I know this is way random, but a friend of mine was picking my brain on Twitter and trying to get my opinion on various Star Trek things. I ended the writing portion of MovieByte so it feels a little weird to write a single random article there again. So I’m writing this here to answer the questions put to me.
A ranking of various Star Trek incarnations
The Original Series (TOS)
TOS has some very good episodes, some in each season [1] — though it is certainly very much a product of its time and has many '60s tropes. The HD re-mastering has helped it out a lot and I enjoy watching my favorite episodes that much more.
Some favorite TOS episodes
- Dagger of the Mind (S1E9)
- The Corbomite Maneuver (S1E10)
- The Conscience of the King (S1E13)
- Balance of Terror (S1E14)
- The Galileo Seven (S1E16)
- The Squire of Gothos (S1E17)
- Arena (S1E18)
- Tomorrow is Yesterday (S1E19)
- Space Seed (S1E22)
- A Taste of Armageddon (S1E23)
- This Side of Paradise (S1E24)
- The Devil in the Dark (S1E25)
- Errand of Mercy (S1E26)
- The City on the Edge of Forever (S1E28)
- Operation – Annihilate! (S1E29)
- Amok Time (S2E1)
- Mirror, Mirror (S2E4)
- The Doomsday Machine (S2E6)
- Journey to Babel (S2E10)
- Friday’s Child (S2E11)
- A Piece of the Action (S2E17)
- Patterns of Force (S2E21)
- By Any Other Name (S2E22)
- Bread and Circuses (S2E25)
- Assignment: Earth (S2E26)
- The Enterprise Incident (S3E2)
- For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (S3E8)
- Wink of an Eye (S3E11)
- Whom Gods Destroy (S3E14)
- Requiem for Methuselah (S3E19)
The Next Generation (TNG)
I always have a hard time deciding whether I like TNG or DS9 more (stop asking me to choose favorite children!). Ultimately it comes down to this: TNG has great characters and many amazing stories. But all those stories are one-off episodes. DS9 is more arc based — particularly when the Dominion War starts. DS9 also has great characters. I like both shows.
Also note that the HD re-master of TNG is fantastic!
The list of favorite episodes is going to be long because there are A LOT of favorites. I recently just went through and watched all my favorite episodes so I remember more easily which ones are. I will not be able to do that with DS9 because it’s been about 4 years since I watched it. I’ve actually just started re-watching.
Some favorite TNG episodes
- The Battle (S1E8)
- Hide and Q (S1E9)
- Datalore (S1E12)
- 11001001 (S1E14)
- Too Short a Season (S1E15)
- Home Soil (S1E17)
- Symbiosis (S1E21)
- We’ll Always Have Paris (S1E23)
- Conspiracy (S1E24)
- The Neutral Zone (S1E25)
- Where Silence Has Lease (S2E2)
- Unnatural Selection (S2E7)
- The Measure of a Man (S2E9)
- Contagion (S2E11)
- Q Who? (S2E16)
- The Emissary (S2E20)
- Peak Performance (S2E21)
- The Ensigns of Command (S3E2)
- The Survivors (S3E3)
- Booby Trap (S3E6)
- The Enemy (S3E7)
- The Vengeance Factor (S3E9)
- The Defector (S3E10)
- The High Ground (S3E12)
- Déjà Q (S3E13)
- A Matter of Perspective (S3E14)
- Yesterday’s Enterprise (S3E15)
- The Offspring (S3E16)
- Sins of the Father (S3E17)
- Allegiance (S3E18)
- Captain’s Holiday (S3E19)
- Hollow Pursuits (S3E21)
- The Most Toys (S3E22)
- Sarek (S3E23)
- The Best of Both Worlds (S3E26, S4E1)
- Family (S4E2)
- Reunion (S4E8)
- Future Imperfect (S4E8)
- Final Mission (S4E9)
- Data’s Day (S4E12)
- The Wounded (S4E12)
- Devil’s Due (S4E13)
- Clues (S4E14)
- First Contact (S4E15)
- Galaxy’s Child (S4E16)
- The Drumhead (S4E21)
- The Mind’s Eye (S4E24)
- Redemption (S4E26, S5E1)
- Ensign Ro (S5E3)
- Disaster (S5E5)
- The Game (S5E6)
- Unification (S5E7, S5E8)
- A Matter of Time (S5E9)
- Conundrum (S5E14)
- Ethics (S5E16)
- Cause and Effect (S5E18)
- The First Duty (S5E19)
- I Borg (S5E23)
- The Next Phase (S5E24)
- The Inner Light (S5E25)
- Time’s Arrow (S4E26, S6E1)
- Realm of Fear (S6E2)
- Relics (S6E3)
- Rascals (S6E7)
- Chain of Command (S6E11)
- Ship in a Bottle (S6E12)
- Face of the Enemy (S6E14)
- Tapestry (S6E15)
- Birthright (S6E16, S6E17)
- Starship Mine (S6E18)
- Lessons (S6E19)
- The Chase (S6E20)
- Rightful Heir (S6E23)
- Second Chances (S6E24)
- Timescape (S6E25)
- Descent (S6E26, S7E1)
- Gambit (S7E5, S7E6)
- Attached (S7E8)
- Inheritance (S7E10)
- Parallels (S7E11)
- The Pegasus (S7E12)
- Lower Decks (S7E15)
- All Good Things (S7E25)
Voyager
Voyager was not as good as it’s predecessors, but it wasn’t a bad show. I particularly always enjoyed The Doctor. I believe he had the best arc on the show without contest.
Enterprise
Enterprise Seasons 1 & 2 are consistently some of the worst Star Trek ever made — boring, dull, lifeless — with a very occasional decent episode thrown in there. Also, that theme song. Can I just say: WORST EVER?!? Seasons 3 and 4 are actually somewhat decent with some really great episodes. Unfortunately I think most people had quit watching the show by the time it recovered from seasons 1 and 2.
The Movies
(The movies section has been edited to reflect the release of Star Trek Beyond in 2016, some updated opinions on TMP and TFF, and to completely pan the release of the “Star Trek: Section 31” film)
Once upon a time, I would have told you that the worst — or certainly my least favorite Star Trek film was “The Motion Picture,” but 2 things have happened to change that:
- I’ve matured and have become more appreciative of the film despite its flaws
- The High Definition Director’s Edition was released with further enhancements and the film really shines with this version.
Consequently, you’ll see I now list this film in the middle tier of Star Trek films.
I’ll also say that, despite it’s numerous problems, there is much to enjoy about “The Final Frontier.” Particularly, it gets the relationship (and humor) between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy right. That doesn’t excuse the very poorly thought out and even more poorly executed core story of the film, nor does it excuse the abysmal effects and model work — which is the worst of any of the Star Trek films — it’s worse, even, than any of the Star Trek TV shows (with much lower budgeting) since TOS.
My opinion of Into Darkness has also very much soured since its release. This film doesen’t do much right, from the mis-casting of on of Star Trek’s greatest villians, to tropey Badmirals, to a complete lack of common sense in the spacial orientation and distances of various planets and things, to a lack of courage with its gut-punch death, which it takes right back so we don’t get to hang out in the pit of despair too long. Look, the film is just bad, and I wanted it to be good back when it first came out.
Until Section 31 came out, I ranked it as the worst Star Trek film — worse even than Star Trek (2009) (which I really don’t like for a multitude of reasons — and I know I’m in the minority on this opinion… look, I know it’s comedy, but almost all the critiques in Ryan George’s Pitch Meeting land real good because they’re so very accurate and true)… But, alas, Section 31 has de-throned Into Darkness because of its utter drecktitude.
Section 31 is not at all interested in exploring its characters, or the era its set in, or the morality of the plot (which is, like, Star Trek’s bread and butter), or in things making sense. At all. I will never, ever watch it again. It’s more predictable than death and taxes, it in no way captures the essences of Star Trek, the story is ho hum at best, the pacing isn’t just bad, its downright jarring, and most of all, it’s, frankly, boring. Don’t bother watching it.
A ranking of Star Trek films
- The Wrath of Khan (2): 5 stars
- The Undiscovered Country (6): 4.5 stars
- First Contact (8): 4.5 stars
- The Voyage Home (4): 4 stars
- Star Trek Beyond (13): 4 stars
- Insurrection (9): 3.5 stars
- Nemesis (10): 3.5 stars
- The Search for Spock (3): 3.5 stars
- The Motion Picture (1) (High Definition Director’s Edition): 3.5 stars
- Generations (7): 3.5 stars
- The Final Frontier (5): 3 stars
- Star Trek (2009) (11): 2 stars
- Into Darkness (12): 1 star
- Section 31 (14?): -9999999 stars
A ranking of Star Trek Music
Ranking of Film scores:
- The Motion Picture Jerry Goldsmith really brought ST to the next level and established themes and motifs that still live on. While the film isn’t near the top of my list, the score if FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC.
- The Wrath of Khan This is basically James Horner’s great take on what Goldsmith did before him with a tone that matches the more action filled and much less boring film in question. And it feels like it has the heart of the original series.
- Beyond Michael Giacchino knocks this film’s score out of the park, continuing to update his themes and motifs, introducing new ones, changing things up. My favorite score of nuTrek.
- Into Darkness Michael Giacchino did some fantastic work here with a major update to his 2009 Star Trek score, introducing new and touching themes and motifs. Despite the film not being great, I enjoy this one a lot.
- The Final Frontier Goldsmith returned to build upon his original work while establishing themes and motifs that would continue to carry the franchise.
- The Undiscovered Country Cliff Eidelman’s score didn’t sound very “Star Treky” in some ways, but a lot of interesting things are going on in his score and I always enjoy listening to it and it fits the film very well.
- First Contact Goldsmith is always fantastic and he always finds a way to build on his previous work in a way that references it but doesn’t feel like a complete re-use.
- The Search for Spock Mostly a more melancholy re-hash of Wrath of Khan with an added new Klingon theme that would go on to be heavily borrowed from in his Aliens score. But, shout out to the track, “Stealing the Enterprise.” Top notch work from Horner.
- Insurrection I think Jerry Goldsmith added some really nice and touching bits to build upon his previous work.
- Nemesis This is my least favorite work from Goldsmith in this franchise. It felt kind of tired, and he was experimenting with some sort of sound that I do not favor. That said, there are some great new motifs and awesome tracks here.
- Star Trek (2009) While I think Into Darkness takes the score to a whole new level that is much better, I don’t think the original film is Giacchino’s best work and feels a little like it ignores Star Trek’s legacy. I enjoy some of the tracks in this score, but overall a bit of a miss.
- Generations While I have enjoyed Denis McCarthy’s work on the various series (the first episode of Deep Space Nine is phenomenal), I don’t feel like he hit this one out of the park. Nevertheless, I do listen to the soundtrack sometimes. It’s okay, just not great.
- The Voyage Home I enjoy this score, despite it being a little weird at times.
(I know Section 31 is missing. I don’t even know if the score is good because I can’t remember it, and because I hated the film so much I refuse to listen to it. It was scored by Jeff Russo, who’s done some truly great work, so it’s probably a good score)
The Shows:
My favorite theme is probably the original Deep Space Nine theme (it was updated in later seasons with percusion that I can’t stand). The score for the whole first episode of Deep Space Nine is on Apple Music and I highly recommend it.
I also quite enjoy the main theme of The Next Generation.
Goldsmith’s Voyager theme is top notch, but not my favorite.
Overall, starting in season 3 of TNG the scoring of each episode was usually good. The first 2 seasons of The Next Generation — while always composed and not canned music, felt too synthesized and icky. Though the synthesized sound was sometimes still present in TNG’s music from time to time in Season 3, it largely began to go away and was replaced by the symphonic sound we think of with Star Trek nowadays.
(A lot of people complains that TNG music became generic “sonic wallpaper” later in TNG’s run. I, personally, don’t find that to be the case)
The only music I really don’t enjoy that much is pretty much the entirety of TOS. I’m not a fan of the theme, and most of the music is canned and reused throughout all three seasons. They basically wrote some various Star Trek mood motifs and reused them all throughout. That was kind of the thing to do at the time.
Though I think season 3 has the fewest good episodes ↩︎