Target Audience / (FIXED VERSION) UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

As for Nimbus they have provided a lot of background info over the years from folk involved. It was an unimportant and non resource rich world which exists in what I call the tri-factor zone. Equally between Romulan/Klingon/Federation borders. It was a vanity government project for no more than public propaganda due to the self serving thoughts of a grandiose federation diplomat Starfleet supplied the initial resources and front for the proposal of Nimbus being where ambassadors of the three cultures could meet together and discuss their issues whilst members of all three cultures can travel and co-mingle freely on Nimbus despite border treaties blocking that kind of interaction generally. It quickly fell to obscurity and "who cares" by all involved in-world lore yet to save face, the ambassadors remain, forgotten and neglected by their governments until the events of #5 In truth nimbus makes sense in the lore. Theres quite a few examples people can find in real-life history.

Ben Smith

2025-01-09 13:40:10 +0000 UTC

So that is it. The Sex Scoreboard is caught up

Prof Moff

2025-01-01 16:39:46 +0000 UTC

TOS Sex Scoreboard No main crew scores but Qs Kirk 12 Chekov 4 Spock 5 Bones 4 Scottie 2 Uhura 1 Extras: Human Rep and Romulan Rep New +1 together. The only obvious bangin was between these two. The Romulan Rep looks like a LOT of fun so I am sure a whole lotta lovin. Maybe they brought in the Cat Chick Strippers for a really wild time. My head cannon has these two having a baby boy growing up on Romulan and turns out the Romo-man becomes a general and falls in love with a blond human prisoner. She seduces him and a a certain blond Romulan daughter is produced. But probably not.

Prof Moff

2025-01-01 16:33:37 +0000 UTC

Some will argue that some of the TNG movies are worse than this, but frankly I don't think it's even close. There are creative choices you can criticize in the TNG films, but they aren't completely disjointed messes of stories like this one. Some people may not like what they did, but at least you're not left wondering what the movie is trying to do. The second JJ movie is worst than this, but the first and 3rd are still better IMO. Of the 10 prime films, this is my least favourite. So many things make no sense at all. Why make a desolate desert world the "planet of galactic peace"? How did a Voyager probe get out into Klingon space? How does Spock stop Kirk hitting the ground when he's clearly on a wire and his boots aren't even pointed down? Why wasn't Kirk and company just given one of these other more capable ships to carry out the mission? Why was a 57 year old Nichelle Nichols dancing naked used as a distraction, and why would that work(guess those guys were super thirsty in more ways than one)? Why did Scotty walk into a metal beam right in his sight line? How did Spock go from the bowels of the ship up to his quarters in the saucer to get the boots, and then come DOWN from above, and why didn't Kirk and Bones just go that way as well? How did the Enterprise cover the tens of thousands of light years to reach the galactic core in just a few hours? I could go on. The movie isn't all bad however. First off, the soundtrack is fantastic, especially the piece that we hear during the campfire when Kirk talks about dying alone, and that reappears at the end. Second, while unfortunately Chekov, Sulu and Uhura have nothing of substance to do, and Scotty only has a bit, the "big 3" get some of their best moments IMO. Kirk climbing without any safety gear(they probably have some kind of anti gravity belt or harness that basically works like a parachute) at 54 is a little hard to believe, and McCoy's anger at him is understandable. But I guess it was needed to set up the "die alone" scene. The campfire scene is great, but also pretty sad. Not only is Kirk convinced he'll die alone, but also McCoy and Kirk observing that the 3 of them spend all their time together on the latter end of middle age because they don't have families like other people is kind of depressing. McCoy's memory of euthanizing his father is such a tragic and captivating scene, and that's before finding out about his guilt from the fact that a cure was developed a short time later. It works a lot better as a late reveal because it's fully understandable that he wouldn't want to discuss something like that. I don't quite buy Spock remembering his own birth, and certainly he wouldn't have a grasp of language to understand Sarek's words. Perhaps it's a memory he picked up from a mind meld with Sarek or Amanda at some point. I guess it just represents a general resentment on Sarek's part for Spock's human half, which I mean, you chose to marry a human woman my guy. At any rate I like that Spock just wasn't swayed by it. Kirk's monologue about how our pain makes us who we are and how he needs his pain is a fantastic Kirk moment. I laughed thinking of Scotty's pain being a pile of broken dilithium crystals, but real talk it would probably be down to his nephew's death in TWOK, and watching the original Enterprise burn up over Genesis. I also like how in the scene where they confront "god", how Spock repeats Kirk's question even after seeing what happened to Kirk, and then McCoy after seeing what happened to both doubles down and outright condemns the entity. Finally the scene where Spock is mourning Sybok and Kirk talks about losing a brother and getting him back is really touching(despite no justice for Sam Kirk), but it's when McCoy calls back to the campfire scene saying he thought Kirk said men like them didn't have families, and Kirk's response of "I was wrong" that always chokes me up a bit. As for Sybok, I never really saw him as a villain. Misguided and somewhat dangerous, but his intentions were not malicious. It's not inconceivable that Spock just never wanted to talk about him, but I agree the execution of this whole plot was lacking. I think the actor did a decent job however. Klaa isn't too memorable, but I kind of like the guy. It's like he just wants to fight Kirk for the clout. Kruge you take a lot more seriously and he's got legit concerns about the federation developing a doomsday weapon, and he was responsible for David's death and the loss of the original Enterprise. Klaa isn't evil, he just wants to prove himself. As for the plaque marking a return of "where no MAN", it just made me think of Shatner waxing nostalgic at a convention. "For over 20 years 'to boldly go where no man has gone before' was the motto of Star Trek, before the woke times, before TNG".🤣 So while TFF may be my least favourite of the 10 prime timeline films, it's not entirely without merit. It's certainly not as slow paced as TMP, but on balance TMP is still better. Ultimately TFF is well into the twilight of the TOS cast, and at this chance any opportunity to hang out with that cast, especially the big 3, is welcome, and it certainly delivers on that. I'm just glad their swan song was Star Trek 6 and not this one.

Timothy Nikiforovs

2024-07-20 19:32:59 +0000 UTC

The premise "What does God need with a starship?" ought to write itself. Unfortunately it got paired with a poorly executed B plot that was elevated to the A plot and made it's way into a theatre.

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

2024-06-26 05:31:53 +0000 UTC

Hey guys, I ran across some fun facts on the original cast that you might get a kick out of: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6JsK0nYl24

TeenyStudio Flicks

2024-04-08 05:55:48 +0000 UTC

I never found this movie as bad as everyone claims. The plot is awful no argument there but there are so many elements that frame it that is simply wonderful. The character work between Kirk, Spok and Bones is lovely. Seeing these guys just hanging out when there's no world ending crisis going on was fun. Also, it made sense to me that Uhura and Scotty might become close, they've weathered numerous storms and Scotty died for Uhura in The Changeling. Shatner directs the hell out of thse intimate scenes and he's failed by an awful main plotline. This film really sold the fact that this crew are more than just comrades but have become close friends. Also, I loved Shatner's performance in this. It's a prelude to the amazing work he'd done in Boston Legal.

Linda Thackeray

2024-04-06 08:44:45 +0000 UTC

Would the neck pinch work on another Vulcan though? Even if it did, would a Vulcan's enhanced physical strength mean that another Vulcan wouldn't be able to apply the neck pinch without severe resistance?

Numinous2019

2024-03-31 08:13:52 +0000 UTC

Goldsmith only had 17 days to score 'First Contact', because he had to move on to 'The Ghost And The Darkness'. The F.C. music does sound routine compared to his first two ST scores, which was unfortunate. I still think though that 'Nemesis' is the weakest of his ST scores, composed and recorded while he was in declining health.

Numinous2019

2024-03-31 08:10:31 +0000 UTC

I think that's a very fair assessment of the movie.

Numinous2019

2024-03-31 08:03:31 +0000 UTC

It's so bad.

Miah1138

2024-03-30 02:11:18 +0000 UTC

Only days ago (3/18/24), Shatner voiced his biggest regret in life to The Hollywood Reporter: Star Trek 5. “I wish that I’d had the backing and the courage to do the things I felt I needed to do. My concept was, “Star Trek goes in search of God,” and management said, “Well, who’s God? We’ll alienate the nonbeliever, so, no, we can’t do God.” And then somebody said, “What about an alien who thinks they’re God?” Then it was a series of my inabilities to deal with the management and the budget. I failed. In my mind, I failed horribly. When I’m asked, “What do you regret the most?,” I regret not being equipped emotionally to deal with a large motion picture. So in the absence of my power, the power vacuum filled with people that didn’t make the decisions I would’ve made.”

Shatner's Cigarette

2024-03-29 01:22:51 +0000 UTC

I suppose it doesn't. Bad example on my part. But the Drinker rails against the over the top woke crowd. Many see that as racism etc etc when it's not. Those on the extreme side of the woke crowd will cry racism or misogyny at anyone who dares to disagree with them.

Monty Crawford

2024-03-26 16:13:20 +0000 UTC

Actually it was sarcasm.

Monty Crawford

2024-03-26 16:09:26 +0000 UTC

I fail to see how someone having a large amount of viewers on youtube, invalidates or refutes the criticisms Sam made about those 2

Derek Orr

2024-03-26 14:58:55 +0000 UTC

This movie really feels like its two drafts away from greatness. Its got heart, but its weighed down by so many things.

Nathan Koga

2024-03-26 06:18:37 +0000 UTC

And I don't know if you guys noticed, or if y'all are going to talk about it in a discussion video about the movie, but the Enterprise-D sets were used, with the major example of the corridors and doors. One major change was done for where the LCARS black touch panel was located. They painted the panel white, making it look like the corridors for the Enterprise-A.

Anthony Goodwin

2024-03-24 23:27:16 +0000 UTC

50:13 One of the shuttlecraft's engines blew up on impact as it crash-landed, while the other was just hanging out outside the shuttlebay doors. Other than that, y'all's reaction to when the shuttle crash-landed is priceless and hilarious! LMAO! 😂😂😂😂😂

Anthony Goodwin

2024-03-24 23:14:57 +0000 UTC

Spock was close enough to give him the FSNP and should have thought of that.

James H

2024-03-24 19:19:22 +0000 UTC

I remember in 1989 when TNG was going on I said, “Thanks but no thanks, I’ll just wait for the next great blockbuster movie from the original cast.” Then this happened and it was like, “Oh. So much for that.” One reviewer said it was Star Trek “descending to the level of self-parody.”

James H

2024-03-24 19:14:22 +0000 UTC

Viewing Star Trek in release order is genius you guys keep up the good work!

Just another Red Shirt

2024-03-20 17:33:51 +0000 UTC

I remember a Critical Drinker video about one of the Star Trek series from the streaming era where he had a montage of close-ups of each of the main characters while he mockingly said, "Diversity! Diversity! Diversity! Body positivity!" There's just no way to interpret that except as racism and fat-shaming.

Anthony Bernacchi

2024-03-20 09:44:25 +0000 UTC

It was deemed enough of a mistake that the novelization changed the line. Also, Kirk's line in the movie does not reference George at all. He's 100% referring to Spock.

JGoss

2024-03-19 20:35:28 +0000 UTC

Kirk didn’t forget he had a brother that was the point of the line to make you remember his brother and then the revelation of how Kirk feels

Scarpad’s Domain

2024-03-19 20:30:02 +0000 UTC

People were always to ruff on this one. I think Shatner saw Star Trek for the action adventure show it was. This movie was the closest to the show.

Scarpad’s Domain

2024-03-19 20:27:55 +0000 UTC

One big problem with this to me, I think, is that they likely saw that the more comedic Star Trek IV was a major hit, so they decided to double down on the jokes and went too far with it. The crew acts a little too goofy for the sake of humor. Scotty knocking himself out, etc. Sybok's scenes with McCoy and Spock were interesting, though.

Joe Concepts

2024-03-19 19:29:11 +0000 UTC

Your biased opinion of them is duly noted. However you confuse racism and women hating with truth. I happen to be a fan of them and as far as "losers" go, do you get more than a million views on YOUR videos? That aside let's keep opinions like this off this patreon thread. One of the things I like about Josh and Alex is they don't judge opinions or beliefs and try to keep politics and social issues off their own comments. Let's just try to get along here, and leave your personal bigotry in your quarters. (ya, i stole that line.)

Monty Crawford

2024-03-19 17:36:17 +0000 UTC

In a way, this is the most TOS-esque of the movies. You've got a god-like being, a cult seeking Eden, the crew being brainwashed, Kirk being the only one able to resist the brainwashing through his own willpower - all things we saw multiple times in TOS. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this plot would've made an excellent 50-minute episode. Unfortunately, it doesn't work so well as a movie.

Steven Linden

2024-03-19 16:56:10 +0000 UTC

Never mind these two racist and women hating losers.

Sam Langanke

2024-03-19 09:58:13 +0000 UTC

I just saw this at dailymail.co.uk: "(Shatner's) incredible career does not come without disappointments -- notably, the 1989 film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which Shatner starred in and directed. Shatner called his inability to be emotionally 'equipped' enough to handle the film his biggest regret. 'I wish that I’d had the backing and the courage to do the things I felt I needed to do. My concept was, 'Star Trek goes in search of God,' and management said, 'Well, who’s God? We’ll alienate the nonbeliever, so, no, we can’t do God.' 'And then somebody said, 'What about an alien who thinks they’re God?' Then it was a series of my inabilities to deal with the management and the budget. I failed. In my mind, I failed horribly. When I’m asked, 'What do you regret the most?,' I regret not being equipped emotionally to deal with a large motion picture. So in the absence of my power, the power vacuum filled with people that didn’t make the decisions I would’ve made.' ... I wanted granite [rock creatures] to explode out of the mountain. The special effects guy said, 'I can build you a suit that’s on fire and smoke comes out.' I said, 'Great, how much will that cost?' They said, '$250,000 a suit.' Can you make 10 suits? 'He said, 'Yeah.' That’s $2.5 million. You’ve got a $30 million budget."

Chtphr Rrr

2024-03-19 06:02:56 +0000 UTC

And the Critical Drinker and MauLer just had a livestream viewing of the movie today. Great timing all-around for the movie.

JGoss

2024-03-19 05:47:25 +0000 UTC

TMP is great. Total Recall is a strong 2nd for me. I love that opening theme, very rousing. The Rudy theme is must listen for any workout.

JGoss

2024-03-19 05:46:23 +0000 UTC

Ironically Shatner just did an interview where he said this movie was the biggest failure of his life.

Monty Crawford

2024-03-19 01:31:17 +0000 UTC

Star Trek, The Motion Picture didn't win the Oscar, but I think it's Jerry Goldsmith's best soundtrack. Goldsmith being one of the greatest film composers ever, that's a high mark to have to live up to. It does way better than his next Trek score, First Contact. That was one of Goldsmith's later scores, and he contracted a fair amount of the work to his son, and the quality slippage is apparent. The main theme is fantastic, but Goldsmith was always extremely strong with background and action music, and that scores fails on both fronts.

Ian Westcott

2024-03-19 01:14:47 +0000 UTC

A few of the effects are decent. Anything requiring compositing was terrible, but the on-set models were actually pretty impressive.

Ian Westcott

2024-03-19 01:11:52 +0000 UTC

1989 was "the year of disappointing sequels." Indy was pretty good, but Ghostbusters 2 was meh, Star Trek V was bad, License to Kill ended up killing the Bond series until Goldeneye. People also thought Back to the Future 2 was nowhere near as good as the first, but I still really liked it.

Ian Westcott

2024-03-19 01:09:56 +0000 UTC

This movie could have been so good if it didn't have so much stupid stuff

Eric Singer

2024-03-18 22:41:20 +0000 UTC

Back in the days of Voyager and Enterprise were in production, Paramount had an in house special effects department. At that time, Shatner had been trying to interest in completing the film with new effects and using the original ending. His efforts failed, but, I always thought the effects could have been done in house at low cost, good enough at least for a television presentation.

Mark Chrisco

2024-03-18 22:40:15 +0000 UTC

Some future public tension between Nichelle Nichols and Shatner arise from his decision as director to overdub her vocals during the dancing scene. She was a wee bit annoyed to put it mildly.

Alan Thompson

2024-03-18 19:07:34 +0000 UTC

I think one thing everyone can agree on is that Jerry Goldsmith's score is FANTASTIC. While not as massive as his Motion Picture score, this is very strong with some neat electronic effects and soothing melodies. That camera shot that slowly zooms in to the screen showing the Klingon ship approaching, it was Goldsmith's idea literally on the recording stage to add the Klingon theme there to punctuate the moment.

JGoss

2024-03-18 17:43:55 +0000 UTC

Ah, the late 80s, when televangelists were all the rage and made easy villains in movies: Star Trek V, Dragnet, Licence to Kill.

JGoss

2024-03-18 17:41:17 +0000 UTC

Shatner is not innocent with the final product, but it's not like it was all his fault. The two biggest complaints about the movie are the writing and the effects. The writer's strike of 1988 meant they had to shoot with an unfinished version of the script. A prepared script was not possible, and they could not push out the release date. ILM was unavailable due to the huge 1989 summer schedule. Shatner could have shopped around for a more suitable replacement, but again they were short on time.

JGoss

2024-03-18 17:35:17 +0000 UTC

Loved the premise. Execution falls short for what we thought back in the day was the final movie.

Jeff Lawson

2024-03-18 17:33:31 +0000 UTC

The problems with this film are well-documented. Yes, the movie was plagued by bad effects, the writer's strike, budget cuts and a frantic production schedule, but as time passes, the more I appreciate it for the Kirk/Spock/McCoy camaraderie throughout, which is among the best of the series. You guys immediately picked up on it. That's been the heart of TOS from the start, and from that aspect, this movie delivers.

JGoss

2024-03-18 17:27:41 +0000 UTC

The movie forgot Kirk had an actual brother, making that last line a little odd. The novelization caught that and did fix it. "I lost two brothers. I was lucky to get one of them back."

JGoss

2024-03-18 17:20:51 +0000 UTC

LIke I stated before, this movie suffered from "production hell".

Monty Crawford

2024-03-18 17:13:16 +0000 UTC

Ya, I always thought of that myself. A bit of a big plot hole.

Monty Crawford

2024-03-18 16:56:02 +0000 UTC

Initial working title of William Shatner’s story outline: “An Act of Love.” The revised final draft script of Final Frontier (available at the Star Trek Minutiae website) opens with a foreword by producer Harve Bennett, “A WORD ABOUT THE SCIENTIFIC BASIS OF THIS SCRIPT,” assuring the reader that the Milky Way Galaxy has a center and that no one knows what explorers might find there. I presume that Bennett drafted this statement as a defensive measure due to Gene Roddenberry and his high-powered scientist friends (e.g., Isaac Asimov) objecting to earlier versions of the story in which “God” resided at the center of the universe (a scientifically meaningless concept) rather than the center of the galaxy. My late mother once paid William Shatner one of the greatest compliments she ever gave to any celebrity. While she was reading one of his (ghostwritten) memoirs about his work on Star Trek, I mentioned to her that the book was written at a time when he was widely considered a has-been, when in fact some of his greatest acting triumphs still lay ahead of him. In response, Mom said, “Yes, he’s always kept busy.” Shatner was certainly busy in 1988 and 1989, when he directed, co-wrote, and starred in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, a project which, unfortunately, did not turn out as well as Shatner or anyone else had hoped. I agree with the fan consensus that Final Frontier is the weakest of the six Star Trek films featuring the TOS cast, although, as with other “bad” Star Trek episodes, I enjoyed it much more on this rewatch than on earlier occasions. It won the Golden Raspberry (“Razzie”) Award for Worst Picture of 1989, with Shatner winning the awards for Worst Actor and Worst Director; to my knowledge, no other Star Trek film has received a Razzie nomination. Final Frontier was also the first Star Trek film not to receive a nomination for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. Final Frontier’s most serious problems were due to circumstances beyond Shatner’s control; the film’s production history was a long chain of events which progressively frustrated Shatner’s plans and intentions for the project. In Shatner's initial story idea, Sybok (then named Zar) would have succeeded in turning Kirk’s entire crew against him, including Spock and McCoy, by healing their pain, leaving Kirk as the lone hero opposing Sybok and his followers. The entity the crew encountered at the end of the story was not merely an energy being impersonating God; it was Satan, implied to be the real and actual Satan, impersonating God. (Like the finished film, Shatner’s outline completely ignored and contradicted “The Magicks of Megas-tu,” which also featured the Enterprise crew encountering Satan at the center of the galaxy. Final Frontier comes from the era when no one considered TAS canonical.) When Satan’s identity became known, he opened the ground beneath Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, revealing the nine circles of Hell as Dante Alighieri described them in the "Inferno." Kirk would have entered Hell to rescue Spock and McCoy. The existence of Satan in the Star Trek universe (and not portrayed as a good guy, as in “The Magicks of Megas-tu”) might have implied that the God of the Abrahamic religions also existed. Gene Roddenberry, who by this point had the title of “Executive Consultant” on the Star Trek films with no actual decision-making authority, deeply disliked and resented Shatner’s concept for the film. This was due to its similarities to his own initial concept for the first Star Trek film, which fans call “The God Thing.” Roddenberry originally intended for the first movie to feature an alien computer entity on its way toward Earth which had visited multiple planets over the millennia, becoming the gods of various species. Its final guise proved to be that of Jesus Christ, and the script culminated with a fistfight between Kirk and Jesus on the Enterprise bridge. I am not making this up. (Kirk won, of course.) Paramount executives, including Barry Diller (who is Jewish), rejected this version due to their religious beliefs. Roddenberry had, however, described it in detail to Shatner at the time, and he now believed that Shatner had stolen his idea, encouraged in this belief by people around him such as Susan Sackett, his executive assistant and mistress. Producer Harve Bennett convinced Shatner to replace Satan with a powerful energy being pretending to be God. This may have seemed prudent at the time, but it took away the core fascination of the story idea by preventing the film from revealing anything concrete about the nature of the divine in the Star Trek universe. (Admittedly, such revelations would arguably have been a bad idea, but in that case the film should not have done a “search for God” story at all.) Another frustration to Shatner’s plans came when he tried to recruit successful novelist Eric Van Lustbader to write the film’s script. Lustbader was interested, but negotiations between him and Paramount broke down, either over Lustbader’s fee or over the film’s novel rights. The first twelve Star Trek movies were all adapted into novelizations at the time of release, with Gene Roddenberry himself writing the novelization of TMP, the only novel he ever wrote. (In a depressing sign of popular culture moving beyond books, there is no novel of the most recent Star Trek movie, released in 2016.) Lustbader may well have anticipated novelizing the movie himself based on his script and would presumably have expected a higher fee than writers normally received for this task, which studios and filmmakers generally did not consider a prestigious or important one. (Renowned fantasy novelist Terry Brooks’ memoir, "Sometimes the Magic Works," includes a revealing chapter about his bad experience novelizing Steven Spielberg’s "Hook," although he later had a much better experience writing the novel of "The Phantom Menace.") The writing of the final script by David Loughery, based on a story by Shatner, Bennett, and Loughery, ran into the same writers’ strike that so badly affected TNG Season 2. Bennett suggested that Sybok be Spock’s brother to strengthen Spock’s motivation. Shatner regretted accepting the idea, considering it too reminiscent of a soap-opera plot twist. Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley flatly refused to play Spock and McCoy as betraying Kirk, necessitating further rewrites which made the script’s characterizations more consistent with TOS but weakened it in dramatic terms. Unfortunately, Spock and McCoy’s ability to resist joining Sybok is also horrendously insulting to the Sulu, Uhura and Chekov characters, whom this movie depicts as unquestionably lesser than the Big Three. (Alex and Josh’s amazement that Sybok was able to get Sulu on his side shows that they respect that character far more than Shatner does.) Another obstacle to the film’s success came from Industrial Light & Magic, Hollywood’s premier visual effects company, which had worked on the previous three Star Trek films and “Encounter at Farpoint,” being too busy with "Ghostbusters II" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" to work on this one. The producers selected a lesser-known company, Associates & Ferren, which had innovative ideas about how to accomplish the effects, but the results have received severely mixed reviews. Final Frontier is the first Star Trek movie to have a pre-title sequence, the equivalent of a cold open on one of the TV series, consisting of new footage (the pre-title sequence of Search for Spock is a recap of Spock’s death from Wrath of Khan). Shatner wanted Sybok’s horse to be a unicorn, but Roddenberry objected that this would turn Star Trek into fantasy rather than science fiction. Ever since Final Frontier’s release in 1989, two elements of the film have received universal acclaim from critics and fans. One is the score by composer Jerry Goldsmith, returning to the Star Trek franchise ten years after scoring TMP. Ron Jones had modeled his Klingon theme for TNG after Goldsmith’s from TMP, but in this film Goldsmith was able to bring back the original theme in all its glory. The other acclaimed element of Final Frontier is Laurence Luckinbill’s performance as Sybok. Luckinbill was, in a sense, a member of the Star Trek family even before Final Frontier: he is the son-in-law of Lucille Ball, the comedy legend and Hollywood mogul without whose early support Star Trek would never have existed. He is also the maternal uncle of Lana and Lilly Wachowski, the creators of "The Matrix" franchise. Luckinbill has performed one-man shows in the roles of Theodore Roosevelt, Clarence Darrow, Ernest Hemingway, and Lyndon Baines Johnson. William Shatner happened across a TV version of the Johnson show late one night and squinted at the end credits to see who the actor was; he then offered Luckinbill the role of Sybok. Laurence Luckinbill is still living and is now 89 years old, but, oddly enough, Final Frontier was his final role in a feature film. If this was due to the film’s poor critical reputation, that is a great shame, since viewers generally agree that Luckinbill is one of the best things about it. (See especially the moment when Kirk tells Sybok he is mad, and the flicker of doubt on his face as he says, “Am I?”) Shatner hoped to include a spectacular shot bridging the transition from the prologue on Nimbus III to Yosemite, with the camera panning off Sybok to Nimbus III’s sun, then flying through space all the way to Earth, zooming down through Earth’s atmosphere to discover Kirk on the El Capitan rockface. Budgetary restrictions prevented this. Shatner had hoped for vast, expansive landscape shots throughout the film, which he referred to as “Bierstadt shots” after landscape painter Albert Bierstadt, who specialized in views of the American West, but the budget did not allow him to achieve his vision. Unlike “The Royale,” which seemingly predicted inaccurately that no one would prove Fermat’s Last Theorem before the 24th century, Final Frontier correctly predicted that free-solo climbers would have scaled El Capitan by the 23rd. Spock tells Kirk, “I regret to inform you that the record time for free-climbing El Capitan is in no danger of being broken.” As Josh pointed out, the first person to free-solo El Capitan (which is what Kirk is doing, climbing alone without ropes, not simply free-climbing, which means using climbing equipment only for climbing protection, not for aid in ascent) was Alex Honnold, whose historic ascent on June 3, 2017, is the subject of the Oscar-winning 2018 documentary "Free Solo." Honnold completed the climb in 3 hours and 56 minutes. Stuntman Kenny Bates set a record for the highest descender fall in the United States when Kirk falls off El Capitan. The film’s end credits acknowledge this achievement on screen. Spock’s rescue of the falling Kirk in Yosemite is, of course, scientifically absurd; the abrupt stop would have killed Kirk just as surely as hitting the ground would have done. “Hi, Bones. Mind if we drop in for dinner?” is, however, a legitimately great line. The Big Three’s repeated goodnights to each other around the campfire are a reference to the TV series "The Waltons." Although "The Waltons," created by frequent "Twilight Zone" writer Earl Hamner Jr. and based on his own youth, was an old-fashioned, down-home, folksy series, it aired from 1972 to 1981. Alex and Josh have, I believe, previously expressed their preference for Star Trek to avoid pop-culture references dating from after 1966, when TOS debuted; the fact that viewers Alex and Josh’s age will no longer recognize the allusion to "The Waltons" is an example of why avoiding such references is a good idea. David Warner (St. John Rivers) was a highly regarded British character actor with a long list of credits, including Nicholas Meyer’s "Time After Time," a frequent suggestion for a Target Audience reaction. One of the most common criticisms of Final Frontier is that Warner’s casting in such a minor role was an obscene waste of talent. Speaking of obscene wastes, a self-lighting cigarette for Rivers to use was designed and made, but the production team forgot to include it in any of the scenes despite its costing thousands of dollars. Caithlin Dar is the first Romulan character to appear in a Star Trek movie; she is also only the second Romulan in Star Trek who is not initially an antagonist to the heroes, although she becomes one after joining Sybok’s cause. The previous Romulan who did not fill an antagonistic role was Xerius, the leader of the Elysian Council in “The Time Trap,” who was completely cut off from the Romulan Empire and functioned as a reasonable authority figure. The film’s novelization states that Caithlin is one-quarter human, but as far as I know this was not based on anything in the script. Cynthia Gouw, who plays Caithlin, is a model and actress, but her main career has been as a TV news anchor and reporter. She dated Prince Andrew in the 2000s. Extremely attentive viewers will discover that Rivers and Caithlin apparently fall in love and are in a relationship by the end of the movie; they are briefly shown comforting each other on the Enterprise bridge after the exposure of “God” as an imposter, and Rivers has his arm around Caithlin in a sensual way at the cocktail party in the next-to-last scene. In his review of the film, Roger Ebert complained, “…there are little snatches of dialogue where some of these minor characters seem to be soldiering on in their original subplots as if unaware that they’ve been cut from the movie.” (Ebert also asked, “[D]o we really want to see the mighty Klingons reduced to the status of guests at a cocktail party?”) The Earth space probe which Captain Klaa destroys is not a Voyager, but Pioneer 10, one of the predecessors of the Voyagers, which NASA launched in 1972 to visit Jupiter. The scene in which Kirk returns to the bridge of the Enterprise after leaving Earth features two notable cameos. Shatner’s daughter, Melanie Shatner, plays the yeoman who takes Kirk’s jacket from him; in a joke too subtle for most viewers to catch, she spends the rest of the scene wandering around the bridge with it, since there is nowhere on the bridge to hang it up. “Bob,” the admiral who informs Kirk of the Enterprise’s assignment, is Harve Bennett making a cameo in what would prove to be the last Star Trek film he produced. As one would expect, Nichelle Nichols originally did her own singing in the fan dance scene; she was outraged when another performer redubbed her vocals. Loughery originally proposed this scene as a joke; it went on to become the scene out of all thirteen Star Trek films which fans hate the most. Because Final Frontier was filming simultaneously with TNG Season 2, there was a shortage of Klingon boots for the holographic Klingons at Worf’s Rite of Ascension ceremony in “The Icarus Factor,” forcing some of the actors to wear "Planet of the Apes" boots. (This was the anecdote to which I alluded by including the phrase “[SPOILER REDACTED]” in my comment on that episode; I did not want to give away that Final Frontier features Klingons.) Wil Wheaton snuck onto the movie set from the TNG stages; Shatner was rude to him but later apologized. The problem with the deck numbering in the turboshaft sequence is one of the most widely ridiculed continuity errors in all of Star Trek. Unlike most such errors, it is immediately, glaringly apparent even to a casual viewer, giving an unpleasant impression of sloppiness. The “joke” of Scotty banging his head into the bulkhead is reprehensible. Like the character name “Nagilum” and the episode title “The Schizoid Man” in TNG Season 2, the name of the planet “Sha Ka Ree” is a reference to a possible casting that did not work out. Sean Connery was the first choice for the role of Sybok but was unavailable due to playing Dr. Henry Jones in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade." Jerry Goldsmith’s theme for Sha Ka Ree is the most heartbreakingly beautiful musical theme in the Star Trek franchise. It perfectly expresses the sadness of humanity reaching for something it can never quite grasp, like Gatsby longing for the green light. The most serious problems with the film’s effects arose in the climactic sequence in which “God” pursues Kirk. Shatner’s original intention was to have “God” conjure up ten rock monsters to attack Kirk. Due to budget restrictions, it was only possible to build one “Rock Man” costume, worn by a stuntman, with fissures through which smoke should have emerged – cigarette smoke which members of the film crew blew into the costume. This effect failed to work on camera. Associates & Ferren initially attempted to replace the “Rock Man” with a blob of light and energy pursuing Kirk, but the completed effect was of unacceptably poor quality. The final fix was a closeup of the face of “God” apparently approaching Kirk and glowering at him. Other fans have expressed disappointment at Kirk seemingly having forgotten by this point that his brother Sam ever existed. In fairness, most of the general movie audience in 1989 would not have known who Sam Kirk was. The scene should probably have been written in such a way as to acknowledge Spock’s loss of Sybok and Kirk’s view of Spock as a brother without raising the possibility of mentioning Sam in the minds of knowledgeable fans. The final paragraph of the Final Frontier script reads, "As they continue to sing, we execute the greatest pull back of all time. The campfire becomes a dot of light. The dot of light joins other dots of light. They become the stars of the universe." Once again, this was presumably too expensive to accomplish.

Anthony Bernacchi

2024-03-18 16:19:33 +0000 UTC

This film doesn't really come together but I have a lot of affection for it. I love the sweetness of the crew's off-duty moments (the camping, etc.). I think there are some interesting ideas here: the criticism of televangelists (Sybok) and other faith/cult healers, what makes life meaningful, what kinds of choices or suffering can haunt people, even into middle or old age. I like Kirk's speech about all of us needing our pain, as we're defined as much by our grief and mistakes as by our joy and successes.

Kristina Weber

2024-03-18 14:31:08 +0000 UTC

Shatner, in his hubris, instead of directing a prepared script, took over the entire production, casting, hiring a substandard special effects company and a reluctant screenwriter for a rather unwieldly story of his own creation. All this in an attempt to one-up Leonard Nimoy and his success.

Mark Chrisco

2024-03-18 13:54:50 +0000 UTC

I was working at the theater when this movie came out, I got to see the 70mm test screening in a giant, old-style theater from the 1960's. The film broke about 20 minutes in and I recall watching Captain Kirk melt and bubble away as the bulb burned through the broken film. I so wish I had been at the test screening for ANY of the other movies, this was the most disappointing of them.

Angelaina Marie

2024-03-18 13:14:58 +0000 UTC

This film I still think is closest in spirit to the show. I always enjoyed it for the scenes between the big three. Deforest gets a great scene. And the music is the best of the series of movies

Scarpad’s Domain

2024-03-18 12:05:08 +0000 UTC

You clearly see the visual influences of Mad Max and Star Wars. It is never a good sign when you copy others instead of being copied. You paint yourself as out of touch. The movie objectively was a failure. With TNG stll away from the point to take off this was a time when fans feared the end of the franchise.

Sam Langanke

2024-03-18 08:07:37 +0000 UTC

They were trying to lure Sean Connery to play Sybil (hot off his Oscar win). That’s why the mythical planet is called “Sha Ka Ree”- sounds like “Sean-Con-Ree”. Not making this up.

Stuart Arbury

2024-03-18 07:08:34 +0000 UTC

You know, this one isn't quite as bad as I remembered, but it's still not great. However, we do get the iconic, "What does God need with a starship?" line out of it. I also think the Scene with Bones facing his fear is really good, and of course there are the camping scenes. Funny thing about those, apparently according to the book "MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios" one of Kevin Feige's biggest inspirations for the creation of the MCU came from his love of the camping scenes in ST: V. He apparently tried to put "[T]he DNA of that campfire scene in every Marvel movie. He wants to take your favorite characters and give you the campfire scene, and give you that sequence in which you just love these people for who they are as people, regardless of their powers, so that when the big stuff happens, you really care about it." So, you can thank ST: V for that, at least.

Michael Mannisto

2024-03-18 06:51:18 +0000 UTC

I enjoy this one! I think I like it more than TMP. My first one in theaters was 6.

Philbot

2024-03-18 06:34:10 +0000 UTC

Shoot him! Was kinda the best option. He’s got more men on the shuttle with pebble guns and the Enterprise is undermanned. They must’ve left at least some of Kirk’s strike force down on Nimbus. They had a moment to capitalize on Sybok’s temporary weakness so.. act now!

Philbot

2024-03-18 06:05:14 +0000 UTC

About the turbo shaft scene, rocket boot Spock and the guys are held up (in most scenes) by a pole coming through the back of the turbolift shaft. The black stripe deco in the back is actually the gap the pole comes through. You can see movement on the set panels and they move up and down. Also, you can see in other closer up shots, all three stand on a platform when the camera angle allows it. And the way they move, you can tell they are very supported from the bottom (shifting arms around each other and such).

Mike Rogers

2024-03-18 05:16:19 +0000 UTC

I was one of those rose colored glasses Star Trek fans that knew there were ways it came up short, but still loved 5. This came out in a summer of many other big ticket movies like Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, Ghostbusters 2, Lethal Weapon 2, Batman, etc. So, it fell off the map pretty quick, compared to other Trek movies. The big problem with the FX in 5 is their stop motion look. I still wonder if the Cat Lady stripper was intended to be the same species as Lt. Mress from TAS. Harve Bennett was the Admiral giving Kirk his orders and out the window is a backdrop from Logan's Run. With his affirmation that Spock is a brother, Kirk also forgets he had a brother that died in TOS.

Mike Rogers

2024-03-18 04:46:07 +0000 UTC

Thanks guys. Okay, I didn't like this one when I saw it in the theater, and I still don't like it now. I did enjoy your reactions but wow, it has some cringe worthy moments. It does have a few good moments, but I think this is the last time I will ever watch it (and it's been years since the last time).

Gary Leyh

2024-03-18 04:12:48 +0000 UTC

I've been looking forward to (and slightly dreading? lol) your watch of this one, and I'm so relieved to find your thoughts on this one largely match my own. If anything, I've always enjoyed this film far more than most people seem to, though much of that is admittedly due to it being the first Trek movie I saw in theaters as a kid, and it made a big positive impression at the time. In retrospect, I've certainly come to recognize its flaws, but still enjoy the character interaction, the fun pace of the action both planetside and out in the final frontier (see what I did there?), and an atypical villain that you can almost sympathize with. As you may have heard, the production was plagued from the start by many script revisions, a late re-casting, the Writer's Strike, and the use of an inexperienced visual effects company that severely affected the climax. It's remarkable, really, that the final release turned out as well as it did, and despite getting criticized by many over the years, I think it was Shatner's vision for a story that he was passionate about from the start that really carried the production through so many obstacles. On to the next frontier....

Patrick47

2024-03-18 03:49:37 +0000 UTC

Pioneer 10 might easily have fallen into a wormhole or some other phenomenon which carried it out much further, as happened with Voyager VI in The Motion Picture. But aside from that, I have no trouble believing that Klaa's ship might have infiltrated Federation space secretly, just as Kruge took his ship to Genesis in The Search for Spock. Klaa's general mission might well have been as a reconnaissance scout, given his Bird-of-Prey's cloaking ability and his first officer's knowledge of Federation language and skill at impersonation. As for the issue of the probe `screaming`, that's simply part of the score (and indeed, it plays that way on the soundtrack album), meant to evoke the predator vs. prey theme of the scene.

Patrick47

2024-03-18 03:34:30 +0000 UTC

Star Trek Meh : The Final Frontier.

MrDeadstu

2024-03-18 03:29:39 +0000 UTC

Speaking as a fan when this came out, the TNG was a routine tv series. Star Trek V was different. It was a special event. My impression was that the movies were exclusive to the original cast. I also marveled at the idea that TNG would have to do movie quality effects, now that we’ve seen the original cast in movies.

Geoffrey Linehan

2024-03-18 03:22:00 +0000 UTC

actually the Klingons and Federation were negotiating a peace treaty. In ST IV, the Klingon Ambassador says, “While the Federation was negotiating a peace treaty with us, Kirk was (developing the Genesis Device).”

Geoffrey Linehan

2024-03-18 03:16:28 +0000 UTC

This came out in that glorious summer of 1989 alongside Batman, Ghostbusters 2, Indy and the Last Crusade, and many others.

Geoffrey Linehan

2024-03-18 02:48:46 +0000 UTC

Ok i am ready..a nice Sunday night treat! Thanks guys!

Badger

2024-03-18 01:59:01 +0000 UTC

Pioneer 10 in 2287 (when this movie takes place) will be less than 0.1 light years outside the solar system. So the Klingons will be really deep into federation space. Than again I guess the bigger logical/technical issue is why does ot scream? Lol

Greg Quinn

2024-03-18 01:22:06 +0000 UTC

The plot was meh. HOWEVER, it has so many endearing moments with many many nods to the fans. 🥰

Andrea R

2024-03-18 01:06:51 +0000 UTC

This one is fine and, like The Motion Picture, is totally rewatchable if you go in with the appropriate mindset. My favorite rough production moment: I've always appreciated that, wanting to look his best for his audience with "God", Sybok takes the time to get a quick haircut between leaving the Bridge and boarding the Copernicus. (In reality, they had to do reshoots after a 6 month delay because of effects issues)

Avaria

2024-03-18 00:32:12 +0000 UTC

When talking with cast and crew from the TOS movies, this film is a topic I love to bring up not to continue to dump on it but to put it more in perspective. Everyone agrees that the problems with the film weren’t all Shatner’s. The strikes and the tiny budget hindered them, plus the sharing of the TNG sets and the need to have them usable for TNG by that start date (They should have left the ships wheel in Ten Forward on TNG). Yes Bill didn’t know what things would cost and what he envisioned would have been cooler, but there are many worse movies out there. Part of the problem with franchise films is we don’t compare them to all other films we’ve seen we compare them to each other so it’s not a bad movie but it is a shame this was 1/6 of the time we got to spend with the TOS cast in the movies except for the camping stuff that is most peoples favorite parts. Here are two quotes from my discussion with the cast about this: Leonard Nimoy said: “Bill let me do my thing on my movies so I let him do his and just gave the best performance I could” and Jimmy Doohan said “they could have left me knocked out longer, they don’t pay me by the line”

Jonathan

2024-03-18 00:23:29 +0000 UTC

For this to have been a truly good movie, Sybok needed to be a great character. Laurence Luckinbill did a great job playing him, too, but he needed a more coherent script to work with. His death is treated like the end of a redemption arc for a villain, where he's shocked to see the evil not-God take his face and he suddenly realizes he needs to atone for his sins. But from the opening scene onward he never did much to come off as a villain in the first place. He's not trying to endanger anyone, and it doesn't seem like he's really trying to manipulate anyone. When Spock and McCoy reject him, he's not even mad about it. Sure, he hijacks the Enterprise, but who hasn't?

bab

2024-03-18 00:20:47 +0000 UTC

This was actually tough to see in a movie theatre in the UK on release. It was only shown for a couple of weeks and then came out on rental VHS pretty quickly, which is how I saw it.

Paul Rymer

2024-03-17 23:30:07 +0000 UTC

This is the first Star Trek movie I saw in theaters. I know it's not the best, but I still enjoy it. I hope you enjoyed it! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Bret Kay

2024-03-17 22:51:03 +0000 UTC

Well, this was fun, until things got unsynced (which took me half an hour to get it synced to begin with), so I'll just enjoy the edited versions from now on. Keep up the great work, guys!

wildhunt1973

2024-03-17 22:22:10 +0000 UTC

Got some Irish Ale to watch w/ you guys right now, happy St. Paddy's!

RoyRoyRoy

2024-03-17 22:19:56 +0000 UTC

I wondered how my DVD suddenly was a minute out of synch!

Monty Crawford

2024-03-17 22:19:03 +0000 UTC

(FIXED VERSION) UNCUT REACTION - Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Comments

So that is it. The Sex Scoreboard is caught up

The premise "What does God need with a starship?" ought to write itself. Unfortunately it got paired with a poorly executed B plot that was elevated to the A plot and made it's way into a theatre.

Hey guys, I ran across some fun facts on the original cast that you might get a kick out of: www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6JsK0nYl24

Would the neck pinch work on another Vulcan though? Even if it did, would a Vulcan's enhanced physical strength mean that another Vulcan wouldn't be able to apply the neck pinch without severe resistance?

I think that's a very fair assessment of the movie.

It's so bad.

I suppose it doesn't. Bad example on my part. But the Drinker rails against the over the top woke crowd. Many see that as racism etc etc when it's not. Those on the extreme side of the woke crowd will cry racism or misogyny at anyone who dares to disagree with them.

Actually it was sarcasm.

I fail to see how someone having a large amount of viewers on youtube, invalidates or refutes the criticisms Sam made about those 2

This movie really feels like its two drafts away from greatness. Its got heart, but its weighed down by so many things.

50:13 One of the shuttlecraft's engines blew up on impact as it crash-landed, while the other was just hanging out outside the shuttlebay doors. Other than that, y'all's reaction to when the shuttle crash-landed is priceless and hilarious! LMAO! 😂😂😂😂😂

Spock was close enough to give him the FSNP and should have thought of that.

I remember in 1989 when TNG was going on I said, “Thanks but no thanks, I’ll just wait for the next great blockbuster movie from the original cast.” Then this happened and it was like, “Oh. So much for that.” One reviewer said it was Star Trek “descending to the level of self-parody.”

Viewing Star Trek in release order is genius you guys keep up the good work!

It was deemed enough of a mistake that the novelization changed the line. Also, Kirk's line in the movie does not reference George at all. He's 100% referring to Spock.

Kirk didn’t forget he had a brother that was the point of the line to make you remember his brother and then the revelation of how Kirk feels

People were always to ruff on this one. I think Shatner saw Star Trek for the action adventure show it was. This movie was the closest to the show.

Never mind these two racist and women hating losers.

And the Critical Drinker and MauLer just had a livestream viewing of the movie today. Great timing all-around for the movie.

TMP is great. Total Recall is a strong 2nd for me. I love that opening theme, very rousing. The Rudy theme is must listen for any workout.

Ironically Shatner just did an interview where he said this movie was the biggest failure of his life.

A few of the effects are decent. Anything requiring compositing was terrible, but the on-set models were actually pretty impressive.

1989 was "the year of disappointing sequels." Indy was pretty good, but Ghostbusters 2 was meh, Star Trek V was bad, License to Kill ended up killing the Bond series until Goldeneye. People also thought Back to the Future 2 was nowhere near as good as the first, but I still really liked it.

This movie could have been so good if it didn't have so much stupid stuff

Some future public tension between Nichelle Nichols and Shatner arise from his decision as director to overdub her vocals during the dancing scene. She was a wee bit annoyed to put it mildly.

Ah, the late 80s, when televangelists were all the rage and made easy villains in movies: Star Trek V, Dragnet, Licence to Kill.

Loved the premise. Execution falls short for what we thought back in the day was the final movie.

The movie forgot Kirk had an actual brother, making that last line a little odd. The novelization caught that and did fix it. "I lost two brothers. I was lucky to get one of them back."

LIke I stated before, this movie suffered from "production hell".

Ya, I always thought of that myself. A bit of a big plot hole.

Shatner, in his hubris, instead of directing a prepared script, took over the entire production, casting, hiring a substandard special effects company and a reluctant screenwriter for a rather unwieldly story of his own creation. All this in an attempt to one-up Leonard Nimoy and his success.

This film I still think is closest in spirit to the show. I always enjoyed it for the scenes between the big three. Deforest gets a great scene. And the music is the best of the series of movies

They were trying to lure Sean Connery to play Sybil (hot off his Oscar win). That’s why the mythical planet is called “Sha Ka Ree”- sounds like “Sean-Con-Ree”. Not making this up.

I enjoy this one! I think I like it more than TMP. My first one in theaters was 6.

Shoot him! Was kinda the best option. He’s got more men on the shuttle with pebble guns and the Enterprise is undermanned. They must’ve left at least some of Kirk’s strike force down on Nimbus. They had a moment to capitalize on Sybok’s temporary weakness so.. act now!

Star Trek Meh : The Final Frontier.

actually the Klingons and Federation were negotiating a peace treaty. In ST IV, the Klingon Ambassador says, “While the Federation was negotiating a peace treaty with us, Kirk was (developing the Genesis Device).”

This came out in that glorious summer of 1989 alongside Batman, Ghostbusters 2, Indy and the Last Crusade, and many others.

Ok i am ready..a nice Sunday night treat! Thanks guys!

Pioneer 10 in 2287 (when this movie takes place) will be less than 0.1 light years outside the solar system. So the Klingons will be really deep into federation space. Than again I guess the bigger logical/technical issue is why does ot scream? Lol

The plot was meh. HOWEVER, it has so many endearing moments with many many nods to the fans. 🥰

This was actually tough to see in a movie theatre in the UK on release. It was only shown for a couple of weeks and then came out on rental VHS pretty quickly, which is how I saw it.

This is the first Star Trek movie I saw in theaters. I know it's not the best, but I still enjoy it. I hope you enjoyed it! Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Well, this was fun, until things got unsynced (which took me half an hour to get it synced to begin with), so I'll just enjoy the edited versions from now on. Keep up the great work, guys!

Got some Irish Ale to watch w/ you guys right now, happy St. Paddy's!

I wondered how my DVD suddenly was a minute out of synch!

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