The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 283

WEEKEND i -a 7 ft fc5l Trek Fgets lost in space HQHE3 Here are the story descriptions of the previous Trek movies and how they have fared with Miami Herald film critic Bill Cosford: Star Trek The Motion Picture (1979): The Enterprise crew tried to intercept a mysterious cloud headed toward Earth It turned out to be a new life form evolved from the Voyager space craft Bill review: wrong is that it is mostly boring It might play well at a convention of special-effects freaks but for folks who want a little narrative and a spot of craft nothing The Herald did not rate movies by stars at that time Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): The Enterprise battled the dastardly Khan (Ricardo Montal- ban) who wanted to kill Adm Kirk for exiling him and his followers to a desolate planet Kirk also met his son and in the end Capt Spock sacrificed himself to save the crew Cosford: very things that made the television series a success the mix of pop philosophy sophomore metaphysics and hack science fiction need more power take any more are embarrassments however famil-v iar on the big Rating: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984): The Enterprise found body and reunited it with his soul which had been deposited in Dr McCoy Kirk's son was killed and the Enterprise was destroyed Cosford: one though directed ham-handedly by Leonard Nimoy (Spock himself) and leaden with the self-conscious posturings and rhetorical leftovers of Star Trek II has more good inside Trek stuff than its predecessors" Rating: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986): The Enterprise crew had to stop a deadly probe headed toward Earth To do this the crew traveled back in time to 1986 San Francisco found two humpbacked whales and transported them to the 23rd Century Only the whales could communicate with the probe Cosford: It the dopiest and most congenial in the TOGETHER AGAIN IN TREK Dr Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley left) and Capt James Kirk (William Shatner) prepare for their wildest adventure Crew finds God film loses its way By RYAN MURPHY Herald Writer Space folk are a lot like you and me They travel Star Trek I) they die (II) they are sometimes reborn (III) they adopt humanitarian causes (IV) and they age V) Boy do they age Judging from the bags paunches and other barnacles of age that have attached themselves to Capt Kirk and his ship of galactic guys and gals one could easily assume that Star Trek The Final Frontier is retirement And indeed the first few frames of the latest Trekkie installment paint a relaxed picture Here we have Spock (Leonard Nimoy) McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and Kirk (William Shatner) blissfully playing in Yosemite Park with Kirk decked out in Climb a T-shirt boyishly scaling the nearest available peak Meandering sequel Obviously however complete space abandonment in this frayed meandering sequel is not to be There is money to be made scary Klingons to be fought and God himself to be found After being beckoned by Cmdr Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) to go on a heavenly mission the celluloid boys of summer are off and running on their latest quest without so much as a rosary or a call to the pope When they say boldly go where no one has gone they mean it The idea of Gene characters tracing the seed of creation is by and large a superb one Shatner who directs this installment gets credit for the notion The quest for God in space is not exactly a new cinematic venture having been amply explored in 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010 but it has up until now been executed with a chilly off-putting touch A human distinctly warm approach to the theme as seen through the eyes of those likable recognizable Star Trek characters seemed infinitely appealing Strangely enough Shatner and screenwriter David Lough-ery plot the course of this adventure via a new character Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) who hijacks the Enterprise at mindpoint (he is a telekinetic whiz) and forces the crew to DEAD POETS Robin Williams plays an unconventional English professor in Dead Poets Society Review Page 12 fc MIRACLE Anthony Edwards stars in the apoca- lyptic comedy Miracle Mile Review Page 11 3 CO CO CD CO the main course stale and cold It is difficult to measure the dramatic aptitudes of the lead and supporting players By now all rote Nimoy as Spock is ruthlessly icy as usual Kelley huffs and puffs with his usual abandon Chekhov (Walter Koenig) Sulu (George Takei) and Scotty (James Doohan) fight over the scraps of stray dialogue like too many ravenous dogs Few surprises One of the few surprises however does belong to a tried-and-true cast member: As Uhura Nichols has The Final best scene In a vignette lifted straight out of a Prince video the fabulous Uhura stands in front of two ripe cherry moons practically naked and does a wild fan dance to attract the bad attention Firmer than concrete sexier than Madonna Nichols wiggles with delight last they gave me something to she seems to be saying and takes her character to a new dimension The unexpected revelry momentarily transports the film into a giddy stratosphere But the scene is too soon over and quickly very quickly we are beamed back to boredom follow his religious impulses Irritating subplots Because this is a Star Trek movie the newly introduced character is of course a relative of someone on board Sybok is long-lost slightly deranged half-brother Any potential for rapport between the two Sybok who must find God because He is the only greater intelligence in the galaxy and Spock who does not believe such a form truly exists is all but lost as the hijacked crew trips over irritating subplots and worn gimmicks (those damn Klingons again!) on the way to touch the face of God And touch it they do once they arrive on the Higher planet (which looks a lot like Arizona) It is at this point that the film disintegrates into a laughable mess The great special effects that graced parts I through IV are nowhere to be seen God we are to believe is a huge helium-composed mass that looks like a cross between the Wizard of Oz and a misshapen Hummel Christmas figurine This is a vengeful God a hollow icon whose only goal is to escape to a greener prettier planet The message here MOVIE REVIEW STAR TREK (PG) Cast: William Shatner Leonard Nimoy DeForest Kelley James Doo-han Walter Koenig Nichelle Nichols George Takei Laurence Luckinbill Director William Shatner Producer: Harvey Bennett Screenwriter David Loughery Cinematographer Andrew Laszlo A Paramount Pictures release Running time: 108 minutes Violence which Shatner delivers with a particularly embarrassing seriousness: The only God we can count on is a God within our own hearts For the love of Oral Roberts why Jim why? Shatner plods William direction like his acting is plodding and numbingly self-conscious While intimate scenes of male bonding among Kirk Spock and McCoy are particularly delightful the overall themes God creation friendships as family are never tied together or amply explained Star Trek 7is a lot like a dinner party where the appetizers are delicious GWTW 2 You can see Scar- sE lett (Vivi- en Leigh) at the Shores Perform- ing Arts Center 3 See Movie Cap-sules cn A-utf I Li -IIM iU.