William Shatner Regrets Directing Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

Honey, we ALL regret it!

He definitely let his ego get the better of him here. I get the feeling he demanded to direct this movie because he was jealous of the fact that Leonard was allowed to direct the two previous movies, and I think in Shatner's own vanity and conceit he thought that he could do better. You could tell he was trying to top the comedy aspects of Star Trek IV and its social message of saving the whales. There were a lot of attempts at comedy in this movie, and there isn't really a bigger story than man searching for his creator.

From what I remember ST V started out kinda good in a desert but then immediately went downhill when the uplifting Star Trek theme came on, really so out of place it ruined the whole mood for the rest of the picture. The Yosemite scenes were pretty boring and awful. Probably the worst thing about this movie was when they were climbing up those ladders in the turbo shaft and you can see the cheap set walls shake in the background.

What killed the movie for me was how easily the bridge crew of the Enterprise was turned by Sybok.

The notion of Kirk, Spock and McCoy hanging out in Yosemite instantly bought from me a strange affection that has endured through the years. I won't quibble with the 5.5 rating, but V will always have a place in my heart.

https://www.quora.com/What-should-William-Shatner-have-done-differently-with-Star-Trek-V/answer/John-Cronce-1

He should have listened to producer Harve Bennett, who warned him about how untenable his basic premise was.

He said to Shatner, “Imagine you pick up TV Guide and read, ‘STAR TREK—Science Fiction. The crew of the Enterprise fly off on a search to find God.’” Bennett argued that everyone would immediately assume that the crew would not find God—and so they know how it ends before they see the opening credits roll.

Shatner’s initial inspiration—the passionate belief of televangelists that they were hearing directly from God despite their public moral and ethical downfalls in the 1980s—could have been good (not great) Trek. Probing a current event through the lens of science fiction.

But he stubbornly refused to seek alternatives to his simple-minded, heavy-handed premise.

His story was as subtle as a hand grenade in a bowl of oatmeal.

To be fair, he compromised—again and again—with the actors and others at Paramount. Which eliminated the most ill-conceived parts of the script, including the requirement that McCoy, Spock and everybody else on the ship betray Kirk of their own free will after being persuaded by the 23rd-century televangelist, who had no mind control powers.

So he sacrificed the worst elements of his story. The movie actually could have been worse. Believe it or not.

But it was like putting lipstick on a pig. It was still a pig.

I wonder if there was any trepidation from the rest of the cast over the idea of William Shatner directing them? George Takei and James Doohan in particular, complained throughout the years about the notion that William Shatner had a giant ego and looked down upon his fellow cast members.

I like ST5! I’ve watched it more than all the TNG films plus the three Chris Pine films combined.

ST5 has heart and feels like a ST episode. If anything, the cheesy effects and sometimes awkward humor only enhance this perception for me.