10 Best Movie Sequels (Not Directed By The Original Filmmaker)

5. Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

The Color Of Money Tom Cruise
Paramount Pictures

When the characters of the original Star Trek TV series were brought to silver screen life in 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture, it was an obvious landmark moment for the overarching Trek property.

To date, there have been a total of 13 Star Trek films taking on board the various different iterations of what's made Trek so popular over the decades. But if there's one movie that is particularly heralded as the best of the bunch, that movie would be Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Robert Rise was the director for the first big-screen Star Trek offering, but there would be a change of director by the time that cameras got rolling on The Wrath of Khan. This time out, it was Nicholas Meyer on directing duties, and Star Trek II hit so many more welcome beats than its predecessor.

While it was monumental for Star Trek to get the movie treatment in the first place, the truth of the matter is that that first film wasn't actually very good. Even Trek die-hards will often turn their nose up at that offering, for it just felt out of tune with what had made Star Trek: The Original Series so special for TV audiences - whereas that spirit was captured brilliantly for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.