In 1994, Tupac Shakur casually redeemed the most-hated Star Trek feature film, at least, up until that time. In the opening of his song “Pain,” you hear a voice say with a certain amount of self-aware aplomb: “I couldn’t help but notice your pain.” Just five years after the release of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Tupac was making a deep cut to that controversial sci-fi epic, but sampling a quote from Spock’s (Leonard Nimoy) estranged brother (Sybok), who, in the context of the quote, was talking to God.
Thirty-seven years after its release on June 9, 1989, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier remains the butt of several jokes among hardcore Trek fans, not limited to various jabs in Lower Decks, as well as the epic rant from Shatner, turned into an earworm song in 2009 from Fall on Your Sword, “Shatner on the Mount.” So, with this film nearly 40 years old, the questions about whether The Final Frontier is good or bad, or hilarious, or wonderful, suddenly seem like all the wrong questions. The more interesting truth about The Final Frontier is that today, in and out of sci-fi circles, this strange 1989 flop remains not only charming but unique in its upbeat humanist message.
