The Single Biggest Mistake Each Star Trek Movie Has Made

13. Star Trek: The Motion Picture - LSD Time

The Mistake: The Wormhole

Why?: The wormhole scene in Star Trek: The Motion Picture is an example of too much being thrown at the audience. While we have been enjoying the beautiful re-design of the USS Enterprise and marveling at the slow departure from drydock, having the ship then get sucked into a random wormhole feels a bit... off.

The scene was included to show that the ship couldn't fire phasers while at warp, as the energy from these weapons came from the core itself. Unfortunately, the direction and depiction in the scene makes it very difficult to take the threat seriously. A stray asteroid in the wormhole does nothing to heighten this tension.

Decker's overruling of Kirk makes perfect sense, though the shot that lingers on Shatner's shocked reaction asks the audience to ignore the situation and believe that this Admiral wouldn't know that his Executive Officer would be acting in the best interests of the ship. The scene ends quickly and the ship is able to use normal warp drive again but it sticks out as an action scene that would have been better left on the cutting room floor.