Fixed: The Odd/Even Star Trek Movie Law

Prepare to have your mind blown.

The law is this: every odd-numbered Star Trek movie is dreck. Every even-numbered Star Trek movie is terrific. This Law - the subjectivity of movie criticism notwithstanding - held up perfectly for decades.

  1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) (bad)
  2. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982) (good)
  3. Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984) (bad)
  4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) (good)
  5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) (bad)
  6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) (good)
  7. Star Trek Generations (1994) (bad)
  8. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) (good)
  9. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) (bad)

    Then everything was up-messed:

  10. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) (bad!? should have been good!)
  11. Star Trek (2009) (good??!?! should have been bad!)
  12. Star Trek XII: So Very Tired (2012) (???)

Now watch carefully as I restore the timeline.

  1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) (bad)
  2. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982) (good)
  3. Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984) (bad)
  4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) (good)
  5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) (bad)
  6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) (good)
  7. Star Trek Generations (1994) (bad)
  8. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) (good)
  9. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) (bad)
  10. Galaxy Quest (1999) (good)
  11. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) (bad)
  12. Star Trek (2009) (good)
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Discussion (14)

2010-01-22 19:16:58 by Baughn:

It all makes sense now! o_O

2010-01-22 19:42:14 by Ampersand:

Oh hey, there's a hole in space and time under my bed. Was that you?

2010-01-22 20:37:25 by trekkie:

You're right until you get to Star Trek (2009). What an awful excuse for a movie.

2010-01-22 22:40:11 by Adin:

I must disagree, I feel that the new movie was the best way to re-boot a series.
Realistically, there's no way to both attract new fans and appease the long term fans (who have an encyclopedic memory) without a radical change. The most recent TNG movies had a harder and harder time with this (either becoming dark and edgy or ignoring character's past behaviors).
So what better way to reboot a dying series than by making a fundamental change in the nature of that universe. New fans don't need to worry about not having seen many (or any) of the old shows. Long term fans can compare this new universe to the old one, starting a whole new generation of discussions.

2010-01-22 23:01:05 by Neko:

The problems with the new trek movie had nothing to do with canon and everything to do with:

1. Bad acting.
2. A plot so full of holes you could use a printed copy to drain pasta with.

2010-01-22 23:17:13 by Boter:

I've heard of the Galaxy Quest fix and heartily endorse it.

I liked the new movie. Not a Trek fan (a Star Wars fan, actually), but Trek was one of my Top 5 of '09.

2010-01-22 23:29:51 by Sam:

Actually I feel that ST '09 was enormously respectful of canon, by expanding upon and never contradicting it. I'll grant the plot holes, but realistically it's the best we could have expected.

2010-01-23 02:22:26 by Val:

Galaxy Quest was such a genius deconstructor of the genre, that I cannot watch Star Trek (or anything similar to it) anymore without finding it ridiculous. :)

2010-01-23 12:16:56 by Mark:

I consider the time travel movies (4, 8, "12") not to be my favorite...

2010-01-23 20:25:48 by Ross:

I seriously disagree with many of the first few entries in your list.

ST1: Good
ST2: Good
ST3: Bad
ST4: Bad (wife continues to make me suffer through it annually)
ST5: Bad (I do not even remember the plotline)
ST6: Bad (wife made me suffer through it twice)
ST7: Meh (not really good, but calling it Bad compared to the other drek is overstating the case)
ST8: Good (mostly. Picard unconvincing at being obsessed)
ST9: Meh (see ST7)
Galaxy Quest: good
STX: Bad
STXI: Bad (How could anyone work on a bridge that bright and flashy?)

2010-01-23 20:29:10 by Ross:

Google has healed my memory. It's ST5 that my wife made me suffer through a few times, and ST6 that I can't even remember (or remotely care about) the plot.

2010-01-24 02:42:52 by Mike:

You do realize that you've just doomed us to a bad Star Trek 12, right?

2010-01-24 20:07:34 by OtherMike:

I concur. Now that you've posted this, we're going to have a terrible next movie at the point where it's needed most. If the second doesn't keep up the momentum generated by the first, it seems unlikely that there would even be a third.

2010-01-25 10:03:41 by skztr:

In that case, we need Galaxy Quest II as soon as possible, and we need it to be a real stinker!

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