Review of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) by Scott G — 14 Aug 2011

After Leonard Nimoy directed two installments of the Star Trek film franchise, William Shatner decided he wanted a stab at the job, and in exchange for reprising his role in The Voyage Home, he was promised the chair in the next film.

This deal resulted in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which, despite its lofty title, fails to live up to previous Star Trek films. Shatner's direction is uneven and inconsistent, with humor disrupting the otherwise serious tone of the movie, and it is way too over the top at times, particularly in the climactic scenes.

Despite being one of the shortest Trek films, the plot, like The Motion Picture, feels too thin to support its length, and also lacks the quirky sense of wonder that made The Motion Picture at least somewhat enjoyable.

Shatner, seemingly on an ego trip, gives himself all the best lines ("I need my pain" and "what does God want with a starship"), and delivers them in extremely hammy Shatner fashion, and his direction and the script fail to do justice to most of the supporting cast, as well.

James Doohan's Scotty is made to seem stupid and incompetent, betraying his normally brilliant engineering characterization, and Nichelle Nichols is exploited about 20 years later than anyone would've liked her to be.

Walter Koenig and George Takei have little more than bit parts, and Leonard Nimoy as Spock is far less consequential here than in previous installments. The only actors that I can give sufficient praise to are DeForest Kelley, who's gets a few nice character moments as McCoy, and Laurence Luckinbill as Sybok, Spock's emotional and spiritual half-brother (I refuse to believe that Sarek had another child, though).

Luckinbill, in a role clearly written for Sean Connery, makes the most of his time onscreen, and actually gives the mythical destination of Sha Ka Ree some meaning, even if the "God" creature is a mega-letdown.

With a tighter script and better visual effects (that's not really Shatner's fault, it's Paramount's), this could have been the Trek to end all Treks. Instead, we get The Final Frontier, an over-the-top, over-indulgent, messy, and overall disappointing installment in the series, that may rank as the worst Trek of them all.