Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) is an order of magnitude worse than Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. However, do you think the premise (that human technology sent into deep space could become a vehicle for alien contact) is viable?
I think Star Trek V is worse, but I've actually gone back and forth on that question. What redeems STTMP for me is the way it defines the character arc for Kirk that we see over all of the TOS films and into Generations—e.g., that he really is getting too old and too infamous and too *big* for this sort of thing and there's a selfishness involved in his decision to keep doing it, so there's a cost to his presence and he has to find ways to make himself worth that cost. Without Kirk, Decker becomes captain and probably merges with V'ger with less loss of life, Khan has less reason to go on a rampage, Spock never dies, Kirk's son never dies, etc. So the entire TOS movie cycle becomes a redemption arc for Kirk, which is a very different story from what we saw in the TV series. It was a gutsy decision.
Insurrection is worse than both of them, though.
I definitely think human technology sent into deep space could become a vehicle for alien contact, but we have to ask ourselves why the alien civilizations in question wouldn't already be familiar with us by way of our radio pollution and so forth. So I think the most plausible stories involving human technology being a vehicle for alien contact are probably closer to the TNG episode "The Inner Light," where they can be epitaphs for our civilization if we've been wiped out or wiped ourselves out and contacting us in the present tense isn't a possibility. I think when Sagan designed the Voyager Golden Disc, he thought of it as more of an epitaph than a greeting (he didn't *say* that, but judging by what he chose to put on it, I think that's what he was secretly thinking).
Insurrection is worse than both of them, though.
I definitely think human technology sent into deep space could become a vehicle for alien contact, but we have to ask ourselves why the alien civilizations in question wouldn't already be familiar with us by way of our radio pollution and so forth. So I think the most plausible stories involving human technology being a vehicle for alien contact are probably closer to the TNG episode "The Inner Light," where they can be epitaphs for our civilization if we've been wiped out or wiped ourselves out and contacting us in the present tense isn't a possibility. I think when Sagan designed the Voyager Golden Disc, he thought of it as more of an epitaph than a greeting (he didn't *say* that, but judging by what he chose to put on it, I think that's what he was secretly thinking).
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