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After the lackluster critical response to the first film, series creator Gene Roddenberry was forced out of the sequel's production. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is everything the first film wasn't, to put it in simple terms, it's entertaining. The writing is also much better, with every single character actually acting like themselves. The banter between Kirk, Spock and Bones, their scenes together feel like their scenes together back in the Original Series and not like Motion Picture, which is a good thing. Nicholas Meyer's (the director) approach to the sequel and its plot leans more into the atmosphere of the original series than its predecessor. Although the budget isn't as big as the previous film, I would say the film makes it up through the writing and performances along with direction. The production team used various cost-cutting techniques to keep within budget, including using miniature models from past projects and reusing sets, effects footage, and costumes from the first film. Jack B. Sowards wrote the screenplay. Harve Bennett contributed to the story.

The film's premise: With the assistance of the Enterprise crew, Admiral Kirk must stop an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, from using the life-generating Genesis Device as the ultimate weapon.

The Wrath of Khan's cast includes all the major characters from the original television series, as well as new actors and characters. William Shatner as James T. Kirk, Ricardo Montalbán as Khan Noonien Singh, Leonard Nimoy as Spock, DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy, James Doohan as Montgomery Scott, George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov and Nichelle Nichols as Uhura. The new actors and characters include: Bibi Besch as Carol Marcus, the lead scientist working on Project Genesis, and the mother of Kirk's son. Merritt Butrick as David Marcus, a Project Genesis scientist and Kirk's son. Paul Winfield as Clark Terrell, the captain of Reliant. Kirstie Alley as Saavik, Spock's protege and a Starfleet commander-in-training aboard Enterprise, she's of Vulcan-Romulan heritage. Judson Scott as Joachim, Khan's chief henchman.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan starts off with the reintroduction to Admiral Kirk on his birthday along with the rest of cast, then we follow Pavel Chekov and starship Reliant on a mission where Chekov meets Khan. It's a meeting full of suspense, where Ricardo Montalbán gives once again an incredible performance as Khan Noonien Singh, an even better performance than in the Original Series. The film is set 15 years after "Space Seed", the episode we first saw Khan. I won't go into spoilers, but I would say the themes are executed perfectly, enhanced by the performances. The recurring themes includes death, resurrection, and growing old. The scenes William Shatner shares with Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley and Kirstie Alley are some of my favorites. Each cast member gets their individual opportunity to shine, I'm so glad that this film feels like Star Trek, the Star Trek we love. Like what Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote in her review, she credited the film with a stronger story than The Motion Picture and stated the sequel was everything the first film should have been. The action sequences are there for the plot, used to bring emotion and also some of its themes to life. They were handled with not much enthusiasm, ending up quite stale in certain ways. I think a higher budget would have made them better, I think it works though. I think that the film's pacing is perfect, exceeding The Motion Picture here too. Gene Siskel gave the film three and a half stars out of four, calling it "a flat-out winner, full of appealing characters in engaging relationships in a futuristic film that has a delightfully old-fashioned sense of majesty about its characters and the predicaments they get into."

Khan's pursuit of Kirk is central to the film's theme of vengeance, I think that is what the film does extremely well. Khan is a great villain, the script along with what the actor brings to the role, makes Khan into this three dimensional antagonist. The Wrath of Khan won two Saturn Awards in 1982, for best actor (Shatner) and best direction (Meyer). The film was also nominated in the "best dramatic presentation" category for the 1983 Hugo Awards. The direction, character interactions, and some of the acting were incredible. I just wish the special effects were better and that the film felt more epic, like the first one, but Wrath of Khan is excellent and close to perfect. This is an unforgettable sci-fi film, an iconic space adventure.

Ten years after the Original Series ended, Gene Roddenberry came back to produce Star Trek: The Motion Picture on a budget of $44 million which is clear in scenes with visual effects along with costume and makeup departments. The Klingons especially. For the film, actor James Doohan created the distinctive Klingon vocabulary heard in the film, Linguist Marc Okrand later developed a fully realized Klingon language based on the actor's made-up words for especially the third film. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is directed by Robert Wise from a story made by Alan Dean Foster who's a legendary fantasy and sci-fi writer, whilst Harold Livingston wrote the screenplay but the truth is both Foster and Roddenberry contributed to the development of the story and script. Like the Original Series, the Motion Picture, uses a lot of matte paintings instead of CGI (because of the time period) to create breathtaking backgrounds. The special effects are incredible in this film, but my honest opinion is how it seems they focused more on the visuals than on pacing and writing. Roger Ebert wrote, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture is probably about as good as we could have expected. It lacks the dazzling brilliance and originality of 2001 (which was an extraordinary one-of-a-kind film). But on its own terms it's a very well-made piece of work, with an interesting premise." Which I agree with.

The film's premise: When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.

The film has many of its stars from the Original Series coming back to their roles, something that's fun to see and you see their chemistry in the first scene and then in every scene afterwards, it's like a high school reunion for them like it is for us. The cast includes: William Shatner as James T. Kirk, the former captain of the USS Enterprise and an Admiral at Starfleet headquarters. Leonard Nimoy as Spock, the Enterprise's half-Vulcan, half-human science officer. DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy, the chief medical officer aboard the Enterprise. James Doohan as Montgomery Scott, the Enterprise's chief engineer. Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov, the Enterprise's weapons officer. Nichelle Nichols as Uhura, the communications officer aboard the Enterprise. George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, the Enterprise's helmsman. Persis Khambatta as Ilia, the Deltan navigator of the Enterprise. Stephen Collins as Willard Decker, the new captain of the Enterprise. The cast was nominated for multiple Saturn Awards. Because of the dialogue heavy script, there's lots of scenes with the actors talking and reacting which makes the acting to be placed front and center, no one in the cast disappoints. My favorite performances were William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, I think they were the best and did something new with their roles. The supporting cast including DeForest Kelley did a fine job, nailing their respective parts.

The film has a great beginning and end, pacing and writing wise. There's lots of visual spectacles, it got that wow factor to an all time high with its musical score. Jerry Goldsmith's score was truly incredible, like John Williams score in Star Wars, Jerry Goldsmith creates a memorable score with this film. I really liked the cinematography of the film, from the very first scenes and throughout the film, Richard H. Kline's cinematography makes Star Trek: The Motion Picture live up to its name. Yet, the beginning could have been trimmed down a bit, and more focused on its characters. I read how some actors wanted more characterization but were rejected, the characters are likable and honestly more so than many other sci-fi films because of the time we get to be with them, both in the film and prior in the show. The film is too reliant on a script and dialogue-heavy storyline whose biggest villain is a formidable cloud. I never felt a sense of danger with this villain, like for example most of the villains of The Original Series, Star Trek have always been about the characters and people, both protagonist and antagonist. Something that the sequel, Wrath of Khan does extremely well. The sequel is also the first film of a three film story arc. Time magazine's Richard Schickel wrote that the film consisted of spaceships that "take an unconscionable amount of time to get anywhere, and nothing of dramatic or human interest happens along the way". Schickel also lamented the lack of "boldly characterized" antagonists and battle scenes that made Star Wars fun; instead, viewers were presented with much talk, "much of it in impenetrable spaceflight jargon". I agree fully with this. Although everything is visually stunning, the screenplay could have been a lot better. I do get the inspiration, a more philosophical approach to the story and screenplay, like 2001, but you need both a capable director and screenwriter for that. Here we solely have a capable director. There are plenty of talented people who were working on this production, the film was nominated for three Oscars after all: Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects and Best Original Score. Also numerous Saturn Awards, like: Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director, Best Costumes and Best Make-up. Also winning one for Best Special Effects. The second act is tiresome to watch, ending up, if it weren't for the characters I love, I would have probably turned the film off. Star Trek: The Motion Picture has great characters, even the new, but they sadly don't get to do much in this film. Like what Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote, the actors did not have much to do in the effects-driven film, and were "limited to the exchanging of meaningful glances or staring intently at television monitors, usually in disbelief".

To summarize, Star Trek: The Motion Picture isn't a great film. It isn't terrible either. If I would have followed the Original Series and waited ten years for this film, it would have been an event. Like what happened with George Lucas' prequel trilogy, it was an event like this. But this wasn't a box office success, neither did it bomb. In a way, Star Trek: The Motion Picture does what Star Trek normally does, takes the philosophical approach. The ending is honestly quite great and makes the theme of self-discovery a success, in a way. But the screenplay is just not very good, at all. You understand why Gene Roddenberry didn't get to produce the sequels, this villain would have worked brilliantly in an episode of The Original Series, a sentient machine seeking answers about humanity's purpose. But as a 131 minute film, this sluggish pacing along with a cerebral tone just isn't entertaining enough. In 2001, that works because of what kind of movie it is. It's a film not made for the commercial audience, nor is this film. The visual effects were from 2001: A Space Odyssey's Douglas Trumbull, who made Star Trek: The Motion Picture into a cinematic spectacle. I think Wrath of Khan would have been the best choice for Star Trek's first theatrical film, but honestly, I'm so glad we got this film. It's underrated, a film that goes into the aspects I love about Star Trek, the philosophy. Yet, it's a film with many flaws. I would like to say that Robert Wise's direction is flawless though. Aesthetically, Star Trek: The Motion Picture is great. The camera angles, lighting, color grading, and set design are just a few things which are terrific. It's a beautiful looking movie.