Star Trek films/Background information

* There have been thirteen Star Trek cinematic features released between and . 
* Three films were produced by Harve Bennett (he was also an executive producer on one), while Rick Berman produced all four films featuring the cast of TNG.
* Nicholas Meyer, J.J. Abrams, Leonard Nimoy, and Jonathan Frakes each directed two of the films, with the latter two also appearing as co-stars in their respective roles as Spock and William T. Riker. One of the films () was directed by its lead actor, William Shatner, appearing as Kirk.
* Leonard Nimoy has made more appearances in the film series than any other principal cast member of any Star Trek series, appearing as Spock in the first six films together with an appearance in and a brief cameo in and his likeness is seen in , as are those of his original cast mates. William Shatner, James Doohan, and Walter Koenig (Kirk, Scott, and Chekov) all appear in the first seven consecutive films. Majel Barrett has also appeared in seven of the films, albeit playing different roles: she appears as Christine Chapel in and , and supplied her voice for the Enterprise computers in , , , , and .
* Michael Dorn is the only member of the TNG cast to appear in more than four of the films. He plays his familiar character Worf in all four TNG-based films and has a cameo as Worf's (presumed) ancestor in .
* Owing to Worf's transfer onto the crew of DS9 prior to the events of , Dorn is technically the only DS9 cast member to appear in any of the films playing his usual character. Rene Auberjonois appears in playing a different character than his usual one on DS9; his scenes were cut for the film's original theatrical release but subsequently restored for the film's VHS, DVD, and Special Edition releases. Both Armin Shimerman and Max Grodenchik filmed scenes for – the former as his familiar character Quark and the latter as an unnamed Trill Starfleet officer – but these scenes were cut from the film as released.
* Kate Mulgrew, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, and Ethan Phillips are the only VOY cast members to appear in any of the films – Mulgrew plays her familiar character in , Picardo plays an EMH Mark I in , wherein Phillips also appears – uncredited, at his own request, as a different character. (Having never before appeared in a Trek production without heavy prosthetics, he thought it would be amusing to leave fans wondering if the holographic Human he played was or wasn't him.) Russ appears in as a Human crewman.
* To date, no principal cast members from have appeared in any of the films, although Peter Weller (who guest-starred in two episodes of that series) plays a major role in .
* Between and , all the films were produced in tandem with one or more of the spin-off series. and were made during the run of TNG; production on began while the final episodes of TNG were being shot, and while DS9 was in production; and were both produced during the runs of DS9 and VOY, and was made while ENT was in production. was the first since to be produced without any other Star Trek project in progress.
* Perhaps reflecting their popularity as an alien race, the Klingons appear more than any other throughout the series of films – they appear, or are mentioned, in twelve of the films released so far. No Klingon characters appear in , or , although the former two films depict the which features Klingon ships. Scenes featuring Klingon characters were shot but not included in .
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|-| The odd number/even number phenomenon=
* A number of Star Trek fans have expressed the opinion that the even-numbered films are generally better than the odd-numbered ones. Such an appraisal is obviously subjective, but it has its roots in a number of factors. The even-numbered films (apart from ) have enjoyed relatively greater success at the box office and higher critical acclaim, as opposed to various lukewarm reviews received by the odd-numbered films (with the exception of ). Fans and critics have also noted that, in their opinions, the even-numbered films are better paced and more action-packed, with more memorable story lines, eminently quotable scripts and exciting special effects. (The first two films are often held up as examples of this trend from the outset of the series: has very few battle or dramatic action sequences, presenting Kirk and crew with a mostly cerebral challenge, while is dominated by epic conflict, resulting in several battle sequences and heavy damage to the Enterprise and its crew.)
* By the time the TNG films were being produced, the "odd/even" phenomenon was effectively regarded as a curse, with members of the production crew fearing that, despite their best efforts, future odd-numbered productions were fated to be less successful than even-numbered ones. Jonathan Frakes, when interviewed by Star Trek Monthly during pre-production for , commented that he was looking forward to directing his second film "even though it's an odd-numbered Star Trek." In 2002, however, the phenomenon was broken by the release of , which experienced the lowest box-office takings of any Star Trek film to date and was poorly received by even long-standing fans. (Though to a few, this became an even further joke – a Star Trek film which was a multiple of five was cursed to fail catastrophically, as Nemesis pulled in poor reviews and revenue in a similar fashion to The Final Frontier.)
* The phenomenon has seemingly been broken further by the critical success of , which has obtained a 95% on the review aggregator website , as well as an opening weekend gross of nearly twice the full run of . Sam Hughes, of the website, "Things of Interest", has suggested that the addition of "Galaxy Quest," the affectionate parody of Star Trek released in 1999, between Insurrection and Nemesis, as the "good" Star Trek movie fixes the odd-even curse. 
* In a 1999 episode of the British sitcom Spaced, the phenomenon was mentioned by the series' lead character, Tim Bisley, who was played by Simon Pegg – an irony not lost on Pegg during and after his work on .
|-| Deep Space Nine=
* Whereas the preceding live-action television series had open endings that allowed for continuation into motion picture format, ended quite firmly and conclusively, with all its various plotlines resolved and the departure of various main characters. Any subsequent film would therefore have required a significantly different premise and different casting, departing radically from the series' format which had been so familiar to its fan base. On the possibility of a film ever happening, Ira Steven Behr commented: "I don't think so. I think we could do a pretty kick-ass Deep Space Nine film, but not even in my wildest imaginations do I consider it". He also commented "The only Trek I think about is Deep Space Nine, to be honest. If they did a Deep Space Nine film, I certainly would like to be involved if that ever happened, which I doubt". 
* After the release of , Patrick Stewart commented, "I think we should pass the mantle on to the Deep Space Nine characters. We don't want to become The Rolling Stones of the Star Trek films". 
* Andrew Robinson commented "My feeling is that there is never going to be a Deep Space Nine film, they still have more to go with The Next Generation. I think it () was really the right way to end the series. 
* A campaign for a Deep Space Nine film (or a miniseries) was launched in 2000 by fans Stacy Powell and Doug Wilson. Nana Visitor was thrilled to hear of the existence of the campaign and J.G. Hertzler and David B. Levinson joked with fans to "take one of these [flyers], don't throw it away or I'll come after you." 
* Fans Terry Harris and Gisele La Roche also launched a petition for a Deep Space Nine film, receiving several positive responses from actors. 
* Notwithstanding the foregoing, elements from the series have appeared in all TNG films. The Enterprise-D crew wore the uniforms which had been introduced on Deep Space Nine (in addition to their own series' uniforms) in ; the uniforms were also used on , which premiered several months after the film's release. The appears in the Battle of Sector 001 during , under the command of Worf (Michael Dorn), who had become a regular character on DS9 by that time; he also appears in . Both and contain references to the Dominion War story arc from the series. For , a scene was written and filmed involving an appearance by Armin Shimerman as Quark; this was cut from the film, but a still from it can be found among the extras on the DVD release.
* In 1998, Rick Berman commented "There are a few more movies left in the Generations franchise and there's a good chance we'll see a Deep Space Nine film. What we'd like to do is introduce a few of the characters from Deep Space into the next Generations movie just to tease audiences." 
|-| Voyager/Enterprise=
* The conclusive endings of both these series likewise indicate little or no probability of future films being based on them. During the run of Voyager, there was speculation among fans (via the internet and other media) that the series would end on a cliff-hanger, to be resolved in a theatrical motion picture, but the ultimate release of as the series finale proved that idea to be unfounded. The potential for continuation of the series has instead been explored in novels and fan-fiction.
* There is a gap of six years between and which could serve as the setting of an ENT film, although the timeline position of and its sequel suggests that this would be unlikely.
* features a cameo by Kate Mulgrew, reprising her role as Kathryn Janeway from Voyager and thus marking the only direct big-screen appearance of any character from that series. (An EMH Mark I, played by Robert Picardo, appears briefly in First Contact, but this is not exactly the same character as the holographic doctor in the series.)
* Nemesis also features a graphic containing a reference to a , named after Captain Jonathan Archer, the main character in Enterprise.
* Additionally, features a reference to "Admiral 's prized beagle", intended by the writers to be a reference to Jonathan Archer and his beagle Porthos. 
* A replica of appears in , marking the first appearance of any element from that series on the big screen. refers to Military Assault Command Operations personnel and the Xindi encounter from ENT's third season, as well as depicting an early Starfleet ship whose design resembles that of the NX starships seen in ENT.
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