{"id":2134883,"date":"2025-11-04T16:35:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2134883"},"modified":"2025-11-04T16:35:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T16:35:12","slug":"legendary-film-critic-identified-star-treks-biggest-problem-over-four-decades-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/legendary-film-critic-identified-star-treks-biggest-problem-over-four-decades-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Legendary Film Critic Identified Star Trek\u2019s Biggest Problem Over Four Decades Ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Star Trek has infamously had a mixture of good and bad movies, giving rise to an old nerd adage that only the even-numbered ones are bad. Accordingly, fans love to debate what turns potentially good movies into stinkers, but one legendary film critic figured out Trek\u2019s biggest problem over four decades ago.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In his review of <em>The Wrath of Khan<\/em>, Roger Ebert declared that Ricardo Montalban\u2019s Khan \u201cgives Star Trek what it needed all along\u2026 a really colorful, interesting villain.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\"><strong>The Darth Vader Of Star Trek<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ebert continued to wax poetic about Montalban\u2019s character, calling him \u201cthe Darth Vader of Star Trek\u201d and reiterating that such an over-the-top villain was \u201cjust what they needed\u201d to make these movies interesting. At the time, the critic was mostly reacting to the fact that <em><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/topic\/star-trek\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Star Trek;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Star Trek<\/a>: The Motion Picture<\/em> (infamously dubbed \u201cthe motionless picture\u201d by haters) had no real villain, just a weird energy cloud that later turned out to be a space probe from Earth. All these decades later, though, Ebert\u2019s thesis has been proven right, and you can generally track how good a Trek movie will be by the quality of its villain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Obviously, we can all agree that Khan is a great villain, and <em>The Wrath of Khan<\/em> is awesome in large part due to how cool Montalban is in this role. Ebert\u2019s argument explains why <em>Star Trek III: The Search for <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/topic\/spock\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Spock;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Spock<\/a><\/em> is relatively lackluster: Christopher Lloyd\u2019s Klingon Commander Kruge is great at sitting around and chewing the scenery, but his menace mostly begins and ends with him pointing a disruptor at people. Simply put, that just can\u2019t compare to Khan, a guy who hijacked a Federation <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/topic\/starships\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:starship;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">starship<\/a> and nearly destroyed the Enterprise <strong>twice<\/strong>, including an attempt where he was going to kill both Kirk and himself out of sheer spite.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Admittedly, <em>Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home<\/em> is an anomaly in that the main villain has no personality and is a giant space probe that wants to bring some whales into the group chat. However, the real appeal of this fourth Trek film is that it brought our starfaring characters to the present day. This, plus the film\u2019s zippy humor, was enough to entertain casual audiences that normally wouldn\u2019t enjoy the usual genre trappings of a science fiction movie.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\"><strong>The Klingon Who Saved the Franchise<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"star trek plummer\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"495\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/pHyUnG_wXQATpAlhLv8pmA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTUyODtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/giant_freakin_robot_articles_628\/91592f7cd55d2380638fbe33dbe273ff\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>star trek plummer<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ebert\u2019s thesis is back in full swing with <em>Star Trek V: The Final Frontier<\/em>, which suffers from the fact that the villain (Spock\u2019s secret brother, no less) is a campy cult leader with mind-reading powers that make him seem more like a carnie conman than a legitimate threat. Fortunately, <em>Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country<\/em> ended the TOS movies on a high note with Christopher Plummer\u2019s General Chang, the coolest Klingon villain in the entire franchise. Whether he\u2019s trading Shakespeare-themed barbs across a dinner table or wrecking Kirk\u2019s ship with a ship that can fire while cloaked, he practically <strong>oozes<\/strong> malice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/scifi\/10-star-trek-generation-episodes.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:TNG;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">TNG<\/a> movies got something of a limp start with <em>Star Trek: Generations<\/em> because even a talented character actor like Malcolm McDowell couldn\u2019t overcome a bad script. His Big Bad (Dr. Soran) became a mass murderer just to get back to his happy place, which is as sad as it is weird when it comes to character motivations. <em>Star Trek: First Contact<\/em> turned things around by giving the fan-favorite Borg villains a killer Queen, a BDSM baddie whose sexuality was just one weapon she used to make the galaxy tremble in fear.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\"><strong>The TNG Movies Start Sucking Like The Vacuum Of Space<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"patrick stewart tom hardy\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"900\" height=\"509\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/oHO3oVdJQmPk5s6g_qTJTA--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MztjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/giant_freakin_robot_articles_628\/38eefa3ca07cac63b03e46f7c2ab62bc\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>patrick stewart tom hardy<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">After <em>First Contact<\/em>, it was no surprise that <em>Star Trek: Insurrection<\/em> failed. How excited could audiences really get about a villain obsessed with plastic surgery? Later, <em>Star Trek: Nemesis<\/em> tried to bite <em>Wrath of Khan<\/em>\u2019s style by making the villain a creepy clone of Picard and having the two play cat-and-mouse games in space. But this retread was insanely disappointing, and the only thing scary about this film\u2019s Big Bad is that bald Tom Hardy looks so skinny you just want to replicate him a few sizzling plates of space fajitas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">That brings us to the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/ent\/kelvinverse-star-trek-2009.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Kelvinverse;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Kelvinverse<\/a> movies, the first of which perfectly followed Ebert\u2019s advice to the letter. <em>Star Trek<\/em> (2009) was very captivating because Eric Bana gave his Romulan villain Nero the perfect combination of charisma and obsession. Even though he has very little screentime, he\u2019s perhaps the most memorable part of the film, which is a sure sign of a great villain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Ironically, <em>Star Trek: Into Darkness<\/em> failed to live up to Roger Ebert\u2019s franchise advice, even though they brought Khan back. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/topic\/benedict-cumberbatch\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Benedict Cumberbatch;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Benedict Cumberbatch<\/a> is acting his little British heart out here, but he can\u2019t change the fact that the script turned Khan into a generic supervillain with no real emotional connection to Kirk or anyone else. Comparatively, Idris Elba\u2019s villain in <em>Star Trek Beyond<\/em> is very compelling because of his connections to Starfleet, though that movie would have been better if those connections weren\u2019t revealed at the last possible minute.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"mb-4 text-lg font-bold\"><strong>Star Trek\u2019s Real Big Bad Revealed<\/strong><\/h3>\n<figure class=\"relative mb-4\">\n<div class=\"relative\"><img alt=\"khan star trek\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"542\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/8G1G5RNFBSHAnqMQZb36iw--\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MjtjZj13ZWJw\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/giant_freakin_robot_articles_628\/c87b33f2c7491cbf64a389d190d88378\"\/><button aria-label=\"View larger image\" class=\"group absolute bottom-3 right-3 size-10 md:size-[50px] lg:inset-0 lg:size-full lg:bg-transparent\" data-ylk=\"elm:expand;itc:1;sec:image-lightbox;slk:lightbox-open;\"><span class=\"absolute bottom-0 right-0 rounded-full bg-white p-3 opacity-100 shadow-elevation-3 transition-opacity duration-300 group-hover:block group-hover:opacity-100 md:p-[17px] lg:bottom-6 lg:right-6 lg:bg-white\/90 lg:p-5 lg:opacity-0 lg:shadow-none\"><svg viewbox=\"0 0 22 22\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"size-4 lg:size-6\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\"><path d=\"M12.372.92c0-.506.41-.916.915-.916L21 0l-.004 7.712a.917.917 0 0 1-1.832 0V3.183l-6.827 6.828-1.349-1.348 6.828-6.828h-4.529a.915.915 0 0 1-.915-.915M1.835 17.816l6.828-6.828 1.349 1.349-6.829 6.827h4.529a.915.915 0 0 1 0 1.831L0 21l.004-7.713a.916.916 0 0 1 1.831 0z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/button><dialog aria-label=\"Modal Dialog\" aria-modal=\"true\" class=\"fixed inset-0 z-4 size-full max-h-none max-w-none bg-white hidden\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"relative text-sm mt-1 pr-2.5\">\n<p>khan star trek<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">For years, I was one of those Star Trek fans who lamented the movies always focusing on supervillains, and I grew to appreciate films like <em>The Motion Picture<\/em> and even <em>Insurrection<\/em> for what they were: big-budget TV episodes. But there\u2019s no denying that Ebert was right and that a Trek movie will not be able to achieve breakout, blockbuster success unless they have a villain as cool as Ricardo Montalban\u2019s Khan. If <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"link \" href=\"https:\/\/www.giantfreakinrobot.com\/topic\/paramount-2\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Paramount;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\">Paramount<\/a> can\u2019t make it happen for the next big movie (the first film since the merger with Skydance), then it\u2019s fair to say that the true villain of the greatest sci-fi franchise in the world isn\u2019t Khan, the Borg Queen, or Nero.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Instead, it\u2019s the brainless executives who can\u2019t figure out how to replicate the successful movie blueprint their own studio figured out over 40 years ago!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Star Trek has infamously had a mixture of good and bad movies, giving rise to an old nerd adage that only the even-numbered ones are bad. Accordingly, fans love to debate what turns potentially good movies into stinkers, but one legendary film critic figured out Trek\u2019s biggest problem over four decades ago. In his review [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2011797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[321790,368053,375099,319398,406519],"class_list":["post-2134883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-darth-vader","tag-ricardo-montalban","tag-roger-ebert","tag-star-trek","tag-the-wrath-of-khan"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Star-Treks-Latest-Is-the-Most-Exciting-Franchise-Development-In.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2134883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2134884,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2134883\/revisions\/2134884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2011797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2134883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2134883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2134883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}