20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
17. Gene Roddenberry Felt That William Shatner Stole His Idea For The God Thing
Gene Roddenberry came close to suing William Shatner over the story ideas behind Star Trek V. In the released film, Sybok brings the crew of the Enterprise face to face with a creature calling itself God. This leads to the infamous line - What Does God Need With A Starship?
Before Star Trek: Phase II had evolved into Star Trek: The Motion Picture, there was The God Thing, a Trek story written by Roddenberry. Here, God is a starship from another dimension. It travels throughout the galaxy, sending probes to other races, taking different forms. One such probe appears on the Enterprise, taking the appearance of Jesus.
The story was not picked up for production, something that Roddenberry would later attribute to religious attitudes in the studio. He then felt that at least some of his ideas were taken by Shatner and reworked into the plot of the Final Frontier. He and his lawyer, Leonard Maizlish, prepared a lawsuit against the actor, but they then dropped it before it even proceeded to trial.