Star Trek V - The Final Frontier

Rating:
Summary: NOT THE BEST TREK FILM, NOT THE WORST (insurrection)
Review: Star TRek V is considered by most as the worst entry of the film series, I disagree on that point, I think insurrection is!
Anyway... I am looking forward to getting the special editionof Star Trek V, I am big on special features and have collectedthe first four films in the double disk format already. I learn may interesting facts about the film and the TEXT commentaries are GREAT... I am especially looking forward to the special edition release of my personal favorite "Old Crew" film Star Trek VI and I am patient enough to enjoy V for a while. Hey ITS A TREK FILM none the less...

Rating:
Summary: Finally!
Review: First off, THE FINAL FRONTIER is by far the most underrated of the Star Trek films, as well as one of the most underrated films ever made. Sure, it's the most flawed of the Trek adventures (mainly in the field of special effects, which really[is bad], and the trashy, anticlimactic ending). But it also has a lot going for it: the best character interplay between Kirk/Spock/McCoy ever, more screen time for the other crew members than in the previous films, and the return of Jerry Goldsmith (without a doubt the greatest Star Trek composer ever).

But it is actually because of all of STAR TREK V's flaws that I have longed for this DVD above all the rest of Paramount's line of Special Collector's Edition Star Trek DVDs. I'm eagerly awaiting learning all about the film's troubled production and Paramount's butchering of the budget. It may help to improve my (as well as countless others') opinion on the film.

But I must admit that I am extremely disappointed in Paramount's decision not to grant William Shatner a Director's Edition. I mean, they gave one to THE WRATH OF KHAN, for God's sake! Though a DE is always welcome, the film was is no need of one! It was perfect as it was. Meanwhile, they deny a DE of THE FINAL FRONTIER, the most in need of new special effects, added scenes, digitally remastering, and all other aspects of a DE. Oh well . . . . . . I take what I can get.

Here's the run-down on the Special Features (not yet posted on Amazon.com), and judging from them, I'd say this looks to be the best Star Trek DVD yet:

Disc 1
THE FILM
•The original theatrical version, presented in widescreen format enhanced for 16:9 televisions. Sound is Dolby Digital English 5.1, English and French Dolby Surround.
•Commentary by William Shatner and Liz Shatner (daughter and author of "Captain's Log - William Shatner's personal account of the making of Star Trek V - The Final Frontier")
•Text commentary by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda, co-authors of the "Star Trek Encyclopedia."

Disc 2
THE STAR TREK UNIVERSE:
•"Herman Zimmerman: A Tribute" - An examination of the visual influences production designer, Herman Zimmerman, has had on Star Trek since he first joined the Trek family on "Star Trek V." This retrospective illustrates what Mr. Zimmerman has contributed to not only the Star Trek features but also the TV series The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. Includes interviews with Zimmerman, John Eaves (concept artist), Harve Bennett (producer), Penny Juday (project coordinator) and Michael Okuda (scenic artist).
•"Original Interview: William Shatner" - An original, unedited interview with William Shatner, filmed during the production of "Star Trek V."
•"Cosmic Thoughts" - In "Star Trek V," the crew of the Enterprise are searching for God and, as it turns out, spirituality has its place in the universe of Star Trek. This featurette examines the theme of religion throughout the TV series, the Star Trek movies and the annals of science fiction as a whole. Interviews include Ray Bradbury (sci-fi author), David Brin (scientist, sci-fi author), Frank Drake (head of SETI Institute), Charles Beichman (JPL, Terrestrial Planet Finder Project), Ted Peters (Exo-Theologists teaching at Berkeley), Eugene W. Roddenberry (son of Gene Roddenberry), Louis Friedman (executive director of the Planetary Society), Ralph Winter (executive producer) and David Loughery (screenwriter).
•"That Klingon Couple" - Actors Spice Williams and Todd Bryant reminisce about when they portrayed Klingons Captain Klaa and Vixis.
•"The Green Future?" - "Star Trek V" opens on location in Yosemite National Park and an environmental tone is woven throughout the film. This featurette gives a snapshot of the global environment of the future. Interviews include David Siegenthaler (Yosemite ecologist), Richard Turco (UCLA Institute of the Environment) and Julia Parker, a Native American spokesperson with insights into Man's impact on the environment.

PRODUCTION:
•Harve Bennett's Pitch To Sales Team - A pep talk by producer Harve Bennett to the Paramount sales team, firing them up about "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier."
•The Journey - Behind-The-Scenes Documentary - Memories of how "Star Trek V" was conceived, produced and directed. Interviews include William Shatner (director), Leonard Nimoy (actor), Ralph Winter (executive producer), Harve Bennett (producer), David Loughery (screenwriter), Michael Okuda (scenic artist), Andrew Lazlo (cinematographer), John Eaves (concept artist) and Herman Zimmerman (production designer).
•Make-Up Tests - An assembly of camera tests for various characters from the film.
•Per-Visualization Models - Spaceship model makers rehearse special effects moves with models.
•Rock Man In the Raw - Design elements and test footage of the aborted Rock Man costume.
•"Star Trek V" Press Conference - A reconstruction of the multi-camera press conference held on the last day of shooting for "Star Trek V" and hosted by William Shatner.
•Deleted Scenes - A variety of deleted scenes from "Star Trek V."

ADVERTISING
•Trailers - The teaser trailer, theatrical trailer and the trailer for "The Complete Adventures of Indiana Jones".

ARCHIVES
•Production Gallery - An assembly of stills and footage that capture behind-the-scene moments of production.
•Storyboards

Rating:
Summary: IT'S ABOUT TIME!
Review: I've been waiting a while for this one. A Special Edition DVD is what "Star Trek V" needs. While the film won't be re-edited or have any enhanced visual effects, the SE DVD will make any fan buy it, even though it is the worst of the "Trek" films! Movie Grade: C+ (3 Stars); Possible DVD Grade: B+ (4 Stars).

Rating:
Summary: Definately one for the true Trekie!
Review: Everyone seems to like to dog this movie, but I actually think it's pretty good. Just like II, V has the feel of an episode from the original series. For those who don't know, this movie, much like Wrath of Kahn, is derived from an original series episode. The episode that it derives the story from is "The Way to Eden", arguably one of the worst of the original series. However, unlike the original episode, this version actually has some direction and quality. You may not like this one the first time through, but watch it again a few more times and you'll probably start to like it. Sure, the plot is a little far fetched, but hey it's a science fiction movie. Let your imagination do the driving the movie will be much more enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: Disengaging, Uninspiring, Pointless and Mistitled
Review: Early in 1989, Paramount Pictures had four relatively to highly successful "Star Trek" films under its belt. The most recent from 1986, "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home", was the most successful grossing $133M worldwide on a budget of $25M. Hoping to do just as well with a fifth film, Paramount invested $27.8M, but only grossed $70M worldwide when it was released, which was worse than any of the previous films. Why? "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" may have had a larger budget than its predecessor, but far less was invested in writing an engaging plot. Since Leonard Nimoy had directed and co-wrote the previous two films, William Shatner was granted that privilege for the fifth film (both as director and co-writer). Unfortunately, even the writing skills of co-writer Harve Bennett (who had worked on the previous three films) were insufficient to help this film's plot. Also contributing to this film's story (and author of its screenplay) was David Loughery, whose only previous film work had been the 1984 film "Dreamscape". Clearly, the two inspirations for this film's story were Loughery's "Dreamscape" and one of the final third season episodes from the original "Star Trek" television series, which was entitled "The Way to Eden".

The story for "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" can be summarized as follows: a religious fanatic, who is obsessed to find paradise and the creator of the universe and who seemingly has the ability to release people from their inner pain, pretends to take a group of dignitaries hostage in order to steal a spaceship capable of taking him to where he believes his obsessions will be found. The twist is that the religious fanatic is a banished Vulcan, Syboc (Laurence Luckinbill), who rejected logic in favor of emotion. Naturally, the ship to be stolen is the brand new U.S.S. Enterprise-A, under the command of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), whose Starfleet rank of admiral was reduced following the events portrayed in the previous two films. With Captain Kirk is the rest of the Enterprise crew including Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott (James Doohan), Commander Hikaru Sulu (George Takei), Commander Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Commander Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). The dignitaries include the Federation Representative St. John Talbot (David Warner), Klingon Representative Captain Korrd (Charles Cooper) and Romulan Representative Caithlin Dar (Cynthia Gouw).

Though "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" is mostly disengaging and uninspiring, it has a few memorable scenes including the mountain climbing scene, the camp-out and McCoy reliving a painful decision regarding his father. Unfortunately, these scenes constitute no more than 8% of the film's 107 minutes. One of the worst scenes in the film is Nichelle Nichols' fan dance. Of the acting in the film, DeForest Kelley did a stunning job in spite of everything else, but the other regular cast members were rather animated. Laurence Luckinbill as Syboc was reminiscent of some television evangelists.

Overall, my rating of for "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" is 2 out of 5 stars. What prevents me from granting this film a 1 star rating are the contributions from DeForest Kelley. If you are considering purchase of this film, consider the fact that this film contributes nothing to the continuing "Star Trek" story line that was presented in the previous three films nor to the film that followed it (and was much better). Clearly, of all ten "Star Trek" films to date, "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" remains the worst. A more appropriate title for the film would have been "Star Trek V: The Final Insult".

Rating:
Summary: It Was Okay!
Review: Okay this movie had parts that totally stunk but there were also parts that were good so I think though it's probably the worst Star Trek movie it's not all bad and worth watching at least one or two times and probably worth owning on DVD or video if you are a die-hard trekkie and have to own every Star Trek item.

Rating:
Summary: awful!
Review: I found this movie to be so awful that I can't even remember anything about it, other than Uhura's ludicrous fan dance. I guess I just blocked it out of my mind. As a fairly dedicated Star Trek fan, I'm very glad the following movies were far superior. Shatner needs to stay away from directing!

Rating:
Summary: Good story--mediocre SFX
Review: This time William Shatner takes the director's chair and puts together the most least favorite Star Trek film. Due to a worker's strike in Hollywood, The SFX aren't as strong as the previous installations. Also, there's too much focus on slapstick humor as well. This time the Enterprise must rescue some hostages...but they are soon taken hostage themselves by Spock's half-brother Sybok & taken to the center of the universe to talk with God.

Rating:
Summary: Even a real Star Trek fan has trouble stomaching this one
Review: So, my first viewing of Star Trek V was in the theaters when it came out. At the time, the film felt rushed and incongruent. It left a feeling of "lack of resolution" and "a waste of time."

So, when it came out on DVD, I decided to give it another shot...maybe I missed something?

Well, needless to say, the second time, it was worse than I remembered. The film's tone reflects Shatner's acting style. I much prefer it in the actor, not the directorial persona.

There were a few saving graces for the film, specifically the camping scene, the McCory flashback and Kirk questioning G-d. The peeks into the three main characters' history was a good effort.

But, beware, the opening scene is so unbelievable, it impacts a viewer's perception for the rest of the film. Not that Star Trek itself is particularly believable at times, but it rarely appears "staged" in the films, at least.

The concept was nice, but the introduction of a Vulcan character (trying not to spoil it) that had never before been mentioned in the live shows (animated series doesn't count) seems to fray my Star Trek historical perspective.

I tend to write this film off as "not counting." Star Trek VI is their "do over" and they do it with great success.

As is well known, the "evens" tend to be much better than the "odds." The best of the "odds" however, is Star Trek III. Very well done film, but it's a much different tone than the others.

I would recommend the films in this order: II, IV, First Contact/VIII, VI, Nemesis/X, III, Insurrection/IX, Generations/VII, I, V

Rating:
Summary: Gets Better With Repeated Viewings
Review: First time I saw this film I didn't care much for it. But watching it again, some ideas began to emerge. To me, this film is primarily about friendship, and the bonds that exist between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.
Although not the best of the movie series, this film contains one of the best scenes in all of Star Trek: that of Kirk questioning "God". "Why does God need a Starship?"