20 Most Cringeworthy Star Trek Film Moments

4. Magic Carpet Ride - Star Trek: First Contact

Paramount PicturesParamount Pictureshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZJczZ6gbVU Some fans might've preferred to witness the launch of the first warp-capable ship in Star Trek history with some majestic and soaring music to commemorate the occasion. The theme from Star Trek: Enterprise, for example. The producers of the movie felt otherwise, and thus Cletus Cochrane has a full on freak-out before the launch because he can't find his...music crystal thingee...and has to have it so he can subject us to, er, play for us his favorite song. Really, it's like finding out your in-bred cousin built the combustion engine. Granted, "Magic Carpet Ride" is thematically appropriate for this moment - we guess - but given that the same song was being used on television around the same time for a beer commercial, it has too many other redneck associations to make it inspiring or fun. We should consider ourselves lucky that Riker and Geordi don't start bobbing their heads to it.
Contributor
Contributor

Tony Whitt has previously written TV, DVD, and comic reviews for CINESCAPE, NOW PLAYING, and iF MAGAZINE. His weekly COMICSCAPE columns from the early 2000s can still be found archived on Mania.com. He has also written a book of gay-themed short stories titled CRESCENT CITY CONNECTIONS, available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle format. Whitt currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.