Star Trek TNG Vs TOS: The Best Movies According To IMDb
Star Trek: The Next Generationand Star Trek: The Original Series are often how fans of the franchise divide themselves, with groups of fans preferring one of the series over the other. Both series have withstood the test of time, received spin-off television shows such as Picardand The Animated Series, and produced a vast assortment of movies featuring the central casts of characters.
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Clearly, both series have done well and have created well-deserved and large fanbases. This does not stop critics and fans alike from comparing and contrasting the two series and their respective movies, but the movies are more similar in quality than these people may realize, as indicated by their ratings from sites such as IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes. Here is a look at the best movies across both series, ranked according to IMDb.
10 Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (5.5)
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is the fifth installment of The Original Seriesfilms and the first and only Star Trek film to be directed by William Shatner, who also reprised his role as Captain Kirk for the film. The film itself follows Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley), and Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) who are called back early from shore leave to deal with a hostage situation on the neutral planet Nimbus III only to find Spock's long-lost brother Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) looking to hijack a ship and confront a God-like creator at the center of the galaxy.
This is the worst-received Star Trekfilm to date. The production company and the producers predicted as much, thinking that the premise would offend audiences.
9 Star Trek: The Motion Picture (6.4)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture is the first feature-length Star Trek film and features Kirk, who is now an Admiral, reuniting with the Enterprise and its crew, which consists of both new faces such as the Enterprise's new commanding officer Willard Decker (Stephen Collins), who is briefly demoted so that Kirk can command the ship, and old faces such as Dr. McCoy and later Spock, who assumes the role of Science Officer once again. The ship is tasked with intercepting unknown energy approaching Earth from the depths of space.
While the film did do well, it did not do as well in the box office as the production company had hoped. It still gave way for five sequels, though, so there was definitely still merit for the film.
8 Star Trek: Insurrection (6.4)
Star Trek: Insurrection is the third The Next Generation movie and the ninth film overall in the Star Trek franchise. In the film, Data (Brent Spiner), due to a malfunction, reveals to the rest of the Enterprise crew that Admiral Matthew Dougherty of the Federation is conspiring with the Son'a to steal energy particles from the Ba'ku people and therefore poison the Ba'ku's home planet. This causes Captain Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) to openly rebel against the Federation in order to save the Ba'ku people.
Insurrection was the highest-grossing film released its opening weekend but still did not do as well as the preceding films, First Contact and Generations.
7 Star Trek: Nemesis (6.4)
Star Trek: Nemesis is the fourth film featuring The Next Generation cast and the last. It is about the Enterprise crew being called to the planet Romulus to help with a peace treaty between the Romulans and the Remans, the latter of whom had a history of being treated as slaves by the Romulans. The peace treaty turns out to be a ruse conducted by the Reman Shinzon, who also happens to be a clone of Picard (but is portrayed by Tom Hardy, not Sir Patrick Stewart) and has plans to attack Earth.
Upon its initial release, the film at first scored 5.2 stars on IMDb and obviously has since gained an increased score.
6 Star Trek: Generations (6.6)
Star Trek: Generations features the casts from The Original Series and The Next Generation. It is the seventh film in the franchise and acted as a transition film from TOS to TNG. In the film Captain Picard teams up with Captain Kirk, the latter of whom was presumed dead, to stop Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell) from murdering planets with the intention of making a space matrix.
Generations is one of the better films featuring The Next Generation cast but is definitely not the best. It did act as a good and safe transition for the films to feature a different cast of characters, meaning it ultimately did its job.
5 Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (6.7)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock takes place directly after the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, during which Spock was killed and a device known as the Genesis was introduced. The Genesis was deployed into space and formed a planet, where Spock's body happened to land. Because of the properties of the device, Spock's katra (Vulcan spirit) lived on. Kirk and his crew were alerted of this and stole the Enterprise to get Spock back.
This third film was created after the success of The Wrath of Khan. In spite of this, it was not heavily marketed and was released in competition with movies such as Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Because of these factors, The Search for Spock did not do as well.
4 Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (7.2)
In the sixth Star Trek film, the crew of the Enterprise is tasked with negotiating a peace treaty with the Klingons. However, the High Chancellor of the Klingons is assassinated and Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy are charged with the crime even though they were trying to save his life. Spock takes over as captain of the Enterprise and investigates the murder himself while still trying to continue negotiating peace with the Klingons.
The Undiscovered Country was better received than the preceding film, The Final Frontier. Critics and audiences enjoyed the story and the humor used in this film over what was used by its predecessor.
3 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (7.3)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home chronicles the consequences of the Enterprise crew's actions from the previous two films. While they await trial, a probe appears from the depths of space, seeking to communicate through strange noises. Spock deduces that these noises are the same as the long-extinct humpback whale. The crew then goes back in time in search of a whale to bring back to the probe.
The film is hilarious, featuring the Enterprise crew adjusting to the vastly different culture that is the 1980s, showcasing just how out of touch they are such as with Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) asking around about "nuclear wessels."
2 Star Trek: First Contact (7.6)
Star Trek: First Contact is the best film featuring The Next Generation cast. The film chronicles the Borg going back in time in an attempt to prevent Earth's first contact with aliens and therefore prevent Zefram Cochrane (a character introduced in The Original Series), played by James Cromwell, from reaching warp speed for the first time. Picard and the Enterprise crew are tasked with stopping the Borg.
First Contact was released when the franchise itself was struggling. The film ended up being more heavily marketed than the recently preceding films and was ultimately successful. It was positively received by audiences and critics and was the highest-grossing Star Trek film ever until the release of J.J. Abrams's rebooted films over a decade later.
1 Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (7.7)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was a follow-up to the storyline introduced in The Original Series episode "Space Seed." In the film, Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) seeks revenge on the crew of the Enterprise and intends to use the newly-developed Genesis Device as a weapon against the Federation.
The film is one of the best-received Star Trek films of all time, garnering favor from viewers and critics. Furthermore, it is the source of many iconic and quotable moments from the franchise, such as Kirk shouting Khan's name upon Spock's death.
Source: screenrant.com