Always easier on a film's budget to travel back to the time you're actually in than recreate a bygone era. And now, even the "Nuclear Wessel" Enterprise is passing into history.

TFF had it's heart in the right place. Studio meddling was the real villain here. And Paramount still won't give Shatner a chance to rework it and finish some FX. Maybe for Trek's 50th anniversary?

The evil energy being who wants to inhabit the Enterprise to carry it away from it's "prison", is a complete lift of the animated Trek episode "Beyond the Farthest Star" though.