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Exploring the Missteps of “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”
When some of the most memorable scenes in a “Star Trek” movie aren’t epic laser-blasting starship clashes, but Kirk, Spock, and Bones sitting around a campfire eating beans laced with Tennessee whiskey and singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” you know you might be in trouble. Oh yeah, and how can we ever unsee Uhura’s naked fan dance?
“Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” holds the ignoble distinction of being perhaps the low point in that era’s “Star Trek” feature film roster starring “The Original Series” crew. Its forced jokes, budget slashing nightmares, rushed reshoots, terrible special effects by Associates and Ferren, and a weird mission to meet their Maker in the middle of the galaxy have been dissected to infinity and beyond.
Harkening back to more character-driven episodes of “The Original Series,” it was an ambitious, existential narrative concerning deep spiritual and philosophical ideas like the nature of life, the inevitability of death, a literal and figurative search for God, and the necessity of all sentient beings to accept and integrate all life’s sorrows.
Is It Truly Deserving of Criticism?
While certainly short on action and showcasing laughable production design that often looks like something straight out of a bad high school play or micro-budget fan film, it does present some touching character moments between the “Trek” trifecta of Kirk, Spock, and Bones and relevant humanistic topics that don’t seem so uncomfortable today as they might have been 35 years ago.
After the success of the lighter “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” from 1986, Paramount was anxious to get a script approved and hurried into production. Though he’d never directed, Shatner’s “equal compensation” clause in his contract awarded him the directing gig due to Leonard Nimoy helming the previous films.
Sure, it all begins with a bit of silliness with Spock rescuing Kirk from a rock climbing accident on Yosemite National Park’s famous El Capitan granite face and the physics-defying cartoonishness on display as they embrace and descend back down to Earth. But it doesn’t shy away from its strong spirituality notions and poignant questions of faith and self-forgiveness.
The Downfall and Reflections
Co-written by Shatner, producer Harve Bennett, and writer David Loughery, “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” was released on June 9, 1989. Shatner has been honest about the film’s flaws in a recent The Hollywood Reporter interview, expressing regret for not being emotionally equipped to deal with a large motion picture.
Another aspect of the film’s failure was the limited involvement of Gene Roddenberry, who was only an executive consultant. He once deemed the film “apocryphal,” believing Shatner had borrowed the concept from his initial draft for “The God Thing.”
Despite its shortcomings, “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” is an official member of the franchise and perhaps deserving of a rewatch in celebration of its 35th anniversary.
Don’t forget the beans and the marshmallows!
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