Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

This is, in my opinion, the very worst of all the Star Trek films. Everything about it is ridiculous, poorly conceived, and poorly executed. If there was anything that could decrease my enjoyment of William Shatner, it's knowing that he directed this disaster.

On the planet Nimbus III, a renegade Vulcan leads an uprising that seizes control of the planet, and the Federation, Klingon and Romulan ambassadors there. Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and the rest of the Enterprise crew are recalled from shore leave to deal with the situation, even though the Enterprise is still under construction.During a brief battle in which Chekov (Walter Koening) poses as the Captain of the Enterprise and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) does a fan dance to distract the Vulcan's men, the Enterprise is captured and, shock of shocks, the Vulcan is revealed to be Spock's half brother Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill).

Sybock has been gathering an intense groups of followers by using his Vulcan mental gifts to show people the most painful moments in their lives, and help them overcome the pain. This process can apparently make someone's entire mental makeup change, as the Enterprise crew, including Chekov, Uhura and Sulu (George Takei) immediately fall in behind Sybok. Only Kirk and Scotty seem to be completely immune. Even Spock and McCoy seem to be affected by the visions Sybok shows them, but they don't follow him.

Why, you might ask, is Sybok stealing the Enterprise, and brainwashing its crew? Excellent question. It's because God told him to in a vision. It seems that God lives on a planet, called Sha Ka Ree by the Vulcans, just beyond the "Great Barrier" at the edge of the galaxy and he asked Sybok to come pay him a visit in a starship. So he does, bringing our crew, and a ship full of Klingons following behind for some reason, face to face with this supposed "God."

Even the plot synopsis makes the film sound terrible doesn't it? Everything about it is hammy and heavy handed, just like Shatner at his very worst. I don't think that there was one single moment of subtlety in the entire film. Just scenery chewing, and things played as big as possibly could. Which would be all well and good, and not that far off from the usual Trek style if there was at least some consistency in the characterizations, and logic to the plot.

All throughout the Original Series, and the preceding four films, Kirk, Spock and McCoy have been the three major characters. There may have been places where the storyline was focused on one character, or another, but they were all separate, distinct, characters that had their own motivations. Instead of maintaining this dynamic, Star Trek Vis really all about Kirk. There are a few moments where Spock or McCoy get to shine, but they always get turned back onto Kirk. When Spock refuses to shoot Sybok, it isn't about Spock and Sybok's complicated relationship, it's about how Kirk feelsbetrayed. It's Kirk that isn't affected by Sybok's mental powers, it's Kirk that asks "What does God need with a starship?" Everything is all about Kirk.

Which means that the supporting cast really gets the short end of the stick. They are reduced from important members of the cast, to little more than comic relief. The jokes are often at the character's expense. Uhura has to dance, and make a fool of herself. All Scotty does is complain about things not working, he even knocks himself out on a beam in a jefferies tube. They even make cracks at Sulu's piloting skill. Chekov, Sulu and Uhura are more than willing to betray Kirk at the drop of a hat. Scotty and Uhura have some sort of implied relationship. It all seems very unlike them. They don't advance the plot in any meaningful way, they're just the butt of jokes.

Speaking of the plot, it often doesn't make a lick of sense. Why are people so willing to follow Sybok? I don't buy the whole, "taking away their pain" thing. If you can find me one person who'd be all bright and happy pod person after having just one traumatic experience fixed for them I will be shocked. Which isn't saying that Kirk's insistence that "I need my pain!" is the way to go either. It's just a stupid plot device, that's so over the top that it becomes ridiculous.

Let's not forget the Klingons either. There doesn't seem to be any reason to have them in the film at all. They don't do anything important, don't impact the characters or story, and aren't especially interesting. It was like someone realized that there wasn't a real villain in the film, thought back to how that worked out with The Motion Picture, and tried to shoehorn one in. With less than spectacular results.

Even just on the effects level Star Trek V is inferior to the rest of the series in every regard. The effects look cheap, and very poorly done. I would take the effects from The Motion Picture over this in a heartbeat, and that was made ten years before this. It's just plain sad. Even the shots of the ships in space, which have always looked pretty good, look like matte paintings. It's terrible.

I wish I could say that the film so bad that it's funny. But it isn't even fun to laugh at. It's so bad, so ridiculous, and kind of boring that I wouldn't recommend it to anyone for any reason.

Grade: D-