Star Trek V - The Final Frontier (1989)
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The crew of the USS Enterprise-A must confront a renegade Vulcan searching for God at the center of the galaxy.
The story
The crew of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise-A are enjoying shore leave at Yosemite National Park when they are ordered by Starfleet Command to rescue three diplomats—a human, a Klingon, and a Romulan—taken hostage on the neutral planet Nimbus III. During the mission, the crew discovers that the crisis is orchestrated by Sybok, a renegade Vulcan who is revealed to be Spock's half-brother. Sybok intends to use the starship to travel to the mythical planet Sha Ka Ree, which he believes lies behind a powerful energy field at the galaxy's center where God is located.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
While camping at Yosemite National Park, the crew of the USS Enterprise-A is ordered to rescue three diplomats held hostage on Nimbus III. They discover the crisis is a ruse by Sybok, a renegade Vulcan and Spock's half-brother, who seeks to use the ship to reach the mythical planet Sha Ka Ree behind the Great Barrier to find God. Sybok uses the Vulcan mind meld to reveal and heal the innermost pain of the crew, gaining their loyalty, except for Kirk who refuses. The ship breaches the Great Barrier and arrives at a barren planet where Sybok, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy encounter a glowing field that morphs into a bearded human face. The entity, a malicious being imprisoned on Sha Ka Ree in the past, declares it will use the ship to spread its wisdom. After Kirk questions the entity, it attacks them. Sybok attempts to distract the entity to allow the others to escape but is killed by a photon torpedo. The Klingon Bird-of-Prey, led by Captain Klaa, attacks and damages the Enterprise, stranding Kirk with the entity. The Bird-of-Prey eventually destroys the entity, and Kirk is beamed aboard. Spock reveals he convinced the Klingon General Korrd to order Klaa to stand down. The crew returns to Earth and resumes their camping trip.
- First release year
- 1989
- Runtime (minutes)
- 106
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- William Shatner
- Writers
- David Loughery · screenplay; William Shatner · story; Harve Bennett · story; David Loughery · story
- Cast and characters
- William Shatner · Captain James T. Kirk; Leonard Nimoy · Spock; DeForest Kelley · Leonard McCoy; James Doohan · Montgomery Scott; George Takei · Hikaru Sulu; Walter Koenig · Pavel Chekov; Nichelle Nichols · Nyota Uhura; Laurence Luckinbill · Sybok
- Genres
- science fiction; action
- Themes
- quest for God; spiritual meaning; paradise; theological questions
- Tone and mood
- humorous; inconsistent
- Premise and plot tags
- science fiction; adventure; sequel; religious motifs
- Source material / true-story basis
- Star Trek television series
- Franchise connections
- Star Trek
- Reception
- The film received generally negative reviews from critics and was considered a critical and commercial failure, with some suggesting it nearly killed the franchise.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 22% · review count: 54; Metacritic · score: 43 · scale: 100 · review count: 16
- Production trivia
- The mythical planet Sha Ka Ree was named in honor of Sean Connery.; The film's ending was reworked because of poor test-audience reaction and the failure of some planned special effects.; The film's budget climbed to $33 million due to expensive effects and production costs.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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