Some time ago I picked up the idea to watch the “Terminator” films in chronological order. This was quite enjoyable and the next idea became “Alien” which “quadrology” I enjoyed watching as well.
My girlfriend has all “Star Wars” film and we have seen them all a few times. The same goes for “James Bond”. Being in a sci-fi flow I thought of “Star Trek”.
I remember long, calm and not too interesting films about people in a ship flying through space. As a matter of fact, the way I remember “Star Trek” is the reason that for a long time I was no fan of science fiction. I still decided to give it a try.
My first mistake was thinking that “Star Trek” is, like my earlier ‘projects’, a series of films. “Star Trek” proves to be way more!
From 1965 to 1969 “Star Trek” were TV series. New seasons were created between 1969 until as late as 1991. As many as three more series would follow, from 1991 until 2005, 2005 until 2016 and 2017 and still running. Now I wonder if my memories of “Star Trek” are movies or series. Perhaps the latter.
Then we also have (up until now) thirteen films!
I am not sure if I am going to watch 13 films, let alone the many episodes of the many series. I could fill years watching through the “Star Trek” history.
So I took the easy route and decided to just watch the first film from 1979: “Star Trek: the motion picture”, directed by Robert Wise.
This film is much better than what I expected. There is more ‘space action’ than “Star Trek” features in my memories. Moreover, there is a very interesting story and great stages. The motion picture was a pleasant surprise.
The second film, “Star Trek II: the wrath of Khan” (Nicholas Meyer 1982) is a lot less interesting. The story is a bit dull. Somebody had a problem with captain Kirk in the past and is out for revenge.
The third film, “Star Trek III: the search for Spock” (Leonard Nimoy 1984) is a tiny step in the right direction. The story picks up where the previous film ended. Besides the search for Spock there are other elements to the story that are somewhat interesting. Emjoyable is the fact that the cast remained mostly the same. There appear to be references to earlier “Star Trek” productions. Those to the movies I can follow, the possible references to series probably not, but the film is easy to follow.
That is about as far as I got so far. When IV and V are also just mildly interesting, I am not sure how long I will continue ‘project Star Trek’, but time will tell. With the first film being great, I might set out to try older projections and just watch the original series.
We will see.