How William Shatner Ruined Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, According To One Producer
The original five-year mission of the starship Enterprise when "Star Trek" had its classic television run from 1966 to 1969 was to "explore strange new worlds" and "seek out new life and new civilizations." From there, the mission continued with 1979's "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," a movie that Captain Kirk actor William Shatner said finally showed the series' potential. However, by the time the film "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" came out in 1989, producer Harve Bennett felt the Enterprise crew strayed too far from its mission by seeking something more existential: the existence of God.
In a 1993 interview published in Star Trek Explorer magazine, Bennett specifically blamed Shatner for the misfortunes of the film since the star also directed it. "I would say that 'Star Trek V' was the weakest of the pictures, both in terms of coherency and its box office, and [what] I would say without shirking responsibility is that the problem was Bill had story approval," Bennett said. "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."
The producer, who died in 2015 at age 84, also said the plotline for "Star Trek V" made it a tough sell for TV. "I know that if you say in a TV logline, '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!" Bennett told Star Trek Explorer.
Bennett says Star Trek V 'was doomed by its premise'
Harve Bennett was no stranger to making "Star Trek" features by the time "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier" came along since he joined the film franchise as a producer on 1982's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan." Despite shepherding three "Star Trek" movies before "Star Trek V," Bennett found his experience no match for the clout William Shatner earned as the star of the classic TV-turned-film series. As such, the storyline — where Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) Vulcan half-brother, Sybok (Laurence Luckebill), takes hostages in a ploy to use the Enterprise in his search for God — stayed intact.
"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!'" Bennett told Star Trek Explorer. He thought the film, which was Shatner's feature directorial debut, was a good trip but not a strong "Star Trek" story. "It was doomed by its premise," Bennett said. "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."
Despite a solid tally for "Star Trek V" at the worldwide box office — it earned $70.2 million against a $30 million budget — it wasn't enough for Shatner to return to the director's chair for the next "Star Trek" film. Instead, 1991's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" was directed by Nicholas Meyer.