Top 10 Star Trek Movie Moments

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2. The Streets of San Francisco
Movie: The Voyage Home
Participants: The temporally displaced former Enterprise command crew

This is it -- "the one with the whales." The Star Trek movie that your mom, your girlfriend, and your priest have all heard of. It's about as far as you can get from The Wrath of Khan, and yet it's also one of the best -- and most successful -- movies in the series. It's also a comedy.

Much of that comedy comes from the juxtaposition of our 23rd century spacemen in the here-and-now of modern-day Earth (or 1986 Earth, anyway). There are many great moments that result from this conceit, but perhaps the best-remembered is the scene when Kirk and crew first arrive on the streets of San Francisco -- and couldn't look more out of place.

As the Starfleeters have trouble mastering even the simplest of everyday tasks -- how to cross the street, or board a bus, for example -- they respond in classic fashion. "Well, a double-dumb ass on you!" Kirk yells at a motorist as he attempts to reproduce the vernacular of the time. The 20th century… it is not logical.

1. Le Morte d'Spock
Movie: The Wrath of Khan
Participants: Kirk, Spock, the Enterprise command crew

The biggest tearjerker of all the tearjerker Star Trek moments -- and there are quite a few -- the death of Spock, and his subsequent funeral, remains the greatest and most effective. It's also possibly the most widely recognized scene from the franchise as far as the mainstream public is concerned, and there's a reason for that.

It's the climax of Wrath of Khan. Khan has activated the Genesis device, which will destroy the crippled Enterprise if its engines can't be fixed in time. As the ship limps away and the crew awaits certain death, Spock slips into the irradiated chamber where the damaged plasma conduits are. He makes the repairs quickly and efficiently with his big Vulcan brain, but at the same time he is exposed to lethal doses of radiation. The ship warps away from the Genesis explosion just in time, but Khan has had his final revenge -- Spock is dying.

Kirk and Spock share a final moment of friendship, placing each other's hands together on the Engineering safety glass that separates them. As they speak their final words, about sacrifice and the "needs of the many," Spock dies and a devastated Kirk lies there in pain. Later, at his friend's funeral, the admiral speaks the immortal line: "Of my friend I can say only this. Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most… human." It's a time of grief, but Kirk also manages to learn from his friend's passing, as he has seemingly overcome his own fears of death and growing old -- themes that permeate the movie. The film closes with uplifting words from Kirk as he ponders his friend's fate and the newly formed Genesis planet below.

Did we miss one of your favorite Trek moments? Then comment below and let us hear about it!

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