What do the wild west, deserts, fan dances, Klingon revenge, liftshaft chases, McCoy's country baked beans with booze, late-80s cat people cliches worthy of "Total Recall", and God all have in common?
TOS Feature: “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier”
The comedy in this movie sucks. Of course, I could also write out how the sky is blue (due to refractive properties), the water is wet (and blue due to reflective properties), we breathe and sleep and have other bodily functions... like yawn, dude, gag me with a spoon (and get a Dell)...
But Star Trek V was not to be the 23rd century's answer to Blazing Saddles...
So now that's out of my system, what worked right about this flick because we all know all the jokes sucked and blew chunks?
- the twist with spiritual undertones
- largely captures the feel of the original 1960s TV show
- keeps the narrative flow of "Klingons hate Kirk" between movies flowing
- shows multi-empire contention and attempted peace, furthering the lore (Nimbus III's origins)
- had some robust casting
- excellent location filming
- explores The Big Three in a completely new (and successful way)
- explores cult mentality
- Sybok is a Vulcan who eschews
Kohler Kohlinar and all the other toilet Vulcan disciplinary training (since TMP showed once and for all it wasn't just an innate biological trait but one honed)
- Shuttlecraft! Used largely well!!
- Jerry Goildsmith's score is sumptuous - good grief, does he fit the bill and then some
- Chekov in command - nice
- good camera direction and lighting
- Enterprise is commandeered
- Uhura's silver frosted highlights
- the plot beats are well-timed despite plot content misfires
- There's some universe-building at work
- it's the first time the starship's interiors are so bland (despite attempting to look futuristic and sleek) that they look like a phone and tablet store! Still, it does look futuristic and sleek, not too visually busy or garish... it really does grow on ya.
Okay, one joke definitely did work - McCoy swearing up a storm as he sees Kirk climing around like someone put a jar of ants into his trousers:
(the real fun begin at 2:48 then at 4:06, but the camerawork at the end is fairly conscious of the scene as well... )
But as with anything comedic goes, YMMV and TBH I sometimes did laugh at the humorous bits too. I found, even in 1989, that the more seriously handled scenes lacking the comedy just worked better. This movie had real potential as a dramatic piece.
Captain Klaa is a reasonably good villain, though a few minor script tweaks would make him a great one. The script is on the right track with a lot in this story.
I also liked how he's using old space flotsam as target practice - no different to Jerry the archer, going to a park, finding a tin can left by some litterbug, puts it on a pedestal, and promptly lobs an arrow through it and promptly gets a gold star afterward after putting it into the appropriate recycling bin. Now, the flotsam in question - assuming nothing helped push it along - gives a fixed point in time, so if Klaa was pew-pewing in Klingon territory, how did the probe get there to lull him out of his boredom? That aside, the main point of the scene is to set up Klaa - which is otherwise effective.
Ditto for St John Talbot - though if he wasn't integral to the movie, why get a AAA+-lister like David Warner? Warner really takes what's in this script and belts out a home run. It's a shame he's not in it more.
Lawrence Luckinbill was a happy accident but he nails it as Sybok. (Though he does appear out of nowhere and is given a backdrop that
barely suffices and is arguably even unnecessary. The script is trying to hard to wring emotional drama out of Spock and, as with the comedy, it feels forced. Especially when the movie has enough that feels germane and strongly so revolving him and Sybok later on...)
I also extremely enjoyed Vixis impersonating Starfleet. Trek never really showed this bit of espionage/interception before and it's a joy to watch. The movie is a curate's egg but lots of standout moments really are strong.
Okay, who was handing out the T-shirts reading "Go climb a rock" in Kirk's size? Don't tell me the Yosemite Sam National Park there sells them?! (The script's big problem is trying to cram in too many styles and it's clear the serious/dramatic material just has more weight. After TVH and the comedy being demanded, that definitely did not help and it worked in TVH
only* because of the "fish out of water" trope. TFF takes place in their own back yard, not one three hundred years away.
* What, no option for blinking text and to change the font size to a whoppingly huge 72pt to ensure the theatrics in showing excessive, exaggerated emphasis?
Numbus III is shown as much an attempt at comedy - "a planet of galactic peace" being riddled with cavalier groups of nutjobs - but still manages to convey that this was a joint venture where nobody seemed to be bothered, with one arguing that the Klingons and Romulans were more likely to not give a (bleep) and just let the Federation do all the heavy work and how nobody really gave a (bleep) about it. Again, there is a ginormous idea at work here but it's not fleshed out as there's enough material shown where they could dig into this without padding. Certainly when juxtaposed with the navigator and helmsman both getting lost and needing a pickup, which wasted several minutes. And speaking of wasted, seeing a bar with tawdry dancer complete with late-80s cyberpunk cornball and cliched "3rd body part" paints the canvas but the canvas is tissue paper and not something more robust so it's all wasted, as wasted as the barflies sitting there. I suppose there's a joke in that somewhere in this marvellous plastic fantastric magical Federation there's a planet under their jurisdiction that's a complete war-ridden grunge hole where they couldn't even hire Nirvana to do a gig because the place smelled of things other than spirited, unbathed teenagers after a twenty five year-antiquated love-in.
When the movie stopped horsing around with the comedy, it does begin to show just how good a movie this one could have been - had the mandate for the jokes not be put in. I'll be getting back to this off and on and already did so regarding TVH...
I wish there was more to Korrd, Talbot, and Dar. Especially the latter, who has something of a personality and entrance and making me wonder what's going on chess-wise since Romulans are Trek's most scheming adversary. Except she's not used, apart from being one of Sybok's stick figures.
Korrd too is just there, burping away his time. We get enough of a setup - he's apparently retired and not giving a (bleep) about any of this. Which is telling on two fronts. The first I mentioned earlier about nobody giving a (bleep) about this place except the Federation (and even then...!) The other is a bit more fun --> Note that TNG contradicts the notion of "retired Klingon" in "A Matter of Honor" as Riker had to be told there were no old Klingons there, though it cal also be argued Klingon battle ships only contain younger warriers and the one Riker dealty with spoke out of personal pride and without telling all their third degree secrets, which is a running theme in that story as well...
As much as Nimoy and Kelley protested, I would have liked seeing them turn on the captain due to Sybok's influence. But I can't disagree with why they protested either - The Big Three is a very tightly knit group and I'll admit their rejecting Sybok was impressively well done.
At the time, having 4 movies with ILM and other effects shops at work, even I must concede TFF is a step backward. It's jarring. Especially when some scenes were rendered better than others, I am aware there were time delays in getting an effects shop hired and that might be part of it. (Some shots look like 2D cutouts may have been used, so no wonder some shots look
bad...) So I did a looksee and someone (not me) actually tried to do new f/x:
They are rough cuts, sure... voiceovers are not mixed properly, sad but true... but the amount of motion added just tightens up so much, even if the close-in zoom is more reminiscent of "Star Trek Generations". But the potential is clearly there, and was in 1989. What is shown on screen just about sells the gist of it, but vfx being an art form - there is a masterpiece waiting to be painted. Nixc the painting-by-numbers and that alone's a step up.
Let's talk about "God" and not in that Madonna song sort of way. It's impossible to show the real deal, so does the twist of making God an incorporeal alien wanting to hijack the ship - noting the recursive plot point in this film involving a hijacking as means for another hijacking! - hold up? Does TNG's episode "Power Play" since both use the same theme? Yup. I love both episodes, but TFF sells the menace of the incorporeal being a bit better - and bodysnatching is often overused in sci-fi, and TFF takes a nice twist in using others' countenances without actually taking over bodies to excessive extents. TFF has a
far better n actual music score too.
Kirk's moral theme woven into the movie about dying alone was as robust as Sybok's indoctrination tactics.
Is the movie perfect? No. Is it bad? No, but I see a lot of titles below that are truly undredeeming or barely so - especially compared to this. TFF just tried to do too much, under tight constraints and mandates, of which some were just incompatible. Removing the "comedy at the blunt expense of the crew" would be a big start. And lastly, note that even Kirk got a couple jokes at his expense - but anyone not in the big-three still got the worst of those. Either a navigator getting lost or an engineer who knows the design but makes the most blatantly obvious misstep. It's not even corny.
But warts and all, it's not as bad as all that.
Lastly, I hate to chuck in another vidclip, but:
That gets to me - every single time.It's nailed in just perfectly.Even with the blue impulse engines, which drove me nuts back then too...
And one more, saving a surprise bit for last:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xmyzzC5Y3g
Read the comment that cites 0:30 and how an electron microscope was used on a lobster claw, which doubles as the surface of an alien planet. Now
THAT is some creativity at work, edited in excellently. (Also, imagine that in blinky text at 128pt font too, BTW.)
TFF was a mixed bag and its the potential for greatness lost that led to disappointment. But it wasn't rubbish. And has some factoids that surprise to this day.
What's left in the buffet:
TNG Season 1: “Justice”
TNG Season 1: “Haven”
TNG Season 2: “The Child”
TNG Season 2: "The Schizoid Man"
TNG Season 2: “The Icarus Factor”
TNG Season 2: “Manhunt”
TNG Season 3: "The Bonding"
TNG Season 3: "Ménage à Troi"
TNG Season 4: “Future Imperfect”
TNG Season 4: “Redemption I”
TNG Season 5: “Unification II”
TNG Season 5: “New Ground”
TNG Season 5: “Ethics”
TNG Season 5: “Cost Of Living”
TNG Season 6: “Birthright, Part I”
TNG Season 6: “Descent, Part I”
TNG Season 7: “Descent, Part II”
TNG Season 7: “Interface”
TNG Season 7: “Dark Page”
TNG Season 7: “Inheritance”
TNG Season 7: “Homeward”
TNG Season 7: “Sub Rosa”
TNG Season 7: “Firstborn”
TNG Season 7: “Bloodlines”
TNG Feature: "Star Trek Nemesis"
DS9 Season 1: “The Nagus”
DS9 Season 2: "Rules Of Acquisition"
DS9 Season 2: “The Alternate”
DS9 Season 3: "The House Of Quark"
DS9 Season 3: "The Abandoned"
DS9 Season 3: “Family Business”
DS9 Season 3: "Facets"
DS9 Season 4: “Indiscretion”
DS9 Season 4: “Little Green Men”
DS9 Season 4: “Paradise Lost”
DS9 Season 4: “Return To Grace”
DS9 Season 4: “Sons Of Mogh”
DS9 Season 4: “Bar Association”
DS9 Season 5: “The Begotten”
DS9 Season 5: “Ferengi Love Songs”
DS9 Season 6: “Sons And Daughters”
DS9 Season 6: “The Magnificent Ferengi”
DS9 Season 6: “Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night”
DS9 Season 6: “Profit And Lace”
DS9 Season 6: “Time’s Orphan”
DS9 Season 7: “Image In The Sand”
DS9 Season 7: “Shadows & Symbols”
DS9 Season 7: “Prodigal Daughter”
DS9 Season 7: “The Dogs Of War”
VOY Season 1: "Jetrel"
VOY Season 2: “Tattoo”
VOY Season 2: “Basics, Part I”
VOY Season 3: “Coda”
VOY Season 3: “Real Life”
VOY Season 4: “The Raven”
VOY Season 5: “Once Upon A Time”
VOY Season 5: “Thirty Days”
VOY Season 5: “Dark Frontier”
VOY Season 6: “Barge Of The Dead”
VOY Season 6: “Collective”
VOY Season 6: “Life Line”
VOY Season 7: “Imperfection”
VOY Season 7: “Lineage”
VOY Season 7: “Q2”
VOY Season 7: “Author, Author”
ENT Season 2: “Horizon”
ENT Season 2: “The Expanse”
ENT Season 3: "The Forgotten"
ENT Season 4: “Home”
ENT Season 4: “Awakening”
ENT Season 4: "Demons"
ENT Season 4: "Terra Prime"
DIS Season 1: "Vaulting Ambition"
DIS Season 1: "What's Past Is Prologue"
DIS Season 1: "The War Without, The War Within"
DIS Season 2: “Brother”
DIS Season 2: “Point Of Light”
DIS Season 2: “The Sound Of Thunder”
DIS Season 2: “Light And Shadows”
DIS Season 2: “The Red Angel”
DIS Season 2: “Perpetual Infinity”
DIS Season 2: “Through The Valley Of Shadows”
DIS Season 2: “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 1”
DIS Season 2: “Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2”
ST Season 1: “Runaway”
ST Season 1: “The Brightest Star”
ST Season 2: “The Girl Who Made The Stars”
PIC Season 1: “The End Is The Beginning” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: "Stardust City Rag" [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “The Impossible Box” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
PIC Season 1: “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2” [spoiler tag your elimination reasons]
) and Troi's turn in the Big Chair. Rosalind Chao and Michael Dorn are fantastic in this - I wish they'd had more scenes together, and Marina Sirtis is convincing in her portrayal of someone with a lack of experience thrust into a position of authority.
Still, the show - in showing a better future but not saying how - now went to the extreme on the opposite side, to the point Troi's own comment has a possible undercurrent of cynicism. Or she, as a psychologist, is saying them to appease Radue and co - third person perspective is so easy to conflate. Add that to the aforementioned list too.
