The best Star Trek film has been added to the National Film Registry

Every year, film buffs gather online to find out which 25 films will be added to the Library of Congress. National Film Registry – A list that includes titles you’d expect like “The Godfather,” “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope,” “Thelma & Louise,” and “Casablanca.” For 2024, new additions will bring the NFR’s total catalog to 900 films, bringing classics and modern classics alike in a collection of films that spans decades.

For sci-fi fans, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” will likely be the main attraction this year. 1982’s “Star Trek” sequel is still considered one of the high water marks for the entire “Star Trek” franchise and, in the eyes of many fans, its greatest single achievement. Spock’s noble sacrifices in the film have gone down in history along with the revelations of Darth Vader and “Tears in the Rain” monologue from “Blade Runner” As the most iconic sci-fi moment ever. More than 40 years after the film’s release, it has finally been recognized by the National Film Registry — a recognition that Trekkies might say is long overdue.

In addition to “The Wrath of Khan,” this year’s NFR additions include classics from the comedy, romance and thriller genres, a particular early entrant from 2010, and a nearly 100-year-old film.

The oldest film in the NFR’s 2024 graduating class is “KoKo’s Earth Control,” a 1928 animated short by early animation pioneer Max Fleischer. The film follows the Clown and his dog, Fitz, as they discover a building with controls for rain, day and night, and all other aspects of life on Earth.

On the other end of the spectrum, David Fincher’s 2010 fantasy film The Social Network was added to the national film registry this year. It’s a testament to the film’s stellar reputation – considered by some to be Fincher’s best work – that it has already been inducted into the exclusive club less than 15 years later.

The rest of the 2024 catalog includes Eddie Murphy’s classic crime comedy “Beverly Hills Cop,” the 1974 prequel “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” and the Coen brothers’ 1987 Jennifer Gray and Patrick Swayze thriller “Dirty Dancing.” The critically acclaimed “No Country for Old Men” and the 2001 family action-adventure film “Spy Kids” from director Robert Rodriguez.

For a franchise that has been shown primarily on television, it’s obviously very important to get something accepted into the National Film Registry. More than 40 years after it first hit theaters, The Wrath of Khan remains near the top of many lists of the greatest science fiction films of all time, even though Gene Roddenberry, creator of the Star Trek film series, was not one of them. Fans that much.

Although Roddenberry was the mastermind behind the series and worked closely on the first “Star Trek” film, he was fired from “Khan,” which took a more action-focused approach than the hotel was previously known for. Roddenberry even tried to sabotage The Wrath of Khan. By leaking details of the story, but his efforts did nothing to derail the film’s huge success. No one can argue with what Roddenberry would do next with “Star Trek” after creating “The Next Generation,” but it’s also hard to consider Khan a failure in any area.

Of course, critics and fans welcomed the sequel with open arms, even with Spock’s death at the end. Writer and producer Harvey Bennett even described “The Wrath of Khan” as his favorite Star Trek movie.Many science fiction fans would likely agree. Now, it will forever be immortalized among the greatest films of all time in the National Film Registry.