It seems the Star Trek movie franchise took itself less seriously as time went on. "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" parlayed a lot of humor into the script, and it's follow up appeared to up the ante whenever the principal players were on screen. The best was when Scotty (James Doohan) knocked himself out explaining how he knew the Enterprise like the back of his hand. Speaking of which, it appeared Scotty and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) packed on a few pounds between films, didn't they? And maybe it's just me, but it seemed like DeForest Kelley might have been under the influence during the first half of the picture.
Actually there was a germ of a good idea in the story for an effective sci-fi film. Sybok's (Laurence Luckinbill) empath power taken to it's extreme was an effective device to explain how he got followers to come over to his side. The search for Sha Ka Ree beyond the Great Barrier at the Center of the Galaxy would have been made more effective however if it wasn't insinuated that God was on the other side. That whole concept fell apart as soon as Kirk asked the logical question - What does God need with a starship?
Overall not a terrible movie, but throughout there seemed to be a sense of something lacking. The camaraderie between Kirk, Spock and McCoy didn't seem as natural here as in the past films, and 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' just wasn't going to fix it.
Actually there was a germ of a good idea in the story for an effective sci-fi film. Sybok's (Laurence Luckinbill) empath power taken to it's extreme was an effective device to explain how he got followers to come over to his side. The search for Sha Ka Ree beyond the Great Barrier at the Center of the Galaxy would have been made more effective however if it wasn't insinuated that God was on the other side. That whole concept fell apart as soon as Kirk asked the logical question - What does God need with a starship?
Overall not a terrible movie, but throughout there seemed to be a sense of something lacking. The camaraderie between Kirk, Spock and McCoy didn't seem as natural here as in the past films, and 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat' just wasn't going to fix it.