User blog:ARTaylor/30 Years of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. The fifth film in the famous franchise follows the crew of the newly christened USS Enterprise-A as they must fight off a cult leader who wishes to enter a dangerous region of the galaxy to find God.

The film's themes were based on the rise of televangelism in the United States. It was the third film to be directed by a cast member, with the previous two being the same actor/director. The film went through numerous rewrites, which was cut short due to a Writers Guild strike. In addition, Industrial Light & Magic, who had handled all the previous films, was busy with other works forcing the production to use another visual effects company who provided inferior effects.

At the time, the film had the biggest box office opening in the franchise and was projected to be one of the biggest movies of the year. However, the film was panned by critics and fans alike. It ended up falling far below expectations and was one of the biggest disappointments of the year. Critics despised the poor effects, badly made story, and lousy characterizations. Many of the cast and crew expressed their disappointment. The poor reception nearly killed off any hope for future films, though the next one was highly regarded. This furthered the idea that all the odd numbered films were of poor quality while the even ones were exceptional. Very few elements of the film were ever referenced in the franchise again.

The film features the talents of George Takei as helmsman Hikaru Sulu, Nichelle Nichols as communications officer Uhura, and David Warner as the first of his three Star Trek roles as ambassador St. John Talbot.