I grew up with the Star Trek<\/i> series. When I was six years old and living with my family in Poland in the mid-1970s, three of my favorite and most-read books were the David C. Cook Picture Bible<\/i>, C.S. Lewis\u2019s The Chronicles of Narnia<\/i>, and Stephen E. Whitfield\u2019s The Making of Star Trek<\/a><\/i>, which covers the first two seasons of the original TV show. (I wondered sometimes what Mister Spock, with his emphasis on logic, would make of Lewis\u2019s logic-based arguments for the Resurrection, etc.)<\/p>\n I watched the show in re-runs and saw the first film in the theatre, with my dad, when I was nine years old. On the way home, my dad got me a Star Trek<\/i>-themed Happy Meal<\/a> at McDonald\u2019s, and I believe I still have the box and the comic-strip communicator that came with it, somewhere in storage. I was in grade six when Spock died, grade nine when he came back to life, and grade twelve when Kirk & company went back in time to save the whales. I was in my first (and only) year of Bible school when Star Trek: The Next Generation<\/i> premiered in 1987 \u2014 there were lots of Star Trek<\/i> fans there \u2014 and I was half-way through getting my bachelor\u2019s degree at UBC when the cast of the original series filmed their last movie together in 1991.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until after<\/i> the original cast had hung up their phasers that I began writing for the student newspapers, and, by the time Star Trek: Generations<\/i> came out in November 1994, I had been editing the entertainment section of one of those papers for about a month or two. So the few articles I have written about the series as a professional critic have focused on the later movies \u2014 the ones with Captain Picard and, now, the ones set in the alternate timeline created by J.J. Abrams.<\/p>\n However, I also revisited several of the films as they were released in special two-disc DVD sets over a decade ago. In my posts on those DVDs, I looked at a couple of the original-crew movies, but I also looked at a few of the next-generation movies \u2014 and it\u2019s interesting to see how my responses to those films changed over time.<\/p>\n Here, then, are links to all of my articles about the Star Trek<\/i> films, as well as some of the key blog posts in which I have revisited these films in a more informal way.<\/p>\n And now, tonight, Star Trek Beyond<\/i> comes to theatres. I have not seen it yet, but I hope to have something to say about it in the very near future.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A look back at how I have reviewed the first twelve Star Trek<\/i> films, either during their original theatrical releases or during their special-edition DVD re-releases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[78,79,473,1141,80,1124,969,481,81,884,971,1120,82],"class_list":["post-50033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-star-trek","tag-star-trek-2009","tag-star-trek-first-contact","tag-star-trek-generations","tag-star-trek-ii-the-wrath-of-khan","tag-star-trek-iii-the-search-for-spock","tag-star-trek-insurrection","tag-star-trek-into-darkness","tag-star-trek-iv-the-voyage-home","tag-star-trek-nemesis","tag-star-trek-the-motion-picture","tag-star-trek-v-the-final-frontier","tag-star-trek-vi-the-undiscovered-country"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"startrekiv-thevoyagehome-a\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/227\/2016\/07\/startrekiv-thevoyagehome-a-1024x342.jpg\")
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\nNo reviews, per se<\/i>, though I did devote the first part<\/a> of a 2013 series on \u2018Music for Klingons\u2019 to this film\u2019s composer, Jerry Goldsmith. I also wrote a blog post in March 2010 on a curious parallel<\/a> between the this film and The Black Hole<\/i>, which came out around the same time and had a different-but-similar ending.\n<\/li>
\nNo reviews, per se<\/i>, though I did post something in November 2002 on the film\u2019s depiction of the parallel deaths of Khan and Spock<\/a>. I also posted something in May 2009 about glass doors and the loneliness of Kirk<\/a>.\n<\/li>
\nNo reviews, per se<\/i>, though I did devote the second part<\/a> of my series on \u2018Music for Klingons\u2019 to this film\u2019s composer, James Horner.\n<\/li>
\nNo reviews, per se<\/i>, though I did discuss it in a June 2009 blog post on the way that films like this and Toy Story 2<\/i> can sometimes serve as time capsules<\/a> in their depiction of the technology that was current at the time of their release.\n<\/li>
\nI posted some comments on the two-disc \u201ccollector\u2019s edition\u201d<\/a> in October 2003.\n<\/li>
\nI posted some comments on the two-disc \u201ccollector\u2019s edition\u201d<\/a> in January 2004. I also devoted the third part<\/a> of my series on \u2018Music for Klingons\u2019 to this film\u2019s composer, Cliff Eidelman.\n<\/li>
\nMy original review<\/a> of this film was one of the first movie reviews that I wrote for the student newspaper \u2014 and I\u2019m afraid it reflects the typical newbie\u2019s belief that you need to use big words to sound impressive. I am also struck by the fact that I skewed rather positive on the film, overall, at least in relation to the last few seasons of The Next Generation<\/i> \u2014 I even called it \u201ceverything the TV show should have been, plus a little extra\u201d \u2014 whereas when I commented on the two-disc \u201ccollector\u2019s edition\u201d<\/a> a decade later, I called the film \u201ca wasted opportunity\u201d.\n<\/li>
\nInstead of a regular review for the student newspaper, I wrote more of a theme piece looking at the film\u2019s use of gender stereotypes<\/a>. Several years later, I posted some comments on the two-disc \u201ccollector\u2019s edition\u201d<\/a> in May 2005.\n<\/li>
\nThis was the first Star Trek<\/i> movie to come out after I had left school for good, and again, instead of writing a regular review, I wrote a piece for a local magazine that looked at this movie\u2019s approach to absolute morality<\/a>. A fair chunk of the article concerns Mike Hertenstein\u2019s book The Double Vision of Star Trek<\/i>, which I also reviewed<\/a> for the local Christian community newspaper. Several years later, I posted some comments on the two-disc \u201ccollector\u2019s edition\u201d<\/a> in June 2005.\n<\/li>
\nNo reviews, per se<\/i>, though I did post some hasty comments<\/a> after my one-and-only theatrical viewing of the film.\n<\/li>
\nJ.J. Abrams\u2019 first Star Trek<\/i> film was one of the last films I reviewed<\/a> for Christianity Today Movies. I also blogged the rumours about this film extensively, for the full three years it was in development and production, but there are too many posts to link to here. That being said, do check out this post<\/a> from December 2009, on the various actors who have played Spock over the years.\n<\/li>
\nI wrote a few posts about this film before it came out, but the main things to read are my first impressions<\/a> and my second thoughts<\/a> on the film. I also wrote a post on the whitewashing of Khan Noonien Singh<\/a>, a vaguely South Asian character who was played by Mexican actor Ricardo Montalban in the original series and is played by the very British Benedict Cumberbatch in this film.<\/li><\/ul>\n