The ‘best’ of ‘Star Trek’ is coming next week

Above : Richard Montalban stars in “The Wrath of Khan,” which is celebrating its 40th anniversary. (Photo/Paramount Pictures)

In a YouTube video sponsored by GQ magazine, the standup comic, movie star/producer/screenwriter Patton Oswalt lists his Top 5 and Bottom 5 science fiction movies.

You can agree or disagree with him. One of this Bottom 5, for example is Roland Emmerich’s 1996 blockbuster “Independence Day,” which I for one recall enjoying. Oswalt makes a good argument, though.

One thing that I definitely do agree with is his view on the first two “Star Trek” movies. The first, 1979’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” makes his Bottom 5 list. It is, he says, “oatmeal-colored uniforms on a gun-metal colored ship” and the work of people who didn’t understand what made the original material so great.

Pretty visual description, if nothing else.

The second, 1982’s “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” heads his list of the Top 5. He sees it as a corrective to the first film. “(T)his is why ‘Star Trek’ is fun and awesome and lasts,” he says.

And, he adds, it’s all fueled by “two insanely hammy performances” put in by William Shatner and Ricardo Montalban “basically trying to out top each other.”

Which makes for a bit of great timing, considering that “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” will be celebrating its 40th anniversary by playing in area theaters Sunday Sept. 4th, Monday Sept. 5th and Thursday Sept. 8th.

Right now, the list of theaters are all Regal Cinemas houses: NorthTown Mall, Spokane Valley and Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone Stadium. I will update next week as the dates draw nearer.

Until then, enjoy some of that “hammy” acting below.