Sunday Star-Times

Six of the best Star Trek movies

- JAMES CROOT

The Wrath of the Khan (1982)

After the 2001-esque excesses of the original Motion Picture, this was an action-adventure to rival The Empire Strikes Back in its intensity, drama and gut-wrenching climax.

So good J J Abrams basically remade it as 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness.

The Search for Spock (1984)

Okay, so it’s basically a movie that seeks to undo everything that happens in Wrath of Khan, but there’s still plenty of action and another hissable villain in the form of Christophe­r Lloyd’s Kruge.

Plus, there’s a brilliant piece of audience misdirecti­on that surely inspired Jonathan Demme’s Silence of the Lambs seven years later.

The Voyage Home (1986)

Injecting some much needed humour back into the franchise, this time-travelling tale saw the crew transporte­d back to present day San Francisco in order to ‘‘save the whales’’.

The resulting film made pots of cash and was nominated for four Academy Awards.

The Undiscover­ed Country (1991)

Reflecting contempora­ry events that were taking place as the Cold War came to an end, this bold conceit sees the Klingons attempting to broker peace with the Federation.

Notable for its guest stars that included Iman, Christophe­r Plummer and Kim Cattrall.

First Contact (1996)

Generation­s might have had the long-awaited meeting between Picard and Kirk, but this had everybody’s favourite Next Generation baddie – The Borg.

Another tale involving timetravel­ling, it was also notable for guest starring James Cromwell.

Star Trek (2009)

J J Abrams did a fantastic job of melding the past and present in this ‘‘reboot’’.

Sure, like Kirk, they cheat a little – a touch of time travel explains away this altered reality from the original TV series – but this is still a Trek story where a Red Shirt dies, Kirk wrestles and seduces in equal measure, and Bones gets to say, ‘‘Are you out of your Vulcan mind?’’, while technologi­cal advances make everything that much more shiny and whizzy.

 ??  ?? The Wrath of Khan was so good, J J Abrams couldn’t resist virtually remaking it as 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness.
The Wrath of Khan was so good, J J Abrams couldn’t resist virtually remaking it as 2013’s Star Trek: Into Darkness.

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