Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

An original movie poster in 1989; the cast of ST:TFF (Clockwise from left)- Leonard Nimoy (Capt. Spock), George Takei (Cmdr. Hikaru Sulu), Walter Koenig (Cmdr. Pavel Chekov), James Doohan (Capt. Montgomery Scott), DeForest Kelley (Dr. Leonard McCoy), Nichelle Nichols (Cmdr. Nyota Uhura), William Shatner (Capt. James T. Kirk); the USS Enterprise-A NCC-1701-A and Klaa's Bird-of-Prey orbiting 'God's' planet at the center of the Universe; Spock, Sybok, Bones and Kirk peering at 'God' with amazement and curiosity; Klaa's bridge; Sybok, the Vulcan with emotions.
Summary

Star Trek: The Final Frontier was completed and released by Paramount Pictures in 1989. This film still dealed with Captain Kirk's crew, and took place shortly after Kirk's crew received the new USS Enterprise-A. The entire crew was on shore leave, with most of the command officers down in Yosemite National Park. There, they attempted to teach Spock simple camp traditions like campfire songs and ways to cook baked beans. Earlier in the day, Kirk had fallen while climbing the mountain El Capitan, but, fortunately a rocketpack-equipped Spock was there to catch him before certain death. Meanwhile, as the Enterprise sat idle in Spacedock, Starfleet Command ordered the ship out to deal with a diplomatic situation that was brewing on the planet Nimbus III, in the Neutral Zone. Nimbus III was a planet that was jointly administered and controlled by The Federation, the Romulans and the Klingons, as a haven for galactic peace. Unfortunately, the administration was weak and could not deal with providing resources and basic supplies to the poor that moved there with hope. The delegates of the three governments were kidnapped and held as hostages by a renegade Vulcan who was forming a peace-driven fanatical organization, and the capital city was also taken. The Enterprise was ill-equipped to deal with the mission; it was severely understaffed with only a skeleton crew and was going through some extensive repairs, as it had numerous manufacturing flaws and other problems in its quick construction. As the captives waited, the Enterprise speeded to Nimbus III.......

At the same time, a renegade Klingon commander, Captain Klaa, became aware of the political situation on Nimbus III, and realized that the Federation, in particular, would send a ship to rescue the hostages. Klaa sent his ship to the planet, cloaked, to observe and attack when the time was right. Meanwhile, the Enterprise arrived in orbit around the desert planet a few hours later, and sent down a shuttlecraft with an armed marine force. The shuttle landed about forty miles away from the city that night to avoid detection by the settlement's primitive scanning equipment. The away team moved swiftly for several miles, eventually realizing the need to get faster transportation to raid the city before the light of morning broke their cover. They sent Cmdr. Uhura to the top of a hill above a stable, to strip and lure the stablehands into a trap. It worked, and the party moved towards the city, eventually entering it. However, their cover became broken when a spotlight was cast on one of the shrouded Enterprise crew. The natives and the away team broke out into a firefight. Despite that the Enterprise crew were superbly armed with the latest phasers against the native's primitive projectile and disruptor rifles, they were certainly outnumbered by a wide margin. Sybok, the renegade Vulcan, greeted the away team and Kirk and then brought the 'hostages' in. They no longer were his hostages, as they had been brainwashed by his hard-core religious ideals. He demanded that Kirk bring them to the Enterprise, to commandeer, and to take on a quest to go to the center of the Universe, where he believed God lived. Spock recognized Sybok, and told Captain Kirk that he was his half-brother. Nothing could get in Sybok's way, even though Spock asked him to reconsider his quest, Kirk finally relented to Sybok, forming a plan to counter him and his followers in good time, and on his own terms.

As the shuttlecraft flew slowly towards the Enterprise, Kirk felt increasingly helpless, as he could not warn the Enterprise of the dangerous men that they were carrying aboard. The Klingon captain was also monitoring the shuttlecraft's approach from his cloaked ship, realizing that the timing was just right to take some human hostages. The Klingon Bird-of-Prey uncloaked and came closer to the shuttle. The Enterprise warned the shuttle of the Klingons, and Kirk acknowledged, by telling his helmsman, Sulu, to punch the shuttle's boosters for an unconventional, but speedy landing in the shuttle bay. Just as the Klingons had targeted the shuttle and fired torpedoes, the shuttle went into a momentary speed burst, evaded the torpedoes, and crashed onto the shuttle bay floor. Since the shuttlecraft was now safe, the Klingons turned their attention to the Enterprise and fired at it before it could raise its shields. However, in another turn of luck, the Enterprise was able to go into warp and fly out of the torpedoes' range. As soon as they were safe, the men scrambled out of the shuttle, and then engaged in a brief conflict as the crew attempted to subduce the intruders. Spock was ordered to pick up a fallen gun by Kirk, and shoot Sybok. Spock hesitated, and ended their only chance to regain control of the ship. Spock could not kill his own half-brother, and also refused join Sybok on his fanatical search for 'God'. Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy were thrown into the brig, while the intruders swept through their ship, taking control of it and the four-hundred crew onboard.

Sybok put the Enterprise on a course to the center of the universe, which on the long journey, provided the captives a chance to figure out how to escape. Since Starfleet had found the most resourceful and intelligent person they could find to test the redesigned brigs, who turned out to be none other than Spock, escape was impossible. After a while, and after Kirk had fussed out Spock for not ending the situation by killing Sybok, a series of morse code began to be tapped out on the brig walls, coming from an access corridor outside. The message was "Stand Back". A few seconds later, the wall exploded, revealing a generous-sized hole to escape into. Out popped the chief engineer, Mongomery Scott, who had not yet been brainwashed or captured by Sybok or his followers. As the command officers hurried for the turbolift shaft, Scotty went in the other direction, believing that he could evade the intruders. "I know this ship like the back of my hand!", he said. However, he was not looking where he was going, and hit his head hard on a low ceiling beam. He dropped to the floor unconscious, and was eventually found by one of Sybok's teams, who brought him to Sick Bay. Meanwhile, the officers reached the Turbolift service shaft, and decided to use the ladder to climb up forty decks to the conference room, where there was a secret emergency communications panel. They had already decided to avoid using the turolift itself, to avoid detection and capture. When they had climbed up about three decks, Spock branched off for a moment and came back with an even faster solution - rocket boots. He carried both the Captain and the Doctor with him, but the boots became stressed and the group slowly sank down towards the floor. At the same time, some of Sybok's followers entered the room and tried to capture them. Kirk ordered Spock to use the emergency rocket, and he did, sending them briskly up to the top deck. As they sent out the distress call, the Klingons responded back to their call, posing as a representative of Starfleet Command. Kirk gave 'Starfleet Command' the Enterprise's position and coordinates, until Sybok burst into the room and detained them.

Sybok explained that he was not brainwashing Kirk's crew, but rather helping them release painful memories of their past through understanding and empathy. He proceeded to Doctor McCoy and Spock, leading through and releasing their pains. Immediately, they saw Sybok's quest in a completely new and positive light. Kirk refused to follow through, preferring to keep his memories that 'defined a person's personality'. Sybok decided to turn over command of the ship back to Kirk under no special conditions. Kirk had the option of turning the Enterprise around, but did not exercise that option. Kirk too was curious about seeing 'God'. They arrived at the center of the universe a few hours later, and entered orbit of the sole planet there, Shakaree, which Vulcan legend indicated as 'God's' residence. They took a shuttle to the surface. Upon landing, an unknown force controlled the shuttle and landed it on a dry, desolate plain. The away team walked toward the only landmark within sight, a group of hills several miles away. Upon arriving there, Sybok shouted that they had traveled far and that they wished to see 'God'. At once, many rock columns burst from the ground surrounding them. Within this semi-circle, a blue cloud appeared and identified itself as 'God'. Later on, the entity and the away team went into light discussion, until 'God' asked how they had traveled to the universe's center. Sybok claimed that they traveled on a starship, breached the Great Barrier then arrived on the present planet. 'God' became interested in the ship, and expressed his need for the ship to spread His influence throughout the universe. Kirk countered, asking, "Why does God need a starship?" This and other questions posed by Kirk made the entity angry, striking Kirk with a bolt of lightning. Spock and then Sybok asked why 'God' had done this, and 'God' said it was because he doubted His existence. More questions drove the entity to strike Spock with another bolt, and Sybok decided to merge with 'God' to learn of His authenticity, as well to stall the creature and open a means of escape for the three member away team. As the team escaped, Kirk ordered the Enterprise to fire photon torpedoes on the creature. This weakened, but did not kill the entity completely, making it even angrier.

When Kirk, Spock and the Doctor reached the shuttlecraft several miles away, they found out that 'God' had already damaged it. At the same time, high up in orbit, the Enterprise was surprise-attacked by the Klingons, before it could raise its shields in time. The attack knocked out several systems and damaged the transporter, so that only two people could be transported to the ship. Captain Kirk ordered the transporter chief to take Spock and McCoy, despite their protests. With nothing else to do, and with 'God' coming closer towards him, Kirk began to climb a small hill. 'God' spotted him and readied itself to shoot him with another bolt of lightning. Before it could fire at Kirk, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey rose over the hill and shot at the creature, destroying it forever. Kirk was then transported on board, and was surprised to see who their gunner was - Spock. It turned out the Captain Klaa had always been under General Korrd's command. General Korrd was the aged Klingon delegate to Nimbus III. Klaa had defied his orders and was forced to apologize to Kirk for the damage that he had inflicted on the Enterprise. That night, the two crews held a banquet of friendship aboard the Enterprise. During the event, Spock pondered about the existence of a true God and thought about his dead half-brother. When the crew returned to Earth, they returned once again to enjoy the rest of their disrupted shore leave. The major staff officers returned to Yosemite continuing to teach Spock about human camping traditions..........









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