9. Star Trek
Despite pioneering modern sci-fi film and TV, Star Trek hasn’t been able to fully shake its long-standing reputation as “the nerd franchise”.
Star Trek‘s less action-packed focus hasn’t always lent itself particularly well to the big screen, with the original Star Trek film franchise being generally regarded as two decent films among a number of others that would have served better as TV movies. Still, in 2009, J.J. Abrams came along and revived Star Trek for modern audiences.
The Star Trek reboot movies were established in a separate timeline, allowing for them to make homages to the beloved original series without being trapped by its substantial continuity, and the iconic roles of Captain James T. Kirk, Commander Spock, and the rest of the USS Enterprise‘s crew were recast to be played by younger stars to add a little star power to proceedings.
There have been three of these reboot films so far, with a fourth dancing at the gates of development hell. So far, they’ve all met with some critical success, with only the most recent, Star Trek Beyond, disappointing at the box office. Despite this, the Star Trek film franchise’s reputation is as low as it’s ever been, and it deserves far better.
With such iconic source material and such a potentially large audience of sci-fi lovers, Star Trek deserves far better than it gets. The reboot film’s reframing of the story to allow for more action is a refreshing take on the more traditional aspects of Star Trek, and it’s one that should appeal to fans new and old – but somehow, the Star Trek franchise remains as underrated as ever.