Star Trek VI: The Undiscoverd Country is rarely chosen as the best of the Star Trek films
Everyone has their opinions when it comes to the Star Trek films and where they fall in the rankings of worst to best. Many fans will choose between First Contact and The Wrath of Khan as the top title. It’s not often that any of the other movies knock these two out of the top spot in the rankings. Until now. But that’s the case with the recent ranking of all thirteen Star Trek movies from worst to best by Forbes writer, Scott Mendelson as he chose Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country as the best of the Star Trek films.
While the movie did receive positive reviews as the final send-off for the crew of The Original Series, it rarely makes the top three of the movies, much less all the way to the top. But Mendelson saw something in the film that has stuck with him all of these years, something that critics actually panned.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovery Territory is a political drama and a murder mystery
While many critics weren’t a fan of the Rura Penthe sideplot that added political intrigue, Mendelson saw it in a better light, calling the movie “a jolting-of-the-moment political drama, using the war between the Klingons and humans as a metaphor for the end of the Cold War and the consequences of institutional racism without relying on a yellow highlighter.”
When the film first aired, the reviews were mostly positive, and the Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus says,
"The Undiscovered Country is a strong cinematic send-off for the original Trek crew, featuring some remarkable visuals and an intriguing, character-driven mystery plot."
Still, even with the high praise the movie received and the ratings it still enjoys in even current reviews, it’s rare for First Contact and The Wrath of Khan to be bumped off anyone’s best of rankings. Mendelson closed out his reasons for choosing this movie as the best by mentioning Kirk’s final course heading, which was an appropriate way to close out the run of the crew from The Original Series.
"And the epilogue, including Kirk’s final course heading, still brings a tear to my eye."