20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

A sure-fire way to make a Trekkies' eye twitch is to them that Shades of Gray is the best episode of the show. There's a similar reaction if one says the same about Star Trek V. Both productions ran into similar issues behind-the-scenes that led, at least in part, to some of the quality problems.

Star Trek V and The Next Generation's second season were both in production at the same time. While the latter was largely seen as an improvement in the show's overall quality, it is saddled with the show's worst episode. Shades of Gray exists because of 1988 Writer's Guild of America strike. So, at least in part, does Star Trek V.

The strike meant that any unionized writer in Hollywood was unable to either produce or review, any scripts at the time. This included scripts that were already in production - like Star Trek V. If there is a constant feeling throughout the film, it is that a good idea was present, though it needed far tighter handling and more fleshing out. However, with the release date set in stone, there simply wasn't time to wait and see how long the strike would last.

This led to the movie's script going into production as it was. The results more or less speak for themselves.