10 Star Trek Actors Who Became Directors

6. William Shatner

Riker Johnathan Frakes Doug Jones Saru Directing Star Trek Discovery TNG Next Generation
Paramount

Star Trek V is infamous in many ways, with much of the ridicule directed toward William Shatner as director. While there's certainly some fair criticisms to make, one must take the timing of production, as well as the budget, into account.

To start with two massive positives, Shatner managed to get Jerry Goldsmith to return to score the film, marking his first Trek outing since The Motion Picture. Second, the film contains the best scenes of the Trio from the entire franchise. Who hasn't attempted to toast a marshmellon at this point?

With ILM busy on The Last Crusade, the effects were shopped out to cheaper companies, and it shows. The film's climax is also slightly rushed, owing to the budget (and honestly, the design) of Shatner's rock monsters just ballooning.

In the end, The Final Frontier is certainly one of the weakest Trek films, with some of the more melodramatic moments contributing to this. Though this would spell the end of Shatner's directing career, at least in Star Trek, is it truly that bad? Perhaps time will tell.

 
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Writer. Reader. Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick