There’s a new Star Trek movie in theaters right now.
Cool. Let’s rank it.
Hold on there buddy. Why can’t we stop and appreciate it, remember the good times (those Spock/McCoy scenes), lament the bad times (those Krall scenes….pretty much all of them)? Be grateful for what we got. Chew on it a little longer. Why must we rank it in comparison to the franchise catalog to this point?
Because, to echo Harley Quinn in the Suicide Squad trailer, it’s what we do. After all, thousands of Trekkies voted on all of the films three years after Into Darkness was finishing its theatrical run, and we all remember how that turned out, don’t we? Turns out the hardcore fans really, really hate Into Darkness.
Those same fans are meeting against next weekend for the annual Official Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas. I wonder what they think of Star Trek Beyond. I’ve heard some refer to it as being on par with Insurrection [wait – that was me], others have listed it as the second or third best Trek film of all time, without hesitation. Either way, here’s my updated ranking of Star Trek films, with my rankings of Generations and Insurrection possibly reflecting the fact that I grew up with the Next Generation cast (although that doesn’t blind me to Nemesis’ faults):
Here’s the full list:
- ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’
- ‘Star Trek: First Contact’
- ‘Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home’
- ‘Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country’
- ‘Star Trek’
- ‘Star Trek: Generations’
- ‘Star Trek Beyond’
- ‘Star Trek: Insurrection’
- ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’
- ‘Star Trek III: The Search For Spock’‘
- ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’
- ‘Star Trek: Nemesis’
- ‘Star Trek: The Final Frontier’
What does your list look like right now, even if you haven’t seen Beyond yet?
We Minored in Film 
There’s not much difference between your list and mine. Most of the top six are the same. The middle ones I’d switch around a bit but yeah, the ones in the top six are all my favorites except for aUndiscovered Country and Generati Me which didn’t excite me too much, but are solid films.
There’s some quibbling here and there about exact placement but the last six are all the same really. I’d switch places with 9 and 10. Insurrection would be at 11 or 12. Little things like that.
I don’t normally rank movies against one me another. I’m horribly bad at it, too, but I do know which ones I liked, and which ones I on which I was meh! , and which ones I only ever had to see the one time, then never again.
I am similarly not good at ranking movies against each other. It’s not something I usually do. However, I’ve already heard so many Trekkies talking about Beyond in terms of where they’d rank it next to all prior Star Trek movies, and I was surprised to hear some of them ranking it super high and others putting it more in the middle if not lower.
As for my own rankings, it’s really a case of Khan, Voyage Home, Undiscovered Country, First Contact and everything else for me. The “everything else” category usually depends on my mood, i.e., what kind of movie do I want to watch that day. There are some that I have seen a lot not because they are great are rank high on my list but because they are relatively pleasant, light viewing options for background play. Insurrection is great for that.
You may not consider it fair of me, but as a hardcore, long time Trek fan, I’m going to have to list a couple of films (including #1 as TIES :
1. (TIE) The Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home
2 INTO D A R K N E S S
3 (TIE) The Motion Picture, The Undiscovered Country
4 Star Trek (2009)
5 The Search for Spock
6. Beyond
7 Generations
8 The Final Frontier
9 First Contact
10 Nemesis
11 Insurrection
I will take on any one who defies my choices for they are correct.
😱😱😱😱
I beg to differ…dear, (choose your gender distinction)!
Why, this list is just sheer sacrilege, you Gobless heathen!
SACRILEGE!
It’s completely fair to have ties. I wavered on my own list, and it would have gone quicker if I’d simply grouped some as being ties. For example, the difference between Voyage Home and Undiscovered Country for me is less about quality and more about what kind of mood am I in at that given moment, what kind of movie do I want to watch – time travel comedy, sci-fi political thriller.
That’s apparently all I can say, though, since you will take on anyone who defies your choices as they are unassailable 🙂 If I’m looking for common ground, we agree on the greatness of Khan, Voyage Home and Undiscovered Country as well as Beyond coming in somewhere near the middle of all-time great Star Trek movies. We completely disagree about Into Darkness. I honestly didn’t expect anyone to rank that movie that high, not because of my own ill-will toward the film but more because of how much hate it receives. I’m not a huge fan of it, but I recognize Into Darkness is absolutely not the worst Trek film.
But, wow, you have all of the Next Gen films, including First Contact, at the bottom of your list. Out of curiosity, did you just not like the Next Gen cast and show, or is it purely about those movies not being good enough, which is generally true of Genesis, Insurrection and Nemesis but everyone seems to love First Contact. Not you, though. That’s cool. It’s your list. I’m just curious why you’re so down on all of the Next Gen films.
Good:
1. The Undiscovered Country
2. Wrath of Khan
3. The Voyage Home
4. Beyond
Watchable (Decent):
5. The Search For Spock
6. The Motion Picture
Watchable, but not very good:
7. The Final Frontier
8. Star Trek 2009
9. Generations
Trash:
10. Insurrection
11. First Contact
12. Nemesis
13. Into Darkness
I’m glad I wrote this article because thus far the comments have been completely shocking to me. My own list is fairly standard, not that different from the one the Trekkies voted on three years ago (except, of course, I didn’t include Galaxy Quest since it’s not actually a Star Trek movie). For the most part, I fall in line with the standard view that of the original cast films the even-numbered ones are good, the odd-numbered ones not so much, and of the Next Gen films First Contact is great, the rest not so much. Really where I differ is that I prefer the Next Gen’s so-so movies to the Original Cast’s so-so movies.
I figured that was the fairly normal view, and that Beyond probably ranks somewhere in the middle.
But, damn, I was wrong. You have First Contact as trash? And The Motion Picture as more watchable than the 09 Star Trek? And Beyond as being among the for 4 best Trek films of all time?
Completely disagree on all accounts.
But, at the same time, this is exactly what I wanted. I wanted to see how everyone else viewed these movies, particularly Beyond, and for you it’s an all-time classic for the franchise.
Terrible:
13. Star Trek: Nemesis (I dislike most of the the next gen films)
Bad:
12. Star Trek: Generations
11. Star Trek: Insurrection
10. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Meh:
09. Star Trek: Into Darkness
Good:
08. Star Trek III: Search For Spock
07. Star Trek: Beyond
06. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (I actually really like this movie, Sorry)
Great:
05. Star Trek: First Contact (The only watchable Next Gen movie, almost makes up for the other 3)
04. Star Trek (2009)
Amazing:
03. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
02. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Perfect:
01. Star Trek II: Wrath Of Khan (Obviously)
The TV Shows:
Bad:
06. Voyager
Meh:
05. Enterprise
04. The Animated Series
Good:
03. The Next Generation
Great:
02. Deep Space Nine
Perfect:
01. The Original Series