The movie opens on a mysterious planet called Nimbus
III, we meet a Vulcan with a crazy laugh, and can take away peoples pain. We
then cut to Earth where we see Kirk, Spock and McCoy enjoying their break at
the Yosemite National Park, Scotty is busy trying to get the new Enterprise up
and ready, while Chekov and Sulu are enjoying their hiking trip.
The crazy Vulcan I mentioned before is named Sybok,
played by Laurence Luckinbill, who has a strong faith, and an urge to leave Nimbus
III (Adam Sloman stated in his review, “I'm not quite sure how or why he ended
up there”) and kidnaps three delegates that represent Earth (David Warner), the
Klingons (Charles Cooper) and the Romulans (Cynthia Gouw). The team’s breaks
are soon interrupted however, when, like always, Kirk is the only Captain who
can save the day.
On the other side of the galaxy, Klingon commander,
Klaa, played by Todd Bryant, gets annoyed of shooting down space probes and
after hearing about Kirk and the Enterprise playing to Nimbus III, he decides
to put himself up against Kirk.
With the new Enterprise’s transporters acting finicky,
a shuttle is dispatched, sending a rescue party to the surface of the planet.
Kirk soon has rescued the hostages, only to realize it was a planned out trap
on Sybok’s end to capture the Federation starship.
Cut back to the ship, the Klingons have got in the way
again and the shuttle craft has to go for an emergency landing. Kirk has a
brief fight with Sybok. Spock has the chance to shoot Sybok, but refuses,
telling Kirk that they are, in fact, half-brothers and the trip are taken to
brig.
Working his ability on the rest of the crew, Sybok
soon has the ship at his fingers and sets course for the Galactic barrier
where, he thinks, god lives.
Scott is successful in breaking the trio out of their
cell and they go around trying to regain control of the ship. They succeed only
in telling the Klingons where the ship is going, before Sybok catches up with them,
asking for the chance to heal their pain. We get a nice look into McCoy’s back
story, but Sybok’s attempt with his brother is not a success. Spock, what it
looks like, has found his place in the universe and is happy with that.
Kirk refuses Sybok, and reminds us that pain in
important, that it teaches us a lesson, and makes us the type of person we are.
Sloman stated in his review, “With the sort of timing
only found in Hollywood, the Enterprise then arrives at God's planet. Sybok,
Kirk, Spock and McCoy head down for a tête-à-tête with the Almighty.” They find
on this planet isn’t God, but an alien, played by George Murdock, looking for a
ride and wants to join with the Enterprise.
Suffering the wrath of God, Kirk asks what God needs
with a starship. Attacking Kirk and Spock, the alien reveals he is a prisoner
of the planet and Sybok realizes his mistakes and fights the alien, wanting to
heal its pain.
Scott finally gets the transporters working, beaming
Spock and McCoy back on the Enterprise, leaving Kirk alone to face the increasingly
peeved extraterrestrial God. The Klingon Bird of Prey suddenly arrives, firing
at the alien and beaming Kirk on their ship. Back on the Enterprise, Klaa
apologizes for his unnecessary violence and the two ships fly their separate
ways allowing the Captain and his team to finish their vacation back on Earth.
Sloman stated in his review, “The Final Frontier is
widely regarded amongst fans as the worst of the series, but I don't think it's
as bad as that. There was certainly worse to come from the franchise.” I do
agree with him, but this is pretty bad. However, there is one movie that I
think is worse than this, which we will get to later in the month. As with all
good “Star Trek,” its strong moments are character led. The camp fire scene is
great at first, and McCoy’s disregard for Kirk’s mountain climbing is another
great moment from the late DeForest Kelley. What is also worth mentioning is
his scene with his father, played by Bill Quinn, the suffering of his father’s
death with a cure so close to getting is a great look into his character’s
background, away from Starfleet.
The film really fails with it special effects. Simply
put, they’re terrible. There’s no other word best to describe them. Robbed of
ILM’s help, (they were busy working on an “Indiana Jones” movie and “Ghostbusters
II”) Shatner was forced to look around for the cheapest choice possible and it
hurts the film.
Sloman said, “It puzzles me why Paramount chose to cut
so many corners with this film, from cheap special effects to simply cutting
large chunks of storyline (Den Of Geek has already covered the cut Rockman
sequence) that could have lifted the film; it shows little faith in Shatner,
his story and his direction.”
There are problems with the story, however. It’s jumbled,
to say the least. How does Sybok know about the God-Alien? How is the Enterprise
able to travel across the galaxy so quickly? Sloman mentions, “It also rankles
me that, despite Sybok's powers, the crew are so quick to betray Kirk.” The
funny moments feel a little forced, as if it was shoved in to calm those that,
after “Star Trek IV,” were happy to see a “Star Trek” film.
This movie isn’t great. In all honesty, you’re not
missing a lot if you decide to skip straight from “Star Trek IV” to “Star Trek
VI.”
I agree with Sloman where I feel that other films that
were about finding God, it was done “way” better than in here. I don’t feel
like anything was accomplished with the whole “finding God” element. This is worse
than the first movie, in my opinion. Reasoning behind this is because of the flat story, pointless characters and scenes that just don't seem to flow together. The infamous Uhura dance made me feel
really dirty and when Kirk, Spock and McCoy are singing, “Row Your Boat,” mentioning
it again and bringing it back at the end I felt was really stupid.
Alright, now that we thankfully got that stinker out
of the way, tune in Wednesday for my review on the final film entry of the
Original Series cast, “Star Trek VI.”
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