TSJ’s Ranking of the STAR TREK: TOS Movies |

TSJ’s Ranking of the Star Trek: TOS Movies

Earlier this year, I ranked my top three Star Trek: TOS episodes. Now, here is my ranking of the original cast’s movies.

These movies meant a lot to us Trek fans. You see, for years after Star Trek’s cancellation, there had only been television episodes for us to enjoy. Many of us watched them over and over, in syndication, until we knew everything about the best ones. We could quote them. We knew the scores. As kids, we acted them out.

And for so long, that’s all we had.

And then came Star Wars.

The story is fairly well known. The studio had been gearing up to create another Trek series called Phase II. Sets were built. Scripts written. Costume tests completed. The Enterprise redesigned, by Ralph McQuarrie, of Star Wars fame. Note the similarities to the eventual TMP Enterprise — the nacelles and swept-back pylons are the same, but the deflector dish remained a holdover from TOS:

Credit: IGN

Credit: IGN — Lt. Ilia

Then, when Star Wars hit it big in 1977, the studio switched gears and decided to scrap the new show and instead do a film. The budget was already sizable, but now it skyrocketed. This is how The Motion Picture was born. When word hit that there would finally be new Trek, but on the big screen, fans were thrilled. When the movie came out in 1979, it was utterly fantastic seeing the characters again, seeing the Enterprise refit, and experiencing new Trek for the first time since 1969. That being said … the movie wasn’t great. It was slow. It was boring. It did, however, feature incredible f/x and an amazing score. It made a ton of money at the box office, thanks to all those years building up fandom. And so a franchise was born, and the (new) producers built from the foundation of TMP‘s mistakes and, moving forward, created some incredible sequels.

TSJ’s Ranking

6. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

As mentioned, it was great seeing the crew back. Experiencing Enterprise again on a massive scale was wonderful. We got to see Vulcan, Klingons in battle, a future Earth, and of course, Kirk and Spock and McCoy. However, in a word … boring. Also, the relationships between the characters were different. The chemistry was missing. They didn’t seem to be having fun. Everyone was dour, depressed. It seemed like a television episode, but much longer and even slower. When word came that they were remastering the movie in 2001 for DVD, finally completing some f/x (such as on Vulcan, or the sequence outside Enterprise as Kirk and Spock leave the ship to communicate with V’Ger) I was thrilled. I had assumed they’d trim it down a bit, streamline the story. However, the remastered version ended up being even longer than the original release. It still has its great moments, but this film, in terms of entertainment, gets the lowest ranking for me.

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

This movie had some great moments. There was character development for Spock and Kirk, but not much else for the others. In fact, the supporting cast was mostly present for comic relief, which annoyed a lot of fans. But the idea was grand and the deep dive into Kirk’s psychology as an explanation for how we should embrace pain instead of giving into to it, was noble. The film suffered from poor f/x, misplaced comedy, a low budget, an anticlimactic ending, flawed filmmaking, and low stakes. All this being said, it was faster moving than TMP, which is why it is placed here in the ranking.

4. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

After the massive success of The Wrath of Khan, but also the trauma of that ending, fans needed to recover emotionally and experience some happiness from Trek. This movie gave that to us, and more. It was a fantastic story: steal the Enterprise right out from under Starfleet’s nose and go rescue a dead comrade. This is why stories set in a military environment have the potential to be so thrilling. When characters have to break the chain of command for the sake of the story, it can really increase tension. Throw in an over-the-top villain (Christopher Lloyd as Kruge) and the now-iconic Klingon Bird-of-Prey, the stakes were large once again. The ending was heartwarming and cathartic, especially after the events of Khan. It partially alienated non-Trek fans, however, for only people who had seen TWOK could actually understand what was going on.

3. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

After the critical failure of The Final Frontier, the studio brought Nicholas Meyer back for the sixth (and final) film. Meyer, who had directed The Wrath of Khan, had a wonderful grasp of story, character, and stakes. This movie hit on all levels: intense action, a great villain, a conspiracy, murder mystery, and an emotional roller coaster for the crew and characters, who knew that their time on Enterprise and in Starfleet was winding down. It hit hard. The ending, featuring the cast signatures over the credits, was a nice touch. The setting, in a snowy alien prison, was unique and interesting, and Kirk and McCoy on trial for murder was wonderful drama. The narrative emulated events at the conclusion of our own Cold War, thanks to Leonard Nimoy’s story idea, and everything came together in this film. In short, they nailed it.

2. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

Following the recovery of their dead comrade in The Search for Spock, the fans needed a grand adventure with large stakes. They needed to feel the love between the characters, with humour, action, and excitement. This movie gave us everything we wanted, and more. It featured a common trope in Trek — time travel — and a huge dilemma to solve. Setting the cast in present-day San Francisco was a great idea, and Spock’s characterization seemed to culminate after decades of growth. Now, after so many years of suffering, Spock finally chooses to embrace both halves of his identity, and he is all the better for it. This movie is the trilogy resolution for Treks II, III, IV, which feature remarkable character journeys. It all comes to a wonderful close with this feel-good film and I challenge anyone to watch this without a sense of great warmth afterward. I still remember seeing this film in the theatre back in 1986; the audience absolutely loved it. There was a lot of laughter during the film, applause afterward, and people were smiling as they walked out.

1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

My ranking of Khan in first place is likely not surprising. This is not just the best of the TOS Trek films — it’s also one of the best sequels ever made. The villain is fantastic — and a callback to the original episodes — the stakes are enormous, the emotional impact is tremendous, and the character interactions are a return to what made Trek great. This film solved TMP’s errors, thanks to director/writer Nicholas Meyer and producer Harve Bennett. This movie has it all. The action is top-notch, and the character journeys, especially Kirk’s, are heartfelt and powerful. And of special note: James Horner was hired to do this score, and he added so much to Trek. His themes were used in the next film as well. Here is the most dramatic, heart-pounding sequence in the The Wrath of Khan. Listen to that score!

Did I get the ranking “correct?” What are your thoughts?

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A Blanket of Steel by Timothy S. Johnston and from Fitzhenry & Whiteside, LTD. is the recipient of the 2024 GLOBAL Thriller Award GRAND PRIZE and the 2024 CYGNUS Award First in Category.

— Timothy S. Johnston, 30 May 2025

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Praise for Timothy S. Johnston’s A Blanket of Steel

“Fans of Clive Cussler’s NUMA Files will be delighted with Timothy S. Johnston’s undersea novels. Truman McClusky and Dirk Pitt are cut from the same adventurer’s cloth.” — Nick Cutter, author of The Deep and The Troop

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A BLANKET OF STEEL is out now!

WATCH THE GRIPPING BOOK TRAILER HERE.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

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A Blanket of Steel from Timothy S. Johnston and Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Ltd.

Book Cover & Jacket Copy:

AN UNSTOPPABLE THREAT!

A mysterious assassin has murdered Cliff Sim, Chief Security Officer of the underwater colony, Trieste. Cliff was a mountain of a man, highly trained, and impossible to defeat in combat. And yet …

Someone brutally beat him and left his broken body in a secret Chinese facility at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

And included a calling card for Truman McClusky, Mayor of Trieste.

Taunting him.

Mac has led the underwater colonies in their fight against the world’s superpowers. Climate change has devastated the surface; nations suffer famine, drought, rebellion, rising waters, and apocalyptic coastal flooding. But now, as Mac leads the underwater colonies to freedom and independence, he’s faced with the gravest threat of his life: a Russian assassin, hellbent on killing Mac and everyone he cares for. Now Mac must uncover the identity of the killer, face him in combat, and at the same time lead people in battle against the largest underwater force ever assembled. It’s Mac’s final test, and to win the war, he must use every tool at his disposal, including the most surprising and devastating underwater weapons ever invented.

If Mac fails, all hope is lost for the future of human colonization on the ocean floors.

But the assassin could be anyone …

Watch your back, Mac.

A Blanket of Steel is the most gripping thriller yet in The Rise of Oceania.

FOR PURCHASE OPTIONS CLICK HERE

The other books in The Rise of Oceania series by Timothy S Johnston:

The War Beneath 9781771484718
The Savage Deeps 9781771485067
Fatal Depth 9781554555574
An Island of Light 9781554555819
The Shadow of War 9781554556007