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New Star Trek: Fourth-best in the film series
Published: 5/11/2009 6:21 PM
Last Modified: 5/11/2009 6:21 PM

Last weekend was sci-fi fun: I saw the fantastic new "Star Trek" film on Friday morning. Later I watched 1982’s "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." The latter confirmed for myself the importance of a great villain.

Ricardo Montalban as Khan is bombastic with his bodacious pecs and brilliantly bitter dialogue. He quotes from "Moby Dick," he offers up bon mots like "Let them eat static" and "It is very cold in space!" and he drops those baby eels in Chekov's ears as a form of torture.
Fans of "Star Trek" recall and still quote these blasts from the past 27 years later.

What did Eric Bana, as the villain in the new "Star Trek" flick, do or say that you will recount with relish….ever?

The new film is so good that it overcomes a limitation that can plague films in the sci-fi and action fields: The stature of a hero is elevated by the quality of the villain they must defeat.

It certainly helps to explain why Khan, a Borg queen and Klingons – in that order – lead my new personal ranking of the best "Star Trek" films.

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

Reader Comments

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27thLancer (4 years ago)

Search for Spock #3....are you crazy. Christopher Lloyd was Doc Brown, not an effective Klingon. He was cast more for his comedy skills than his awesome villan skills IMHO.(plus it was an odd numbered movie....not much good about the odd ones)

I thought Malcolm Macdowell was a better villan in Generations (although that movie was terrible too). He was single-minded, cold, calculating, and the acting did not go over to campy (like SFS).

Maarek (4 years ago)

IMO I think you got the voyage home and search for spock crossed up. I would also place the reboot over First Contact (but barely).... also The Final Frontier should be #11... I know Nemesis sucked but it was remotely watchable. Still it's hard to rate Star Trek movies because frankly they are either Gold or Poo.... not a whole lot of middle ground fodder (perhaps Insurrection would be a middle ground one).

Maarek (4 years ago)

How about: "Hi Christopher, I'm Nero!"

When he said that I realized that this bad guy was pretty much a Romulan version of a hick with a big ship and a grudge. Still I think the villian role was hampered by the fact that he really was just a MacGuffin in place to make sure all the people made it to the right place for the next movie. I predict that #12 will be much more bad guy driven.

Tulsa World Scene Writer Michael Smith (4 years ago)

To each their own, but I agree with you Maarek on that last point: The next film will certainly have more emphasis on the villain and the crew's mission itself...and if it builds the characters in the style that it introduced them here, we're in for something special.

Maarek (4 years ago)

Let's not forget that the next one is an even number movie no matter how you count it (#12 or #2) so it's already got that going for it. That said, the new one just came out and I would hate to dampen the fun I had with it by focusing on what could come after.

Personally I would much rather see someone get serious about making this cast into a TV show. There are no "major" stars in the main cast, and it's not like Heroes or other major shows are cheap to make. Have JJ do it up right for a season or two (before leaving for a season and then coming back later to fix it) and I promise this cast would be the best Trek on TV since TNG.

Tulsa World Web Producer Chris Moore (4 years ago)

Maarek, I will disagree with you on your last statement. The best Trek since TNG is DS9. Hands down the BEST Trek series ever. Sisko was the better Captain over Picard and Kirk. If they could make another show of that caliber, I would be amazed.

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“I was born a poor, black child” … not me, actually, but Steve Martin’s character in the “The Jerk.” That absurd opening line is just one of the absurd number of film facts, quotes and minutiae contained in movie critic Michael Smith’s brain, at his disposal to toss out on a moment’s notice. It’s a key requirement as Tulsa World film critic to know these things. Michael learned a few other life facts along the way (seven years as a Crystal’s Pizza & Spaghetti manager) before attempting journalism and joining the Tulsa World in 1996, where he’s covered everything from a school shooting in Fort Gibson to a tornado in Stroud to witnessing an execution. A little community theater coverage was sprinkled in there, too. Movies engender many of his happiest memories, from standing in line for “Star Wars” and “Grease” at the Southroads Cinema to the James Bond and Pink Panther movies that always premiered at the enormous Continental Theater.

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