10 Films That Wanted To Be Star Trek
7. Enemy Mine
Enemy Mine is a 1984 film directed by Wolfgang Peterson, serving as inspiration for The Enemy, the fourth season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It features Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jnr as Davidge and Jerry, two soldiers from opposing species, marooned together on a barely hospitable world.
The film is Star Trek to the core. First, both parties speak in languages that are barely understandable to each other, as both attempt to overpower the other. Then, as time wears on, they learn to understand each other, before cooperating. The final mission of the film sees one defecting to the other side, to save a child.
The film has shades of The Original Series episode Arena, in which Kirk fights the Gorn on Cestus III. That story revealed that the aggression between the Federation and the Gorn Hegemony stemmed from miscommunication, something that Roddenberry often returned to in Star Trek. In fact, Star Trek: The Motion Picture begins with V'ger unable to understand why it is not receiving a reply from its creator.
Enemy Mine could quite easily slot into the Trek franchise with minimal changes required, which of course was part of the intentions at the time.