All 24 Star Trek Series & Movies, Ranked by Trekkies

In many ways, this movie was the best and worst thing to ever happen to Star Trek. Yes, its story about Khan seeking revenge and Kirk suffering from a mid-life crisis allowed for some of the most human and emotional moments of the franchise, but it dared every film after to live up to its perfect mix of character drama and smart action. It revitalized the franchised even if it had to kill its most beloved character to accomplish the goal. 

The first two seasons may be rocky, but seasons 3-6 (AKA the Riker's Beard seasons) are some of the best science fiction TV ever made. There are too many standout and classic episodes to count, and it launched the careers of many notable TV writers including Ron Moore and Naren Shankar. The crew of the Enterprise-D has become just as iconic as their original counterparts, and in many ways made a bigger impact on the franchise as a whole. 

The first two seasons are just spectacular television, full of subversive (for the time) storytelling and imaginative world building. The crew of the original Enterprise was so idealistic and charming it was hard not to think of them as family. The stories themselves, including "Balance of Terror," "Journey to Babel," and the "Devil in the Dark" have become true television classics. The third season doesn't quite reach the pinnacle set by the two preceding seasons, but it still isn't too bad.

One of the few attempts Star Trek ever made at comedy that actually intentionally worked. The idea of a probe looking for humpback whales is a little weird, but it’s played with just the right amount of creepiness and mystery that you don’t question the premise. The fish out of water moments in the second act have become comedy classics in their own right, from Kirk screaming “Double dumbass on you!” to the hysterical chase sequence in a hospital, to Scotty desperately trying to use a Mac. It’s such an earnest movie with a good message and a pure heart, you can’t help but love it…

An action movie so well paced it’s hard not to be impressed. Picard’s quest for revenge as he's in danger of losing his future and his ship to the Borg is full of passionate moments, while the humor on the planet actually plays pretty well. Even Data’s new emotion trip is used to enrich his character and the story being told. But as well as the Borg Queen worked, her existence did take away from some of the menace of the collective. 

Because the show wasn’t in the spotlight of the public zeitgeist the same way The Next Generation was, the writers of DS9 were free to do just about anything they wanted. What we got was a show that not only examined the dark underbelly of Gene Roddenberry’s utopian future, but gave us fantastic characters that grew tremendously over the course of seven years. Oh, and the Dominion War. The Dominion War was just amazing.