A Look Back: Star Trek V – The Final Frontier
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) is widely considered the worst of the six The Original Series (1966 – 1969) movies. A Vulcan visionary, Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill), engineers a hostage situation on the planet of galactic peace, Nimbus III – a planet that hosts ambassadors from the Federation, the Klingon Empire, and the Romulan Empire. The Enterprise 1701-A, under the command of James T. Kirk (William Shatner), is sent to neutralise the situation and rescue the hostages. While Kirk’s mission initially seems successful, the hostages turn on Kirk and his crew. They have become fanatical supporters of Sybok, who has the power to explore a person’s pain, and free…
A Look Back: Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan
After Star Trek: The Motion Picture’s (1979) modest reception, Paramount handed the franchise’s reins to writer/director Nicholas Meyer. Among Meyer’s successes to that point had been the best-selling novel and screenplay adaptation The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976), and writing/directing the time-travel thriller Time After Time (1979). Meyer had not seen any of Star Trek: The Original Series (1966 – 1969), and proceeded to watch it all. Imagine that! He watched it to familiarise himself with the universe, the characters, and the stories they were telling. I seriously can’t imagine that the brainstrust behind the current incarnations of Star Trek – Star Trek: Discovery (2017 – please let it end) and Star…