Every Star Trek Film & TV Show Ranked From Worst To Best
22. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture was great for revitalising the franchise, making enough money to justify the sequel series, The Next Generation. Unfortunately, the movie, while visually impressive when released, now simply embodies everything that general audiences dislike about Trek. The Motion Picture is slow and confusing.
It spent so much time reintroducing old characters and showing off fancy new visual effects until there was barely any time left for the story. Once you make it through the seemingly endless establishing shots, you learn the story, which is basically a rehash of the Original Series episode, The Changeling. An ancient probe sent from Earth gains sentience and turns against humanity? Heard that one before.
It should be said though, that even with all of the movie's problems, it was a great lead-in for the newly redesigned Star Trek universe set after The Original Series, and the effects, though overused, are still very impressive today.