Star Trek V: The Final Frontier Dir: William Shatner(!)

You remember this one.
You know you do.
No?
Here's a quick reminder:
Kirk, Spock and Bones at Yosemite.
Uhura dancing suggestively.
Scotty's paunch.
Spock appears to be turning to leather.
Kirk battles and actually manages to defeat 'God.'
Oh, there's some guff involving the Romulans and the Klingons but, frankly, who cares as this is an absolute mess.
The humour, such an effective ingredient in Trek IV here feels forced and contrived.
The crew, whilst hardly at their best in the last two outings, now appear to be teetering on the brink of senility.
It has oft been said that the odd numbered Trek movies are poor and, with this as Exhibit A, it seems there is some validity to the argument.
Things are set to improve markedly with the next movie, though, so fear not.
And to think, this was released the same year the magnificent third season of The Next Generation aired.
Picard must have been laughing all the way to the holodeck.

2 out of 5

Star Trek: Generations (1994) Dir: David Carson

The first big screen outing for the Next Generation crew is something of a confused affair, not least because they have to share the limelight with some blowhard has-beens from the past for half the fucking run time.
The plot: In Kirk's latter days, just past retirement. he is on launch duties with a new incarnation of the Enterprise when a distress signal comes in.
The new captain, being a bit of a wet fish, looks to Kirk for guidance and it's not too long before Kirk is getting his hands dirty.
When a Nexus strikes the vessel, Kirk is lost, presumed dead.
In the future, in Next Generation time, one Doctor Soran (Malcolm McDowell) is the sole survivor of an apparent Romulan attack on a space station. When the crew attempt to help him, they discover he is not what he seems, having a direct link to the Enterprise aboard which Kirk seemingly perished, and he will stop at nothing to rejoin the Nexus.
Straddling two series was always going to be tricky, and it makes for a disjointed affair, with whole portions given over to one crew, then the next, then back to the first in a kind of temporal pass the parcel that is pretty jarring.
The old crew are well past their sell by date by now, and come across as a bit of an embarrassment, especially Doohan (Scotty) who was always an awkward, annoying presence, his insufferable attempts at a Scottish accent more painful with each passing year.
A most unworthy debut for perhaps the greatest crew to ever man the good ship Enterprise, though much better was to follow:
Next up, The Borg.

3 out of 5