Trekkies whooped with glee at this meeting of old and new captains of the Starship Enterprise.

But their enthusiasm can't hide the fact that this is a slow trek through time in between lively bursts of action on land and in space.

Most of the supporting acting is pretty shaky, apart from Patrick Stewart's solid (if slightly stolid) Jean Luc Picard, leaving William Shatner's Kirk subtly to scoop up the honours with appearances in the first and last 15 minutes of the film.

'I was out saving the galaxy when your grandfather was in diapers,' he tells Stewart.

Together they have enough trouble on their hands, apart from some very OTT Klingon villains, with gaping holes in logic in the story of a madman (Malcolm McDowell) trying to reach a state of perpetual joy, an ambition which leads him to destroy planets to alter the course of the 'Nexus' that can take him there.

At least Scotty gets to say, one last time: 'I don't know how much longer I can hold it together,' though here he might have been referring to the plot.