STAR TREK V: I like it. Am I alone?

I've told you before...I think this is so ironic. I think it's THE WORST of the Star Trek flicks!
Go back to the Delta Quadrant!

 

It's got nothing to do with that. It's just dumb.

 

Silly as some of it is, I like the campfire beginning, and also the bit where McCoy has to confront the fact he helped his sick father die....that aspect of the film is wonderful.

But the whole 'search for God' plot is utter nonsense....and worse, once you find Him or It, then what? Well, not much, as it turns out, because there is no way to depict God--even a false one--without feeling some disappointment. Even so, the film wasn't as awful as the critics claimed it was, I think they just didn't cotton to the idea of Shatner directing, or something...and the odd-numbered movies, were, in fact, inferior to the even-numbered ones, for no real reason.

For my money, the first was the worst....didn't mind that 'V'ger' crap, but there is a certain coldness to the whole affair, even the costumes look like pajamas....it seems like a lot of money was spent and not enough of it showing on the screen. The fourth is my fave, the sixth better than I expected it to be, the second is great popcorn fun, way over the top, and everything after #6 I could care less about....

 

Ed,
I think your are right. My favorite line from V was Shatner's question:
What does God need with a star ship."
That was pretty funny.

 

Oh, I'm sure William Shatner also likes it

The "togetherness" is not bad...but not enough to keep me from changin that channel

My order of preference: II-III-VI-IV-I-V

 

Agreed, Mr. O, and I would only add that it's rare when the star--and director--leaves in a line from his own film that reveals the huge hole in the plot! Usually someone catches that and loses it before the final cut is turned in, but maybe ol' Bill figured, what the hell, why deny the obvious? And anyway, they weren't really going to improve over IV, and the odd-numbered jinx was already a topic of discussion, not part of ST lore as yet, but getting there....

As for 7 of 9, I wouldn't mind a meld, but her mind isn't exactly my first choice for a nice melding....

 

OK, OK...I'm not THAT harsh about it, but while I don't fall over backwards gushing about what a cinematic masterpiece it is, I also don't hate it with every bone of my body.

To me the basic story line wasn't all that far fetched (along the lines of what Steve is saying, it actually would have been a decent ST:TOS episode), but what I think rubbed me a little the wrong way was Shatner's direction--I always feel like he's trying to be clever or comical in this film. "Beans and bourbon, an explosive combination." I actually would have laughed if someone like Jean-Luc Picard would have said that, or even Pavel Chekov. Rumor has it that when the special edition DVD was in the works, the studio turned down Shatner's offer to redo the film the way HE wanted it to be done. Thing is, it would have cost a good chunk of money; maybe the studio felt they were cutting their losses.

To be honest, I dislike the later Trek films more than this one...I never even bothered to see Nemesis since Insurrection was such a mediocre film.

 

How about some love for First Contact? I was luke warm about Generations, and both Insurrection and Nemesis weren't all that great, but I think First Contact is terrific.

Oh, yeah...my order?:
Khan/Voyage Home/First Contact/Undiscovered Country/Search for Spock/Generations/the rest

 

I like Star Trek V just fine. To me it is better than Star Trek "The Motion Picture", and all of the Next Generation films. I know that Shatner was disappointed that "the powers that be" didn't let him fix a few things that he wasn't happy with for the DVD re-release. If it was ok to mess with the first movie, then they should have let Shatner work on ST V.

My favorite of the Next Generation films is "Nemesis", which appears to have been hated by most.

 

I agree with Steve on this one. ST V is a lot like many of the episodes from the third season of the original series (remember the space hippies, Wyatt Earp, and Spock's brain getting stolen). In other words, a really silly plot made enjoyable by the strong characterization and warm sense of cameraderie among the principals. I'd choose that any day over ST 1, where the characters got totally overwhelmed by the jazzy special effects, and everything feels cold and hollow.

 

Well, OK...you asked. Just a couple of my own obsservations...your mileage may vary.

First Contact I had some problems with. On its own it is great entertainment--for someone who just watched the Trek movies it may work better, I don't know. However, we already had a "Borg episode" on the TV series--it seemed predictable they'd make a big screen version of this. I had a problem with a drunk scientist inventing the warp drive, though--if this were just an ancilliary character I wouldn't have minded it so much since it does provide a little comedy relief. That panicky "earthling" with Picard is just flat-out annoying--I cringe every time there's a scene with her in it.

I actually liked Generations better than any that followed (by a small margin--I think it had the best villain ). To me, the Next Generation movies just seemed to be like overblown TV episodes, especially Insurrection. I don't know why--it just seems that the original crew's films just seemed so much more grandoise on the big screen than the TV series. But the Next Gen films are certainly not bad (even though I knock them a bit)--I'd watch them over 99% of the crap being released in theaters today. But they are just un-extraordinary to me, I guess. In other words, a great TV series formula that translated to a rather average movie series.

I don't know, really...I think the movie series lost it after VI. I don't know how much Roddenberry was involved with VI, but movies haven't been the same since then, IMHO.

My own order: I'd put VI, IV and II almost in a tie with each other, followed by III, I and V. Generations would follow, and all the rest I'd have tied for last. I've probably watched the last few films only a couple of times each; the first six I can recite dialog from.

 

One of the things I really liked about Star Trek V was that for the first time in the movie series, we got to see a mission of the Enterprise with it's correct captain and crew.

Spoilers ahead
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The first film had to spend time getting everyone together. The second one had Kirk again take command of a training crew. The third had Kirk hijack the Enterprise for a mission to save Spock. Four had essentially no Enterprise until the end.

By the time we finally got to five, at least there was no re-gathering of the crew. All was well with that, though the new Enterprise was still undergoing "shakedown."

I found the interaction of the big three to be rather good. The campfire scene, the jailbreak, the scenes with Sybok forcing McCoy and Spock to relive their pain - I thought those were excellent.

Forgettable stuff: Uhura's moonlit dance, Spock's rocket boots, and the bad effects at the end. I also didn't care for the lady who played the Romulan - she played it too friendly/comical.

 

I can't stand Star Trek V. I think it's an embarassment. They could have shown "Who Mourns for Adonis?" in theaters and made exactly the same point.

My personal favorite is "The Undiscovered Country" (can't remember the number). "Wrath of Khan" is second, but I think that they should have left Spock dead. I hate it when some major character in a program has a really dramatic and meaningful death, only to be resurrected later and carry on. I've always considered "The Search For Spock" to be something constructed on the fly to deal with the fact that Leonard Nimoy changed his mind about being Spock after lobbying hard for the character's death. At least I remember hearing that Nimoy wanted Spock dead, then reneged.

Dcooper mentioned "First Contact" - It's the ONLY NG crew movie that I really like. The two after it (not "Generations" - I mean "Insurrection" and "Nemesis") are worse embarassments than "V".

 

Star Trek V:
Kirk vs. God - Kirk wins.

I gotta say, though - I'd rather watch the original cast singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" than watch most of any of the other series (and I like the other series!), even if the old cast are just coasting on the goodwill they'd developed for their characters over the years...

More Shatner coasting, Paramount, please!

 

ST V = bad cinema. A movie I truely want to forget along with ST I. I'm a big fan of the original series, but this movie really sucked. I'll go with IV and VI as the best ST movies. II is ok and the remainder are worthless.

 

STV has some great moments between the cast members, the story could have been better but what saves it for me is the chemistry between all of the actors. Luckinbill does a pretty good job as a Vulcan with emotions too.

I'd rather watch STV than ST-TMP...

 

I like anything Star Trek just to enjoy the experience but, V is not a personal favorite. I do enjoy it but only up to a point...

Bob

 

Steve, you're not alone. I liked ST V just fine. Yes, it had some weak moments, but on the whole quite enjoyable. I read Shatner's book, Star Trek Movie Memories and he discussed how their SFX budget was extremely small. He wanted to something much more spectacular for the Kirk vs God scene but the resources were not available.

I'm probably the only person in the quadrant who would say so, but in a lot of ways, the first film will always be my favorite. It had been 10 long years since the end of the original series. Seeing the Star Trek characters and their spacecraft on the BIG screen was exciting. The opening segment with the three Klingon ships knocked me right out. That and the movie-theater sound for photon torpedoes!

 

Trek V is okay, not great, but not bad. One of the best films as far as cast interaction goes, with some great moments of humor I still quote to this day("Beans and whiskey, an.....explosive combination!" )

If you read Shatner's Trek movie book, you learn that a lot of what he wanted to do was nixed by Paramount for financial reasons.

Evan