Either, this is going to open a whole can of worms with
@furie and
@Howie, or they're not going to be trekkies and it'll be peaceful.
Howie will like all the odd numbered ones but think that The Undiscovered Country is the best though because it has fluffy Klingon dogs.
I'm not a Trekkie, as I don't really like Star Trek massively, but as a sci-fi lover, I do know a lot about it and have seen masses of it.
See, in the years between Star Wars and Empire Strike Back, the late 70's and early 80's became a hot bed of sci-fi. It was like it is at the moment for super hero programs and films.
Leading it were Star Trek and Doctor Who, with shows like Blake's 7 and Battlestar Galactica joining in.
Star Trek was on repeat though and I loved that 6:00 p.m. BBC 2 slot (three channels back then!!!) with Star Trek. It was never "good" like Star Wars and was always a bit silly and tedious, but it was still enough to slake that sci-fi thirst. In terms of story and character, Blake's 7 is actually the best of all that era's sci-fi deposits, but the woefully under budget show is barely watchable now.
Anyway, when The Motion Picture was announced, I went to see it at the cinema, expecting another Star Wars. I was amazed by the scale of the film. It was really impressive to see on the big screen, but it's so dull. Such an absolute chore of a film to watch. There was a lot of drug induced, high-brow sci-fi about at the time, and The Motion Picture showed how not to mix it with popular culture. Never as clever or engaging as 2001, as exciting as Star Wars or as heart wrenching as Silent Running. It's a dirge.
Thankfully, all was made right with the brilliant (for the time, it has aged badly), Wrath of Khan. It followed the brilliant lead of Empire by having a downbeat, sacrificial ending. It was tense, moving and at times quite horrific. If you knew the characters from the TV series, it was a superb foil to their tin foil adventures and showed that there was actually real depth to these characters and the universe.
Then Search for Spock happened. Worse than Jedi. Just a bland, meandering tale of nothing, punctuated only by the final ultimate sacrifice in terms of Star Trek (the loss of NCC 1701).
The Voyage Home is a brilliant bit of historical film now. Putting the crew in contemporary California (late 80's). Awful in so many ways, but one of the few Trek films to actually be "entertaining". Still utter bobbins.
I have very little memory of The Final Frontier. I remember it was utter dog **** and that's it. Watched it once and never wish to see it again. Turd, turd, turd.
I liked The Undiscovered Country, though part of it is for more personal reasons. I used to regularly go and see these kind of films with my Dad. He'd take me to anything Sci-fi from when I was really young. This was the last film we went to together before I left home. I think it was probably 15 years before we went to see another film together, just the two of us to see something we both wanted to watch. Anyway, it's a decent enough Trek romp, that kind of twists the story into the way that The Next Generation (popular on TV at the time) portrayed the Trek universe.
The Next Generation films I find all a bit bland. I also found the show a bit bland too and each episode was pretty much identical (except the one where Tasha died). Open on mystery. Examine mystery and behind the scenes, something is nefariously (or to shake it up on occasion, accidentally) causing havok and ruining things. All hope is lost until one character uses their own special skills (empathy, anger, engineering, logic, being able to step over the backs of chairs, etc.) to come up with a brand new form of technology that solves the problem. Every. Week.
Anyway, in terms of films.
Generations. Garbage. I went to see it straight after seeing Leon, one of the best films ever. It never stood a chance. Awful, awful, awful.
First Contact. Next Gen do The Voyage Home. No whales. Meh
Insurrection. Next Gen do happy home and garden of Eden bollocks. Bollocks, but okay to a degree.
Nemesis. The ride's better.
New films?
I love the reboot. I think it's really good. It captures the feel of the series and stuff, but it manages to be stupid action entertainment at the same time.
Into Darkness? Not Wrath of Khan. Some good action tied together with obvious plots and pointlessness. It doesn't work, but the set pieces are good fun.
Beyond. Good romp. Bad plot. Actually all three of these are great cinema popcorn experiences. Trash, but just great to watch. Poor on the small screen.
In terms of the series, I got bored. Original Trek is piss poor. Next Gen wishy-washy. DS 9 is good, but it's a Babylon 5 wannabe and fails at that. Voyager was bobbins (but also kind of interesting), Enterprise I never watched past the first three episodes because it was rubbish.
Ranking?
Wrath of Khan
Star Trek Reboot
Into Darkness
Beyond
Undiscovered Country
First Contact
Insurrection
The rest are all turds I would never bother watching again.
Return of the Jedi
Never read any books or seen the cartoon.
