10 Times Star Trek Dared To Be Different

10. Star Wars, Star Bores

In 1977, Star Wars blasted into theatres. Two years later, Star Trek opted for its trademark cerebral approach, plodding its way onto the big screen. Star Trek: The Motion Picture earned a list of unflattering nicknames — 'The Motionless Picture' and 'Where Nomad Had Gone Before' amongst them. Star Trek had not dared to be different enough in the new world of lightsabres and high-energy space battles.

"[When Persis Khambatta is not on screen], the film teeters toward being a crashing bore," noted American film critic Gene Siskel at the time, according to The Art of Star Trek. Reviews were generally mixed to bad. The Motion Picture was a box office success, but expensive to produce. Now, things had to change.

Paramount placed the blame on Gene Roddenberry for the perceived failings of the first film. They didn't like his 'stop the Kennedy assassination' idea for the second. Harve Bennett was brought in as executive producer for Star Trek II, and Nicholas Meyer as director (and unofficial script re-writer). Meyer hadn't even seen Star Trek before. The result was what is, for many, the best of the Trek movies… and uniforms!