Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn (1982)

William Shatner breaks bad in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn,” the best entry of the “Star Trek” films. That it followed dullsville “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” is amazing. Here, Admiral Kirk is retired from starship command and slowly collecting dust in his antique-filled home. He is bored and old. But way out in space, the villainous Kahn -– a character in the old TV show -– returns from exile to dish out revenge in heaps. Despite some outlandish coincidences to get Kirk and his crew on the Enterprise and some stilted acting, this “Trek” dishes out too-cool-for-school drama, scores of battleship close calls and a heroic sacrifice. Shatner as Kirk digs into anger and obsessive streak not displayed enough for my taste, and Ricardo Montalban as Kahn effortlessly steals the film. Kahn and his crew are far too buff to be stragglers left marooned on a dessert planet 15 years prior, and their outfits are pure “Road Warrior” crossed with “CATS,” but the man nails the role like he’s doing McBeth or Ahab. This isn’t the stellar 5-star winner I recall from years ago, but for a sci-fi fix, it does quite nicely. A

Star Trek (2009)

The new "Star Trek" is historic cinema. Not only is it ingenuous reboot film-making from the mind of J.J. Abrams (TV's "Lost"), but it dares to pull the ultimate hat-trick. Through a time-traveling, history-changing event, this film doesn't just go back and tell us the origins of beloved Enterprise crew from the 1960s TV show and 1980s films. It spins off a whole new alternate reality with the same characters, but with different ticks, emotions and pasts plastered onto each soul.

It's a "reboot" that doesn't have the whiff of re-cooked ham. Thank the film gods.

The set-up: A time-screwing Romulan (Eric Bana in full bad-ass mode) travels back in time to kill James T. Kirk's father and decimate Spock's home plant of Vulcan. Boom. What we knew from dozens of shows and six or so films is still in place; it happened. This is new territory. Kirk (Chris Pine) is now an orphan rebel seemingly hell-bent on dying young, Spock (Zachary Quinto) is infused with new untapped emotion (yes, emotion) as he watches his mother plunge to her death and his home planet implode.

Yes, the buzzing art direction and fast editing of the film is different from any "Trek" before it. Again, thank the film gods. It's all for the better, because the old franchise had grown stale, stuffy and self-righteous, the cinematic equivalent of the Republican Party. And yet here, characters and the relationships still are at the forefront, the best assets of the "Trek" films.

I can't think of a better scene in a "Trek" film than here: Just after Vulcan is destroyed, and the young Uhura (Zoe Saldana) chases after Spock, and hugs and kisses him in an elevator, hoping to get any response from him, and to comfort him. On the surface, Spock doesn't respond. Pure Vulcan. The camera then hones in on his eyes, and Spock explodes (oh so quietly) on screen like never before. Quinto (TV's "Heroes") is a movie star. Runner-up: A heroic suicide that brings back memories of a great moment in "Lost" - the drowning of Charlie.

The question that must be asked: Would anyone still respect the now-crap "Star Wars" franchise if George Lucas had handed his tired ass franchise off to a wild card dealer such as Abrams? Hell, yes. "Star Trek" is back, and will life long and prosper. "Star Wars"? Umm. That was a long, long time ago. Having nearly slept through "Star Trek V: We Even Made God Boring" in the theater, I can't believe I just wrote that. A-