From: YANJUNA@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu
Subject: Re: Star Trek V
Organization: Yale University
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 03:39:17 EST

   Since people are cataloguing what they liked about STV, I might as well
put in my two credits' worth:  I consider STV my least favorite of the
movies as a whole, but there are parts which I liked:
 
  What I liked:
   1) McCoy.  It gave him (finally) something substantive to do, AND
it sort of explained why he is such a cynic.
   2) Parts of the vacation:  Not necessarily "row your boat", but I did
like the campfire scene.
 
   What I hated:
   1) Kirk as demi-God hero:  Kirk had to be a "mythical" hero with that
"dying alone" crap.  He had to be the one who beat up every insurgent
single handed when they were trying to rescue the prisoners.  He had to be
the one who asked "What does God need with a spaceship"  (Logically, it
should have been Spock who said it.)  and worst of all... "I need my pain!"
A bit of heroics is fine, but this was worse than a Japanese comic book.
    2) Spock as an idiot:  In Trek IV it worked because a) it was more subtle
b) Spock did not have his memory back fully; c) Spock was stuck in the all-too
human past.  In this movie, there was no reason for Spock to act that stupidly
("Be one with the horse?!) other than for cheap laughs.
    Also, when he insists at the end that the Klingon general override the
Klingon captain, Shatner utterly failed in giving Spock the necessary resolve
and weight to make that request credible.  Also "not in front of the Klingons"
line.  Yes, it was funny when we first heard it, but the more and more I think
back on it, the less and less funny it becomes, and more and more it makes
Spock look like an idiot.
    3) Uhura as a slut:  No matter what happened, Uhura had always (in TOS)
acted professionally.  Even when their minds were being "controlled", Sulu and
Checov acted more or less professionally.  Uhura not only "put out" for
Scotty, acting very much differently from her previously set personality, but
was entirely unprofessional in carrying out her duties.  Also the nude dance
sequence was entirely embarrassing.  (I really cannot bear to see those aliens
crawling up to her crying "a woman! a woman!)
    4): Characters generally acting as a cartoon version of themselves: Scotty
bumping his head on the column for instance.
    5): This one is very much a personal bias, but... the actress who played
the Romulan ambassador got her role because she was a winner in Ed McMahon's
Star Search,  as a spokesmodel.  Which explains why she looked great, but
couldn't act.
    6): Incompetent Klingon:  Playing off the demi-God Kirk problem, the
Klingon captain states "He wants to fight the great James T Kirk."  Yet,
when the confrontation time comes around, we do not see how Spock and the
Klingon General managed to bring down this hot shot.  Instead all we see is
him acting like a wimp at the end, and saying "I apologize"?!!!
 
    The entire movie felt like a parody of ST than ST.  The surfaces seemed
right, but none of the characters were taken seriously,  Whereas STIV was
funny because we had a deep understanding of the characters.  As far as
the plot itself goes, well, it wasn't great, but it wasn't godawful either.
It had some potential, but the actual script and the directing utterly failed
to take advantage of it.
   STI:TMP at least had the saving grace of some neat special effects and
it at least did not insult the characters.  The only effect worth seeing on
STV was the face of God sequence which lasted perhaps a minute at most.
 
      Junsok Yang