Star Trek V: The Final Frontier | | Cast : | William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley | | Director : | William Shatner | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Special Edition, Widescreen | | Released Date : | June 09, 1989 | | DVD Released Date : | October 14, 2003 | | Language : | English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 24, 2005 | | Summary | Star Trek V - The Final Frontier | Content
 | The most hillarious one of the Star Trek movies. I really enjoyed all the bits of funny things this episode provided. Agreeably not as a great story as some of the others, but a funny, human (Vulcan?) type of story. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 29, 2005 | | Summary | What you've heard is true | Content
| Yes, this movie has a strange plot, lots of bad humor, sub-par special effects, and an ending which falls flat, but rather than taking this film to task on what many other people have already pointed out, I'm going to present a small list of the things this film actually does right. And even though I share the opinion of this film with the consensus, I do have to give this film credit on a few marks:
1. Each of the 7 main characters has their moment to shine - Some of Shatner's co-stars have been pretty hard on him over the years for being a camera hog, but in this script co-penned by the Captain himself, each of the principals has their moment in the spotlight. Chekov has temporary command of ths ship, Uhura has her moonlight dance, Sulu takes part in the Paradise City raid and pilots the shuttle, and Scotty gets a relationship with Uhura and breaks Kirk, Spock, and McCoy out of the brig. As for Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, we're with them throughout most of the film.
2. Music by Jerry Goldsmith - 'Nuff said.
3. Pacing - The film moves along at a good pace and doesn't stay at one place or on one scene too long.
4. The opening scene - It may not be a popular opinion, but I love the opening scene with Sybok in the desert.
5. The Sybok character - I don't like Sybok's quest, but I like the character, and the actor who plays him (Lawrence Luckinbill). Though I found it odd that he got a haircut before they went out to meet "God".
On a side note, not long after Star Trek IV came out, Starlog magazine printed a small comic which showed two people looking at a movie poster for a fictonalized Star Trek V which showed Spock wearing a fake nose and glasses, and having a pie hurled at him. The poster read "A laugh riot because you demanded it." One of the people looking at the poster said to the other "I'm starting to wish Trek 4 wasn't so successful" (referring to the humor in Star Trek IV). Ironically, considering the attempts at humor made in this film, it seems that this carton was, at least partially, prophetic. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 16, 2005 | | Summary | NO STARS | Content
| Few spectacles will lower your jaw to your lap faster this summer than the first oh-my-God glimpse of the aging crew members of the starship Enterprise reunited for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The joke goes that there haven't been so many wrinkles and wattles on parade since the California Raisins. But there's nothing funny about the desperate way the old gang resists the fact that time goes by. What could have been a heartfelt valedictory to the troops in the September of their light-years becomes instead a losing battle to keep gray hairs, crow's-feet and unsightly bulges at bay.
There's no telling how much of the film's $32 million budget went to flattering lighting, slenderizing costumes or cosmetic surgery. But I haven't seen an outlay of wigs, capped teeth and corsets to equal this since La Cage aux Folles. The producers even recruited Kenny Myers, of Return of the Living Dead fame, as a special makeup designer. All to no avail. The rejuvenation attempt is ineffectual and deeply, irredeemably embarrassing.
William Shatner (Captain Kirk) and James Doohan (Chief Engineer Scott) suck in their guts so often you fear they'll hyperventilate. Leonard Nimoy (Science Officer Spock) -- like Shatner, he's fifty-eight -- appears even less expressive than usual buried beneath pounds of pancake. DeForest Kelley (Dr. "Bones" McCoy) is pushing seventy; he should know better. There's also Walter Koenig (Navigator Chekhov) and George Takei (Helmsman Sulu) acting like bird-brained Boy Scouts and, this floored me, Nichelle Nichols (Communications Officer Uhura) doing a striptease for horny space creatures.
What's next, the Star Trek Workout Video? I wouldn't be surprised. There's an operative principle here: greed. In Hollywood, you don't kill a golden goose, especially one that took so long to start laying fourteen-karat eggs. Though the Star Trek TV series produced seventy-eight episodes before being axed by NBC in 1969 after three seasons, the show never crawled above a pitiful Number Fifty-two in the ratings. Only in syndication (by 1972, the series was rerunning in 170 markets) did Star Trek win a wide audience and spawn books, records and licensed products, plus four feature films, which grossed a whopping combined total of $350 million.
The big-screen Treks are a mixed bag. The first, Star Trek -- The Motion Picture, in 1979, was an overproduced snore. The second, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, in 1982, was better, thanks to Ricardo Montalban's campy villain. Director Nicholas Meyer wisely put the stress on fun. But Nimoy, making his film directorial debut in 1984 with Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, took the serious route. The result was the lowest-grossing entry ($76 million) in the series. Lesson learned. Nimoy -- again directing and starring as the half-human, half-Vulcan -- tried a lighthearted approach on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, in 1986, and racked up raves and the highest take ($110 million) of any Star Trek to date.
Nimoy was suddenly in demand. Disney hired him to direct Three Men and a Baby (another smash) and The Good Mother (less than a smash but a class literary property). Shatner stewed; he reportedly refused to appear again as Kirk unless he also got his chance to play director. He got his wish.
Shatner, whose directorial experience had been limited to Los Angeles theater productions and a few episodes of his TV-cop series, T. J. Hooker, was determined to make a splash. He has. But probably not in the way he intended. 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.
It's a lot like the character of Kirk. The captain always was a bit of a pompous ass. Kirk had to be bigger, braver, nobler, smarter, sexier than anyone else. Fortunately, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry sometimes allowed other, quirkier characters to score points off this twenty-third-century paragon, which saved Kirk from being insufferable.
Nothing saves him this time. With Shatner in command -- not only does he star and direct, the story was his idea -- Kirk is the whole show. We catch up with him on vacation. He's climbing a cliff. Not just any unbroken cliff, mind you, but the world's tallest: El Capitan, in Yosemite National Park. Spock, Bones, Chekhov and Sulu are on vacation, too, but only Kirk defies death. What a man! Spock, the ninny, wears levitation boots, while the others worry below.
Called back to the Enterprise (despite the budget, it still looks like a flying waffle iron), Kirk embarks on a mission that really leans hard on his promise to "boldly go where no man has gone before." He must rendezvous with God at the center of the galaxy. That's heaven. A Vulcan renegade named Sybok, played by Laurence Luckinbill, is holding Kirk's ship hostage. Sybok thinks the Enterprise can bust right through the Pearly Gates.
The trip gives Kirk and company time -- way too much time -- to consider the big who-and-what's-out-there questions of existence. Not the stimulating kind you might find in the science-fiction writing of Ray Bradbury, Harlan Ellison and Robert Heinlein or in Stanley Kubrick's classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's more like the cosmic pablum of Kahlil Gibran. Not content with making his actors look like dime-store dummies, Shatner makes them mouthpieces for dull gab that never stops.
Trekkies will cry foul if I give away more of the plot. Let me merely note that heaven looks disappointingly like what it really is, the California desert tinted red; that the talking head on view there resembles an angry Max Headroom more than God, Satan or the personification of man's vanity; that the evil Klingons pursuing Kirk also deliver more blather (in Klingon, with English subtitles) than action; that the film is devoid of grace, wit or the excitement needed to rouse a justifiably dozing audience; that Shatner can't direct for diddly. Credit the bungler, though, with raising support for an issue previously unthought-of at the end of a Star Trek film: enforced retirement.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 14, 2005 | | Summary | This Trek Has Always Been A Favorite of Mine | Content
| I honestly can't understand the vehement angst and negativity against this film by Trekkers and average viewers alike. The tragedy about this film is that it was pre-judged by rumors in the press, thoroughly trashed. When this movie came out, I was actually publishing a magazine and my film critic quit because I wouldn't publish his review (rather than write a review, he chose to write a biased tirade about why he hated Star Trek).
Enough of that! The FX in this film are awful, some of them aren't even as well done as the FX in the original 1960s TV series. However, that wasn't William Shatner's fault. What happened is that there were too many leaks in the press that got back to Paramount, and they pulled the plug on FX. Luckily ILM allowed them to reuse select previous FX shots from previous films...so that, at least, you won't really notice anything amiss until about 30 minutes into the film.
The opening scene in this movie took my breath away. It's desolate, haunting and epic, with some of the best scoring by Jerry Goldsmith ever. This scene, which introduces Sybock, is one of the best introductions in ANY Star Trek film, or ANY film for that matter. It's that good.
The campfire scenes with Kirk, Spock and McCoy are some of the greatest scenes in the entire pantheon of Star Trek. There is great chemistry here, and McCoy's "special ingredient" in that chili, plus Kirk's remark about "an explosive combination" are truly delivered to evoke side-splitting laughter. Sure it's adolescent humor, but as a preamble to their subsequent philosophical discussion, it works!
Although much of the humor works, some of it doesn't. It works when Nimoy delivers a very subtle "Yes!" to Shatner's uninvited exclamation that "I could use a shower!" Where it doesn't work is when Scotty hits his head on the bulkhead. Again, when a bumbling Kirk, McCoy and Spock accelerate up the elevator shaft, it's more like a scene out of the Three Stooges.
The scene where Sybock shows them their greatest fear is underrated and perhaps the greatest acting ever presented in the sequence of Star Trek films, particularly by DeForrest Kelly. Kirk's adamant refusal to participate (e.g. "I need my pain!") is perhaps the closest that one ever comes to looking into the window of Kirk's soul, the real driving power behind Star Trek.
Finally, the confrontation between Kirk and "God" is the most pronounced and philosophical statement of Star Trek, a point hinted at in the TV series to be sure, but never so humorously depicted as in ST 5. To wit, Shatner's brilliant line about "Why does GOD need a starship?" With all due respect to those of faith, that is a question that any thinking person would ask about the angry war-making "god" of the Old Testament.
As for Jerry Goldsmith's musical score, this soundtrack is the second best soundtrack of any of the Star Trek films (his score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture is obviously the first best score). When Mr. Goldsmith died last year, we truly lost one of the Great Ones, second only to John Williams, and some might even debate that.
This film actually works better on TV. I attribute that to William Shatner's somewhat uncertain use of film and being more familiar with television. But, considering the fact that some scenes fully exploit the film medium on an epic scale, it is probably true that what ultimately spoiled this movie on the Big Screen is Paramount's pulling the plug on FX...virtually ruining the whole experience for Star Trek fans who by that time had become accustomed to good effects. That they were simultaneously broadcasting Next Generation with first class FX just made Paramount's decision that much more damning. Remember that this is the same studio that sat on the Star Trek franchise for almost 9 years before being prompted by the success of Star Wars to dust off their property and save Gene Goddenberry from Skid Row (typo is lovingly intentional).
One may be confused as to why I gave this film 5 stars in spite of the obvious flaws mentioned. The reason is that this film has an important story to tell, and tells it very well, despite the flaws. In a way, the story really begins at the campsite with Kirk, Spock and McCoy, and it ends at the campsite with Kirk, Spock and McCoy (literally), leaving a very good feeling inside. Originally I thought Star Trek V was their swan song. I'm glad it wasn't, but wouldn't have minded if it was...like a fade out into retirement...
This is a great Star Trek film and I never get tired of watching it! |
| Rating | | | Date | March 31, 2005 | | Summary | The best of the "bad" Trek-flix | Content
| On one hand, I'm glad to see Paramount's finally come `round, and is giving the Star Trek movie line the Special-Edition-DVD-with-all-sorts-of-extras treatment (yes, even "Star Trek V"). On the other hand, I wished they'd done this the FIRST time they put the movies out on DVD! But hey, why release the best stuff at the outset when they can get the fanboys to purchase the stripped-down, movie-only DVD, then turn around and release the Special Edition version a couple years later, knowin' full well the UberTrekkies will be more'n willing to trade up? Once again the ol' Dreaded DVD Double-Dip Ploy (read about this annoying phenomenon at www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/guides/guide-display/-/3CVFIEG84F2PF) rears its ugly head...
Anyhoo: even with all of the ridiculously silly attempts at humor and plausibility-stretching (even more so than usual) moments of high adventure contained within its confines, I actually enjoy watching this less-than-able entry in the cinematic Star Trek series. Unlike the drab dullness of the first Trek-flick, "The Final Frontier" is the kind of film that falls flat on its face, yet is still fun to watch. You got Kirk, Spock, & McCoy singing campfire songs, Scotty having trouble keeping the ship together & banging his head on an overhanging bulkhead, and Sulu & Chekov literally lost in the woods. Bad Trek just doesn't get any better than this! Oh yeah, there's also the movie's "big message" featuring Spock's emotional half-brother on a mission to find God... which kinda gets lost in all of the ludicrous shenanigans surrounding it.
Oddly enough, director/star William Shatner and daughter Lizabeth don't really bring up the film's critical & box-office troubles in the commentary track. He does, however, talk about the budget that kept decreasing, as well as point out the "talents" of his other daughter Melanie, who appears as a yeoman in the Enterprise bridge scenes. Also pointed out are the shifting deck numbers in the jet-booted-turbolift-shaft-ascent scene, as well as several other fairly interesting memories and anecdotes.
Included among the second disc's bonus features are the usual cast interviews, behind-the-scenes/making-of featurettes, and the obligatory theatrical trailers and TV spots. The most interesting bits include a somewhat uncomfortable press conference with Shatner and producer Harve Bennett, a mini-doc on the future of Yosemite National Park (the movie's opening & closing setting), and a really annoying session with Todd Bryant and Spice Williams, AKA "The Klingon couple". Also shown are screen tests of the rockman that Shatner wanted so badly to be in the movie's climax... but it just didn't work out. While the rockman looked like he'd be right at home as a villain in "Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers", he wasn't realistic enough looking to take part in a Trek flick.
Speaking of non-appearances: rough-cuts of several deleted scenes are also included, the most notable being an extension of the Sulu-and-Chekov-lost-in-the-woods scene at the Mount Rushmore National Park. Also included is a not-so-well-acted scene between the downtrodden Nimbus "dignitaries", and a ludicrously over-acted extra piece from Spock's Hidden-pain-revealed-by Sybok scene. After seein' all of these cutting-room floor-sweepings , I thanked God Shatner decided NOT to restore these snippets to this "Special Collector's Edition" DVD release...
`Late |
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