STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER
A film review by Jeff Meyer
Copyright 1989 Jeff Meyer
[No Spoilers below]
I don't consider myself someone who's hung up on Star Trek continuity; given a clever story device in a Star Trek film that contradicts some element of Trek continuity, I'll usually swallow the plot device with nary a rumbling. However, I do think that the characters of the Enterprise crew, and to a lesser extent, the "Star Trek Universe," are important elements of these films. Plots and dialog that compromise these characters and elements degrade the picture's quality; after all, if you've got a good enough story, but the Enterprise characters just don't fit it, then do it as a non-Trek story.
So, what's there to say about STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER? As a story, it's lackluster -- below average by even the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION series quality average. On the flip side, as a showcase for the Trek characters, it's (generally) awful; there are scenes that literally made me grind my teeth. Certainly some of this might be laid at the door of aging actors, but the vast majority seem to be due to an over-all attempt to inject humor into the story at every point. Previous Trek stories have either tried for more dramatic stories, with comedy relief being just that, well-timed relief; or STAR TREK IV, which was a lighter story, handled with a lighter touch -- Leonard Nimoy's. In THE FINAL FRONTIER, it seems that director William Shatner was trying for an Indy Jones humor/action mixture. Instead it tends to look like Kirk, Spock and McCoy look more like the Ghostbusters -- or more accurately, the Three Stooges. Pratfalls, malfunctioning gadgets (Don Adams would have felt right at home on the new Enterprise), and the packing off of the Trek second-level characters to either walk-on spear-carrying roles (or, in the case of Uhura, much worse), all combined to make a film that was below the waterline throughout. I saw STAR TREK II: The Wrath of Khan the other night on the tube, and while that's arguably the best of the series, it shows how a good script can add to a character without giving them a lot of screen time.
Before the spoiler comments, one point: I've heard, of course, how much money was spent to pay the regular's salaries this time around. From the looks of this film, the budget on the film must have been tight in the first place, because the cheapness of the sets and the paucity of many of the special effects gave me the impression that Peter was borrowed from to pay Paul, not to mention Bill, De and Leonard. There are scenes when several of the characters are climbing through parts of the Enterprise, and their weight on the ladders cause the bulkheads to come off the side of the walls! God only knows how far 23rd Century aluminum siding has come...
In summary, if you're a Trek person, you'll probably want to see it anyway; my advice -- wait until you can watch it for one or two dollars. For those of you who only liked the last film, or perhaps WRATH OF KHAN -- skip it. There are better films out there. (Not many, but some.)
WHAT FOLLOWS ARE SPOILERS
A few specific comments:
Did Spock's brother remind anyone of Leo Buscaglia with ears? "Everybody hug!"
I have to agree with the question posed by others -- what happened to David Warner's part? Was the role any larger in the novelization? The budget crunch seemed to hit the casting department, as well; there were a lot of extras, but not many other actors, and those that were there seemed almost a homage to some of the stars. No, not Harve Bennett as the Supreme Starfleet Guy-Behind-The-Desk, but Shatner's daughter -- and I must assume that whoever played the Romulan ambassador was sleeping with someone influential, because she wasn't picked to play a Romulan. 1/2 :-) My guess: Shatner, for the way she goes cries out "Oooh!" when she sees him threatened on the viewscreen. Must be one of those sheltered Romulans.... :-)
Again, the state of the sets. The scene I referred to above was the climb up the shaft. If you see this film again (God forbid), check out the scene where Shatner climbs up and the walls bend inwards. Kirk apparently has an abnormal specific gravity...
In the acting department, Kelley bothers me the most, as he seems to be hamming it up for the back rows of the theater; subtlety is escaping him more and more in his performances as McCoy. As a character, I thought Kirk suffers the most here. Anyone notice the Imperial motif that Kirk carries around him? First there was Kirk's nautical quarters; and I couldn't decide whether the two crewmen who carry the stairs that go up to Kirk's shuttlecraft were due to a) bad writing, b) the Enterprise malfunctioning motif, c) more problems with budgets, or d) "All Hail Flash Kirk, Savior of the Universe!" Other complaints: Sulu and Chekov playing the Hardy Boys for laughs, poor writing for Scotty, and of course, Uhura's fan dance. (The single worst part of the entire film.)
Good points: I did like a few of the more mythic moments, such as Kirk's "I'll die alone," and his comment about losing his brother (I thought he meant Sam), and then getting him back. (Nice double-play.) Also, most of the Spock or Spock/Kirk lines jokes worked well. ("Please, Captain... not in front of the Klingons.") But a good time was not had by all, not by a long shot.
All I can say is, "This looks like a job for... Leonard Nimoy!" (Or maybe Nicholas Meyer.)
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
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