Life is but a dream... if only the movie this comic is based on was one, too.
Monday, April 15, 2013
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
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77 comments:
I already mentioned this under the Star Trek: The Motion Picture video when I was ScaryReviews on Twitter, so I'll just reiterate this as best I can.
William Shatner was definitely not the right director to direct a Star Trek movie. Sure you have Leonard Nimoy who directed two good Star Trek movies because how he was able to bring his ideas to the table. Then again, when Shatner brought his ideas to Star Trek V, something didn't connect that is still puzzling how they were approved by the producers.
Now compare that to TMP director Robert Wise, who came from years of experience as a director. Sure we love him as a director of horror films like The Body Snatcher and The Haunting and musicals like West Side Story and The Sound of Music. But he has past experiences with sci-fi by directing two of the genre's much loved classics The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Andromeda Strain.
Each of those films reflect ideas of human nature that Wise was able to mesh with science fiction successfully. Sure with TMP not so much, but at least he was trying to create a fairly entertaining sci-fi film based on his own experiences with the genre. I'm sure he would've done something differently with V unless it would've caused the whole production to crumble and have Shatner leave the project, but that's just me.
The point is, a Star Trek movie can work if you have a director with much more experience in the genre. With the 2009 Star Trek film, you have J.J. Abrams who came from being a successful TV producer on Lost, Alias, and Fringe plus he's more of Star Wars nerd than a Star Trek fan. Still, he was able to direct the film to his own ability and it worked out well. Heck, I'm not a big Star Trek fan myself (even though I have all the movies on DVD) but when I saw Star Trek in the theater, I thought it was such a rousing ride that works for both fans and non-fans. Just saying because I too am looking forward to what comes next in Star Trek Into Darkness.
I'd watch "The Final Frontier" any day before making myself sit through 2009's reboot again. At the obscene use least lens flares wasn't an accepted cinematic technique in 1989.
Anyone else get a disturbing Frank Miller's "The Spirit" vibe from Mr. Shatner's sexualizing a mountain?
Does anyone else look at Sybak and think that's he's a huge rip-off of the Mule, Second Foundation, and the other empathic characters introduced by Asimov in the later "Foundation" books? Obviously, Asimov made much more interesting use of the idea, but still, the similarities are striking.
Then again, I'm still convinced the black goo from "Prometheus" is almost identical to the Venom suit from the Spider-Man comics, so I may be prone to seeing comparisons where none exist.
I remember the Q Continuum books. The One, as he called himself, basically was the Ori before the Ori, pretending to be the "one true god" of any planet he decides to torment, then uses "divine retribution" to inspire and scare the locals into committing atrocities in his name, while slaughtering those who go against him.
The books also included the Gorgon from "And the Children Shall Lead", and the rage entity from "Day of the Dove" as the other malevolent beings, along with the big bad, 0, which was supposedly locked out of the galaxy by the barrier around its edge... the barrier that Kirk's ship passed through at least twice - once on their own accord that resulted in Gary Mitchell's rise to godhood in "Where No Man has Gone Before", and under the control of the Kelvans in "By Any Other Name". Which makes you wonder why 0 never tried to use either of those attempts to get through...
I agree, Anonymous, Shatner's statements about why a climber would want to climb a mountain seems several levels of squicky and bizarre, and this is coming from a member of the furry fandom, where NO fetish goes unglamorized.
I found the discussion SF Debris did about the behind-the-scenes issues with the movie to be very enlightening, and also puts a kibosh on apologists claiming it was just the production issues that made the movie suck. Seriously, when the creator of the series himself confronts you about the story and says "I've already tried this before; believe me, it won't work", you need to rethink your storytelling. Then again, his illogically rigid and contradictory "Box" also included a staunch refusal to acknowledge any and all religion or superstition in any form, so this could've just been more of his dickery.
That title art says it all about Star Trek V: It's Kirk's movie and everyone else is along for the ride. Given Kirk's propensity to stick his wick into anything... I don't doubt Shatner's explanation to be true. I honestly remember watching the movie on Youtube and just thinking, "Wow. Just wow. This was so... dull." Shatner truly did have an ego as big as Roddenberry's. I really think he had something he wanted to tell... but he had no clue how his costar's characters worked. Plus "God's" Yosemite Sam moment just made me laugh.
By the by, your Kirk imitation reminds me of a performance I did recently as an alien named "Kirkland Vulcantrek" where during my big soliloquy/"Sorry I left you, baby" speech, I did a spot on Shatner imitation. I am sorry that has nothing to do with the vid, but I felt the story had to be told.
*doublechecks* Yeah, Vixis, Klaa's second in command? She definitely wore pants. GIS confirms. That's... yeah.
I do love Star Trek V! I can quote the living HELL out of that movie. Despite all the bad that is in it, I find it wildly enjoyable as a funny, campy, cheesy adventure. A friend of mine says it's the film most like the original series, and I can see that with some of the cheap sets, the fighting of a large, god-like entity, and so on.
"The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" joke was LOL for me! I also loved your Shatner impression.
And yeah, I read the explanation about the entity on Memory Alpha. Intriguing concept, but it's essentially the same one the novels gave to Trelane. I have the audiobook of Q-Squared.
The one thing I think goes overlooked about Star Trek V is Laurence Luckinbill's performance as Sybok. He really does a great job with it bringing a theatrical, passionate, charismatic quality to the character. It's a character that I would like to have explored in more depth with Luckinbill in the role. I think even he is proud of the performance. He's got a small YouTube Channel where he's responded to a few comments on his Sybok film clips.
I wrote a review of the movie, and it was tough to do so without reiterating what SFDebris thoroughly covered in his own. Yet, I managed to sneak in a few opinions of my own that are fresh. But yeah, I would agree that the comic is particularly better cutting out a lot of the bad humor, integrating the rock monster, and trimmimg a few other silly bits.
My review: http://forevercinematic.wordpress.com/2012/11/28/star-trek-v-the-final-frontier-1989/
another awesome review >^^<
Just a thought, but I think pre-arranged marriage is something that actually would follow the logic based sociaty. Finding couples that would fit themselves best on psychological and psysical level and would benefit optimal gene exchange.
I'm a casual Trek fan so I can't exacly tell how this would work for the Vulcan, but that's how I see it.
Not so much for a title like "princess".
Also did the Guardians of the Universe rent OA to the Q?
It's a misconception you can shoot a human non-fatally with a gun. Bullets are designed to cause a crapload of internal damage, and there are veins and arteries that can be easily severed by a bullet screwing around in there.
Okay, it works if you're in fictionland, especially if you have a phaser with explicit stun settings, but like that (I think it was Athena) comic, the nonchalant-ness you display when it comes to firearms is hopefully based on the notion these people are fictional characters.
HAHA! YES! I CALLED IT! ODD STAR TREK COMICS CONTINUE TO BE BETTER WHILE EVENS SUCK! DON'T LET ME DOWN UNDISCOVERED CONTINENT, BE TERRIBLE!
*Ahem, ahem*
I'm not gonna lie on this though, that original draft actually sounds kind of metal. Yes it'd be just insane to have hell and demons in Star Trek, but Linkara did say he'd have had fun with a Mystic Forxe SPD crossover. I think it's kimd of a similar principle.
I'd only be upset because as a fantasy fanboy the more mystic powers of hell would be beaten by science...
"Okay, it works if you're in fictionland, especially if you have a phaser with explicit stun settings, but like that (I think it was Athena) comic, the nonchalant-ness you display when it comes to firearms is hopefully based on the notion these people are fictional characters."
True, but it doesn't mean INSTANT death if shot in those spots. You're more likely to kill someone on the spot by shooting them in the head/heart than by shooting them in the leg.
Personally, I LIKE Star Trek V. YES, it has its problems, but I LOVE what it does with the characters, mainly Kirk, Spock and McCoy. The part with McCoy's father, the part where Spock says Kirk was never alone. There's a lot of good character stuff here! Sure, everything else about the movie is shit, but at least give credit where credit is due.
I love these Star Trek reviews
15:00 : Hilarious, sounds like a relapse of the Naked Now virus. However, why is Kirk so attached to a brand new ship that he just boarded ?
In universe, I think Sybok's exile was actually justified for the Vulcans : as far as I remember, vulcan emotions are pretty violent (see the Sarek episode) and unbridled emotions led them into civil war in their past (All our Yesterdays), so Sybok's teaching and forbidden methods could endanger their civilisation.
Hello Lewis, i am from the demonic forces defense league. i am here to issue a complaint from a certain Lucifer, also known as Satan. He was rather insulted when you said you wanted Kirk to kick his ass for One More Day. Aside for, let me see what it says on this note written on the back flesh of a liar, "Insinuating a mere mortal wielding a killer garage door opener could possibly defeat me," yeah that is what it was, he states that it was not Himself who did one more day.
that being was Mephistopheles. he is a demon lord, much of a devil himself, but still a separate entity to the dark lord himself. says he has no interest in harming mortals as of late, considering his junk if frozen under fort feet of ice and is force to gnaw on the greatest traitors in mortal history like they were bits of ever reforming and horrible tasting beef jerky (not his own words but my own tidbits, chuckles at own joke).
the purpose of the demon defense league is to quash the constant stereotype of all demons being being monstrous man-eaters and world killers, albeit eighty percent of them Are but they rarely appear anyways considering the size of hell, and to prevent unwanted accusations against demon lords from spreading..... at least the false ones that they are actually not responsible for.
lucifer has attempted to file complaints against you before, primarily stating he was the one who turned Spawn into a demon, when in fact a far lesser entity than himself did so. fortunately you were simply making a statement in universe of the comic and as a first impression of it, so we let it slide. however it is unfair to spread rumors on the evils of the world for crimes the do not actually commit. kinda complicates the whole eternal suffering thing they must go through, either worsening it or delaying it for too long.
fortunately this is only your first one. however, if you get five complaints filed agaisnt you in a certain amount of time, we will have no choice but to send demonic, wraith like knights after you.
good day sir.
ps. we would like you input on the fate of the Nostalgia critic. currently our league and some anonymous black rights league have been in constant debate whether or not the Critic should suffer for not only misrepresenting the devil (the sinners upon which satan chews has been in quite some extra agony), but depicting him as a black man. it is still being debated whether or not the reason was racially insulting or just harmless. personally i think the latter, but try explaining that to a demon and a bunch of people who scream Political Correctness like douchie Mc Nitpick.
thank you again.
A naked Spock singing the Ballad of Bilbo Baggins....
thank you for that image
"Let's find out what she's got the reviewer said, and then we found out, didn't we?"
Thank you so, so much for the fan dance scene commentary, the age/body shaming is the one thing that bugged me about Doug's otherwise excellent reviews of the bad Trek movies (though I suspect that was the Nostalgia Critic character rather than Doug himself there.)
Nichelle Nichols was still a very attractive woman here, but it was also a very sexist and stupid scene.
The comic actually seems interesting, with bits like the Rock monster and some of the other tweaks they made, I can see why you think it's better than the movie and I think I have to agree that it is from an objective standpoint... buuuuut I have to admit the reason why I like to watch this movie is for the cheesy one-liners, Morse code messages you need to plaster your ear to the wall to hear telling you not be near the wall, and other bits of ridiculous humor intended and otherwise.
I thought the Uhura/Scotty romance was kinda cute actually, and the Doohan and Nichols had a nice bit of chemistry going on there even if it didn't contribute much to the over-all plot; I certainly think it works better than Uhura and Spock in the reboot movie.
I just realized the "I will die alone," line actually makes a great deal more sense if Sybok manages to convert the entire crew to his way of thinking... then Kirk is truly on his own and thus in danger of dying. In the novels witten by Shatner that thought was implanted by a Vulcan mindmeld Kirk received as a child when he discovered a secret conspiracy (I think tied to Section 31, I don't remember... these were the same books where a Borg/Romulan alliance revived Kirk as their ultimate agent of destruction against the Federation so I don't put much stock in them). I suppose the line still works with his death in Generations even though Picard was right there since he wasn't with anyone he knew very well.
Anyway bang up review, I think after Search for Spock with the in depth analysis of Lloyd's character this is my favorite of the movie reviews thus far.
I'm glad you didn't go with the obvious "Asian driver" joke. Give it up Spock, you'll never get your money back.
Were you wearing a Starfleet issue sweater? Was Kirk's "Go Climb a Rock" shirt Starfleet issue too?
I'm guessing that the naked dancing distraction plan was either removed before the TNG era or maybe it was just in Kirk's playbook.
We could've had Sean Connery in Star Trek...wow.
Or maybe there was a guardian for the barrier and he took the weekend off...boy is he going to be in trouble.
Kirk: What does God need with a starship?
"God": What do you need with a comfortable chair on your starship?
Kirk: Touche. Kirk to Enterprise, bring the ship closer.
So are you going to review all of the Star Trek movie comics or just the first 6 movies? Either way, great job Linkara. Only thing that could've improved it would've been a cameo from Lieutenant Monroe...or did he get promoted again?
So can I assume that Space Ranger guy was unceremoniously killed in a crisis or something?
I will forever contend that, although the movie was written and directed by Shatner, it wasn't a "Kirk is awesome" vanity piece. If you think about it, Kirk spends most of the movie getting his ass handed to him. First, he almost kills himself falling off of a mountain and has to be saved by Spock. Then he gets himself, Spock and McCoy captured by Sybock (and the only real victory he got was drowning an alien cat-woman in a literal pool table). Scotty then has to save him from the brig, and Spock and his rocket boots have to save them from the brainwashed crew. Following that, Kirk starts getting his ass handed to him again by the entity beyond the barrier. First Sybock sacrifices himself to save Kirk and crew from his mistakes, and then it's once again Spock using a Klingon Bird-of-Prey to save Kirk. Really, Kirk didn't do a lot in this movie; it seemed like it was more a movie about Spock, rather than Kirk, since we see more of Spock's backstory - his half-brother, the initial disdain his father showed for him when he was born, etc. - and he does more awesome and heroic stuff than anyone else in the movie. Contrast that with how Much kirk needs Sock and the rest of his crew to haul his ass out of the fire....yeah, if Shatner intended this to be a "Kirk is awesome" movie, eh failed miserably and made a fantastic "Spock is awesome" movie instead.
I LOVED the scene at the end. It can be used for just about anything.
What DOESN'T God need with a starship?
(Especially if it comes with a Laz-E-Boy command chair. Quick! Someone call Jhonen Vasquez!)
*checks* Yeah, Vixis, Klaa's second in command? She definitely had pants. Bad Star Trek comic. No biscuit.
S'Morelons? Oh, I thought for sure we'd have a line about Martian-mellows from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians!
now that my dmeonic defense league duties are fufilled, let me actually comment about the comic.
while stil referencing the devil here, having the devil at all would kinda be the lefanze jumping the shark and then latching onto a space shuttle. it is basically stated that there are no supernatural forces in star trek. having the dark prince appear would kinda break all of that and raise a thousand an nine questions. like if there truly is a devil, that would mean there is a god and other supernatural beings. basically it would be a landslide of wtf and continuity destroying questions.
andi don't get the take pain away thingy. i would be pissed if someone did that to me. if i have no pain, i have nothing to compare my joy to. it would be more likely to make you go inert than make you join his side or anything.
makes me think about how someone might act if they are doped up. you surpress your pain with the drug you become more inert and less likely to really do anything. become inert.
and at least it did not have an attack by a creepy four titted cat girl in this, jsut hd her dancing in the distance........ you know what i like about star wars? if oyu encounter a new species in an odd area in some form of star wars media, you can know that the species probably has a backstory created already, what species it is what quirks it had.
helll during its early days of development, the makers of star wars decided, hey, lets not get random here. and there were quite a bit of random too, especialyl during the cantina scene. they even had a big animatronic praying mantis in there too. but they decided they wanted species in their series.
here, i think it is obvious miss furry four tits did not have a conceived background, nor species.
Oh god star trek v. I have watched almost all Star Trek movies except 1 and Nemesis. There is a reason I haven't watched it in years. Bad movies don't age better. Of course depends on taste and you get older maybe understand some of the stuff better then as kid. This movie not like that.
Row row your boat moment was actually one part of the movie I liked.
Star Trek vs Satan? Couldn't be any worse then this story.
The conic. For once adaption better then the movie. I wonder if that worked for Twilight. Nah not even manga can save that boring drek.
As an andenum to above, Star Trek has more advanced medical technology, so even with the dangers of shooting limbs there is still a high chance in that universe of them saving him before he dies from blood loss.
Anyway, with this review I feel it needs to be said again, even if I and others have said it before, really would love to see you and Chuck Sonnenberg do a review together, if only because I'd love to hear you guys discuss Star Trek together.
Yeah, I know, your styles are so different it would be difficult, but with every science fiction comic you make I just feel more and more longing for that crossover.
Maybe Infestation! That would be a nice comic to review. It's not bad, but you can make fun of it.
Anyway, sorry for repeating this again. But it is worth repeating, you and Chuck are my favourite reviewers, and everytime I see one of your Star Trek comic reviews in the pipe I eagerly await it's premiere if only to see your take on things.
So, five movies down, five to go... six if the new one got an adaptation recently.
Seriously Marshmallon was said and you couldn't come up with the yugioh card and attempt to eat it?
I am dissapoint.
I would say that the one good thing to come out of the Big Three "Share Your Pain" scene, aside from Kirk calling BS, was the McCoy bit - though I'd say that was more due to DeForrest Kelly's excellent acting than anything else.
Also, as far as the poor effects in Star Trek V were concerned - I'd say that things really, really weren't helped by the fact that Shat tried to do as much as possible in pre-production, and then rear-project images onto the sets - it probably ate up as much of his budget as the "Star Trek" markup did.
Though, if you want a real Shatner Star Trek vanity project, read his Star Trek novels - the first one starts up post Generations, has Kirk resurrected by the Romulans, getting the band back together and ultimately destroying the Borg.
@Alexander Case:
The first novel would be Ashes of Eden, which mostly takes place between Star Trek VI and Generation. And it has a comic book adaptation !
I think the Shatnerverse wasn't bad. Contrary to Star Trek V, it respected the series continuity, referencing Sarek mind melds with both Kirk and Sarek. Although I wonder how much Shatner contributed to the writing
Here's a question:
when Doug reviewed the movie as part of star trek Month, the first time Kirk mentioned died alone, Doug made a reference to Kirk's death in "Star Trek: Generations".
Since you are a Star Trek, why didn't you yourself make a reference to that during the many times Kirk mentioned dying alone in this comic?
Marshmellons, when I heard that I was totally expecting a Yu-Gi-Oh reference to the card Marshmallon. I know it's not spelled the same way but the pronunciation is the same.
Hey there Linkara. I figured I'd run a few things by you on the whole star trek series and see if you have any thoughts. Personally, I love me some start trek episodes, but to me the series actually feels kinda dumb for a few reasons:
First, it's hyper idealized. A system based on no monetary system at all and instead reliant on a communistic system with ridiculously powerful heads of state, with no human rights issues at all... yea, not buying it. A society where technological advancement comes mostly from a thirst for discovery, rather than war (which is still apparently prevalent) or personal or collective intensive. Yes discovery is a motivator, but it just doesn't seem to work as well as others. A society at war on several borders that remains largely peaceful and has barely even felt the need to develop body armor... again, not buying it. In the end there's nothing wrong with having a political view and system that differs from what I personally appreciate in a fictionalized setting, but constantly painting it as working out to the near absolute ideal is insane.
Second, star trek doesn't seem to get the concept of bio-diversity. I'll admit it, and I know I'll get hate for it, but I don't really believe in evolutionary theory. (Before everyone jumps down my throat, ask yourself honestly, if we all really did agree on science or religion, would that really be a boon or a detriment to society? What happens when we're wrong?) But even still I understand the theory. All life across the universe should evolve based on chance and therefore look and operate differently. Marvel, DC, Stargate, Farscape, Star Wars and several others seem to get this, where different life forms actually look and operate differently. But in Star Trek most aliens seem to be people with minor facial deformities. The first time it looked like they might branch out was actually Enterprise, when they introduced reptilian, insectipoid and sea mammal type life forms with fundamentally different technologies, ways of communicating and viewing the universe. Then again, I know I've committed a Trekkie sin by acknowledging anything good came out of Enterprise. Still, why does everything alien have to look so well, human?
Finally, and a lot of sci-fi seems guilty of this, the belief that it is even likely that the grand majority of our modern scientific theories are in fact right to near preciseness. They most likely aren't. In fact if all our theories were right as of this moment, what would the point in further studies be anyway? We continue to study because we're not sure and because we want to refine what we do have right, and find what we've royally screwed up. Really Farscape seemed so much better, where a human scientist was sent into space and found out that we know basically NOTHING. We have barely even begun to explore our miniscule piece of the solar system and barely gaze at the galaxy, let alone do we know for sure the stars and planets beyond our solar system really are where we say they are, the size we think they are and are constructed how we think they are. It's all hypothesizes and theories, and when we get out there, just like Columbus finding an entirely new land mass, we should be astounded by just how imprecise, off base or just plain wrong we currently are.
i think that is wasn't "God" in there but the devil and he wanted a star ship so he can do evil devil stuff
Just thought I'd tell you:
I never used to care about comic books. Neither did my fiance. Just one of those things we weren't interested in. Then we started watching AT4W every so often. When the Nostalgia Critic ended, we started watching regularly. Several months later, we found a comic book store and decided to check it out. After about 2 hours inside going nuts like kids in a candy store, we walked out with 8 comics in our possession. We're planning to go back soon and get more.
See what you started, Mr. Lovhaug? :P
More on topic, as much as I dislike Kirk, I'd also like to see him beat the crap out of The Devil for One More Day.
ageist? that's a thing? anyway, sorry but NO. people hate it it cuz...well the person was attractace during the scene, so sexy stuff isn't good. the scene only exists for "fanservice" and it could haae easily been changed. i'm with doug n this one, it was gross.
Can I just say, I'm so happy that you addressed the real problem behind the "Uhura dancing naked as a distraction" and called out the horribly ageist disgust most people have with it. It's one of the reasons I can't watch the Nostalgia Critic's review of the movie after the first time (as much as a like and respect Doug, that 'joke' was just awful).
Great review. I remember watching this movie and thinking it was boring.
If you continue with Star Trek comics periodically, are you eventually going to review the Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover when it comes out in... I think May?
I look forward to your next review.
~opalangel7
Kinda surprised there wasn't a Gwen Stacy comment about Spock catching Kirk by the ankle. All in all, a good review of a mediocre comic about a less than stellar movie.
Scotty and Uhura? I am sorry, but now I have to say this Uhura really gets around. I mean first there was the that controversial Kiss heard round with Kirk on the show. Second there was her and Spock on the Reboot series. Now Scotty in Star Trek V? She's a Sulu, Pike, Chekov and McCoy away from having the entire main crew. I mean wow....just wow.
Lizard-Man: Actually, it's 3 to go. Insurrection, Nemesis and the newest films haven't received direct comic "adaptations." So, there'll be one more this year (August or September), and then a couple next year, polishing off this little journey, with some comment passed on his take on all ten Trek films. (Nemesis got brief flack at the end of that Star Trek 9 Crossover.)
Honestly, if Shatner really wanted a 'Kirk stands on his own' plot, I can think of two easy ways to do it.
The first is that for some reason Kirk has gone rogue, provoking an incident with the klingons that puts the Federation at the brink of war and his crew is forced to decide if they can really hunt down their captain for the sake of peace*. It'd even help set up for Star Trek VI.
The other would be another human empire alternate universe connecting to Kirk's own and Kirk's forced into a situation where he has to deal with the mirror crew of the Enterprise while his own crew tries to save him and break the connection before the mirror empire begins a full invasion.
There. I thought of those two plots and gave a brief summary in ten freaking minutes. How long did it take Shatner to do that 'Kirk finds God' idea?
*Meanwhile Kirk, to his disgust after the events of Star Trek IV, has to protect a reformist klingon princess from reactionary assassins with the suggestion that they might have contacts in Star Fleet so he has to keep it secret from both sides.
Nice Review but it woulda been funnier if you were attacked by the VHS copy of the movie which is fueled by Shatner's ego.
Great review Lewis! I especially liked the costume changes!
It's not surprising that this comic was better than ST V; it was adapted by a much better writer than Bill Shatner! (On a related note, I hope that Peter David is recovering from the stroke he had this past winter.)
Remember Linkara, dancing cat girl = Vanessa ;)
You may have gone out of your way to make a Schlock Mercenary reference, but just think...
The Fleetmind is mostly represented by floating heads, which can take on a variety of appearances, and spend most of their time at the galactic core...maybe Howard Tayler is making his own, extended Star Trek V reference?
I was just reading about Space Ranger the other day. Weird.
The Enterprise crew already met Lucifer in the Animated Series, and he was a good guy.
In the Sci-Fi Museum in Seattle they have a Star Trek V script along with a note from Gene Roddenberry saying, basically, "This sucks."
Note in the Sulu / Checkov scene, there is an extra head on Mt. Rushmore.
I believe the phrase you were describing at the beginning would be "Art through Adversity." (not trying to nick pit it's just one of my favorite phrases) Really the only movie that I know of that can be described by the phrase would be Star Wars: A New Hope.
"Since you are a Star Trek, why didn't you yourself make a reference to that during the many times Kirk mentioned dying alone in this comic?"
Because everybody else already has. I wanted to make a more original joke. XD
That was a very funny review. And I agree, the comic was much better than the movie.
I will admit to a scene I found compelling in the movie was McCoy and his ending his father's life then a cure being found. For his character it made a lot of sense since he, as a doctor and a human being, has shown his choice for life over death again and again.
The adding Spock wanting to go with is very unsmart.
Also, nice um, don't know what kind of joke it is, continuity joke, about the 'You still owe me ten bucks.'
Can someone explain to me the whole "guilty pleasure" thing? If you know it's bad and enjoy it just because yo uthink it's enjoyaby bad, why do you feel guilty about it?
"If you continue with Star Trek comics periodically, are you eventually going to review the Doctor Who/Star Trek crossover when it comes out in... I think May?"
...You do realize that comic already came out and finished, right? I just bought the trade last week.
What I took away from this review is that this could have been a halfway decent comic had Star Trek V been a better movie. I am inclined to agree with that sentiment, simply because STV is easily the worst of the TOS movies and a strong contender for worst overall Trek film. I'm actually very glad that the TOS crew got to do that sixth film to finish out their Trek careers.
With all that in mind, I think The Final Frontier is a guilty pleasure for quite a few Trek fans, myself included, even if most of us won't openly admit to it. As badly as it came out in the end, it does have its moments. Having Kirk, Spock, and McCoy sing "Row Row Row Your Boat" was one of my favorite Trek scenes, and it's hard to not at least remember the "What does God need with a starship?" routine. That's a good second to the "Khan" scream from The Wrath of Khan.
But yeah, this sounds like it was a bad comic more due to bad source material than anything.
Thanks again for another wonderful review, Linkara.
"And as a result, some of them were vastly improved as a result." *Insert Plan 9 From Outer Space clip here.*
It's interesting to see that for all the poorly executed ideas that Shatner had, some of them weren't half bad such as the rock monster and even the end where Kirk remembers his brothers. Of course, for most the negatives outweigh the positives, especially the "Kirk is a one-man army" deal (thank goodness someone was there to restrain him, even if it meant cutting out some ideas worth exploring).
Good review, and great that you gave credit that the comic streamlined the movie to make marginally better sense story-wise. The scene at the end where McCoy and Spock discuss the existence of God and who put the Great Barrier in place, it was in the novelization and I'm glad that it was in the comic. The movie cut a lot of characterization, especially with Captain Klaw and the intrigues onboard his ship involving the leggy officer, and it reduced the Klingons to, to not even two dimensional villain standees. The comic was how the movie should have gone, really. But...I'm a little surprised that you didn't comment that the writer adapting the comic was Peter "Incredible Hulk and X-Factor" David. That actually explains why the comic was better than the movie!
@Shanethefilmmaker
Scotty and Uhura? I am sorry, but now I have to say this Uhura really gets around.
Um no...not really?
I mean first there was the that controversial Kiss heard round with Kirk on the show.
The kiss between Kirk and Uhura was involuntary. They were forced to do it by others with telekinesis.
Second there was her and Spock on the Reboot series.
That was a completely different Uhura, in a completely different universe and timeline, so I don't see how that's relevant here. She would sometimes flirt with Spock in the original series but it never went beyond that (as far as we know).
Now Scotty in Star Trek V? She's a Sulu, Pike, Chekov and McCoy away from having the entire main crew. I mean wow....just wow.
Again, the original Uhura only had ONE consensual relationship (that we know about) and that's with Scotty. And even if there had been more, who cares? You're seriously gonna judge her, when Kirk has had relations with multiple women throughout the show?
I always found Sybock to be a highly underrated antagonist. He had a lot of character and rather than personal gain, he wanted to help others and thought his mission was a worthy one, and when push came to shove and he saw the horrible mistake he made, he stepped up and challenged a godlike being to a battle of psychic will just to give his brother a chance to get away.
So many people nowadays misguidedly try to copy Khan, when Star Trek has much more than scenery-chewing epic baddies to offer the heroes as an antagonist.
Sybock, along with a few genuinely touching moments (McCoy reliving his father's death, the "You were never alone" at the end, etc...)help make a terrible movie still warm and enjoyable in spite of its (many, numerous, huge, glaring) flaws.
Captain Kirk fighting the Devil? Well, that wouldn't have been too far off seeing how often he ran into omnipotent beings that may or may not have been whorshipped as gods in the past.
(Though I hope that devil would've been a guy in a rubber suit in best Gorn fashion XD )
And yeah, the movie has its problems. It has some decent character bits and hints at an intriguing idea, but the execution was - lacking...
You'd also think that after almost a dozen movies, they'd finally realize that "We're the only ship in range!" (and other silliness) is way worse than just doing what the TV shows do: Have the Enterprise fly around and basically run into the movie plot. Then they truly are the first ship in range - for logical reasons, no less.
As for Into Darkness: It almost took me the whole trailer to realize this is supposed to be Star Trek. And do we really need ANOTHER revenge story?
"Again, the original Uhura only had ONE consensual relationship (that we know about) and that's with Scotty. And even if there had been more, who cares? You're seriously gonna judge her, when Kirk has had relations with multiple women throughout the show?" Yes yes I am and I'll tell you why. At least with Kirk we know he gets around it's a bigger trademark than his belief in beating a no win scenario. But Uhura even in the movies is described as one of the toughest, but nicest characters on the series. Someone you'd never expect to get around. Not saying that she doesn't have a sex life, she is human. But despite continuity differences and mind control I am just surprised she got 3 out of the original 7 whether she did it knowingly or not.
"But Uhura even in the movies is described as one of the toughest, but nicest characters on the series. Someone you'd never expect to get around. Not saying that she doesn't have a sex life, she is human. But despite continuity differences and mind control I am just surprised she got 3 out of the original 7 whether she did it knowingly or not."
That has less to do with the character and more to do with writers thinking, "Well, the one woman on the crew has to hook up with SOMEBODY." And I frankly don't think you can call it getting around, when a) you're referring to two different continuities, and thus two different versions of the character who have nothing to do with the other's love life, and b) in the continuity where she kissed two of those people, she was only mentally consenting to one of them, and it didn't spark an actual relationship. That equals her having ONE ACTUAL RELATIONSHIP per continuity.
And exactly why are you making such a big deal of her making out with three of the "main crew"? Last time I checked, three out of seven was a minority. You act like she was close to "getting" everybody.
This may have been mentioned, but I figured the floating head/energy being was kind of explained a little in Star Trek TNG - The Nth Degree, where Barclay came into contact with an alien probe, became an extreme genius and sends the Enterprise D on a massive jump to the center of the galaxy, and meets a race of floating heads/energy lifeforms known as the Cytherians.
And I figured, based on this, that the god impersonator was really a prisoner of the cytherians, where he committed some series crime of his people and they imprisoned him on that planet, and formed the barrier to prevent him from leaving. Just saying...
I've always had a different theory on "God" in this movie, this one using canon sources. In the Next Gen episode "The Nth Degree" an alien probe gives Barcaly a vastly superior intellect which he uses to upgrade the ship's propulsion system to allow it travel a great distance where they encounter a Cytherian (?). The alien is represented as simply a ghostly head on the ship's bridge. The alien is an explorer but unlike the Federation it doesn't "seek out new life" it brings it in through this probe. The alien and the Enterprise spend some time with the alien in a cultural and technological exchange and is sent back to Federation space unharmed, Barcaly returned to normal and not retaining the knowledge he had gained. Presumably the technological leaps he achieved were undone too without record. It's my theory the "God" we see in this movie is an imprisoned Cytherian who did something similar to Sybok in hopes of escaping. This "might" explain how the Enterprise got to the center of the galaxy so quickly (which through TNG was retconed to being unreachable in a short time like we see in the movie.) Sybok "could have" encountered a similar probe and had a similar experience as Barcaly and given knowledge that temporarily gave the Enterprise greater speed and range that... somehow pulled the Klingons with it.... That somehow was all done again at the end of the movie... and then somehow forgotten. Okay, it all falls apart there. This is why I pretty much ignore STV and pretend it never happened. ;)
Don't worry Lewis, I didn't feel like your Schlock reference had to go all that far. Heck, the *first thing* that came to mind when I heard that the god thingy was at the "galactic core" was what Petey would make of him.
Wow. It’s been too long since I commented, though I’ve kept watching. It’s interesting to see this review of the comic of one of only two Star Trek films I don’t like. (The other is Insurrection; yes, I’m OK with both the original and Nemesis.) ST5 is one of the few I try to avoid, rather than not seek out. But what intrigued me was your synopsis actually made it seem inoffensive -- everything but Shatner’s quotes. There were many wrong things, but the wrongness rarely bothered me. It really was the details and how they were handled that made the film not work for me. (Though I agree with Alexander Chance and CatC that the McCoy pain scene was pretty good.) That’s different from Insurrection, where it was a lot of the details I enjoyed (including Gilbert and Sullivan as a weapon but not including breast jokes) but the overall story was the big problem. Or, well, I actually thought the Son’a were OK villains; it was the Ba’ku who didn’t work, as SFDebris chronicled.
One thing that isn’t small is the conflict between ST5 and Voyager. Central to this movie is that traveling to the center of the galaxy from one its spiral arms takes, to be charitable, a few days. Whereas traveling a distance only a few times greater, with more advanced engines, would take 70 years. That is one thing that does bother me. Even ignoring Voyager, making it a quick trip to the center of the galaxy feels wrong.
I always had a problem with “Why does God need a spaceship?” not merely because they had already met a god(-like alien) who wanted their starship in TOS, but because there have been many mythologies with powerful gods who still needed transport. Now, a transcendent, omnipresent deity as this thing is pretending to be, OK. That makes the question technically valid. But it always struck me as odd. In no way did that question fit in with Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.
Funny that in the time after you released this, SFDebris released his “Way to Eden” review. I’m surprised he didn’t mention Sha Ka Ree at all in it.
That reminds me, might I recommend, Linkara, that along with the adaptations of the Trek movies, you also review the comic prequels to the to the J.J. Trek movies -- Countdown to Star Trek and Countdown Into Darkness. (Don’t let the “Countdown” in their names get you down.) In fact, if you’re still looking for a crossover with SFDebris (if those 2 lines of his didn’t satiate you), these might work well. You’re looking at every comic adaptation; he’s looking at every Trek film, but the Countdown comics connect to both of the J.J. movies, adding to the stories, while being distinct. I think these reviews would serve as useful supplementals to both of your main series.
I should have said more earlier in the week but the movie is screwy and the comic at least tried to make a bit more sense of it.
I had fallen behind on the AT4W videos, and I've spending time catching up, so sorry if this is a little late.
I can't believe you referenced "The Q Continuum" novels! I have never heard another living soul talk about them before. I read them many years ago, and even today, they remain one of my favorite novels in the Star Trek Extended Universe, not to mention one of my favorite trilogies of all time. I'm happy to know that you know of The One and was able to put the connection together of him and "God" beyond the Barrier.
I love those books because you get to see some of Q's past, and why he is the way he is. Because Q is one of my favorite Star Trek characters, I enjoy any episode, or novel that he's in (except Q in Voyager, and the novel Q-Squared...those are awful in my opinion). I love how you see the three other god-like beings who get the younger Q to follow along with their schemes. The One, 0, and (*) (however you pronounce that, I always called it "Star", though I think he's the Beta XII-A entity form the TOS episode "Day of the Dove") had a major influence on Q and we see how he came to regret some of his actions. You get some real character development for Q beyond what they have on the shows.
Sure, it's non-canon, but in my mind it fits the Q we see from the shows, and in my own mind, I consider it canon.
Sorry for nerding out on you like this, but I'm just excited that someone else has read those books. I may read them again now just because you referencing them has got me thinking about it. Maybe even do a review of them on my blog.
Thanks, Linkara! You're awesome!
OH NO. AGEISM.
ENGAGE TUMBLR SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR MODE. THAT'LL SHOW THEM.
"OH NO. AGEISM.
ENGAGE TUMBLR SOCIAL JUSTICE WARRIOR MODE. THAT'LL SHOW THEM."
OH NO. ANONYMOUS POSTER.
ENGAGE "NOT GIVING A DAMN" MODE.
Unfortunately, I have fallen behind on my AT4W viewings so I apologize for the late comment.
But now that we have gotten that out of the way, you have brought up a lot of pretty good points. What was the point of making Uhura do a strip-tease for Sybok's followers? In addition to being degrading, that could have put her in danger. If anything, they could have just crept up on them and incapacitated the group before they could react. But we can at least be thankful that it wasn't as much of a love letter to Captain Kirk as Justice League: Act of God was for Batman.
I've never heard about books that mostly focused on the character of Q. If I may ask, is it a good read?
I kind of want to see the in-character reaction to a Deep Space Nine comic now, where Linkara is forced to confront the comic version of the Second Fleet arriving onscreen at the end of "Call to Arms" or the Starfleet charge in "Sacrifice of Angels".
"And we all know it'll just be the Defiant-WHAT THE FUNK AND WAGNEL."
This is slightly off topic, but every time I see a comic character with youngblood's disease I think of some of Joe Mariscal's ceramic work.
On Topic, I'm leaving the Star Trek discussion to the pros here.
Am I the only one who took offense to yet another DC Reboot dig? Seriously, this is starting to become an Author Tract... or Author Fillibuster....
Whatever it may be, it shows too much bias for a reviewer, and when a reviewer shows too much bias, the review suffers for it. 'Course, all reviews are biased to begin with, but it's when the bias starts to interfere with the review itself that it becomes a problem.
Take Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation for example. Hates Nintendo. Hates America. Will storm up and down the halls proclaiming how much he hates them. This starts to negatively affect his reviews as some point, making them something one has to trudge through, or worse, a reason to quit watching the show altogether.
I trust you, Linkara. And while I'm aware the definition of genius held by many is "thinks like me, but more so," you've been pretty smart. Please don't make me stop following you, I'm already three weeks behind.
Well, the comic does seem to be much of an improvement over the actual film, given that scenes are shortened or . Sadly, though, I don't think it's much of an improvement.
Anyway, good review of this comic adaptation. Can't wait for Star Trek 6.
Kirk fighting Mephisto to rescue Peter Parker and MJ's marriage... I could get behind that.
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