Fuji Boldly Goes and Reviews the Star Trek Films

[Fuji Vice]

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier


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When the newly-christened starship Enterprise's shakedown cruise goes poorly, Captain Kirk and crew put it into Spacedock for repairs. But an urgent mission interrupts their Earth-bound shore leave. A renegade Vulcan named Sybok has taken three consuls hostage on the planet Nimbus III, an event which also attracts the attention of a Klingon captain who wants to make a name for himself. When the Enterprise shows up at the planet, the crew learns Sybok’s hostage-taking was simply a ruse to allow him the opportunity to capture the ship and use it to travel to the center of the galaxy in search of “God”.

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If Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home had been both an ending and a new beginning for the film franchise, The Final Frontier can ultimately be seen as the film that tried its hardest to end things before they got started again. Thanks to a “favored nations” clause in his contract, series star William Shatner was allowed to direct this project due to Leonard Nimoy directing the previous two films. Unfortunately it would soon be seen that Shatner was way out of his element in the director’s chair and the end result of his work is a film that, while strong in concept, comes across as muddled and confusing. The fault cannot lie entirely with Shatner however; the studio heads at Paramount seemed bound and determined to tamper with the film while the author of the story had become disillusioned with the franchise. At the same time, Paramount decided that Industrial Light & Magic were too expensive to use for the special effects and so hired a less than desirable alternative, leading to horrid visuals that seemed more in tune with 1970’s Battlestar Galactica than 1980’s Star Trek. However, it’s not all bad in The Final Frontier, there’s some decent story-telling, a strong performance from the lead villain and a three-breasted cat lady. Yes, you heard that right, a THREE-BREASTED CAT LADY! Unfortunately the bad really does outweigh the good and one can only be thankful that The Final Frontier didn’t actually end up being just that for the Star Trek film franchise.

"That's one hell of a bathroom, but how about a little privacy?"
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Like the previous two films, writer/producer Harve Bennett tackled the story here, along with both William Shatner and David Loughery (Dreamscape, Passenger 57). After feeling mistreated by Nimoy on The Voyage Home, it was clear that Bennett’s heart wasn’t in this project and so his usual strong sense of characterization seems lost here. I mean, this movie features a scene where Kirk, Spock and McCoy sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” around a campfire for God’s sakes! If you’re a fan of Star Trek and don’t have a problem with that then I’m glad for you; I however thought it was horrendous. Loughery wrote the actual screenplay for the film, and outside of some major leaps in logic and the above-mentioned singing stuff, he doesn’t do a horrible job with the dialogue. Unfortunately the actors can’t deliver the lines properly because they were most likely being browbeaten by the psychotic Shatner at every turn. Clearly he was no Leonard Nimoy, but in all honesty I don’t even think Shatner was as good a choice as the Leonard that Bill Cosby once played would have been. The entire film just reeks of amateurish direction and poor pacing, and really Shatner is the only one to blame. I love the guy as Captain Kirk and pretty much every other role he’s ever played, but yeah, he really should have stuck to acting here because as a director he just plain sucks.

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“He should have taken his t-shirt’s advice.”
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Yes, as a director William Shatner is an ultra-fail, but one cannot deny that he’s excellent as Captain James T. Kirk. The experience of playing the character in over 70 television episodes and four movies certainly served him well, as he does turn in his usual strong performance here. In fact, I found myself enjoying his work in this movie more than some of the others, particularly both his constant frustrations at the less than operational Enterprise and his questioning of “God” towards the end. Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley also get the opportunity to shine in their respective roles of Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy, but I found there to be a lot of moments where they were almost trying too hard to portray characters we’re already familiar with. For instance, and I hate to go back to it but I have to, the silly campfire singing scene is just so corny that they become caricatures of the characters that they already were. This can probably also be attributed to Shatner’s directing, since I’m sure in the insane world known as his brain he felt that it would be “fun” to see them singing children’s songs while cooking hot dogs. Another thing that kind of sucks in this movie is the lack of focus on the tertiary characters, but I guess they all got their big moment in the last movie so it was back to the lower levels for them. Fuji Favourite David Warner shows up as a drunken ambassador, although his best work in Star Trek would come in the next film, while Laurence Luckinbill portrays the main villain, Sybok, with some serious bravado. In fact, Luckinbill’s performance is the main reason to watch this movie, well that and of course…THIS!!!

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“Baby, you make me wish I had three hands!”
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Star Trek V concerns itself with the search for the Supreme Being, or “God” if you will and therein lays the main problem with the film. Since nobody can accurately determine or answer the question of whether or not “God” exists, the film was always bound to both aggravate viewers and also provide an unsatisfying conclusion. Unfortunately, instead of sticking with this challenging yet bound to fail story, the writers instead decided to make “God” nothing more than an alien, which in turn made the movie feel more like an episode of the show than a movie. Outside of that, there’s also a sub-plot with a rogue Klingon trying to make a name for himself by destroying the Enterprise that seemingly goes nowhere before being resolved in a less than satisfying fashion. Finally, as I mentioned earlier, The Final Frontier is nearly ruined by terrible special effects. After ILM’s stellar work on the first four movies, this one looks like a five year old handled the majority of the work. Scratch that, I honestly think a five year old may have done a better job than the people that worked on this film. The worst part of these bad special effects is that they serve to take you out of the story and remind you that you are indeed watching a movie, which has a very negative effect on the whole experience. Now, with all of that bad, you’re probably asking yourself if I liked ANYTHING about this movie. To that I say, sure, particularly the stuff right after they escape from Nimbus III and prior to heading to find “God”. Ok, so that’s not a lot, but it’s something, and I think that’s a good start. I also liked the ship falling apart at the seams, but it only served to remind me that perhaps the ship was just a metaphor for the film itself. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier continued the “curse” of odd-numbered Star Trek films being less than exceptional and unless you’re the type of person who has to “watch ‘em all” I’d give this one a miss.

"Silence...or I poke you."
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Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was shot on a budget of $33 million (couldn’t have been for the effects so I have to assume Shatner paid himself a lot) and grossed about $66 million at the box office. Normally doubling your money would be seen as a victory, but after the major financial success of The Voyage Home, it was not. Add to that the absolutely horrendous reviews the film got and it’s not surprising Paramount was concerned about making another film. Luckily they’d right the ship (or the Enterprise so to speak), with their next project by turning to the man who had originally helped to make the films a success. We’ll be checking that puppy out tomorrow but today, today we’re going to give The Final Frontier the 4/10 it deserves. By the way, three of those four points are for the boobs; I’ll leave you to guess what the other one is for.

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“Tomorrow, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war.”
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[Fuji Vice]

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country


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After an explosion on their moon, the Klingons have an estimated 50 years before their ozone layer is completely depleted and they all die. They have only one choice - to make peace with the Federation, which will mean an end to 70 years of conflict. Captain James T. Kirk and crew are called upon to help in the negotiations because of their "experience" with the Klingon race. Peace talks don't quite go to plan, and eventually Kirk and McCoy are tried and convicted of assassination, and sent to Rura Penthe, a snowy hard-labor prison camp. However, the real assassins are still at large, and planning to disrupt the peace between the two factions once and for all. Can Kirk and McCoy escape in time to prevent an all-out war?

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Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country marks the final adventure featuring all the original cast members of the Star Trek television series. By 1991, it was apparent that most of them were on their last legs and age was finally taking a toll, so the plan was set into motion to send them off with one last hurrah. While some of the cast would appear in other Star Trek films to follow (most notably Shatner and Nimoy) this would be the last time we’d get to see all of them together on the Enterprise and in a way it’s perhaps the most fitting film for that to happen in. Not only do each get one final chance to remind us why we love them so much, the ultimate story in this film is one of both redemption and new beginnings. I also think the title of the film is quite appropriate. Within the film the characters are moving towards peace, what they deem the Undiscovered Country, while we as viewers are moving towards our own; a Star Trek film world devoid of these lovable personalities. While it’s possible that I’m just looking at the title a little too deeply, the fact remains that this is still a journey into uncharted territory for all involved and one that ultimately proves to be both successful and entertaining.

"Math, science, history, unraveling the mystery that all started with a big bang...BANG."
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After Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was unceremoniously derided by critics on all sides; Paramount knew they needed to do something drastic to ensure this film didn’t meet the same fate. To that end they first slashed the production budget and then went out and did something really smart, namely hiring Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan writer/director Nicholas Meyer. While he had been somewhat leery of the franchise after his experience on that film, Meyer nevertheless jumped at the chance to return and as fans we should be lucky that he did. His screenplay, written in collaboration with Denny Martin Flinn (a mystery novel writer) is definitely among the better churned out for a Star Trek film. It gives the main characters ample opportunity to express themselves and also has a really nice little mystery story to boot. While the outcome of the film is never in doubt, the journey there is full of enough twists and turns to keep everyone happy and provide us with a lot of great final moments for the principle cast. Having already helmed perhaps the best Star Trek film of them all, Meyer didn’t appear to have missed a beat, as the pacing and style of this film is very similar to his last one. Sure it’s not as good as The Wrath of Khan, but it certainly holds its own against weaker entries in the series such as The Search for Spock and The Final Frontier. Not only that, it just generally comes across as a great popcorn movie, something Meyer should be proud of accomplishing twice within the confines of the Star Trek universe.

"I told you I deserved better than that walk-on role in T. J. Hooker."
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As this is their last kick at the proverbial can (for most of them anyway), the principle cast here are all on fire and do their best to leave us with one final positive impression. For the most part they do a great job, with only James Doohan’s Montgomery Scott not really factoring heavily into the film. William Shatner and DeForest Kelley in particular do some excellent work here, especially when they’re imprisoned on the mining planet. Shatner also gets the opportunity to act with himself as he faces off against a shape-shifter (played by Iman) who takes his form in order to confuse McCoy. I don’t want to spoil it but there’s a great line in this scene about Kirk’s lifelong ambition that is hilarious due to the air of truth within it. This film also features some strong performances from the supporting cast, including good old David Warner (love him) as an ill-fated Klingon Chancellor, Kim Cattrall as a Vulcan pupil of Spock’s and even Christian Slater (love him too) in a small role. However, this movie is owned by one person and one person only, that being the great Christopher Plummer as General Chang. From his introduction, we can tell this guy is going to be one hell of a bad ass and by the time we hear him quoting Shakespeare in the final battle we just sit back and bask in his awesomeness. Seriously, Chang alone is worth watching this movie for and you can tell Plummer just absolutely loved playing the part.

"Everything's greater with a little Christian Slater."
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First and foremost, what failed so miserably about The Final Frontier (unfathomable story, weak special effects) is purposely emphasized here and to great success. Thankfully the team at Industrial Light & Magic was called back in and after they’d finished laughing at what the other dudes came up with for the last film they turned out some really awesome stuff. A couple of those are a fantastic zero gravity assassination sequence complete with slow-motion floating purple Klingon blood and a Klingon Bird of Prey that can fire while cloaked. Like the effects, the story here is designed to keep moving the story forward at as brisk a pace as possible, though they still get the requisite amount of social commentary required of a Star Trek film in as well. Actually, the social commentary here is quite good, concerning the eventual necessity for peace among all people and the inability for the old generation to let go of their hatred. As a metaphor for veterans of World War II, it’s pretty overt, but that doesn’t stop its message from coming through loud and clear. We can either move forward or forever live in the past, an idea that makes even more sense here given we’re meant to “let go” of the old cast and begin to consider embracing the next generation. Above all else though, as I’ve said earlier, this film is just plain old fashioned entertainment, a ton of fun and, if you can’t get a little bit emotional when the cast members signatures are appearing on the screen at the end, I feel sorry for you. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country doesn’t exactly mine new material, but it serves as a near-perfect send off for the original crew and as a sign of things to come in the series.

"TOO....MUCH......RED!!!!"
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Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country made nearly $97 million on a budget of $27 million, making it much more profitable than its predecessor. As with Meyer’s previous effort in the series, The Wrath of Khan, the critical response for this film was also much better than the last one and proved that the franchise definitely still had some legs. However, the original cast was gone and now the task fell to the next team of filmmakers and actors to maintain the legacy established by them. While Star Trek: The Next Generation had already become a popular show on television, the idea of them starring in a film was at least a little bit of a concern for Paramount. How would they fare? You’ll have to wait until tomorrow to find out but for now I’ll let you know that I think Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is deserving of a solid 8/10 and say “goodbye Kirk, hello Picard”.

"Tomorrow, we kick off the next generation with a bang."
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[Wang Chung]

Tossing out two film reviews at once what a man. Now for final frontier it was the one I was thinking of with poor story and crap.

Undiscovered was decent and set up how the Klingon was with Picard.

Good job

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Fuji Vice]

Thanks man, it was over two days though. Anyhow, your comments are appreciated. It's hard to believe we're the only one's who have seen these movies but eh, what can you do? Anyhow, maybe more people will start chatting when we get into TNG stuff. Speaking of that.....

Star Trek: Generations


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In the late 23rd century, the maiden voyage of the third Starship Enterprise turns to disaster as the unprepared ship is forced to rescue two transport ships from a mysterious energy ribbon. The Enterprise manages to save a handful of the ships passengers and barely makes it out intact. However, the cost is great, as legendary Starfleet Admiral James T. Kirk is killed during the rescue. Seventy-eight years later, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the fifth Enterprise find themselves at odds with renegade scientist Tolian Soran, a man who is trying to destroy a star in order to re-enter this energy ribbon, now known as the Nexus. Marooned alone and outgunned against Soran, Picard realizes that only one man can help him; and he's been dead for seventy-eight years.

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While the original cast was traipsing across the galaxy in the first six Star Trek films, another group of individuals were doing the same thing on television. Set in the next century after the previous series, Star Trek: The Next Generation had become a wildly popular hit on syndicated television. However, after seven seasons, the producers felt the time was right to end that show and move the cast on to the next chapter of their careers; feature films. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country had met with great success, but the creators were not deterred from their plan to introduce this new cast to the film franchise, and so Star Trek: Generations ultimately became the next chapter in the ongoing series. This film hailed a brand new era in the Trek franchise and also came at the height of its popularity the world over. Aside from the movie series, there were two other Star Trek shows on television as well, and it seemed that Paramount could do no wrong with Gene Rodenberry’s “wagon train to the stars.” However, the good folks at Paramount were not without their concerns over whether film audiences would take to the new cast and so the idea of bridging the gap between the crews by using the two faces of their respective franchises was born. While the film did have its flaws, the end result served its purpose well and by the time it was over, a cast for the next generation had finally arrived.

"Wow, Starfleet has changed a lot in one century!"
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In order to get the ball rolling with the new cast, the producers turned to director David Carson, who had previously done several of the most beloved Next Generation episodes including “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and “The Next Phase”. While his experience in the director’s chair came solely from the medium of television, Carson nevertheless proved to be an excellent choice and adapted quite easily to the film format. There are definitely moments where it appeared he was attempting to shoot a long-form episode of the television show, but these were few and far between and his pacing is strong throughout. Meanwhile, series producer Rick Berman, along with co-writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, took the reins on the screenplay. They too seemed to be stuck in a television trap at times, spending a lot of time on characterization and less on action, but in the end found a happy medium. Their decision to focus on the new characters, their attitudes and, most importantly, their emotions, would end up being a fantastic way to introduce this new crew to film audiences around the world. By the end of the film, we can easily identify with each of the new characters and find ourselves looking forward to their next adventure while finally bidding adieu to the last remnants of the old series.

"If these chicks are 4's does doing them at the same time count as an 8?"
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Captain Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart, had become a fan favourite and so the obvious choice was to cast him as the anchor of the story. Stewart proved to be more than up to the task and quickly asserted himself in the film, giving a fine performance and working quite well with all the other cast members. This wasn’t so difficult when interacting with the others he’d shared the television series with over the last seven years, but his work with the new characters created for this film was impeccable as well. Chiefly among these new characters was Tolian Soran, played by the great Malcolm McDowell. As one of those classic villains who believe their every action is justified, McDowell’s Soran captures your attention immediately and doesn’t let go throughout the film, becoming one of the great Trek bad guys to grace the silver screen. The rest of the Enterprise crew is their usual strong selves, as each had spent a great deal of time with their roles, but the work of Brent Spiner as Commander Data deserves special mention. After playing an android devoid of emotion throughout the course of the series, the decision was made to give Spiner some more range and so an emotion chip (introduced in the show itself) was implanted, giving him the ability to feel. Of course it malfunctions almost immediately and Data is forced to deal with the myriad of new emotions that wash over him. Spiner is superb in relaying these feelings to the audience and becomes a major star of the picture, certainly the one most worth watching when Stewart and McDowell are off the screen.

"The dangers of legalized Marijuana in the 24th Century."
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While these new characters were being put on display for the first time (on film), William Shatner’s James T. Kirk was preparing for his final appearance in the series. The decision had been made early on that his character would be killed off, but not before passing the torch to Stewart’s Picard, cementing the new cast as the principle players in the franchise. For the most part this element to the story works well and allows us a chance to have a bit of a nerd wet dream in seeing the two Enterprise Captain’s together on screen if only for a few moments. Meanwhile, the rest of the film centers on Soran’s wild attempts to destroy stars, a pair of evil Klingon sisters (again, from the show) looking for revenge and Data’s emotional journey. All of these stories are told cohesively and we also get some kick ass special effects to boot, including a brilliant crash sequence for the Enterprise itself. Another real highlight is the music, scored by Dennis McCarthy, which is quite simply the best score for a Star Trek film to this point in the series. It perfectly enhances every scene and my hat goes off to McCarthy, who just did a tremendous job capturing everything that makes Star Trek great in musical form. Finally, although it couldn’t be considered a slam dunk from a film standpoint, Generations certainly works on a lot of levels and served to easily transition from the old cast to the new. There’s not much more Paramount could have hoped for and so Generations has to be considered a success for that reason alone.

"LOOK OUT BELOW!!!!"
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Star Trek: Generations was shot on a budget of $35 million and grossed over $118 million at the box office, making it one of the most profitable Star Trek films to date. It also met with solid if unspectacular reviews and guaranteed that this new cast would have at least one more shot to make their “Wrath of Khan”. Amazingly, they wouldn’t have to wait very long as the next film in the series would ultimately prove to be one of its very best. Unfortunately you’ll have to wait until Monday to see how I feel about that one, but for now I’m giving Star Trek: Generations a well-deserved 7/10 and heading out to dust off my broken Enterprise. After all, I’ll need to get back on the bridge come Monday, when we experience first contact.

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“Coming up on Monday…the Borg.”
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[Wang Chung]

I thought this film served the purpose aslo of bridging that gap between the two. As much as I knew Shatner was going to be I it it drovee nuts as I felt it was time for this group to sail the stars on its own. I know he served a purpose and died but felt he really wasn't needed I don't even remember him in the television series either when it started so why should they need him here but oh well. I enjoyed this film and felt it went in the right direction and set themselves up for the next one too. Good review.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Fuji Vice]

When the movie came out I was pissed for two reasons. One, I didn't think Shatner was needed in such a big role (luckily he really wasn't in the movie for that long) and two I didn't like the fact that he died. Admittedly I was a big Captain Kirk fan growing up and didn't really want to see him go. However, over time I've come to realize that it was important to happen just for the reason of that symbolic passing of the torch. Not only that, its pretty common in the Star Trek franchise to do that passing of the torch thing. Just look at the track record...

ST: TNG - First episode featured Dr. McCoy "sending off" the ship.
ST: Generations - Kirk dies while helping the new Captain.
ST: DS9 - Picard and company leave the space station after welcoming Sisko
ST: Voyager - Voyager leaves DS9 before being sent to the Delta Quadrant
Star Trek (2009) - Spock's appearance passes the torch to the new Spock

I guess Star Trek is just really into that sort of thing. :

 

[Postman Dave]

I assume you're gonna do the modern Star Treks too? Watched both over the last two nights, so obviously wanna know what you think.

 

[JakeYourBooty]

I assume you're gonna do the modern Star Treks too? Watched both over the last two nights, so obviously wanna know what you think.

I just rewatched them both last night. They are so tucking good.

 

[Fuji Vice]

I assume you're gonna do the modern Star Treks too? Watched both over the last two nights, so obviously wanna know what you think.

Yeah, I'll be doing those two as well. I'll probably start the reviews up again next week.