Star Trek Movie Retrospective: Final Part
This set of reviews is part of a series:
- I introduce the series and review the first three movies here.
- I review the fourth, fifth and sixth movies here.
So now finally in this entry I review all the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" movies (as well as giving a quick mention to the new rebooted Star Trek movies). At the end I'm also including a full ranking of the 12 Star Trek movies released so far.
Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Generations was always going to be a bit of a tough one since it marks the transition of the Next Generation from tv to the big screen. It felt especially odd for me as someone who had not really watched much of the "Next Generation" Star Trek series. I cannot really say I'd been terribly impressed with what I had seen so far, but I was open-minded about the movie. After all, original series Star Trek didn't really match the thrill-ride of the movies either.
The opening scenes of the movie do not bode well seeing as we have what appears to be an action scene involving Kirk climbing ladders and opening drawers. He's trying turn on some device on the ship that apparently requires pressing some particular switches on a particular deck rather than controlling it from the main control deck like they usually do. While Kirk is apparently successful in his little climbing down ladders, opening drawers and pressing buttons mission, he is (as far as we can tell at the time) killed when a chunk of the ship is destroyed. Naturally, we can tell that Kirk must not really be dead, though I was hoping for a better explanation than "TA-DAA MAGIC!" (More explanation on that later.)
Click here to read more...
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
I was pretty disillusioned after "Generations", but being mostly unfamiliar with the tv series the opening to this movie was my first experience of the Borg. I can't say that it struck me as hugely novel. The design of the Borg is certainly very impressive, but the idea of combining humans with technology was found all through Doctor Who (to give just one example) and the idea of an alien collective that takes control of human beings goes back at least as far as "Invasion of the Bodysnatchers". So how I took this new villain all hinged on how they were handled.
Click here to read more...
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
I only recently checked this one out for the first time. Perhaps low expectations were helpful here, though I was certainly more than a little sceptical about this one when Captain Picard decides to use Gilbert and Sullivan music to distract their android 'Data' who is malfunctioning.
Click here to read more...
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
I'd generally avoided this one having been underwhelmed by Generations and First Contact and having heard bad things about Insurrection. I was tempted a few times but without sufficient motivation I just never ended up checking it out. Until now.
Click here to read more...
Star Trek (XI) (2009)
( My original review here)
A lot of fans of old Star Trek were unimpressed by "Star Trek". Personally I liked it, but I wouldn't rate it enormously. I've always felt that it was the first in a new franchise rather than a great film in its own right. The central macguffin of "red matter" that will destroy your planet, yet will send your spaceship back in time, kind of bugged me. Still there were some neat little touches and there was a lot of potential for future instalments. The old Star Trek crew that we all loved so much was back again, but the situation was different and there was every hope that updated original series stories or even brand new stories set in that era could be employed. Nero the Romulan was a pretty lame bad guy, but the cameo from Leonard Nimoy as Spock from the distant future did much to redress that. And while none of us knew who Chris Hemsworth was quite yet, his opening scene as Kirk's father was a real highlight.
B-
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
( My original review here)
I think I've said all I need to about this one. Zachary Quinto shouting "KHAAAAN!" is now Star Trek's equivalent of Darth Vader's "NOOOOO!" In an interview Abrams said that they didn't decide to make the villain Khan until they were about half way through the script, and it really shows. Benedict Cumberbatch's character just blatantly ISN'T Khan. Still, we pretty much finish this movie with little having changed since last time, so perhaps a new director can come in and tidy up this mess? Suffice it to say, I'm now extremely sceptical about what JJ Abrams is going to do with the next Star Wars movie. (Thank goodness he's only got to live up to the Star Wars prequels. That's a helpfully low bar to surmount.) One positive thing about "Into Darkness" is it is absolutely gorgeous to look at. Everything about it is beautiful and at the half-way point where I still had some hope, I was quite keen to see a decent movie about Klingons. The new 'Bird of Prey' Klingon warships were very impressive for the short period of time they appeared.
D+
My Complete Ranking Of The Star Trek Movies
12. Star Trek: Generations (1994) D-
11. Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013) D+
10. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) C-
Click here for the rest of the rankings...
- I introduce the series and review the first three movies here.
- I review the fourth, fifth and sixth movies here.
So now finally in this entry I review all the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" movies (as well as giving a quick mention to the new rebooted Star Trek movies). At the end I'm also including a full ranking of the 12 Star Trek movies released so far.
Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Generations was always going to be a bit of a tough one since it marks the transition of the Next Generation from tv to the big screen. It felt especially odd for me as someone who had not really watched much of the "Next Generation" Star Trek series. I cannot really say I'd been terribly impressed with what I had seen so far, but I was open-minded about the movie. After all, original series Star Trek didn't really match the thrill-ride of the movies either.
The opening scenes of the movie do not bode well seeing as we have what appears to be an action scene involving Kirk climbing ladders and opening drawers. He's trying turn on some device on the ship that apparently requires pressing some particular switches on a particular deck rather than controlling it from the main control deck like they usually do. While Kirk is apparently successful in his little climbing down ladders, opening drawers and pressing buttons mission, he is (as far as we can tell at the time) killed when a chunk of the ship is destroyed. Naturally, we can tell that Kirk must not really be dead, though I was hoping for a better explanation than "TA-DAA MAGIC!" (More explanation on that later.)
Click here to read more...
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
I was pretty disillusioned after "Generations", but being mostly unfamiliar with the tv series the opening to this movie was my first experience of the Borg. I can't say that it struck me as hugely novel. The design of the Borg is certainly very impressive, but the idea of combining humans with technology was found all through Doctor Who (to give just one example) and the idea of an alien collective that takes control of human beings goes back at least as far as "Invasion of the Bodysnatchers". So how I took this new villain all hinged on how they were handled.
Click here to read more...
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
I only recently checked this one out for the first time. Perhaps low expectations were helpful here, though I was certainly more than a little sceptical about this one when Captain Picard decides to use Gilbert and Sullivan music to distract their android 'Data' who is malfunctioning.
Click here to read more...
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)
I'd generally avoided this one having been underwhelmed by Generations and First Contact and having heard bad things about Insurrection. I was tempted a few times but without sufficient motivation I just never ended up checking it out. Until now.
Click here to read more...
Star Trek (XI) (2009)
( My original review here)
A lot of fans of old Star Trek were unimpressed by "Star Trek". Personally I liked it, but I wouldn't rate it enormously. I've always felt that it was the first in a new franchise rather than a great film in its own right. The central macguffin of "red matter" that will destroy your planet, yet will send your spaceship back in time, kind of bugged me. Still there were some neat little touches and there was a lot of potential for future instalments. The old Star Trek crew that we all loved so much was back again, but the situation was different and there was every hope that updated original series stories or even brand new stories set in that era could be employed. Nero the Romulan was a pretty lame bad guy, but the cameo from Leonard Nimoy as Spock from the distant future did much to redress that. And while none of us knew who Chris Hemsworth was quite yet, his opening scene as Kirk's father was a real highlight.
B-
Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013)
( My original review here)
I think I've said all I need to about this one. Zachary Quinto shouting "KHAAAAN!" is now Star Trek's equivalent of Darth Vader's "NOOOOO!" In an interview Abrams said that they didn't decide to make the villain Khan until they were about half way through the script, and it really shows. Benedict Cumberbatch's character just blatantly ISN'T Khan. Still, we pretty much finish this movie with little having changed since last time, so perhaps a new director can come in and tidy up this mess? Suffice it to say, I'm now extremely sceptical about what JJ Abrams is going to do with the next Star Wars movie. (Thank goodness he's only got to live up to the Star Wars prequels. That's a helpfully low bar to surmount.) One positive thing about "Into Darkness" is it is absolutely gorgeous to look at. Everything about it is beautiful and at the half-way point where I still had some hope, I was quite keen to see a decent movie about Klingons. The new 'Bird of Prey' Klingon warships were very impressive for the short period of time they appeared.
D+
My Complete Ranking Of The Star Trek Movies
12. Star Trek: Generations (1994) D-
11. Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013) D+
10. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) C-
Click here for the rest of the rankings...