Star Trek V: The Final Frontier...LOVE

[EnriqueH]

So I just watched Star Trek V last night and wrote about it in my "Films Revisited" thread, but it's not doing the job.

I want to hear about why Star Trek V is AWESOME to you guys.

I always considered it a disappointment, but I "rediscovered" it last night and had an epiphany that it was actually a good, even great, Trek film.

And I *NEED* to hear why you guys like it. I know some of you do.

For me, it's about characters, relationships and character growth, but I digress because this isn't about me...it's about you.

 

[One Lucky Red Shirt]

Gots lots of love for V. Its a very good season 3 episode. The story had a good premise. A lil different than the typical good guy vs. Bad guy plot. Sybok stole the film. He acted that part as a religious leader fanatic very well. Like a wannabe messiah.

Trek is best when its got something to say n has good character moments and is serious to a point without taking itself too seriously. Loved V because out of the 6 films the trio is together throughout like the TV series. And then the supporting cast all had something to do too. Its just a fun and exciting ride. Its a movie. No sense in analyzing it too bad. Its Trek entertainment. Maybe not the best but V reminds me of the series more so than the other films.

 

[eyeresist]

And I *NEED* to hear why you guys like it.

You NEED your pain!!

What I just posted in the other thread:

EnriqueH, I agree with a lot of what you said. For me the weakest part of the film is Nimbus 3, and the worst part of that is Uhura's fan dance. That whole episode was there just to set up the real plot, and I can never bring myself to really care about it. The special effects don't really bother me - they're not what I watch a film for.

The character stuff in TFF is great - you can really see the affection not only between Kirk, Spock and McCoy but also the actors playing them. This film should be loved if only for those great scenes.

"What does God need with a starship?" I sometimes ask myself this as I'm just walking around during the day.

For this thread's purposes, this is a laughing Vulcan:

 

[SPCTRE]

The character stuff in TFF is great - you can really see the affection not only between Kirk, Spock and McCoy but also the actors playing them. This film should be loved if only for those great scenes.

Yeah, I actually really like the scenes in Yosemite.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Well ... I, uh ... I thought that the casting in STAR TREK V: The Final Frontier was truly inspired. David Warner (!!!) in a nothing part like St John Tolbut? Remarkable ...

 

[Stoo]

What FF does especially well is explore the bonds of friendship and brotherhood between the three main characters. They go on holidays together, they bicker with each other, and ultimately even a brainwashing cult leader can't split them apart.

Also I like the themes and imagery, of a trip to a lonely, haunted planet to meet a supposed deity. That definitely resonated with me, even if it was just some dodgy effects and some patch of california desert with a purple filter.

And that line at the end, "maybe god's not out there Bones, maybe he's right here, in the human heart". I find that so true to the spirit of Star Trek, to believe in good qualities within each human rather than to seek out and worship divine megabeings.

 

[Trek Survivor]

I really enjoy Star Trek V. A few reasons:

* The Kirk/Spock/McCoy relationship has never been so better played. For all that fans go on about it in TOS, I didn't really 'feel' it till the movies, particularly in V.

* Sybok is a great protagonist. The concept that a Vulcan would use his mental gifts to 'release'/control(?) people is an intriguing one. Luckinbill does a good job.

* Some of the humour is very broad, but other bits make me laugh. Kirk/Spock/McCoy in the brig ("you want me to hold him, Jim...?"); around the campfire

* It has some genuinely touching / thoughtful moments. "I always knew I'd die alone", "I thought you said people like us don't have family" "I was wrong" etc. Good stuff.

* Good balance of action / character moments. Besides the aforementioned campfire scenes and retrospection, we also get the GREAT scene where Sybok tries to help Kirk/Spock/McCoy with their pain. In balance to these well-acted moments, there's plenty of action - I like the rescue attempt on the planet (could've done without Uhura singing) and "God" blasting at them at the end. The Klingons in the mix were also good.

* The sheer enthusiasm you can see Shatner put into it. Some may see it as a flawed film, but no one can doubt Shatner believed passionately in it and gave it his best.

So, "confession time": My order of preferred TOS movies looks very different than the "accepted norm" - II is not at the top, and V is definitely not at the bottom.

 

[urbandefault]

For my money this one holds up just as well as any of the others. In fact, it gets more rewatch time than the "better" films.

There are great character moments, some decent one-liners (and some stinkers), and the fan dance doesn't bother me a bit. The Planet Hell scenes aren't any worse than the ones in TSFS, in my opinion.

All in all, it's just a fun Star Trek movie.

 

[EnriqueH]

Yeah, the brig scene is definitely a highlight. The humor worked well here.

In fact, I was surprised by how well the humor DID work.

Scotty bonking his head seems to singlehandedly ruin the movie's reputation. Just remembering that moment colored my memory into thinking that the humor was terrible throughout, but it's really just a couple of bad jokes. Most of the humor works.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Not a favorite or a 'good' movie, IMO....but this is a thread about what we love, so I love:

*Caithlin Dar - sexy, mysterious, and shows that Romulans can have different phenotypes.

*Jerry Goldsmith's music opening theme when Kirk (or Shatner's double rather) is climbing Mt. Everest. A beautiful theme called 'The Mountain.' (Ironically, it sounds like a theme that would fit in with another Paramount property, Indiana Jones).

*Jerry Goldsmith's theme when Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Sybok are traveling to the God planet. An ominous theme called 'A Busy Man.' This theme harks back to something that might have been heard in TMP.

*Yeoman Shatner.

*Chekov's brief stint as acting captain.

 

[NeroShrimp]

I loved the bridge of the Enterprise-A. It was awesome and the new computer consoles and screens are my favorite ever seen in Star Trek. The blue and green color scheme was just classic.

 

[indianatrekker26]

Of all the TOS films, this has always been my favorite. It has the heart of the Original Series. I loved all the scenes with Kirk, Spock and McCoy. It had some of the best trek music ever. It felt more like a classic adventure with the crew than the last 4 movies did.
It was also a time in my life (10 years old) when I was so excited for trek. I remember the adaptation had come out, and on the last page it showed an ad for the TOS and TNG comics coming back.

 

[Vger23]

For me, it's very simple. I LOVE Star Trek V because, as much as I love the other films, I truly believe that this movie was the closest in terms of themes, plot and (sadly) execution to the series that I fell in love with.

Most everyone here has said it already. It was a fun movie with some great character stuff, a few thought-provoking moments, a great soundtrack, and TONS of heart.

 

[Leto_II]

Apart from Laurence Luckinbill's fantastic performance as Sybok, possibly my favorite Spock-scene ever takes place in this movie, during the observation lounge confrontation, where nearly 25 years' worth of character-development gets summed up in a single statement:

"Sybok! You are my brother, but you do not know me. I am not the outcast boy you left behind those many years ago. Since that time, I found myself and my place, and I know who I am. I cannot go with you."

...Hell, that whole scene may be the greatest encapsulation of who these three characters truly are in the entire franchise.

 

[Lance]

It's maybe the most TOS-like of all the TOS movies. That's no bad thing.

 

[wulfio]

Uhura's sexy dance.

 

[Memory Alpha]

This one suffered from the outset. A bigger budget would have helped it, but also fleshing out Sybok's undefined power or ability or hocus-pocus or whatever to allow people to relive or confront events from their past in a graphic way. I never really got that and it seemed rather implausible or hokey to me. Maybe it just could have been downplayed a bit.

Still, this movie works for me because I think of it as a throwback, a real vintage throwback (not sure if that was the intent, but it's certainly aged that way). It is after all a remake of an episode about space hippies hijacking the Enterprise.

Mostly, the Klingons are great in this - they nail it. The humor is wonderful (a couple good Scotty scenes plus Kirk, Spock, and Doc), and the cast rapport is great. When Sybok realizes his faith has been misplaced, it's a wonderful scene.

 

[Smellmet]

Thats one of the problems I had with it. The guy is just a vulcan. Since when did they have the powers to create living hallucinations in front of people. Like you said it came across as 'hokey'

The first half of the movie is packed with great cinematography, a great score and superb, sometimes touching character moments - the initial rock climbing scenes with the opening credits and the campfire sequence are both standout in these regards.

A lot of the last half of the film however just comes across as cheap and amateurish with some truly dreadful visual effects, and this undos all the good work from the first 45 mins for me. I know this is down to the budget problems the movie suffered but it hobbles the movie nonetheless and robs it of any scope or 'epicness' it should have had.

The last two times I've put it on in the last couple of years I've turned it off not long after the crew all get on the Enterprise both times, and that says it all for me as I'd watch all the others to the end without question.

 

[CaptainMurdock]

I like the movie for the most part. It has it's flaws like many films, but still fun none the less. It does have some standout moments and well executed scenes. The film has a really great pace. Nothing slows down for me. Sybok makes a great sympathetic villain who in some ways mirror's Spock's motivation for contacting V'Ger. The final bit with "God" is sketchy but with more time and money, that could have made a great ending. My favorite scene is when Kirk and Spock meet on the Klingon bridge about to hug. Some of the "comedy" is not very good but that doesn't ruin the film for me. I think with some re-writes and a bigger budget, it could have very well been the best Star Trek film or at least match Wrath of Khan. I don't get why people dislike it so much. It's certainly better than Generations and Nemesis.

 

[Lance]

I never understood the broader criticism, coming from some quarters back in VHS days, that Shatner didn't "get" Star Trek. If there's one thing that I've always thought is true about TFF, it's that its like a very calculated distillation of what TOS often was. Maybe in other ways it doesn't live up to the ideals of the franchise, but Shatner's memory/understanding of what Star Trek was can not be faulted. The Final Frontier comes across like TOS boiled down to its purest base elements.

Another thing I think has redeemed it, like a lot of badly received movies of the era (think Ghostbusters 2), is the advent of widescreen presentation becoming standard on home video. I think seeing movies in their original, full canvas (unlike the forced pan-and-scan presentations from back in the VHS days) has sometimes helped to make poorly regarded movies a bit better appreciated, because the artistry, the framing, and the cinematography gets completely butchered in close-up pan-and-scan, but looks stylish and as intended in its widescreen presentation. That's just a little theory of mine though.