Star Trek V: The Final Frontier: Special Edition (1989)

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General		Extras
Category	Star Trek	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Wiiliam Shatner (Director) And Liz Shatner Informational Subtitles-Text Commentary By Michael Okuda And Denise Okuda Featurette-Herman Zimmerman: A Tribute Interviews-Crew-William Shatner (Director) Featurette-Cosmic Thoughts, A Green Future? Interviews-Cast-That Klingon Couple Featurette-Harve Bennett's Pitch, The Journey, Gallery-Make-Up Tests, Pre-Visualization Models, Rockman In The Raw Featurette-Star Trek V Press Conference Gallery-Production Gallery Storyboards-3 Deleted Scenes-4 Theatrical Trailer-2 TV Spots-7
Rating
Year Of Production	1989
Running Time	102
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	William Shatner
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	William Shatner Leonard Nimoy DeForest Kelley James Doohan Walter Koenig Nichelle Nichols George Takei David Warner Laurence Luckinbill Charles Cooper Cynthia Gouw Todd Bryant Spice Williams
Case	?
RPI	$29.95	Music	Jerry Goldsmith Dan Kuramoto

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Greek English Spanish French Hebrew Croatian Italian Dutch Portuguese Slovenian Serbian English Titling Spanish Titling French Titling Italian Titling English Audio Commentary Spanish Audio Commentary French Audio Commentary Italian Audio Commentary English Text Commentary Spanish Text Commentary French Text Commentary Italian Text Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is the almost universally deplored Star Trek movie. Personally, I think it really does get a bit of a bum rap. Sure, it is not like the first four movies and sits kind of awkwardly alongside them. It lacks the stunning cinematic scope of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and the melodramatic, almost operatic style of Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. Indeed, it doesn’t feel all that much like a big screen movie at all. And maybe that is why so many people hated it and why I tend to really enjoy it.

    For those of you out there who are unfamiliar with the plot of this instalment, basically it goes something like this: on Nimbus III, a planet touted as the last chance for galactic peace, a Vulcan with emotions named Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) sets out to capture a starship to find the ultimate answers. On Earth, the Enterprise crew – Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy (DeForrest Kelley), and Captain Spock (Leonard Nimoy) – are vacationing. When news reaches them that Sybok has captured the Federation, Klingon and Romulan Ambassadors on Nimbus III, they are despatched at once to rescue them on a broken Enterprise with a less-than-skeleton crew. However, at the same time, a Klingon warrior, bored with destroying space junk, sees this as a chance at glorious battle and sets out to intercept the Enterprise at Nimbus III.

    Okay, to start off with, yes, this one is uncategorically one for the fans. If you’re not a Star Trek fan, indeed if you are not an Original Trek fan, leave the cinema quietly. However, what I think threw most fans about The Final Frontier is that they did not quite get that this one, more than any of the others, was meant to be a comedy about theology. If you go to it with that in mind, you are in for some fun, because this movie is hilarious if you are a fan.

    Sure, it has its low points. The bar fight sequence with the cat-woman is just sad. But it becomes funny the more you watch it. So stick you tongue in your cheek, ladies and gentlemen, and laugh. It’s corny, it’s silly, it’s throwaway – it’s fun! Plus, the budgetary constraints really limited the ending of the film, and the final sequence should have been an impressive chase by a cluster of ‘rock-men’ (is anybody else thinking Galaxy Quest?).

    I am probably a few years too late to start making converts, and if you hate this movie, well fine. But it has its moments, and I for one was very impressed with a few sequences, most notably the observation deck sequence between Kirk, McCoy, Spock and Sybok. This moment of the film has definite passion and some impressive acting, and whatever you say about the rest, you have to watch this part as it gives you a very interesting insight into the characters.

    Of course, if you do like this film, I guess you will just have to keep reading to see if this new Special Edition is really as ‘special’ as the title suggests...

Video

    Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the image is indeed 16x9 enhanced, thereby making this Special Edition already one better than the original R4 (and R1) release.

    Overall, the picture is quite impressive, although showing its age a little. It has a definite transitional feel, predating the digital mastery that makes its successors in the series such visually impressive feats. That said, the image is still nicely rendered, if a touch too grainy at times, and shadow detail is very good.

    Colours are well saturated and generally nicely balanced, although lacking the real glow of the later films. I also felt that, in this respect, the transfer of the special edition release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture was done better.

    There are no apparent MPEG artefacts, and film-to-video transfer artefacts were limited to some minor aliasing and moire effect on closely grouped lines in the background. You can see this in the rock texture where Kirk is climbing El Capitan at Yosemite National Park.

    Dirt is a bit of a problem with a big splotch in the middle of the screen at 23:31. This is a fault with the source, though, and not the transfer. One interesting thing I did notice, though, was that the irritating white dot at the top of the screen during Kirk’s plummet from El Capitan, that so obviously gave the sequence away as an fx shot in previous releases of the film, has been digitally altered out.

    Subtitles are available in English, Greek, Spanish, French, Hebrew, Croatian, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Slovenian, and Serbian. They are white with a grey border, clear and easy to read, and pretty-much follow the dialogue.

    The dual-layer pause is at 58:20. It occurs during a pause in dialogue and is evident by a noticeable drop in ambient noise. Otherwise it is not distracting.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is available in English, German and French 5.1 Dolby Digital. Although encoded at the same bitrate as the previous release (448Kb/s), having listened to both R4 releases back-to-back, I cannot help but feel that this new release has a more balanced mix.

    As before, dialogue is no problem, and neither is audio sync.

    However, I felt there was more use of the surrounds in this edition, not merely in a directional cue manner (although that too), but also in terms of the breadth of the immaculate musical score done by one of the best composers to score the Star Trek franchise, Jerry Goldsmith.

    The subwoofer was used to aggressively score certain sequences, such as the riding figure of Death in the desert at the beginning, and the scene in the ‘rock arena’ towards the end.

    The foreign language tracks were fine, but as always the overdubbing of the dialogue takes with it some of the ambience and as a result the tracks often feel thinner than the original English.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menus

    All menus are presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. The main menus have a 2.0 Dolby Surround audio track, with the track on Disc 1 containing ambient ship noise and the track on Disc 2 containing part of the theme. The other menus are silent.

Disc 1

Audio Commentary – William Shatner (director/actor) and Liz Shatner

    Presented in 2.0 Dolby Surround, this audio track is by director/actor/co-writer William Shatner and daughter Liz Shatner who worked on the production of the movie and wrote a book about it afterwards. These two play fairly well together and although there are a few too many long pauses where they apparently let the film ‘speak for itself’, what they have to say is generally on point and interesting. Comes with a choice of subtitles in English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Text Commentary – Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda

    As always, Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda’s text commentaries are bursting with insightful anecdotes and amusing side tales. This one is especially interesting and well worth sitting through. The text is available in English, French, Italian and Spanish.

Disc 2

The Star Trek Universe

    There are five featurettes here:

• Herman Zimmerman: A Tribute (19:08) – as the title suggests, this is a tribute to production designer Herman Zimmerman who has worked on Star Trek through its various incarnations.
• Original Interview: William Shatner (14:37) – this is a very in-depth interview with Bill sitting up at Yosemite about to shoot the title sequence of the movie discussing his thoughts on the film and his ideas behind it. Very interesting look into what Shatner wanted this movie to be.
• Cosmic Thoughts (13:05) – a look at how Star Trek has dealt with issues of religion and theology throughout its run, and how this film was the final culmination of that process.
• That Klingon Couple (13:05) – an interview with Todd Bryant and Spice Williams who play the Klingon couple hunting down Kirk and the Enterprise. Quite amusing.
• A Green Future? (9:24) – a look at filming at Yosemite, which is generally not permitted, and the idea that in the future the great national parks of the world will still exist and be recreational settings for spiritual nourishment and the idea that technology does not suffice in order to keep us human.

Production

    There are six featurettes here:

• Harve Bennett’s Pitch (1:42) – an interview with co-writer and producer Harve Bennett who has always had difficulty doing the Vulcan salute.
• The Journey (28:55) – recent featurette including interviews with surviving cast and crew, regarding Star Trek V. Also includes on the set footage. Definitely worth a watch, giving valuable insight into the making of the movie and the motivations, doubts and inspirations of all those involved.
• Make-Up Tests (9:49) – as the title suggests, this is a series of concept photos and test shots used for the make-up effects for the aliens
• Pre-Visualization Models (1:40) – photos of simple models and the like used to map out various fx shots
• Rockman In The Raw (5:37) – includes concept photos and some original test footage all put to some very creepy music never used in the film.
• Star Trek V Press Conference (13:43) – the press conference for the film done on the final day of shooting

Archives

    This is divided into two categories:

• Production Gallery (4:04) – still shots from the making of the film
• Storyboards – there are three sets of stills here showing the conceptual artwork used to sort out technical details before shooting during three key sequences: the descent to Sha Ka Ree; The Face Of God scene and; the Escape, which originally included the attack of the ‘rock men’ and featured all three of the central characters

Deleted Scenes

    Presented in 2.35:1 letterbox, there are five deleted scenes:

• Mount Rushmore (0:18)
• Insults (2:03)
• Behold Paradise (0:51)
• Spock’s Pain (1:02)

Advertising

• Theatrical Trailer 1 (2:34) – presented in 1.85:1, letterboxed.
• Theatrical Trailer 2 (1:27) – presented in 2.35:1, letterboxed.
• TV Spot “Vacation Is Over” (0:31)
• TV Spot “Renegade” (0:31)
• TV Spot “Challenge Of Rebellion” (0:31)
• TV Spot “Brothers” (0:31)
• TV Spot “Beyond” (0:31)
• TV Spot “Adventure” (0:31)
• TV Spot “Warp Speed Now” (0:31)

    Obviously, this new release is far superior to any previous release, given that the previous R1 and R4 releases were not 16x9 enhanced and the German anamorphic transfer was in the wrong aspect ratio. The R1 release would appear to be identical in terms of special features and movie content, making the differences only the NTSC/PAL format and the language options. Choose with your wallet.

    Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is the underrated comedic movie of the Star Trek series. If you go to it with a smile, you will actually enjoy it.

    The video is much better than the original release, and I am so glad they finally did this film a service by releasing it in its proper aspect ratio with a 16x9 enhanced image.

    The sound is also a nicely rendered 5.1 Dolby Digital mix.

    The extras are excellent and well worth going through, which is (I am beginning to find) a rarity.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall