Bob's Full Review: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Bob’s guide to Star Trek Films
­Principal Cast: First Generation + Laurence Luckinbill and David Warner

Basic Plot
While the Enterprise crew is on shore leave, the Federation receives a message from a Vulcan cult leader who has taken political hostages and demands to negotiate for their release, in person.  Kirk and company answer the call and head for the Neutral Zone while working to correct the severe design flaws that are causing problems aboard the new Enterprise. 
After fighting their way past Sybok’s army, Kirk and his crew are forced to surrender after finding out the cult’s “hostages” are part of the greater plan.  Kirk and company are taken prisoner and their ship commandeered for Sybok’s ultimate goal.  
One by one the crew of the Enterprise are mesmerized into the service of the strange Vulcan leader who uses a form of emotional hypnosis to win loyalty in others.  It is up to Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to find a way to save the Enterprise, and perhaps once again, the whole galaxy.

My Take
*Spoiler Alert*  The basic plot of this movie, the Enterprise seeks God, was conceived as a possible storyline for the original Trek film, but was abandoned in favor of the V-Ger story.  It was later rehashed and used for this film.  
That being said, the plot of this movie is somewhat weak, if not coming completely from left-field.  We are asked to believe that Sybok is able to influence the will of others by making them face their greatest pain without any explanation as to what he is actually doing to the subject’s mind, let alone that it works on Spock and not Kirk.  Sybok also reveals that he is following a vision given to him by God himself.  It is never explained whether the entity they encounter at the end of the film (who turns out not to be the one true God) somehow gave him these visions or if Sybok is merely delusional.  
It is also never explained what “The Great Barrier” is.  We are shown that whatever it is, it is blue and no one has ever crossed it.  It is spoken of as if it is highly dangerous, but the Enterprise and a Klingon Bird of Prey cross through it with no problems.  I would have like to known where this thing is and what makes it so intimidating to space farers.  
The fact that Sybok is Spock’s brother didn’t bother me.  What bothered me is the idea that Spock is so strict with his syntax that he never told Kirk, his best friend, that he had a brother, simply because he and Sybok were half siblings rather than full.  I can only guess that Sybok is the elder brother since Sarek was still married to Spock’s mother at the time, and as far as I know, Vulcans do not practice polygamy.  So, what happened to Sybok’s mother?  Did they get along or hate each other?  And why did Sybok abandon his peoples’ adherence to logic?  These are a few items I would have liked to know more about.  
In Star Trek lore, the Neutral Zone is an area of space that separates Federation, Romulan, and Klingon territories.  According to the Neutral Zone treaty, no one is permitted to colonize or set an outpost on any world within the Zone.  Yet, Sybok lures the Enterprise to a colonized planet within the Neutral Zone without explaining why such a thing exists.  It is explained that the planet was seeded with the dregs of the galaxy, but it is never stated for what purpose and/or when the treaty was ratified to allow colonization of the planet. 
The last thing I had a problem with is the fact that the Enterprise, which is a brand new ship in this film, is falling apart around the crew while they’re on this mission.  Would the federation really build such a substandard starship?  I think not.  If the ship had been damaged by its trip through the great barrier, it would have filled two big plot holes in this film.  
It sounds like nitpicking, but when you pile up this many inconsistencies in one film, especially a Trek film that is going to be seen by hordes of lifetime die-hard fans who know the names of every actor who played the red shirt ensigns who died left and right in the original series, people are going to notice.  
This was the Trek film that inspired the infamous “odd movie curse,” which states that all odd numbered Star Trek movies are destined to suck What’s really sad about this film is that it did have some potential.  I liked the idea of Kirk going up against a fanatical cult leader and his minions.  And like I said, I didn’t have a problem with the prospect of Spock having a long lost brother, by the dynamics of their relationship should have been developed a little better.  I’m not sure how I feel about the idea of the search for God, but as explained earlier, it needed a little work.  Basically, what this film really needed was more revision on it’s script.  If you’ve never seen a Trek film, DO NOT begin with this one. 

Interesting note: A scene was scripted but never shot which involved the “false God” taking the form of a giant rock monster and chasing Kirk across the desert before being shot down by the Klingon Bird of Prey.  The idea of this scene was later lampooned in the film “Galaxy Quest.”