6. Lose The Klingons, Or Make Them Allies
Speaking of turning awesome things into jokes.... Here come the Klingons! Well, they're not a joke, exactly. Shatner sure finds a way to take the piss out of the Klingons, though - who are in this story because... Because... Because... um... they're Klingons? Klingons, might I add, who spend precious little time shooting at the Enterprise and missing wildly when they do. They're a problem in the story that exists, and they're only there to solve other story problems: the antagonist doesn't want to hurt anyone and the Enterprise can't fight the Big Bad at the end. Allow me to connect the dots the writers did not. Captain Klaa (again, feel free to face palm) and his crew are a rogue military unit, who commit an unauthorized attack on the Enterprise. Klaa's the Klingon equivalent of a crazy redneck - a member of the Michigan Militia or something. The only thing the guy is missing is a John Deere hat and a "Bat'leths don't kill people, Klingons kill people!" bumper sticker on the back of his Bird Of Prey. We never see the fear or paranoia or whatever the hell it is that drives Klaa, when he should be a man haunted by his past, desperate for glory. That would tie back to Kirk and his son and enrich the story's themes of whether we're better off leaving the past in the past. Luckily, Captain Klaa never put a dent in the Klingon's rep. At the same time of Star Trek V's release, we had Worf on The Next Generation, who would then transition over to Deep Space Nine - still the greatest source for Klingon badassery in all of Star Trek.