20 Most Cringeworthy Moments In The New Star Trek Movies

12. "I Can Do That!" From Star Trek

We got this as a suggestion from a reader, and we're amazed we had to be reminded about it. It's one thing to show us that Young Chekov is vastly enthusiastic and a good bit smarter than his Star Trek Universe 1.0 counterpart. It's another thing entirely to bash us over the head with it. It goes like this: the Enterprise's transporters can't get a lock on Kirk and Sulu because they're falling. (As we discover in these movies, the transporters never work.) This sends Chekov, who's monitoring from the Bridge, into a spastic fit, causing him to shout "I can do that! I can do that!" and to run from the room to the transporters. After lots of overly frenetic poking at a touchscreen, he manages to lock on, they materialize above the pad just as they're about to hit the surface of Vulcan, Chekov gives a hearty "Hot damn!" in Russian, and all is well with the world. Until, of course, he can't repeat the same feat with Spock's mom a few minutes later. Awkward... Hard to say what makes this scene so cringey, especially since it's not apparently being played for laughs - but if it's being played for tension, why is it so dumb?