By now it’s well known that when it comes to the Star Trek Original Movies, the even numbered ones (2, 4, and 6) are the best. Some shun the odd numbered ones entirely. Others embrace 1 or 3. I happen to find them good personally. Good if not best. But there is one, almost universal opinion, and that is Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is the worst Star Trek film ever made.
In many ways it’s sad, really, because this film should have been one of the best. James T. Kirk has been languishing in his role as Starfleet Admiral, wishing against everything that he could be back in command as a Captain. He manages to steal his chair back in Star Trek 1-3 and ends up commanding a commandeered Bird of Prey in 4. Now he is finally Captain Kirk again and in command of a shiny new USS Enterprise 1701-A. New adventures await us!
However what we got is a terrible film where the new Enterprise is somehow a floating wreck of a ship, a teenage Klingon is a legitimate threat, and a quest to find “god” ends with Kirk running all over a cheap set trying to escape a giant blue Santa Claus. It’s terrible. It would not have even made a decent episode.
The Camping Scene
Arguably the best part of the film, this scene stays. Part of the reason this scene is important is to show that at his heart, Kirk is an explorer who cannot resist the urge to explore “because it is there.” This sets up this film which is about an exploration that goes too far. We also get the setup for the “other people have families” that we will play up later.
The Enterprise Isn’t Broken
This one upset me even as a kid. Why is the Enterprise A already broken? From the monologue Scotty gives us when we first see the ship, this is her first outing and she barely works. Some have said this is because the Enterprise A was originally the USS Yorktown that gets damaged by the Probe in Voyage Home. The only problem with that is the crew takes the Enterprise A out for a spin at the very end of Voyage and it’s working perfectly. Clearly the only reason for the “broken Enterprise” is to serve as a plot device and for some cheap laughs.
Well we didn’t come to see a broken Enterprise. We want to see her in all her glory. So she starts out ship-shape. That creates two minor problems we can deal with handily. The first is the shuttlecraft rescue, the second is the broken transporter at the mystery planet. We will address these below.
The Klingon Commander
The Klingon Commander isn’t some young buck eager to prove himself. Having such an inexperienced Klingon be a threat to Kirk and the Enterprise is insulting. Instead, the Klingon Commander of my movie is an older one and an old foe of Kirk’s. If we can swing it, he’d be one of the Klingon commanders from the Original Series. Like Kirk, he’s in the twilight of his career and wants one last chance for glory. At first, he bristles at being sent to Nimbus III, but when he hears the Enterprise is on its way, he relishes the chance to defeat Kirk.
The Attack on Paradise City
As we mentioned in “The Enterprise Isn’t Broken,” one of the plot holes we create with a working Enterprise is the Shuttle Rescue. Our Enterprise isn’t broken so the transporter is just fine. We can easily fix this with a beaming shield. Sybok erects a beaming shield around Paradise City, so Kirk and his team must beam down about a mile outside the city. They then must use horses to ride in and get past the guards just like in the original. I would change the battle to make it a bit more interesting though.
The First Klingon Battle
When Sybok takes Kirk and team hostage and demands to beam up, the Klingons are almost within range. Chekov realizes he must lower shields to beam them up and does so, hoping they can escape in time. The group is beamed aboard, but the Klingons arrive and torpedo the Enterprise, shields down. This blow is devastating to the ship and turns the ship into the “broken Enterprise” we will need for the end of the film. Chekov is able to shoot back and buy the Enterprise enough time to warp away.
Sybok and Shaka’ri
Perhaps the biggest change to the movie is to Sybok’s motivation and the film’s eventual real villain, Shaka’ri. So throw out everything you knew about Sybok and Shaka’ri and let me redefine this for our fixed version.
Shaka’ri is both the name of the mystery planet, the entity that resides there, and an ancient Vulcan cult. The cult existed a long time ago before the time of Surak, when the Vulcans were passionate and “savage.” A group of Vulcans began to expand their telepathic and empathic abilities and eventually proclaimed that a god, Shaka’ri, had revealed himself to them. Shaka’ri taught these Vulcans how to purge themselves of negative emotions (the “pain”) and keep the positive ones. These Vulcans seemed always happy and content and invited others to join them. Many other Vulcans, however, viewed it as brainwashing and control and eventually killed the cutlists.
Enter Sybock, who is the half-brother of Spock and the daughter of a Vulcan princess, as before. Sybock became obsessed with the myth of Shaka’ri and even began practicing using his abilities to release his “pain” and embrace his positive emotions. He became an outcast on Vulcan for embracing his emotions. One day he declared that Shaka’ri was real, and that he had revealed himself to Sybok. He then leaves Vulcan. He was gone for decades.
In the film Sybok returns and goes to Nimbus III to recruit a following and capture a starship that can take him to the planet Shaka’ri where this “god” dwells. He recruits followers by releasing them of their deepest “pain.” Effectually this acts like a drug turning those he “releases” into unnervingly happy people who are content to do whatever Sybok says and likewise become obsessed with finding Shaka’ri. In this way it’s similar to the film but is intended to be much creepier and darker.
The reason Sybok needs a powerful starship is because Shaka’ri has revealed to him that his planet is hidden inside a dangerous nebula within the Neutral Zone. Only a starship with strong enough shields and engines can make the journey to find him. Shara’ri has promised Sybok true enlightenment, peace, and infinite knowledge. Sybok and all his followers believe this to be true. Note: It goes without saying, but this is not the center of the galaxy. I will say no more of this.
Sybok and the Crew
Once aboard, Sybok brainwashes most of the crew as before, turning them into creepy, happy versions of themselves. Once each person is relieved of his or her “pain,” they instantly become obsessed with finding Shaka’ri as well. Kirk refuses to play along and he, Spock, and McCoy are thrown into the brig.
Imprisonment and Escape
This was always one of my favorite parts. The imprisonment of the trio in the Brig and their escape thanks to Scotty would remain mostly unchanged. The exposition in the Brig is also vital to understanding Sybok. While the trio escape, the Enterprise enters the Nebula.
Kirk Still Needs His Pain
Another one of the better parts of the film. This stays again mostly as-is. Spock and McCoy go through the experience and once done they too want to go into the nebula to find Shaka’ri. However, they have cooler heads about it, and explain to Kirk that while they cannot explain it, they know vast power and knowledge are on the planet surface.
Kirk the Explorer
Having gone through the trouble of entering the Nebula, Kirk decides to go down to the surface. As we established in the camping scene, Kirk is an explorer at heart and by this point he cannot resist seeing what has drawn so many people to this unknown planet.
Shaka’ri Revealed
As in the original, this will mostly be unchanged. Sybok and the landing party meet the Entity who turns out to be a total jerk. It turns out Shaka’ri was a powerful and dangerous criminal of an unknown but powerful race eons ago. He was imprisoned on this planet – the nebula being the bars of the prison – and left to fade away. He slept for many millennia until a group of Vulcans unwittingly contacted him with their latent telepathic abilities. Shaka’ri taught them a technique that suppressed negative emotions and amplified positive ones. This worked like a drug on them and Shaka’ri used it to weaken their wills and draw them to himself so that he could escape. He did the same to Sybok. Again, Sybok sacrifices his own life to weaken Shaka’ri and give Kirk and team time to escape. Kirk, as before, orders a torpedo fired on Shaka’ri. This gives them time to beam back to the Enterprise. As before only two can go – so Kirk orders McCoy and Spock beamed back. Kirk makes a run for it as the entity struggles to regain it’s footing.
The Second Klingon Battle
As soon as they beam up, the Klingons, who followed the Enterprise, launch a surprise attack. The two vessels trade phasers and photon torpedoes so we get a decent battle, but the Enterprise, already wounded at Nimbus III, loses out. The Klingons demand surrender. As before Spock convinces Korrd to talk the Klingon captain down so that they can rescue Kirk.
Korrd’s Speech
In this version we actually get to hear the old Klingon get up and give his speech to the other captain. Remember, this isn’t a young captain either. They are both old Klingons, but Korrd is older and outranks him. (Kind of like Christopher Pike and Kirk) It’s a great speech. I don’t know what it would be – I’m not a writer. But it would be fantastic.
Kirk Rescued and Ending
So Kirk is beamed back. There is no happy party with the klingons. It breaks the tension for Star Trek 6. Instead the klingon ship disengages and heads back to the Empire. The Enterprise – now on auxiliary power, leaves the nebula and the entity behind. A warning will be posted barring further exploration of this planet. Kirk is on the observation deck at the end, watching the nebula slowly shrink away. Spock and McCoy join him and we get the, “other people have families” speech and where Kirk acknowledges that the Enterprise and her crew are his family.
And that’s how I’d fix Star Trek V without changing too much. Really I think a much better movie could be made from scratch – but that’s way too much work for me and not the purpose of this exercise. What do you think? Is this better or worse? Maybe you liked it just the way it was? Leave a comment!
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