The Best One… 

" Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels,his was the most.......Human." one if the best movie lines ever.

Shatner always gets castigated for ham acting, but Shatner, Nimoy and Montalban give three of the best performances ever seen in a cinema.

Kirk's voice cracking has more emotional heft than a dozen other so-called "emotional" scenes

A masterpiece. Themes of ageing, obsessive revenge, loss, and rebirth. Expertly crammed into a tight brilliantly scripted film with beloved characters. They don't make them like they used to. Shatner delivers his best work here especially the Engine room scene and the funeral.

Not just the best trek film, it truly is one of the greatest films of all time.

I went to university with a foreign student named Kahn. One night we lost track of him while bar hopping, and one of our buddies started yelling 'Kaaaaaahhhhhnnn!' Kirk style in the middle of the downtown hub.

More than 40 years later, it's still the best trek film.

A friend of mine and I went to see this movie. We were originally going to have lunch after the movie, but were both shaken and saddened by the death of Spock we both decided to call it a day. The day after, we met again to talk about the film and discovered just how much that film really impacted us.

This is still one of the great opening night moviegoing experiences I've had. The audience was ready for the Trek movie they'd hoped The Motion Picture would be. In the moments after the simulation, we get McCoy being a wiseguy, Kirk and Spock being friends ("Happy Birthday")--we knew our TV pals were back. When the Enterprise is hit by Reliant's phasers, the whole audience was like, "HOLY SHIT!" It felt like our heroes were REALLY in trouble. At that point, Enterprise had never been hurt like that. This was one of Kirk's toughest situations--which of course is what the whole Kobiyashi Maru subtext is about.

The consensus in 2009 was that the Star Trek reboot was a fun one-off. We had no idea that it was going to influence all of Star Trek moving forward.

The Wrath of Kahn probably has Shatner's best performance in anything he's done.

Wrath of Khan got a late August rerelease in Canada that summer. I lived in a small town but when I went I was still amazed to find I had the entire theatre to myself! Just me and the big screen watching that fantastic movie. It's something I'll never forget. 😎

Definitely the best one! Nicholas Meyer was the best thing to ever happen within the franchise. Montalban was an unforgettable as a villain.

The ending with Spocks voice over always makes me cry. It’s so powerful.

“He tasks me….he tasks me and I shall have him….”

What got me the most of this movie was the soundscape. The music was superb, the timing is perfect, it makes the story more real, visceral, and emotional. It is what moved me.

Undiscovered Country will always have a special place in my heart as it was the best one I saw in theaters as a kid and is nearly as good as Wrath in terms of writing, directing and acting. But nothing beats Montoblan and Shatner who were both so individually masterful and played off each other perfectly despite not having a scene together.

Kirk: KHAAAAAN!!!! Khan: (evilgasm)

Thanks for this one. This is one of my top 5 favorite films of all time, and anyone who thinks Shatner can't act should watch this film over again. His, "No" When Spock closes his eyes makes me tear up every time, as does his speech at the funeral.

I wish Nicholas Myer had directed The Force Awakens and had a hand in production and screenplay, the point being that film was actually made by a guy who proclaimed to be a huge Star Wars fan and understood how to make those films great when he made two of them absolutely terrible, whereas Myer would have just made a belter. Wrath Of Khan is a masterpiece.

Star TMP is a sublime work of art, but the trilogy was a proper epic.

BTW, The Wrath of Khan has an outstanding score done by the late James Horner. I just happened to be listening to it last night. Good timing, Dave!

This remains my favorite film from all ten pre-revisionist installments. Only First Contact managed to effectively repeat displaying the same level of narrative strength. I think the big key in both was the 'personal' nature of issues being faced by the lead characters--Kirk's mid-life crisis, and Picard's PTSD. When there is some kind of universal personal theme the audience can connect with, it makes such stories feel much more compelling. But in a franchise run, this is a kind of peak that can only be visited a few times. After that, it becomes a weak derivative contrivance. The cerebral problems of the first film were a little like the problems in the original pilot, The Cage. This explains the need for a second pilot. As science fiction fans, we love world-building and allegories exploring thought exercises and current issues. But at the same time, this IP needed to break out to a broader audience. Bringing in such tight writing that addresses universal issues along with both external and internal drivers for the characters was the stroke of genius it needed. I'm not sure the franchise would have received a second shot had this film been perceived as weaker than The Motion Picture.

I wasn't around in the Sixties during Trek's initial TV run. But as a kid in the Eighties, TWOK was my introduction to Star Trek. It's been my absolute favorite film ever since. Interesting side note: This is the only film from the original run of films to depict the Enterprise firing phasers, for some reason.

I had the privilege of seeing Start Trek: The Wrath of Khan in a theater in late summer 2022. It was a Fandom Events showing for the 40th anniversary of the film at theaters around the country. I got to take my Wife and adult daughters and a friend to see it. It was quite an experience being there with my family to see my favorite Scifi film of all time. Not to mention being in a theater full of tried and true Star Trek fans. I, like them, have seen the movie probably many many dozens of times since 1982 on various forms of media. But nothing beat seeing it on the big screen, surrounded by fellow fans. And yes, my family thoroughly enjoyed it.

Best uniforms, best villain, best music.

I saw TWOK when it was in theaters in July of 1982 . . .I was 13 and thought I'd seen the most powerful film ever made, given how absolutely gutted I was about Spock's death. Two years later, I'd experience the same revelation with the demise of the original Enterprise, an event of similar emotional gravity. Good times.

Although I consider The Motion Picture as my favourite, I still absolutely love this film - an absolute masterclass in sci-fi that is rarely (or never) equalled. The eulogy Kirk gives at Spock's funeral still chokes me up :)

I've heard that Nimoy himself originally wanted to die in this movie. It wasn't until later that he saw that this movie could be a spring board for far better ST movies and wanted/agreed that he should be brought back.

Went with a friend to see this in the theater in '82. I wasn't really a Trek fan going in, but I was when I left the theater!

When McCoy tells Kirk over the com "that he better get down here... better hurry," and then Kirk looks over at Spock's empty seat, that almost gets me as much as the following scene in the engine room. Kirk knows Spock so well. Kirk knows that Spock would risk his life for the ship. And DeForest's voice.... all of it kills me every time, just as it always has. So well done.

Wrath of Kahn is amazing. The first Trek movie I got to see in the theater as a child of seven years. And the first movie that made me cry when Spock died. A masterwork of Sci-Fi.

Yes, you covered it all to a T. When I was a kid seeing this in the cinema for the first time I was annoyed with Kirk. Why was he moping around? How much longer till he gets out in space and starts fighting something? What is he all moody about? Then when it did kick off I was transfixed, and finally distraught that Spock died. He cant be dead! He is one of the heros!!! The good guys in Trek always win!!! And so on. It really stuck with me. Its not until I hit 50 myself that I finally understood the mood Kirk was in. It really resonated with me. I am glad someone else finally noted that Shatner gives the best performance of Kirk ever in this movie. He goes through it all, and is not over the top. You can see him struggle and think things out and turn his experience to his advantage. When I finally got my ex wife to watch a Trek film with me, some years ago it was this one we picked. And she was hooked in the first half hour, never expecting Trek to be this good....

The Wrath of Khan is one of only a few movies that I can watch again and again without ever getting tired. There's a distinct lack of action, with only 2 ships engaged in 2 fairly brief space battles, but given modern Hollywood's trend for swarms of CGI models blowing each other up, it's all the better for it. It's great action, because we care about what's happening and we feel the tension. It's an absolute masterpiece an deserves the praise it receives. 👍🖖

The funeral scene in the torpedo bay, with Kirk's simple eulogy, is one of the most heartfelt scenes I have ever seen in sci-fi. "Of all the souls I have encountered, his was the most...human."

At 3:51 With respect, the sentiment of a strife between the military and the scientists in Starfleet is also very well expresses in the novel "Star Trek Federation" by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens, a book I would recommend anyone interested in both scifi and/or Star Trek in particular to read!

You mentioned the introduction of the whistle. I just like to point out that it was first used in the Star Trek episode where President Lincoln and Genghis Khan appeared in TOS. Another great video of yours by the way, great commentary and it's nice to hear your insights and all the history you bring to these reviews. Keep it up!

Great review of the absolutely best Trek movie. Coincidentally, I just watched this last week (along with "Space Seed") with my daughter and had fun pointing out the Melville references. She was shocked and impressed with how it ended. Minor correction for future reference: Boatswain is pronounced "bosun".

"Commanding A Starship Is Your First, Best Destiny. Anything Else Is A Waste Of Material." Easily the BEST of Star Trek movie, Montalbano was a fantastic villain, Kristie Alley was very beautiful and the main Star Trek cast were at their A-game.

Wrath of Khan remains my favorite Trek movie, w/ The Undiscovered Country and First Contact both vying for runner up. All three movies are just fantastic in storytelling, suspense, and character building

I'd genuinely like to see you cover the 3 Kelvin Trek movies. Not just to see you eviscerate them, but to see a critical analysis from your POV.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. I remember seeing it in theaters as a 10 year old kid and being blown away. I even went and created a fanfic comic book where instead of dying from the radiation blast Spock turns into a Hulk. That’s right. Spock Hulk. Very logical and very angry. Great review! Thanks!

As a kid i ADORED Star Trek: TOS & had nothing but contempt for TNG (except for The Best of Both Worlds which I loved), and this was the first TOS movie I ever saw. I watched it one night on tv and remember eagerly talking about it with other kids at school -- every one who had seen it was changed by that film.

It seems a criminal lapse in stellar cartography that when they counted out six planets _Reliant_ somehow ended up on the fifth. It really ought to have been Ceti Alpha IV that _Reliant_ was trying for and had gone boom.

Don’t trip at the finish line man! Do that last one. You’re tripping everyone’s OCD!

Just mentioning the end of that movie brings tears to my eyes. Dave, great review.

I just watched this a couple of days ago with my oldest daughter--it was her first time seeing it. This, after finishing the entire original series--also a first time for her. This movie is just so good, and she really enjoyed seeing the original Star Trek in all of its former glory. It is an absolute travesty what Paramount is doing by trying to memory-hole Captain Kirk, easily the greatest captain in the history of the Federation. See this really makes me angry and absolutely contemptuous of the people who now control and defile these once-great IPs. I sincerely hope these activists get the comeuppance they so richly deserve!

"'Revenge is a dish best served with pinto beans and muffins." Ricardo Montalban

I went to see the 40th anniversary of this film. And! I still felt like that little boy who first saw it on his parent’s home tv. I’ll always love this film Can’t wait to show it to my kids one day!

This is a masterpiece….. thanks for the memories Dave and for your thoughts. Spot on as usual..

I grew up with Star Trek:TOS so I sill get emotional watching Spock's death scene to this day...

Ricardo Montalban hams it up outrageously as Khan in this movie - to the point of being comical. But it's all good! A great Star Trek movie. The scene where Kahn disables the Enterprise with a surprise attack - and then Kirk turns the tables on him - is brilliant.

it has always been the best - always will be

A great extension of ST-TOS into the movies. It revived ST. One minor quibble. Boatswain is pronounced “boh-sun”. Otherwise I thoroughly enjoy your videos.

What I learnt from Wrath of Kahn... When stranded on a planet, you'll run out of food before you run out of hairspray.😮

The use of Holst's "The Planets" during the nebula fight is genius. One of my all time favorite movies. It's a great story that happens to be Star Trek IMO.

I love what they did with the costumes and redress of the Enterprise bridge. I mean, it made it more militaristic in style and scope. I mean, this was submarines in space. However, Star Trek 4 is superior. A true fish out of water story and the other bridge crew got actual work to do.

As well as being the best of the Trek movies, it also has the best soundtrack of arguably any movie! Even after all these years, I can still listen to the music and know exactly what would be happening on the screen. not many musical scores can achieve that.

I agree that TWOK is the best of the Trek films. So glad I have it now on Bku Ray. But STTMP, despite it's flaws is still my favorite Trek film especially now after the 4K restoration.

This is my favorite film! The sad moment between Spock and Kirk always makes me cry.

Star Trek 6 - The Undiscovered Country is a great send-off of the original crew, ending gets me emotional every time.

Deep Space 9, Season 1, episode 19, called Duets is one of the best episodes ever. It is Star Trek's version of Silence of the Lambs

The best scifi battling Submarines movie ever made

An amazing & unforgettable film, a true classic.

Saw it in the theater in 1982. Loved it then. Appreciate it even more now.

This film gave Captain Kirk his greatest nemesis in Khan.

This is one of my favourite Star Trek movies, along with Undiscovered Country (another Nick Meyer directed film) and First Contact. But I was always baffled how a device to terraform a planet also gained that planet a sun, LOL :D

I saw it in a theater. I've rewatched it many times. The scene with the "slugs" still haunts me. This is one of my favorite ST films, and possibly Montalban's best performance.

Even better than the KHAN! line was Montalban's lead up... Especially the final "Buried alive... Buried alive..." Always chills my bones. It was what he thought would be his final dig at Kirk, which got the reaction he wanted.

Horner's score is fantastic

My mother's favorite line that I can't help but think of every damn time. "Can I cook, or can't I?"

What they did with only $12 million. Is simply amazing. It proves...a good story is priceless.

This is one of my favourite films of all time. Seen it more times than I can remember - and if I hear even a few seconds of the score I can see the scene in my head. WoK explores both very personal and cosmic themes. The story, pacing, effects and performances are top notch. Spock's death gets me every time

The nautical theme extends to the James Horner score, which you could play behind "Master and Commander" or any old footage of a great sailing ship heading off on a great voyage or going to war and it would be appropriate. The music for arriving at the Enterprise just makes me think of sails unfurling and sailors climbing up into the rigging, etc.

The planet in the Genesis animation is orbiting the star Epsilon indie which is 12 light years away. Near the end of the animation you can see the big dipper, but with one additional star. That star is our sun.

One of my favorite cinema moments is when they use the prefix code to lower Reliant’s shields, and Kirk says, “Here it comes.” The music, Khan’s reaction. It was perfect.

Such an absolute work of art. It's an amazing movie, not just a good Star Trek movie

How was this film not nominated for any Oscars?!

Star Trek The Wrath of Khan is still one of THE best Trek movies(or science fiction for that matter)ever produced, and still holds up rather well. Even though some of the effects don't, but can be overlooked, due to the great story and Ricardo Montalban's and William Shatner's excellent performance!

I watched this last night (for about the 25th time). Even though I'm in my mid 50s, this is one of the films that makes me want to take to the internet and order a model of the Enterprise. Stop me!

You should definitely do the 2009 film to finish the whole series.

EVERYTHING about Wrath of Khan just works! The space battles "feel real"! With a sense of "impact" when weapons hit the vessels. (more like old naval war footage than modern day CGI shlock) The (intentionally) comically over-the-top "KHAN!" by Kirk. (attempting to fool Khan into believing he is hopeless and despairing instead of two hours away from rescue) The death of Spock. (which still causes my eyes to well up) I WILL agree with Roddenberry that some aspects DO veer away from the utopian vision of the Federation. (the scientist suspicion of Starfleet and all) But I don't consider that a BAD thing. His "total utopia", while "feel good" is just a little TOO naive & "inhuman". If we aren't even capable of distrust or other negative emotions, we cease to be "human". We become automatons with SMILES painted on our faces! A flourishing, NEAR utopia is GREAT & hopeful. (where "societal" problems are completely gone) But a "total" utopia? (Where even "individual" problems CAN'T exist?) Just can't exist in reality. (IMO)

When Harve Bennett was given the job of producing the movie, the first thing he did (since he never watched the original series) was he rented a screening-room, sat down and watched every episode of the entire original series in the original order, from beginning to end. And as he watched, he made notes about the strongest, best elements of the series, those that (in his opinion) worked best, as well as the weaknesses to avoid, and the elements that had potential for further development. And these notes were ultimately utilized in the production of the final film, which is one huge reason it was so satisfying & did the best job, in the opinions of many, of capturing the feel of the original. It's the kind of "doing your homework" dedication that the current show-runners of modern "Trek" can't apparently be bothered with, and the difference definitely shows in the end-result of their work.

Still looks great after 42 years,Meyer saved the franchise.A great movie about Mid Life crisis too.

What was stunning about these movies was Khan, Search and Voyage, though being separate entities, followed on from each other in such a beautiful way. I know The Undiscovered Country is a nice send off. But the end of Voyage Home is a victory punch to the air.

Talk about it being quotable. Montalban doing his little speech of 'I've done far worse than kill you, I've hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you.' so underrated!

R. Montalban BASED badguy! Legendary! An equal to the Legacy Enterprise crew!

I feel like Ricardo Montalban should of been a much bigger star - he was always awesome in every role I saw him in.

I will say that hardly a day goes by where I don't directly quote this film. Just yesterday, I said, "This is damn peculiar." Sometimes it's just something small like that. Sometimes I roll-out the Klingon proverb...

"From hell's heart and needs of the many" are quotes I use all the time.

The completionist in me says yes to reviewing 2009 Star Trek.

A great review for a truly great movie. Very Shakespearian in its passions and intimations as some Shakespearian moments are not only verbally stated, but are in the very plot itself, as with Discretion being the better part of valor and - A man can die but once, which does not become apparent until The Search For Spock. They don’t make them like this anymore. We have seen better days.

Truly cinematic - the camera actually capturing stuff rather than a cgi point of reference pseudo camera zooming around a shite-scape as per more recent trek, marvel and dc. The grandeur and elegance of the slow external shots of the spacecraft and starbases from these early films will never leave me. And are why I’ll always be a Trekkie at heart.

My favorite as well. In the director's cut, the young man that Scotty carried to the Enterprise's bridge was his nephew. It explains why all are saddened by that.

The "remake" of this film made me appreciate it even more. We went to see the 30th anniversary showing in the theater. Still holds up so well. Ricardo mantelban absolutely steals the show.

The ending always gets to me. I tear up every time. Kirk avoided the idea of death by cheating on the test. But he couldn’t cheat this time. Such a great movie

The pacing and plot progression are phenomenal, with great character development and themes. No messages, just cleverly interwoven themes. The director was able to get great performances out of his actors! Also, the antagonist's motivations make sense and are engaging. I don't remember him killing any of his own crew, either. It isn't perfect because nothing can be (character we don't know, dies to show us the threat "redshirt", character we do know miraculously freed of threat and kept alive. BUT I will say that makes Spock's turn all the more and impactful! So, even this device is used for a benefit!)

I missed seeing ST2 in theaters but was thrilled to see it for the 40th anniversary last year on a 20' screen! I never tire of it! ♥

When Kirk looks at the monitor, just before they order Reliant to lower her shields so the Enterprise can blast her and says in a very understated manner, "Here it comes." is one of the coolest lines in any movie and delivered perfectly by Shatner.

RIP Ricardo Montalban. Memorable sci fi and fantasy roles. Armando in Planet of the Apes. Khan in Star Trek. And of course, Mr. Rourke in Fantasy Island. They don’t make them like they used to.