IIRC, TESB each four times in the theater thanks to theatrical rereleases, not counting the Special Editions...as well as ROTLA for the same reason. One of my fonder memories from early adolescence is of trekking on foot on hot summer days to a reasonably nearby dollar matinee theater that would get these films. Those classic films on the big screen before they were available on home video, plus the air conditioning--Pure bliss.)

 

[HarryCanyon1982]

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, i was 8 years old. I still have a vague memory of the packed theatre of people all standing up at the end, when the crew is flying into spacedock for their new ship. When the Enterprise-A is unveiled, i remember the theatre clapping and screaming like crazy. I have more memories of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. I think i bugged my mom to take me to see that one 3 times in the first few weeks it was out. It's still my favorite TOS film.

I remembered some cheering on premiere day too when i saw first American Tail and i also saw American Tail at the same time as well on the same day on second viewing as i saw AT 4 times.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Generations. I was 14.

 

[HarryCanyon1982]

And i can't believe i paid to see part V in theaters.

 

[Greg Cox]

And i can't believe i paid to see part V in theaters.

But I only paid to see it once.

 

[Kilana2]

I`m happy that I didn't pay for the new movies (new timeline or whatever) as I boycotted them. I had to switch off my TV when I tried to watch them on (free) TV.

The money I saved I invested in some decent Star Trek novels that were really worth to buy and read them.

 

[eyeresist]

I've always had a terrible memory, so I really don't know the answer to this question. It might have been TSFS, or TFF, or TUC, or even GEN. I have cinematic memories of them all, but that might be just my imagination. So possibly the first Star Trek cinema experience for me will be Star Trek Beyond!

 

[Timewalker]

TMP opening day.

I honestly don't recall if I saw TMP on opening night. I did see it 5 times in the theatre, though.

Added bonus: My dad had been working up north in the Territories (Norman Wells, NWT), and on his way home for the holidays, he decided to stop and get me a present. He knew I liked science fiction, especially Star Trek... and by a happy coincidence, he chose the only book I didn't have at that point: The novelized version of TMP. One of the times I saw the movie was with him (he'd let himself be dragged to the occasional SF movie, but wasn't especially into it himself, with the exception of Doctor Who).

And i can't believe i paid to see part V in theaters.

My local Star Trek club went to that as a group. It was so bad, I nearly walked out. That's the only time I ever felt that way about a movie. I had to force myself to get through that movie, and I'm fairly sure that it was also the last time I ever saw any Star Trek movie in the theatre (as time goes on, and with multiple viewings on VHS and TV, it gets harder to recall if I saw ST VI in the theatre or if I waited until it was on TV). I do know that I never saw any of the TNG movies in the theatre. I never considered them worth the time or money, and just waited until they were on TV.

 

[ProwlAlpha]

Generations at the age of 14

 

[Kruezerman]

Insurrection. Watching Daugherty get his faced stretched in two had a six year old me hiding in my mother's arms.

 

[JE Smith]

Star Trek - TMP. I'm old. I was in high school, and thrill of seeing the Enterprise back in action faded after the thirty-minute tour of V'Ger's innards.

 

[Isolinear]

Generations. I can't remember why I didn't see TUC in the theater because I was already a fan back then.

 

[Smellmet]

Insurrection. Watching Daugherty get his faced stretched in two had a six year old me hiding in my mother's arms.

It's weird that I felt like a really jaded Trek fan during that scene. 41 Today. Damn.

 

[HarryCanyon1982]

And i can't believe i paid to see part V in theaters.

But I only paid to see it once.

I mean my big brother paid not me as we are both trek fans and he was 14 and i was 7 when it came out and thought it blew badly, at least the next one made up for V.

 

[Therin of Andor]

ST: The Motion Picture (1979)
My age then: just turned 21
Where seen: the beautiful retro art deco Paramount Theatre, Sydney, Australia

Note the age above: this film was very much my "coming of age". I'd managed never to have seen "Star Wars" and was just finishing up three fun-filled years at teachers' college - writing and performing in skits, making teaching aids, critiquing kids' TV shows, etc - and along came TMP, a reunion movie of characters I knew mainly only from breakfast television reruns of TAS!

So TMP, based on a friend's review at my 21st birthday party, of then-recent gala opening night, became a fascination to me. During that week, the newspaper had carried a serialized "My week on the Star Trek set" item by Aussie journalist Jim Oram. I encountered the novelization in the local supermarket (read it in a weekend), bought the soundtrack with a birthday gift certificate, and went (by myself, when it's general run finally started) to see the movie - and was blown away by it. I felt like I was on that starship; thanks to director Robert Wise, whose direction made the whole film so real to me. I needed to see the movie about four times before finally spotting the cool, new aliens I'd seen in the program book, the LP inner sleeve and "Starlog".

Later, discovering organised ST fandom, I was shocked that most diehard TOS fans hated the movie and called it boring. I was ready for the sequel the next week, and how did I scream when I realised TMP was originally to have been "Phase II", a weekly TV show! Oh well, I spent the next few years reading ST novels, catching up on old TOS and TAS I hadn't seen and researching details on ST II.

It's still my favourite ST movie (now equaled by the 2009 film), and perhaps my favourite movie of all time.

Paramount Theatre, Sydney - inside by Ian McLean, on Flickr

 

[Amaris]

As I've said before, Nemesis was the first when I was 22, even though I have been a big fan since I was 4. It was just that something always came up and I never got to see any of the films in the theater until that point. Since then, I've seen 2009, and STID, and I can't wait to see the next Trek film. As much as I can help it, I'll never miss a theater release of Star Trek again.

 

[SpocksOddSocks]

The first for me was the Final Frontier (I know, surprising I'd to back after that ). Actually, I would have been about 7 and enjoyed it immensely at the time... but I had long been a fan before that.

Since that Nemesis is the only one I've missed at the cinema. For some reason I really just wasn't feeling the love for the idea of Nemesis at that point in my life.

 

[Iamnotspock]

Generations, at the age of 8.

 

[K'Toska]

I feel rather left out as I've never seen any Trek in theaters. /sigh

 

[DimesDan]

First one I saw in the cinema was Generations. Have seen all the proceeding films in the cinema, some including First Contact and Into Darkness on opening night. The only one I've seen more than once in the cinema was Into Darkness and that was a couple of times.