True, 4 did indeed have whales in the sky, just like Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There were zero references to towels or intergalactic highways in Star Trek 5.
I certainly had an easier time believing Laurence Luckinbill was Leonard Nimoy's half-brother than I did believing that Tom Hardy was Patrick Stewart's clone.
You know, I’d personally rate V above Nemesis, Insurrection, Generations, and Into Darkness… and that still feels like very faint praise. Star Trek has had some pretty lousy movies over the years.
Picard TNG: I allowed myself to be abducted by aliens, spent two days forced to defend myself with an alien against a monster, refused all offers to just go home, and dealt with his babbling about Tamak and Jiled at Tongra. All because I recognize that peace and corporation between species is much more important compared to my life. I understand that I am not god and I don't make a decision who lives and dies. I have faith in the inherit goodness and rationality of sentient life so even if I don't understand why they are doing something I know they have a good reason. I am an explorer and an ambassador of peace.
Picard Nemesis: I am going to drive around on a planet and if some alien, possibly just defending their home, growls at me I will shoot them with a gun. Then leave their corpse there making zero effort to understand why they even attacked me. I am a thug who only understands how to kill effectively. Send me into battle and I will make sure there are no survivors.
The first two thirds of The Final Frontier is actually a really fun movie... It's just the final third of the movie that makes it... Well... Lame. It's just lame.
From the making of videos (I used to own a 2 CD DVD box set), and it seems they ran out of budget and ran out of ideas eventually.