Title: Star Trek V – The Final Frontier
Release Date: 6/9/1989
Plot Summary
The Enterprise-A is still being shaken down after the crew’s return from 20th-century San Francisco. Unfortunately, the ship isn’t exactly ready for prime time. Systems malfunction, doors won’t open properly, and Scotty spends most of his time crawling through the machinery promising that everything will work eventually.
While the ship is being repaired, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy take shore leave in Yosemite. Kirk decides this is the perfect time to climb a mountain free-solo, nearly killing himself before Spock saves him with rocket boots. That night the three sit around a campfire, sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” and reflect on their long friendship.
Back in space, trouble is brewing on Nimbus III, a so-called “planet of galactic peace” where Federation, Klingon, and Romulan representatives try to coexist. A renegade Vulcan named Sybok leads a small army of followers and captures the three ambassadors. Starfleet dispatches the Enterprise to rescue them.
When Kirk and the crew arrive, they discover Sybok is no ordinary terrorist. He has an unusual Vulcan ability: he can touch a person’s deepest emotional pain and remove it, giving them a sense of peace and loyalty to him. One by one, members of the crew fall under his influence. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are forced to confront their own pasts – McCoy relives the moment he euthanized his suffering father, and Spock remembers his childhood rejection on Vulcan.
The biggest revelation comes when Sybok identifies himself to Spock. He is Spock’s half-brother, the son of Sarek from a previous marriage. Banished from Vulcan for rejecting logic in favor of emotion and spirituality, Sybok believes he has received a vision calling him to Sha Ka Ree, a legendary planet at the center of the galaxy where he expects to find God.
Sybok seizes control of the Enterprise and forces the ship toward the Great Barrier, an energy field surrounding the galactic core that no ship has ever successfully crossed. A Klingon captain named Klaa pursues them, hoping to finally get the glory of killing Captain Kirk.
The Enterprise breaches the Barrier and arrives at a mysterious world. There they encounter a powerful being that claims to be God. At first Sybok believes he has fulfilled his destiny, but Kirk begins asking uncomfortable questions.
“What does God need with a starship?”
The creature quickly reveals its true nature. It is not God at all, but a powerful alien imprisoned on the planet who needs a starship to escape. When Kirk refuses to cooperate, the being attacks the landing party.
Realizing he has been deceived, Sybok redeems himself by confronting the creature and sacrificing his life to protect Spock and the others. Meanwhile the Klingons arrive and open fire, only to stand down when Spock and Kirk manage to resolve the situation.
In the end the Enterprise crew returns to Earth. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy once again sit around their campfire in Yosemite, reflecting on friendship, faith, and the strange things waiting out there in the universe.
And, as always, whatever madness the galaxy throws at them next, they’ll face it together.
Risk Is Our Business
Kirk is reckless for some reason, trying to climb Mount Capitan, and Bones rightly calls him out on it. He claims he knew he wouldn’t die because he wasn’t alone. I’m not sure where that nonsense came from. I know they try to have a payoff with it at the end but it’s stupid.
Kirk does get two legit great lines in an otherwise lousy movie. It’s been widely believed that this movie was as much a ode to Shatner’s ego as anything. I’m not sure I’d take quite that far but certainly there’s some evidence to support it. He just is so cool, he refuses Sybok even though most of the others don’t seem to have a choice.
Still telling Sybok “I don’t want my pain taken away, I NEED my pain!” is pretty damn good. And asking “What does God need with a starship?” is also memorable. The script is like a stopped clock, it gets Kirk right on accident sometimes.
Logical
Spock has a brother! He also can nerve pinch a horse. OK. For some reason he’s taken up jet-booting as well. Thank goodness for that.
In his spare time, he apparently tests brigs.
He still carries the memory of Sarek being immediately disappointed in him from birth, disgustedly saying “so human.” I find this whole idea bullshit though. If he didn’t want a human kid, why did he have a human wife? Sarek may have had issues with Spock joining Starfleet instead of the Vulcan academy but I cannot believe he was racist to his own son.
He’s Dead, Jim
McCoy unexpectedly comes to Spock’s defense when they are thrown in the brig when Kirk is understandably angry at him. It’s probably in part due to the fact the Bones understands Spock in ways he didn’t before holding his Katra.
Even so, he still can’t help teasing him here and there and getting downright irritated with Spock on the camping trip. This leads to the funniest line in the entire movie when McCoy finally blurts out in exasperation “God, I liked him better before he died!”
McCoy’s biggest moment and arguably the best moment in the whole film, is the revelation that he had to pull the plug on his father due to a disease that caused him immense pain. Worse is that not too long after they found a cure. This really tracks with McCoy, his hatred of losing a patient but more importantly his passion in making sure his patients get the best care.
Whenever he goes back in time, he cannot help but comment on the medievalism of past medicine. In Star Trek IV, he gave a woman a grow-a-kidney pill because he was appalled by dialysis. He argued with the surgeon on Chekov’s treatment. Even in the show when he went back to the the 30s, he was going on about needles and sutures. Now it all makes sense.
McCoy is the best doctor in Starfleet simply because he will not settle for anything less than the best possible care he can give his patients. What happened with his father obviously is the motivation behind all that. It’s a stellar moment in an otherwise lousy movie.
Helm Sluggish Captain
Sulu can pilot a shuttle into a bay without a tractor beam on his first try! Don’t mind the damage, ’tis but a scratch.
He’s very cheerful about being lost in the woods. Nothing gets this guy down.
Hailing Frequencies Open, Sugar
Poor Uhura gets some of the cringiest moments in all of Star Trek in this movie.
Uhura seems to be having some sort of relationship with Scotty beyond the friends they are. Or maybe not? It’s hard to tell but, and I think I speak for all fans, I don’t want to know.
Worse she strips down naked to do fan dance in the middle of the desert so the team can capture some horses. Look, I have no issue with women using their sexuality to get what they need, at least as a plot point. It happens, it’s a weapon women can wield when necessary.
Uhura did a magnificent job of it back in the show in Mirror, Mirror. But this is just embarrassing. Really? Naked woman shows up at night in the middle of the desert and you guys just fall for it? You can practically see their dicks dragging them across the sand like a dog pulling at its owners leash. Add in the fact that Nichols is no spring chicken anymore and you just end up wincing.
My Wee Bairns
Scotty has his hands full trying to fix all the Enterprise’s problems. Kirk mentions that he gave him three weeks even though Scotty asked for two to which Scotty replies “I think you gave me too much time.” McCoy muses that he’s never seen him happier and that might be true. But in life and death situations, I’m not sure he was that happy about it.
Of course we have the “I know this ship like the back of my hand” moment that just cringes me into my own warp core breach.
Nuclear Wessels
Chekov gets to command! Kind of. He does ok. I also liked his moment with Sulu when they are lost in the forest and he tries to pretend they are in a snowstorm.
I Know That Guy
Harve Bennett plays Admiral Bob who sends Kirk on the mission. Bennett of course is not really an actor but the producer of the Trek movies. He took over with Star Trek II and I think he earned himself a cameo as he certainly is one of a few who could be credibly responsible for saving Star Trek.
Melanie Shatner played the yeoman with the busted log recorder. She guest starred on a few shows during the 90s but seems to have given up on acting by 1998.
Bill Quinn played McCoy’s father. He was in a ton of stuff on TV. In movies he was in the Twilght Zone: The Movie in the old people’s segment and had a role in Hitchcock’s The Birds. This was his last role.
Jonathan Simpson played the younger version of Sarek. This was probably his biggest role.
George Murdock played “God.” He was in a ton of stuff, mostly as a “that guy” role. He would return to Trek in TNG as Admiral Hanson in the two biggest Trek episodes arguably ever: The Best Of Both Worlds parts 1 and 2.
Steve Susskind played the pitchman on the TV in the Paradise Saloon. Typically a voice actor, this was a rare live action appearance for him.
Rex Holman plays J’ohnn, the guy at the beginning of the movie digging holes. He returns to Trek after playing Morgan Earp in The Spectre Of The Gun.
Spice Williams plays Vixis, the Klingon woman who has the hots for her commander. She was mostly known for being a stunt double. She even did stunt work in an episode of DS9 later on.
Todd Bryant played the Klingon Klaa. How I didn’t know this but he was the title character in the original Oliver! Granted it was local theater but still, quite a journey. Like Spice Williams, he’s mostly known for being a stunt coordinator.
Cynthia Gouw played Caitlin Dar. She had only a few credits by this movie and was out of acting by 1992. It’s not surprising, she was not exactly a natural actor in this.
Charles Cooper played Korrd. He was fairly busy but Trek fans will recognize him as K’mpec in TNG. I swear they used the same makeup and everything.
The late, great, David Warner played St. John Talbot, the earth ambassador. He’s been in so much, from Tron to Time Bandits, to Titanic. He’d return to Trek in the next movie as the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon and then in an absolutely classic episode of TNG where he plays Gul Madred, a delightfully evil Cardassian. There were four lights, asshole.
Finally we have Lawrence Luckenbill as Sybok. Although the movie has its issues, Luckenbill’s performance isn’t one of them. He was chosen after Sean Connery couldn’t make it due to filming Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He choose… wisely. The only thing I recall Luckenbill in was the father of Elizabeth Shue’s character in Cocktail. He was fairly busy before that but seems to have quit acting in the early 90s, except for one final role in 2005.
Canon Maker
For once, the Enterprise isn’t “the only ship in the quadrant.” This time it’s “the only Kirk in the quadrant.” Much better explanation than that old trope.
The shuttle Galileo gets completely wrecked, continuing its proud tradition.
Spock has a half-brother. Apparently Sarek got freaky with a vulcan priestess but it didn’t work out. Once he went human, he never went back.
Spock’s Vulcan Lyre makes an appearance. It was a nice callback to the old series.
I don’t know this is a canon breaker because it’s conceivable but when did Spock get the time to test a brig? It would’ve had to have been before the events of Wrath of Khan. He’s been pretty busy since then, what with going back in time to save Earth and being dead.
Canon Breaker
Why does the Enterprise problems extend to handheld log recorders?
Apparently everyone forgot about setting phasers to “wide stun.” It’s ridiculous that a bunch of rag tag losers with some sort of pneumatic guns firing rocks and pebbles would have any chance at dealing with a crack Federation force armed with phasers.
It’s well documented that the great barrier for exiting the galaxy will kick a ship’s butt but the one in the center will destroy it. Somehow not only does the Enterprise have no problems, especially in it’s malfunctioning state, but a tiny little bird of prey does OK as well. While the book does address it, the movie does not.
The Enterprise has 23 decks from the bridge to the bottom of the secondary hull. Furthermore, the numbering goes from top to bottom, with the bridge always being deck 1. Yet when Kirk, Spock, and McCoy blast off from the bottom of the turbolift shaft, the decks get bigger going up. And they go all the way to deck 78! Even the massive Enterprise D only had 42 decks.
Speaking of which, when they start climbing from the bottom, Spock goes back to get the boots. But then he appears from above rather than running back into the shaft and then going up to catch up with Kirk and Bones? Why? Because Shatner knows continuity is for pussies.
When they go down to the planet, for a moment they think there’s nothing there, that its all a delusion. Spock even attempts futilely to try to offer some solace to Sybok. Ok, fine but then who took control of the shuttle on their way down there? Just one of those things? Not to mention they are all able to watch Kirk, Spock, Bones, and Sybok on the viewing screen. Maybe they might have said something to Kirk when he started to communicate? Just sat there disappointed?
Sybok’s power to have a big moment of letting go of past pain and guilt just doesn’t translate into throwing away your loyalty and duty. Maybe the dirt farmers on Nimbus would follow him, what have they got to lose? But Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura? I don’t buy it. The fact that Spock and McCoy refused to help Sybok after he “helped” them proves that. Even with the Ambassadors I didn’t believe it.
A photon torpedo is basically a controlled matter/antimatter explosion. While I don’t think its overkill to use on that monster, I don’t see how Kirk, Spock, and McCoy would be able to avoid the blast. It reminds of when Arnold somehow survived the Predator’s nuke.
Technobabble
The new brig is escape proof. Which is technically true as they needed outside help. For some reason you’re not supposed to use the brig’s toilet while in spacedock.
The Enterprise added some sort of observation lounge with an old time helm wheel from sailing ships. On a movie that looks pretty cheap in a lot of ways, this set was pretty nice.
Library Computer
When the rebels are running to capture Kirk and company, they are clearly running through the corridors of the Enterprise-D. It’s obvious some of those sets were used here and there for some cost-cutting.
While the close up shots of Kirk and Spock “falling” off the mountain are not at all credible, they did actually have a stuntman falling in the long shots. Gotta appreciate that.
Still it’s shocking how bad some of the effects are. When they go to the planet through the barrier, it looks like just a bunch of swirling liquid badly superimposed. I think back to the amazing visuals of V’Ger. People may be bored by that trip to V’ger and over it but you can’t deny the effort and beauty of those shots. Here it’s just embarrassing.
With this monster trapped here on this planet, one wonders if the great barrier was put up to keep it in. Maybe God did that part. Still, it was fairly easily dispatched with a torpedo and some disruptor fire.
Eden is known as Sha’Ka’Ree in Vulcan. This came from the actor that was supposed to play Sybok, Sean Connery, I think by just removing the “N” sound and then pronouncing it that way.
A Novel Approach
JM Dillard takes over for Vonda McIntyre and does such a good job polishing this turd. She does most of the movie adaptations through Nemesis, as well as the novelization of the DS9 first episode Emissary. Give her credit for filling in some gaps but inevitably, there’s not much she can do. But I give her big props for the effort.
Answering Questions
So she very much picked up and kept many of the threads that McIntyre (and scripts) put down. For instance, if Sulu was supposed to be Captain of the Excelsior, why is he a commander here? Why is Scotty for that matter, he was made the captain of engineering of the Excelsior, a rank I’m not sure is real but whatever. Chekov was a first officer, now is back to a security chief.
Well, they all insisted on serving again with Kirk and took temporary reductions in rank in order to do it. It was their choice and they were too loyal now to their crewmates to do any differently. Of course Sulu finally did take command of the Excelsior, and I suspect based on this novel that Kirk finally would no longer have Sulu hinder his career anymore for him.
Sybok
Sybok’s past with his mother is dug into in the book. She was Vulcan priestess but betrayed the order with embracing emotions. She taught Sybok the “share your pain” technique though it’s not anymore defined in the book than in the movie as to why that leads directly to “brainwashed cultist.” She was exiled and died in disgrace, something that made Sybok not too happy with the Vulcans.
Sybok doesn’t just go through the great barrier on faith, he’s apparently got some information because either he’s really smart or “God” gave him the info to strengthen the shields. The Klingons then scanned the Enterprise and replicated the same info. The explanation for the Enterprise works to a certain extent but just looking at the technology and being able to do the same thing is a bit of a stretch. Just by seeing a television doesn’t mean I can make one.
The digging holes guy at the beginning name is J’Onn. He becomes Sybok’s right hand man and even somehow performs the “share your pain” on Sybok, which is how we get Sybok’s past.
Nimbus III
Caitlin Dar is an odd name for a Romulan and is explained that her ancestry had some human in it. St. John Talbot is there because he was disgraced and just basically gave up, taking Nimbus III since he knew it would require nothing of him and he could drink himself into self-pity.
Sulu
While in the movie we only see Bones and Spock’s pain, in the book we add Sulu’s. When he was a child, he lived on a planet colonized by some Japanese. It kept getting raided by pirates. At one point he and a friend were at a store of a kindly couple when the pirates raided. Long story short, the wife got killed but he didn’t know that. He ran to get help but got lost and was delayed in getting someone back to the store to help. He blamed himself for her death because he believed he was too slow getting help. Sybok helped him understand it wasn’t his fault.
Spock and Sybok
Why didn’t Spock shoot Sybok? Yes I think in general most people would accept that Spock couldn’t shoot his brother but that’s a very human perspective. We have seen time and again Spock make some pretty ruthless decisions in the show. To be fair, he also did some fairly heroically emotional things to save crewmembers too. But in this case, I don’t believe Spock wouldn’t have shot a long lost brother that was exiled and shamed the family to save lives. Needs of the many vs needs of the few. Or the one Sybok.
In the book, they go into the relationship a little more. When Spock was a boy, he was really unsure of himself plus dealing with the Vulcan racism of being half-human. Sybok came to live with Sarek and Spock was convinced that he would demand to be the chosen heir, so to speak, being a full-blooded Vulcan. But Sybok was kind to young Spock which made a deep impression on him. It was hard to let go of.
What’s The Score?
Jerry Goldsmith returns repurposing his score from The Motion Picture but it just lacks. I don’t really blame him, look what he had to work with. It’s ok, but it does feel like microwave leftovers as opposed to getting the meal fresh. There too much trying to get the music to do the heavy lifting in a scene to show how epic and triumphant it is, even when they are just landing a shuttle in the bay.
Here is the beginning moment when Sybok appears from the desert, it’s kinda cool.
I also like the opening with yellowstone park and Kirk climbing the mountain.
Of course this generated the most awesome thing about Star Trek V – Why is Kirk Climbing a Mountain?
He brings back the Klingon theme. While Horner did a decent job of that in Star Trek III, let’s face it. Goldsmith is now the default theme for Klingons.
Then of course they find “God.”
The rest of the soundtrack is fine. Jerry Goldsmith is always solid but this is still just a pale shadow of his Motion Picture soundtrack.
What It Means To Be Human – Review
After the huge success of Star Trek IV, the producers seemed to take away the wrong lesson, which is “Trek should be funny now!” On top of that, there was a clause in Nimoy and Shatner’s contract. If one got to direct, so did the other. And it was Shatner’s turn.
The misplaced humor is only one of several missteps here and not all of them were Shatner’s fault. The screenwriter’s strike really put a damper on finishing the script properly. Paramount rushed things as they were worried the momentum from Star Trek IV was waning. And even if it was awesome, it had the summer of ’89 to contend with. Lethal Weapon 2, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Ghostbusters 2, and of course Batman. The competition was fierce.
The Enterprise being a wreck for laughs is something that grates on me the most. In The Motion Picture, Kirk first enters the bridge to chaos. Nothing is working and people are working frantically. It ratchets up the tension, not diffuses it. And what wasn’t working? Things like the engines, the most complicated pieces. Here they can’t get the doors to open properly but the engine is fine?
Of course all of that is for cheap laughs but more importantly to keep the transporters offline as those would negate the whole movie. If they worked, the Enterprise just beams up the Ambassadors and then beam up the terrorists right into the brig. Instead we get this Delta Force raid that makes the crew look like idiots since they are immediately overcome. Can’t remember how to use phasers anymore properly? Ridiculous.
The the whole movie has too many places set up to make Kirk look awesome. Suddenly he’s a mountain climber? I thought he was a quiet guy who liked antiques but now he free climbs the most dangerous mountain in North America. Whatever.
The whole shuttle thing is done just so Klaa can muse that Kirk is damn good. Cue the eye roll.
Still, all that being said, I don’t completely hate it. Maybe this is hindsight and watching NuTrek just totally insult Trek and Trek fans. There’s an overton window of acceptable with any IP. You can stretch things only so far before the property isn’t recognizable anymore. NuTrek does that. Star Trek V does not. At no point in this misbegotten mess do I feel like Shatner is putting a middle finger up to the fans.
It’s funny what you’ll accept once you’ve been asked to accept so much worse.
I don’t believe Shatner wanted to make a piece of shit obviously. His idea came from watching televangelists back in the 80s. Those of you who remember back then, those guys probably damaged Christianity only second to the child sex scandals of the Catholics. The problem is he didn’t go far enough. Sybok is a sincere man. He’s been fooled by this monster, he wasn’t in it to make money or fool people. So the comparison only goes so far.
Sybok’s persuasion powers are also troublesome. It’s not clear how it works in the movie but the bridge from gratitude to betray my duty is just too far for me. I can’t buy it and I don’t understand how it just wore off later. Or did it? If it didn’t why did they stop being traitors? It makes zero sense.
The rest of the humor is slapstick nonsense. Don’t get me started on Scotty banging his head. And the turbolift scenes just makes me want to throw shit at the screen.
Still it’s not all bad. McCoy’s pain moment was really good. It was the most McCoy has gotten in character development probably ever. I legit love that scene.
The campfire sequence is good too. I enjoy watching them just be together, cementing their friendship. In Motion Picture, Spock seemed almost pained to be back among the humans again, but now he’s roasting marshmelons with them. It feels like a natural progression.
These moments can’t overcome just a bad script with so many plot holes, you could pilot a spacedock through them. The Klingons feel forced in there just to have the shuttle moment and then have to just be there at the end because reasons. How did they get through the barrier? How did the Enterprise for that matter? Don’t know!
Finally what was the point? Every Star Trek movie felt like the status quo changed. In Motion Picture, everyone was separated and brought back together, not to mention saving the earth. In Wrath of Khan, they killed Spock. In Search For Spock they saved him but killed their careers, the Enterprise, and Kirk’s son. In Voyage Home they saved the earth (again) and were able to get back to their careers and a new Enterprise. In Undiscovered Country, they changed the political situation in the galaxy and answered the questions TNG left hanging, how did the Federation and Klingons become allies?
But here? What changed? At the end, it was just a standard TV episode, and a bad one at that. I think 5 of the 6 movies are incredibly strong but this one is just a huge misfire. An entertaining one at times but a misfire nonetheless.
