There are a lot of strange theories about the Star Trek franchise, and some are so out there that they border on superstitions. One of the biggest Star Trek superstitions for years has to do with an alleged pattern to the good vs. bad content that comes from the franchise. Well, 34 years ago, one Star Trek movie hit theaters, which convinced a generation of fans that there was no more room for doubt about whether or not you could predict which Star Trek movies were going to be good, and which ones were going to be bad.
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Star Trek’s Even vs. Odd Movie Theory
There’s been a long-running theory that only even-numbered Star Trek movies are the “good” ones. It started back with the first trilogy of films, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984). Wrath of Khan was such a standout achievement compared to the first film, and The Search for Spock is still one of the oddest choices for a sequel, ever. That started the superstition (joke?) that Star Trek can only get right on the even-numbered installments, and the rest of the Star Trek movies didn’t help to discourage the idea.
After The Search for Spock came Star Trek: The Voyage Home (1986), which was one of the most unexpected and surprising concepts for a Star Trek story, on the big or small screen. It’s sci-fi tale of time travel and environmental conservation (saving the whales!) made it one of the most acclaimed Star Trek films (including four Oscar nominations), as well as a box office hit ($133 million against a budget of $20+ million. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier quickly squandered those gains: it went from achieving the highest opening of any Star Trek film to crashing and burning with both critics and audiences, ultimately earning just $63 million at the box office. There were rumors that Final Frontier‘s performance was so bad, it almost stalled the entire franchise.
Star Trek VI Was A Comeback Hit (And Proved the Theory Right)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was released in theaters on December 6, 1991. It managed to surpass the opening weekend record set by The Final Frontier, and did much better with both critics and viewers, ultimately earning $96.8 million at the box office. However, more importantly for a lot of fans, The Undiscovered Country both revitalized the Star Trek movie brand and closed out the era of the Original Series cast’s time in the movies. The sixth film also cemented the pattern of odd movies being bad, and the even ones being necessary course-corrections. It was pretty much indisputable.
Star Trek: The Next Generation would take over the movie franchise with the release of Star Trek Generations in 1991, and those superstitious fans would get a whole new era of validation (for the most part). Generations was seen as a misstep (despite the “event” of Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) teaming up; First Contact (1996) was a revered and Oscar-nominated sci-fi time travel story about the Borg and the milestone of warp speed travel; Insurrection (1998) was the directorial effort of Next Generation star Jonathan Frakes and felt like an extened TV episode, while Nemesis (2002) remains the most divisive installment, with some fans wanting to include it in Star Trek’s even numbers club, while others insist that Nemesis is the film that breaks the pattern entirely. And looking at the J.J. Abrams era of Star Trek films (which began in 2009), it’s hard to argue the pattern of even and odd numbers still applies at all.
You can stream all of the Star Trek movies on Paramount+, and test the pattern out for yourself.
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Image courtesy of Iron Gate and Coffee Stain
