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Spock’s (Leonard Nimoy) rocket boots in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier are Star Trek‘s worst gadget — and they were never seen again in the franchise after the William Shatner-directed TOS movie. While Star Trek V suffered from numerous issues, the biggest of which was the deeply-flawed central premise of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise meeting “God,” the fifth movie starring The Original Series‘ cast also failed in creating memorable new technology. In a way, Spock’s rocket boots epitomize how clunky and ill-conceived Star Trek V is.
Star Trek has inspired numerous real-world gadgets; for instance, modern-day smartphones are essentially a combination of TOS‘ handheld communicators combined with tricorders, while the Enterprise bridge’s giant viewscreen is now equaled by the enormous HDTVs in many people’s homes. Google Home and Alexa are no different from how Star Trek crews vocalize orders to their starships’ computers. Indeed, if the real world could invent transporters or warp drive, human society would be forever changed. However, Star Trek V dropped the ball with Spock’s rocket boots, its infamous contribution to Star Trek‘s legacy of amazing, futuristic tech. The pearl-colored footwear is equipped with booster rockets, can carry the weight of three normal-sized humans, and its functions are controlled by an accompanying belt.
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Referred to as “levitation boots” in Star Trek V‘s screenplay, Spock‘s rocket boots debuted in early in the film when the Vulcan saved Kirk from falling to his death as the Captain of the Enterprise climbed El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. At first, Spock used his rocket boots to glide up the mountain to pester Kirk with the eye-roll-inducing quip that Jim doesn’t understand “the gravity of his situation.” But it’s actually because Kirk was distracted by Spock that he slipped and plummeted. Thankfully, the rocket boots allowed the Vulcan to save his best friend — earning them both a tongue-lashing from a furious Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForrest Kelley). Later, after Spock’s older brother Sybok (Laurence Luckinbill) took control of the Enterprise, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy evaded the ship’s brainwashed crew; by using Spock’s levitation boots, the trio was able to elude capture by rocketing up the Enterprise’s turboshaft in a hokey action sequence.
Star Trek V was a creative and financial failure and, like Sybok, the alien posing as God, and many other aspects of Shatner’s lone franchise directorial effort, Spock’s rocket boots were swept under the rug and haven’t been seen in since. In fact, Spock is the only character to canonically use rocket boots. If the idea behind the tech was for Starfleet Officers to have the means to individually propel themselves either in rescue or combat missions, it’s odd, then, that there are no other instances of the boots being used.
Although rocket boots were a dud, a similar device has enjoyed widespread and much more pivotal use in Star Trek: gravity boots. While not enabling personal flight, gravity boots allow the wearer to achieve normal balance and equilibrium in low or zero gravity situations. Gravity boots debuted in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country when villainous Starfleet personnel used them to board Kronos One, the disabled Klingon flagship, in order to assassinate High Chancellor Gorkon (David Warner). Later, the hunt for two pairs of gravity boots on the Enterprise allowed Spock to uncover the true assassins after Kirk and McCoy were framed for Gorkon’s murder.
Gravity boots are also responsible for one of the coolest scenes ever in Star Trek: Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Worf (Michael Dorn), and Lieutenant Hawk (Neal McDonough) wearing space suits, walking on the exterior of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E, and fighting off the Borg from assimilating the ship’s deflector dish in Star Trek: First Contact. The gravity boots were also worn in Star Trek: Discovery season 2 when Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) led an away team into Section 31’s derelict headquarters, which was taken over by the corrupted A.I. called Control. Burnham’s use of gravity boots even felt like an homage to Star Trek VI. All told, gravity boots ended up being an important Star Trek innovation while Spock’s rocket boots ended up in the scrap heap.
