Star Trek movie curse
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Star Trek movie curse is an apparent curse on odd-numbered Star Trek films that dooms them to poor reception in terms of drawing power and/or critical opinion. In contrast, even-numbered Trek films seemingly "can do no wrong" in either department.[1]
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan was critically lauded over Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which had been considered somewhat disappointing. Thus, Star Trek II was credited with "launching" the Star Trek franchise as a reliable movie platform at the box office.[citation needed] After the success of STII, subsequent odd-numbered installments either fared poorly financially, critically, or both. A conservative definition of "the curse" states that it only refers to the Trek films that included a number in the title, one through six, after which Trek films were no longer numbered. However, "the curse" is still somewhat apparent: Star Trek: Generations (movie #7) and Star Trek: Insurrection (movie #9) were considered to be poor outings critically, while Star Trek: First Contact (movie #8) was well-received critically and earned the largest gross of any Star Trek movie. However, Star Trek: Nemesis, the even-numbered tenth installment, seemingly "broke" the curse, as it was widely panned and performed poorly in revenue. Nemesis has been credited with killing future theatre installments of Star Trek as well. As a result of Nemesis, some have half-seriously proposed a corallary to "the curse": odd numbered Star Trek films, or Trek films which are a multiple of 5 will be bad.[citation needed]
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock is also considered something of an outlier and not as "bad" a film as its odd-numbered cousins. Its adherence to the continuity from previous storylines and darker content (including the themes of death and rebirth) are given respect. Also, its place in Trek history is also considered more relevant than Star Trek V: The Final Frontier or Star Trek: Insurrection, as it sees the destruction of the original USS Enterprise, and introduces the USS Excelsior, events that would become milestones in the franchise mythology. Also, while receiving poor critical reviews, Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a financial success at the box office, and has enjoyed a new appreciation due to the Director's Cut DVD release of 1999.
[edit] Critical and popular reception table
| Title | Avg. Score | # Sources | World Gross (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: The Motion Picture | 5.9 [1] | 20 | 139,000,000 |
| Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan | 8.3 [2] | 27 | 97,000,000 |
| Star Trek III: The Search for Spock | 6.2 [3] | 27 | 87,000,000 |
| Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home | 7.0 [4] | 27 | 133,000,000 |
| Star Trek V: The Final Frontier | 4.0 [5] | 30 | 71,000,000 |
| Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country | 6.6 [6] | 34 | 97,000,000 |
| Star Trek: Generations (7) | 5.5 [7] | 29 | 120,000,000 |
| Star Trek: First Contact (8) | 7.5 [8] | 33 | 150,000,000 |
| Star Trek: Insurrection (9) | 5.9 [9] | 51 | 118,000,000 |
| Star Trek: Nemesis (10) | 5.2 [10] | 138 | 67,000,000 |
The average of the odd movie averages is 5.5; the average of the even movies is 6.92. Excluding Nemesis, the average of the even movies is 7.38.
[edit] References
- Rotten Tomatoes
- Star Trek sales chart, one source for box office information
- ^ Ebert, Roger (1994-11-18). Star Trek: Generations review. Retrieved on 2007-03-20. “...even down to and including its curious tradition that the even-numbered movies tend to be better than the odd-numbered ones.”
|
|
|
|---|---|
| Television series | The Original Series (Eps)· The Animated Series (Eps)· The Next Generation (Eps) · Deep Space Nine (Eps)· Voyager (Eps) · Enterprise (Eps) |
| TOS-era Feature films | The Motion Picture · The Wrath of Khan · The Search for Spock · The Voyage Home · The Final Frontier · The Undiscovered Country · Star Trek (planned release 2008) |
| TNG-era Feature films | Generations · First Contact · Insurrection · Nemesis |
