The crew of the starship Enterprise fights not to win battles, but to end them forever.
Starring:
Directed by:
Nicholas Meyer
Rating: 7/10
Running Time: 113 minutes
Certificate: UK: PG
On DVD
Country: United States
William Shatner reprises his role as Captain James T Kirk of the starship Enterprise. Now nearing retirement, Kirk has fought the Klingons all his life, losing his son David in the battle with them for the Genesis Planet ('The Search for Spock'). However, things are changing in the Klingon Empire. Their key energy production facility on the moon Praxis has exploded and damaged the Klingon homeworld's atmosphere. The Klingons now face losing their ozone layer within half a decade. The Klingons are stretched to find a solution – they have depleted their resources in massive military expenditure and are unable to deal with the disaster alone. As a result, they seek peace talks with the Federation so that they can request aid.
Kirk does not believe in peace with the Klingons, but he is a good officer and when he is ordered to participate in the peace effort because of his prior knowledge of Klingons he does so, albeit grudgingly. Enterprise is assigned the task of escorting the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner) to Earth for talks. However, the peace effort goes badly wrong when the Chancellor's ship is fired on and the Chancellor assassinated. All the evidence points to the Enterprise as the culprit, and Kirk and McCoy (DeForest Kelly) are arrested, tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in the icy Klingon prison camp of Rura Penthe. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), the Enterprise crew, and Sulu (George Takai) who is now captain of the Excelsior must clear Kirk's name, find the real culprits and negotiate a permanent peace with the Empire before it is too late.
The final big-screen outing for the full original series crew, this film is one of the best featuring this cast. The characters are perhaps explored more fully than in any of its predecessors and the story is engaging and focused. Production values are much higher than in the previous film, the direction is much sharper, and altogether it makes for a satisfying conclusion to the work of the original crew.
Also features appearances by Michael Dorn, Christian Slater, Iman and Rene Auberjonois.
It's Got: Above-average exploration of the classic characters. Suspense and conspiracy.
It Needs: The key clues in the whodunit’ sub-plot to not be so easily found.
DVD Extras Based on the treatment recently given to previous films in the series, it’s likely there will be a Special Edition with added features at some point. Extras: Theatrical trailer, Teaser trailer. DVD Extras Rating: 1/10
Summary
Superior in every way to 'The Final Frontier’, this film allowed the classic cast to retire with a bang and covered some key events in the development of the Star Trek universe.
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