This is a good movie! I don't know why people hate on it so much. "What does God need with a starship?" is probably the greatest, most quotable line in all of Star Trek history! I'll grant you, it's not the best Star Trek movie, it's not even in the top three, but it's not in the bottom three either! The hate is unwarranted.
I've never hated this movie, and there are worse Star Trek movies, like Generations (which I still enjoy) and Nemesis (which I kind of enjoy too but initially DID NOT like)
Me too, it has some of my favorite comedy of the franchise and really focuses on the brotherhood of kirk, spock and mccoy even though they use the idea of Spock s brother to do it
The Starfleet commander on screen was Harve Bennett, producer of _Star Trek II-V,_ as well as _The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman,_ and many other titles. The captain's yeoman with the broken note pad was played by one of Shatner's daughters. Two of them previously appeared in the episode "Miri."
Yup, that was Melanie; Shatner's youngest daughter, who recently turned 60. They also appeared together in a 1988 car commercial for Oldsmobile (it's on TH-cam).
I've been quietly, mostly, watching and liking your Star Trek reactions for a while now. I'm not going to stop when you switch to another crew and century. As far as I'm concerned, you've got ST 6, ST Generations, STTNG, STTNG motion pictures, ST DS 9, ST Voyager, ST Enterprise to go. I'm down for all of that, and here for all of that. But yeah, Star Trek TOS, and the TOS motion pictures are kind of special; and I've been watching Star Trek since the 1960s. I like Star Trek 5; and I love your reactions. Bit thumbs up👍
Nichelle Nichols did the singing and dancing herself, and was quite upset when they overdubbed her voice in the final cut because she had been promised that she would be allowed to sing in this movie. The voice we hear belongs to Machun, vocalist for the band Hiroshima, and the song is “The Moon’s a Window to Heaven,” also by Hiroshima.
I love this movie for how it gets the big three characters right. It's a bit loose with details, and we've been spoiled by a lot of great movies leading up to this, but it's a precious couple of hours with Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley. I'm with you, Court. This isn't a bad movie.
One of the theories about why the Enterprise-A is falling apart in this film (including Gene Roddenberry himself who suggested the theory) was that the Enterprise-A wasn't a brand new ship but rather an existing one renamed in honor of the Enterprise crew saving the Earth yet again in Star Trek IV. The theory goes that the USS Yorktown mentioned in the previous movie (the ship that lost power and was attempting to make a solar sail to make it home) was repaired and renamed the Enterprise once it made it back to Spacedock. Since Yorktown was known as one of the Constitution-class ships, it makes sense that she'd look mostly the same as the original movie-era Enterprise. The troubles the Ent-A are going through in Star Trek V may very well be lingering effects of the damage the Yorktown took from the Whale Probe and the hasty repair job the non-Scotty engineering team did to get her space worthy enough to get Kirk out of Starfleet's hair again. They only just patched the ship up just enough to get it going and Scotty's engineering team had to finish the job themselves in this movie. While there are a couple of other theories about where the Enterprise-A actually came from, this is the most widely accepted and plausible one.
I like that theory. When I saw IV in theaters, I was like “no way they could’ve but another ship that fast! The “no bloody A,B, C, or D” Enterprise had just been destroyed days, or maybe weeks before.
Regarding your confusion when Sarek said that Spock was so human, I can relate to my own childhood experiences. My mother was a black jamaican woman and my father was a white English man. When there were times when my mother would be upset with me for one reason or another, she would bring up the fact that my faults were because I was half white and then tell me that I wasn't as good as my half brother who was a full Jamaican, so in this regard, me and Spock and something in common.
I made this comment earlier which agrees with what you said: "I have something to say about the craziness of prejudice that may make your problem with the "so human" comment more clear, Court. I have known of cases where people married interracially, and then be...disappointed that their child looks too (insert the race their mate is). Sarek's reaction makes sense to me knowing this (I don't mean it makes sense in that I agree with it, I mean I understand the reaction and don't think it is unrealistic)"
It is a difficult thing to accept that one's parents can make mistakes, that they were sometimes quite utterly wrong about things which, during our childhood, we took for granted because there was no contrary opinion.
Scotty's descent into buffoonery continues. 'Nuff said. This was Shatner's take on televangelists. His sense of humor is peppered throughout (the pool table with actual water on it). The best line in it is Kirk saying, "I don't want my pain taken away. I NEED my pain." I like to believe he was remembering the time that the transporter split him and put all of the things that drive him into his hedonistic side, while his kind side suffered from weakness and indecision. No way would he want to go through that again, and I don't blame him. There are a lot of bizarre _non-sequiters,_ like the amount of decks the ship has, why Starfleet would give this particular crew such a disaster area for a ship and send them out on actual duty (by the way, that is Harve Bennet giving Kirk his orders, the guy who replaced Gene Roddenberry as producer after the first film), the Great Barrier went from being outside of the Galaxy to surrounding the center (where the animated series said Megas-Tu was). Even the idea that the ship could go there and back in just a matter of hours. It would take years even at constant warp. This is why I prefer the fan interpretation that this was all just a shared dream that the Big 3 had while sleeping off McCoy's "secret ingredient." We know Spock is a touch telepath, and they were all in contact via the ground they were lying on. Plenty of episodes showed that his abilities can go through stone. So he was the dream hub, and the others' imaginations supplied the rest. The only "real" thing that happened was the campout at Yosemite. Mark Lenard did supply Sarek's voice for that one line. On the positive side, it does have a few nice character moments for everyone. This film remains the only one not to get a director's cut release.
7:14 there was a cut scene of McCoy programming the computer to change “marshmallow” to “marshmellon”, knowing Spock would look up how to camp out. It was a prank!
Hey Court, I've enjoyed this STAR TREK journey with you . I was there since season one episode one. As for STAR TREK 5, I see it on the level of a good third season episode. But its message came through for me. Your work is appreciated very much. God bless your heart! And that's no pun.😊
Thinking the earth is flat is relatively new (Victorian idiocy). The ancients (and all sailors) not only knew the earth was round but the Ancient Greeks measured it with a high degree of accuracy. Nobody thought they were going to fall off the edge.
If you can get them to admit that they live in a three-dimensional reality, then they've basically admitted to themselves that the Earth is a sphere and therefore not flat lol.
My biggest issue is in that turbo shaft. Not only the AMOUNT of decks (she only had 23!!), but the DIRECTION in which they were numbered (the bridge being deck 1).
Legend has it that both Shatner and Nimoy have clauses in their contracts that say if one of them gets to do something, the other one does too, so Paramount was obligated to let the Shat direct at least one.
Ah yes, the infamous "favored nations" clause in contracts. I think this clause also caused problems on the 1976-1983 ABC TV comedy series "Laverne & Shirley."
Random trivia - 2Pac sampled 'I couldn't help but notice your pain' line for the start of his song Pain, and it works really well. I'm glad you made it through this movie. Onto the next! The last hurrah for the gang.
Star Trek V was the first film in the series that I remember seeing when it came out in theaters in 1989 (I was 5 at the time); as such, it holds a special place in my heart, despite its flaws. While the other films had better written scripts, better production values, and better critical/audience reception, this one still had very memorable and poignant scenes. The campfire scene is fondly remembered, McCoy facing his "pain" is absolutely chilling, and the whole cast gave it their all in their performances, especially Shatner, Kelley, and Doohan. Laurence Luckinbill's Sybok is one of the better Trek film adversaries (I am reticent to label him a villain, since he does not harbor malicious intent, believes himself to be helping people, albeit in misguided fashion, and sacrifices himself in the end; the "Doc Ock" of Trek, if you will); complex and layered, with a backstory that delves adroitly into Vulcan lore (more so in one of the deleted scenes). In all honesty, this film feels, to me, the closest in tone to The Original Series out of all the films featuring that cast. It is one I enjoy to revisit, and do so with that schoolboy giddiness that one has when recapturing the joys of youth.
Given all of the incredibly powerful beings and alien races he had encountered throughout the galaxy, Kirk had every right to demand proof the alien was in fact God.
@@Capohanf1 Personally, I like Roman, Greek, and Egyptian deities more than any monotheistic deity. At least they admitted (so to speak, still fictional beings) they had flaws and didn't pretend to be all perfect in every way, etc.
The man who played Dr. McCoy’s father was legendary character actor, Bill Quinn. He was in hundreds of movies, tv shows and plays. he played Mary Tyler Moore’s father on her show. He brought gravitas to whatever role he played and… His daughter Ginny who married Bob Newhart was also responsible for the idea for the ending of the second Newhart series, which is considered the greatest series ending in television history. I remember being disappointed by this movie when it first came out, I am less critical of it now. Courtney, your reactions are always thoughtful.
This movie is great. "I don't want my pain taken away. I need my pain!" is the best line. And that they really focused on the relationship between the main three people. Haters are crazy.
Born in 1977 and raised on the Original crew for several years before TNG and although I grew up on TOS and TNG, the original series will always be my favorite for life!!!! The camaraderie of the original series can never and not be duplicated!
I met James Doohan in 1991 and he said he HATED that Scotty was depicted here as a bumbling buffoon. Apparently the cast were all very mad at Shatner because they felt this film could have ruined their livelihoods and the prospect of any future STAR TREK movies.
08:45 It still is our Baby in fact, because the same Model from Movie 1 to 3 was used. The Model workers just added the A on the hull. The exploding Enterprise was a Model built just for exploding. And the damages caused by Khans attacks were changable Elements of the Model.
I really love how much you remember from the series and previous stories! Also, I agree with your views on this movie. I have to say, I really love the look of the sets for the new Enterprise-A, even if the ship is still not 100%
Fun fact: Lawrence Lukinbill, who plays Spock's older half-brother, Sybok, is actually two years younger than Leonard Nimoy. Also, since 1980, he has been married to Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Desi Arnaz, and you guessed it, Lucille Ball, who in hindsight, sacrificed Desilu by greenlighting Star Trek. Sadly, she passed a couple months before this movie premiered.
Court - be prepared for the finale of STAR TREK VI. They do something VERY emotional that reduced 21 year old me to tears in the theater. It is a BEAUTIFUL send off for both a LEGENDARY crew and group of people.
I agree with you, Courtney, that this film is not as bad as many say. I think this movie is good, but not as good as other TOS era Star Trek films. I say that as an old trekker, having watched Star Trek since it originally aired in the 1960s when I was a kid, and many times thereafter. About Sarek saying that Spock is so human at his birth, note that Sybok is just revealing the person's innermost thoughts and fears, not necessarily recreating events as they actually happened. Of course Spock could not have a memory of his birth and what his father said at his birth. It is also highly unlikely that either Sarek or Amanda would have told Spock that Sarek said that at his birth. Thus, Sybok is revealing a deep seated subconscious fear that Spock has that his father has rejected him from birth and will never accept him because he is too human. This is Spock's subconscious fear and not a representation of actual events nor of Sarek's true feelings. In his youth and until his encounter with V'ger, Spock had been motivated by his subconscious fear of being rejected by his father to suppress and then purge his human as well as Vulcan emotions to gain his father's approval. We see in this film, that Spock may have also been at least partially motivated to suppress and purge his emotions by seeing how his half-brother Sybok was rejected for embracing his emotions not only by his father, but also by all of Vulcan society. However, it is clear in the scene in Star Trek TMP where Spock says to Kirk that what V'ger cannot understand is this simple emotion, that Spock had gained a deeper appreciation for the need for emotions, and we see Spock being comfortable with calling Kirk his friend in Star Trek TWoK. Furthermore, near the end of Star Trek TVH, Sarek expresses that he is most impressed with Spock's performance in the crisis and Spock responds that it is most kind of Sarek. Then Sarek admits that it is possible that his judgment was incorrect in having opposed Spock's joining Starfleet and that Spock's associates are people of good character, to which Spock responds that they are his friends, to which Sarek responds, yes of course. The scene ends with Spock saying to tell his mother that he feels fine. This scene indicates that Spock and Sarek have come to a new understanding, acceptance and appreciation of each other. Therefore, by the time of this film, although the scars of the old emotional wounds and traumas are still there in Spock's mind for Sybok to pick at, they do not have the power to emotionally hurt Spock nor move him to be grateful to Sybok for freeing him from that emotional baggage because he has already dealt with that emotional baggage on his own, and he knows who he is and what is relationship with his father has developed into.
4:48 The first of several occasions in this movie where you can see James Doohan's missing right middle finger. He lost it due to friendly fire, while storming the beaches of Normandy on D Day in 1944! _Star Trek_ was always careful to keep the missing middle finger hidden before this (although there were inevitable slip-ups), but this was one occasion where Doohan didn't have a problem with his missing digit being highlighted.
Yes, it’s Sunday and another Star Trek reaction. Love that you take each film on its own merits. Really enjoying watching along with you, takes me back to when I first saw them! Thankyou!
I’m going with Doomcock’s dream theory on this one. Everything that transpired between the campfire scenes was Kirk’s dream. Scotty and Uhura”s flirting out of the blue. 78 decks on Enterprise, when she only has 21. Getting to the galactic core in mere hours with only their own technology. Spock’s surprise brother. None of these make sense, otherwise. Things I loved: Jerry Goldsmith’s score! The bridge design is my favorite of all time. The scenes between the big three around the campfire were top notch. Shatner’s reach exceeded his grasp, certainly, but he nailed those scenes! 🖖😀
Loving your reactions & thoughts to these classic Trek movies! Glad you ignored the naysayers and judged for yourself. I'm not usually one of these 'Fun fact' people but..*Fun fact* - Sean Connery was originally sought after for the Sybok role, but he declined - hence the planet ended up being named Sha-ka-ree!
For me it’s one of the best Trek movies. It’s got the best character growth for the entire crew, and Luckinbill as Sybok was an amazing antagonist. One of the best in all of Trek, in fact. Part of the reason a lot of the fan base say it’s a weak film is just excuses for the fact that most of them jumped on the bandwagon to hate Shatner’s directorial entry - people love him as Kirk but a lot of people dislike him for how he behaved behind the scene to the other crew actors. So that carried over to the fans and people take it out on the movie, unfairly. It had some limitations because of the budget cuts, but even with that, it remains probably the most true-to-the-original-series concept of all the movies, and it’s a beautiful film overall. A positive one, no real bad guy, Sybok was just misguided and a good man all the same. I genuinely love this movie, and I question anyone who says otherwise’s motives. A lot of people bagging on it just do so because others do, and those others just to ding Shatner. Wonderful film from start to finish. And to think it could have been so much better if the studio had given Shatner the proper budget.
Captain Klaa was played by Todd Bryant who had previously appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as an Engineering cadet. He is standing next to Peter Preston in the scene in Engineering.
I'm glad you didn't skip it too. I personally like it, i admit it's certainly not my favourite, but i enjoy it. Now my favourite is next up, i'm excited for you to see Star Trek 6.
[SPOILERS!] Just curious re the 6th, have you ever noticed Valeris hiding in the shadows behind Kirk, during the confrontation between Kirk and Spock, after the council meeting? She is also briefly visible walking past Kirk's open quarters doorway as he paces round the room, which is how she heard his rant about the Klingons. There's a lot of subtle filming nuggets in this one. I won't mention the others, I'm sure there are trivia sites with them all. :) And yes, the 6th is my favourite too. I have such strong memories of seeing it at the cinema.
The end of the film was supposed to have rock creatures fight Kirk but they were cut due to budgetary reasons. They designed a suit but could only afford one and the scene needed 3. Galaxy Quest had a rock creature partially as a tribute to this film as it is basically a Star Trek parody that is more of a love letter to the fans. Some fans consider it among the best of the Star Trek films!
Correct, and the decks aren't numbered on the older ships, they have letters for their designations. I know in at least one of the movies they mentioned "C Deck". Per most reputable sources, the Enterprise has 23 decks. I suppose they wanted to up the danger, but whether you fall from 23 decks or 78, you're going to die.
@@JMO_1976 Yeah, they were numbered top to bottom, with the bridge being Deck 1, in _TOS,_ but lettered in the first 3 movies, with the bridge being A Deck.
@@shallowgal462 It took me a bit to remember, but it was Spock saying "they're inoperative below C Deck" in WOK. But then a bit more memory shook loose and I remembered in The Motion Picture, when the Ilia probe returned in was in "Deck 4, officer's quarters". So apparently it was dealer's choice for how the Decks were designated. Regardless, the Enterprise absolutely DID NOT have 78 decks.
I have a soft spot for this film. It's really clumsy, but it has a big heart. Plus the budget was cut in half and the script was constantly going through constant rewrites that Shatner didn't approve of being that he wrote the original story and wanted to make it about phony evangelists which were prominent at the time not to mention Industrial Light & Magic was supposed to do the spfx but the budget cuts wouldn't allow it and they got a somewhat second rate spfx company instead. But it's still gotta lot of heart.
Being that I am older, this was the first Star Trek movie I saw in theaters. So it holds a nostalgic place in my heart. So I try not to judge people who dislike it harshly, because my view is so bias. But I think the big issue was it wasn't really movie material. It was 2 or 3 TV episodes glued into one. Show 1 rescue the hostage. Show 2 take control of the ship. Show 3 confront what is thought was God.
I'm glad you enjoyed this one! it's not the best, BUT there is a lot to like as well! I think this movie has some of the best character interactions between kirk spock and mcoy of the whole series!
You noticed that there were too many decks! You're a true Trekkie. I also wonder where they got the horses to free the hostages. And what's up with the uber-Klingons? And since when did Scotty and Uhura have a "thing" going on? To be fair, the studio kept cutting Shatner's budget and revising the script almost every day. They couldn't even afford ILM to do the FX, They were done by a small company called Associates & Ferren.
There are parts of this movie I love. The camping scenes are some of my favorites. "Show me you pain" scene aboard the Enterprise is epic, and the idea of a planet of universal peace that's clearly a work in progress is a big plus, all of which combine to make this enjoyable. Now if they only had a better plot, it could have been A-tier.
44:17 Someone probably already answered this but Sarek, as the Vulcan ambassador to Earth, chose to have a human wife. A quote "logical decision"; essentially to be a better liaison. To understand humans better. But when he actually had a child, which would obviously be half-human, I think a true emotion concerning the union finally surface. And that emotion was disappointment. 'His son is a half-blood.' Additionally, throughout Spock's life, Sarek attributed his disagreements and failing with Spock to just be because Spock isn't full Vulcan. Of course the relationship had many good moments, but mostly it was cold. 'Cause Vulcan. But that's many father-son relationships; where the father has high expectations. There is love there. Though it is buried deep.
It's not a great film and that's the problem. it is a good film amongst great films. I always loved the brig scene where Bones takes Spock's side. You know it's serious business when that happens. Also: "I need my pain" is one of the best lines in trek, regardless of the quality of the movie.
I appreciate your thoughtful reaction! Sure this film wasn’t perfect, it was very ambitious but like all trek, it asks the important questions of life. There were so many beautiful moments between our favorite characters. There were some great shots by Shatner and I appreciated the humor sprinkled throughout.
This movie did not go with Industrial Light & Magic for the VFX. They went with a cheaper outfit named Apogee. Apogee used cheaper luminance keying for compositing, so they needed to paint the Enterprise model white. When the folks at ILM got the model back for the next movie with all if it's intricate surface details painted over they were PISSED.
The planet Sybok sought is called Sha'Ka'Ree. Originally Shatner wanted Sean Connery for the role of Spock's brother and Sha'Ka'Ree is an abbreviated form of "Sean Connery".
I am really enjoying these watch throughs. TO answer your question the Enterprise-A does not have 76 decks, it has 23 decks. Shatner was advised but thought that fans wouldn't notice (if you can believe the hubris on that).
I guess there's no Star Fleet regulation about two Captains serving aboard the same ship. We know from the previous movie that Kirk was reduced in rank from Admiral to Captain and we know from the second movie that Spock had achieved the rank of Captain and Chekov had achieved the rank of First Office on the Reliant. I can only presume that while Spock was using the Enterprise for training Star Fleet cadets not commanding the ship for any designated missions like Kirk did ( I'm only assuming that since I don't know what events occurred off-screen between the first and second movies other than Spock's promotion) So at the conclusion of this movie we have senior captain in Kirk and a junior captain in Spock and Chekov as a Lt Commander first Officer all on board the ship.
It's important to recognize the distinction between the rank of captain and the position of captain. The commanding officer of a ship does not need to be a captain in rank (and, indeed, often isn't on smaller vessels in real life), and some larger ships might have more than one officer with the rank of captain fulfilling different duties. For example, on a carrier you might have an admiral in charge of the carrier group, which includes the carrier, its escorts, and support vessels; a captain commanding the carrier itself; a captain in charge of the planes on the ship; and a captain in charge of engineering. All this to say that it's not outside the realm of possibility that all these senior officers are serving on the _Enterprise._ In a more realistic setting, most of the crew would have probably gone on to other postings well before this point, opening up their billets to give experience to a new complement of officers. Fortunately for us the viewers, this is fiction, so it's perfectly reasonable that the command crew of the _Enterprise_ hasn't changed much in 20 years! 😁
@@evenmoor Fair enough I was just looking for a little clarity about the command structure on the ship. I know the fans wouldn't want to see Kirk and Spock on different ships even if Spock was offered a new commission on a different ship. But you answered my curiosity that both Kirk and Spock can have the same rank and still serve aboard the same ship ( in universe ).
Scotty hitting his head almost makes sense, because his muscle memory might have still been keyed to the old Enterprise... Spock's pain might have been expressed in his father's voice, but there was a large chunk of his species that felt he was too human as well. I think being an outlier to his race was the pain. You're in for another treat in the 6th movie. It IS the perfect wrap up for the original crew. The guest stars are perfect choices. David Warner and Christopher Plummer were PERFECT in their parts. You're reminding me of my journey through these.
I like it! Well this is how I would order the TOS movies, in order of how much I like them: 1 -- The Motion Picture 2 -- Star Trek 2-4, Undiscovered Country 3 -- The Final Frontier So I like them all but this one is probably last on the list. I would definitely watch it if on TV/streaming service I'm watching at a given moment, just it is not my number one favorite 🙂 Your next one is Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, everybody likes that one as well 🙂Then it's onto MY Star Trek, the Generation X Star Trek....Star Trek: The Next Generation. 🙂 Personally I would suggest watching TNG, then the TNG movies, then all of Deep Space Nine, then all of Voyager, then Enterprise, and finally the newer movies with Chris Pine. Then you'll be in the modern era....but the new series are good too, like Star Trek Picard, it's over already, but it was basically a continuation of TNG, especially Season 3!! 🙂
There is so much that I do like about this movie that it completely overshadows a few minor things that aren't right, such as the deck numbers in the turboshaft. Overall I like this film. The performances are all fantastic.
About Spocks pain. He spent his whole life wanting his father to be proud of him. Sarek opposed his Starfleet decision and they were often at odds. Sarek was the Vulcan Ambassador to earth and a very prominent figure. So to have a child who growing up acted in a human way, instead of Vulcan, was a source of embarassment and frustration. Spock spent most of his life trying to supress and bury that human nature, including seeking Kolinar (ST1). His knowledge of Sareks disappointed being rooted at birth was one of Spock's most driving forces in his life to become tue Spock we know. As for Sareks marriage, Sarek made the logical decision to marry Amanda, a human, to further understand and relate to them. He grew to love her, as seen in subtle moments in Journey to Babel in TOS and a lot of that came from him witnessing Amanda, as a human, try so hard to respect the Vulcan way.
The odd part about that notion is that pride is itself an emotional state (a kind of vicarious ego, a transfer of self importance subjectively derived from the perceived merit of others), in which case Spock ought to have known that any such desire for Sarek to behave that way was not logical.
@@mapesdhs597 vulcans are very emotional, but train themselves to be controlled by logic. And you can see these aspects in Journey to Babel in TOS when we are introduced to Spocks parents. And we can see this again in ST2-4 when Sarek gets involved and later (no spoilers here). Sarek does eventually accept his son and is proud of him, but Spock doubts this until late in life. And it is only a unique circimstance that finally allows him to finally gain closure of this in his life.
The reason people didn't like this is because they weren't comparing it to the other movies. They were comparing it to the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season One, which had just come out.
I called this "skippable", but I don't think it NEEDS to be skipped. If someone loves the first 4 movies, then chances are they'll find something they like about this, even if it's just the characters. I do think the scene with McCoy and Spock being shown their pain is really done well. And Spock's rebuttal is a great scene.
Star Trek V isn't the best Star Trek movie, but it's a better movie than most people give it credit for. The actors are all giving top notch performances, and their interactions with each other are fantastic. For those complaining about the plot or special effects, yes, none of that is as good as the other movies, but I'd say it's more a matter of expectations. This is a movie to sit back and have a good time with the TOS cast. It makes me laugh enough that I treat the whole thing as a Star Trek comedy. If you think this movie is a lemon, I'd say it's still good enough to make decent lemonade out of it.
Here's my rankings. Top Tier 1: VI, The Undiscovered Country 2: II, The Wrath of Khan 3: VIII, First Contact Mid Tier 4: III, The Search for Spock *5: V, The Final Frontier* 6: X, Nemesis 7: VII, Generations Bottom Tier 8: IX, Insurrection 9: I, The Motion Picture 10: IV, The Voyage Home Bullshit Tier 11-13: The Jar Jar Abrams Bullshit Reboots Though I will add, the numbers within the tiers are mostly irrelevant. I might completely reshuffle the rankings within a tier depending on my mood at any given time, but the tiers themselves are solid. No movie is getting promoted or relegated from the tier that it's in. Disagree? Then come at me, bro!
Pretty much agree with your tier list but personally really like Voyage Home, but everyone is entitled to their opinions. It has a silly plot like this film but has some of the best character moments in the series, and the characters are why I love the original show and cast.
Nemesis is garbage tier, and ended the franchise. It broke everything, including the “even numbered Star Treks don’t suck” streak. Picard was totally out of character the whole movie. Had it been done right, we would’ve avoided the Abrams BS. The director had no Trek pedigree and wasn’t interested in learning the lore or getting the characters right, all of which he admitted to in the dvd commentary track.
@notmee2388 I hate to break it to you, but the "even numbered Trek movies don't suck" streak was broken when Star Trek IV came out. So seeing as how half the first two even-numbered Trek movies suck, that whole proverb is invalid. And Nemesis, while not the best Star Trek movie, is still a STAR TREK movie. It has what Star Trek movies are supposed to have. Look at the movies that I put in the bottom tier. What do they all have in common? They don't act like Star Trek movies. The Motion Picture just tries (and fails) to be "2001." The Voyage Home thinks it's some Marx Brothers or Buster Keaton comedy. And Insurrection, though definitley Star Trek, doesn't feel like a movie, more like just a long episode of TNG. Nemesis has all the elements that a Star Trek movie is supposed to have. That's why it's solid mid-tier.
@@onespark100 Like I said to the other guy, "The Motion Picture" is a cargo cult of/love letter to Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." And, frankly, like all cargo cults, it doesn't do the job of the original nearly as well. However, if you like the art house thing as opposed to things that actually look and feel like Star Trek, then you do you, boo.
I really love Sybock the Vulcan cult leader in this movie. I always love stories with Vulcans who choose to embrace emotion or passion in some capacity and Sybock was great, and i liked how the character used telepathy to get other minds to agree with his. His charisma can't be disentangled from his natural telepathy - he is like a field that draws everyone to follow him. I don't know if the average Vulcan has the capacity to be as telepathically controlling as Sybock, but if so i imagine they probably keep that under tight self-control (or mb Sybock developed a forbidden skill since he studied forbidden knowledge about embracing the passions). I also appreciated that the movie didn't overdo Sybock and make him a more violent or militant character. His extremism, manicness, and subtle insanity come out in perfect doses imo.
My criticism with is what you picked up on is the part when they were using the rocket boots to go up the floors of the enterprise. Firstly the decks were numbered incorrectly as deck 1 is always at the top which is the bridge, second the amount of decks is more than what it should be as it only has 23 decks instead of 70+.
When she had previously been the U.S.S. Yorktown NCC-1717. Yes. That's also my take on why the Enterprise-A was in such poor condition during this film.
One problem with this movie is, the actors age. 2,3 and 4 are a trilogie and they have a (in universe) timeframe of 3-4 month. This movie takes place 5minutes after ST4 and the cast did age ALOT, between filming.
Another movie that is considered bad but it's not is Superman 4: The Quest For Peace. Really cheaply made, maybe cheaper then ST5 but you said it well by pushing some of the bad aside for other things. I admit, ST5 was saved by the big 3 together in almost all the scenes and that McCoy scene was really something and really revealed why McCoy was like what he was since seeing him for the first time.
Not the best Star Trek movie, but not a bad movie overall. The one headscratcher for me is when Kirk says that he lost a brother but was lucky because he got him back. Did he forget about his brother Sam who died in the TOS episode Operation -- Annihilate!?
Yes, yes he did. And his nephew who survived in "Operation: Annihilate" doesn't count as "family" to him either. Kirk really does seem to leave his family behind, focusing entirely on his ship, his crew and his mission. I presume Carol Marcus knew this about him and chose to exclude him from David's life because he really wouldn't have made a good father.
Compared to the new Paramount Trek, these old ones still have charm. And I don't need anyone to take my pain away. My hardships made me who I am today.
There is a significant anatomical difference between the Caitian, M'Ress, and the dancer on Nimbus III: three breasts. Because of this beta canon equates her with the Draylaxians mentioned in an episode of Enterprise.
Always like your reactions! I know a lot of people don't like this movie and I agree it starts off a little slow but it has some fantastic scenes between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.
You did not show much of it BUT the crewman that handed Kirk his jacket when he entered the Bridge was William Shatner's real life daughter Melanie. And keeping with the nepotism, Laurence Luckinbill was the husband of Lucie Arnaz, the daughter of Lucille Ball who was the owner of Paramount Pictures and it was on her ok that Star Trek was ever made in the first place!
No, it was Desilu studios. In 1968, Ball sold Desilu to Gulf+Western for $17 million, which was valued at $155 million in 2023. Gulf+Western then rebranded Desilu as Paramount Television, the television production arm of Paramount Pictures.
I am 51 and I have been a Star Trek fan since I was 6 years old. STV wasn’t a bad movie. Just compared to STII-STIV and STVi it was not as a good. We Star Trek fans love to argue over details and nuance. When you remove those nuances and focus on the movie as a stand alone film. It was fine.
I love how McCoy's natural Southern accent came out more when he was drunk at the campfire.
This is a good movie! I don't know why people hate on it so much. "What does God need with a starship?" is probably the greatest, most quotable line in all of Star Trek history! I'll grant you, it's not the best Star Trek movie, it's not even in the top three, but it's not in the bottom three either! The hate is unwarranted.
As I get older, I appreciate this film more and more.
I think so too. Mainly the special effects.
maybe they hate it because it's crap?
@@synaesthesia2010 Assertions made without providing evidence can be dismissed without providing evidence.
Its a so-so one - especially compared to the previous three. Feels more like an extended TV episode, but still very watchable with interesting themes.
"What does God need with a starship?" is one of my favorite lines in Star Trek history.
This movie is painful, with a couple of great moments.
It's such a good line!
@@CourtReacts-zm9yv "I need my pain" is better.
@@miller-joelthat one resonates with me to this day. "To tell me that I should have turned left when I turned right?"
@@loopkin Removing someone's pain should not brainwash them or drive them to mutiny, though. That doesn't make any sense.
No matter what others say, I like this film. 😊👍
It’s not as bad now compared with other things
Me too! I don't think it's as bad as people say it is.
I've never hated this movie, and there are worse Star Trek movies, like Generations (which I still enjoy) and Nemesis (which I kind of enjoy too but initially DID NOT like)
Me too, it has some of my favorite comedy of the franchise and really focuses on the brotherhood of kirk, spock and mccoy even though they use the idea of Spock s brother to do it
@@nedzed3663 GENERATIONS just has this weird feeling too it. Far inferior to most TNG episodes. It’s on the level of CODE OF HONOR and SUB ROSA.
James Kirk: "I had a brother once, I was lucky to get him back..."
Sam Kirk: "Dude I'm right here...."
Sam died in TOS.
The Starfleet commander on screen was Harve Bennett, producer of _Star Trek II-V,_ as well as _The Six Million Dollar Man, The Bionic Woman,_ and many other titles.
The captain's yeoman with the broken note pad was played by one of Shatner's daughters. Two of them previously appeared in the episode "Miri."
Yup, that was Melanie; Shatner's youngest daughter, who recently turned 60. They also appeared together in a 1988 car commercial for Oldsmobile (it's on TH-cam).
I know a lot of people don't like this movie (with good reason), but the scene with Bones at 26:30 is one of the best in Trek.
Bones was related to BOB NEWHART by marriage as that’s Newhart’s father in law
I've been quietly, mostly, watching and liking your Star Trek reactions for a while now.
I'm not going to stop when you switch to another crew and century. As far as I'm concerned, you've got ST 6, ST Generations, STTNG, STTNG motion pictures, ST DS 9, ST Voyager, ST Enterprise to go.
I'm down for all of that, and here for all of that.
But yeah, Star Trek TOS, and the TOS motion pictures are kind of special; and I've been watching Star Trek since the 1960s.
I like Star Trek 5; and I love your reactions. Bit thumbs up👍
Nichelle Nichols did the singing and dancing herself, and was quite upset when they overdubbed her voice in the final cut because she had been promised that she would be allowed to sing in this movie. The voice we hear belongs to Machun, vocalist for the band Hiroshima, and the song is “The Moon’s a Window to Heaven,” also by Hiroshima.
One of my favorites. The campfire/family stuff gives a lot of weight to the characters, and they explore space for the first time since V'ger.
I love this movie for how it gets the big three characters right. It's a bit loose with details, and we've been spoiled by a lot of great movies leading up to this, but it's a precious couple of hours with Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley. I'm with you, Court. This isn't a bad movie.
One of the theories about why the Enterprise-A is falling apart in this film (including Gene Roddenberry himself who suggested the theory) was that the Enterprise-A wasn't a brand new ship but rather an existing one renamed in honor of the Enterprise crew saving the Earth yet again in Star Trek IV. The theory goes that the USS Yorktown mentioned in the previous movie (the ship that lost power and was attempting to make a solar sail to make it home) was repaired and renamed the Enterprise once it made it back to Spacedock. Since Yorktown was known as one of the Constitution-class ships, it makes sense that she'd look mostly the same as the original movie-era Enterprise. The troubles the Ent-A are going through in Star Trek V may very well be lingering effects of the damage the Yorktown took from the Whale Probe and the hasty repair job the non-Scotty engineering team did to get her space worthy enough to get Kirk out of Starfleet's hair again. They only just patched the ship up just enough to get it going and Scotty's engineering team had to finish the job themselves in this movie. While there are a couple of other theories about where the Enterprise-A actually came from, this is the most widely accepted and plausible one.
That's the theory that I also go with.
I like that theory.
When I saw IV in theaters, I was like “no way they could’ve but another ship that fast! The “no bloody A,B, C, or D” Enterprise had just been destroyed days, or maybe weeks before.
Its sunday, and almost none of my other fav reactors have made a decent video and then Court comes in with another Star Trek movie reaction, I love u
She is the best!
Sundays are always slow for some reason
Regarding your confusion when Sarek said that Spock was so human, I can relate to my own childhood experiences. My mother was a black jamaican woman and my father was a white English man. When there were times when my mother would be upset with me for one reason or another, she would bring up the fact that my faults were because I was half white and then tell me that I wasn't as good as my half brother who was a full Jamaican, so in this regard, me and Spock and something in common.
That’s SAREK and your mother’s doing.
Ouch. That's painful.
I made this comment earlier which agrees with what you said: "I have something to say about the craziness of prejudice that may make your problem with the "so human" comment more clear, Court. I have known of cases where people married interracially, and then be...disappointed that their child looks too (insert the race their mate is). Sarek's reaction makes sense to me knowing this (I don't mean it makes sense in that I agree with it, I mean I understand the reaction and don't think it is unrealistic)"
It is a difficult thing to accept that one's parents can make mistakes, that they were sometimes quite utterly wrong about things which, during our childhood, we took for granted because there was no contrary opinion.
Scotty's descent into buffoonery continues. 'Nuff said.
This was Shatner's take on televangelists. His sense of humor is peppered throughout (the pool table with actual water on it). The best line in it is Kirk saying, "I don't want my pain taken away. I NEED my pain." I like to believe he was remembering the time that the transporter split him and put all of the things that drive him into his hedonistic side, while his kind side suffered from weakness and indecision. No way would he want to go through that again, and I don't blame him.
There are a lot of bizarre _non-sequiters,_ like the amount of decks the ship has, why Starfleet would give this particular crew such a disaster area for a ship and send them out on actual duty (by the way, that is Harve Bennet giving Kirk his orders, the guy who replaced Gene Roddenberry as producer after the first film), the Great Barrier went from being outside of the Galaxy to surrounding the center (where the animated series said Megas-Tu was). Even the idea that the ship could go there and back in just a matter of hours. It would take years even at constant warp.
This is why I prefer the fan interpretation that this was all just a shared dream that the Big 3 had while sleeping off McCoy's "secret ingredient." We know Spock is a touch telepath, and they were all in contact via the ground they were lying on. Plenty of episodes showed that his abilities can go through stone. So he was the dream hub, and the others' imaginations supplied the rest. The only "real" thing that happened was the campout at Yosemite.
Mark Lenard did supply Sarek's voice for that one line.
On the positive side, it does have a few nice character moments for everyone.
This film remains the only one not to get a director's cut release.
This. All of this.
7:14 there was a cut scene of McCoy programming the computer to change “marshmallow” to “marshmellon”, knowing Spock would look up how to camp out. It was a prank!
Hey Court, I've enjoyed this STAR TREK journey with you . I was there since season one episode one. As for STAR TREK 5, I see it on the level of a good third season episode. But its message came through for me. Your work is appreciated very much. God bless your heart! And that's no pun.😊
Vulcans have emotions, they just train to suppress them.
Thinking the earth is flat is relatively new (Victorian idiocy). The ancients (and all sailors) not only knew the earth was round but the Ancient Greeks measured it with a high degree of accuracy. Nobody thought they were going to fall off the edge.
If you can get them to admit that they live in a three-dimensional reality, then they've basically admitted to themselves that the Earth is a sphere and therefore not flat lol.
Many flat earthers are also Bible thumpers because the Bible talks about the circle of the Earth, etc. a circle is a two-dimensional shape.
My biggest issue is in that turbo shaft. Not only the AMOUNT of decks (she only had 23!!), but the DIRECTION in which they were numbered (the bridge being deck 1).
Legend has it that both Shatner and Nimoy have clauses in their contracts that say if one of them gets to do something, the other one does too, so Paramount was obligated to let the Shat direct at least one.
Ah yes, the infamous "favored nations" clause in contracts. I think this clause also caused problems on the 1976-1983 ABC TV comedy series "Laverne & Shirley."
I'm a life long Trekkie and I like this film.
The pain exploration scene with the 3 of them is one of the best scenes in trek history
Random trivia - 2Pac sampled 'I couldn't help but notice your pain' line for the start of his song Pain, and it works really well. I'm glad you made it through this movie. Onto the next! The last hurrah for the gang.
Star Trek V was the first film in the series that I remember seeing when it came out in theaters in 1989 (I was 5 at the time); as such, it holds a special place in my heart, despite its flaws. While the other films had better written scripts, better production values, and better critical/audience reception, this one still had very memorable and poignant scenes. The campfire scene is fondly remembered, McCoy facing his "pain" is absolutely chilling, and the whole cast gave it their all in their performances, especially Shatner, Kelley, and Doohan. Laurence Luckinbill's Sybok is one of the better Trek film adversaries (I am reticent to label him a villain, since he does not harbor malicious intent, believes himself to be helping people, albeit in misguided fashion, and sacrifices himself in the end; the "Doc Ock" of Trek, if you will); complex and layered, with a backstory that delves adroitly into Vulcan lore (more so in one of the deleted scenes). In all honesty, this film feels, to me, the closest in tone to The Original Series out of all the films featuring that cast. It is one I enjoy to revisit, and do so with that schoolboy giddiness that one has when recapturing the joys of youth.
Given all of the incredibly powerful beings and alien races he had encountered throughout the galaxy, Kirk had every right to demand proof the alien was in fact God.
Ironically, this is a perfect depiction of the Old Testament God... vengeful, capricious, etc.
AS WERE ALL GODS before the year 33 AD!
@@Capohanf1 Personally, I like Roman, Greek, and Egyptian deities more than any monotheistic deity. At least they admitted (so to speak, still fictional beings) they had flaws and didn't pretend to be all perfect in every way, etc.
That "Stand back?!" line that they spoke together always makes me laugh.
The man who played Dr. McCoy’s father was legendary character actor, Bill Quinn. He was in hundreds of movies, tv shows and plays. he played Mary Tyler Moore’s father on her show. He brought gravitas to whatever role he played and… His daughter Ginny who married Bob Newhart was also responsible for the idea for the ending of the second Newhart series, which is considered the greatest series ending in television history.
I remember being disappointed by this movie when it first came out, I am less critical of it now.
Courtney, your reactions are always thoughtful.
This movie is great. "I don't want my pain taken away. I need my pain!" is the best line. And that they really focused on the relationship between the main three people. Haters are crazy.
Sarek’s logic about his son in “uncertain” per Star Trek III.
Born in 1977 and raised on the Original crew for several years before TNG and although I grew up on TOS and TNG, the original series will always be my favorite for life!!!! The camaraderie of the original series can never and not be duplicated!
I like the beginning, the parts with the gang camping, but it pretty much peaks there for me. Only exception being Uhura's burlesque dance lol
Sybok was Lucy’s son in law
I met James Doohan in 1991 and he said he HATED that Scotty was depicted here as a bumbling buffoon. Apparently the cast were all very mad at Shatner because they felt this film could have ruined their livelihoods and the prospect of any future STAR TREK movies.
I subbed because you look and act genuine
as an aged trekkie... i really admire your take on the tos series and films. very thoughtfully articulated!
7:46 - "Life is not a dream."
For me, this is the most Spock moment of the movies.
08:45 It still is our Baby in fact, because the same Model from Movie 1 to 3 was used. The Model workers just added the A on the hull. The exploding Enterprise was a Model built just for exploding. And the damages caused by Khans attacks were changable Elements of the Model.
2 cameos when Kirk first gets to the bridge: the yeoman is one of Shatner's daughters, Melanie, and the Admiral was played by producer Harve Bennett.
I really love how much you remember from the series and previous stories! Also, I agree with your views on this movie. I have to say, I really love the look of the sets for the new Enterprise-A, even if the ship is still not 100%
Fun fact: Lawrence Lukinbill, who plays Spock's older half-brother, Sybok, is actually two years younger than Leonard Nimoy. Also, since 1980, he has been married to Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Desi Arnaz, and you guessed it, Lucille Ball, who in hindsight, sacrificed Desilu by greenlighting Star Trek. Sadly, she passed a couple months before this movie premiered.
Court - be prepared for the finale of STAR TREK VI. They do something VERY emotional that reduced 21 year old me to tears in the theater. It is a BEAUTIFUL send off for both a LEGENDARY crew and group of people.
I agree with you, Courtney, that this film is not as bad as many say. I think this movie is good, but not as good as other TOS era Star Trek films. I say that as an old trekker, having watched Star Trek since it originally aired in the 1960s when I was a kid, and many times thereafter.
About Sarek saying that Spock is so human at his birth, note that Sybok is just revealing the person's innermost thoughts and fears, not necessarily recreating events as they actually happened.
Of course Spock could not have a memory of his birth and what his father said at his birth. It is also highly unlikely that either Sarek or Amanda would have told Spock that Sarek said that at his birth.
Thus, Sybok is revealing a deep seated subconscious fear that Spock has that his father has rejected him from birth and will never accept him because he is too human. This is Spock's subconscious fear and not a representation of actual events nor of Sarek's true feelings.
In his youth and until his encounter with V'ger, Spock had been motivated by his subconscious fear of being rejected by his father to suppress and then purge his human as well as Vulcan emotions to gain his father's approval. We see in this film, that Spock may have also been at least partially motivated to suppress and purge his emotions by seeing how his half-brother Sybok was rejected for embracing his emotions not only by his father, but also by all of Vulcan society.
However, it is clear in the scene in Star Trek TMP where Spock says to Kirk that what V'ger cannot understand is this simple emotion, that Spock had gained a deeper appreciation for the need for emotions, and we see Spock being comfortable with calling Kirk his friend in Star Trek TWoK.
Furthermore, near the end of Star Trek TVH, Sarek expresses that he is most impressed with Spock's performance in the crisis and Spock responds that it is most kind of Sarek. Then Sarek admits that it is possible that his judgment was incorrect in having opposed Spock's joining Starfleet and that Spock's associates are people of good character, to which Spock responds that they are his friends, to which Sarek responds, yes of course. The scene ends with Spock saying to tell his mother that he feels fine. This scene indicates that Spock and Sarek have come to a new understanding, acceptance and appreciation of each other.
Therefore, by the time of this film, although the scars of the old emotional wounds and traumas are still there in Spock's mind for Sybok to pick at, they do not have the power to emotionally hurt Spock nor move him to be grateful to Sybok for freeing him from that emotional baggage because he has already dealt with that emotional baggage on his own, and he knows who he is and what is relationship with his father has developed into.
Glad you watched it! I really liked it. 🖖
4:48 The first of several occasions in this movie where you can see James Doohan's missing right middle finger. He lost it due to friendly fire, while storming the beaches of Normandy on D Day in 1944!
_Star Trek_ was always careful to keep the missing middle finger hidden before this (although there were inevitable slip-ups), but this was one occasion where Doohan didn't have a problem with his missing digit being highlighted.
No sorry the Enterprise has only 21 decks. Idk how that slipped out during the turbolift shaft scene
Yes, it’s Sunday and another Star Trek reaction. Love that you take each film on its own merits. Really enjoying watching along with you, takes me back to when I first saw them! Thankyou!
I’m going with Doomcock’s dream theory on this one. Everything that transpired between the campfire scenes was Kirk’s dream. Scotty and Uhura”s flirting out of the blue. 78 decks on Enterprise, when she only has 21. Getting to the galactic core in mere hours with only their own technology. Spock’s surprise brother. None of these make sense, otherwise.
Things I loved: Jerry Goldsmith’s score! The bridge design is my favorite of all time. The scenes between the big three around the campfire were top notch. Shatner’s reach exceeded his grasp, certainly, but he nailed those scenes! 🖖😀
Well said. I REALLY loved getting Goldsmith back for the music. While the film doesn't have a lot of pluses, that alone is always a big one for me.
also, the top deck is deck 1.
Loving your reactions & thoughts to these classic Trek movies! Glad you ignored the naysayers and judged for yourself. I'm not usually one of these 'Fun fact' people but..*Fun fact* - Sean Connery was originally sought after for the Sybok role, but he declined - hence the planet ended up being named Sha-ka-ree!
At that time, the Original Series Enterprise crew was 23 years old. Now, it's Archer's turn.
For me it’s one of the best Trek movies. It’s got the best character growth for the entire crew, and Luckinbill as Sybok was an amazing antagonist. One of the best in all of Trek, in fact. Part of the reason a lot of the fan base say it’s a weak film is just excuses for the fact that most of them jumped on the bandwagon to hate Shatner’s directorial entry - people love him as Kirk but a lot of people dislike him for how he behaved behind the scene to the other crew actors. So that carried over to the fans and people take it out on the movie, unfairly. It had some limitations because of the budget cuts, but even with that, it remains probably the most true-to-the-original-series concept of all the movies, and it’s a beautiful film overall. A positive one, no real bad guy, Sybok was just misguided and a good man all the same. I genuinely love this movie, and I question anyone who says otherwise’s motives. A lot of people bagging on it just do so because others do, and those others just to ding Shatner. Wonderful film from start to finish. And to think it could have been so much better if the studio had given Shatner the proper budget.
And now for the best of them all!
I like VI the best too
Captain Klaa was played by Todd Bryant who had previously appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as an Engineering cadet. He is standing next to Peter Preston in the scene in Engineering.
Poor Chekov. First he gets bugs swimming around his cerebral cortex, then hypnotized by a Vulcan.
I'm glad you didn't skip it too. I personally like it, i admit it's certainly not my favourite, but i enjoy it. Now my favourite is next up, i'm excited for you to see Star Trek 6.
[SPOILERS!] Just curious re the 6th, have you ever noticed Valeris hiding in the shadows behind Kirk, during the confrontation between Kirk and Spock, after the council meeting? She is also briefly visible walking past Kirk's open quarters doorway as he paces round the room, which is how she heard his rant about the Klingons. There's a lot of subtle filming nuggets in this one. I won't mention the others, I'm sure there are trivia sites with them all. :) And yes, the 6th is my favourite too. I have such strong memories of seeing it at the cinema.
@@mapesdhs597 Why put out spoilers for the next movie where she might read them? This is not the place for this discussion
@@JustinStrife Good point, so edited with warning.
The end of the film was supposed to have rock creatures fight Kirk but they were cut due to budgetary reasons. They designed a suit but could only afford one and the scene needed 3. Galaxy Quest had a rock creature partially as a tribute to this film as it is basically a Star Trek parody that is more of a love letter to the fans. Some fans consider it among the best of the Star Trek films!
No, the Enterprise does NOT have that many decks, and the numbers get lower as you go up.
Chalk another error up for director Shatner.
Correct, and the decks aren't numbered on the older ships, they have letters for their designations. I know in at least one of the movies they mentioned "C Deck". Per most reputable sources, the Enterprise has 23 decks. I suppose they wanted to up the danger, but whether you fall from 23 decks or 78, you're going to die.
@@JMO_1976 Yeah, they were numbered top to bottom, with the bridge being Deck 1, in _TOS,_ but lettered in the first 3 movies, with the bridge being A Deck.
@@shallowgal462 It took me a bit to remember, but it was Spock saying "they're inoperative below C Deck" in WOK. But then a bit more memory shook loose and I remembered in The Motion Picture, when the Ilia probe returned in was in "Deck 4, officer's quarters". So apparently it was dealer's choice for how the Decks were designated. Regardless, the Enterprise absolutely DID NOT have 78 decks.
@@JMO_1976 Ah, yes, you're right. It was Nicholas Meyer who did the deed.
"I don't say sabotage, YOU say sabotage." - Shat BTS
14:55 Thst was, in fact, James Brown mixed in the sound effect. Great ear!🖖
I have a soft spot for this film. It's really clumsy, but it has a big heart. Plus the budget was cut in half and the script was constantly going through constant rewrites that Shatner didn't approve of being that he wrote the original story and wanted to make it about phony evangelists which were prominent at the time not to mention Industrial Light & Magic was supposed to do the spfx but the budget cuts wouldn't allow it and they got a somewhat second rate spfx company instead. But it's still gotta lot of heart.
Fun Fact: Kirk was climbing El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, CA. It is the largest granite monolith on the face of our planet.
Being that I am older, this was the first Star Trek movie I saw in theaters. So it holds a nostalgic place in my heart. So I try not to judge people who dislike it harshly, because my view is so bias.
But I think the big issue was it wasn't really movie material. It was 2 or 3 TV episodes glued into one.
Show 1 rescue the hostage.
Show 2 take control of the ship.
Show 3 confront what is thought was God.
I'm glad you enjoyed this one! it's not the best, BUT there is a lot to like as well! I think this movie has some of the best character interactions between kirk spock and mcoy of the whole series!
You noticed that there were too many decks! You're a true Trekkie. I also wonder where they got the horses to free the hostages. And what's up with the uber-Klingons? And since when did Scotty and Uhura have a "thing" going on? To be fair, the studio kept cutting Shatner's budget and revising the script almost every day. They couldn't even afford ILM to do the FX, They were done by a small company called Associates & Ferren.
The James Brown clip is in a lot of movies. I even remember it in Tom Hanks movie BIG.
That sound effect is almost up there with the Wilhelm scream.
There are parts of this movie I love. The camping scenes are some of my favorites. "Show me you pain" scene aboard the Enterprise is epic, and the idea of a planet of universal peace that's clearly a work in progress is a big plus, all of which combine to make this enjoyable.
Now if they only had a better plot, it could have been A-tier.
44:17 Someone probably already answered this but Sarek, as the Vulcan ambassador to Earth, chose to have a human wife. A quote "logical decision"; essentially to be a better liaison. To understand humans better. But when he actually had a child, which would obviously be half-human, I think a true emotion concerning the union finally surface. And that emotion was disappointment. 'His son is a half-blood.' Additionally, throughout Spock's life, Sarek attributed his disagreements and failing with Spock to just be because Spock isn't full Vulcan. Of course the relationship had many good moments, but mostly it was cold. 'Cause Vulcan. But that's many father-son relationships; where the father has high expectations. There is love there. Though it is buried deep.
It's not a great film and that's the problem. it is a good film amongst great films.
I always loved the brig scene where Bones takes Spock's side. You know it's serious business when that happens. Also: "I need my pain" is one of the best lines in trek, regardless of the quality of the movie.
I appreciate your thoughtful reaction! Sure this film wasn’t perfect, it was very ambitious but like all trek, it asks the important questions of life. There were so many beautiful moments between our favorite characters. There were some great shots by Shatner and I appreciated the humor sprinkled throughout.
This movie did not go with Industrial Light & Magic for the VFX. They went with a cheaper outfit named Apogee. Apogee used cheaper luminance keying for compositing, so they needed to paint the Enterprise model white. When the folks at ILM got the model back for the next movie with all if it's intricate surface details painted over they were PISSED.
The planet Sybok sought is called Sha'Ka'Ree. Originally Shatner wanted Sean Connery for the role of Spock's brother and Sha'Ka'Ree is an abbreviated form of "Sean Connery".
I am really enjoying these watch throughs. TO answer your question the Enterprise-A does not have 76 decks, it has 23 decks. Shatner was advised but thought that fans wouldn't notice (if you can believe the hubris on that).
I guess there's no Star Fleet regulation about two Captains serving aboard the same ship. We know from the previous movie that Kirk was reduced in rank from Admiral to Captain and we know from the second movie that Spock had achieved the rank of Captain and Chekov had achieved the rank of First Office on the Reliant. I can only presume that while Spock was using the Enterprise for training Star Fleet cadets not commanding the ship for any designated missions like Kirk did ( I'm only assuming that since I don't know what events occurred off-screen between the first and second movies other than Spock's promotion) So at the conclusion of this movie we have senior captain in Kirk and a junior captain in Spock and Chekov as a Lt Commander first Officer all on board the ship.
It's important to recognize the distinction between the rank of captain and the position of captain. The commanding officer of a ship does not need to be a captain in rank (and, indeed, often isn't on smaller vessels in real life), and some larger ships might have more than one officer with the rank of captain fulfilling different duties. For example, on a carrier you might have an admiral in charge of the carrier group, which includes the carrier, its escorts, and support vessels; a captain commanding the carrier itself; a captain in charge of the planes on the ship; and a captain in charge of engineering.
All this to say that it's not outside the realm of possibility that all these senior officers are serving on the _Enterprise._ In a more realistic setting, most of the crew would have probably gone on to other postings well before this point, opening up their billets to give experience to a new complement of officers. Fortunately for us the viewers, this is fiction, so it's perfectly reasonable that the command crew of the _Enterprise_ hasn't changed much in 20 years! 😁
@@evenmoor Fair enough I was just looking for a little clarity about the command structure on the ship. I know the fans wouldn't want to see Kirk and Spock on different ships even if Spock was offered a new commission on a different ship. But you answered my curiosity that both Kirk and Spock can have the same rank and still serve aboard the same ship ( in universe ).
I loved your approach to this film and agree with you 100% with the review!
Scotty hitting his head almost makes sense, because his muscle memory might have still been keyed to the old Enterprise...
Spock's pain might have been expressed in his father's voice, but there was a large chunk of his species that felt he was too human as well. I think being an outlier to his race was the pain.
You're in for another treat in the 6th movie. It IS the perfect wrap up for the original crew. The guest stars are perfect choices. David Warner and Christopher Plummer were PERFECT in their parts. You're reminding me of my journey through these.
I like it!
Well this is how I would order the TOS movies, in order of how much I like them:
1 -- The Motion Picture
2 -- Star Trek 2-4, Undiscovered Country
3 -- The Final Frontier
So I like them all but this one is probably last on the list. I would definitely watch it if on TV/streaming service I'm watching at a given moment, just it is not my number one favorite 🙂
Your next one is Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, everybody likes that one as well 🙂Then it's onto MY Star Trek, the Generation X Star Trek....Star Trek: The Next Generation. 🙂
Personally I would suggest watching TNG, then the TNG movies, then all of Deep Space Nine, then all of Voyager, then Enterprise, and finally the newer movies with Chris Pine.
Then you'll be in the modern era....but the new series are good too, like Star Trek Picard, it's over already, but it was basically a continuation of TNG, especially Season 3!! 🙂
There is so much that I do like about this movie that it completely overshadows a few minor things that aren't right, such as the deck numbers in the turboshaft.
Overall I like this film. The performances are all fantastic.
About Spocks pain. He spent his whole life wanting his father to be proud of him. Sarek opposed his Starfleet decision and they were often at odds. Sarek was the Vulcan Ambassador to earth and a very prominent figure. So to have a child who growing up acted in a human way, instead of Vulcan, was a source of embarassment and frustration. Spock spent most of his life trying to supress and bury that human nature, including seeking Kolinar (ST1). His knowledge of Sareks disappointed being rooted at birth was one of Spock's most driving forces in his life to become tue Spock we know. As for Sareks marriage, Sarek made the logical decision to marry Amanda, a human, to further understand and relate to them. He grew to love her, as seen in subtle moments in Journey to Babel in TOS and a lot of that came from him witnessing Amanda, as a human, try so hard to respect the Vulcan way.
The odd part about that notion is that pride is itself an emotional state (a kind of vicarious ego, a transfer of self importance subjectively derived from the perceived merit of others), in which case Spock ought to have known that any such desire for Sarek to behave that way was not logical.
@@mapesdhs597 vulcans are very emotional, but train themselves to be controlled by logic. And you can see these aspects in Journey to Babel in TOS when we are introduced to Spocks parents. And we can see this again in ST2-4 when Sarek gets involved and later (no spoilers here). Sarek does eventually accept his son and is proud of him, but Spock doubts this until late in life. And it is only a unique circimstance that finally allows him to finally gain closure of this in his life.
The reason people didn't like this is because they weren't comparing it to the other movies. They were comparing it to the best episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation Season One, which had just come out.
I called this "skippable", but I don't think it NEEDS to be skipped. If someone loves the first 4 movies, then chances are they'll find something they like about this, even if it's just the characters.
I do think the scene with McCoy and Spock being shown their pain is really done well. And Spock's rebuttal is a great scene.
Star Trek V isn't the best Star Trek movie, but it's a better movie than most people give it credit for. The actors are all giving top notch performances, and their interactions with each other are fantastic. For those complaining about the plot or special effects, yes, none of that is as good as the other movies, but I'd say it's more a matter of expectations. This is a movie to sit back and have a good time with the TOS cast. It makes me laugh enough that I treat the whole thing as a Star Trek comedy.
If you think this movie is a lemon, I'd say it's still good enough to make decent lemonade out of it.
Here's my rankings.
Top Tier
1: VI, The Undiscovered Country
2: II, The Wrath of Khan
3: VIII, First Contact
Mid Tier
4: III, The Search for Spock
*5: V, The Final Frontier*
6: X, Nemesis
7: VII, Generations
Bottom Tier
8: IX, Insurrection
9: I, The Motion Picture
10: IV, The Voyage Home
Bullshit Tier
11-13: The Jar Jar Abrams Bullshit Reboots
Though I will add, the numbers within the tiers are mostly irrelevant. I might completely reshuffle the rankings within a tier depending on my mood at any given time, but the tiers themselves are solid. No movie is getting promoted or relegated from the tier that it's in.
Disagree? Then come at me, bro!
Pretty much agree with your tier list but personally really like Voyage Home, but everyone is entitled to their opinions. It has a silly plot like this film but has some of the best character moments in the series, and the characters are why I love the original show and cast.
Motion Picture is a masterpiece.
Nemesis is garbage tier, and ended the franchise. It broke everything, including the “even numbered Star Treks don’t suck” streak. Picard was totally out of character the whole movie. Had it been done right, we would’ve avoided the Abrams BS. The director had no Trek pedigree and wasn’t interested in learning the lore or getting the characters right, all of which he admitted to in the dvd commentary track.
@notmee2388 I hate to break it to you, but the "even numbered Trek movies don't suck" streak was broken when Star Trek IV came out. So seeing as how half the first two even-numbered Trek movies suck, that whole proverb is invalid. And Nemesis, while not the best Star Trek movie, is still a STAR TREK movie. It has what Star Trek movies are supposed to have. Look at the movies that I put in the bottom tier. What do they all have in common? They don't act like Star Trek movies. The Motion Picture just tries (and fails) to be "2001." The Voyage Home thinks it's some Marx Brothers or Buster Keaton comedy. And Insurrection, though definitley Star Trek, doesn't feel like a movie, more like just a long episode of TNG. Nemesis has all the elements that a Star Trek movie is supposed to have. That's why it's solid mid-tier.
@@onespark100 Like I said to the other guy, "The Motion Picture" is a cargo cult of/love letter to Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." And, frankly, like all cargo cults, it doesn't do the job of the original nearly as well. However, if you like the art house thing as opposed to things that actually look and feel like Star Trek, then you do you, boo.
I really love Sybock the Vulcan cult leader in this movie. I always love stories with Vulcans who choose to embrace emotion or passion in some capacity and Sybock was great, and i liked how the character used telepathy to get other minds to agree with his. His charisma can't be disentangled from his natural telepathy - he is like a field that draws everyone to follow him. I don't know if the average Vulcan has the capacity to be as telepathically controlling as Sybock, but if so i imagine they probably keep that under tight self-control (or mb Sybock developed a forbidden skill since he studied forbidden knowledge about embracing the passions). I also appreciated that the movie didn't overdo Sybock and make him a more violent or militant character. His extremism, manicness, and subtle insanity come out in perfect doses imo.
This movie parallels the original series episode of the space hippies seeking Eden
24:12 how did Spock come from above? And notice the floors?
My criticism with is what you picked up on is the part when they were using the rocket boots to go up the floors of the enterprise. Firstly the decks were numbered incorrectly as deck 1 is always at the top which is the bridge, second the amount of decks is more than what it should be as it only has 23 decks instead of 70+.
The Enterprise A is still feeling the effects from the probe from the previous movie.
When she had previously been the U.S.S. Yorktown NCC-1717. Yes. That's also my take on why the Enterprise-A was in such poor condition during this film.
Looking forward to your Star Trek VI review next week, but what's next? TNG episode reviews? Love your excitement in these vids!
One problem with this movie is, the actors age.
2,3 and 4 are a trilogie and they have a (in universe) timeframe of 3-4 month. This movie takes place 5minutes after ST4 and the cast did age ALOT, between filming.
Never bothered me.
Never bothered me either.
Yes, the Enterprise 'doesnt: ' have 50+ decks.
Another movie that is considered bad but it's not is Superman 4: The Quest For Peace. Really cheaply made, maybe cheaper then ST5 but you said it well by pushing some of the bad aside for other things. I admit, ST5 was saved by the big 3 together in almost all the scenes and that McCoy scene was really something and really revealed why McCoy was like what he was since seeing him for the first time.
That was a great reaction. This isn't mu favorite movie, but I, by far, don't hate it. You'll love the next movie too.
Listen for that James Brown audio cameo when the cat lady attacks?
Not the best Star Trek movie, but not a bad movie overall.
The one headscratcher for me is when Kirk says that he lost a brother but was lucky because he got him back. Did he forget about his brother Sam who died in the TOS episode Operation -- Annihilate!?
Yes, yes he did. And his nephew who survived in "Operation: Annihilate" doesn't count as "family" to him either. Kirk really does seem to leave his family behind, focusing entirely on his ship, his crew and his mission. I presume Carol Marcus knew this about him and chose to exclude him from David's life because he really wouldn't have made a good father.
Compared to the new Paramount Trek, these old ones still have charm. And I don't need anyone to take my pain away. My hardships made me who I am today.
I love it when M'ress attacks Kirk in the bar
😅😅😅
There is a significant anatomical difference between the Caitian, M'Ress, and the dancer on Nimbus III: three breasts. Because of this beta canon equates her with the Draylaxians mentioned in an episode of Enterprise.
Always like your reactions! I know a lot of people don't like this movie and I agree it starts off a little slow but it has some fantastic scenes between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.
Thank you so much! It really wasn't a bad film.
The next one I consider as good as wrath of khan
You did not show much of it BUT the crewman that handed Kirk his jacket when he entered the Bridge was William Shatner's real life daughter Melanie. And keeping with the nepotism, Laurence Luckinbill was the husband of Lucie Arnaz, the daughter of Lucille Ball who was the owner of Paramount Pictures and it was on her ok that Star Trek was ever made in the first place!
No, it was Desilu studios. In 1968, Ball sold Desilu to Gulf+Western for $17 million, which was valued at $155 million in 2023. Gulf+Western then rebranded Desilu as Paramount Television, the television production arm of Paramount Pictures.
I am 51 and I have been a Star Trek fan since I was 6 years old. STV wasn’t a bad movie. Just compared to STII-STIV and STVi it was not as a good.
We Star Trek fans love to argue over details and nuance. When you remove those nuances and focus on the movie as a stand alone film. It was fine.