Star Trek: The Final Frontier (1989)

Yeah, this is probably the worst of the original series. It's a shame, because the story does have merit, but the execution is pretty awful in most respects. So no, I will not lay the blame solely on the shoulders of William Shatner, who directed this entry. True, some of his ideas are questionable when it comes to this one, but you can tell he wasn't all to blame for the mess that this one is. See, it would have worked as an episode of the series, but as a film? Not so much. 

On the remote planet of Nimbus III, a mysterious stranger is amassing an army of misfits and he captures the envoys of Earth, the Klingon ànd Romulan Empire and wants to get his hands on a starship. The bizarre thing is, he seems to be able to persuade people to join his cause without much of a struggle. On Earth, our familiar faces are on shore leave, but are quickly gathered and sent out to deal with this bizarre insurrection. But there's a snag: the Enterprise is in really poor shape and they are in doubt whether the ship will be able to withstand any attack from pretty much anyone. 

It doesn't help then that there is an ambitious young Klingon captain intent on gaining honour by engaging the Enterprise. 

It turns out the leader of the insurrection is Sybok, long lost half-brother to Spock. Because of course the universe is so darn small you cannot help but run into a long lost relative. Sybok is a bizarre Vulcan, in that he fully embraces emotions and makes people feel and relive their worst pain and then takes it away, so they easily follow him. He wants to go to the centre of the universe, to a mythical planet called Sha Ka Ree, where he is certain he will actually find God. 

Once they get there, things aren't all they seem... 

There are interesting ideas here, to be sure. Spock having a brother that is all emotion to his logic would make for interesting conflict. The same goes for that final frontier of finding out whether or not there actually is something like an all ecompassing deity. See, the potential for a grand adventure was here. But it's the execution that fails on several levels. For starters, they really upped the comedy in this one. Now, 'The Voyage Home' also had comedy, to be sure, but it was better paced and just funnier. Here, it feels incredibly forced, as if you're watching a comedy that is trying too hard. I mean: Scotty saying he knows the ship like the back of his hand, only to hit his head the next second and pass out is a little much. It's also not funny. 

The pacing of the film is all over the place. We take a little too much time at the start on the camping trip that Kirk, McCoy and Spock are doing and we spend an insane amount on their trying to sing round the campfire. Why? No idea. It's not engaging in the least. But then, once the crew heads into space, everything (and I do mean everything) else flies by at breakneck speed. Gone are attempts to build some memorable characters, gone is any suspense or action. 

Yes, really. Sybok could have been an excellent character and his interactions with his lost brother could have made great stuff, but nope. He's here, he's there, he's everywhere and the dialogue is always cut short. Heck, their descent to Sha Ka Ree is over and done in what feels like 5 minutes. Remember the entrance to V'Ger's cloud in the first film? Sure, it was slow, but it did build a sense of awe and felt ominous. Here, it's more like: we're here. Now we're gone. End of movie. 

To say nothing of the absolutely horrendous special effects. You can tell the budget was cut immensely. It's not just the flimsy CG that is used, even the sets somehow look more fake than ever. 

It's sad to say, but this is clearly an example of a film that suffered thanks to a lot of insane decisions, poor editing, budget cutbacks and a fairly inexperienced director. But again: I wouldn't lay all the blame on Shatner, as there are hints that this could have been so much better. It just needed a little more money and a little more time. As is, though, it is the weakest entry of the classic run.