Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40377 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-12-22
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 102 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Almost universally derided on its first release as the worst of the Star Trek movies to date, The Final Frontier might just have been the victim of bad press. Following in the wake of the massively successful fourth instalment The Voyage Home didn't help matters (notoriously, even-numbered entries are better), nor did having novice director and shameless egomaniac William Shatner at the helm. But if the story, conceived and cowritten by Shatner, teeters dangerously on the verge of being corny, it redeems itself with enough thought-provoking scenes in the best tradition of the series, and a surprisingly original finale. Granted there are a few too many yawning plot holes along the way, and the general tone is over-earnest (despite some painfully slapstick comedy moments), but the interaction of the central trio (Kirk, Spock and McCoy) is often funny and genuinely insightful; while Laurence Luckinbill is a charismatic adversary as the renegade Vulcan Sybok. The rest of the cast scarcely get a look in, and the special effects betray serious budgetary restrictions, but with a standout score from Jerry Goldsmith and a meaty philosophical premise to play around with, Star Trek V looks a lot more substantial in retrospect. Certainly it's no worse than either Generations or Insurrection, the next "odd-numbered" entries in the series. --Mark Walker

Special Features

• Audio commentary by William Shatner and Liz Shatner
  
• Trivia track
  
• The Journey featurette (29 mins)
  
• 4 deleted scenes
  
• Herman Zimmerman: A Tribute
  
• Vintage interview with William Shatner
  
• That Klingon Couple
  
• A Green Future? Harve Bennett's pitch
  
• Make-up tests
  
• Pre-visualisation models
  
• Rockman In The Raw
  
• Production stills
  
• Storyboards
  
• Trailers

DVD Technical Information:

• Running Time: 102 minutes
  
• Region Code: 2
  
• Widescreen

Synopsis
Stardate 8454.1: In the windswept desert of Nimbus III, the Planet of Galactic Peace, a lone settler witnesses a man materialising out of the dusty horizon, offering to share and bear the settler's pain. With a laugh, the two join forces and plan to steal a starship. Cutting to the rock and scrub of another desert, the jeans-clad Captain Kirk is climbing bare-handed in Yosemite. After a near-accident followed by a night of beans and whisky and campfire songs, Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), and McCoy (DeForest Kelley) are called back from shore leave to the new Enterprise for an emergency mission. Counting on Scotty (James Doohan) to bring the new ship up to speed, they travel to Paradise City on Nimbus III, where delegates from the Romulan, Klingon, and Human races have been kidnapped. The crew soon find themselves joining kidnapper Sybok (Laurence Luckenbill), the Vulcan renegade half-brother of Spock who is desperate to discover the secret that lies beyond the Great Barrier at the center of the galaxy. A thought-provoking directorial debut from William Shatner; the journey becomes a metaphysical quest for the meaning of life, as the crew of the Starship Enterprise comes face-to-face with "God."

Customer Reviews

It Feels A Little Odd For A Star Trek Film.
The Final Frontier has a reputation of being one of those "love it or hate it" type of films and yet I have always had a bit of a blind spot about it, I find it hard trying to decide whether I like the film or not. On the surface the film' s storyline does not really resonate with the rest of the Star Trek franchise, this film is basically about Spock's brother, Sybok seeking God and therefore by definition a religion and then having his faith dashed as the "God" he finds is actually an evil alien entity masquerading as God. Once this is discovered the entity is then used as a representation of the personal Devil that exists within the character of Sybok, showing him all his misguided and harmful efforts to find his God and thus making him come to terms with some of his more extreme actions in the completion of his quest, and then having him make ammends for those actions by giving up his life in a struggle with the God entity.

All very interesting but not really Star Trek...And yet the group dynamic between the three leads is as good as anything on Star Trek. William Shatner's direction is visually stunning, the soundtrack is second to none and the script is generally good.

It isn't so much that this is a bad film, it isn't. It is the fact that it simply does not feel like a standard Star Trek story, but variety is the spice of life and it is on that note that the film could almost be judged a partial success. If you want a Star Trek film that can be watched by a non fan with no prior knowledge of past events then this could be the film for you, but the harsh truth is that in the terms of the "Star Trek" concept, The Final Frontier is the weakest film in the six made by the original cast. It is however vastly superior to three of the four Star Trek The Next Generation films that followed it and they do stick to the format of what is accepted as standard Star Trek. How strange is that?

A Flawed but Entertaining Adventure Film
This Star Trek film has been unfairly criticised over the years. The build up for the first hour or so is economically done and each of the main characters has their moment to shine. Shatner directs solidly and, in fact, there are many visual images which work well. The film falters slightly in its second half with a bit too much humour and a rather rushed ending. The Enterprise's arrival at Eden is just a bit too easy for a place which no other starship has reached and the final confrontation needed a bit more tension. However, Shatner was fully aware of this - he was badly let down by the SFX company doing the effects and the film studio's lack of support. Nonetheless, don't less these minor weaknesses put you off the film. It has all the warmth, sense of wonder and charm of the original TV series as well a great score. (Yes, the same music that TNG stole from ST:TMP!) And, if we're being completely honest, which Star Trek series or film doesn't have its flaws?

Shat-tastic!
If you subscribe to the theory that all the odd-numbered Trek films are rubbish - then you're wrong. The Motion Picture is visually dazzling as well as fulfilling, The Search for Spock is just a bridge between 2 & 4 but a very stylish and entertaining one at that and then there's Star Trek 5.

I saw this in the cinema when I was 8 years old and thought at the time it was the best film I'd ever seen. My opinion has lessened sligtly, but there is still an enormous amount to recommend and it pains me to see this constantly voted the weakest Trek film (when every Next Generation movie after Generations was absolutely abysmal).

For a first-time director Shatner utilises some awesome cinematography, there are superb displays from Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley, Lawrence Luckinbill gives a layered performance as Spock's half-brother-turned-religious-manic, and some deep philosophical issues are at least raised, if not entirely satisfactorily explored.

Most people reading this will be Trek fans anyway, but if you are say looking to build up a Trek movie collection and thinking of giving this one a miss due to some of the other (unfairly) negative reviews, my advice would be to get it and make up your own mind. Not perhaps AS essential as Treks 2 and 4, but still an unheralded classic.

If you want lots of explosions, ghastly OTT CGI, some excremental dialogue and no cerebral engagement you will want First Contact or Nemesis instead.

As far as the odd/even argument goes, I feel the rule should be re-written as 1-7 good, 8-10 bad. Not that I hated the Next Generation crew on telly, quite the reverse, but with the exception of Patrick Stewart, none of the cast were capable of making the transition to the big screen, and Frakes was a shockingly poor director. Remember that next time you slate Ol' Bill for his Final Frontier.