20 Most Cringeworthy Star Trek Film Moments

Paramount PicturesSay you've decided to introduce a friend who is familiar with Star Trek but who is not an uber-fan to the film franchise. You go to pop a DVD of, say, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan or Star Trek (the J.J. Abrams movie, since there's nothing else to call it despite Lens Flares R' Us), and everything is going fine...until you get to that scene. Yes, you know what I'm talking about: that one scene (or perhaps it's multiple scenes, if you're foolhardy enough to screen Star Trek V: The Steaming Pile) that makes you yourself question why you're a fan of the franchise. If you were alone, you'd probably fast-forward past it as you always do. But you can't. It could be anything from bad acting to a particularly bad scene to a poor choice on the director's part, and the whole while, you're hoping your friend doesn't notice it. In most cases, they won't. But you always will. tumblrThe list that follows is in order of the movies, not in any particular order of scale, because when it comes right down to it, these are all horrible moments, aren't they?

20. "Khaaaannnn!!!" - Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan

Paramount PicturesAt this point, you're probably asking: Hey, what about all those cringeworthy moments in Star Trek: The Motionless Picture? Let's address this by asking you a question in return: what moment in that first movie is so cringeworthy that you can't bear to watch it? We're going to assume that, just like us, you wracked your brain for such a moment, and we're also going to assume that, just like us, you couldn't really think of one. The biggest problem with Star Trek: The Motion Picture in general is that it's so inoffensive and bland that there's nothing that stands out as a moment that makes you shrivel up inside, even for a moment. The acting is reasonable, if relaxed; the plot, such as it is, doesn't contain any huge annoyances; and apart from some problems associated with pushing a movie whose major special effects were unfinished into general release too quickly, there's nothing all that bad going on. Star Trek II, on the other hand... If this list were ranked in order of most cringeworthy to least, then Kirk's cri de coeur at Khan about halfway through the movie would easily come in at #1. It's so cringeworthy that it quickly became famous at the time of the movie's release and has since spawned various parodies, memes, and other cultural echoes aimed at showing just how delightfully bad everyone thinks the original moment is. Delightful, that is, if you're not in some way invested in said show or movie's characters, in which case said delight is somewhat muted. tumblrApart from that moment, there really aren't many others in Star Trek II that come at all close. Sure, people express various levels of discomfiture over Scotty's bagpipe solo at the end; or the dead member of Khan's crew lying across the console who still has a visible reaction to the explosion happening behind her; or Judson Scott's decision to have a dead character close his eyes after dying and before being pressed into Ricardo Montalban's prosthetic-looking but apparently real chest. For that matter, Montalban's entire performance might be considered worthy of inclusion on this list - though his need to pull Chekhov down from his crane might garner an honorable mention.