Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Theatrical release poster art by Bob Peak
Directed by	William Shatner
Produced by	Harve Bennett
Screenplay by	David Loughery
Story by	William Shatner Harve Bennett David Loughery
Starring	See table
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Andrew Laszlo
Editing by	Peter E. Berger
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	June 9, 1989 (1989-06-09)
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$27,800,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$70,210,000 (worldwide)
Preceded by	Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Followed by	Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is a 1989 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures and the fifth feature film based on the Star Trek science fiction television series. The film was directed by William Shatner, following two films directed by his co-star, Leonard Nimoy. Shatner also developed the initial storyline.

Plot

The year is 2287, and following the events of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the crew of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) is enjoying shore leave, after the starship's shakedown cruise goes poorly. At Yosemite National Park, Captain James T. Kirk is camping with Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy. Their leave is interrupted when the Enterprise is ordered by Starfleet Command to rescue human, Klingon and Romulan hostages on the desolate planet of Nimbus III. Learning of the Enterprise's mission, the Klingon Captain Klaa decides to fight Kirk for personal glory.

Upon arrival at Nimbus III, the Enterprise crew discovers that renegade Vulcan Sybok, Spock's half-brother, is behind the hostage crisis. Sybok reveals that the hostage situation was a ruse to lure a starship to Nimbus III. Sybok wants to use a ship to reach the mythical planet Sha Ka Ree, the place creation began; the planet lies behind a seemingly impenetrable barrier near the center of the galaxy. Sybok uses his unique ability to reveal and heal the innermost pain of a person to gain the trust of the hostages and crew members. While McCoy and Spock accept Sybok's help, Kirk refuses the Vulcan's offer, telling him that his pain is what makes him human. Sybok reluctantly declares a truce with Kirk, realizing he needs his leadership experience to navigate the Enterprise to Sha Ka Ree.

The Enterprise successfully breaches the barrier, pursued by Klaa's vessel, and discovers a lone blue planet. Sybok, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy journey to the surface, where Sybok calls out to his perceived vision of God. An entity appears, and when told of how Sybok breached the barrier, demands that the starship be brought closer to the planet. When a skeptical Kirk inquires, "What does God need with a starship?", the entity attacks him in retribution. The others doubt a god who would inflict harm on people for pleasure.

Realizing that the entity might escape from the planet, Sybok uses his telepathic powers in an effort to make the creature realize its own pain, but is apparently destroyed in the attempt. Intent on destroying the creature at all costs, Kirk orders the Enterprise to fire a photon torpedo at their location. Spock and McCoy are beamed back to the ship, but Klaa's vessel attacks the Enterprise before Kirk can be transported aboard. Kirk is about to be killed by the vengeful entity when Klaa's vessel destroys it in a hail of fire. Kirk is beamed aboard the ship and learns Spock and the Klingon hostage forced Klaa to stand down. The Enterprise crew celebrate a new détente with the Klingons, and Kirk, Spock and McCoy resume their vacation at Yosemite.

Cast

• William Shatner as James T. Kirk. Shatner put himself into the best shape he had been in years, partaking in aerobics, strength training and stretching. The adrenaline rush meant he always awoke at 4 a.m. during filming, no matter what time he fell asleep.^[1]
• Leonard Nimoy as Spock, first officer. Nimoy noted Star Trek V was the most physical film in the series, which reflected Shatner's energetic sensibility and what he enjoyed doing most on the show; "running and jumping". Nimoy recalled Shatner instructed him in riding a horse, although Nimoy had ridden many horses bareback when playing American Indians for Republic Pictures serials. He did not tell Shatner this so as to not embarrass him.^[1]
• DeForest Kelley as Leonard McCoy, chief medical officer. Kelley also noted the physicality required for this film and enjoyed doing things that he had not been asked to do for years. "I was very pleased to see that he [Shatner] brought it along in fine style."^[1]
• James Doohan as Captain Montgomery Scott, chief engineer.
• George Takei as Commander Hikaru Sulu, helmsman. Takei said that despite the pressures of completing the film on time, Shatner maintained a creative and enthusiastic atmosphere on set. "I have enormous admiration for his ability to block that kind of pressure from seeping on to the set."^[1]
• Walter Koenig as Commander Pavel Chekov, navigator.
• Nichelle Nichols as Commander Uhura, communications officer.
• David Warner as St. John Talbot, Terran Federation consul to Nimbus III.
• Laurence Luckinbill as Sybok.
• Todd Bryant as Captain Klaa.
• Spice Williams-Crosby as Vixis.
• Charles Cooper as Klingon General Korrd.
• Cynthia Gouw as Romulan Ambassador Caithlin Dar.

Production

When he signed on to reprise the role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home following a pay dispute, William Shatner was promised he could direct the next film.^[2] Shatner had directed plays and television episodes.^[1] Shatner also convinced Harve Bennett to produce the film, even though he was exhausted by the previous three films and wanted to move on.^[1]

Shatner based Sybok on televangelists, and wrote an outline entitled An Act of Love.^[3] Actor Sean Connery was originally contacted to star in the role, but was busy with other acting commitments such as the Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade film. The name Sha Ka Ree, is a play of words from the actor's name. The Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home writer Nicholas Meyer was preoccupied so he was unable to return to write the film.^[1] Linguist Marc Okrand's name was used as Captain Klaa's bird-of-prey in the script; the "Okrona". Shatner approached novelist Eric Van Lustbader to write his screenplay, but his requested $1 million salary forced Paramount to offer the job to David Loughery instead. The studio told Loughery to inject more fun and humour to the otherwise intense story as to make it like its predecessor. While Shatner was busy making another film, Loughery and Bennett changed the storyline to focus on a less physical god; Shatner was unhappy when he learned about the rewrites to the script. Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley also disliked the script because they objected to how Spock and McCoy betray Kirk and allow Sybok to commandeer the Enterprise, which Loughery explained was done to give a "one man stands alone" conflict. The script was rewritten to please Nimoy and Kelley.^[3]

Paramount rushed the film into production in late 1988, concerned that the franchise's momentum following The Voyage Home had disappeared,^[3] in spite of the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike cutting into the film's pre-production.^[4] Filming took place in the Mojave Desert as well as in and around Yosemite National Park.^[1] Industrial Light & Magic had anticipated their involvement in the film, but were told by Paramount that due to their estimated costs, their services would no longer be required. ILM subsequently delivered the main Enterprise model to Associates and Ferren, the visual effects studio chosen by Paramount.^[4] However, scenes which included the Enterprise in spacedock, as well as the spacedock itself, were taken directly from ILM's previous work in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The film's original climax; where a creature made of solid rock attacks the three lead characters, was deemed too unconvincing and dropped. The actors portraying the rock monsters wore rubberized suits; as cigarette smoke was blown in the suits to achieve a smoking effect for the scene.^[3][5][6] In an allusion to this sequence, a similar creature was created by ILM for the Trek parody Galaxy Quest.

Star Trek: The Next Generation production designer Herman Zimmerman was hired by Shatner to redesign the USS Enterprise-A's bridge so as to become a forerunner to the USS Enterprise-D's bridge.^[4] Michael Okuda's LCARS style of backlit controls were implemented on the Klingon bridge as well as the Enterprise.^[7] Shatner sought a grittier and more realistic feel to the Star Trek universe, although they could not overly alter the look of Starfleet's bridges.^[8] Additionally, the corridors for the Enterprise were the same corridors from the Enterprise-D used in the television series. Shatner had rehired Richard Snell as makeup supervisor, advising him to make each Klingon forehead more distinctive.^[9]

Music

Music critic Jeff Bond wrote that Shatner made "at least two wise decisions" in making The Final Frontier; beyond choosing Luckinbill as Sybok, he hired Jerry Goldsmith to compose the film's score. Goldsmith had written the Academy Award-nominated score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and the new Trek film was an opportunity to craft music with a similar level of ambition while adding action and character—two elements largely missing from The Motion Picture.^[10]

Goldsmith's main theme begins with the traditional opening notes from Alexander Courage's original television series theme; an ascending string and electronic bridge leads to a rendition of the march from The Motion Picture. According to Jeff Bond, Goldsmith's use of The Motion Picture's march led to some confusion among Star Trek: The Next Generation fans, as they were unfamiliar with the music's origins and believed that Goldsmith was stealing the theme to The Next Generation, which was itself The Motion Picture march.^[10] Another theme from The Motion Picture that makes a return appearance is the Klingon theme from the 1979 film's opening scene. Here, the theme is treated in what Bond termed a "Prokofiev-like style as opposed to the avant-garde counterpoint" as seen in The Motion Picture. Goldsmith also added a crying ram's horn.^[11]

The breadth of The Final Frontier's locations led Goldsmith to eschew the two-themed approach of The Motion Picture in favor of leitmotifs, recurring music used for locations and characters. Sybok is introduced with a synthesized motif in the opening scene of the film, while when Kirk and Spock discuss him en route to Nimbus III it is rendered in a more mysterious fashion. The motif also appears in the action cue as Kirk and company land on Nimbus III and try to free the hostages.^[10] When Sybok boards the Enterprise, a new four-note motif played by low brass highlights the character's obsession. The Sybok theme from then on is used in either a benevolent sense or a more percussive, dark rendition. Arriving at Sha-ka-ree, the planet's five-note theme bears resemblance to Goldsmith's unicorn theme from Legend; "...the two melodies represent very similar ideas: lost innocence and the tragic impossibility of recapturing paradise," writes Bond. The music features cellos conveying a pious quality, while the appearance of "God" begins with string glissandos but turns to a dark rendition of Sybok's theme as its true nature is exposed.^[11] As the creature attacks Kirk, Spock and McCoy, the more aggressive Sybok theme takes on an attacking rhythm. When Spock appeals to the Klingons for help, the theme takes on a sensitive character before returning to a powerful sequence as the ship destroys the god-creature.^[12]

Release

Box office performance

The Final Frontier grossed $52,210,049 in the U.S. and a combined $70,210,000 worldwide against a $27,800,000 budget. Though profitable, it made only around half what The Voyage Home had made, and it quickly dropped off the box office charts after its solid $17,375,648 opening weekend.^[13] It sold the fewest tickets of any Star Trek film up until Star Trek Nemesis thirteen years later, in 2002.

Critical reaction

The movie received a negative response from most critics and fans. Fans complained about the sub-standard special effects, and that too much of the humor was at the expense of the popular supporting characters, particularly Uhura and Scotty, who the film strongly hints are romantically involved. However, much of the humor was also directed at the main characters (including Kirk).

Among critics, Roger Ebert gave the film two stars noting; "There is no clear line from the beginning of the movie to the end, not much danger, no characters to really care about, little suspense, uninteresting or incomprehensible villains, and a great deal of small talk and pointless dead ends."^[14] Peter Travers of The Rolling Stone similary commented; "Star Trek V: Shatner's Folly (the subtitle is mine) handily takes the hollow crown as worst in the series. It's bloated, bombastic and maddeningly pretentious."^[15] Rita Kempley of the Washington Post added to the negativity remarking, "Star Trek V is a shambles, a space plodessy, a snoozola of astronomic proportions." The special effects in the film were not spared criticism either as she illustrated how the Enterprise attempts; "To pass through an impenetrable (Ha!) swirl of what appears to be cosmic Windex, beyond which is the planet Shockara, home of God, or perhaps California shot through a purple filter."^[16] James Berardinelli also concurred on the visuals in the film saying; "The special effects are at an all-time low for the movie series, with the passage through the "Great Barrier" looking especially cheesy."^[17]

Positive reviews seemed to be few and far between. Among them, Chris Hicks of the Deseret News gave it three stars exclaiming, "There is a certain charm to Star Trek V in its ability to tackle one of life's "big questions" in a pompous, yet superficial manner, because that's exactly what the old TV series did all the time."^[18] Accordingly, film critic Josh Larsen of Larsen On Film, rated it with three stars declaring, "I’m grading on a sliding scale here - Final Frontier is “good” only in relation to the previous Star Trek pictures." He went on to state, "Final Frontier would be another wash were it not for Laurence Luckinbill as the series’ first interesting villain (and yes, I’m counting the bewilderingly beloved Khan)."^[19]

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry jokingly considered elements of this film to be "apocryphal at best", and particularly disliked the idea that Sarek had fathered a child (Sybok) with a Vulcan before Amanda. Roddenberry made similar statements about elements of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Nevertheless, both films are included in Trek canon.^[20] Ralph Winter said they should have recognized the film's plot was too reminiscent of V'ger from Star Trek: The Motion Picture.^[1] Shatner blamed himself for what he believed ended the franchise; only because the 25th anniversary of the series was approaching did Frank Mancuso, Jr. approve the development of the next film.^[3]

Awards

The Golden Raspberry Awards also known as the "Razzies", saw Star Trek V win the award for Worst Picture of 1989, with Shatner also winning for both Worst Actor and Worst Director. The film earned nominations for DeForest Kelley as Worst Supporting Actor as well as Worst Screenplay for David Loughery, William Shatner and Harve Bennett. Bennett was also nominated as the recipient of the film for being the "Worst Picture of the Decade".

Home media

The film was released on VHS videotape in 1989. It would also be released as a widescreen VHS edition.

On December 3, 1991 the film premiered on national television on the CBS network in time to celebrate the release of the feature film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Certain scenes however, were edited out; such as the bar scene featuring the triple breasted dancing cat woman, as well as a scene on the bridge featuring Scotty and Uhura receiving new orders from Starfleet. The scene in the turbolift with Kirk commenting that he "could use a shower" was also cut from the broadcast. Furthermore, the campfire scene with Kirk, Spock and McCoy was edited in length removing the 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' sing-along.

The film was released on DVD on April 20, 1999 as a bare bones edition with no bonus extras. It was re-released on DVD as a 2-Disc Special Collector's Edition on October 14, 2003 with bonus extras added to it.

Following the success of the Director's Editions of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 2001 and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in 2002, as well as subsequent collector's edition DVD releases of the third and fourth films in the series, William Shatner lobbied Paramount to be allowed a budget to film new special effect sequences to replace the ones made by Associates and Ferren and otherwise re-tool the movie to bring it closer to what Shatner originally intended to be released as a Director's Edition on DVD. However, his request was rejected by the studio and the original release version was reissued instead. Incidentally, there have been many attempts by Star Trek fans in making their own re-edits to the film, ranging from copying and pasting special-effects shots from other Star Trek films, or even going as far as producing their own digital effects in trying to recreate those made by the studio when the film was originally released. Many of these videos have been posted on YouTube.^[21]

The film was released on Blu-ray Disc in May 2009 to coincide with the new Star Trek feature, along with the other five films featuring the original crew in Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection.^[22] The Final Frontier was remastered in 1080p high-definition from the 2000 DVD transfer. All six films in the set have new 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio. The disc features a new commentary track by renowned Star Trek authors and contributors Michael and Denise Okuda, Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Daren Dochterman.^[22][23]

Notes

References

External links

• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Official Site
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier at Allmovie
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier at Rotten Tomatoes
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier at Box Office Mojo
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)