Review of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) by Jake S — 15 Jan 2008

Probably the most hated film in the series and often seen as an excuse for William Shatner to wank off on a scrpit. Gene Roddenberry hated it, you probably hated it; it had bad effects (even for the time), a sub par storyline, a brother for Spock (which would have been better if Sean Connery was able to do it), uneeded humor, no real space battles (but I wasn't complaining) and the whole crew being brainwashed. These may be bad qualities and it may be a bad movie, but you know what...I like it. I'm not sure why but the film has this charm about it.

One undeniable point of the film is the interactions between the characters which is truly some of the best in the series. The opening scenes on vacation actually worked (minus the rocket boots) with it's humour, and getting to see the crew relax and have fun was new and interesting.

A lot of people say Shatner can't write because of this movie while I say no. Read Star Trek: The Return or TekWar, the man knows his stuff. Some of it might be egotistical but I think it's kind of cool. That shows balls....THATS IT! This movie has balls.

Let's face it, Star Trek hasn't changed. And thats admirable it has stayed true to it's formula and has still retained its entertainmen value. But Shatner like or not said "FUCK TREKKIE FANBOYS, AND FUCK THOSE WHALES!" and tried to do something new with it all. While I do think it is important to stay true to the material and fans, you can only do it so long. Same thing happened to the Bond films. They had a good run but they needed a boost with Casino Royale.

The film suffered from production problems, the special effects had to be done by a different company than ILM, which explains the bad space shots and lackluster ending. I realize that all that counts is what you see not what might have been, but Shatner wanted to re-tool the film with better effects and I really hope that the studio finally lets him so we can see what he truly had in mind.

The villan in the movie is something different as well. Instead of an evil son of a bitvh or Kilingon, we get someone who actuallly thinks he is doing good. Someone you don't really expect. A lot of people freak that hes Spocks brother but personally I don't really care.

Sure the crew gets brainwashed easily and they follow the villan like dumb cattle but who cares? I just accept that the villan is very charismatic....I'm so not in denial....

The poster is also the best one in the series of movies. Look at it, it's really decorative. The only other one that comes closr to being as good is Star Trek VI.

Give it a look I say. Since the only people who will watch ANY Star Trek movies are probably already fans of the series anyway.

You have a great pain. Is it this movie? Share it with me, and become stronger for it.