26 Years Later: Star Trek V Beams Into Theaters
It was June 9, 1989, or 26 years ago today, that
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
debuted on screens across the country. Directed by William Shatner, the
movie remains as polarizing as ever -- even all these years later. In
it, Sybok, an emotional Vulcan, and his followers take hostages on
Nimbus III, the so-called Planet of Galactic Peace. Sybok aims to locate
God, and his strategy is basic: snatch hostages on Nimbus III, reel in a
starship and commandeer it to fulfill his destiny. That ship is the
Enteprise, of course, and Kirk and especially Spock -- Sybok's
half-brother -- harbor other ideas about Sybok's quest to breach the
Great Barrier.
The Final Frontier is widely regarded as the least successful
TOS
feature. Despite a genuinely daring and thought-provoking premise --
searching for God -- the general perception was, is and will likely
forever be that the film just doesn't work. Too much around the central
premise doesn't play as intended. Nothing operational on the Enterprise?
Scotty bumping into things? "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" sung around a
campfire? Cringe-worthy lines like "On the contrary, gravity is the
foremost thing on my mind" or "Please, captain, not in front of the
Klingons," didn't help, nor did lackluster visual effects.
Here are some questions to ponder, lines to remember and factoids to absorb...
-- First, was the search for God too big an idea for even
Star Trek to tackle?

What did YOU think of the infamous campfire scene?

Everyone on the planet knows this, but just in case: first choice to
play Sybok was... Sean Connery. The reference to Sha Ka Ree is a tip of
the cap to the actor.

Laurence Luckinbill, who did play Sybok, was the son-in-law of Lucille
Ball. It was Ball and her company, Desilu, that first green-lit
The Original Series. Speaking to
StarTrek.com
in 2012, Luckinbill said that he and Ball never discussed Trek as a
common denominator betwen them (beyond, of course, Lucie Arnaz, Ball's
daughter and Luckinbill's wife). "She said… zero," he told us. "She did
not talk about the past. She did not discuss her business, when she was
the head of the studio. This was not necessarily just with me. She was
done with that, so she didn’t want to talk about that stuff. It was not
refusal; it was just not interested."
Star Trek V,
in our estimation, was almost redeemed by two memorable Kirk lines,
"Excuse me. Excuse me... but what does God need with a starship?" and
"Who am I? Don't you know? Aren't you... God?

Runner up: McCoy referring to Spock: "God, I liked him better before he died."

Another good one, from Sybok: "I don't control minds. I free them."
The Final Frontier and
Star Trek: The Next Generation filmed next door to each another on the Paramount Pictures lot at one point during production.

George Murdock, who co-starred as God, went on to play Admiral Hanson in the
TNG two-parter, "
The Best of Both Worlds." The actor died in 2012 at the age of 81.
Charles Cooper, who played Klingon General Korrd, later appeared on
TNG as Klingon Chancellor K'mpec in "
Sins of the Father" and "
Reunion." He passed away at the age of 87 in 2013.
The Final Frontier grossed a strong $17 million its opening weekend, but tallied only $52 million during its entire theatrical run.