Project Enterprise: Cold War edition

6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Once again, I misremembered. I thought this was the movie where you're like goddammit Kirk, would you just die already? Turns out that's the next one. Yay. This is the big end-of-the-Cold-War metaphor one, with the Klingon Empire standing in for the Soviet Union. For all that, it's not so bad, with a serviceable conspiracy to sabotage the peace plot decently executed.

Overall: B- 

Plot: B- It kept moving. No campfire scenes either, thank God. The impending retirement stuff was slightly heavy-handed, but lighter than the last installment.

Costumes: B- Nothing egregious. Chang's eye patch, apparently drilled directly into his head, was a nice touch. And the Starfleet uniforms that resembled British Army sweaters with the leather shoulder patches were an improvement.

New cast members: A This might be an all-time high for names or future names in these roles. Christopher Plummer probably got most of the attention for the time for his role as Shakespeare-quoting Klingon Gen. Chang (and he did a fine job) but it also featured Kim Cattrall as the Enterprises's young Vulcan lieutenant. And who should I hear giving a minor report to Capt. Sulu on the Excelsior but the snarky drawl of young Christian Slater!

F/X: B Again, nothing egregious.

Series ranking: 1. Wrath of Khan 2. The Voyage Home 3. The Undiscovered Country 4. The Search for Spock 5. The Motion Picture 6. The Final Frontier

Project Enterprise: The next generation. Sort of.

7. Star Trek: Generations (1994) Finally -- I feel like I've broken out of some kind of tractor beam … OK, not quite. Kirk is still … hanging … around. But at least we're relieved by the crew from The Next Generation. It's both good to see them as new faces, and good to see them again. And Scotty did utter the phrase "space time continuum," even though he was only in the movie for about 15 minutes.

Overall: B- Not a great movie in and of itself. A transition movie. Kind of like Search for Spock, but a little better.

Plot: C I really didn't get what the ribbon/nexus thing was or how it worked. Picard seemed to jump in and out of it at will. And how handy that Whoopi Goldberg was there to explain it all to him!

Costumes: B- TNG folks were in their standard polyester jumpsuits. I was never really a fan but they were better than the old jumpsuits. They managed to get the Klingon thing down during the making of TNG, though -- maybe all those hours doing Worf.

New cast members: A- Malcolm MacDowell. That's really all you need to say, right? Whoopi Goldberg doesn't really count since she was a regular on TNG. The only drawback to MacDowell is that he and Patrick Stewart outclass Shatner to a near-embarrassing degree. But Shatner's really beyond embarrassment, isn't he? And casting Cameron from Ferris Bueller as the new Enterprise captain at the beginning was a little obvious. We just knew things weren't going to go well.

F/X: B+ The crash of the Enterprise saucer section goes on a little too long but it is impressive. And in an earlier battle with the Klingons, there's an especially impressive slo-mo of bodies flying around the bridge -- several steps beyond the old everyone-falls-to-the-right battles on the bridge.

Series Ranking: 1. Wrath of Khan 2. The Voyage Home 3. Generations 4. The Undiscovered Country 5. The Search for Spock 6. The Motion Picture 7. The Final Frontier

Project Enterprise: The wrath of Borg

8. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) I like Kirk. Hell, I love Kirk. But man, what a relief to finally reach a Kirk-free movie. The Next Generation cast really hits their groove with this movie. Perhaps because they borrowed a page from Wrath of Khan and revisited their most awesome villains: THE BORG. Specifically, the Borg Queen. Best villain since Khan, no question. It's good to have an enemy you can respect.

Overall: A- Excellent villain AND time travel? Yes, please!

Plot: A- Like I said, excellent villain and time travel. Generally, elements that make for a good Star Trek story. And the time travel was fun while avoiding most of the cheesiness that detracted from Voyage Home. I said most -- the bar scene where Troi gets drunk with Zefram Cochran kind of felt like a TV show more than a movie. And I must make this one point: The Next Generation is overly in love with the holodeck. You're already playing dress-up! Give it a rest.

Costumes: A They improved the Starfleet jumpsuits. But most of this grade is due to the Borg. Perhaps I'm overly influenced by the current zombie craze, but the Borg seem to me to have assimilated the best of the zombie look. Goth zombies. Goth steampunk zombies. They're just great.

New cast members: A James Cromwell makes such a good villain -- he's so great in L.A. Confidential and I've enjoyed him as Andrew Mellon in season 3 of Boardwalk Empire. So it's extra-fun to see him play goofy, as he does here, and he does it well. He's not really a mad scientist, he's a hard-drinking, smart guy who just wants to retire to a tropical island and doesn't want to be known as some kind of hero to humanity. Though I do wonder why he's so fond of mid-20th century music, in the year 2063. Alfre Woodard is also good though I'm starting to wonder why Picard always has to have a Wise Black Woman to keep him on track (Whoopi Goldberg last movie, Woodard in this one).

F/X: B+ I don't think they should get huge points for mid-21st century spacecraft. And I thought they were going to destroy the Enterprise again, but not this time. At least the time travel didn't involve any weird heads in weird substances.

Series Ranking: 1. Wrath of Khan 2. First Contact 3. The Voyage Home 4. Generations 5. The Undiscovered Country 6. The Search for Spock 7. The Motion Picture 8. The Final Frontier

Project Enterprise: Supersize TNG

9. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) This wasn't bad. But it felt more like a supersized TV show than an actual movie. A fine adventure for the Next Generation crew. But nothing special.

Overall: B- My husband came in toward the end and commented that this is the one where everyone seems like swingers. The Ba'ku don't quite strike me that way -- more like a slightly annoying New Age commune. And they are just way too clean for an agrarian society.

Plot: B+ This would have been one of the great TNG episodes on TV. For one thing they started out violating the Prime Directive -- one of their favorite things to do. For another, Fountain of Youth and all that. And a love interest for Picard is always nice. They went almost light enough on the comic relief, too. The only one who can really pull it off is Worf.

Costumes: B- Nothing new on the Starfleet side, the New Age Ba'ku have Renaissance Faire peasant garb. Which is way too clean. The So'Na's clothes are OK but nothing special.

Extra cast members: B F. Murray Abraham does his usual good job. He's no Ricardo Montalban, of course.  I was struck this time by Anthony Zerbe, playing Admiral Dougherty, don't know where I know him from.

F/X: B+ This is almost entirely for the skin stretching and stapling the So'Na go through -- gross! And new to the series.

Series ranking: 1. Wrath of Khan 2. First Contact 3. The Voyage Home 4. Insurrection. 5. Generations 6. The Undiscovered Country 7. The Search for Spock 8. The Motion Picture 9. The Final Frontier

Project Enterprise: Seeing Double

10. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)This movie is all about the doubles. Data's got a clone. Picard's got a clone. If I'm Riker or Geordie, I'm like hey how come I don't have a clone?

Overall: B Better than the last one. At least this felt like a movie, with some real scope and a big-screen villain. They should get docked, though, for calling the bad guys' ship a "scimitar."

Plot: B+ Doubles. B-4 is Data's "little brother." Shinzon is Picard's Romulan-engineered clone. All about mortality? Sure, why not? It worked for Wrath of Khan.

Costumes: B Romulans OK, Shinzon OK, Starfleet no change.

Extra cast members: A- Really only one but he's a good one -- Tom Hardy is Shinzon! And he's good, too -- way skinner than he is as Bane. But the same gravelly menacing voice.

F/X: B- Shinzon's deteriorating face isn't bad, but that's really all there is.

Series ranking: 1. Wrath of Khan 2. First Contact 3. The Voyage Home 4. Nemesis 5. Insurrection. 6. Generations 7. The Undiscovered Country 8. The Search for Spock 9. The Motion Picture 10. The Final Frontier