After sitting back while Leonard Nimoy directed two movies, William Shatner could take no more and demanded the director's chair for Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, the biggest critical flop since the original movie.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home took a vastly different approach, warping the crew of the Enterprise into the past for a more light-hearted caper, and audiences generally appreciated the shift in emphasis.
Having struck upon a successful formula, Star Trek III: The Search For Spock followed on directly from its predecessor, but the general consensus upon release suggested the threequel failed to hit the heights of the previous film, largely thanks to a weaker plot and an aging cast. Related: Star Trek Theory: Picard's New Ship Is TNG's USS Stargazer
