I think the God narrative in Star Trek V failed to create the desired impact

The original Star Trek movie franchise was ambitious and strived to explore the complexities of the galaxy like never seen before. While Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) was one of the more successful movies from the franchise, the subsequent film Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) was widely criticized. And one of the biggest reasons is the God narrative.

In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Captain James T. Kirk (played by William Shatner) and the Enterprise crew would encounter Spock’s (played by Leonard Nimoy) brother Sybok (played by Laurence Luckinbill), who would lure the starship to travel to the mythical planet called Sha Ka Ree, where he believes that the God resides. They meet the ‘false God,’ who turns out to be a villain.

William Shatner directed the movie. It was rumored that the producers, including creator Gene Roddenberry, had an issue with Shatner’s grand vision of using God as the antagonist. Actor George Murdock will appear as the evil entity on the planet Sha Ka Ree, who ends up becoming one of the more intriguing yet disappointing villains in the franchise's history.

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Search for the God in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

The USS Enterprise is ordered by the Starfleet to rescue three diplomats, a human, a Klingon, and a Romulan, who were being held hostage on Nimbus III. On the planet, which is a neutral zone for the Federation, Klingon Empire, and Romulan Star Empire, the Enterprise crew will encounter the Vulcan outcast, Sybok. Sybok is Spock's brother, who had been searching for the mythical planet for the longest time.

Sybok had used the Vulcan mind meld to gather a following and even managed to turn many of the Enterprise crew members. He had done the whole act of taking the hostage to lure in a starship. He wanted to use the starship to go behind the Great Barrier, which is an energy field at the galaxy’s center. Sybok believes that the God resides there on the planet Sha Ka Ree.

The Enterprise manages to cross the Great Barrier with a Klingon Bird-of-Prey spaceship following them without their knowledge. They find an inhospitable planet, where an entity in the form of a glowing field appears. Sybok is overwhelmed initially as he believes he is in the presence of the God. The ‘God’ will ask for the Enterprise so it can travel into the galaxy to share wisdom. But Kirk is skeptical and asks,

“What does God need with a starship?’

They would come to learn that the entity was imprisoned on the planet long ago and the Great Barrier was in fact built to keep it in. Sybok, who finally realizes that it is nothing but a ‘false God,' apologizes. The Enterprise fires torpedoes at the entity, who is only weakened. Sybok is killed in the encounter while trying to save Spock. Later Kirk manages to escape the planet with the help of Spock and the Klingon Bird-of-Prey.

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Why Star Trek V failed to create the desired impact?

The conversation around God has been previously explored in Star Trek: The Original Series Season 2 episode titled ‘Who Mourns for Adonais’. In the episode, an almighty entity will claim to be the Greek God and demand that the Enterprise crew worship him. However, in The Final Frontier, the whole idea of going on a quest to find the God seemed a far cry from the way the franchise had approached such primitive subjects.

As per Screen Rant, late producer Harve Bennett in 1993 gave an interview for Star Trek Explorer issue #9, where he spoke about the movie. He said,

“I would say that Star Trek V was the weakest of the pictures, both in terms of coherency and its box office, and I would say without shirking responsibility is that the problem was Bill had story approval. He knows this, so I’m not ratting on my friend, but basically, we got to a point where I said, “Bill, we cannot make a movie about finding God!” I said that from the beginning… “I know that if you say in a TV log line “Tonight on Star Trek, the crew of the USS Enterprise goes to find God,” everybody knows we’re not going to get there, so as a storyteller, it gets to be a shaggy joke!”

He added,

“But he wanted to do it, so after much aggravation, I said, “All right, we’re going to go find God, but we’re going to make it the best trip we possibly can!”, and so that’s what we did. I think we achieved a good trip, but it was not a strong Star Trek. It was doomed by its premise. I learned long ago, if it ain’t in the premise, it ain’t there, but Bill felt if we worked hard enough and dazzled them with enough stuff, we could do it, and I don’t think we pulled that off… I think a faulty premise results in a flawed picture.”

This movie remains one of the least liked movies in the franchise. While fans have speculated about the evil entity in the Sha Ka Ree, the subject was hardly discussed again.

ALSO READ: This is why I believe that the idea of Project Genesis in Star Trek will stay a distant dream

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