I’m always blown away by these seven times Star Trek characters engage in incredible action scenes outside of their starships. Star Trek: The Original Series’ episodes were produced on a 1960s television budget. Complex characters, moral and ethical quandaries, great imagination, and fisticuffs had to compensate for Star Trek’s limited ability to deliver outer space action. While the crew of the USS Enterprise did occasionally don space suits, action sequences staged outside of their starship were few and far between.
When Star Trek jumped to big-budget motion pictures, starting with 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture, exciting sequences beyond the confines of the Starship Enterprise became a possibility. Still, Star Trek kept such action scenes to a minimum – until J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek into a blockbuster special effects extravaganza in 2009. Star Trek‘s visual upgrade gave new life to action beyond a starship.
Starting with Star Trek: Discovery in 2017, Star Trek‘s TV series began to match what was possible in a big-budget movie. Star Trek on Paramount+’s shows (and the streaming movie Star Trek: Section 31) have feature film-quality visual effects. Thus, Star Trek‘s noble heroes began to don space suits and leave their starships behind. Here are the seven most thrilling times Star Trek characters left their starships and leaped into action.
7
Spock Leaves The Enterprise To Mind Meld With V’Ger In Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Directed By Robert Wise
In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) donned a space suit and performed an eyebrow-raising spacewalk into the mᴀssive sentient spacecraft called V’Ger. The heroic Vulcan rocketed himself deep into V’Ger, seeking the machine’s secrets. Finally, Spock engaged in a Vulcan mind-meld with V’Ger, which rendered him unconscious. Luckily, Spock was rescued and brought back aboard the USS Enterprise, having learned V’Ger is a lonely machine mind seeking answers from its creator.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture boasts truly spectacular visual effects, although Robert Wise’s movie is light on action and mirth. Yet Spock’s daring spacewalk is one of Star Trek: The Motion Picture’s most nail-biting sequences. Spock’s personal quest to unlock V’Ger’s secrets is also provocative and highlights the similarities between V’Ger and the Vulcan. There had simply never been a sequence like it seen in Star Trek before.
6
Captain Picard, Worf & Hawk Fight The Borg In Star Trek: First Contact
Directed By Jonathan Frakes
17 years after Star Trek: The Motion Picture, director Jonathan Frakes delivered the first zero-gravity fight scene in a Star Trek movie. In 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn), and Mr. Hawk (Neal McDonough) don space suits and walk the Sovereign Class USS Enterprise-E’s hull. Picard’s away team must stop the Borg from converting its deflector array into a beacon to summon the Collective from the Delta Quadrant.
Worf also gets to deliver one of Star Trek: First Contact’s signature quips: “ᴀssimilate this!”
Star Trek: First Contact’s spacewalk is one of the most memorable action scenes in a Star Trek movie. Jonathan Frakes inverts his camera to give the audience the queasiness of zero-g, while Picard, Worf, and the doomed Hawk battle the cybernetic villains. It’s a bravura action scene, with Picard’s team emerging victorious. Worf also gets to deliver one of Star Trek: First Contact‘s signature quips: “ᴀssimilate this!”
5
Commander Trip Tucker Climbs Between Two Starships At Warp In Star Trek: Enterprise
Directed By David Barrett
Star Trek: Enterprise benefited from superior special effects, including the NX-01 Enterprise becoming the first Star Trek ship rendered fully by CGI. In Star Trek: Enterprise season 4’s episode, “Divergence,” Commander Trip Tucker (Connor Trinneer) made history by becoming the first human to spacewalk in between two starships traveling at warp. Trip heroically climbed a cable between the NX-01 Enterprise and Columbia inside a warp bubble.
As a prequel series, Star Trek: Enterprise was designed to convey the excitement and danger of being the first humans in Starfleet to venture into deep space. Trip’s death-defying space walk between two starships delivered on that promise. Enterprise visually upped the ante for Star Trek’s series in the 1990s golden era, and Trip’s nailbiter feat took it to another level.
4
Captain Kirk & Sulu Power Dive To Vulcan In Star Trek 2009
Directed By J.J. Abrams
Star Trek (2009) raised the bar by turning Star Trek into a special effects extravaganza and the franchise hasn’t looked back. Among Star Trek (2009)’s mulтιтude of breakneck action sequences, one of the most jaw-dropping is James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), Hikaru Sulu (John Cho), and Chief Engineer Olson (Greg Ellis) donning space suits and power diving from the Starship Enterprise into Vulcan.
Nero (Eric Bana), Star Trek (2009)’s Romulan villain, was drilling into Vulcan’s planet core to open a black hole and wipe out Spock’s (Zachary Quinto) homeworld. Kirk, Sulu, and Olson – a red shirt casualty – thrillingly plummeted onto Nero’s drill platform and fought off the Romulans aboard. Sulu even showcased his skills as a swordsman. Kirk and Sulu couldn’t stop Nero’s drill from destroying Vulcan, but the sequence is eye-popping all the same.
3
Captain Kirk & Khan Fly Through Debris Toward The USS Vengeance In Star Trek Into Darkness
Directed By J.J. Abrams
In 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, director J.J. Abrams decided to do another spacesuit action sequence outside of the Starship Enterprise, but this time, entirely in space. When Admiral Alexander Marcus (Peter Weller) reveals himself as the movie’s true villain, Captain James T. Kirk and Khan Noonien Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch) traverse the debris-filled distance between the Starship Enterprise and Marcus’ dreadnought, the USS Vengeance.
Unable to trust Khan, his face shield cracked from the debris, and with a minuscule porthole as their target, Kirk rocketing himself to the USS Vengeance is an eye-popping sequence. Meanwhile, the genetically engineered Khan was the perfect contrast as he calmly executed the same stunt that nearly gets Kirk killed. Kirk’s heroism is at full blast in Star Trek Into Darkness, just as his and Khan’s spacewalk is a total blast to watch.
2
Admiral Janeway & Dal Cross USS Protostar & Dauntless At Warp In Star Trek: Prodigy
Directed By Sung Shin
Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 proved that a white-knuckle spacewalk sequence isn’t only the province of live-action Star Trek. In Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 18, “Mindwalk,” Dal R’El (Brett Gray) and Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) are caught in a Freaky Friday situation when they swap minds. Janeway’s personality in Dal’s body while Dal suddenly finds himself in the physical form of a Starfleet Admiral is breathtakingly funny.
All episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Netflix.
Star Trek: Prodigy‘s solution to Admiral Janeway and Dal’s dilemma is for both of them to spacewalk between the USS Protostar and the USS Dauntless while both starships are at warp. Star Trek: Prodigy’s ability to seamlessly shift from raucous comedy to an edge-of-your-seat action scene as Janeway and Dal meet inside a warp bubble in the cold of space and regain their proper personalities is endlessly impressive and thrilling.
1
Captain Michael Burnham Surfs L’ak’s Ship At Warp In Star Trek: Discovery
Directed By Olatunde Osunsanmi
Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) began Star Trek: Discovery with a spacewalk and a battle with a Klingon, but Star Trek: Discovery saved Michael’s best sequence outside the safety of the USS Discovery for its fifth and final season. In Star Trek: Discovery season 5’s premiere, “Red Directive,” Captain Burnham pursues renegade lovers Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Toufexis) by mounting their starship’s hull and riding it at warp.
The audience can feel Burnham’s exhilaration, as she aptly exclaims, “Never a dull moment!”
Captain Burnham’s warp bubble ride on top of L’ak’s starship might be her finest space cowboy moment. As Burnham risks her life, she’s also negotiating with Captain Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie) of the USS Antares while hoping the USS Discovery arrives in time to rescue her. The audience can feel Burnham’s exhilaration, as she aptly exclaims, “Never a dull moment!” Indeed, there is never a dull moment when Star Trek lets its heroes loose to have a thrilling adventure outside of their starships.
