10 Worst CGI Moments In Star Trek

8. Star Trek V - The Final Frontier - Overall Effects

Star Trek Enterprise Alien
CBS

The Final Frontier has its problems. It was beset with production issues from the off, not least because of the rushed production schedule and the untried director. However, for the purpose of this list, its biggest drawback was the fact that Industrial Light and Magic, who had provided the effects on all three previous films were working on Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. That meant that they were unavailable to cover the effects and it really shows.

There are many issues. The studio model of the Enterprise was the same one that had been produced by ILM for the Motion Picture, but had been damaged and had to be repainted, adding to the time delays. Shatner insisted on watching all pre-vis for the effects, adding large amounts of time to change anything he didn't like. The ending sequence, originally planned to feature fire breathing rock men, was replaced with a blob of light that would chase Kirk when the results of the actor in the rubber suit looked as ridiculous as it sounds.

Many of the effects on the film were either reused from the Voyage Home (the shot in Spacedock), filmed on set or rear projected, which was a cheaper way of producing CGI shots.

The end result was, despite the best of intentions going in, Star Trek V looked cheap. However, one massive positive that the film has, while nothing to do with the effects, was the glorious return of Jerry Goldsmith to score the film, bringing back the Star Trek march from the Motion Picture.

Contributor
Contributor

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