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to play Henry Jones in the third Indian Jones film instead... good call! Sybok is played by actor Laurence Luckinbilll, who has the task of attempting to convince Kirk that the Enterprise is the right craft to complete his premonition that he has received from God. Luckinbilll has the charisma to fill the screen with his personality, but you cannot help thinking that the character was a last minute thought as the God storyline is a pretty lame thing to fall back on. In fact it is only Dr McCoy that seems to get the lighter ride, with Kirk being beaten up and forced to relinquish Command, Spock having family issues and the rest of the cast being locked out for what seems like the remainder of the film, it is clear that the film has indeed to go to the final frontier.

There are a number of problems with the film; firstly the problem is William Shatner. In an attempt to emulate the success that Leonard Nimoy has had as director of Trek III and Trek IV, Shatner has attempted to put his own spin on the films and this has backfired completely. The look of the film is not as epic as you would expect from a film that is trying to continue o from the massively entertaining Trek IV. The direction of over the shoulder shots and alternate angles give the film the feel of a TV two part show rather than an epic film that this is supposed to be.

Secondly, the plot is somewhat smaller in impact and nature than before and doesn't seem to have the gravity of a Star Trek film; this makes the film feel uncomfortable to watch. A good example with the script is the scene with Uhura and Scotty flirting together on the bridge or the fact that the Enterprise now has a staggering 72 decks when before it only had 11! This is never explained and yet can only be assumed that this is a mistake that continuity didn't pick up. Also the way the Enterprise has been fitted out looks just ugly, pipes run across the corridors that the cast have to manoeuvre and lift a leg to get themselves over to get through, this doesn't work at all.

Thirdly, the ending with Kirk being attacked was cut due to budget constraints. This meant an alternate ending had to be thought of and what has happened has meant the film ends on a whimper rather than a bang.

It's hardly a surprise to learn that production had its own problems; Paramount didn't really want to be flexible for the release date of August 1989. This was so that the film could compete with the big releases of Batman, James Bond, and Indiana Jones and

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