$30 million sci-fi epic? Check. Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner, at the helm? Double check. But here’s the shocker: a single spacesuit costs a quarter-million bucks! Shatner, ever the audacious leader, pushed boundaries on and off the screen in this Star Trek film. This wasn’t your typical phaser-firing adventure; it was a gamble on groundbreaking storytelling, where even costumes defied expectations.
Shatner’s extravagant suit became a symbol of the movie’s daring spirit, a reminder that venturing into the unknown sometimes requires a leap of faith and a very expensive spacesuit.
Shatner Spent Big on a Spacesuit for Star Trek V’s $30 Million Budget
William Shatner, a nonagenarian workhorse who keeps defying age with his acting and space travels, is spilling the tea on his biggest career regret: Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. This movie, ambitious to a fault, saw Shatner, not just as Captain Kirk, but also as the director who gave it all for a single, outrageously expensive spacesuit (via THR). When he asked the special effects team how much the suit would cost, they said,
$250,000 a suit. That’s $2.5 million. You’ve got a $30 million budget. You sure you want to spend it on that?
Let us take y’all back to the 1980s. Star Trek, a once-canceled show, was riding high on a wave of movie sequels. Shatner, at the helm of The Final Frontier, envisioned a daring exploration of faith. But network execs nixed the whole “God” concept, fearing it would alienate viewers. Enter Sybok, a self-proclaimed God-like alien, the film’s villain—a compromise, and perhaps the first sign of trouble.
Shatner, being his own kind of control freak (his words, not ours! ), had a showdown with the studio. His vision? A grand finale with exploding rock creatures. The practical effects team had a different idea—they suggested a single, fire-spewing spacesuit that cost a cool $250,000.
Here’s the twist: that “practical” solution didn’t quite pan out. Shatner, always the optimist, hoped to film the suit from various angles to create the illusion of multiple rock creatures. Spoiler alert: it flopped.
The special effects in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, usually a Trek strong point, really missed the mark this time around. Shatner, taking charge in the director’s chair, admits he “failed horribly” at steering the film. The grand vision for a game-changing Trek movie turned into a classic tale of budget headaches and dreams left hanging in space—the kinda space where science meets spirituality.
Star Trek V: Boldly Going Where Sci-Fi Meets Spirituality
Strapped to the budget of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was a daring ‘faith’ exploration. While other space flicks were busy dealing with aliens, Star Trek asked much bigger, mind-boggling questions that had us all on the very edge: “Is there a God out there?” and “Maybe it’s, like, inside us all, man?”
Remember those cheesy alien gods of the week? This time, Captain Kirk was facing Sybok, a full-on God-seeker who hijacked the Enterprise for a spiritual joyride. Now, spending a quarter-million on a single costume for Shatner might seem… excessive. But hey, when you’re grappling with the meaning of life, gotta look good, right?
This wasn’t just some random space trip for kicks. Star Trek V mirrored a trend in 80s sci-fi: movies searching for meaning beyond the stars. Per writer Peter Hansengerg, the religious themes have to be “almost fashionable.” In fact, professor Larry Kreitzer even called it the “film most preoccupied with religious ideas.”
Watch Star Trek V: The Final Frontier on Amazon Prime Video!
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