After a poor shakedown of the Enterprise-A, the ship is put into Spacedock for repairs and most of the crew take shore leave. Meanwhile on Nimbus III, a renegade Vulcan named Sybok takes ambassadors from the major powers hostage. Despite the Enterprise-A's troubled state, Starfleet orders Captain Kirk to lead a rescue mission. Sybok and his loyal followers manage to hijack the Enterprise-A and Captain Kirk, along with Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy, is locked in the brig. But Kirk has another problem. A Klingon captain is chasing him, planning to make a name for himself by killing Kirk. After escaping the brig Kirk and company discovers Sybok is going to take the Enterprise-A to the center of the galaxy in a search for God.

William Shatner - Captain Kirk

Leonard Nimoy - Captain Spock

DeForest Kelley - Dr. Leonard McCoy

James Doohan - Capt. Scott

Walter Koenig - Cmdr. Chekov

Nichelle Nichols - Cmdr. Uhura

George Takei - Cmdr. Sulu

David Warner - St. John Talbot

Laurence Luckinbill - Sybok

Charles Cooper - Gen. Korrd

Cynthia Gouw - Caithlin Dar

Todd Bryant - Capt. Klaa

Spice Williams - Vixis

Rex Holman - J'onn

George Murdock - God

Jonathan Simpson - Young Sarek

Beverly Hart - High Priestess

Steve Susskind - Pitchman

Harve Bennett - Adm. Robert Bennett

Cynthia Blaise - Young Amanda Grayson

Bill Quinn - David McCoy

Melanie Shatner - Yeoman

Carey Scott - Young Spock

Mike Smithson - Klingon helmsman

The name "Sha Ka Ree" is a play on words from the original actor asked to play the part of Sybok: Sean Connery.

The novel "Probe," which was at one point considered as the basis for this film's story, was a sequel to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

The movie was originally to be an extension of an episode of the original television series. In the movie, they would be searching for the villain. During filming, they changed to the "Search for God".

The surface of Shaka-Ri as viewed during reconnaissance by Captain Kirk was generated from an electron microscope image of a lobster's claw.

One of William Shatner's daughters appears as the yeoman that holds Kirk's malfunctioning Captain's log.

The film's special effects were not done by ILM because the members of ILM were already working on Ghostbusters 2 and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. This hindered the film's ending greatly because the ending was to be much longer than Kirk simply being chased by "God." However, the sequence had to be cut out as a result of awful-looking special effects. The scenes were replaced by more shots of George Murdock's face, except his eyes glowed.

Enterprise-D corridor sets from Star Trek: The Next Generation were used as Enterprise-A corridors in this film. Very few cosmetic alterations were made so as not to interfere with filming of the TV series, which was under way at the same time.

The sick-bay from Star Trek: The Next Generation is used, unaltered in the film, which marks the first appearance of Star Trek's LCARS computer system.

While Paramount maintains that the events in the film are still canon, there is an unwritten rule among the Star Trek writing staff that the events in this film are never referred to under any circumstances.

Shots of the Enterprise-A in space dock and of space dock itself were originally produced by Industrial Light and Magic for Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry was on record prior to his death as saying he considered elements of this film to be apocryphal to the Star Trek universe, possibly referring to the character of Spock's half-brother.

An entirely new Enterprise bridge, with the single solitary exception of the Turbolift foyers, was built for this film.

The mountain James Kirk is climbing in Yosemite is named, aptly enough, El Capitan.

Shots of Spock talking to Kirk while he is climbing El Capitan in Yosemite were actually filmed on a set in a parking lot at a vista point overlooking the valley. The actual face of El Capitan is just visible in the background behind Kirk.

William Shatner asked Paramount for money to complete the film the way he originally intended, for release on DVD. Paramount refused.

Stuntman Kenny Bates is credited with the highest descender fall in the U.S., standing in for William Shatner's fall from El Capitan.

The two blip sound effects on Enterprise-A shuttlecrafts Galileo and Copernicus (Named for the two famous astronomers) were from 2010.

Teamsters, or drivers, to transport the crew, cast and equipment to Yosemite were hard to find due to a strike that was going on at the time.

Cut scenes included Kirk being pursued by rock monsters on the planet Shaka-Ri. The rock monsters were men in rubber suits, and also included a smoking effect. According to William Shatner, in order to achieve this, cigarette smoke was blown in the suits before cameras rolled. The rock monsters were scrapped due to lack of believability and time constraints.

Final film voyage of the complete original crew of the USS Enterprise. Although there would be one more film featuring the original cast, the character of Sulu is no longer a member of the Enterprise crew in the next movie.

The name of Dr. McCoy's dying father, according to Star Trek III - The Search for Spock , is David.

In this movie, the Enterprise-A had three Captains (Kirk, Spock, and Scott) and four Commanders (McCoy, Chekov, Uhura, and Sulu) on board, which is many more than all other Star Trek movies or series had.

This film marks the first time that the line, "Beam me up, Scotty," was said onscreen. Despite popular lore, the line was never used (in that exact form) on the original series. It was deliberately included in this script because the myth was so persistent, and had become an in-joke with hardcore fans.

Laurence Luckinbill (Sybok) is the real-life son-in-law of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball. Desi and Lucy's production company, "Desilu Productions Inc.", produced the first two seasons of Star Trek.

Continuity error: The color of Kirk's outfit when climbing/falling on the mountain.

Revealing mistake: Safety wires holding Kirk when caught by Spock.

Revealing mistake: Wires when Sybok lifts Kirk off the ground in the shuttlebay.

Continuity error: Luckinbill's hair gets shorter during the movie.

Continuity error: Starfleet Headquarters is in the same time zone as Yosemite, yet when Kirk, Spock and McCoy leave Yosemite during the dark, they arrive on the Enterprise and talk to Bob from Starfleet, whose background shows daytime.

Continuity error: The floors that Spock, McCoy, and Kirk pass when flying up the access-way while attempting to escape Sybok's men (Deck 52 is passed twice).

Crew or equipment visible: The camera is reflected in a bridge monitor when the Bird of Prey is closing, while Spock, Kirk, Sybok, McCoy are on the planet.

Revealing mistake: Wire holding the dancing cat's tail.

Miscellaneous error: The deck numbers in the turboshaft increase as Kirk, Spock and McCoy climb up, but in other Star Trek movies and series the deck numbers increase from the top down.

Revealing mistake: When Kirk fights Sybok in the shuttle bay and Sybok lifts Kirk off the ground, wires attached to Kirk's legs are visible.

Revealing mistake: Spock uses rocket boots to traverse the turboshaft. This was achieved with a metal bar attached to a harness worn by Leonard Nimoy, sliding along a vertical track in the back wall of the turboshaft. The bar is visible in some shots.

Plot hole: At the beginning of the movie, an admiral claims they must send Kirk to resolve the situation on Nimbus III because he's the only experienced commander available. That may be true, but there's no need to send him on the Enterprise which has been having problems with her systems.

Continuity error: When the shuttle approaches the Enterprise from Nimbus III the shuttle bay doors open. When the shuttle heads for the Enterprise the doors are closed and then they're open again

Continuity error: When Kirk is climbing the mountain he is unshaven but when spock catches him before hitting the ground he has a clean shaven.

Revealing mistake: As Kirk and McCoy are climbing the turboshaft, the walls of the turboshaft can be seen to flex.

Continuity error: When Kirk and McCoy climb on to Spock while hovering in the turbo shaft, both of them step onto foot supports on Spock's boots. However, when the camera points down, both Kirk and McCoy's feet are dangling. With the way they are hanging onto Spock in regular shots, there is no way they could hold on. Both would fall to the bottom of the turbo shaft.

Revealing mistake: After Kirk is saved by Spock following his fall from El Capitán, the trees and plants all "lean" in the same direction due to gravity, revealing a camera tilt effect.

Highest Descender Fall Recorded in the United States - Ken Bates