Every Star Trek film ranked according to critics and fans alike.
So let’s get this out of the way, there is no personal subjectivity to the grades that are about to follow. There is no bias and no misleading information. Each and every film is ranked according to an amalgamation of critical reviews, fan grades, and grading aggregate websites. The numbers were put into a formula to determine the score of the film.
Only websites, reviewers, or graders who reviewed, graded, and ranked every Star Trek film was used. So no personal, individual scores will be used unless it’s from an aggregate website like IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes, which has grades for each film.
There is some obvious subjectivity with any review or grade. Yet I believe we balanced out the subjectivity with an overabundance of reviews. By compiling all the reviews that we did, we were able to determine accurately where films land.
The score beneath each film is not out of anything. There is no maximum or minimum the film’s score could come out to be. So if you see a 70, that doesn’t mean it’s a C. It simply means that’s what the equation came out to be.
Just so we’re abundantly clear how little personal opinion went into this list, I personally have Star Trek: Into Darkness in my personal top three or four films in the franchise, while Star Trek: Beyond is in the bottom half. Neither of that has happened in this list.
So please understand this isn’t a personal opinion list, this is the ultimate aggregation of various reviews from across the web, from the most trusted and sourced review sites. You don’t need to personally agree with the list, but please note this isn’t an opinion, just what the math says.
Also, each film will be referred to as the number in the franchise it was released. Star Trek The Motion Picture is Star Trek I: The Motion Picture, while Star Trek: Beyond is now Star Trek XIII: Beyond.
Why? Because I think it’s classy.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Final Score: 30.125
Starting off the list is probably the most likely candidate. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier tried its best, it really did, but it tried to be too Stanely Kubrick with its big questions and “God” being at the center of the universe.
It was directed by William Shatner and it’s easily a far departure from what we’ve seen up until this point. It didn’t help that there was just a dreadful camping sequence between James Kirk, Spock, and Leonard McCoy, just hanging out, rock climbing, and talking. So much talking.
It also brings in Sybok, the half-brother of Spock, who’s the driving force for the film to find “God”. He’s seen as some sort of Messiah in the film, and the theme of the film is very much centered around false profits and false deities. The films’ heavy religious tones made it possible for the birth of the famously bad line “What does God need with a starship?”
It turns out to be an alien, and not God, and man, if that wasn’t bad enough the original script for this film was worse. It involved an actual devil and not an alien, as well as Spock and McCoy turning on Kirk.
That’s bad enough, but the original ending was supposed to feature 10 rock monsters emerging from the alien’s face, but they could only make one with the budget they had left. So they shot the one attacking Kirk, and surprise, people hated it in the test screenings.
So they were taken out.
It should come as no surprise that Gene Roddenberry hated the film. At this point, he was no longer involved in the franchise’s creative direction, so he had to stand by and watch.
Star Trek X: Nemesis
Final Score: 44.475
When it comes to Star Trek: Nemesis, few movies had so much hope but so little delivery. Removing Jonathan Frakes as director was bad enough, as his previous film, Insurrection, wasn’t poorly shot. It was poorly written. While I like Rick Berman, his script on Insurrection was the issue, so bringing him back and letting John Logan and Brent Spiner write the film along with him was the real problem.
Yes, Logan has had some successful films, but his science fiction ones have always been lacking.
Frakes would have at least kept the film mostly in place and may have been a big enough influence to get some of the cut ideas back in, like Jeri Ryan reprising her roles as Seven of Nine for the film. She was supposed to, after all, but she passed on the project. Her involvement would have bumped interest to a degree, as she was easily the most popular new character for the franchise in years.
The film’s story was pretty lackluster, seeing the Romulans clone Jean-Luc Picard, but losing the clone to the more vampiric Remans, another offshoot of the Vulcan and Romulan species. The Vulcans and Romulans are considered the same genetic species at best, or at least a sibling species at worst, while the Remans are more of a cousin species. Sharing many of the same traits but evolved far differently due to their circumstances.
The Picard clone, played by Tom Hardy, needs Picard’s DNA to survive. Picard and his clone don’t get along, the Romulans get bombed by the Remans, Data dies, and that’s it. That’s the film.
Star Trek IX: Insurrection
Final Score 46.25
Just because I defended Jonathan Frakes‘ directing of this film, doesn’t mean that it’s a good film. It’s not even a good idea. It’s again of those “edge lord” ideas where the writers thought “hey, let’s make the good guys the bad guys!”
Basically, there’s a planet that’s very special, the Federation wants it, but the crew of the Enterprise-E refuses to help them get it, so they start fighting the Federation, and yeah. It’s a solid idea, and there was a solid story here, but unfortunately, not much else came from it.
A planet that heals anyone that comes on it could’ve made for a great story, pitting Enterprise crew members who would benefit from the planet at odds with others on the ship. With one side arguing the right to stay and live their fullest lives and others arguing that life is about making the most of what you have.
It could have been a Geordi La Forge-centered story, and heck, maybe you even have Data actually become flesh and blood because of the planet, pitting them at odds with one another. It would’ve been a really interesting idea if the Federation involvement was left out, the villainous Son’a were the only villains and the story revolved around the idea of what defines the meaning of quality of life.
Star Trek I: The Motion Picture
Final Score: 49.5
Peak 1970s fashion is on full display here, folks. The first Star Trek film is among the most spectacular looking that have ever been created. This is part of the reason that it gets some flack, as so much of what it is doesn’t gel with what Trek is known for. Trek wasn’t a super polished series that prioritized special effects, but Trek got the Star Wars treatment when it came to films. Bigger budgets, more special effects, less dynamic scripts.
The plot is weak at best, which is a contrast to the otherwise visually stunning film. Following a refitted Enterprise with a new captain, the original crew returns to the ship, demotes the new captain to the first officer, and loses the most interesting new character pretty quickly into the plot of the film, replacing her with a lackluster “robotic replica”.
That character is Ilia, and not only was she totally stunted by the writers, and I’m also pretty sure she got abducted and then killed off unceremoniously for no reason. I don’t even remember them talking about the actual character who got abducted dying at any point. Maybe they did, it’s been forever, but the fact one can’t remember such a pivotal point of the plot should tell you everything you need to know about said plot.
Star Trek VII: Generations
Final Score: 54.35
I like Generations. It’s solid fun. It’s not the best film by a mile, there are probably 100 episodes I’d rather watch beforehand. Some of the actors in the film were underutilized but I like it. It’s not going to reshape the history of Star Trek by any means but it’s solid.
Until the end.
See, what made Generations so interesting was that it was billed as the first and only ever meeting of captains Jean-Luc Picard and James T. Kirk. William Shatner would return to the role he made famous one last time to send off the film franchise in style, with Kirk passing the torch to Picard.
The only problem is, that this is also the film that killed Kirk. The original Kirk, that is. Now, I have no problem killing off Kirk. After all, Shatner was 63 at the time. We didn’t think he’d be acting that much longer after the film anyway.
Ha.
Yet, the idea of killing off a 63-year-old Shatner wasn’t a terrible idea. The way they did it, however, was. He basically dies because a metal structure snaps apart and he falls down a mountain and gets crushed. Oh, he was trying to push a button, so you know, that made his death heroic.
Death by button pushing.
That’s where I believe most fans have an issue with the film. Not with Kirk dying, but how. Hey, if you thought that death scene was bad, the original just had him getting shot randomly. So, at least there’s that?
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Final Score: 65.7
Fans flocked to see The Search for Spock in part because Leonard Nimoy was returning to the role. Yippie. The only problem is they mostly had to wait through the entire film to finally get Nimoy’s Spock back as they fully expected him to be. Not exactly the film most thought they were getting.
That doesn’t mean it’s bad, by any means. It’s a disappointment, sure, just look at what came before it. It just doesn’t make it bad. The film’s story is contrite, Bones McCoy has a new cologne called Essence of Spock, and it has a nasty side effect of allowing Vulcan souls to glom onto you just in case a contrite and fairly random plot point evolves just right; allowing you to return to your newly rejuvenated body.
Either Spock is lucky as a duck, or that dude is a precog. There’s no real reason to believe that Spock knew he’d get a chance at his body again. Hoped, sure. Yet, he was willing to put poor Bones through hell just for the chance that the right series of events transpired the way they did. That jerk.
The film’s swiss cheese plot isn’t the only issue, as Search for Spock also has a cardinal sin of killing off Kirk’s son David in the most underwhelming way possible and then barely letting it play into the rest of the story. You’d think Kirk would be devastated by the end of the film, but nope, he’s there smiling with a resurrected Spock as if he’s not consumed with grief. So weird.
But there are some cool bits, like Kirk and company watching the Enterprise explode and break up in the atmosphere of Genesis. That was probably the saddest moment of the film. This, again, should tell you something about how poorly this film’s plot was written.
Oh, but Christopher Lloyd’s in it, so another point for it, I guess.
Star Trek XII: Into Darkness
Final Score: 69.5
I like this film. Yes, they basically cure death at the end of it, so that was short-sighted, but man, it’s dumb fun popcorn goodness. Plus, I really liked Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan Noonien Singh. I think he hit all the right notes, and his portrayal was far more brutal and far more savage than any that had come before.
Not only that but you get Peter “Robocop” Weller and Alice Eve playing Admiral and Carol Marcus respectively. I hate zero things about this film. That scene with Eve, that you’re asking about? Nope, great. Love it. This whole movie bangs to the rhythm of my personal drum beat.
Well, I should say, I hate almost zero things about this film. The “new Klingons” are just the worst. It’s like Kirk and crew landed on Mordor and the Uruk-Hai greeted them with spaceships. What were you thinking JJ Abrams?
The ending, where Kirk dies instead of Spock, was great, and the only thing that would’ve made it better is if someone wrote an explanation as to why the Federation decided not to harvest Khan’s blood. A simple “cus it’s wrong, yo” would have worked, and solved that plot point but oh well.
Plus, this is the bonseiest Bones that has ever bonesed. Every line that Karl Urban got was delivered brilliantly and frankly, I really could just watch a 90-minute film of Urban’s Bones just going around talking about his divorce.
Star Trek XIII: Beyond
Final Score: 73.725
Personally, I’m not a fan of Beyond. I thought the evil alien designs were contrite and simple, and the ending with the Beastie Boys was way off-brand and silly. I mean, who listens to Pachelbel’s Canon in D on their Spotify playlist while they fly around the world in fighter jets? No one. So I’m supposed to believe some Federation ship had “Sabotage” cued up?
I mean, yikes.
I have a third and more serious gripe, while I loved the Bones and Spock paring, I hate that we get so little of the crew together across the first three films, and this was the last chance to get a lot of interaction with them on the bridge of a ship. Unfortunately, Anton Yelchin, who played Pavel Checkov, passed away before the premier of the film.
Yelchin, who was easily my second favorite thing about the films besides Bones, can’t be replaced. Any new film in this timeline that tries just won’t be able to recapture that youthful energy that Yelchin brought and it shouldn’t be tried; it’ll just remind us of what we lost.
The film isn’t all bad though.
It brought us Idris Elba, who played the main villain. He played a Federation captain whose ship crash-landed on a planet and couldn’t get out or get a message to Starfleet in time. That idea would’ve been cool if they were just super mad that the Federation left them to rot, and didn’t end up becoming weird-looking aliens.
We did get Sofia Boutella as Jaylah, a white alien with defining black lines, giving her a very unique look. So that was cool at least. Plus, the scenes with Kirk and Checkov are money. Just money.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Final Score: 78.85
For those who don’t know, the Voyage Home is the one where the crew goes back in time to find whales. It’s more in-depth than that, sure. The plot follows the remaining members of the Enterprise bridge crew after the return of Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Stuck on Vulcan and wanted by the Federation, for stealing a ship, the crew then steals another ship (a Klingon one to boot) and goes back in time to save the whales.
Fans *LOVE* this film, and I’ve personally started it six times, failing at not falling asleep by 20 minutes in each time (though I’ve finished it at least twice). Want more proof I had no hand in the final scores? If I did this would be right next to Beyond, Nemesis, and the Final Frontier.
Admittedly, it’s far more light-hearted and offers far more comedic scenes for fans to sink their teeth into, so for that reason, it’s a good palate cleanser. After all, Wrath of Khan saw so many people get their ears violated by worms and the Search for Spock saw Kirk painfully lose his son and then barely care about it by the end of the film.
So this light-hearted romp around 1980s San Francisco may have been needed. At the very least, more needed than Beyond.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Final Score: 79.75
I like Khan Noonien Singh as a villain, I do. I just find myself wondering why everything thinks he’s a great villain. He really didn’t do anything to Kirk. Even Spock’s death wasn’t due to Khan, but due to Spock’s own duty to the ship.
With the Undiscovered Country, we get some real emotional weight. Kirk finally shows his true rage for the death of his son and resents the Federation making nice with the Klingons. To further dig the knife into Kirk’s heart a bit more, the series introduced one of the greatest Star Trek villains ever, General Chang.
While Chang isn’t given as much to chew on as far as scenes go as compared to Khan, he’s among the most impressive villains possible. Chang is often played as an advocate for the betterment of the Klingons, but his duplicity with the Romulans and rogue Federation officials proves he’s as underhanded as they come. Khan wasn’t a traitor, he was loyal – to a fault – to his crew. Chang, on the other hand, was willing to sell out his own people and their future.
Truly the most impressive villains in the original Star Trek films. Here’s hoping that Strange New Worlds does him justice if/when the series decides to flush his character out more. Which they absolutely should, as Chang (Christopher Plummer) added so much to this film.
Star Trek XI: 2009
Final Score: 82.975
For what it is, I like Star Trek 2009. It’s not a “Star Trek” film in the conventional sense. It’s far more action than adventure but that doesn’t make it bad. Just different. In fact, I would argue that Nero is among the better Star Trek villains, and what truly makes a Trek film great if not a stand-out villain?
The biggest issue with Nero is some of his best work and most impressive feats come in cut content. His ability to overpower Klingons when he’s a prisoner not only shows his strength but his patience. Knowing he can escape them at any time, he waits and bides his time. Yet, fans didn’t get to see that due to it being cut from the theatrical release.
Eric Bana’s performance is great and I find myself quoting some of his best lines just for fun.
The story isn’t perfect, and it took a lot of needless leaps, like destroying Vulcan and Romulus, and really didn’t do the best job casting Christopher Pike. Sorry, Bruce Greenwood, Anson Mount has just raised the bar that much.
Yet, what I will give it credit for are the visuals, and the cast. The cast is perfect, aside from Greenwood. If you ever wanted to see what Mission Impossible would look like in space, Star Trek 2009 is absolutely worth your time.
Star Trek VIII: First Contact
Final Score: 83.37
I love First Contact more than I love pizza, and if you know me you know how big that is. It’s the culmination of a multi-year storyline that brought some of the best moments in Star Trek history to ahead. Patrick Stewart is never better than in this film and again, Jean-Luc Picard is near the bottom of my “Captain’s List” so that should tell you just how captivating I find this film.
Keep in mind, that this isn’t my personal score, so know that my affinity for this film didn’t affect the score of this film.
Because if it did, I’d have the final score be much, much higher.
The story finds Picard and the Enterprise-E fighting the Borg across two different time periods; forced to go back in time to save the human race in the process. The franchise shows us the birth of what would become the Federation and brings us one of the best characters ever, Lilly, whose brash attitude and no-nonsense attitude are what end up bringing Picard out of his war fog.
It’s truly a perfect film, from the setup, the execution, the casting, the villains, and the overall pace. I don’t have a film that competes with this film in Star Trek and it is among my Top 5 or so favorite films of all time, regardless of the franchise.
I cannot stress properly how good First Contact is.
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Final Score: 87.6
Thee film that all fans love. I mean, mostly all love. I’m not the biggest fan of it, I don’t think it’s the best but hey, I just did the math, everyone else spoke the volumes needed to record the information.
Khan Noonien Singh is back almost 20 years after being introduced and he’s after James Kirk. See, Kirk left him and his people stranded on a planet as punishment for his actions, but what he didn’t take into effect is the fact that the planet Khan and his people were marooned on would become uninhabitable in a matter of months.
So when Khan is able to get his hands on the USS Reliant, it’s off to kill Kirk.
Ricardo Montalban absolutely owns the role, not just with his flawless delivery and incredible charisma, but the man came in jacked to the gills. This was especially impressive considering he was 62 at the time.
The film was among the most hated by series creator Gene Roddenberry however, as he famously attempted to ruin the film for Trek fans by revealing that Spock dies at the end. A death Leonard Nimoy would later regret requesting, as Nimoy re-signed with the franchise for the rest of the film run; and would even return in The Next Generation television series.
I don’t think it’s a perfect film by any means but man, there are still some scenes in this film that make you feel all sorts of things. I certainly would recommend it, just not before a few others is all.