Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Why do the people trash this movie? It is such a humanistic, emotional film, well, from my POV. I admit there were flaws in the film. What hurt this film was ILM not being available, budget cuts forced by Paramount, and the humor forced to be added because of STIV's box office success. None of these things were Bill Shatner's fault. Bill Shatner's original story was darker, MUCH darker than what we saw.

This film has got a faster pace than ST:TMP or STIII:TSFS, and and it actually tried to make a point on human nature, which was the thing that Generations failed to accomplish. Shatner's ACTUAL direction of the film was OKAY! So I give this film 8.0 stars out of 10.0 stars. And before I finish, I want to say this: GIVE SHATNER A FRIGGIN' BREAK! Thank you, and good night.

Having been one of the shows that was part of my childhood and growing up, the original 'Star Trek' still holds up as great and ground-breaking, even if not perfect.

The fifth film of the franchise, 'The Final Frontier', is often considered the worst of the films, and one can understand why. To me, it is nowhere near as bad as its reputation, and feel in some way that the film was doomed even before it was released. Whether it is the worst overall 'Star Trek' film is up for debate, it's a worthy contender. Is it the worst of the films based of the original series? Yes.

It is not a bad film by all means. The cinematography is neat and very nicely done in the quieter scenes, and William Shatner's direction works well in these moments.

Jerry Goldsmith's score is awesome personified, there is no bias intended as Goldsmith has always been one of my favourite composers, but the score here really rouses the spirits while touching the heart also.

'Star Trek V: The Final Frontier' does have some good scenes, namely the camping fire scene, the inner/greater pain scene (very intense and moving) and Scotty knocking himself out (the one bit of humour that works).

The chemistry between Kirk, Spock and McCoy is the film's driving force, and the interaction and interplay between them is the asset that comes off strongest.

A few of the performances are good. Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley are very good, and Laurence Luckinbill does very well with what he's given, a villain that's both menacing and sympathetic. The rest of the crew mostly are very competently played.

Unfortunately, they are underused and what they are given falls flat completely mostly, turning them into cartoonish parodies. The erotic dance was completely out of place and the getting lost stuff feels like filler to pad out a story that doesn't have an awful lot to it. Plus we have the most embarrassing rendition of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" you'll find anywhere.

Generally the humour is as flat as a pancake, really overdone and juvenile. 'The Voyage Home' had humour too but it was actually entertaining and even when poking fun felt more like 'Star Trek'. Shatner's direction is incredibly chaotic in the action scenes, which sees production values that look unforgivably cheap even for the budget, with haphazard cinematography and editing and the worst of the uniformly shockingly shoddy special effects.

Just for the record, as much as people would say that Shatner's ego has a lot to do with the problematic nature of the film (and yes having him trying to take on more than he could chew was excessive and most likely was not going to work from the start), the failure is much more at the door of budget limitations and studio interference, Shatner's original vision would have made for a much better and actually a fascinating film.

On top of that, 'The Final Frontier' is filled with overripe dialogue with too much emphasis on the humour, which as said doesn't work, and less on heartfelt moments and thought-provoking conflicts. While there are a few good performances, the supporting cast are too underused to shine properly and Shatner's performance has more ham than the world's biggest pig farm.

A big failure here is the story, which is dull and takes too long to get going with a plot too thin to sustain the running time. The whole stuff about god just confused the story and that for Sybok was a thrown in and unnecessary plot device done to presumably give more development to a character who was actually interesting and well developed already. The ending is convoluted and anti-climactic.

Overall, hugely problematic but not without obvious merits. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Having recently purchased the box set of all 10 Star Trek films (including Next Generation), I watched Star Trek V, not having seen it since it was released, hoping that it would improve on a second watching.

Watching it now, I can see that here was a story that could have been very, very powerful, and the film could have been an equal to Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which is also underrated by non-Star Trek fans.

The overwhelming sense I got in this film was that everything proceeded so quickly, as if the producers/director felt that a successful film was trim, with no excess fat. Those people who really enjoy a good steak, enjoy that little bit of fat on the edge, or marbled through the meat. It makes it all so much more tasty, even if it has little nutritional value. To remove myself from the metaphor, Star Trek fans enjoy the taking of time over certain elements - seeing the ship, seeing it travel, dialogue en route, etc.

If there was a director's cut, or another cut, that wasn't so very lean, I think the new pace would work to the film's advantage. Of course the worst element of pacing is the finale. When we finally arrive at the centre of the galaxy, Kirk & Co. march straight in without much ado. Think to the Enterprise venturing into the cloud that surrounded V-GER. We were given time to savour the beautiful visuals set to a engaging score.

To my mind this doesn't happen in Star Trek V, and this is its weakness. I think it is still a reasonable film. The scene where Spock and McCoy are shown there heart's deepest wound is quite moving. With a little more breadth, this could have been incredible. It's frustrating that the film will not get the best treatment the story deserves. When watching the special features, it seems that the production was not smooth sailing, the finale weakened due to poor response (according to Shatner) from special effects teams. As a Star Trek fan, I can't give this film less than a 5. I hope that's not out of sentimentality.

20 REASONS I HATE STAR TREK 5

1. THE TITLE Trivialized by what's already a pop-culture catch phrase. A cop out.

2. YOU CAN'T PLEASE EVERYBODY This movie was beat from the start. A victim of TREK's revived popularity. In 1989 you had the 'classic' fans, the "KHAN" generation, civilians won over by "THE VOYAGE HOME", and "NEXT GENERATION" fans. Expectations crossed the board. Making matters worse, the writers had a "clean slate", resulting in a muddled "original" story. The answer should have been incorporating some TREK history and acknowledging the NEXT GENERATION. Instead, we got tangents. Like Spock's brother.

3. SPECIAL EFFECTS How could one of the strongest movie franchises in town let this happen? Fans should petition to get Nick Myer to do a STAR WARS style "Special Edition".

4. THE FALL From Kirk's foot slip to "I expect that's Klingon for 'hello'" this movie holds some of the most embarrassing moments in Star Trek. I remember the butterflies in my stomach as Spock dives into this dumb scene with FX from Saturday morning. The Nimbus bar (office for the delegates?) is a lame copy of the STAR WARS cantina.

5. DEFECTIVE ENTERPRISE This crew works at a disadvantage in every film but "UNDISCOVERED..."...even "GENERATIONS". The broken ship is a tired device, and here it doesn't make sense. There's no relevance to the plot, except maybe the broken transporter. Other functions are played only for 'laughs'.

6. SUPPORTING CAST WASTED Sulu and Chekov lost! --hilarious! Uhura stripping!! --A riot!! Scotty bangs his head! ...okay, that was actually pretty funny. The director was not responsible for most trouble, but he has no idea how to treat these characters. Not realizing their value, he plays them either goofy or hypnotized. A missed opportunity for drama in exposing their pain or portraying the forced betrayal of Kirk. Remember Chekov's struggle in 'KHAN'.

7. KLINGONS Used only as a conflict device, they have no motivation given except to 'get Kirk'. There could have been an effort to rescue Korrd or even direct orders from the Klingons to use the conflict as an excuse to entrap Kirk. (like "UNDISCOVERED...") I did like the use of Klingonese but if you follow closely, there's a Klingon word for Kalicams... which IS a Klingon word...

8. THE HANGER DECK The design department has no concept of perspective. The look was great but the proportions are way off. This contributes to a feeling that something is not right. A well acted scene has the effect of a school play. I was drawing technical plans for this stuff when I was 10!! How could they be so far off.

9. "I WANT JIM KIRK!" The Admiral's reason for sending the undermanned Enterprise. Why?? With Klingons involved, it means trouble. Are we to believe the average Starship captain is THAT unprepared for this situation. It would have made more sense if Enterprise were the ONLY option.

10. SYBOK'S TAKEOVER Controlling the bridge, Sybok takes over. Where is everybody? And why do crewmembers stand passively, listening to his message. He relieved everyone's pain? From here on, the story moves around the characters. Scotty tries to animate things... until he's knocked out.

11. SPOCK'S BROTHER I'll accept that he has a half-brother we don't know about. Sybok isn't the type of guy Spock would discuss. But it's such an obvious device from which to squeeze drama. Ooooh, conflict...HOW will Spock resolve this one. The film suffers from too many plot contrivances for us to accept this on too. No matter how good these two actors are. (And they are good. When they first meet? Golden!!)

12. THE TURBOSHAFT CLIMB Dumb idea, bad FX, lame jokes. ...and the floor numbers are wrong.

13. TOO MANY RED HERRINGS The significance of Nimbus, the ship's malfunctions, Spock's brother, hostages, etc. These things don't affect the storyline in the end. Take the SOS message from the Officers Lounge. This is intercepted by the Klingons (who already know where they are..) and serves only as a vehicle for Sybok to confront them.

14. THE GREAT BARRIER Another arbitrary plot device. They zip through with no explanation as to how. Even if Sybok knew how, the Klingons follow with no problem.

15. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE... GOD IS A BUSY MAN" Don't just stand there???? Captain! The director has given us nothing to do!!

16. GOD-THING The film's lame effects especially disappoint here. The GOD face is laughable. Audiences can't believe they're viewing GOD, and guess what? It's not. Confusion is inevitable. If he's fake, make him a real fake!! (Remember Balok?) The concept of an alien being trapped on this planet and Sybok's willingness to believe should have been flushed out more. McCoy asking, "Is this the voice of God?" was wrong. That should have been Sybok. The real story of the GOD-THING is left unclear. It needed a "Perry Mason" type ending. "There's just one thing I don't understand, Jim..."

17. GHOST ATTACK There's no ghosts in Star Trek. Having 'something' shake the shuttle, chase Kirk, and make a lot of racket is a poor compromise of the Directors original idea's.

18. CONVENIENT KLINGON TORPEDO...which kills the transporter. Now what?? Oh brother! I was wise to that bit before I was in high school.

19. THE CLIMAX The story falls apart from here. Klingons aren't needed here; they clutter up the action, Kirk runs from... what? GOD lightning! It sure has bad aim. The enemy saves the day. The Klingon apology, and finally... Spock in the gunner chair. All of this feels like the results of a 'we need an ending' meeting. Although I like the exchange between Kirk and Spock, this could have taken place on the Enterprise.

20. THE SOLEMN ENDING Sybok is dead. GOD doesn't live here. The entire STORY has been a red herring. Still... we have each other... Star Trek movies aren't known for happy endings, but this one's especially dark. Cool Vulcan harp, though.

V has some of the best moments in the entire series. The camping scene is both funny, and insightful. I also love the scene in the brig. ("I oughtta knock you on your Goddam ass!"......."Want me to hold him, Jim?")

The only mistake was hiring an effects crew who had never done motion control blue screen model effects before. And that was NOT William Shatner's fault. That was Ralph Winter's and Harve Bennet's fault. Quit blaming William Shatner. The producers hold the purse strings, and hired idiots. Watch the new DVD and you will see model test shots that were not for action blocking, but were the effects team actually trying to figure out how to do the effects. Lame

Watch this movie, focus on the characters, and ignore the space shots, and it's pretty good. I think since they reworked ST:TMP with new effects based on the original story boards, they should have done the same for ST:V for the new DVD. That would have fixed the whole movie.

Besides all of the exterior ship shots, the scenes I would have fixed are as follows:

The turboshaft - Change the deck numbers to make sense and erase the shadow made by the boom holding them up.

All viewscreens - Insert remastered footage digitally to replace the poor rear-projection versions. The new Enterprise would have an even clearer screen, not a grainy, dim one. The only one that worked was the observation windows as they approached the great barrier.

The fall scene at the beginning. Inserting the closeup of Kirk and Spock ruined the entire scene.(Exactly like the parasailing scene in Die Another Day) Seeing a real stuntman is always better than seeing a fake shot of the actor.