Having successfully voyaged home from the 80s in their Klingon Bird Of Prey, the crew of the Starship Enterprise enjoy some much deserved free time as their new Starship, Enterprise-A gets some final adjustments.

Kirk's spending his time climbing mountains and teaching Spock campfire songs, to little avail, when he gets the call to return to his ship - it seems there's a hostage situation on a nearby planet and Kirk's required to solve it.

On arrivial, Kirk discovers Sybok, the Vulcan half-brother of Spock, is behind the kidnapping in an effort to seize control of a Starship - something he succeeds in doing when he takes over the Enterprise.

Sybok's plan is to head to the The Great Barrier, an area of space no known entity has ever explored, where he expects to find a deity of some sort, possibly God.

Using his Vulcan powers to treat the crew's emotional pain, Sybok soon has them on his side - all except Kirk, who elects to help Sybok in his quest anyway, intrigued as he is to meet God himself.

Largely considered the worst Star Trek movie, The Final Frontier was the first movie after a three-sequel arc that culminated with The Voyage Home.

The (rapidly ageing) supporting crew are largely used as props for cheap jokes, the special effects are among the worst used on a Trek movie (the budget was slashed shortly before filming commenced), while the lack of a real villain for the second movie in a row by no means helped the cause.

The meeting with 'God' when it does arrive is about as close to jumping the shark as Star Trek ever got, and had it not been for fortunate timing of the 25th anniversary, The Undiscovered Country might never have been made. 

The occasional set piece - the entry into the Great Barrier - and line - Kirk's insistence that pain is what makes a man - save Frontier from total disaster, but it's a close shave - about as close as the Enterprise ever came to total annihilation.

Rich Phippen