While Season 3 marked the end of Star Trek: The Original Series, I'm not quite done with the Enterprise crew yet. When I said I was intending to watch Star Trek, I meant everything, and that includes the movies. Here are my reviews of all six of the Original Series movies:
The Motion Picture: Coming out two years after Star Wars, TMP could have easily tried to ape that film's success. Don't get me wrong, Star Wars means a lot to me and it will always be my sci-fi franchise of choice, but I truly admire that this film feels like a whole different beast. It's slow, dialogue-heavy, and honestly kind of scary. TMP is pretty divisive from what I've heard, and I get why. It has its flaws, particularly its slow pacing, long length, and drawn-out introductory scenes. However, I actually liked this one a lot. Sure, it's slow, but it gives the characters time to breath and the tension time to build.
First, I just want to talk about the production values, because they are fantastic. This movie released about a decade after the original series, and it shows. The effects are incredibly good, like Star Wars levels of good. Sure, that Enterprise tour is a bit self-indulgant, but this movie deserves it. The iconic ship looks absolutely amazing here, maybe even better than TOS's remaster from the early 2000s. There's also so much attention to detail that we couldn't get in TOS. We get to see aliens that don't just look like humans (and they don't just speak in English either), the interiors are super detailed, and we get these wide shots of open areas that make places like Starfleet and the Enterprise feel much less claustrophobic. I also love the music in The Motion Picture. Once again, even in the slower scenes, Jerry Goldsmith's score does a fantastic job of keeping me engaged. It's bombastic, orchestral, and awe-inducing. Part of why the Enterprise tour scene was so memorable (aside from the starship porn) was because it had that phenomenal main theme backing it. As a whole, this film felt like such a step-up over TOS in almost every level production-wise. As charming as I found that show, it really feels like TMP realized the world of Star Trek to its fullest.
Speaking of which, let's talk about that story. TMP's main premise is incredibly simple. Kirk mans the Enterprise as they try to stop a destructive cloud entity from making it to Earth, which is later revealed to be the Voyager probe in a pretty sweet twist. In the grand scheme of things, it is another AI Star Trek storyline not unlike The Changeling, but it manages to make up for that with V'Ger just being a genuinely terrifying villain regardless. That's really the best thing about TMP, just how scary it is. It depicts space as far more dangerous than in the original series. There's the terrifying teleporter malfunction, the engines almost blowing up, the eerie visuals in V'Ger's cloud, Ilia's death, it's just such a different tone from The Original Series that I can very much get behind. However, while I think the slow pace helps increase the tension, it doesn't quite hide the fact that this easily could have been, at most, a two-parter episode of TOS. I still think this story is good, but it just can't sustain a film all on its own. Thankfully, the character arcs for Kirk and Spock are fantastic and explore the characters unlike anything in the original series, and entirely new character Decker ain't that bad either. The slow pace allows for a lot of great character interactions that I found myself really enjoying, even if they generally ended up being concentrated in the first half of the film.
Overall, The Motion Picture ain't bad! It definitely suffers from its drawn-out length, with plenty of stretches where nothing really happens, but it makes up for that with a fantastic villain, a sense of terror unlike anything in the franchise to date, some excellent character work, and production values that lets the film explore the Star Trek universe in a way the Original Series just couldn't.
4/5 Stars
Wrath Of Khan: It's hard to watch a film that has been held up in such high esteem for so many years for the first time. Wrath Of Khan is so beloved by Star Trek and sci-fi fans that it left a very high bar to clear. Thankfully, I think it definitely lived up to that high bar. Wrath of Khan is a fantastic film, easily one of the best Trek films of them all, and fully deserving of its legacy.
Wrath Of Khan is about the titular character (from TOS's "Space Seed") returning to exact his revenge on Kirk for putting him in exile. It's definitely a strong story to base a movie on than TMP, as it feels much more high stakes and personal. It definitely helps that Khan is a fantastic villain, maybe even more than in his original appearance. Ricardo Montalbán exudes so much hate and anger, putting you on edge every time he shows up on screen. He is Khan, and the film would be leagues worse with any other actor in the role. In terms of its pacing, WoK is much tighter than TMP, constantly amping up the tension and excitement throughout. I think I prefer TMP's first third, which spends a lot of time establishing the arcs and reintroducing the characters, but wow, does this film stick the landing. Even knowing Spock's death is coming, it's still a massive gut punch and a fantastic scene. There definitely isn't as much of a focus on the characters in WoK, but the film does a great job of giving everyone (particularly Chekov) something to do, and Kirk's main arc about dealing with his age is really good. Even more than TMP, Kirk's character and Trek to a whole is deconstructed and subverted to an incredible degree, on par with The Last Jedi (Yeah, I said it. This is the TLJ of Star Trek, and they're both great).
Production-wise, Wrath Of Khan isn't quite as much of a visual treat as TMP was, but it still has some pretty great effects thanks to ILM (who also did the Star Wars films along with many others). The obvious highlight was that groundbreaking Genesis shot, but I think WoK's greatest strength effects-wise is how it depicted starship combat. Unlike in The Original Series, the ships actually have visible signs of damage, both outside and inside. Circuitry gets set on fire, columns collapse, and people get seriously injured. Speaking of which, I was really surprised me with how brutal WoK was. While TMP was eerie and unsettling, this film was straight-up shocking in how bloody it got at points. The ear worms, the several burns, Spock's radiation poisoning, the hanging corpses, this film shocked me several times over, mostly because I just never expected these kinds of scenes to come from Star Trek. Then again, I guess it just means they were effective. As for the music, James Horner took the helm this time, and he did a pretty good job. It doesn't quite have as many memorable individual pieces as Goldsmith's TMP score, but it's fantastic at fitting the mood and tone of each individual scene.
Overall, yeah, Wrath Of Khan is a really good film, and really lives up to its name. Khan is a fantastic, gripping villain and his wrath is brutal, intense, terrifying, and puts the cast in some really difficult situations. The starship combat is fantastic, the music is great, the characters all get stuff to do, and the pacing is incredibly tight. Even if there are things I think TMP does better, this is a categorically better film across the board.
5/5 Stars
Search For Spock: So there's this whole thing about odd-numbered Star Trek films being bad and even-numbered ones being good (as long as you shove in Galaxy Quest). I think that's a bit black-and white, since I still really like TMP and Into Darkness in spite of their flaws. But I think the biggest rebuttal to this claim is Search For Spock, a film that, while not as great as Wrath Of Khan, can still hold its own among the best the series has to offer.
The film's premise is simple: Kirk and the Enterprise crew tries to figure out how to bring Spock back to life, no matter the cost. It's not as tense or scary as the first two films, but the emotional hook of Kirk trying to save his best friend is compelling enough, especially as he pretty much loses everything to achieve that goal. Sure he saves Spock at the end, but he lost the Enterprise, his place in Starfleet, his own son, and is pretty much stuck on Vulcan. While bringing characters back from the dead is always shaky business, SoS does a good job of maintaining the stakes, and Spock's regeneration actually makes sense with the ending of Wrath Of Khan. The whole reunion of body and mind thing sounds a bit like Spock's Brain, but by tying it to Vulcan lore, it doesn't feel as goofy. There's really a lot of cool lore in this one, with a lot of exploration of Vulcans and Klingons, and the first signs that Starfleet might not be as politically idealistic as we expected. It's not a perfect story, though. Kruge isn't nearly as strong of a villain as Khan, the subplots on Genesis aren't super compelling, and the character arcs aren't all that great compared to the first two films. Still, Search For Spock manages to be an incredibly fun adventure with some truly fantastic scenes, like the stealing of the Enterprise, the self-destruct sequence, and Kruge's death.
On the production-side, however, The Search For Spock is a bit of a mixed bag, and it's something I can definitely say is a bit weaker than the first two films. At its best, there are some truly stunning sequences here. The space battles are just as strong as in Wrath of Khan, the Enterprise destruction looks outstanding, and parts of the Genesis planet do look really good. However, at its worst, SoS can really look like a TV movie at points, like when the Genesis planet falls apart. As a whole, I just don't think the visuals of this movie feel as stunning as TMP or as visceral as TWoK. On the other hand, the score is pretty great. It's once again not as good as the first two films, but James Horner did another good job here. The piece that plays when Spock is being resurrected is a particular highlight.
Overall, while Search For Spock might not be as good as the first two films production-wise, it makes up for that with an emotionally effective story with a ton of great lore and world-building, and some truly fantastic sequences. It's a really good middle entry in the "Spock dies" trilogy, number rule be damned.
4/5 Stars
The Voyage Home: I can't even begin to emphasize how skeptical I was going into this movie. The Enterprise crew going back in time to steal humpback whales and bring them to the present to stop a probe from destroying Earth all to convey an environmental message that doesn't even apply anymore seems like the plot of a TOS episode from Season 3, and a bad one at that. But you know what? This movie was fun. Even more, it was downright hysterical.
As mentioned above, The Voyage Home's plot is bizarre to say the least. It also doesn't quite hold water (get it?). I already brought up how the main theme of saving the humpback whales doesn't even apply anymore since they're not endangered, which makes the multiple long infodumps about the whales really boring. There's also a general lack of stakes and tension throughout a large portion of the film. Once the crew arrives in the 80s, the threat of the probe might as well not even exist, nor the risk of destroying the space-time continuum in any way. 80s San Francisco is a playground for the main cast to run around with, and it's incredibly fun to watch them do so. While the plot is thin, the script itself is phenomenal. The Voyage Home is not only stuffed with fantastic character interactions but it really gives the whole crew, even minor characters like Sulu and the criminally underused Uhura, something to do. Kirk and Spock's dynamic is easily the highlight, but everyone is super fun to watch. As the final installment of the "Spock dies" trilogy, there's a main focus on Spock regaining his memory and reasserting himself into the team, which was a really well-done storyline. It also ties up pretty much all of the loose ends left from Search For Spock in a fairly neat and tidy note.
I can't really talk about this film production-wise since it mostly takes place in 80s New York. I could make a joke about how this means it aged the best visually since it doesn't utilize many special effects, but I will say that it does generally look better than SoS, especially when it comes to the cinematography. Nimoy really did improve as a director and does a good job at preventing TVH from feeling like a TV movie, which was a very big risk given the premise. James Horner didn't return for the music, meaning it wasn't anything spectacular either. So instead, I'll be focusing on the humor, which is probably the best thing this film has going for it. The Voyage Home is first and foremost a comedy, and a really good one at that. It plays the Enterprise crew being in the 80s as a fish-out-of-water plot and mines it for as much comedic potential as possible, from Chekov being unaware of the Cold War, to Bones in an old hospital, to literally everything about Spock. Plenty of scenes had me laughing hysterically, and I think this genre shift worked really well for the film.
Overall, I was really expecting to hate this one, but damnit, it won me over! Even with its hamfisted message and bizarre premise, The Voyage Home is impossible to hate. It's funny, heartwarming, character-driven, and so stuffed with the charm that it proves that there's no such thing as a bad idea as long as it's executed well.
4/5 Stars
The Final Frontier: Up to this point, I liked every single Trek film I've seen, and was even super positive about The Motion Picture. The Final Frontier, however, is the first one I didn't like at all. It just felt off in so many ways. The effects were off, the dialogue was off, the pacing was off, nothing gelled at all. William Shatner is criticized a lot for TFF since he was the director here, but honestly, I don't even think Steven Spielberg could have salvaged it.
But before I get into the negatives, of which there are a lot, I wanted to talk about the things I did like. The Final Frontier puts a lot of focus on the main trio, and they still have as much chemistry as they always had. As a matter of fact, I think the dynamic between Kirk, Spock, and Bones was so good this movie that it actually improved the otherwise weak writing. There was a scene of the three camping and joking around with each other. It was a few minutes long and didn't contribute to the plot at all, but just watching them interact was entertaining enough. It also helps this movie was actually pretty funny at times, utilizing TVH's offbeat brand of humor to pretty great effect. I also think Shatner, as a director, isn't all that bad. He really knows how to stage and frame a scene, and compared to Nimoy's more matter-of-fact direction, the camerawork is really dynamic here. Jerry Goldsmith is back to do the score, and as to be expected, it's really good.
And that's where my praise ends. The Final Frontier is a mess of a film, with so many bizarre storylines all layered over for each other. We got a generic, poorly-acted Klingon villain. A ridiculously dumb search for god. Spock suddenly having a half-brother. The only decent storyline is Sybok taking over the ship and exposing everyone's pain, but even that's not effective because most of it happens off-screen! It could have been such a great way to explore the entire cast, but we really just have these moments for the main trio. That's another problem with TFF, it focuses heavily on Kirk, Spock, and Bones to the point of seriously underutilizing the rest of the cast, and right after TVH took strides to make sure that didn't happen. The film also suffers from some really wonky pacing, with plenty of useless drawn-out scenes, clunky dialogue, and multiple action scenes in rapid succession. I'm not going to complain about action in my Star Trek. Action scenes can add excitement to a film and increase the stakes by putting the characters in dangerous situations, but there were points in TFF where we got one forced action setpiece after another, and they just had zero impact to me. And while the cinematography was good, the effects looked pretty bad at times, and there was some painfully blatant religious symbolism. To add insult to injury, there are just some really dumb individual scenes, like the rocket boots, the fan dance, and literally everything about Uhura dating Scotty. Why did they think that was a good idea? They have no chemistry!
Overall, The Final Frontier is a massive mess, suffering from too many ridiculous storylines, bad effects, forced action scenes, an underutilized cast, and wonky pacing. If it wasn't for the strength of the cast and surprisingly solid direction, this would be a nearly irredeemable film.
1/5 Stars
The Undiscovered Country: They really just saved the best for last, didn't they? TUC takes everything that makes each previous film great and brings them together into one fantastic finale to The Original Series. It has the weighty themes of TMP, the tension and dark tone of WoK, the exciting setpieces and sense of adventure of SFS, the great character balance of TVH, and nothing from TFF. I won't say this is a perfect Star Trek film (that would be Galaxy Quest), but this comes pretty damn close.
The Undiscovered Country has by far the best main storyline out of all the movies. After a Klingon moon blows up, the Federation's attempts at a peace treaty with the species goes awry when the Klingon chancellor is killed in an assassination and Kirk is framed. Now, the Enterprise crew has to figure out who was the real culprit and clear Kirk's name, while also dealing with their own prejudices against the Klingons. TUC is a full-on political thriller/murder mystery, two of my favorite genres, and it's executed incredibly well. The core mystery is compelling, and it's really fun to watch the Enterprise crew try to suss out the assassin. The whole subplot does a good job of giving the minor characters stuff to do. Meanwhile, Kirk and McCoy being sent to an ice-cold prison planet adds some great world-building and exciting adventure. I love how most of the Enterprise are against making peace with the Klingons, especially Kirk who's still pissed about his son's death. I love the fact that even these characters still have their own biases and prejudices, and watching them confront and work through them only compounds TOS's main themes about compassion and acceptance. Not to mention given how much of the original series was based on the Cold War, I thought having a film that parallel its end feels like the perfect finale. Speaking of which, this is a fantastic finale! The Federation and Klingons make peace, the Enterprise is taken apart, the whole cast says their emotional goodbyes, and we get a nice set-up for TNG. Thematically and plotwise, I can't imagine a more satisfying ending.
The Undiscovered Country is a much darker film than anything Trek has done up to this point, and it shows in the visuals. The lighting is dimmer, the soundtrack is more solemn, and the acting feels quite understated at times. I'd actually say this film has some of TOS's best acting, especially from Shatner, who really sells his conflicted opinions towards the Klingons. Not to say this film is grim or bleak, there are plenty of fun moments of humor, levity, and character interactions that are weaved in naturally without ruining any of the emotion or pacing (looking at you, The Fifth Frontier). As a matter of fact, this was an incredibly brisk film that never dragged once, not even in the first third which tends to be a bit slow. The director of TUC, Nicholas Meyer, also directed Wrath Of Khan and it makes perfect sense. He has a great knack for pacing and tension and it shows in both of these films. I said WoK stuck the landing, but the final action scene in this one was so incredibly tense and exciting that it probably rivaled it for me. Honestly, this whole movie just felt so well-crafted, I can only think of one big complaint: The CGI Klingon blood did look pretty bad.
Overall, The Undiscovered Country is easily my favorite out of the six Star Trek films. As a political thriller, it's tense, gripping, perfectly paced, thought-provoking, dark, and ends on a perfect note. As a Star Trek film, it's action-packed, adventurous, cerebral, filled with great character moments, and works as a perfect ending to The Original Series as a whole.
5/5 Stars
As a whole, I found myself really enjoying most of these movies, probably even more than the rest of The Original Series. The Final Frontier aside, the TOS films ranged from pretty good to absolutely fantastic. These films upped the scale of the universe, fleshed out the characters, darkened the tone (except for the fourth one), and showed the sheer amount of potential a serialized Star Trek series has.
My ranking of the first six Trek movies is:
6 > 2 > 4 > 3 > 1 > 5
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