Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is often the most disliked of the classic movies, but its biggest failure was that it took the wrong lessons from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Released in 1989, The Final Frontier was the first time that William Shatner was given the chance to direct a major motion picture, and the penultimate film to feature the original cast. It was also unique because it was the first film to follow the so-called “Genesis Trilogy”, which began in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and concluded with 1986’s The Voyage Home.

Unfortunately, The Final Frontier is usually ranked toward the bottom of the Star Trek movie franchise, and for good reason. Critics generally disliked the film for its goofy tone and oddball plot, and much of the blame was placed on the shoulders of William Shatner, who oversaw the film. The fifth movie was likely never going to live up to the heights of The Wrath of Khan or The Voyage Home, but it still struggled to deliver even a competent Star Trek big-screen adventure. Star Trek V had numerous problems, but the plot isn’t really where the movie went wrong.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Struggles With Its Tone, Not The Story

The Fifth Movie Couldn’t Decide On A Tone

Though one of the biggest critiques of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is its strange ending, the story of the fifth film is not really the problem. Kirk, Spock, and the rest of the Enterprise crew have encountered numerous strange enтιтies during their travels in space, and the “God” at the end of the film is no more a god than the ones they defeated in episodes like “Who Mourns for Adonais” or “The Squire of Gothos”. The biggest problem is that it tries to balance the tones of previous Star Trek films, and ultimately straddles the fence awkwardly.

Humor has always been a part of the franchise, and even the dour Wrath of Khan features a few light-hearted moments at the beginning of the story to reintroduce the characters. However, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home leaned exclusively into the humorous tone, something that worked for a film with such an outlandish premise. The Final Frontier took the wrong lesson from The Voyage Home because it opted for strange slapstick comedy while also trying to tell a dark and compelling narrative about Spock’s brother, Sybok.

The campfire scene between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in The Final Frontier is an example of how humor can work in a Star Trek movie, because the good-natured ribbing is part of that trio’s dynamic. On the flip side, the scene showing the extremely intelligent engineer, Scotty, hitting his head on a pipe like a member of the Three Stooges is completely out of place and jarring. Once things take a dramatic turn, The Final Frontier should have ditched the comedy, something that The Wrath of Khan did excellently.

Star Trek IV’s Humor Is Part Of The Story & Doesn’t Feel Out Of Place

The Voyage Home Committed To Its Tone Throughout The Film

When analyzing the successes of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, it’s clear that the filmmakers behind The Final Frontier didn’t understand why the humor worked so well. It was certainly a big risk to turn the Enterprise crew into clownish caricatures, but it succeeded because it took them out of their element. The movie primarily takes place in the late 20th century, a time that the Enterprise crew are not very familiar with. This makes them classic fish-out-of-water characters, and their funny antics are because they don’t know how to fit into old Earth society.

The classic Star Trek movies include:

Conversely, Star Trek V takes place exclusively in the 23rd century, a time when the Starfleet officers were right at home. The humor is often at the expense of the characters, making seasoned veterans look buffoonish. It’s especially out of place because the film explores darker themes that strike at the heart of characters like Spock and McCoy. The Voyage Home had a serious concept as its plot motivation, but it was also about Spock’s growth. The Vulcan laughs at the end of the movie, which is essentially the pay-off to the film’s entire light-hearted tone.

Arguably, The Voyage Home‘s plot is sillier than that of The Final Frontier, but the latter fails in comparison to the former because of its tonal issues. Star Trek IV proved that even the most ridiculous time-travel plot could be legitimized by strong writing and deft execution, while Star Trek V: The Final Frontier illustrated how a strong sci-fi concept could be ruined by a lack of focus.