A Look Back: Star Trek V – The Final Frontier
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) is widely considered the worst of the six The Original Series (1966 – 1969) movies. A Vulcan visionary, Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill), engineers a hostage situation on the planet of galactic peace, Nimbus III – a planet that hosts ambassadors from the Federation, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Empire. The Enterprise 1701-A, under the command of James T. Kirk (William Shatner), is sent to neutralise the situation and rescue the hostages. While Kirk’s mission initially seems successful, the hostages turn on Kirk and his crew. They have become fanatical supporters of Sybok, who has the power to explore a person’s pain, and free…
A Look Back: Star Trek – The Motion Picture
Before looking back at Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), I have to go back even further for context. The original pilot for Star Trek: The Original Series (1966 – 69), “The Cage” didn’t sell because it was considered too cerebral. Out went Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) as the commanding officer of the USS Enterprise 1701, and in came Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) for the new pilot as the series became a little more action-oriented. The struggles of The Original Series – including the letter-writing campaign that resurrected it after it had been axed following season two – have been well documented. But it lasted only one…