THROWBACK REVIEW: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

There's a line in an episode of Futurama called "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" which sums up this film rather nicely. For those unfamiliar with the episode (and if you aren't, do yourself a favor and watch it), it takes place on a desert planet, and guest stars all surviving members at that time of the original Star Trek cast, minus James Doohan (who straight up said "No way."). It centers on an energy being named Melllvar, who is a diehard fan of the show, and forces the cast to perform an atrocious script he wrote. During a point, Leonard Nimoy, in his Spock attire approaches the being, and says "Melllvar, you have to respect your actors. When I directed Star Trek IV, I got a magnificent performance out of Bill because I respected him so much." To this, William Shatner immediately replies, "And when I directed Star Trek V, I got a magnificent performance out of me, because I respected me so much!"

Yeah, the name of this film alone is enough to make most Star Trek fans cringe in absolute disgust. To put it simply, this is a bad movie,  unless your name is James T. Kirk, Spock, or Leonard McCoy. How could such a film arise after a string of good films? Well the answer is in the first paragraph. William Shatner. I don't know the full story, but after finding success with directing in the previous two films, Shatner had enough, and wanted a piece of the action (pun intended), and thus he wrote and directed the infamous Final Frontier, the film many fans will call the bottom of the barrel in Star Trek filmdom. It was a film my parents refused to show me as a child, because it was so bad. Well I've finally seen it. So what do I think?

Honestly, I think it's rather sad....as in sad it's this bad, because the film had a LOT of potential. To those of you thinking this film just crashes and burns in every way possible, it doesn't. The film actually starts off fairly strong. I was actually kinda surprised. It's more when the film reaches the middle, and end where the biggest problems begin to take shape, but when this film hits the target, it can be very well done. And the first and foremost element that this film succeeds in is character development. The fleshing out of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy is at times, absolutely phenomenal. That's not a joke either, they share some genuinely deep, and very convincing moments together whether Kirk is saying how he knows he's going to die alone, or Spock is witnessing his birth, or McCoy is witnessing the death of his father, the development can be absolutely incredible...for these three characters.  Remember how I said this movie is good if you're named Kirk, Spock, or McCoy? It's because of the crew, they are the most heavily focused on.  The others barely get any screen time, development, or are just an overall joke on screen (particularly Scotty).

But aside from character development...this film's bad side heavily outweighs the good.  While decent at telling a story...for the most part, the film is absolutely littered with awkward scenes (ranging from dancing three-breasted cat-women, to Uhura dancing naked on a sand-dune), forgettable characters, poor editing, comedy that falls completely flat, and absolutely terrible special effects, the problems this film can have are endless.  This film had some potential in perhaps fleshing out diplomatic relations as the movie tries to focus on ambassadors from both the Federation, the Klingon Empire, and Romulan Star Empire.  But they're nearly forgotten about as the film goes on, shelved with the rest of the Star Trek cast.  The film's Klingon villain is absolutely laughable at how forgetable he is.  All he does is shoot space garbage, and chase the Enterprise.  And when he tries to battle, he gets a slap on the wrist by the Klingon ambassador, and is given the bad child treatment pretty much.  The film's villain...or anti-hero...I still don't know what to call him, in Spock's half-brother, Sybok is actually decently played out, but the fact that he's never been mentioned again or even hinted at is kinda disappointing.  There was a lot about him that genuinely kept my interest.  How was he able to do what he could?  Why did he have emotions despite being a Vulcan? But...he just...fizzled out. Erased from the franchise...

The story of the literal search for God I will go on a limb and say...is interesting, but poorly executed. But despite how poor the execution in this story can be...Shatner can be a riot to watch.  You can tell he is putting his heart and soul into everything this movie has to offer, and the result can be...laughably entertaining. Don't get me wrong, he does have some very deep moment with his friends, further developing his character as I said above, but at the end of the movie, you can tell where it's going.  Shatner's ego gets in the way and all of a sudden the story transforms from the search for God, to Kirk saves the day.  I don't know how high Shatner's egotistical high-horse was in this film but my God was it big.

When all is said and done, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier gets a one and a half star rating out of four. Yeah, it's bad.  Not at all a high point of the Star Trek franchise.  But as far as being the absolute worst of the worst? I wouldn't call it that.  Unlike Star Trek: The Motion Picture, this genuinely kept my interest, whether it was because of the little good there was in the film, or the laughably entertaining bad moments it had.  I find it easier to forgive this film than pictures like Insurrection or the Motion Picture.  For what it is...it's a bearable film for me. Not good.  Bad.  But I can watch it bad.  Thankfully, this would be the first and only film Shatner would direct, and I will say that's a good thing.  As much as Kirk is a fun character, Shatner's egotistical moods can get in the way of what could have been a very promising movie.  As it stands...The Final Frontier will forever be Shatner's final frontier. In more ways than one.

Please feel free to suggest future movies for me to review and to look at.  Leave a comment down below telling me your thoughts about this film, and as always, thanks for reading.

Final Verdict: 1.5/4