Review of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) by Tristan G — 28 May 2009

Star Trek: The One Where They Search for God and Discover That He's a Bad Special Effect. Easily the most disdained of the ten Star Trek films, and yet not nearly as bad as you may have heard. Yes, this film does feature underwhelming special effects (Paramount cut the budget during shooting), sloppy direction (William Shatner is no Steven Spielberg, or even a Leonard Nimoy) and some degrading comic relief for the supporting characters (Poor Nichelle Nichols has to perform a fan dance and lust after a 300 pound James Doohan.

Ouch!). That said, the basic idea of a search for God is an interesting one and provides for some provacative theological discouse within the movie. At the conclusion of the film, the characters conclude that God is a construct created by man to help him confront his own frailties, and whether or not you agree with this message, you have to admire the producers of Star Trek for daring to put such an audacious idea at the center of a major commercial film.

I must also add that of all the Star Trek films that feature the original crew, Final Frontier focuses the most on the friendship between Kirk, Spock and McCoy (played here with great verve and nuance by Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley, Razzie nominations nonwithstanding), and wasn't that always one of the most charming aspects of the original series? So even if this film is one of the weakest of the franchise, I think it's still worth a look.