[ad_1]
If you’re hoping to decode the many in-franchise references in “Lower Decks” or watch the story of the original Enterprise crew in full, though, you won’t be able to do it on one streamer anymore. The “Star Trek” films are now available on MGM+, the under-the-radar streaming service associated with the classic movie titles Amazon acquired when it bought Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 2022. The streamer has its own monthly subscription fee, though most of the 10 early “Trek” movies are also available to stream on Amazon Prime as well. Curiously, two of the best and most-loved “Trek” films, 1982’s “The Wrath of Khan” and 1996’s “First Contact,” aren’t free on Prime but are available to rent or purchase digitally.
This isn’t the first time the “Star Trek” movies have boldly gone somewhere random. Earlier this year, the movies could be found on Warner Bros Discovery’s streamer Max, and they only just got back to Paramount+ in July 2024 after an initial move to Max at the beginning of this year. As frustrating as this game of musical chairs is for “Trek” fans, this move is most likely part of a preexisting licensing deal (similar to the deals that, say, put your favorite AMC shows on Netflix), and getting more eyeballs on the classic “Trek” films on other streamers is still lucrative for Paramount, the company that’s in charge of making new “Trek” films and shows. It seems fairly likely that, like a Starship orbiting an uncharted planet, the “Trek” films will circle back around to Paramount+ eventually. Hopefully when they do, the franchise will be in good shape as it continues forward with projects like “Section 31” and “Starfleet Academy.”
In the meantime, it’s worth noting that Paramount+ still has the newer Kelvin timeline movies, including 2009’s excellent reboot “Star Trek.” The third installment of that series, “Star Trek Beyond,” is also available on Netflix, while TrekMovie notes that the 4K Director’s Edition of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was just released in 2022, seems to have fallen through the cracks with this latest move, and isn’t streaming anywhere. But to be clear, if you’re looking for “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” “The Wrath of Khan,” “The Search For Spock,” “The Voyage Home,” “The Final Frontier,” “The Undiscovered Country,” “Generations,” “First Contact,” “Insurrection,” or “Nemesis,” you’ll have to look outside the streamer that’s for years been touted as the home of “Star Trek” – at least for now. You can find all 10 movies on MGM+, with 8 of them also available on Amazon Prime.
[ad_2]
