Wrath of Khan, best sci-fi film of all time?

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DankMemes

DankMemes

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Disclosure I’ve always be a fan of original cast Star Trek films, but grew up watching TNG on TV.

after many viewings over the years after a few beers on my birthday decided to load up the directors cut of Wrath of Khan on blu ray, which is an impressive remaster from film by the way, no added cg or nonsense, just a hi resolution scan and audio remix from the original 35mm print.

After watching and through the scene where they send Spock for his “burial at sea”, running with the Ahab and nautical theme throughout I’m convinced this is the definitive sci-fi fil, much like die hard is to action films, thoughts?
 
It is indeed among the best. I think my favorite scene is near the end when IIRC Kirk and Khan's ships are blindly stalking each other within the nebula. It's pretty tense.

Gotta say, though, ST4 was one of the most entertaining, if silly.

I should really watch all these again (it's been several years) but cripes there's so much to keep up with...I still need to binge on the most recent episodes of Westworld, Godless, and Legion.
 
I don't know if I would say it is the definitive sci-fi film for the entire genre, but I would certainly agree that it holds that distinction among all of the ST films (original cast, next-gen cast, latest cast). That being said, I am one of the admittedly few people that consider ST:TMP as their favorite trek film. To me ST:TMP has a much different feel to it than any of the other films. Starfleet is portrayed as much more rigid and military, which feels more "appropriate" to me than the loosey-goosey family friendly starfleet portrayed in the other films. There is sense of real urgency and danger in this film that is accentuated to great effect by the scene where Kirk's pushing to get the Enterprise out ahead of schedule results in two people getting horrifyingly reassembled by the transporter. I understand people's criticisms of it, and I certainly don't think it is perfect, but to me it's the film that I re-watch most often.
 
muddymooose said:
It is indeed among the best. I think my favorite scene is near the end when IIRC Kirk and Khan's ships were blindly stalking each other within the nebula. It was pretty tense.

Gotta say, though, ST4 was one of the most entertaining, if silly.

I should really watch all these again (it's been several years) but cripes there's so much to keep up with...I still need to binge on the most recent episodes of Westworld, Godless, and Legion.
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voyage home was defintely a classic, the scene where Kirk and Spock are arguing about whether they like Italian food is iconic.
 
DankMemes said:
voyage home was defintely a classic, the scene where Kirk and Spock are arguing about whether they like Italian food is iconic.
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I still like to occasionally break out into a rant with my fellow custom machinists/machine builders about the virtues of transparent aluminum. Best part is most appreciate the reference, especially when delivered in a fake Scottish accent.
 
muddymooose said:
I still like to occasionally break out into a rant with my fellow custom machinists/machine builders about the virtues of transparent aluminum. Best part is most appreciate the reference, especially when delivered in a fake Scottish accent.
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St4 will always be a special film for me my dad had just bought out first VCR, and he fiddled with the TV over and over to figure out how to plug his stereo in and I remember damn this is like the movie theater, that started my interest in home theater
 
muddymooose said:
I largely agree...I think the first 80% is amazing, but holy crap does that last 20% drag on.
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Yeah the scenes where where they are flying into the cloud are what I can surmise a draw on what Kubrick did with the star gate scene in 2001, only to lesser effect. I get the fan service for sure but the 15 minute scene in which we first see the enterprise is a bit much.
 
I have also been a Star Trek fan but IMHO the best sci-fi movie of all time was 2001 A Space Odyssey.
 
DankMemes said:
I get the fan service for sure but the 15 minute scene in which we first see the enterprise is a bit much.
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For those of us who were/are fans and were at that time starved for new Trek, the reveal of the refitted Enterprise was something special (though it helped a little that James Doohan was in the theatre with my wife and I to see it the night it opened). Upon rewatching, it is a little bit too much I suppose. But I'm more with the other comment above about the last 20%.

We joke about calling it the "motionless picture" but we still love it.

As for Wrath of Khan - it certainly is one of the best for sure.
 
BEC said:
For those of us who were/are fans and were at that time starved for new Trek, the reveal of the refitted Enterprise was something special (though it helped a little that James Doohan was in the theatre with my wife and I to see it the night it opened). Upon rewatching, it is a little bit too much I suppose. But I'm more with the other comment above about the last 20%.

We joke about calling it the "motionless picture" but we still love it.

As for Wrath of Khan - it certainly is one of the best for sure.
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i get it I see a lot of the same feedback and feel the same way about episode VII of Star Wars, not to hikack my own thread
 
It’s among the best Star Trek films, for sure. I would rank a few other science fiction films higher, but it’s pretty good!
 
I have to say, I’m not a big fan of st4. I know a lot of people like it, and it has some good comedic scenes, but in general, I don’t like science fiction films where the cast travels “back to earth”. I think movies that involve time travel are the weakest science fiction. And part of what I like about science fiction is the setting and the portrayal of a possible future, so when the movie is “back on earth”, that’s lost, and it always irritates me.
 
I get you man, sci fi is a good release, but what I’ve found I like about ST4, is the contrast between future humanity and the old 1986 earth. Showing how petty things were in the grand scheme of things... I probably need to watch again, it’s been about 5 years. I wonder if it still holds up
 
I don't consider Star Trek films to actually be sci-fi, since science has very little to do with them. They are adventure/fantasy in my book. Somewhere along the line, we started calling any movie set in the future a "sci-fi" movie, but many of them aren't.

ST2 was w/out a doubt the best Star Trek movie ever.
 
ThirstyBarbarian said:
I have to say, I’m not a big fan of st4. I know a lot of people like it, and it has some good comedic scenes, but in general, I don’t like science fiction films where the cast travels “back to earth”. I think movies that involve time travel are the weakest science fiction. And part of what I like about science fiction is the setting and the portrayal of a possible future, so when the movie is “back on earth”, that’s lost, and it always irritates me.
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ditto.. dated too..

I enjoyed Kahn, well played, a good old ship battle..


But, 5th element for me wins best "Sci Fi Movie" (but then again, I'm a sucker for European Sci Fi tales.. Moebius' "The Incal" is my all time favorite story, which this is somewhat based on)
 
dr wogz said:
...But, 5th element for me wins best "Sci Fi Movie"...
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That was a good one. You also might like: 12 Monkeys, (unless you have an issue with accepting the premise of time travel.)

Big fan of all things Trek, there was a really good compilation set of DVDs of fan/cast selected episodes from all the spin-off TV series with interviews of cast members, called something like Fan Collective: Captains' Log. I thought I had seen them all, but this captured a few that I must have missed, to quote Seven of Nine: this collection has achieved perfection.

EDIT: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000P5FH44/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
"Product Description

Star trek fans voted online for their 10 all-time favorite captain's episodes and each show's legendary leader has chosen their favorite episode as well. All 15 episodes on 5 discs.
Amazon.com

OK, all you Trekkers who have been resisting the Star Trek: Fan Collective series on principle because it's an inexpensive repackaging of the episodes you already have on DVD. Captain's Log, the fifth in the series, raises the bar, not just by including a fifth disc, but by providing a host of brand-new content. As usual, fans selected the initial 10 episodes--two per series--but each "captain"--William Shatner, James T. Kirk of the Original Series; Patrick Stewart, Jean-Luc Picard of The Next Generation; Avery Brooks, Benjamin Sisko of Deep Space Nine; Kate Mulgrew, Kathryn Janeway of Voyager; and Scott Bakula, Jonathan Archer of Enterprise--picked a third episode as a personal favorite. Each captain then introduces the selected episode in about a one-minute segment (the exception is Shatner, who dishes for 12 minutes about "The City on the Edge of Forever," joined partway through by co-star Joan Collins), and in most cases, introduces the fan-selected ones as well. Finally, each captain is interviewed in a series of featurettes (some with common themes, such as "The Importance of the Captain's Log," "What Makes a Good Captain," or the character's legacy or future) lasting 8 to 12 minutes total. (Brooks' segments don't follow the themes and appear to be recorded a while back.) And thankfully, of all the episodes in the set--"The City on the Edge of Forever," "The Enterprise Incident," and "Balance of Terror" from the Original Series; "In Theory," "Chain of Command," and "Darmok" from The Next Generation; "Far Beyond the Stars," "What You Leave Behind" parts 1 and 2, and "In the Pale Moonlight" from Deep Space Nine; "Counterpoint," "The Omega Directive," and "Flashback" from Voyager; and "Judgment," "These Are the Voyages," and "First Flight" from Enterprise--only "The City on the Edge of Forever" is repeated from a previous Fan Collective, and it's hard to complain about seeing that episode too many times. --David Horiuchi "
 
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Bat-mite said:
I don't consider Star Trek films to actually be sci-fi, since science has very little to do with them. They are adventure/fantasy in my book. Somewhere along the line, we started calling any movie set in the future a "sci-fi" movie, but many of them aren't.

ST2 was w/out a doubt the best Star Trek movie ever.
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Loved Wrath, but my favorite trek movie was First Contact. It had Borg, battles though the new Enterprise E, a humorous take on Zephram Cochran, and a window seat to mankind's first (official) meeting with Vulcans.
 
ThirstyBarbarian said:
It’s among the best Star Trek films, for sure.
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The absolute BEST Star Trek film of all time is (wait for it!) "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World."

I'm serious. I know that Master and Commander is set in the early 19th-century Royal Navy, but consider the following parallels:

* Star Trek has the USS Enterprise. Master and Commander has the HMS Surprise
* ST has Captain Kirk, M&C has Jack Aubrey. Like Kirk, Aubrey is a horndog.
* ST has Spock and McCoy: M&C conveniently merges the two as Stephen Maturin.
* There are clear character parallels in M&C to Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov. Hell, the Sulu parallel in M&C even gets his own ship at the end of the film.
* ST has the Klingons. M&C has the French.
* To evade Khan after the initial attack, the Enterprise flees into the Mutara Nebula. After getting their ass kicked by the French, the crew of the HMS Surprise flees into a fog bank.
* To defeat the French in the final battle, the crew of the HMS Surprise actually employ primitive cloaking technology, disguising themselves as a lowly whaling vessel.

"Master and Commander" is a great film. You should see it, immediately.

James
 
Well, they say every story fits into one of seven basic plots. Vonnegut said it was six, but his take on it is not as popular.
 
I could go along with Wrath of Khan as best Star Trek film (although I loved The Voyage Home as well), and as an excellent film in any genre. But I couldn't give it best scifi movie?

A few off the top of my head that I think were better *science fiction*:
1) Alien and Aliens
2) Terminator and T2 (I'm an especially big fan of the first one, and yeah I like James Cameron)
3) The Matrix (arguable but I think the first one was a genuinely great science fiction movie)
4) Blade Runner
5) The Martian
6) and I'd have to include 2001 for its "importance", although personally I found a lot of parts to be kind of boring.
 
James Duffy said:
The absolute BEST Star Trek film of all time is (wait for it!) "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World."

I'm serious. I know that Master and Commander is set in the early 19th-century Royal Navy, but consider the following parallels:

* Star Trek has the USS Enterprise. Master and Commander has the HMS Surprise
* ST has Captain Kirk, M&C has Jack Aubrey. Like Kirk, Aubrey is a horndog.
* ST has Spock and McCoy: M&C conveniently merges the two as Stephen Maturin.
* There are clear character parallels in M&C to Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov. Hell, the Sulu parallel in M&C even gets his own ship at the end of the film.
* ST has the Klingons. M&C has the French.
* To evade Khan after the initial attack, the Enterprise flees into the Mutara Nebula. After getting their ass kicked by the French, the crew of the HMS Surprise flees into a fog bank.
* To defeat the French in the final battle, the crew of the HMS Surprise actually employ primitive cloaking technology, disguising themselves as a lowly whaling vessel.

"Master and Commander" is a great film. You should see it, immediately.

James
Click to expand...

I really like Master and Commander, and it is one of the few movies I actually own on DVD and will haul out to rewatch occasionally.
 
neil_w said:
I could go along with Wrath of Khan as best Star Trek film (although I loved The Voyage Home as well), and as an excellent film in any genre. But I couldn't give it best scifi movie?

A few off the top of my head that I think were better *science fiction*:
1) Alien and Aliens
2) Terminator and T2 (I'm an especially big fan of the first one, and yeah I like James Cameron)
3) The Matrix (arguable but I think the first one was a genuinely great science fiction movie)
4) Blade Runner
5) The Martian
6) and I'd have to include 2001 for its "importance", although personally I found a lot of parts to be kind of boring.
Click to expand...

These are all at the top of my list too.
 
James Duffy said:
The absolute BEST Star Trek film of all time is (wait for it!) "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World."

I'm serious. I know that Master and Commander is set in the early 19th-century Royal Navy, but consider the following parallels:

* Star Trek has the USS Enterprise. Master and Commander has the HMS Surprise
* ST has Captain Kirk, M&C has Jack Aubrey. Like Kirk, Aubrey is a horndog.
* ST has Spock and McCoy: M&C conveniently merges the two as Stephen Maturin.
* There are clear character parallels in M&C to Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov. Hell, the Sulu parallel in M&C even gets his own ship at the end of the film.
* ST has the Klingons. M&C has the French.
* To evade Khan after the initial attack, the Enterprise flees into the Mutara Nebula. After getting their ass kicked by the French, the crew of the HMS Surprise flees into a fog bank.
* To defeat the French in the final battle, the crew of the HMS Surprise actually employ primitive cloaking technology, disguising themselves as a lowly whaling vessel.

"Master and Commander" is a great film. You should see it, immediately.

James
Click to expand...

I'll be damned, ya know I had never drawn that parallel before
 
I will say the launch sequence to steppenwolf was pretty badass, also really enjoyed the scene where Picard is staring out the window, out into space, with Berlioz blaring at top volume, very appropriate as that opera and piece specifically was an introspective before sailing into battle with the trojans IIRC
 
First contact favorite moments: dream sequence where Borg devices breaks through his cheek. Also his rant about the Borg:
"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats. They invade our space, and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again! The line must be drawn*here! This far, no further!*And*I*will make them*PAY*for what they've done!"

To me, that's the single best line in the TNG universe.
 
Gotta admit.. "The Wrath Of Khan" is one of my favorites. I'm a huge fan of the classic Star Trek series too.
 

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