Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (
Paramount Pictures,
1989) is the fifth feature
film based on the popular
Star Trek science fiction television series. It is often referred to as
ST5:TFF or
TFF. The film was directed by
William Shatner, following two films directed by his co-star,
Leonard Nimoy. Shatner also came up with the initial storyline. The titular "Final Frontier" refers to transcending the boundaries of our universe, and into the realm of
God, truly where no man has gone before.
Following the events of
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, the crew of the
USS Enterprise is enjoying some well-deserved shore leave. The newly-christened starship's shakedown cruise goes poorly and is in
Earth Spacedock for repairs. In
Yosemite, Captain
James T. Kirk faces two challenges: climbing
El Capitan and teaching camp fire songs to Captain
Spock. Unfortunately their rest is interrupted when the crew is sent on an urgent mission to rescue hostages on a desolate planet called
Nimbus III.
A Klingon commander named Klaa learns of the
Enterprise's mission and pursues so that he can capture or kill Kirk, whom the Klingon people see as a criminal because of his actions in
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. His actions are not authorized by the Klingon government, however, and he takes this quest on merely to obtain personal prestige as a warrior.
Upon their arrival at Nimbus III, the
Enterprise crew discovers that a renegade
Vulcan named
Sybok, the emotionally-driven half-brother of Spock, has taken
Klingon,
Romulan and
Federation representatives hostage. Sybok reveals that he used the hostage situation as a ruse in order to obtain passage onto the
Enterprise.
Sybok then uses his unique ability to share with and help conquer a person's greatest emotional trauma to gain the trust of most of the crew. Sybok then seizes control of the
Enterprise, so he can breach a dangerous energy field known as
The Great Barrier, to reach a mythical planet named
Sha Ka Ree, where a mysterious entity awaits. Sybok claims to have had visions from the entity of its existence, and feels compelled to follow those visions in order to experience the entity's possible wisdom and power first-hand. Together, he and the crew begin to search for this mysterious planet.
However, although they manage to pass through the Great Barrier and discover Sha-Ka-Ree, the entity there turns out to be a malevolent force, trapped on the planet aeons ago masquerading as God and using Sybok as a pawn to acquire a starship as a means for its escape. Sybok sacrifices himself to delay the evil being long enough to allow Spock to convince the Klingon ambassador to order Klaa (who followed the
Enterprise into the Barrier and to the planet) to rescue Kirk (who had accompanied Sybok during his meeting with the entity).
This film is generally considered to be one of the weaker entries in the
Star Trek film series. Even so, some fans feel that the film stayed true to the original series and explored the friendship between Kirk, Spock, and
McCoy better than any of the others.
One of the frequent criticisms of the film is the humor that was
shoehorned into the script (written by
Harve Bennett and
David Loughery), at the insistence of Paramount. The initial storyline by William Shatner was much darker, but after the success of the humor-filled
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Paramount insisted that the story be "lightened up" with humorous elements. Fans complained that too much of the humor was at the expense of the popular supporting characters, particularly
Uhura and
Scotty, who the film strongly hints are romantically involved. However, much of the humor is also at the expense of the main characters (including Kirk).
Another criticism of the film is the special effects. The best effects house at the time was
Industrial Light and Magic, which were used for most of the earlier
Trek films, but were unavailable because of their work on the second and third
Back to the Future films. It was also reported in publications at the time (e.g.
Starburst magazine) that the effects requirements were so huge that ILM "priced themselves out of the market." So instead the crew went with a much smaller company,
Associates & Ferren. The special effects supervisor, Bran Ferren, allegedly admitted he did not care about the quality of the effects work, and the end results were servicable but notably inferior to the previous films. Ferren's preference, not least for keeping the budget down, was to do as much as possible in-camera, i.e. without the use of bluescreen and optical compositing for model shots.
A final weakness is the ending of the movie. This originally involved Kirk being chased by a rock monster hewn from the rocky terrain. This footage was scrapped when William Shatner decided that the costume looked unconvincing. Because of budget problems and delays partly caused by the expense of the costume, Shatner was unable to re-film sequences and ended up having to re-use shots of the false god's face instead. Test footage of the rock monster appears in the 2003 special edition DVD release. (The idea of the "captain" being attacked and chased by a "rock monster" was later used humorously in the 1999
Star Trek spoof,
Galaxy Quest.)
Following the success of the Director's Editions of
Star Trek: The Motion Picture in
2002 and
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and subsequent collector's edition
DVD releases of the third and fourth films in the series, William Shatner lobbied Paramount to be allowed a budget to film new special effects sequences and otherwise re-tool
Final Frontier in order to improve the film. His request was rejected by the studio and the original release version was reissued instead.
Trek creator
Gene Roddenberry jokingly considered elements of this film to be "apocryphal at best", and particularly disliked the idea that Sarek had fathered a child (
Sybok) with a Vulcan female before Amanda. Roddenberry made similar statements about elements of
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Nevertheless, both films are included in Trek canon.
Shatner wanted acclaimed novelist Eric Von Lustbader to write the screenplay, but Lustbader and Paramount were unable to work out a financial agreement. Nicholas Meyer, writer/director of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and writer of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, was then offered the writing job. He had to turn down the offer because he was busy directing another film at the time, leaving fans only to wonder what would have come of a Meyer-penned Star Trek V.
Original Script Summary
In Shatner's first outline for Star Trek V a rogue Vulcan named Zar (later renamed Sybok) commandeers the Enterprise to seek out God. The mountain-climbing at Yosemite, the campfire scene, Zar's abduction of Klingon, Romulan, and human hostages in the failed desert boomtown of Paradise City ultimately survived into the finished film. (You'll have to imagine these scenes without the silly parts, and with a darker tone. Zar was much more sinister than the Sybok we wound up with. Originally, he was a very messianic, possessed kind of figure who was willing to trample anyone who got in his way). However, from midpoint to finish, the original storyline bears almost no relation to that of the actual theatrical release.
In Shatner's early versions, Zar (Sybok) is not related to Spock but instead is only a former acquaintance on Vulcan. After a long and intensive ground battle at Paradise City, the huge number of soldiers under Zar's command finally overwhelms the Federation troops (for an example of how much darker this was going to be, Zar would have been riding on a creature similar to a unicorn, which would have skewered a few troops with its horn). Facing defeat, Kirk manages to set a fatal trap but Spock ruins the ploy by warning off Zar. Spock's explanation for his actions is that he feels Zar is so brilliant that it is possible he really could be the Messiah, which does not soothe Kirk's anger at his friend. As seen in the final film, Zar uses images of their past to convert McCoy and Spock to his cause. They become believers and, unlike the filmed version, Zar then uses the same technique on Kirk.
Zar immediately speaks to Kirk's lack of family, and dredges up Kirk's self-imposed feelings of responsibility and guilt over the death of his son, David. Promising that a meeting with God will cure even such deeply embedded pain, Zar implores Kirk to believe in him as well. Kirk reluctantly agrees, and joins Spock and Bones on the surface of God's planet.
An awesome Godlike image appears, surrounded by angels, and demands that the Enterprise transport him back toward more populated sections of the universe. Kirk then challenges 'God,' and an argument ensues. As it escalates, 'God' begins showing his true colors and his image begins to transform, ultimately becoming unmistakably Satan-like. The angels simultaneously change into hordes of gargoyles, the Furies of Hell. At that point, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, still suffering from the effects of their first real adversarial relationship, split up, with each man running in a separate direction. McCoy falls, breaking his leg, and is surround by the Furies, as is Spock. At the same time, however, Kirk has broken free, but even with a clear path toward escape, a last look back at the fates of his friends convinces Kirk to go back, risking his life in an effort to save them. Spock is first, and when he's been successfully freed, the pair immediately joins forces in an attempt to save McCoy, who's already been carried away by the minions into Hell. Descending together into the river Styx, Spock and Kirk fight off their hideous attackers and save their injured friend, with Kirk carrying McCoy on his shoulders as they flee.
The trio find that the shuttlecraft has been damaged by the Furies. Scott is forced to beam them aboard the Enterprise one at a time, due to low power. Once Spock and McCoy are aboard, Scott beams a Fury, who grabbed Kirk's communicator, onto the ship. Scott grabs a hand phaser and kills the Fury, damaging the only working transporter in the process. Trapped on the planet, Kirk is pursued once more by the Furies of Hell. After free climbing a small mountain, Kirk turns around and begins killing as many of the Furies as possible, armed with a phaser in each hand. Running out of phaser ammunition and horribly outnumbered, Kirk appears to be in a hopeless situation until the Klingon Bird of Prey decloaks and begins blowing many of the Furies apart, the rest scurrying away. Kirk screams, "You want me, you Klingon bastards? Come and get me!" and begins firing the two hand phasers at the vessel. As in the final film, he is beamed aboard to find that Spock is actually the gunner.
* To explain the problem of the
USS Enterprise being able to reach the center of the galaxy, while later starships (in particular, the
USS Voyager) would take decades to complete such a journey, the novel of
Star Trek V indicated that Sybok was an engineering genius who had modified both the shields and engines of the
Enterprise so that the trip to the center of the galaxy would only take a few days.
* The name of the mythical planet
Sha Ka Ree was derived from the name of the actor originally sought for the role of Sybok:
Sean Connery, who was unavailable because he was busy filming
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
* Various theories abound as to the exact identity of the creature in this film which claims to be God. The alien makes reference to "an eternity I've been imprisoned in this place," suggesting that he is some kind of criminal or renegade and that the Great Barrier is his prison.
Joe Menosky, who wrote the
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
The Nth Degree, suggests that the creature is one of the "Cytherians," a race featured prominently in that episode.
** While Star Trek books are not considered to be canon,
Peter David's
Star Trek: New Frontier novels provide an explanation and backstory for the character in one of their later plot arcs.
**Alternatively, Greg Cox's Q-Continuum Trilogy reveals that the malevolent superbeing, The One, is trapped inside the Great Barrier by the Q Continuum for crimes against the multiverse. It is also said that the entity, while not a deity, was indeed the creator of
monotheism on Earth; therefore implying that the Judeo-Christian and Islamic God is false (cf.
Who Mourns for Adonais?).
* The initial shots of Spacedock and the
Enterprise were taken from
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and several shots of the Bird of Prey were taken from
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock* Many fans believe that in the scene where Cmdr. Uhura dances in the desert, the entire act was performed by Nichelle Nichols. It is true that she was the dancer - Nichols is an accomplished singer and dancer - and she planned to sing one of her own songs during the scene. Unfortunately for her, however, the studio decided against it, and a song by the group
Hiroshima was dubbed over instead. Nichols reported in her bio "Beyond Uhura" that this decision infuriated her.
* This film is one instance of where
James Doohan's missing finger is clearly visible, when Scotty is opening a bag of dinner that Uhura gives him around the beginning of the film.
* One scene shows a Klingon vessel destroying a satellite which has a picture of a man and woman holding hands on its side. Fans have speculated that the satellite was in fact
V'ger from "
Star Trek: The Motion Picture". It is in fact
Pioneer 10, an earlier real-life space probe.
* Producer Harve Bennet makes a cameo appearance as "Admiral Bob" when he speaks to Captain Kirk over the viewscreen, explaining the captain's new assignment.
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Star Trek V: The Final Frontier at StarTrek.com
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Five-Minute Star Trek V: The Final Frontier — Parody version
