Ranking every Star Trek film in franchise history according to metrics
By Chad Porto
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Final Score: 30.125
Starting off the list is probably the most likely candidate. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier tried its best, it really did, but it tried to be too Stanely Kubrick with its big questions and “God” being at the center of the universe.
It was directed by William Shatner and it’s easily a far departure from what we’ve seen up until this point. It didn’t help that there was just a dreadful camping sequence between James Kirk, Spock, and Leonard McCoy, just hanging out, rock climbing, and talking. So much talking.
It also brings in Sybok, the half-brother of Spock, who’s the driving force for the film to find “God”. He’s seen as some sort of Messiah in the film, and the theme of the film is very much centered around false profits and false deities. The films’ heavy religious tones made it possible for the birth of the famously bad line “What does God need with a starship?”
It turns out to be an alien, and not God, and man, if that wasn’t bad enough the original script for this film was worse. It involved an actual devil and not an alien, as well as Spock and McCoy turning on Kirk.
That’s bad enough, but the original ending was supposed to feature 10 rock monsters emerging from the alien’s face, but they could only make one with the budget they had left. So they shot the one attacking Kirk, and surprise, people hated it in the test screenings.
So they were taken out.
It should come as no surprise that Gene Roddenberry hated the film. At this point, he was no longer involved in the franchise’s creative direction, so he had to stand by and watch.