The Final Frontier - the best of the series?
- Thread starter Ken Dodd
- Start date
You are correct.I love Star Trek V.
Unfortunately, I believe that is an overwhelmingly unpopular sentiment.
Thanks for the needless jab in the eye. Much appreciated.
Yes, definitely. It was the first Trek movie I ever saw, before seeing any TOS, so I went in without any preconceptions like "Spock MUST be an only child!" and "the Enterprise CAN'T have that many decks!" or "How dare they reach the centre of the galaxy!" which seem to be the most prevalent complaints against the movie fandom. I'm also an atheist, so the "finding God" aspect didn't bother me one iota.
Me too! I think Sybok is a fascinating character, and the crew are excellent as a bunch of over-the-hill friends with no life outside Starfleet.
Sad but true. My favourites of the original movies are STIII and V.
It's... ehhh..... something.
Nope. It's an absolute embarrassment from start to finish.
But I'd never chastise anyone who liked it. If you think it's an awesome film, good for you.
It has its fun moments, and memorable, quotable lines, but I would not call it the best.
I was extremely excited to see it. It didn't live up to my expectations.
I truly believe it suffered from two major flaws. One, it couldn't help; the writer's strike. The second, unfortunately, is Shatner. I haven't read his memoir, but I honestly don't think he gets Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry's intent. he's too wrapped up in himself.
Also, that's the day I was sitting in my seat, waiting for the film to start, and I dropped my resin convention phaser and broke a piece of it. So not a good day overall.
I truly believe it suffered from two major flaws. One, it couldn't help; the writer's strike. The second, unfortunately, is Shatner. I haven't read his memoir, but I honestly don't think he gets Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry's intent. he's too wrapped up in himself.
Also, that's the day I was sitting in my seat, waiting for the film to start, and I dropped my resin convention phaser and broke a piece of it. So not a good day overall.
I disagree with this wholeheartedly.
Shatner wrote and directed a film that was arguably MOST like the Original Series than any of the other films. It had Trek written all over it.
1. Emphasis on the "big three" and their friendship/interplay, with the remaining cast playing roles at times (just like TOS).
2. False God plot (need I say more?)
3. Another "Surprise....! Didn't know that about Spock, did you??" moment with Sybok as Spock's brother (second eyelid, copper-based blood, "Ambassador Sarek is my father," pon farr, etc, etc, etc.)
4. A guest antagonist/protagonist who is not really a typical "villain" per se
5. Humor that ranged from effective to somewhat campy
6. Kirk and the lading party get captured / Enterprise hijacked plot
7. More emphahsis on the characters and the "mystery/journey" than on technobabble or space battles, etc.
8. The journey ends up being about exploring the unknown...which is far more in line with "Roddenberry's intent" than "bad guy wants revenge" or "Again with the Klingons!"
9. There was an intended allegory with terrorist themes and the dangers of extremist evangelism.
I mean, I would never try to say that The Final Frontier is the "best" of the Trek movies. But, to say that it wasn't like "Gene Roddenberry's intent" confuses me. You could strip this down, film it 20 years before it premiered, and it would have been a perfectly-placed episode of the Original Series. Now, I'm certainly open to debate as to whether that is a "good" or "bad" quality in a Trek movie...but to say that Shatner didn't "get it..." I don't know about that. I don't see any evidence of that. In fact, I see the exact opposite.
I don't think there's any arguing that there are elements of this movie that make it weak. The production was sloppy at times. The special effects range from "somewhat competent" to "absolutely horrific." Some of the humor is horribly misplaced. The ending needed a bigger pay-off (although I'm not entirely dissatisfied with the ending as is). It's never going to be "the best." Not even close.
But there's a difference between something being "best" and being "favorite."
There are definitely times when TFF approaches the latter for me. Even though I know it is horrible in places.
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As far as Trek films go, Final Frontier is definitively one of the weaker films in the franchise, I don't really think that can be disputed objectively.
However having said that, I have a soft spot for it personally, I enjoy watching it, if you get past some of the more immediate problems with the films production, there's alot to like in FF, I personally find it infinitely more palatable than say, Generations or Nemesis.
However having said that, I have a soft spot for it personally, I enjoy watching it, if you get past some of the more immediate problems with the films production, there's alot to like in FF, I personally find it infinitely more palatable than say, Generations or Nemesis.
Not the greatest Trek movie ever, but I'd still take it over any of the Next Gen movies. I've come to appreciate it more since some of the cast are no longer with us. Unfortunately, it had some tough competition at the box office that summer from a lot of other movies including Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, The first Batman movie with Michael Keaton and plenty of others. So, that certainly didn't help matters.
I personally really like Star Trek V, certainly much more than Star Trek VI which I personally thought was a terribly flawed film. I enjoyed reading Vger23's defense of the film and also feel that Trek V is perhaps the closest in tone to the original series (though ST:WOK is a much more polished and satisfying film).
I readily admit that there are moments in Trek V that continue to make me cringe. I'm not a fan of McCoy's drunkenness during the campfire scenes or of Uhura's fan dance. Once the crew is on the ship and on their way to Sha Ka Ree, the film really works well. I agree it's not the best of the Trek films but I really enjoy it and think Shatner did a fine job with the story and the direction. For me, it never feels like some sort of vanity piece and for once it's nice to see the crew exploring the unknown rather than defending earth from some alien threat.
Of course, your mileage may vary...
I readily admit that there are moments in Trek V that continue to make me cringe. I'm not a fan of McCoy's drunkenness during the campfire scenes or of Uhura's fan dance. Once the crew is on the ship and on their way to Sha Ka Ree, the film really works well. I agree it's not the best of the Trek films but I really enjoy it and think Shatner did a fine job with the story and the direction. For me, it never feels like some sort of vanity piece and for once it's nice to see the crew exploring the unknown rather than defending earth from some alien threat.
Of course, your mileage may vary...
I liked ST:TFF. I know Harve Bennett warned Shatner that audiences would be wary of a film that searched for God, but I thought the script was good. The only facet that disappointed me was the cartoon-like special effects and the studio enforced low budget ending.
Yet another reason to add to the list of "just like TOS".
I like it.
I love Star Trek V: The Final Frontier - not the best, but definitely better than its reputation would have you believe.
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