Eric’s Bad Movies: ‘Star Trek V: The Final Frontier’ (1989)
In honor of the new “Star Trek” film hitting theaters tomorrow, this week’s edition of Eric’s Bad Movies at Film.com is about “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” which is generally regarded, by people who think about such things, as the worst of the “Star Trek” movies.
As noted in the column, my firsthand experience with “Star Trek” is minimal. Yet considering I’ve never seen an entire episode of the original series, nor any of the films with the original cast (except, now, “Star Trek V”), it’s amazing how much I just know about “Star Trek.” That’s a good sign that something has permeated the culture: when people don’t even have to watch it to know everything about it. It’s also much more efficient. People have been talking about “Star Trek” so much for the last 40 years that actually watching the show would be redundant.
May 7th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Eric, I have to say you have Star Trek V pretty well pegged.
That doesn’t mean you have Star Trek pegged.
After all, the consensus of the fans is that Star Trek V was So Bad, that it is the one Star Trek film that should have Never Been Made! It wasn’t just the lousy story; all the production values were incredibly low, right down to the scene on “God’s Planet” where the cast go up a hill to find “God” by following a jeep trail…
,,. and the scene in the turbolift shaft with Spock’s jet-pack boots, where, as they ascend and plackards bearing deck numbers pass by in a hurry, we nonetheless notice that they pass more than one deck number *twice*.
Now if you want to see a *good* Star Trek movie, I have two recommendations:
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Admittedly, it may not mean as much to you if you have not seen the original series episode “Space Seed”, to which the movie is essentially a sequel.
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Once you’ve figured out that the Klingons are the preeminent bad guys (which you have) it only makes sense that you need to know that the Romulans are the number two bad guys, and that there’s hope for the future, in spite of collusion by otherwise faithful Federation people. (Oops! Sorry for the spoiler…..)
From what I’ve seen of, and heard of, the new movie, it’s going to be sensational! One of my sisters is a colonel in the Army stationed in Kuwait, where they had an advance showing a couple of weeks ago, and she loved it! She’s been a fan of the series since 1967, and even tried to write an episode script, so you know she’s really into it…..
So don’t give Trek too bad a name based on one film. Or two films. Or maybe even three films, or four or five. (The general rule of thumb is that every other Star Trek movie was somewhere in the continuum between “not so great” and “absolutely terrible.”) And even though the new one bears an odd number, technically, we still hold high hope for it. I’ll be watching for your review with high hopes that you might actually enjoy it…..
DaleD
May 7th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Eric, I have to say you have Star Trek V pretty well pegged.
That doesn’t mean you have Star Trek pegged.
Sorry if I was unclear. I didn’t mean to suggest that my viewing of “Star Trek V” means I know everything about “Star Trek.” What I meant is that I’ve gleaned a lot of information about “Star Trek” simply from having lived in a society that talks about “Star Trek” a lot. In fact, I don’t think “Star Trek V” added any information that I didn’t already have. The even/odd rule about good/bad “Star Trek” movies is an example of the sort of thing that I’ve known for years, even without seeing them.
May 7th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I’m one of the few people on the planet who actually liked Star Trek V, but I still thought your review was funny and spot on. I second DaleD’s recommendation of Star Trek VI; it’s probably the finest Star Trek movie out there.
May 7th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Having nominated Star Trek V multiple times for Eric’s Bad Movies, Thanks! That was as funny as I hoped it would be!
May 7th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Sorry to be the voice of dissent, but I thought ST:VI suffered from some of the same campiness, especially in the second half. Great build-up, but the payoff was somewhat disappointing, and I didn’t care at all for the scenes at the end, after they beam down to the peace conference. Still, definitely better than ST:V.
My opinion: Star Trek II was the best–it struck just the right balance of humor, drama and action, in my opinion and Khan was the best Trek villain ever. Star Trek IV is my second favorite (yes, the one with the whales) because while it is mostly a comedy, it’s a comedy that feels a lot more natural than the slapstick buffonery in V. The environmental message is a bit heavy-handed, but they don’t bludgeon you with it either.
May 7th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Star Trek II is a definite classic. IV is an entertaining comedy and VI a very good murder-mystery.
V is cinematic garbage, a one man show for Shatner’s ego. May it long be the worst movie in the Star Trek series.
Enjoyed this review a lot, one of the funnier EBM’s.
May 7th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
As a kid, I saw Star Trek V in the theater. When I was a kid I never noticed anything crappy about the movie. It wasn’t until years later that people ruined it for me by pointing out the stupid stuff about it. Thanks guys
Great review as always Mr. Eric.
May 7th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
I kind of feel bad that you say watching Star Trek is redundant. On the other hand, I guess I watch the episodes more than once! (I’m currently going through all the Deep Space Nine episodes on my Netflix queue… You have to be a pretty big geek to do that, probably, since that series doesn’t even have a starship zipping through space.)
Star Trek IV had some really funny moments, and I think there’s a decent chance you would enjoy it. Most of the campy humor was quite tongue-in-cheek. I’ve heard that Shatner intended the fifth movie to be much darker, but some producer or something insisted that it be filled with terrible jokes. (I don’t remember where I read that, but I’m going to spread the rumor.)
The best Star Trek movie, by the way, is First Contact. (I kind of doubt the new one will replace it, but you never know!)
May 10th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
I think the worst moment was when Uhura danced in the desert!