star trek generations movie review

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, star trek: generations.

Now streaming on:

The " Star Trek " saga has always had a weakness for getting distracted by itself, and "Star Trek: Generations," the seventh film installment, is undone by its narcissism. Here is a movie so concerned with in-jokes and updates for Trekkers that it can barely tear itself away long enough to tell a story. From the weight and attention given to the transfer of command on the Starship Enterprise, you'd think a millennium was ending - which is, by the end of the film, how it feels.

The movie opens during a maiden run for the Enterprise B; plans call for it to take a little dash around the solar system with some reporters on board. But then a call for help is received, and there's polite jockeying for position between the newly appointed Capt. Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) and the just-retired Capt. Kirk ( William Shatner ). Kirk is obviously better-equipped to handle the crisis, but alas the ship itself is unequipped, unmanned and unready for an emergency.

The emergency involves a free-floating coil of space energy, which has captured two ships in what I think was called its Gravametric Field. ("Star Trek" has never been shy of polysyllabic pseudoscientific gobbledygook, and "Generation" bathes in it; the victims' "life signs are phasing in and out of our space-time continuum"!) One of the survivors is the intense Dr. Soran ( Malcolm McDowell ), of the El Aurian species, who insists he must get back to the ship. It explodes in the Nexus force field, however, and the story leaps forward 78 years. Capt. Picard now finds himself on a rescue mission to an observatory where Dr. Soran is again rescued, and again insists he must return, and lo, here comes the Nexus again, along with an explanation by Guinan ( Whoopi Goldberg ), the Enterprise's resident mystic, who says that those caught in the Nexus are "bathed in joy." We learn that Soran will do anything for that joy, including destroying stars and their planets with millions of inhabitants, just to nudge the Nexus a little out of its way. His calculations are astonishingly precise: By using Solar Probes to destroy an entire solar system, he can steer the Nexus so that it brushes right above a rickety steel platform he has constructed in an alien desert, and he can sort of leap up into it and be absorbed in joy.

Meanwhile, there is a lot happening aboard the Enterprise, which has a way of being constantly buffeted by force fields and Gravametric explosions ex cept when Quietly Meaningful Dialogue is being exchanged; at such times the ship is perfectly still. I would estimate that the command deck is being buffeted, filled with smoke, and showered with electri cal sparks, a good third of the time, with the computers all flashing superfluous "Alert!" warnings, just when you want them to tell you something helpful.

The "Star Trek" series has always specialized in hilariously klutzy hardware, but outdoes itself this time; the TV cameramen in the opening scenes wear little lights on their heads which illuminate only the centers of the faces of their subjects (surely by the 21st century Man, even Newsman, will not have forgotten how to light a whole face?). And the computer controls aboard the starship now seem modeled on the multiple-choice cash registers at McDonald's, where you just push the Big Mac button instead of needing to know how much it costs.

The running joke this time involves Lt. Cmdr. Data ( Brent Spiner ), a computerized android who tries out a tricky emotion chip and suddenly understands jokes he was told years ago. This notion could have led to some funny scenes, but doesn't, and the scene where Data shorts out (or his chip crashes, or something) is acted and directed so uncertainly it is positively puzzling.

The "Star Trek" movies and TV shows always consider at least one Big Important Human Question, and this time it has to do with the Choice Between Happiness and Reality. When you get sucked into the Nexus, see, you think you are living once again through the most joyous days of your life. This would be great, except you kinda know you're not, and so both Capt. Kirk and Capt. Picard must choose between the hazards of reality and the seductive dream world. There's a lesson here somewhere. Hell, there's a lesson here everywhere.

I will not be giving away any secrets if I reveal that Capt.

Kirk dies in the course of the movie. Countless Trekkers have solemnly informed me of this fact for months, if not years. Leave it to Kirk to be discontent with just one death scene, however. Kirk's first death is a very long silence, but he has dialogue for his second one. Oh, my, yes he does. And slips away so subtly I was waiting for more.

I, for one, will miss him. There is something endearing about the "Star Trek" world, even down to and including its curious tradition that the even-numbered movies tend to be better than the odd-numbered ones. And it's fun to hear the obligatory dialogue one more time (my favorite, always said by someone watching the giant view screen, where an unearthly sight has appeared: "What . . . the . . . hell . . . is . . . THAT?").

"Star Trek" seems to cross the props of science fiction with the ideas of Westerns. Watching the fate of millions being settled by an old-fashioned fistfight on a rickety steel bridge (intercut with closeups of the bolts popping loose and the structure sagging ominously), I was almost amused by the shabby storytelling. Why doesn't more movie science fiction have the originality and imagination of its print origins? In " Stargate ," the alien god Ra was able to travel the universe, yet still needed slaves to build his pyramids. In "Star Trek: Generations," the starship can go boldly where no one has gone before, but the screenwriters can only do vice versa.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

Chicken for Linda!

Robert daniels.

It's Only Life After All

Sheila o'malley.

Turtles All the Way Down

Peyton robinson.

The Last Stop in Yuma County

Matt zoller seitz.

Simon Abrams

Force of Nature: The Dry 2

Film credits.

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

118 minutes

Patrick Stewart as Capt. Picard

William Shatner as Capt. Kirk

Malcolm McDowell as Soran

Directed by

David Carson

Latest blog posts

Cannes 2024: Table of Contents

Netflix’s Bridgerton Makes Some Improvements to its Popular Formula

Cannes 2024: The Girl with the Needle, Wild Diamond

Roger Corman's Greatest Legacy Was Giving So Many People Their Big Break

Tickets & Showtimes
Trending on RT

TAGGED AS: movies , Star Trek

(Photo by Paramount)

All Star Trek Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

Star Trek (2009) celebrates its 15th anniversary!

We’re boldly ranking the Star Trek movies by Tomatometer, from the original film series (1979’s The Motion Picture to The Undiscovered Country ), into the handoff to films featuring the Next Generation cast ( Generations to Nemesis ), and through to the reboot series (2009’s Trek to Beyond ).

Star Trek (2009) 94%

Star Trek: First Contact (1996) 93%

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) 87%

Star Trek Beyond (2016) 86%

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 84%

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) 83%

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) 82%

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) 78%

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) 55%

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) 53%

Star Trek Generations (1994) 48%

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) 38%

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) 21%

More Countdown

25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming

Best TV Shows of 2024: Best New Series to Watch Now

Spike Lee Movies and Series, Ranked by Tomatometer

Movie & TV News

Featured on rt.

May 15, 2024

The Most Anticipated Movies of 2024

Top Headlines

300 Best Movies of All Time –
25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming –
Best TV Shows of 2024: Best New Series to Watch Now –
Spike Lee Movies and Series, Ranked by Tomatometer – movies
Box Office 2024: Top 10 Movies of the Year –
30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming –

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Upcoming Movies and TV shows
Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

What's the Tomatometer®?
Login/signup

Movies in theaters

Opening this week
Top box office
Coming soon to theaters
Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

Fandango at Home
Netflix streaming
Prime Video
Most popular streaming movies
What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Link to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
The Fall Guy Link to The Fall Guy
The Last Stop in Yuma County Link to The Last Stop in Yuma County

New TV Tonight

Interview With the Vampire: Season 2
Spacey Unmasked: Season 1
Outer Range: Season 2
After the Flood: Season 1
The Killing Kind: Season 1
Bridgerton: Season 3
The Big Cigar: Season 1
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Season 11.1
Harry Wild: Season 3
RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars: Season 9

Star Trek Generations Reviews

The result was perhaps not what devoted fans hoped for, but in its own right, it's a solid production and entertaining Star Trek adventure.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 4, 2023

For every good moment there are two or three awkward ones, and while there is an undeniable thrill of seeing the two “generations” of Enterprise captains working together, it is hard not to wish that the film had more grandeur and more guts.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 19, 2023

A solid franchise entry.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 8, 2023

Star Trek: Generations feels like such a miscalculation of the show’s strengths.

Full Review | Apr 5, 2023

It will come to be regarded as a transitional movie — a shaky passing of the torch. Some of it is fun, though.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Aug 31, 2022

There are lots of colored lights, and it is always fun to share the Trekkies' enthusiasm for characters who are so well ingrained in pop culture. Star Trek: Generations, though, speaks clearest to the already converted.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 25, 2022

As Kirk's showdown with Soran makes painfully apparent, it was time for him to boldly go.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 17, 2021

It's not merely a couple of episodes strung together; it's a surprisingly bland selection of possibly unused concepts from the show, fleshed out in an unspectacular fashion.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/10 | Sep 24, 2020

Though not the worst of all the Trek movies, the stupefying Generations is easily the most disappointing, with the much-hyped Kirk-Picard team-up lasting all of 20 minutes.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 31, 2020

Three things make the film worthwhile: [William] Shatner's performance; the sequence involving Data getting his "emotion chip" implant; and John Alonzo's crystalline cinematography, which makes Generations the most beautiful Trek ever.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 25, 2020

The best thing about "Star Trek Generations" is [Patrick] Stewart, as Captain Picard, and the way the movie allows this powerfully charismatic Englishman to swagger the center and take command of one of America's most cherished fables.

It's well-plotted, cleanly staged and, on the whole, not badly acted.

Full Review | Mar 25, 2020

Pretty much everything from the time Kirk leaves to the time he reappears is a distraction.

Full Review | Original Score: C- | Apr 12, 2019

A perfect microcosm on the film's problems can be found in Data's emotion chip snafu, a B-plot that runs the course of the whole film.

Full Review | Jan 14, 2019

The first big-screen adventure for the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 10, 2018

"Star Trek Generations" never beams us down. It's good cornball mainstream sci-fi, as close to brand-name reliability as this genre gets.

Full Review | Apr 26, 2018

Too many senten-tious insights and lame jokes have been grafted on to the basic yarn.

Full Review | Dec 14, 2017

Fns of the series will no doubt be happy to see Kirk again under any circumstances, and if you hunger for the "Star Trek" experience, this will keep you nicely occupied.

Full Review | Sep 7, 2016

Star Trek at its geekiest, and cursory filmmaking at its blandest.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10 | May 29, 2013

From the opening shot of a champagne bottle floating in space to the pulsating ribbon of an engulfing Nexus, the film's images dazzled me.

Full Review | Jan 29, 2012

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

User Reviews

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews

User Ratings
External Reviews
Metacritic Reviews
Full Cast and Crew
Release Dates
Official Sites
Company Credits
Filming & Production
Technical Specs
Plot Summary
Plot Keywords
Parents Guide

Did You Know?

Crazy Credits
Alternate Versions
Connections
Soundtracks

Photo & Video

Photo Gallery
Trailers and Videos

Cinephile Corner

Movie Reviews, Rankings, Film News and More

Home » Movie Reviews » Star Trek: Generations Movie Review: Patrick Stewart and William Shatner Bridge the Gap Between Two Eras

Star Trek: Generations Movie Review: Patrick Stewart and William Shatner Bridge the Gap Between Two Eras

Review: Star Trek: Generations is an occasionally interesting and slightly uneven cinematic voyage. The movie introduces us to a promising new crew while offering a brief farewell to an old legend. William Shatner and Patrick Stewart star in this transition film.

Beaming down onto the bridge of Star Trek: Generations (1994) feels like stepping into a parallel universe. Captain Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) and the Enterprise-D crew navigate a familiar cosmos, yet the shadows of the legendary Kirk ( William Shatner ) and his Enterprise-B loom large. Director David Carson deftly orchestrates this temporal story, but the film ultimately becomes a fascinating case study in balancing legacy with new beginnings.

Patrick Stewart, with his Shakespearean gravitas, is a worthy heir to the starship captain’s chair. He pilots the Enterprise-D with a quiet confidence that contrasts beautifully with Shatner’s bombastic Kirk. The supporting cast, from the ever-logical Data ( Brent Spiner ) to the similarly ever-charming Riker ( Jonathan Frakes ), provides a comforting continuity in characterization alongside a welcome influx of fresh faces. However, there’s a noticeable void compared to the vibrant ensemble of the Enterprise-B, where familiar heroes like Scotty and Chekov offer nostalgic winks to Trek ‘s golden age.

And starting with the elephant in the room, Generations takes a bold gamble with Kirk’s demise. It’s a gut punch, a gamble that left most fans grieving and few others cheering the passing of the torch. As a newcomer to the Star Trek universe , I found it to be quite similar to how franchises are rebooted in our current day, a way to clear the decks and embrace the “Next Generation” without the weight of history. Yet, for longtime superfans, it must have felt like a warp core breach to their hearts.

Latest Movie Reviews from Cinephile Corner

Nebraska Movie Review: Bruce Dern and Will Forte Dig Deep in Complex Family Story from Alexander Payne
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes Movie Review: Wes Ball Directs Uneven New Franchise Entry
The Fall Guy Movie Review: Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt Sizzle in an Otherwise Diluted Action Blockbuster

But the ultimate demise of the film lies in its story, and here’s where Generations stumbles off course. Soran, our resident villain, feels like a recycled Romulan probe – menacing, sure, but lacking the depth and complexity of a Khan or a Q. Malcolm McDowell throws everything he has at the role, but the character remains flat. The plot itself, while serviceable, treads familiar ground – a rogue scientist, a ticking clock, a last-ditch mission to save the day. It’s Trek comfort food, but without the spices of true innovation that make the best films in this series pop.

But Generations occasionally finds the right pocket and shines in its moments of time-bending brilliance. The way the film weaves past and present together, culminating in a mind-bending climax, is a strong example of David Carson’s vision. The final showdown, though predictable, delivers the requisite phaser-firing thrills. Ultimately, Generations feels like a middling entry in the franchise, a steppingstone for the “Next Generation” crew. I just hope that the subsequent films manage to find their own lane a bit more.

Star Trek: Generations is an occasionally interesting and slightly uneven, cinematic voyage. It introduces us to a promising new crew while offering a brief farewell to an old legend. While the plot lacks the foundation and quirks of some previous entries, the film’s temporal acrobatics and moments of lively set design and physicality still stand out.

Genre: Action , Adventure , Science Fiction

Watch Star Trek: Generations on Max and VOD

Join our newsletter

Star Trek: Generations Cast and Credits

Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker

Brent Spiner as Data

LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge

Michael Dorn as Commander Worf

Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher

Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi

William Shatner as James T. Kirk

Malcolm McDowell as Soran

Director: David Carson

Writers: Ronald D. Moore , Brannon Braga , Rick Berman

Cinematography: John A. Alonzo

Editor: Peter E. Berger

Composer: Dennis McCarthy

More Reviews for Star Trek Films

Movie Reviews

New Movies Classics Best New Movies All Reviews

About Us Newsletter Sign Up

Lists and Rankings

Director Rankings Best Movies of 2023 Best Movies of 2022 Best Movies of 2021 All Lists

Movie Genres

Action Adventure Animation Comedy Crime Documentary Drama Family History Holiday

Genres (cont.)

Horror Musical Mystery Romance Sci-Fi Sports Superhero Thriller War Western

Design by ThemesDNA.com

Star Trek: Generations

Review by brian eggert september 6, 2009.

Star Trek: Generations serves as another bridge between the established original crew and the innovative, much-loved chemistry of The Next Generation cast. Although thematically speaking, the torch had already been passed to future generations of the Federation’s Starfleet in 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , the notion of a crossover film containing both Captain Kirk and Captain Picard, and their two crews, intrigued Paramount Pictures—if only from a promotional perspective. After all, such a film would transcend generational gaps in viewership, so those who grew up watching the televised Star Trek series (1966-1969) and subsequent films, and those who discovered the series with The Next Generation crew (1987-1994), could be brought together in a single motion picture. Generations sought to please both traditionalist and contemporary fans, and the shows’ respective legacies, even while the overall franchise was growing swiftly out of control with two additional shows ( Deep Space Nine , Voyager , and later Enterprise ). Instead, the result was perhaps not what devoted fans hoped for, but in its own right, it’s a solid production and entertaining Star Trek adventure.

Paramount approached producer Rick Berman in 1992, just under a year after The Undiscovered Country was released, to develop ideas for a feature film starring The Next Generation ’s Captain Jean-Luc Picard and company. The Next Generation ’s head writers and story consultants, Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, teamed with Berman and others to conceive the story, while Moore and Braga penned the screenplay in May of 1993. As usual with Star Trek films, the story depended much on how much William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were willing to participate. Nimoy declined an offer to direct and costar, citing problems with the script, and a particular blandness in his proposed dialogue that Paramount refused to correct. Nimoy claimed lines written for him could be spoken by anyone—and, as it turns out, he was right. When he turned down the offer, the same dialogue was given to James Doohan with no changes. Shatner agreed to make an extended appearance, and so Moore and Braga wrote around that. All of The Next Generation would star in the film, of course, whereas the original series’ Enterprise crew made intermittent appearances. Deforest Kelley, who appeared on the first episode of The Next Generation , couldn’t get approval from the studio’s on-set health insurance goons to appear, so his lines were given to Walter Koenig. Nichelle Nichols and George Takei did not appear.

Nevertheless, there were plenty of impressive visuals in the film, such as the wavy energy ribbon that both propels the plot and serves as a MacGuffin. Meanwhile, Carson insisted on hiring cinematographer John A. Alonzo ( Harold and Maude , Chinatown ), and the moodier, shadow-heavy, pointedly cinematic lighting helped disguise many of the production’s cheaper-looking elements—which remain visible only to those looking with a microscopic eye. Getting the word out about the upcoming film spawned the first website dedicated to promoting a movie’s release, now a staple for any film’s advertising budget and the foundation of viral marketing. Star Trek Generations was eventually released on November 18, 1994, about six months after the award-winning final episode “All Good Things…” aired, and the film opened to lukewarm reviews and a relatively strong box-office performance (about $118 million worldwide). Many detractors compared the film to a two-part episode of The Next Generation , which is less of a slight on the film than it sounds. Given the narrative and sometimes cinematic quality of two-part episodes on the show, a negative connotation hardly seems apt.

Indeed, The Next Generation outclassed previous and subsequent Star Trek s shows by balancing human drama and science-fiction, and Generations does much the same. The film begins when, in the twilight of his career, James T. Kirk seemingly dies saving the rookie crew of the new Enterprise from an “energy ribbon”. In fact, the ribbon—called the Nexus—has snatched him up and carried him away, and he remains inside until the next generation of Starfleet, namely the crew of the Enterprise-D , finds him in the twenty-fourth century. During Kirk’s rescue, he pulled a madman named Saron (Malcolm McDowell) from the Nexus, inside of which Saron had found his deceased wife and child, somehow preserved alive and well. The Nexus, you see, makes your most desired dreams come true—the Enterprise-D ’s venerable bartender, the infinitely wise Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg), also rescued from the Nexus by Kirk, describes it as “being wrapped inside joy, as if joy were something tangible.” Saron is obsessed with getting back inside. He plans to destroy an entire solar system to alter the Nexus’ course over a planet, where he intends to stand and hitch a ride back to joy.

On the Enterprise-D , human drama preoccupies the crew . Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) earns a promotion to Lt. Commander. Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart) mourns the accidental deaths of his brother and nephew (characters established on the excellent episode “Family”). Android crewmate Data (Brent Spiner) activates his “emotions chip” and attempts to control a wellspring of newly experienced feelings. Meanwhile, the crew launches an investigation at a Federation space station that was attacked, revealing some dastardly Klingons—namely, the show’s popular villainesses, the Duras sisters (Barbara March and Gwynyth Walsh)—may be responsible. As it turns out, the Durases have teamed with Saron. However, there doesn’t appear to be a way to stop Saron’s plan, at least not from the outside. And so, Picard enters the Nexus and sets out with Kirk to stop Saron’s plan, ending when the elder captain falls to his death after saving the day. Meanwhile, Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) leads a mission to stop the Duras sisters, which ends with the Enterprise crash-landing on a nearby planet.

Fans responded to Kirk’s demise with anger, believing the circumstances unsuitable for the hero who had survived so many perilous away missions and fought his way out of numerous spaceship battles. During debates about which one makes the best Enterprise captain, Kirk or Picard, Kirk’s brash, singular personality often wins over the emotionally complex puzzle of Picard. Audiences like their heroes straightforward and their death scenes grandiose, I suppose, and so Kirk falling to his death from a metal bridge didn’t feel right. McDowell even received death threats from one Trekkie so distraught over the scene. Then again, Kirk was originally phasered to death by Saron, but test audiences balked at the notion, claiming Kirk deserved better (imagine what Trekkies would’ve done to McDowell if Kirk died by Saron’s hands). Paramount ordered reshoots, but Kirk’s fall proves more “real” than the storybook finale Trekkies were hoping for. And yet, had he died nobly on the Enterprise bridge, followed by a momentous funeral where everyone could say goodbye, that would be too easy—reality hardly ever lets anyone say goodbye, and that’s a persistent theme in Generations , linking Saron’s desire to return to his family in the Nexus (fantasy) to Picard accepting that his family name will not live on (reality).

The Next Generation series was always about bringing a sense of the possible to the Star Trek universe, particularly in terms of its science-fiction, whereas the original series seemed rooted in the impossible and ideal. Astrophysicists such as Stephen Hawking have attested to The Next Generation ’s technological and scientific accuracy, or how the show builds stories around astronomical hypotheses, such as wormholes or time bubbles—concepts ripe for exploration in a weekly television series. The Kirk crew seems to chase after the adventurous and romantic aspects of space, whereas Picard’s crew delves into the real (or at least theoretically real). Even from a dramatic perspective, The Next Generation layers its characters beyond the often-predictable roles founded by Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Consider Data, who at first, with his dependence on computerized logic and lack of emotion, was deemed merely a stand-in for Spock. As the series evolved, so did the character, imbuing him with a desire to become human, and even subtle underlying feelings. Finally, in this film, Data’s “emotions chip” (although used by the writers mostly as a comic relief tool), serves as an impossible-yet-malfunctioning fantasy for Data—to the point where he disengages it in the film’s last scenes. To his android reality, artificial emotions are not real.

Whereas fan service might be in order for this type of event, the filmmakers simply told a story with some worthwhile themes for these beloved characters, and as a result, the film received poor notices for the filmmakers’ unwillingness, or more accurately their inability, to live up to more grandiose fan expectations. For many, the powerful storytelling didn’t matter because the film could not accommodate everyone’s wishes for the final appearance of James T. Kirk, regardless of whether his death was symbolically in favor of The Next Generation or not. Alas, my own reading and appreciation of the film remain a minority opinion. Ultimately, the degree to which you enjoy Generations is a question of why you’re watching any Star Trek film or television series in the first place. Are you watching for no other reason than pure space adventure escapism in all its formulaic glory? Or do the characters, their lives, and their often three-dimensional personalities draw you, while the science-fiction elements only sweeten the pot? This seems to be the very difference between the original Star Trek series and The Next Generation , and why the latter camp should enjoy this film.

Related Titles

The Definitives

In Theaters

Recent Reviews

Nightwatch: Demons Are Forever 3.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
I Saw the TV Glow 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
The Last Stop in Yuma County 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
Back to Black 1.5 Stars ☆ ☆
Stress Positions 2 Stars ☆ ☆
Evil Does Not Exist 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Patreon Exclusive: Coma 3.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
Humane 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
Short Take: Unfrosted 1.5 Stars ☆ ☆
The Fall Guy 2.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
The Idea of You 3 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆
Patreon Exclusive: The Ex-Mrs. Bradford 3.5 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
The Beast 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Challengers 4 Stars ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

Star Trek: Generations (United States, 1994)

Despite a reasonably original story line, familiar characters, first rate special effects, and the hallmark meeting between Captains Kirk (William Shatner) and Picard (Patrick Stewart), there's something fundamentally dissatisfying about this, the seventh Star Trek feature film. The problem is that while Star Trek: Generations is undeniably a major motion picture, too often it seems like little more than an overbudgeted, double-length episode of the Next Generation television series. The vestiges of the intangible Star Trek magic which has survived for more than twenty-five years, and weathered six feature films (the last two of which have been lackluster), are laid to rest here. If the spirit of the series is ever again to boldly go, it will have to rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes.

Star Trek: Generations opens in the twenty third century with the christening of the USS Enterprise "B" . On hand for the event are three living legends: Captain James T. Kirk, Captain Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), and Commander Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig). As so often happens in the Star Trek universe, a ceremonial maiden voyage turns into a rescue mission, with the Enterprise the only ship within range to aid refugees trapped by a mysterious - and deadly - energy ribbon. Kirk, assisted by his two old friends, manages to save nearly fifty lives, but not before the section of the ship where he's working is destroyed. No body is found, but the celebrated Starfleet officer is presumed dead. In actuality, however, he has been sucked into the "Nexus", a place where time has no meaning and where fantasies become reality.

78 years later, the crew of the Enterprise "D" are engaged in a rescue mission of their own: saving scientists in an observatory ravaged by a Romulan attack. One of the survivors, a Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell), is a long-lived alien who exhibits certain irrational tendencies. Driven by an obsessive need to enter the "Nexus", and willing to take any action necessary to accomplish that aim, Soran turns against Captain Picard, placing in jeopardy not only the Enterprise "D" , but an entire populated planet.

It's difficult to say how the general public will react to this film. Unlike the previous sequels, Generations is largely inaccessible to non- Trek aficionados. However, with its focus on character development over action, it should prove enjoyable for those well-acquainted with the voyages of any Enterprise . One of Generations ' strengths is its willingness to take chances with the familiar Star Trek mythos. This movie spends as much time tearing down old bridges as building new ones.

There are problems, however, several of which are too obvious to ignore. First time feature director David Carson's inexperience is at times evident. His film is inconsistently paced, with a few space battle/action scenes sprinkled liberally throughout an otherwise talky, protracted story. A combat sequence between the USS Enterprise "D" and a Klingon ship lacks any semblance of tension. Looking back at the ship-to-ship duels of movies 2, 3, and 6, there was a flair and buildup that is noticeably absent here. The battles in Generations are hurried, and the viewer appears to be watching rather than participating, with little opportunity to savor the moment.

Equally unimpressive is Carson's handling of a certain highly-emotional moment that figures prominently in the climax. Again, perhaps he's rushing things, but those of us in the audience recognize that the scene should be far more affecting than it actually is. The ending of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , which featured Spock's death, was wrenching. By comparison, Generations ' last moments are flat.

Malcolm McDowell plays the latest, and probably the weakest, Star Trek film villain. Following in the footsteps of Ricardo Montalban's Khan, Christopher Lloyd's Kruge, and Christopher Plummer's Chang, McDowell can't quite live up to the scenery-chewing nastiness of his predecessors. This is precisely because McDowell's Soran is too restrained -- Trek bad guys tend to be at their best when hamming it up.

The centerpiece of Generations is the much-anticipated meeting between Kirk and Picard, which completes the old crew-to-new crew transition begun in Star Trek VI . Shatner wears Kirk like a comfortable garment, and somehow the film seems more alive when he's on screen. Stewart, the consummate professional, is undeniably the better actor, but his presence isn't as arresting. Even Brent Spiner, despite a wonderful, often-comic performance as Lt. Commander Data, can't fill the gap left when Kirk isn't around.

One thing made obvious by this picture is that the Star Trek movies are in desperate need of musical continuity. Dennis McCarthy is the fifth composer in seven films, and his score is perhaps the most bland of all. Except during certain key moments when the Alexander Courage signature tune is used, most of Generations ' unmemorable music fades into the dimly-lit background.

Lovers of frantically-paced science fiction may find Generations too static, and fans of the original series will likely be disappointed by the limited screen time accorded Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov (not to mention the absence of Spock, Bones, Sulu, and Uhura) Mostly, Generations spends its running length searching for, and never completely finding, its niche.

If there is an eighth Star Trek film, and Generations isn't the series' epitaph, perhaps eliminating the burden of mixing characters from different eras will permit a less-erratic plot line. Either way, however, Star Trek will never be the same. Age and a few too many bad stories may have robbed Kirk and company of their vitality, but nothing can take away their mystique -- and that is the quality which will sorely be missed.

Comments Add Comment

Star Wars IV: A New Hope (1977)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Aliens (1986)
Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)
Moonfall (2022)
Skyline (2010)
Prince of Egypt, The (1998)
X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
Logan (2017)
Emoji Movie, The (2017)
Excalibur (1981)
Kid Who Would Be King, The (2019)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
(There are no more worst movies of James Doohan)
Lion King, The (1994)
Till (2022)
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Little Bit of Heaven, A (2012)
Aristocrats, The (2005)
(There are no more worst movies of Whoopi Goldberg)

Search this site

Star trek: generations.

Theatrical release: 11/18/1994 DVD special edition release: 9/28/2004 [PG]; 1 hr. 57 min. Screenplay by Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga Story by Rick Berman & Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga Produced by Rick Berman Directed by David Carson

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

January 20, 2005

Review Text

When Star Trek: Generations was released in late 1994, Star Trek was at the height of its popularity. The Next Generation had wrapped its television run the previous May, still very highly rated. Deep Space Nine was on the air. Voyager was in production, less than two months from premiering. Sci-fi magazines were devoting half their issues to do season retrospectives of TNG and DS9 . Trek was even on the cover of Time magazine.

It was the pop-cultural apex of Star Trek , and Generations was the punctuation mark for that moment, where Captain Kirk would famously meet Captain Picard. On opening weekend, there were sellout crowds. (There were no sellout crowds — or even close — a couple years ago for a Star Trek: Nemesis premiere.)

I was more in anticipation for Generations than any movie that year — a year that, ironically, would end up releasing what would become two of my (and probably many people's) all-time favorite films ( Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption ). Strange what a decade can do. Even stranger that it's actually been that long.

Not even the problems with Generations really detracted from the atmosphere that the film enjoyed during its release. The film itself is actually very ordinary — a hit-and-miss affair that does some things right and some things wrong. Maybe the best way to summarize it is that it gets an A for theoretical ambition but a C for actual execution. Sounds like my freshman year of college, also starting in 1994. The C part, anyway.

One thing you're forced to face with the opening sequence aboard the Enterprise -B is that bringing back original crew members — after a perfectly satisfactory sendoff at the end of Star Trek VI — is a double-edged sword. Sure, it sounds great in concept, but does it actually work beyond what it needs to do to set up the end of the movie? It's been said that the original intention was to also bring back Spock and McCoy, but because the actors said no, the screenwriters went with the trio of Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov. Does it service anyone but Kirk to abandon these characters barely a third of the way into the first act of the film?

The opening sequence — while, again, reasonable in concept — plays like something of a compromise. I don't know what it is about the TNG era of humor, but something about it in the movies always felt a little forced (not like the unforced nature in many of the TOS films), and here the TNG humor ailment seems to carry over to the TOS characters: As Kirk and Scotty trade one-liners, something about the proceedings feels vaguely frail.

The Enterprise -B was the only one of the Enterprises we hadn't seen in a story leading up to Generations , so it seems natural to bridge that Trek -history gap in a film that, in essence, is all about bridging generation gaps. Yes, Generations is without a doubt the literal torch-passing affair that it promised to be. It's just that it's not an especially satisfying experience on the whole. It's a bit of a mishmash.

A crisis forces the Enterprise -B, commanded by Captain Cameron Frye — I'm sorry, I mean Captain Harriman (Alan Ruck) — to mount a rescue mission of some El-Aurian refugees whose ships have become trapped in an energy ribbon and are minutes away from being destroyed. There are a couple good moments here, like when Kirk, who is only on board for reasons of publicity, can barely restrain himself from offering unsolicited advice; when Harriman finally gives up the captain's chair, Kirk sits down and relishes the moment, before realizing that he should relinquish the chair back to Harriman. Alas, there's too much meaningless technobabble involving the ribbon and its gravimetric (or whatever) forces; you can see already that this is a TNG production as opposed to a TOS production.

In the course of the rescue attempt, the Enterprise -B is damaged, and Kirk — inside one of the damaged areas — is swept out into space and presumably killed. This prologue, while necessary and functional and kind of entertaining, is not much more than that. It's a stage-setter that obviously will come up later. The fact that Guinan shows up in this prologue provides an obvious clue (to regular TNG viewers, anyway) that this is part of a master plan.

Move forward 78 years, where Worf is being promoted in the holodeck of the Enterprise -D. The setting is a sailboat at sea — named Enterprise , of course — and it's one of those sequences (albeit one that's perhaps too earnest) that lends more cinematic appeal to the proceedings by filming on location and drawing the nautical parallels that always characterized the TOS films.

Interestingly, one of the inherent drawbacks of essentially relaunching the show as a film series is that the screenwriters have to bring non-followers up to speed. Consider the scene after Worf falls into the water, where Data expresses his confusion to Geordi about what is and isn't funny. This scene would not have to be explained to us on the TV series, and here seems forced upon the characters, as if to say, "Okay, now we're going to bring all you unfamiliar audience members up to speed!"

One thing Generations gets right is the scope of its storytelling. Unlike Insurrection , for example, which felt like just another routine TNG episode, the events of Generations take on much more significance than you would see in a typical TV episode. Promoting Worf, giving Data emotions, killing Picard's brother and nephew, killing the Duras sisters, blowing up and crashing the Enterprise , wiping out entire solar systems — these are the kinds of bigger things that should happen in a movie adapted from a TV series.

Anyway, let's start with Data. In a character development that took a certain amount of guts, the producers finally decide to let him install the emotion chip that had been sitting on his shelf for the past year. (Never mind that the emotion chip would be negated two films later; in this movie it was a good idea.) It's a milestone for the character, and filled with promise. Unfortunately, the writers don't do very much with it, especially early on, in scenes where Data laughs incessantly until everyone else (including the audience) starts to get annoyed. I'll admit that I laughed at some of this goofiness (to this day I still quote, "I cannot help myself!" in situations that warrant that punch line), but there just isn't much depth to the overall arc. As I said before, A for effort, C for execution.

Picard's arc is also a good one in theory, touching on the whole aging/mortality theme that was made so memorable in Star Trek II . In practice, however, it's not all that great. I wasn't much moved by the deaths of Picard's brother Robert and nephew Rene, and while Picard has every reason to grieve, I've never been a fan of the crying scene where Picard breaks down. (Indeed, it's a scene that I have mocked in the past.) Patrick Stewart is a fine actor, no doubt, but there's something about this scene that just doesn't work. I think, in a way, we simply don't want to see the captain of the Enterprise sitting in the dark, crying.

Having the main storylines follow mainly Picard and Data would become the template for the rest of the film series. The remaining characters are supporting players in the tradition of TNG as a TV series. That's fine; it's a big cast and we need a clear focus on a couple storylines.

The movie's villain, Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell), a 300-year-old El-Aurian, is set up in the movie's prologue on the Enterprise -B and is then found by the Enterprise -D crew in the wreckage of the Amargosa observatory, which was attacked by Romulans. Here the movie throws up a smokescreen to give the plot more "plot"; the Romulans are in fact irrelevant to the movie.

Soran is not one of the Trek films' best villains, but he's also not one of the worst. He's not evil so much as obsessed and unbending in his goals (even if it means destroying entire planets and their populations as a side effect, which I guess qualifies as an evil byproduct). McDowell is good at dispensing ominous lines as personal philosophies, such as, "They say time is the fire in which we burn," which points toward his quest against his mortality. Later, on the planet surface, Picard and Soran will share some worthwhile dialog about mortality. "If there's one constant in the universe," Soran says, "it's death."

The central plot device revolves around Soran's obsession with the Nexus, the aforementioned energy ribbon, in which "time has no meaning." Soran has allied himself with Lursa (Barbara March) and B'Etor (Gwynyth Walsh) in a scheme that would give the two Duras sisters a powerful weapon and give Soran the opportunity to get back into the Nexus, which Guinan describes as a place of eternal bliss. As a sci-fi concept, the Nexus provides both the film's biggest success and worst failure. I'll explain.

It's a success in that I really liked the idea of an energy ribbon traveling through space (which looks cool) and Soran trying to alter its course using the shock waves from imploded stars. This is something that is portrayed plausibly, is interesting, and fairly original.

The best scene in the movie is the Data/Picard scene in stellar cartography, which works as plot advancement, character development, and convincing science. The analysis of all the data and evidence is intriguing and believable, demonstrated both visually and with dialog. The cartography graphics are impressive and yet straightforward. They convey what's going on clearly and with visual flair; this looks like what a futuristic stellar cartography room might actually look like. Meanwhile in this scene, Data's struggle with his emotions — and Picard's tough-love approach to the situation — is good dramatically. The balance of all these plot and character elements is right on, acted and directed with precision.

Of course, in terms of scale and perspective, the movement of the Nexus is ludicrous. It must be traveling much faster than light in order to get from one solar system to the next in such a short amount of time, and yet when it gets to the planet, it slows waaaaaaay down to subsonic atmospheric speeds. Obviously, this is necessary for logistic and dramatic reasons for scenes involving the Nexus' approach. But I never understood the rules for how you can or can't get inside the thing. (It destroys ships and yet doesn't crumble a mountaintop or rip your body apart?)

Soran's plan is to implode the Veridian star so that the Nexus will shift course to the surface of the planet Veridian III, where he will be waiting. The resulting shock wave, unfortunately, will also destroy all the Veridian planets, including Veridian IV, which has a population of 230 million. Soran isn't much concerned about that. The Enterprise , obviously, must stop him. This leads to the requisite battle sequence with the Klingons, in which Lursa and B'Etor die in a scene that wants to be as satisfying as when Chang got blown up at the end of Star Trek VI , but no such luck.

From an action standpoint, the film tops out with the Enterprise 's evacuation to the saucer section and the separation of the ship — half of which explodes, with the other half crashing on the planet's surface. During the evacuation, I always laugh and shake my head at the shot of the girl who loses her teddy bear; oh, come on. (It's further evidence that TNG 's concept of civilians on starships that routinely go into battle is slightly silly.) But the crash sequence is long, loud, intense, and exciting. If you're going to blow up and crash a starship, this is the way to do it. On top of that is the destruction of the planet itself, which is a chilling image. This is some pretty good stuff, and signifies the film's visceral high point.

But then things start to misfire. Picard is pulled into the Nexus, leading to the film's most tedious sequence, in which everything about the plot is explained to us — often in ways we're unwilling to believe.

For starters, I just didn't much care for the overly idyllic Christmas setting with all those cloying kids. I see what they were going for here, but on an entertainment level, this is the sort of scene that the chapter skip on a DVD player was invented for.

Then there's the whole business with Guinan's "echo" in the Nexus, who explains to Picard (and us) how the Nexus works. How you can go anywhere, any time. In this case, Picard can go back and save 230 million lives if that's where/when he wants to go. (Apparently, the Nexus doesn't have the same effect on humans as El-Aurians; Guinan — the real one, that is — earlier told Picard that once he was in the Nexus he absolutely wouldn't want to leave, but that's not at all the way it ends up working here.)

The problem with the Nexus is that it can do whatever the plot requires and therefore is nothing more than a fantasy device that is too consciously driving the plot where it must go. Then we find ourselves asking: Why, if Picard can go anywhere, does he choose to go back in time only a few minutes instead of going back further and simply throwing Soran in a cell until the Nexus has passed?

There are contrivances in most movies. A good contrivance is one you aren't aware of or thinking about; a bad contrivance is one whose rules and loopholes clang loudly to the floor and provide a distraction from the story. This is of the latter variety.

So, Picard decides to recruit Kirk, who was sucked into the Nexus at the beginning of the movie. The resulting scenes are reasonable but somewhat anticlimactic. Picard must convince Kirk to leave the Nexus, there's some dialog about duty and making a difference, the performances are relaxed and pleasant, and there are scenes of horseback riding (which frankly strikes me more as a benefit for William Shatner than the movie).

The final act, in which Kirk and Picard go back to stop Soran, is workable but probably not what most people had in mind when they heard that Kirk was going to meet Picard in a Star Trek movie. There's plenty of action and cliché going on here, and it's always odd to see the conflict of a Star Trek film whittled down to three guys in a fight on a steel bridge in a desert. Personally, I prefer space battles. Kirk's death in this process is merely adequate (some would argue that it's less than adequate). If the movie is asking me to be moved by the passing of a legend and the passing of the torch — well let's just say that I'm glad they filmed it happening, and it was pleasant enough to watch, but I wasn't all that riveted by it.

As a production, the film is solid, but finds itself in an odd transitional phase. It was shot on all the original TV sets with only minor modifications (reportedly there were only 10 days between the last day of shooting on series finale "All Good Things" and the first day of shooting on Generations ). The film employed one of its TV directors, David Carson, in his first direction of a feature film. New uniforms, originally redesigned specifically for the film, were scrapped, and instead the cast switched back and forth between the TNG uniforms and the DS9 -style uniforms, something some viewers found confusing.

The most dramatic changes were in the special effects (which were naturally amped up to suit the story and the big screen) and the improvements in the lighting of the existing sets (the bridge of the Enterprise -D never looked better).

Not so dramatic is Dennis McCarthy's adequate but underwhelming score, which sometimes feels too restrained, like a TV score. In particular, the main theme lacks oomph (and features too many similarities to the DS9 theme) and feels like a major step backward after Cliff Eidelman's memorable Star Trek VI theme.

The special edition DVD contains a commentary track by screenwriters Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. It must be one the best commentary tracks yet recorded on a Star Trek DVD. Moore and Braga's comments lend great insight to the strengths and weaknesses of the storyline, in detail and with surprising forthrightness. I was nodding in agreement with their assessment of many aspects of the film. It's the sort of incisive look that has especially benefited from a decade of distance. They can critique the movie objectively.

I don't dislike Generations (it has several good scenes and generally the right feel for what TNG was all about), but it doesn't completely satisfy me, either. It serves its purpose in fulfilling all the franchise requirements that were expected of a passing-the-torch story. It's just that it doesn't fulfill all those requirements particularly well.

Picard says at the end, "What we leave behind is not as important as how we've lived." Honestly, I'm not sure what that's really supposed to mean; it's one of those vague philosophical lines that would be more enlightening if the thematic content of the movie were stronger overall. But the film itself doesn't have much to say; it's more about itself and what happens. On those terms, it's a pretty okay movie.

Previous: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Next: Star Trek: First Contact

Like this site? Support it by buying Jammer a coffee .

◄ Section Index

Comment Section

145 comments on this post.

You might enjoy this alternate ending: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wLavmLoC94 The guy made one for all of the films, but the funniest one, IMO, is Search for Spock: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnZeFTMpvys

When TNG announced the end of its run and its plan to instantly do films in 1994, I feared that films like this would be the result. Granted, there is some good stuff here. Data getting emotions, the eye-popping destruction of the beloved Enterprise-D, the deaths of Picard's brother & nephew. The 3 subsequent films also had great moments like Troi & Riker's marriage, Riker becoming a captain, and, of course, Alice Krige's Borg Queen. Sadly, however, the movies, for all intents and purposes, became simply stand-alone adventures(a format which Voyager became notorious for). What they should've done was tie in First Contact with the Dominion in the same way that the TOS films tied in Khan with the Klingons. TNG itself will always endure but the 4 films it spawned just didn't cut it overall.

I flat out hate this movie. This is the worst Star Trek story of all time, beating VOY and ENT in crapiness. Thats an unforgiveable mistake. 0 out of 4, for me.

Wow to the above post! I actually really enjoyed this movie and thought it the 2nd best of the TNG films. I thought the opening with Enterprise B was good. The destruction of Enterprise D. Data's emotions. Even the concept of the nexus was cool even though it seems very implausible. Kirk and Picard's meeting and Kirk's death could've been better.

Michael Lee

Just re-watched this movie last night. I truly enjoyed it. I thought the bridging of the generations was well handled. The destruction of the "D" was stunning (women drivers - bah!). Thank god they re-shot the ending. The original version, as seen on the special edition DVD, was appalling. The mighty JTK shot in the back? What were they thinking!

This movie more or less sucks. They should have just moved on without bring the tattered remnants of the TOS crew, minus those who had too much dignity (Kelly and Nimoy) or those who weren't asked. A real pointless excercise, and Kirk's death scene is terrible and unnecessary. "It's been fun?!" Christ.

This movie is okay, but it just doesn't thrill me while I'm watching it. I'm not sure what the problem is, except that by this point I was kind of sick of Data's development arc. Enough with the android, already! It also felt like the scenes were just that... scenes that were being filmed and then put next to each other instead of serving a central story theme. It felt like bits and pieces on screen instead of one contiguous film. The ease with which Picard shakes off the Nexus' influence after Enterprise-Guinan had built it up was anti-climatic and really... Picard's "wrapped in joy" fantasy life was really, really suckilicious. Especially galling was his 'wife'... this is what he wants in a life partner?! She was insipid. Killing off Lursa and B'Etor was a huge mistake. They were a riotous pair of villains that could have done so much more on DS9 as recurring characters. Imagine the episode with Toral trying to get the Bat'leth of Kahless with the Duras sisters and tell me it wouldn't have been way more fun! This movie was just a bit of a disappointment and the scene in Picard's office (lit only by the Amargosa star) was too darned dark.

I disagree with some of the above comments about Kirk's final scene. For Shatner, this is the end of a character that has likely been a huge part of his life, and in a way, his final lines reflect well the sentiment of both the character and the actor. And in the very end, what an awesome understated thing for the great, full of life, James T. Kirk to say when finally, certainly, facing death. "Oh my".

I just rewatched this film, and I still hate it. You are certainly right about the contrivances you mentioned, but another thing that always bugged me was the way in which the ENT-D was destroyed. Even without shields, they should've been able to destroy or at least significantly damage the old, tiny bird of pray. One would think Worf, who spent much of the TV series always advocating aggression, would've suggested just launching a barrage of photon torpedoes at the thing. But instead they just shot once with the phasers and then tried to run. And how the hell can Klingon torpedoes be tuned to a shield frequency anyway. Like most of the Picard/Kirk stuff, it was totally contrived, and made the movie frustrating.

Generations was a disappointment for me because I always felt that the film basically invalidated both Star Trek VI & "All Good Things..." in the same way Exorcist II: The Heretic & Alien 3 invalidated their respective predecessors.

Matthew Weflen

I enjoyed your review, even if I disagree on the overall rating. Out of 4 stars, I'd give this a solid 3, if not 3.5. It's not a 4 for a few reasons: Data's scenes with the emotion chip fall flat, and the pacing is some times a bit turgid, especially, as you mention, on the planet, as well as during the Christmas scenes (in which French Picard yet again has British kids). I also agree that Kirk's death was a bit anticlimactic. On the other hand, all of the Ent-B material is good, everything outside of the Nexus works. The film plays sort of like 'fan service' to TNG faithful, and it does its job very well. Lursa and Betor are big fun, the Worf promotion is pitch perfect, Picard's motives are dovetailed nicely with the classic episode "Family," counselor Troi actually counsels someone, it all just works extremely well for a good 1:20 of its 2:00 run time. One logic problem, which I forgive, is the notion of firing a rocket at a star. Is this a warp rocket? Because it sure seems to get to that star pretty quickly - and the dimming of the star also seems to proceed instantaneously, as opposed to taking the several minutes that a class-M planet's distance from its star would seem to indicate. It would have been excessively nerdy and even worse for pacing to do this realistically. Anyway, good review. I'm splitting hairs on an overall rating, it probably chalks up to gut feelings.

Daniel Lebovic

As my father and I saw Star Trek XI for the second time (night of Sat. May 9, 2009) we actually found, to our shock, that in our one-showing-every-half-hour (plus a separate IMAX theater with one showing every three hours) that the two half-hour showings that began shortly before we arrived (same for the IMAX showing, which also began shortly before we arrived) were sold out. We saw the film again, but rather late that night, and for the first time in history, I wasn't mad that I missed a showing because it had sold out. We saw Nemesis only once in a theater -the night of its premiere, no less - and there were seats to spare well into the reeling of the trailers. If you asked me right after I viewed Star Trek 10 that there would be another Star Trek film, that it would be a good - no, GREAT one, and on top of all of that, the film would be playing to sold-out audiences, I would have simultaneously laughed and cried in your face. But the prideful fan in me would never have stated that there was NO possibility of any of the above happening.. As Spcok said, both in Star Trek VI and XI, it's all about "faith."

grumpy_otter

I agree with many of the assessments of this film, but just wanted to add one of MY biggest objections to it--when Data pushed Crusher in the water, I couldn't believe they all got so indignant about it! That was the most hilarious moment of the whole series!

Worst trek movie ever. The script was terrible, the whole movie seemed like some TOS hater's childish way of slapping TOS fans in the face and saying 'get over it, TNG is here now' From killing Kirk, to the blowing up of the Enterprise it was all contrived, childish and poorly executed. I have removed this movie from my collection and try to remove it from my memory. "The Undiscovered Country" and "First Contact", now those are proper examples of a Trek film. "Generations" belongs in the pile with the likes of "Battlefield Earth" and "Dude, where's my car?" Tachyon.

This movie could have been so much better. The idea of the nexus was a good one, but one that was wasted. As stated above, what killed the idea was how quickly Picard shook off the effects of the Nexus, as well as Kirk figuring it out and leaving so easily. What was the real impact of leaving the nexus anyway? It was pretty dull if you ask me. The nexus was supposed to be something that brought the individuals that enter it incredible joy. I assume that Soran wanted to get back to the nexus to be with his loved ones again. the same for Guinan. Imagine having your world destroyed by the Borg. Everything and everyone you know and love, gone forever. Then you are thrust into the Nexus, and you are reunited with all you lost, and then are ripped away again. I too would want to get back. I would have imagined the nexus "realities" as different for both Kirk and Picard. These charictors have a rich history. Are you telling me the writers could not come up with better nexus experiences for these two? Why not have Kirk be with his true love, Edith Keeler? Picard, I would have had wake up back in his "home" on the planet Kataan, with his wife and children. Now this would have packed an emotional punch to the viewer, as well as forcing our two captains to truly have to give up something important to them in the nexus to go back and save all those lives. Thats the movie I would have liked to see. -Mike

I agree wholeheartedly Mike. The Nexus scenes could have had much more of a "punch" if we'd seen scenes with character we knew from our central character's pasts. I was thinking for Kirk, they should have gone with Carol Marcus and David. Now, do to real life, they'd have to have different actors, but they could easily have shown the mother/son at a far younger age. Perhaps Kirk could have wanted to experience being there with his son as an infant. Picard's is more challenging - I think. I feel like he's dealt with his Kataan experiences and the fact that they weren't his life. And, I agree - especially after his brother's and nephew's deaths - that family would be on his mind. I just don't agree with the way they were portrayed - especially the wife's character, who seemed hideously stereotypical and not someone you would think a 24th Century man would run around having fantasies about. I'm not sure there could be an appropriate callback - perhaps Vash, now a bit more settled, happily exploring with him some archeological site or another? That would seem far more in character for Picard.

This film has so many logic holes and stuff that makes no sense the only way that someone could think this film is good is if they switch their brain off. The Enterprise windows smash like glass wtf it is a spaceship they don't have glass windows. The whole hostage scene, and soron having to kill 230 million ppl to get back to the Nexus because there is no other way even though he got there the first time on a ship. Picard and Kirk going back to just before he fires the rocket instead of earlier where Picard could of saved his family. Arrrgghhh!!! Seriously someone gave this a 3.5 it was disgraceful 0/4

There are so many more problems with this crap movie check out the review by redletter media on youtube it points out lots of them and is quite funny as well.

I agree with everything you said and most of the comments... except the bit about the lighting on the Enterprise-D. I think they should have kept it like they had it on the series, because first of all it makes no sense storywise for that to change (as Culluh said ironically in "Basics, Part I": 'Why is it so dark in here? Somebody TURN ON THE LIGHTS!') and the sets didn't look as good visually.

I fully agree with all those fans who say that Kirk's death was a complete debacle. In fact, they shouldn't have killed him off at all.

I feel sorry this film wasn't all it could have been. There's actually a very good story trying to be told in a compelling manner. If it weren't for the directives imposed by Paramount on Rick Berman, I don't think this film would have been as convoluted. Kirk and Picard together was a great concept, but the Nexus wasn't the best way to achieve this. Sometimes, I think time travel would have been the best solution. It had, by far, my favorite DVD commentary of the Trek films. I was surprised at how much I found myself agreeing with Brannon Braga and Ron Moore throughout the film's run. Both are very candid in realizing what went wrong. Like Braga's own mindset, for me the stellar cartography scene is one that still holds up well today. Moore's tidbit about having to rewrite the script due to budget issues also caught my attention. It's amazing how much Paramount execs tried to control costs, milking the cow back in the 90's. And now we have JJ Abrams Star Trek, which cost over 100 million, made back three times that amount, and took home a best makeup oscar.

I agree with your assessment of the movie and the problems and plot holes with it, but I don't think it's as bad of movie as everyone is making it out to be. I started watching Star Trek this past year. I was having a bad night and the only thing that was on was a marathon of the movie Star Trek Generations on BBC America. I winded up watching the movie three times in a row and loving it and deciding that maybe this television show was worth watching and seeing. The characters just seemed deep and amazing to me, so I could never hate this movie. And overall, even though other people are upset that it was made, I'm happy about it. Not only did it get me to love Star Trek in the first place, but I'll take any TNG episodes or movies they are willing to give me. I love them all. Even the original season of the television show, which everyone else hates.

Oh and I just wanted to add this, lol . . . . Data is my favorite character and my love of him started with this movie. I know someone else mentioned that they were tired of him, but honestly, I could never be tired of his story arcs and the unique way that Star Trek deals with him. Anyway, I do want to point out one thing that even I found funny before I saw any of the television show. I took french in high school and even though I never watched a single episode, I knew enough about france and french names to know that "Jean Luc" was a french name and that he was obviously from France. So it was a bit funny when everyone in his family had an English accent. At least to me it was.

Latex Zebra

2 Things from me! 1. Picards family didn't need to die. I feel that as they where the last part of the Picard name and it is kind of obvious Picard himself wont be having kids that to kill them was just nasty. Maybe I've missed the point but that really pees me off. 2. Kirk also did not need to die. He could have ended up in the Nexus as the end.

ScooterGirl

What ruined this movie for me wasn't Soran's flawed reasoning of how to enter the Nexus or Kirk's unheroic death retrieving a remote control but rather Data's emotion chip. What made Data so endearing in TNG were his charming attempts to duplicate, and therefore hopefully understand, human emotions and human relationships. Here he is given emotions and it results in a very unlikable Data. In the TNG episode "Deja Q", Q rewards Data with an actual emotion for a moment, a moment in which Data finds himself having a laughing fit the kind of which we have all experienced at one time or another. I can't speak for anyone else but I laughed right along with Data watching that episode because his laughter seemed genuine. In "Generations" this same Data, who thanks to the chip understands the concept of humor, becomes an idiot whose laughter seems forced and completely without humor. Instead of laughing I cringed. I do recognize that fear can be overwhelming and while Data's reaction to experiencing it for the first time is realistic I found I didn't really like a cowardly Data either, nor the swearing Data aboard the soon to be demolished Enterprise. I suppose the only time I found Data's chip to be redeeming was his touching reaction when he found Spot unharmed. Other than that give me the questing Data over the Data who has found what he has been seeking and ends up being less instead of more.

I like Generations, though I don't really disagree with any of the criticisms in this review. But one thing that's always really bothered me about it was the re-use of effects sequences from Star Trek VI for the destruction of Lursa and B'Etor's ship - they're the exact sequences from the demise of General Chang! Seems an odd thing to have cheap-ed out on.

Over the years, many have (rightfully) said that both The Godfather Part III & Alien 3 would probably be viewed as good films had they been the first in their respective series. Do you think the same could apply to Generations had we never seen Kirk or Picard prior to this film?

I hated this movie. I don't think this movie did TNG justice by any means. The Bad writing, The Sub plot of Data getting a emotion chip. The way Enterprise-D got destroyed by a Old Bird of Pray. Also continuity flaws. But If I had to pick I would watch this movie over 1 episode of Enterprise.

I thought Dr. Soran was one of the more interesting villains of the Trek movies. While he's evil wasn't as far reaching or as effective as Khan or The Borg Queen, as a character unto himself, he was interesting. Watch the scene where Picard is trying to persuade Dr. Soran that his destroying Veridian III was no different than when the Borg destroyed his home and family. There's a brief pause where it seems that Picard had gotten through to him. And then that malevolent smile spreads over his face and he says: "Nice try." That scene alone puts him head and shoulders above R'uafo and Shinzon.

I always thought one couldn't use a ship to enter the nexus. You might get it but you still have a physical body in a ship that is about to blow up. Kirk though was sucked out into space and into the Nexus, physically he has entered it. This is what happens to Picard and what Soran wants. Unfortunately as Jammer said, the Nexus is just a wish device that does whatever the writer's need it to do. This movie can't really be assessed as a time travel movie or it falls apart quite swiftly. Agree with the general concensus and review - a middling effort from the franchise.

John the younger

I would rate this as better than Insurrection or Nemesis.

I'd put Generations in the same category as Insurrection and Nemesis--clunky and poorly thought out. First Contact was the only TNG film that came off as polished and properly constructed from beginning to end.

Demora Sulu says "glad to meet you" to Kirk, but then Chekov mentions they met 12 years ago. Assuming she's fresh out of the academy, that makes her 10 when they'd met...she didn't remember?

And they're in the Sol system, but there is "no other ship within range" to make the rescue? Not exactly leaving Earth very well protected...

Plus...not much of a lifetime for the Enterprise-A, and some 50 year gap between the Enterprise-B and Captain Garrett's Enterprise-C.

How come when the Klingons were "looking" through Geordi's eyes, they saw things the way normal eyes do rather than how Geordi sees?

This movie could have been so much more. It was not well thought out. Just plain assinine!! The thing that irked me was the fact that it physically took a lot of energy to get into the nexus ( like blowing up stars, flying ships through it, having it come to you etc....). Yet, when the two captains decide to leave, they ride out on horseback!!?? I just never lived down the stupidity. With Spock's 200 year + lifespan and the fact that Scotty was already in the 24th century, they could have truly made a "generational" film. Leave it to Berman and company to muck it up. Poor Kirk's death wasn't handled with the heroic standards that he deserved. The Guy didn't even get a 21 gun salute funeral!!! Where were the speeches and bagpipes like in Star Trek 2 when Spock died. This is the way you handle a hero's death? Bury him quietly on a mountain top? One of the greatest captains in Starfleet???I think this film didn't give Kirk the proper respect. If you were going to have the TOS cast in the film, they should have been utilized throughout the better part of the film interacting with the next generation crew as opposed to being used like props. Unsatisfying indeed!!!!!

A respectable effort, but if I could travel back in time and improve the movie, I would have: -Completely reworked the battle scene. I would have made the Duras' ship a Vor'cha or Negh'var class cruiser, for starters, or maybe even a D7/Ktinga. Then Geordi's VISOR gives away the shield frequency, and the ship inflicts critical damage on the Enterprise before Riker thinks to remodulate the shield frequency. Riker throws every weapon he has against the ship (a lot more than one phaser blast and one torpedo, I can tell you that!), doing some damage but not much, as the damage sustained before remodulating the shields is just too much. With the warp core about to breach, Riker has an idea. He evacuates the stardrive, separates the ship, then he and a skeleton crew beam over to the battle bridge, plot a collision course with the Duras' ship, then beam back to the saucer section at the last minute (I'm thinking TOS's "The Doomsday Machine"). The stardrive section explodes, taking the Duras' ship with it, but the shockwave disables the saucer's engines and from there everything else is the same. I most certainly would NOT have reused the explosion from Star Trek VI. -I would have tried to make Kirk's death more meaningful. Not sure how to do that - maybe make it so that some Klingons beamed off Duras' ship before it exploded, and Kirk tries to hold them off as long as he can, getting mortally wounded while Picard battles Soran. It certainly would have been better than "Kirk falls off bridge and dies". Then, other than that, everything else remains the same. But I would have added some much stronger music to the scene. -I would have toned down Data's "emotion chip" thing. A lot. -I would have cut the Picard Nexus scene, and in Kirk's Nexus fantasy, I would have paired him with a woman from TOS. Maybe Edith Keeler. Still a good movie though. I especially loved the stellar cartography scene - good character work - and although the battle left much to be desired I liked the chaos that ensued on the Enterprise - that part was very well done and made you really believe the Enterprise was getting shot to pieces (although having it done by a dinky little BOP made me say "Really?"). 2.5 or 3 stars.

David E. Miller

Just read the novelization of this film. In the book, Veridian III is a jungle planet, and the breech in the force field is through a hole created by tree roots. Also, Kirk is simply killed by Soran's hand weapon (a "disrupteur" is what the French translation called it). I liked the use of an actual bridge on the planet as the death device (one thinks immediately of a starship bridge, and the fact that the movie is a bridge between generations). But it's true that the Nexus makes no sense whatsoever. I've been to Valley of Fire many times, but unless I took movie photos with me, I wouldn't be able to know exactly where the death scene was shot. The park personnel is a bit more helpful now than back in the day, but....

@David: They originally shot the ending where Kirk is shot in the back. I think you can find it on YouTube. It's funny because Malcolm McDowell was quoted during production as "getting to kill Kirk." The shot in the back apparently didn't test well, so they changed it. Of course, there's the big question about how in the hell Picard carried Kirk to the top of the hill to bury him. :)

I actually thoroughly enjoy this film, flawed though it is. I may raise some feathers here, but visually, I think this is the best looking ST film. This was at the end of model use in Sci fi movies, before CGI, and the season 1 enterprise has never been more stunning. I loved the slightly dimmer sets, which were clearly to resonate slightly with the episode "yesterdays enterprise". The first 90 minutes of this film are actually quite fun and exciting. I find it interesting that my star wars loving 6 year old son finds this the only Star Trek movie he can sit through. Some may think that in itself is a problem, I disagree, almost al fans of star trek became fans when young, you need to play a little to the younglings. I think the characters were mostly spot on. I think this point is important because the latter 3 TNG movies (Nemesis in particular) the characters became less and less characters and more the fat old actors portraying them. I do agree with the criticism of the story. basically Rick Berman said "We need Kirk to die, the Enterprise-D to be destroyed and crash on a planet, and Picard and Kirk to somehow meet, now CONNECT THE DOTS", and that was it. Now, there is a much bigger problem with this movie that no one has quite mentioned yet, and that is regarding Kirks life in the nexus. Everyone I ever hear comment on this says it should have been Carol Marcus and David over some random Antonia. I think that critique is half right. The problem is that deep down we all know Kirks 1st love is the Enterprise. His Nexus fantasy should have been the original (or movie version) starship enterprise. How satisfying for us as fans have been if Picard walked in on Kirk giving orders to Kirk on the original enterprise and had to convince Kirk to help him and the Enterprise D crew with an existential crisis. That is the way this movie would have been satisfying. The problem is that the Kirk we know would never hide away with some women. Picard maybe, but NEVER Kirk. And that is why this movie, as much as I love it, cannot get more than a 3 out of 4.

@Nick P: That's an interesting comment about Kirk, but it's off the mark. Kirk, circa 2294, is a lonely old man. A big part of the movie is him regretting the choices he made that left him that way. So, it makes sense that his idealized moment in time is with a woman who "got away", rather than him returning to the Enterprise back in the day. Antonia was probably a bad choice, but a love interest made sense. It would have been good to cast a new actress as a young Carol Marcus with an infant David. That would have been powerful. Now, your premise would have worked if Kirk's problem had been living in the past. Instead of the (edited) orbital skydiving scene, maybe Kirk would have been using some VR technology to relive the old missions. Then, in the Nexus, he could have been back on the old Enterprise and Picard could have said, "It's time to live in the now," or something and Kirk, upon his death, could have said, "My now was 78 years ago. This is your now, Captain. Make the most of it." All of this ignores the biggest problem with Generations: What the hell does the Nexus do? At some points, it's a time portal. At others, it's almost like a holodeck where those in it can live scenarios that never happened. This flaw -- combined with the stupid decision by Picard and Kirk to try to stop Soran at a moment when doing so was possible but very difficult -- make Generations a subpar movie. Oh, and Riker looks incompetent. There were any number of ways he could have kept the Duras sisters from destroying the Enterprise.

Re: everyone saying it should be Carol Marcus and the infant David - did you guys not see WOK? The movie specifically said that Carol did not tell Kirk about David, because she didn't want David to gallivant across the galaxy like his father. Thus they must have broken up before he was born, or broke up over sub space. Also thus, this means if Kirk really wanted to get back with her (Which WOK doesn't suggest), he would need to fix things BEFORE David was born, because by the time's David is a newborn, it's too late for their relationship. Kirk wanting to be with Edith Keeler, on the hand, makes a lot of sense - he would have to imagine that her death wasn't necessary, but should be no problem in the Nexus. As for the movie itself - I thought it was great visually, music, sound effects, and most of the acting. I actually cried 3 times during that movie on a recent re-watch, so apparently they did something right. However, I do agree this can't be a 4 star movie ( would give it 3) - these are my detractions: 1) While the movie isn't clear, presumably the emotion chip simply adds emotions and reactions, but doesn't change other things that Data does (personal beliefs, policies, habits etc.). Before installing the chip, the TNG establishes Data as a creature with a strong sense of duty, even to the point of self-sacrifice. He should still have this, even with an emotion chip installed. Therefore, when he was wrought with fear, in his head he should have concluded ("I have a duty to protect Geordi - regardless of how I feel") and acted to save his friend. I do NOT buy the movie's premise that he was hit with so much fear that he couldn't act - Data has faced many adversities in his many years of existence, this is just another obstacle to overcome. I believe his strong sense of duty should have allowed him act to save Geordi. * Like another poster, I don't like the Data with emotion, and could have done without. Also, once he realized he can react to humor, he should have thought about past humorous events off-duty - did he somehow lose his professionalism? He looks stupid, and Geordi looks annoyed like the audience. * James Kirk was a historic figure who has saved the Federation (or parts of it) a number of times - you would think Starfleet would bother to put him a stasis pod and bury him properly on Earth, either in Iowa, or a Starfleet graveyard. It just made no sense to bury him on a no-name planet UNLESS Picard thought Picard would live there the rest of his life, which he had no reason to think that. * I agree the dark lighting for Picard's quarters and ready room were unnecessary - just make it the same as it was, the scene would have been fine, Patrick could pull it off. This scene was also hard to hear, the actors were speaking too quietly. So while I agree this isn't as perfect as Wrath of Khan, I disagree it's as bad as some make it out. This is just my opinion, feel free to disagree.

@Corey: Actually, WOK suggests Kirk has a lot of regrets about not being around David. Now, it's true that he might not have known about David until after he was born, he still could have come back and tried to have a family with David and Carol. David's about 28 in WOK, meaning he would have been born in 2256 or so -- well before the original 5-year mission. Heck, Kirk could have even come back after the 5-yeare mission (when David was a teenager) and tried to have a family. Inserting some random woman into Kirk's backstory was a serious misstep. But Carol/David could have worked with the plot and Trek history.

@Paul: You didn't read my comment closely enough. I said WOK didn't indicate that Kirk wanted to be with CAROL, you know, the gal he broke up with? They must have had some problems, or they wouldn't have broken up at all. Yes, he wanted to part of David's life, but that can be arranged via such things as visitation rights. And the fact that Carol did NOT want her son lead a life like Kirk's (direct quote from WOK) (how the world did they ever hook up with such incompatible attitudes?) shows that there are irreconcilable differences between Kirk and Carol - sure Kirk wanted to patch things up with David, but there's no hope with Carol so Kirk didn't even try!

@Corey: Just because they had problems doesn't mean Kirk doesn't have regrets about not being with her. Anyway, it doesn't say who broke up with whom. And the fact that Kirk didn't patch things up with Carol might indicate he thought it was hopeless. But that doesn't mean in a fantasy-based Nexus after being old and alone he wouldn't change things to be with her. You're right that there's no indication that he regrets not being with Carol. There's also no indication that he's glad that it ended. So, Carol would have worked as the love interest (certainly better than some chick we'd never heard of).

@Paul: I do see where you are coming from. In this magic thing "Nexus", apparently anything can happen, so certainly Kirk could have imagined a Carol a bit more agree-able - and as others have claimed more emotionally powerful than some no-name "Antonia" that as far as we know Kirk never talked about, not even on TOS. NOT telling Kirk about his son, I would postulate, is a SERIOUS slight. She had to know that Kirk would want to know about his son (what father doesn't? Except low-lifes I suppose, but I can't see how Carol could think that of Kirk no matter how little she liked him). If they parted on good terms she wouldn't have done that. Myself, if I were Kirk, I would have been pretty mad at Carol for keeping such an important fact secret - I need to know my son, and my son needs to know me. Anyways, no need to belabor a point, I'm done on this particular topic - my final note is with my knowledge of humanity, I don't think Kirk would want (or dream even - hence our talk of the Nexus) of getting back with Carol - he easily could have bitterness about the issue even years later. I understand Paul you disagree, so let's just agree to disagree.

@Corey: Cool.

I absolutely love this movie. While I agree there are some parts that could have been done better, such as the fight scene with Soran/Picard/Kirk or giving Dr. Crusher and Troi something to actually do, overall I think it was the best TNG movie when it comes to emotional impact. I also feel that this movie has the best cinematography out of any Star Trek movie. The way the camera is used, with both beautiful new sets and familiar sets where we finally get some dramatic lighting (when the Enterprise is in orbit around Amargosa and the interior is bathed in golden light was stunning) really made Star Trek finally look like it belonged on the big screen. The special effects were wonderful (aside from a recycled bird of prey blowing up of course, the Sisters of Duras deserved a better send off), and I will always remember that feeling of horror I felt at ten years old when the Enterprise and her crew are destroyed by the nova watching this on opening night in the theater. While the following TNG movies had their good and bad parts, Generations will always remain for me the most satisfying and enjoyable to watch. 4.5/5 stars for me, and a close third behind Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home.

This was such a hot-and-cold movie for me. The cinematic bravura of the Nexus, crashing the Enterprise, exploding celestial bodies...terrific stuff. But between all that was a bunch of awkward and tough-to-explain set pieces. I have never been able to understand why this movie was directed in such a dark and tense manner. Practically every room on the Enterprise-D was dimmer than anything on the series, or the bridge of the Enterprise-B for that matter. Am I the only one who felt a ton of discontinuity from the series over this? I've often felt the urge to create one of those fanmade Youtube mishmashes with the Generations dialogue lip-synched to shots from the series.

Generations is one of those movies that critics hate for academic reasons, and other people tend to love (or at least periodically enjoy) for emotional reasons. Yes, it's easy to tear the storyline to shreds, and yes, for the most part, Data's comedy routine with the emotion chip was awful. As someone with a professional diagnosis, however, I nominate "Scanning for Lifeforms," for the Aspergian National Anthem. The autism was strong with Data, and it was never stronger than in this film. ;) If there's one thing which Generations was, more than probably any other Trek film however, (yes, possibly even First Contact) it was epic. This was a MOTION PICTURE, not a television episode. The special effects, the lighting, the outdoor location scenes, the overall scope of the story, (yes, even the fact that Data got the emotion chip, although the results were unspeakable) this is all cinematic feature film stuff, not TV stuff. For the guy who compared this with Battlefield Earth, I actually thought that film was a blast as well, albeit in a dissonant, Mystery Science Theatre 3000 kind of way. Haters gonna hate, but if you're going to hate Generations, make sure you hate it on at least an 18 to 21 inch screen. It's just too bad, as Jammer said, that we didn't get a suitably booming soundtrack to go with the visuals.

Watched this last night for the first time in years. Good lord, Data is positively obnoxious when he gets his emotion chip. That business of the battle between the Enterprise and the Klingon ship is silly. It wants to be just like the destruction of Chang's ship in Star Trek VI. Right down to using the same footage of the ship blowing up. By the way, how dumb are the Klingons? They never think to rebuild a ship that can fire while cloaked. And it was positively painful to see the original crew reciting technobabble about generating subspace fields and life sign phasing out of our space time continuum. How does one know if somebody is leaving our space time continuum anyway? The whole affair was about getting rid of the old generation and ushering in the new. So how about making the new more interesting without the audience thinking "What the hell are they talking about?"

Top 10 problems with this movie: 10) Scotty and Checkov clearly played the roles intended for Spock and McCoy -- complete with Checkov seeing to the medical needs of the refugees. I'm guessing Nimoy and Kelley didn't want to come back for bit parts. 9) Riker's complete incompetence in the battle against the Duras sisters is laughable. Even if they gotten the first shot through the Enterprise's shields, Riker could have just fired all weapons at the Bird of Prey and been done with it. Or, he could have remodulated the shields. 8) It's simply implausible that the Enterprise couldn't have found Soran on the planet. 7) It's simply implausible that the Enterprise couldn't have stopped Soran's device from getting to the Veridian sun -- especially considering it was clearly chemically propelled. 6) Picard's family scene in the Nexus was just poorly done and ham-fisted to say nothing of the really odd crying scene with Troi earlier in the film. 5) Inserting another lost love we'd never heard of in Kirk's backstory was ridiculous. Why not use Carol Marcus or Edith Keeler? 4) I don't hate the stuff with Data's emotion chip. But to pop it in and let Data resume active duty was just ridiculous. Something like that should have been done in a controlled environment. 3) How the hell does Guinan in the Nexus even know who Picard is? The whole 'echo' business was ridiculous. 2) There is simply no good explanation for why Soran couldn't have been on a ship or in a thruster suit to get into the Nexus. He was in the Nexus during the movie's first scene ON A SHIP. 1) Picard picks the hardest possible time to stop Soran, when he could have simply gone back to the point where Soran came on board the Enterprise and arrested him.

Having literally just seen this film, I can say this: I enjoyed it, but admittedly, it could have been much better.

@paul, I think it can be assumed that echo Guinan knew Picard because of Time's Arrow. As my first run through of everything surrounding TNG, I'd say that this probably gets me a 2.5 of 4. After seeing All Good Things for the first time a couple days prior, this feels incredibly weak. There's no a-ha moment in my head when everything really falls into place, something I cherished in the best TNG episodes. Instead, we get concepts upon duplicating concepts, arching over each other and beating you over the head repeatedly until you truly tire of it. That being said, it was still a fun, if a little of a hollywood handholdy movie up until right around when the 1701D crashed.

@Rivus: Good point re: Guinan and Picard.

Actually, looking again at the scene, Picard asks echo Guinan if she's on the Enterprise, which she says she is... I guess the argument could be made that since the echo is a part of Guinan, and time is meaningless in the Nexus, then maybe she retains the experiences of the real Guinan. Honestly, not much is even known of Guinan's species aside from long life, abstract time sensitivity like in the Yesterday's Enterprise incident, Borg genocides and Q, so you could make all sorts of arguments about the way she interacts with the Nexus. Also, another thing dawned on me, as I was watching the Red Letter review of this movie... The 1701-D just seems like it was run by a pre-Borg TNG crew. No effort was made to remodulate the shield's frequency... Considering the Bird of Prey's weapon capabilities, getting past the shields could ONLY have been done if they knew the frequency it was operating at. And then Riker gives Troi the helm, which honestly, should NOT have been a problem considering in Thine own Self Troi passes the commander's exam by Riker's own admission. But for the sake of the event, it's as if that never happened, and if it did, one can just look at Riker again because it's ALL HIS FAULT. It's like you can look at a silly decision made in season 7 leaking into the movie... and in a way, dooming the Enterprise.

I have to say that the few bits about this movie that irked me were: 1. Geordi was looked over when he got back, but the Enterprise bridge crew was at this point intimately familiar with the Duras Sisters and what they're capable of ... and no one checked on his visor to see if it had been tampered with. ESPECIALLY after ROMULANS tampered with it in an episode of the series to add E-band capabilities so they could direct his attempted assassination of a Klingon Governor. 2. All Federation ships had an ability to rotate shield frequencies. This technique became especially critical in combat after the forced introduction to the Borg. How come after the first 1, MAYBE 2 hits from the Sisters got through the shields, Riker didn't think to say "Derrrrp! Rotate the shield frequencies?" This, in my opinion, seemed nothing more than a way to destroy the loveable (again, in my opinion) Big-D in favour of a new ship. 3. Kirk has always said he would die alone. So they decided to completely ignore that and give him the epic, lonely death he so deserved and just drop a bridge on him instead with Picard there to comfort him as he passed on. No. No, no, no, nonono! NO!

"This, in my opinion, seemed nothing more than a way to destroy the loveable (again, in my opinion) Big-D in favour of a new ship." This.

Of all the things I remember about this movie, I recall that it is pretty fun right up to (and including) the destruction of Enterprise D. After that, it is plain boring.

I think this is actually my favorite TNG film. I won't say it's better than First Contact, but the time I saw it was when I was at my peak of affection for TNG and seeing the actors on the big screen was wonderful. I don't care one bit about the plot holes everyone talks about.

I agree with pretty much everyone, it's a movie with a lot of logical problems and missed opportunities, but I also find it to be one of the more enjoyable movies. My biggest complaint is that Kirk and Picard got out of the nexus way too easily and many of the associated themes are completely underdeveloped as a result. Actually pretty much all of the movie's themes are underdeveloped, like Kirk and Picard's conflicting values (fun, romance, and adventure versus legacy, family, and duty) and how Kirk's eventually comes out on top pulling Picard out of his funk in the process. There's also the really subtle conflict between Geordi and Data over whether or not it's better to be yourself or to be like others. Geordi's share of the plot in particular was very underdeveloped in that sense, and also completely undercut by Insurrection.

I think this movie did a lot right but also a lot wrong. The best was that it didn't feel like just an episode and I also felt it was able to introduce the characters to new viewers while still feeling like a continuation rather than a retread. Funny Data was obnoxious but not as long or quite as much as I remembered. I didn't mind the use of Lursa and B'Etor (actually an interesting way of having Klingons, albeit here Klingon renegades, be villains for perhaps the last time) but it felt really forced to have Geordi be kidnapped, apparently not missed, and then released without suspicion just so the ship could be destroyed pretty easily. Soran was an interesting villain much of the time but some of his acting and dialogue on Veridian were a little too "bwa-ha-ha!," it would have been better if he were more sympathetic and even conflicted. It also didn't make sense that he had to enter through a planet rather than a ship, especially when he liked what happened on entering through a ship the first time. The Nexus was an interesting concept but Picard and Kirk's fantasies and how quickly they left them sure didn't live up to the idea of pure joy and much of Picard and Kirk's interactions were boring and made them both look bad. Despite Kirk's re-introduction underwhelming, he got an alright finale without taking over the film.

Captain Jon

Synopsis Seventy-eight years after the apparent death of James T. Kirk during the maiden voyage of the Starship Enterprise-B, Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D must stop an El Aurian scientist named Soran from destroying an entire solar system in his quest to enter the paradise known as the Nexus. Review While 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country revitalized the franchise's movie series, it also so the retirement of the original Star Trek cast. It was then assumed that the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation would eventually make the transition to the big screen to take over the film series. At the time, Star Trek: The Next Generation was still going strong in it's fifth season, proving to be a hit both critically and with it's ratings. Series producer Rick Berman wasn't yet prepared to end the show. By late 1992, however, spin-off series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was set to premiere in January 1993, ensuring the franchise's continuation on television. Thus Paramount approached Berman to produce the seventh installment in the series with the intent of featuring the Next Generation cast. Berman asked series writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga to write a script, while also encouraging former-TNG writer Maurice Hurley to develop another. Series executive producer Michael Piller was approached as well but disagreed with the competitive nature of the assignment. Both scripts would feature members of the original series crossing over to meet the cast of The Next Generation to "pass the baton". Ultimately, the Moore/Braga script was chosen, though the studio made a "wish list" of things they wanted to see, as well as restricting the using of the original cast members to both an opening prologue and the film's climax. The decision was made to make several big changes to the status quo that was normally maintained during the series. Data was finally allowed to install his emotion chip, Worf was promoted, Picard's brother and nephew were killed (off-screen), the Enterprise-D met her end, and William Shatner's Captain Kirk was to be killed. The writers wanted to "aim high" and go big due to the opportunity presented on the big screen. Leonard Nimoy was approached to direct but was denied the chance to make changes to the script by Berman, ultimately leading to Nimoy turning down both the opportunity to appear in and direct the film. Series director David Carson (best known for the TNG classic episode Yesterday's Enterprise as well as the DS9 premiere Emissary) was selected to direct. The cast and crew of The Next Generation wrapped up filming of the series finale All Good Things... in early-1994 and after a ten day break dove right into their first feature film. Star Trek Generations is certainly ambitious. There are lots of big ideas found throughout that show the effort that was made to transition The Next Generation to the big screen. Many of these ideas are good. In fact, there are no shortage of good ideas in Generations. What's lacking, however, is the execution. Things just don't completely mesh and come together as they should and much of that begins with the Moore and Braga's screenplay. The tone right away is established as being more akin to The Next Generation then the original Star Trek series. Though not necessarily a bad thing dramatically, the script does contain what would become a major flaw in Star Trek of the mid- to late-1990s: technobabble. The dialogue is laced with technobabble and science jargon that has little mean and humor that feels more forced than natural. Even the opening prologue featuring Kirk, Scotty and Chekov aboard the Enterprise-B suffers from this problem. Where the original series humor flowed from the cast's natural chemistry, here the humor comes through contrived gags that are hit or miss. Having said that, however, Moore and Braga have managed to conceive a story that is not only original but also moves along plausibly for the first two-thirds of Generations's running time. The idea of destroying stars to alter the course of the Nexus energy ribbon works both on a scientific level and dramatically. The scene with Picard and Data uncovering Soran's plot in the Stellar Cartography lab not only works on a character level but successfully moves the plot along as well. It's easily the movie's best written scene. Soran's use of destroying stars follows the mold of the writers attempting to think bigger than the constraints of television to move The Next Generation onto the cinematic front. The ultimate destruction of Veridian III is chillingly realized and something that could never occurred on the TV series. Though The Next Generation was a heavily ensemble show, such a dynamic is difficult to capture on the big screen especially with so many characters are in play. It's only natural for some characters to be favored over others. For Generations, the primary character arcs focused on Picard, Data and Kirk. Of the three character stories, Kirk's is the most successful. The prologue establishes that Kirk, who retired at the end of Star Trek VI, is struggling with said retirement. During the sequence's emergency, he's itching to jump in and help. Retirement doesn't suit Kirk well who is used to being in the thick of things and has discovered that life without Starfleet is empty and meaningless. He struggles with what bothers him most; having an empty house to return to upon retiring or having left the Enterprise bridge. Ultimately, Kirk realizes that it was a mistake to retire because his life has been about making a difference. Though Kirk's arc mirrors that found for him in The Wrath of Khan and isn't as successful, it still works here and is effective. Less successful is Picard's arc. Early on in the Next Generation storyline, Picard receives the devastating news that his brother and nephew were killed in a fire. This leads to him grappling with the fact that he is the last in the Picard family and begins to regret the decisions he's made to focus his life on being in Starfleet instead of having a wife and children. On paper this should work. But something about seeing Picard crying in the dark doesn't sit well. Patrick Stewart's delivers but the scene itself doesn't feel right. The least successful of the three characters arcs is that of Data. The idea of allowing Data to install his emotion chip is huge character development and definitely something worthy of exploring since it was never done in the series. The scene in Stellar Cartography works well because it shows Data learning to cope with his emotions. Unfortunately, every other scene that deals with Data and his emotions is pretty obnoxious and tedious to sit through. He laughs non-stop during a serious investigation, irking not only Geordi but the audience as well. The problem is, there probably weren't too many other ways to handle this development within the context of this story since there are already so many pieces at play. It's a perfect example of aiming high conceptually but missing the mark with the execution. Placing so much focus on these three character arcs as well as the big picture story would naturally leave the rest of the characters to play supporting roles. Unfortunately, many of these characters end up filling up the background to the point of almost being non-existent within the context of the story. The presence of Scotty and Chekov in the opening prologue adds very little to the sequence and the lines their characters are saddled with don't sound like them either. Of The Next Generation characters, Riker gets some nice scenes both in action and in command while Troi gets some time counseling Picard during his grief. Geordi spends a good bit of time on the sidelines as a hostage for the Klingons, though their use of his VISOR in bringing down the Enterprise-D is creative. Worf gets promoted and gets to take part in the investigation and a scene of action, but little else. And poor Doctor Crusher receives the worst of any of the regular characters from either series as she's given only a handful of scenes and lines and contributes very little to the story. Surely another rewrite or two could've given a few of these roles more impact to the overall story, especially since just about all of them disappear for Generations's final half hour. Generations features a trio of villains. Returning from The Next Generation are the Duras sister, Lursa and B'Etor. Their parts are underwritten, however, and they're not given much to do besides stare in frustration at the viewscreen before they finally get to pound away at the Enterprise. Outside of their stated intentions to reconquer the Klingon Empire using Soran's trilithium weapon, it's never really clear how they intend to go about doing so and no drama or weight is given to such a prospect. The idea of these two having such a powerful weapon at their disposal is intriguing and a missed opportunity. Their demise is unfortunate and feels premature in the context of the franchise as a whole. Malcolm McDowell gives a solid performance as primary villain Soran. Though he's described as a mad man, it's a welcome change to see a mad man who isn't interested in weapons or power. Instead, he's obsessed with returning to the Nexus and will do anything to get there. It's unfortunate that the part is underwritten because there's plenty of potential here to have made Soran more sympathetic and tragic. He has some intriguing dialogue with Picard about time and mortality that's in the true spirit of Star Trek and it's his one truly good scene that still could've gone further. Soran isn't a terrible villain nor is he a great one either; he's just forgettable. The film's visceral peak occurs with the destruction of the Enterprise-D. The obligatory battle scene between the Enterprise and the Klingons is decent, though awkwardly paced. What makes it work is getting the rare opportunity (at the time, anyway) to see the Enterprise sets blown apart and crewmen flying through the air. The resolution relies too heavily on contrived technobabble rather than tactics and the destruction of the Klingon ship works so hard to earn the cheers of Chang's demise in Star Trek VI that the same footage is used to depict said destruction. As a result, it falls flat. The battle leads into the subsequent evacuation of the Enterprise star drive section as the ship's warp core is headed towards overload. The sequence builds suspense well as people rush through the corridors, though the presence of the children and families shows one of the flaws in Roddenberry's premise of families aboard starships. The saucer crash sequence is thrilling with special effects that wonderfully depict the ship's destruction. It's loud, entertaining and and director David Carson does a great job with his execution of the sequence to make it the high point of Generations. Despite it's flaws, Generations to this point is a solid entertaining movie. From there things start to misfire as the story enters the Nexus. The Nexus is Generations's greatest strength and weakness. On a visual level, the energy ribbon is one of the most unique and beautiful things we've ever seen on Star Trek and inspired awe. One of my favorite shots in the entire franchise that captures the true scale of the cinema is when Soran is standing on a platform and the energy ribbon flies towards him. It's a wonderful shot! Conceptually, however, the Nexus begins to fall apart and drags the third act with it. The Nexus is described as being a place of such joy that not only does Soran want to do anything to return to it, but Guinan also warns Picard that if he were to go into the Nexus he'll never want to come back. This presents the problem of representing a place of that wonderful joy without going over-the-top. Generations doesn't go over-the-top in representing Picard's ultimate fantasy life, but it is pretty intolerable. Playing into Picard's doubts about the choices he made in his life, we're presented with a sequence featuring the Picard family at Christmas. Everything is so perfect, the children so prim and proper and loving that it's hard to hear. The sequence is too cloying. Truthfully, however, just as one is hard pressed to think of a better way to handle Data's arc, there probably weren't too many ways of executing the Nexus in a believable way. Braga and Moore overwrote the concept of the Nexus to the point where nothing could live up to it. When Picard does realize he's in the Nexus, he comes about his decision to leave to stop Soran a little too easily. Of course, after Christmas with the Picards, it's somewhat understandable. Though I jest, the Nexus doesn't seem tempting enough. Which leads to the next problem with the Nexus that provides Generations's biggest plot hole; if Picard can go anywhere at anytime, why doesn't he go back further in time and just throw Soran in the brig? This is something that could have easily been solved if the writers had just set some rules and boundaries for the Nexus. A single line saying that Picard could only leave to a place where the Nexus has traveled would've sufficed. Instead, we question Picard's choice of the Veridian III mountaintop. The most highly anticipated aspect of Star Trek Generations also proves to be it's biggest disappointment; the meeting of William Shatner's Captain Kirk and Patrick Stewart's Captain Picard. Their meeting feels very underwhelming, with most of it with Kirk relishing in awe at the power of the Nexus as he seeks to relive aspects of his personal life differently. Picard is left to follow Kirk around, touting his duty as a Starfleet officer. Patrick Stewart may be the finest actor to ever wear a Starfleet uniform, but here he seems small compared to Shatner. Shatner's natural charisma and presence handily eclipse Stewart who has the weaker part of the two. Perhaps if Stewart had been given meatier material to dive into, things would've worked out better. As a result, the meeting of these two captains is very underwhelming. The film's final climax sees Kirk and Picard working together to stop Soran from destroying the Veridian star. Something about the proceedings doesn't sit right, though. Having the end of a Star Trek film boil down to three men fist fighting on a mountain doesn't sit right and doesn't work. When Kirk makes his final sacrifice, not only does it feel like an after-thought but it also feels like it deserves a shoulder shrug. Kirk's death to save millions of faceless people is definitely noble, but after nearly 30 years, James T. Kirk deserves a more heroic death than the one he receives in Generations. Generations achieves a technical proficiency unmatched by any of it's predecessors. The visual effects are top notch and the Enterprise-D looks wonderful on the silver screen. The sets from The Next Generation are given an upgrade with new lighting. The bridge set gets the most significant upgrade and has never looked better. As mentioned above, the Nexus energy ribbon is an awe-inspiring marvel and one of Star Trek's most unique phenomena. The film's sound mix is rich, breathing life and depth into the Enterprise in a way never seen on the series. Having scored The Next Generation since it premiered, composer Dennis McCarthy was brought on board to provide the score for Star Trek Generations. His music doesn't quite live up to the standard set by Jerry Goldsmith. In similar fashion to what he did with composing for episodes of the series, much of McCarthy's music fades into the background and is very underwhelming. When he does unleash, his score is fun and energetic. His main theme soars and is uplifting, but in addition to being very reminiscent of his theme for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, one can't help but wonder how appropriate his theme suits Generations. Considering the deaths of both Kirk and the Enterprise-D, perhaps a more somber theme would've been appropriate. Still, McCarthy's score is effective. Nowhere near the disaster of Star Trek V but not close to the excellence of Star Trek II either, Star Trek Generations falls into the middle of the pack in the Star Trek film series. It proficiently serves as the torch-passing film it needs to be but fails to be as good as it should or could have been. It's entertaining and has potential because there are plenty of good and big ideas present within its concept, but hit-and-miss execution and a very underwhelming third act keep Star Trek Generations from achieving it's pull potential. Writing: 1.25 / 2.0 Characters: 1.0 / 2.0 Acting: 1.5 / 2.0 Entertainment: 1.5 / 2.0 Music: .75 / 1.0 Visuals: 1.0 / 1.0 TOTAL: 7.0 / 10

It's ironic that this was the best looking Star Trek film, as they felt the need to destroy the ship because it wasn't 'cinematic enough'. After seeing it again on blu-ray recently, I was struck by how good the exterior & interiors of the ship look, as well as the special effects & model work. I agree with others about many of the problems: Data was too over-the-top, the Enterprise not finding Geordi's visor to be compromised again doesn't reflect well on them, the Enterprise shouldn't be taken out by 1 small Bird of Prey (even with the shield frequencies), & the ending was a anti-climatic. I will say that I appreciated the scenes inside the nexus more than most here, even if it didn't relate well to the rest of the movie. I felt I understood the motivations of the captains inside and why it ultimately wasn't for them. Taking only those scenes in account, it comes across as a critique on either 1) living entirely in your imagination or 2) the idea of heaven. Either statement is actually pretty big for a work of imaginative fiction! Inside, everything they wanted to happen would happen; there was no chance of them failing or making the wrong decision, no chance of something bad happening to them or someone acting in a way they didn't want. As a consequence, it was also a completely meaningless existence; there was also no chance of affecting anyone real. These 2 characters had defined there lives by "making a difference" to real people & their problems. Once they came to terms with the fact they would never be able to do that inside the nexus, it is clear they would chose to leave, even if most of us wouldn't. For the most part this movie doesn't want you to stop and think about what's going on as it switches from over-the-top humor! (Data's emotions) to space battle! to disaster movie! (big crash), because these bits don't hold up if you think about them too much. I appreciated when they slowed down in the scenes in the nexus, as well as the earlier scene with Picard & Troi. By the way, the overall plot could have worked much better with just a few additions. There should have been at least 3 Klingon ships (or 2 ships that were the same size as Enterprise), and Soran needed at least 2 henchmen on the planet. Then it would have been understandable how the Enterprise won a fight but still crashed, or why our 2 captains couldn't take down 1 person without 1 of them getting killed. Of course, these things would have required more money, and Paramount was notoriously cheap with its Star Trek movies before Abrams.

^^ So cheap they couldn't even afford lightbulbs for the ship interior shots! ^^

0 stars. Easily the worst of the TNG films, maybe even the worst of all the Trek films. The plot is utterly stupid. Soran's plot is completely absurd and scientifically impossible beyond belief. I mean really? Shooting a rocket into the Sun to make it implode? Also, how did the rocket even arrive at the star so quickly? Did the writers seriously think they could get away with that in a Star Trek film? The way the Nexus works is baffling. It's so poorly explained and it has a gaping plot hole. If Picard could go anywhere at anytime then why did he choose such a stupid time to go back to? Why didn't he just go back in time to when Soran was on the Enterprise and confront him there? I bet the sole reason they did that was so that could shove in a fight scene, throwing all logic out the window in the process. And finally you've got the anticlimactic battle and the very undignified death of Kirk. He dies for what? Saving some random pre-warp civilization that we never see or care about? This film was so bad it makes me want to pretend that it doesn't exist.

@ methane, the idea that man isn't meant for paradise was a classic original series theme rarely considered in TNG (if not somewhat at odds with it) so it felt very interesting for TNG to try to do it in a film crossover with the original series but the execution and resolution were really underwhelming.

After watching DS9 all the way through several times, it was very disconcerting to hear Picard say "What you leave behind..."

Regarding Picard's children speaking with British accents, I didn't find this odd, because Picard himself speaks with such an accent. Therefore, wouldn't it make sense that his children speak the same? There are also other explanations, such as: 1) Wanting the best education for his kids, Picard may have sent them to top boarding schools in the UK (either that, or they went to some kind of international/Federation school) 2) The kids are actually speaking in French, and what we are hearing the universal translator, not the kid's real accents, 3) In the far future, it's possible that the English language has been embraced by the French to such a degree that it's almost, if not as popular as French itself. If you listen to some Swedish people today, many speak with American accents because they hear it on TV. A few problems I had with the film - at the end, where they report that there were only "minimal" casualties to the Enterprise. Excuse me, but didn't the Klingon ship blow huge chunks out of the Enterprise's hull?? Each of those blasts would have killed dozens, with a total death toll probably in the hundreds. I don't call more than 10% of a ship's crew dying to be "minimal' by any means. I found the "media circus" at the beginning to be very un-Trek and too 20th-century for my liking. Star Trek has always managed to avoid media, newspapers, and the like, because showing us how people get their news in the future isn't necessary, and leaves more to our imaginations.

Agree with most of the other commentators. What also baffled me was why Picard's wife and children dressed in Victorian style clothing? The actress playing the wife, Kim Braden also appeared in an episode on ST:TNG called 'The Loss'. Did Picard secretly fancy her all along?

Watched this again recently and raged. This film treats fans the same way Enterprise's "These are the Voyagers" did. It shits on everything.

To me the Nexus fantasy wife looked a lot like Jeri Taylor.

Look, I know with the most common complaint being that their favorite hero didn't get epic death he deserved, critics of this movie may seem not terribly intellectual (it IS a valid complaint, if poorly constructed by many), but I honestly think this is just a poorly written movie period. Anyway, stuff I haven't seen people bring up: What I love about the beginning with Enterprise B, is that it's clearly meant to be symbolic of the whole movie being a passing down the torch to the TNG crew. And the captain of B and the crew prove to be utterly helpless and need the old guard to save them. And it fits PERFECTLY. Okay, what is up with the bizarre boat ceremony? First, there is no way Worf would want something like this, so are the crew just being dicks? Second, they had money to built a boat, create completely new uniforms just for that, but they didn't have the money for a new effect of exploding Bird-of-Prey? Third, Data not getting jokes everybody except the viewers insists are hilarious has not been a thing for so long, I am not sure if I can call it OCC for him at that point, but I can call it embarrassing. No shortage of that for him in this. While I know everybody was watching TNG at the time, it's still strange that the movie makes no attempts to reintroduce the characters like Wrath of Khan did, as if this was just another two-part finale/opener. I get Data was meant to be annoying, but they meant for him to be funny annoying. And sorry, not working for me. I know they wanted to avoid making movie too dry and heavy-it has death of Kirk, destruction of Enterprise D and Picard's family burning to death-but getting emotion chip should be a big deal to Data and his character development and WoK had plenty of heavy stuff and was able to get humor in there much more naturally. You know, I can buy Kirk feeling like he missed out on not having a family and then realizing he needs to be on bridge, but we have already seen go through this. It's just a repetition of his arc from movies. As his final hooray, it's a bit anti-climactic to have him learn pretty much the same lesson he learned before. Also, I think Kirk telling Picard not to retire and him responding he wasn't even thinking about it, sums up why their interactions are so disappointing. Their arcs are fine individually, but they are treated as completely separate and they end up having nothing to bond over. Its just Picard telling Kirk to get off his ass and do something, since he already got over his problems. Really, why NOT have Picard consider retiring and have Kirks decision change his mind? Why not have Kirk tell him about his son, or even his brother, if you aren't afraid of the continuity porn? Everything about this movie just ends up bland and unsatisfying. There is a good underlying theme of change moving on, but the story fails to make the ride worth it. Or convince that the change is for the better.

"Third, Data not getting jokes everybody except the viewers insists are hilarious has not been a thing for so long, I am not sure if I can call it OCC for him at that point, but I can call it embarrassing. No shortage of that for him in this. " I saw this in the theater twice and I can tell you all of these jokes were hilarious at the time. Especially when he did the Picard impersonation. Maybe because back then we were so used to the non-emotional Data it made a bigger impact, I dunno. I didn't really like his "Oh Shit!" when the ENT-D was going down, not even back then. THAT seemed way more out of character to me. Overall I feel like Generations is a good movie, maybe middle of the pack. I agree with you that the whole ENT-B scenes are awesome- Maybe the best part of the movie, really. All the lighting on the ENT-D seems to be non-existant, like they purposely went away from the great stage lighting the show used for years for some weird effect. I think this was a mistake. Destroying the ENT-D was horrible and I've never warmed up to the ENT-E over the next few movies (and it looks like I won't ever get that chance again). Daresay I think Kirk is better in this movie than Picard is. It's like they saddled Picard with this crappy lightning and crappy themes and let Kirk do most of the heroric cowboy stuff to ride out into the sunset- Stuff, I may add, that he and his crew did with great effect already in The Undiscovered Country. And I like Picard as a captain / character way way more too. Also, it's very likely Parmount could have had access to some sailing ship prop somewhere already. Or they could've borrowed an existing tourist ship from someplace (ex. the Friendship in Salem or similar) and rented some nautical uniforms from anywhere. I don't think they had to spend too much money on those particular things perhaps.

"Overall I feel like Generations is a good movie, maybe middle of the pack. " It's absolutely good. The biggest problem at the time was that it was outclassed by "All Good Things". They came out sooooo close together and AGT was just better. At the time though, all of Star Trek was good. S7 TNG was mediocre, but it still had some of the franchise's best episodes, DS9 was just starting to take off around now and VOY's pilot was incredibly promising. This was probably THE BEST time to be a Trekkie. Everything was coming up awesome. You missed TNG but they were just starting a promising movie franchise and the other two shows were full of promise. But yes, the worst thing I can say about Generations is that AGT was a better TNG movie.

I wouldn't call this movie bad per se, it's just underwhelming. Like, bringing Kirk and the TOS crew back could've been a big deal, but it wasn't. For one thing, they could only get three TOS actors on board with the script (Nimoy turned it down). But even the ones they got like Shatner underperformed. Basically, Kirk was brought back to Picard's time in order to do something Picard should've been able to handle himself. Compare this to Nimoy's role in ST 2009, where that crew absolutely needed Future Spock in order to thwart the monster that Nero had become. And then there's Data acting like !NotData. I mean, I get that Spiner wanted to explore a bigger acting range for his movie role, but Data just felt wrong the whole outing. The emotion chips turns him into a buffoon, unlike his usually relatable character. We see by the time First Contact rolls around, they've mostly reversed this emotion's chips power over Data. So yeah, I think Jammer's review is fair. It's a serviceable story that checks all the boxes, but doesn't hit the level you'd expect from the first theatrical TNG piece.

Generations plays like a mediocre episode of TNG, but lacking some of the charms a mediocre episode would still have had. A typically reasonable TNG ep would include not only a situation to resolve, but almost always a serious discussion about the two sides of the issue. The discussion wasn't always overtly verbal (like a senior staff meeting) but often was told through the action of the story one way or the other. The treatment of the topic itself was the heart and soul of TNG. Following right on the coattails of "All Good Things..." it should have been second nature for the creative team to include the sorts of discussions Picard had with Q, Geordi, Data, and the others about what he was trying to solve in the finale. But Generations instead takes a premise and does absolutely nothing with it. The Nexus were merely a plot device for getting Kirk into Picard's time and having a McGuffin for Malcolm McDowell to chase. The side-story about Picard's regrets was an interesting (but completely failed) attempt to get some depth into the story, and in any case it doesn't serve as a serious treatment of what the Nexus is or can mean to someone. The argument Guinan makes is that it's an irresistible drug that is so much more fulfilling than life that (a) one would never leave it, and (b) people would do anything at all to get to it. (a) is proven to be not only false but also ridiculous, and (b) seems to have never been taken seriously because although apparently its existence is known to at least some, there isn't any kind of galactic competitive furor to get to it. The only man trying is basically a lunatic, even though if Guinan was right lots of people would be trying. In fact, there's no reason why Soran couldn't just ask someone's help to get back in. There is never any reason given for why he has to do anything illegal at all to get to the Nexus. I guess he just enjoys being a villain. But in a real TNG episode there would surely have been a discussion about the dangers of a fountain-of-euphoria and how it could undermine the advancement of humanity to trade in wisdom for pleasure. There could have been a story line which juxtaposed the principles of pleasure versus duty, and shown how in the Federation some citizens feel called to serve the greater good (like Starfleet) while others no doubt sit around in holosuites with their replicators and don't do jack else. The Nexus could easily have been shown to be an analogue to technologies that bring plentiful delights with no effort required. We could have been shown how seeking only the pleasurable is something mankind needs to avoid for its own good, and how the drug of becoming a slave to sensory pleasures would be a real danger in the future. But no - instead we got a folksy horsey-riding scene and various maudlin non-sequitors. Honorable mention for a wasted premise indeed goes to the treatment of Data, where the most sympathetic and human qualities he embodies - innocence, curiosity, and childlike dedication - are swept away in favor of one-liners and cheap 'new behavior.' There could have been a way to show Data at odds with an emotion chip that robbed him of his most human elements, but instead they just made it funny (and it was funny). This was a dismissal of what should have been a pivotal character experience in favor of a few cheap laughs. It would be like ST:IV if the whole movie had been "double dumb-ass on you!" lines. It might be funny when you hear it but would leave the film devoid of spirit. The use of the Duras sisters as B-villains didn't amount to much either, as their participation could have been substituted for any number of alternatives with no material difference to the film. Having them take out the Enterprise was additionally sensational without being *about* anything. When Kirk's Enterprise was killed in ST:III that flaming wreck was a deliberate act of sacrifice by Kirk, to mirror the death of his son. In Generations it was just a special effect action sequence; well done, but useless. If they had wanted this part of the film to have some real meaning they could have made Soran's accomplices been an actual power with vested interest in the Nexus themselves. How about the Romulans? It would have been far more meaningful to have Tomalak or someone else we know like Sela to take out the Enterprise, while likewise allowing their presence to show that more than just one mere madman had interest in the Nexus. In such a story the resolution should probably have been for Picard to destroy the Nexus if possible, to avoid endless warfare over it. Overall I would qualify Generations as a major disappointment that I didn't even come out of the cinema liking all that much. In content it's a mediocre TNG episode minus the actual issue mattering, and when factoring in negatives such as irrelevant villains and the use of Data, I would place this among the dregs of TNG. I'd rather watch almost any episode from S2 onwards rather than Generations on any given day.

"In Generations it was just a special effect action sequence; well done, but useless." And here I thought it was a commentary on women drivers. Let Deanna drive for 5 minutes, amirite?

@Del-dunio I was talking about the humor dissonance of Worf falling into water and Data pushing Crusher there. Just seen a clip with that scene just before Kirk and Picard and leave Nexus and it again reminds me just how wasted their scenes are. After Kirk asks him if he wants to retire and he says "nah", Kirk has this personal rant why he shouldn't (it really comes off as a rewrite), because he can make a difference. And Picard then tells him to come back there to "make a difference again". As someone pointed out before, it might as well go "Man, I could really use some candy." "You know, there is a lot of candy there."

Did Geordi have the Captain's and Starfleet's permission to install the chip?? If .not, he should have been court-martialed!!

I think this film works better viewed (as was probably much more intended) more as a film sequel to TNG rather than to TUC.

"Generations" was doing reasonably well for me until it got to the part where Picard enters the Nexus. Then it's just downhill. In concept, connecting the TOS crew (or part of it) in a handoff to the TNG crew is a great idea. The Nexus is the device to do so - that's fine but it is just too much of a stretch to me. So people get absorbed by this energy ribbon (die presumably) but can exit it quite easily as Picard & Kirk do and go back and change the past? And firing probes into stars to make them explode seems another stretch given how big stars are and how I assume a probe would vaporize once it gets too close to the star. Am I missing something here? As for Data and the emotion chip, I thought it was a nice B-plot to the film. Data is my favorite character on TNG and easily the best source of humor. Agree with Jammer that the best scene is with him and Picard doing the cartography and figuring out what Sorin is planning with the energy ribbon. It seems to make sufficient sense and also gives Picard a chance to point Data in the right direction about handling emotion. I wasn't a fan of how Kirk's death was handled - actually I would prefer that he wasn't killed off. But the bigger issue is having 3 old guys (Picard, Kirk, Sorin) in a man-on-man fight scene. Thought the scene with the saucer section sliding through the forrest was well done as was the battle scene with the Klingons. In any case, this one's hit and miss - definitely not one of the better Trek flicks, but not as bad as Star Trek V. Ambitious but weakish story and too much suspension of disbelief required. I'd rate it 2 stars out of 4.

Two stars. Was more often annoyed during this movie then not. Christmas scene was real bad, but also the crashing of the saucer just takes for ever. And then the planet blows up. I liked the opening scene, stuff with Data was good and did they repeat the visor hack from an earlier TNG episode. You would assume they patched the bloody thing. Didn't Geordi install the security update? Bastard.

Was I supposed to feel bad when Data pushed Beverly into the water? I thought it was hilarious. They play it like it was a huge deal and data did something near tragic. Surely I’m not the only one who found it funny?

@Cody B I think the audience sees Crusher being pushed off as funny, but in the show’s universe Crusher was just trying to give Data some friendly advice about humor and Data responded to her advice literally by pushing her off which from her perspective was kind of mean and poorly timed.

@ Chrome That’s kind of what I thought but they played it so serious and acted like data did something horrible that I almost felt guilty for laughing. Maybe they should have explained you shouldn’t push people in unless they have on swim wear and not been so serious like data shot her or something

@Cody B Yes, thanks to Spiner (being incredibly likable and funny when needed) giving that goofy face when he pushes Crusher off the ship, it's hard not to laugh there or at least be on Data's side. The trouble is, this scene is supposed to be the turning point where Data realizes he can no longer further his dream of being human using his current circuitry. But in actuality, what Data did was really not much less funny than what Riker did to Worf. Both were needlessly thrown in the water with their clothes and looked pretty unhappy about it. Actually, I don't think Data's emotion chip arc really works at all in this movie. It's hard to say he actually gained anything from the experience and he certainly lost a lot. The one patented TNG heartwarming moment is with Data crying after he finds Spot, which works to a degree, but at the same time it doesn't really make up for how annoying he was with emotions earlier on. By the time "First Contact" rolls around you can tell there was a lot of negative reception to Data getting emotions. Hey, most of us preferred the socially awkward but charmingly innocent android. Thus the writers decided to give Data the ability to turn off the emotions entirely and table the issue. Then of course in "Nemesis" the essence of Data reverts back to the childlike B4, so yeah, maybe they shouldn't have messed with Data to begin with.

I think the idea is that 1) Worf had expected he might get soaked (and that is what usually happens in these lieutenant commander promotions, apparently), 2) Riker didn't say "remove the plank" on purpose, or at least plausibly pretended he didn't, and 3) Worf generally has a greater tolerance for physical discomfort than Crusher (or really anyone save emotionless Data), and those are the reasons for the difference in the crew's reaction to Worf's versus Crusher's soaking. More generally, I think that Data's ability to turn off his emotion chip in First Contact serves a different narrative purpose than walking back its introduction in Generations. Data wants to be -- and the crew want him to be -- someone who can be relied upon to be "emotionless Data" on command, and that's very reasonable to want that, if it's possible, rather than having to "handhold an android" (to quote Picard in Peak Performance) during a crisis. So then when the Borg Queen reactivates his emotions, we are primed to see Data as unable to handle the emotional influx (just as he was in Generations), while also having been informed that he has, to an extent, been working on it in the meantime. It feels like a natural evolution, and the story does end up hinging on Data being able to control his feelings, and being forced to reckon with them, but in a way that (IMO) works better than in Generations. However, yeah, it seems to open the door to Insurrection/Nemesis just writing them off entirely. That said, I'm not sure that says much about whether it was a mistake to try this story. Insurrection/Nemesis didn't really add much to any characters' stories (with the exception of getting Riker and Troi together and Riker getting his command, and a few other moments like Geordi appreciating the sunset in Insurrection) and so the choices made in those movies maybe don't mean that much. I think Data with emotion chip is something with a lot of story potential, which was sadly not very well realized in Generations.

@William B Fair point about Riker and his "remove the plank" line. I haven't caught the scene recently but Riker certainly has a personality where people will believe he didn't mean to remove the plank, even if he may have secretly known exactly what would happen. Also, I think you're right about "First Contact" and would even go as far to say that movie handled Data's emotions the best without them being a major part of the film. That fact that Data can even shut off his emotions still separates him from being human (and also gives us some nice insight into Picard's turmoil when he says he's envious of Data). It was also great that FC teased us by making us think Data was still vulnerable to his emotions like he was in "Generations". But Data's reveal at the end that the emotions had, in human terms, an extremely low impact on his decision making was a nice way of showing character growth while giving us insight into Data longing to express his suppressed emotions.

@ Chrome, "That fact that Data can even shut off his emotions still separates him from being human (and also gives us some nice insight into Picard's turmoil when he says he's envious of Data). It was also great that FC teased us by making us think Data was still vulnerable to his emotions like he was in "Generations"." It seems to go even further than merely envying Data; the plot actually hinged on Picard's inability to turn off his emotions. The whole "the line must be drawn here!" scene was exactly the difference between him and Data, where he was unable to proceed on pure logic, whereas Data's arc with the Queen seems to convey that Data was in fact able to contend with his emotions even though he had a split second of indecision. I wonder how much of Picard's arrival at the end influenced Data's resolve, mind you. That's about all I'll say positively about the emotion chip arc in FC because overall it still seemed like a gimmick to me. The script didn't even make full use of the Picard/Data parallel in how each was handling emotions and that sort of fell by the wayside in favor of some action sequences near the end as well as a bit of speechifying, Overall NONE of what we got in Generations or FC held a candle to the simple scene in Descent pt 1 where Data gets angry at the Borg, and then the subsequent creepy holodeck experiments where he can't get angry again. The emotionless question about whether he can only feel negative things was more interesting than Data's one-liners and angst around the Queen.

"Overall NONE of what we got in Generations or FC held a candle to the simple scene in Descent pt 1 where Data gets angry at the Borg, and then the subsequent creepy holodeck experiments where he can't get angry again. The emotionless question about whether he can only feel negative things was more interesting than Data's one-liners and angst around the Queen." I pretty much agree, and really love those scenes in Descent I. The act break where Data adds that he experienced pleasure is note-perfect, and that scene is one of my favorite uses of Troi in the series, too, especially her look of fear as she takes in the implications of Data's statement and her optimism starts to show cracks.

I've been going back and forth on which Star Trek item to review next. My initial thought, having entered into the phase of Trek history where everything starts happening at once (two series and the films), I'm curious how looking at these events chronologically will play out. However, I already started out of order, so I've lost the opportunity to, for example, review late TNG alongside early DS9. Ah, well. At some point I'll circle back around and check in on the early DS9 stuff again. The other problem with jumping into the TNG films is, how am I to treat the continuity with the series, which I haven't reviewed in detail yet? And most fundamentally, does anybody who will read this even give a fuck? Well, unlike DS9, I have seen the TNG series and films many times over. I feel pretty confident that I can pull the references where I need them. I am not attempting to review the show as though I am watching it in real time—I'm not taking large breaks between seasons, and I'm holding the show(s) accountable to my 2018 standards, for the most part. But the different properties definitely played off each other and influenced each other's conception, so I still believe there's value in reviewing “Generations” now, between “Meridian” and “Defiant,” where it originally premièred, and I'll do the same with the remaining TNG films, and the later TOS films eventually. So the remaining question is how to conduct the review: act-by-act reviews, separated by commercial breaks aren't going to work, obviously, but I want to have some consistency here and not just slap a score on at the end. There have already been several examples in DS9 where the in-the-moment experience, the execution, in other words, has helped or hurt the score to an episode. And to me, it says something about the value of a work when its execution either buoys up or weighs down the final score. “Playing God” is a good example of this. In a film, the construction of scenes is roughly akin to the construction of acts in TV. So, for better or worse, the film reviews will go scene by scene, with a functionary section at the end. Going into the film, “The Undiscovered Country” had closed the door on one of the original conceits of TOS allegory, presciently marking the end of the Cold War between the (West) Federation and the (East) Klingon Empire. Kirk's flaws as a leader and as a man were brought into sharp relief, but eventually overcome with grounded but inspirational political idealism. Together, the character journeys for him and Spock directly signified the evolution of man between his 23rd and 24th century selves. Meanwhile, TNG as a series had, in my view, surpassed the original in nearly every way. Its first season suffered from a lack of execution, but its middle years from seasons 2-5 were littered with stellar examples of the best Star Trek could be. Unfortunately, as the franchise grew and fatigue set in, the last season was largely disappointing, having run into several brick walls, conception-wise. Almost miraculously, TNG's finale was a near-perfect capstone to the series, capturing the refined sense of wonder and giving beloved cast a grand appraisal. The lingering questions were mostly about the unresolved relationship with the Romulans. Other issues brought up near the series' end were for DS9 and Voyager to deal with. Credits : ****, 1% Why in the hell review the credits? Well, from the beginning, the credit sequence on Star Trek has been iconic. TMP (spoiler, my favourite of the films), as with all the other aspects, perfectly expanded the scope and timbre of the show into the film medium. Thus the credit sequence on that film is a full-fledged overture for a mythological tale which tells the Trek story on an operatic scale. The credit sequences of all the series also, for me, quite accurately reflect their respective strengths and weaknesses: TOS is an adventure with grand ideas that is nevertheless somewhat stuck in the trappings of its era; TNG is a fresh take on the original, with a similar vision, but more grown-up, cosmopolitan and timeless; DS9 is confident, patient and stately, but its updated sequence reveals that it often becomes seduced by flashiness; Voyager is sleek and beautiful, but stubbornly refuses to change as much as it should; Enterprise is a failed attempt to appeal to cultural markers which are incompatible with Star Trek. Is anyone still reading? No? Okay, great; let's get started. Right off the bat, Dennis McCarthy's score plays up the sci-fi dimension to this film. The Nexus theme with its 70s/80s sci-fi sensibilities and lontano chorus creates an aura of mystery. This is really the perfect tone to strike; the film is titled “Generations,” so we know that somehow, the worlds of TOS and TNG are going to collide (even assuming we didn't see any trailers going in). The mood of this opening suggests that this collision will be more profound than what we have seen thus far. Bones, Spock and Scotty have all interacted with the TNG crew, but this was through the virtue of simply still being alive in the 24th century. An object spins slowly though space, likewise evoking the classic look and feel of films like “2001.” The object refracts the starfield. Little by little, we realise that this object is really a bottle of champagne. This is a whimsical touch. Finally, the bottle triumphantly makes contact with the hull of the Enterprise B, accompanied by the classic Trek fanfare. Scene 1 : ***, 4% On the bridge, a gaggle of 23rd century reporters (there's something new) enthusiastically greet some familiar guests, Kirk, Scotty and Chekov. Now, we all know the story that Kelly and Nimoy weren't about to appear in glorified cameos for their own damned franchise. I get it. This movie is really going to be about Kirk passing the torch, as it were, to Picard. So do Doohan's and Koenig's appearances read as gratuitous fan service or add to the mise-en-scène? You decide. I'm not bothered by it. The first problematic signs begin to crop up in the initial dialogue. Captain Harriman (yay more white male captains...) refers to the old crew as “living legends.” Now, it's plausible that Kirk and co., having accomplished all they have, would be regarded as such by the Next Generation (get it?), but what this tells me is that Moore and Braga are viewing the old characters, to some extent, through rose-tinted glasses. This was a problem in “Relics,” too—the nostalgia felt by the audience/fanbase is creeping into the script. What possible reason would Harriman have to see Chekov as a living legend? Kirk, at best, would be seen as a salient political figure, maybe like Nelson Mandela. “Legend” is where fans of the *show* Star Trek take the character of Kirk. Breaking the timeline slightly, given what we get between “Trials and Tribbleations” and “Flashback,” one of the few areas I think “Flashback” has the advantage is in how it regards Star Trek's past. DS9 idolises TOS in a way which divorced from the *ideas* which made the show great, focusing more on the superficial (but still wonderful) elements of the show. Kirk is introduced to Sulu's daughter, the B's new helmsman (Starfleet may have a nepotism problem). CHEKOV: I was never that young. KIRK: No, ...you were younger. Thematic foreshadowing or nostalgic wistfulness? You decide. Kirk seems to lament not having found the time, like Sulu, to start a family (again). This is a bit weird as the sentiment doesn't exactly track with his history with David and Klingons. Seeing Demora Sulu, if anything, should cause bitterness in Kirk, not envy. Harrison asks Kirk to order the disembarkation of the new Enterprise. An oddly demure Kirk, cornered by the Paparazzi, indulges them, but there's nothing like the familiar Kirkian joy or bravado in his order. With appropriate fanfare, the ship begins its short journey. Scene 2 : **.5, 4% While I still think the nostalgia-heavy take on the 23rd century is a problem for this film, one interesting consequence here is the way in which these scenes push up against the fourth wall. Commanding the Enterprise on her next mission is a press event, and a popular one. There can be no doubt that the writers were influenced by the manner in which Star Trek was being received at the time, basking in popularity and success. Jack-knifing into this complacency, the ship receives a distress call from El-Aurian refugees on their way to Earth. Hmm...so did these El-Aurians see it fit to tell the Federation about the race of cybernetic monsters which made them refugees in the first place? No? Well, at least they make really attractive hats. Harrison passes the buck to some other ship—apparently the B hasn't been sufficiently completed to mount a rescue. Kirk is indignant, but keeps quiet. When it turns out that no other ships are in range (seriously, they were just at Earth and haven't gone to warp. How can there be no other ships in range?), and faced with the press corps' cameras, Harrison decides to attempt the rescue. Harrison is obviously nervous and Kirk's inability to keep his ass in his chair isn't helping. Scene 3 : ***, 4% The Enterprise encounters the spacial distortion which is tearing up the refugee ships. Harrison tries some technobabble options for saving the refugees, his ship lacking much of the necessary equipment, like a tractor beam. One nice touch is the lighting on the crew's faces being cast by the reporters. It reads very much like the old 60s soft-filters so emblematic of the original series without feeling gratuitous like other elements. Anyway, this utterly fails and one of the ships is destroyed. The other one seems doomed. Harrison is out of ideas, so he asks Kirk, who gets a drum solo from the Dennis McCarthy for suggesting the incredibly heroic course of action of moving within transporter range. Yeah. Chekov pulls together a makeshift medical staff because DeForest Kelly wasn't showing up on set and Moore and Braga couldn't come up with a better use for Koenig. The transportation is problematic because of quantum nonsense happening to the ship, so only 47 (duh) are successfully rescued. Right on cue, space turbulence starts rocking the ship. Below decks, one of the refugees, Malcolm MacDowell (probably just a glorified extra) is screaming at his makeshift nurse, horribly upset at being rescued. We also get a glimpsed of some other person...where there are El-Aurians, there will be Guinan. This is a great little tease for the audience. Scotty concocts some science that might save them, but this will require someone manually fucking with the deflector dish. Harrison leaves Kirk in command, and he is sorely tempted by that chair. But, Kirk knows that the right thing to do is take care of it himself and let the new guy cut his teeth. Bill Shatner tears up the scenery a bit on his way down to tech the jargon. This chance to be the shirt-tearing, glory-hogging action hero seems to re-activate Kirk. So, he has essentially completed his arc for the film. Wow, seems a little fast. Kirk inserts Rod B into Slot D and things seem to be working out, but Odin is unhappy and hurls a thunderbolt at the Enterprise's drive section. Young Sulu is able to get them to safety, but Kirk is no longer responding to hails, having been swallowed up and apparently killed by the anomaly. Scene 4 : **.5, 4% A clever transition ensues, from the 23rd century star field to the 18th century ocean of Earth, but the title card lets us know that 82 years have elapsed into the future. Here we find our familiar TNG senior staff dressed in period uniform. Clearly, they're playing on the holodeck, but at least this time, they let the girls be officers instead of damsels or prostitutes or whatever would be “authentic.” Picard promotes Worf to Lt Commander, and Riker, probably still sore that Worf is banging his Imzati, has him go through this Fraternity ritual where he grabs a hat, then Riker has the computer dunk him in the ocean, and all in all it's all pretty stupid. Data, for his part, has apparently been reset to his Season 1 programming, because he doesn't understand the concept of a prank, which leads to him dunking Crusher in the water right after Worf. Geordi tells us that this stupid prank, unlike the last stupid prank, is *not* funny, because fuck you. In the midst of waxing nostalgic about scurvy and sea dragons, Picard receives a written message. Whatever it says, Picard is visibly shaken and leaves the holodeck. Immediately, Riker is informed of a distress call from a space station and they're off to the bridge. Scene 5 : ***.5, 4% We get our first beauty shot of the Enterprise D approaching the station, as well as a view of the film-updated sets. I've heard complaints about all of these, as well as the uniform changes (some characters switch between DS9 and TNG-style uniforms). With the exception of Riker and Geordi not having uniforms that fit, which looks lazy, none of this bothers me in the slightest. The station appears to be unoccupied, so Picard stands down from red alert and orders Riker to begin an investigation. Whatever is affecting him gives Stewart the opportunity to show off his chops magnificently, showing pain, frustration and rage (“just do it!”) with perfect polish. The away team, led by Riker, discovers a few dead bodies and evidence of a violent incursion onto the station. Buried beneath some rubble, they also unearth a very-much alive Malcolm MacDowell, who calls himself Dr Sauron, with his tenfold shields, teeth like swords, claws like spears and a tail like thunderbolt. Finally, they discover a Romulan corpse. Hooray. Scene 6 : ***, 4% In Data's quarters, he and Geordi discuss his holodeck faux-pas. Data pauses and considers installing Lore's emotion chip from “Descent.” Well, of course, I mean, Data didn't understand a prank, surely this warrants the great risk posed to his life. Since prying it from his brother's corpse, he has adapted to a complex command style in “Gambit,” learned to examine his own dream psychology in “Phantasms,” made a difficult and very human decision regarding his mother in “Inheritance,” and had an entire civilisation occupy his consciousness in “Masks.” None of those experiences prompted him to experiment with the emotion chip, but now, in the middle of a potentially dangerous mission, NOW is the time he decides he'll try it out? Please. On a metatextual level, I get it. “I believe my growth as an artificial lifeform has reached an impasse. For thirty-four years I have endeavoured to become more 'human', to grow beyond my original programming. Still I am still unable to grasp such a basic concept as humour.” Yeah, the writers feel that the emotion chip is a good route to continue the exploration of Data's character, having exhausted other avenues in the series. I'm not sure I agree, but I can get onboard with this approach. At the very least, he should have the opportunity to experience emotions besides the so-called “negative” ones he was permitted by Lore. So, Geordi obliges and installs it in his friend's head. Scene 7 : ***, 4% Riker briefs Picard about the away mission. Picard is still distracted, but takes his duty to monitor a potential Romulan threat seriously. Also, Sauron wants a word with the captain. Picard is short with his number one, and in no mood to divulge his bad news. A broadly-grinning Data and Geordi emerge into Ten Forward, and we see Guinan again at her familiar station. Data tries a new beverage, and is thrilled to have an emotional reaction—hatred. Oh good, positive emotions. Picard enters to meet with Sauron. The other El-Aurian wants to return to the space station immediately, but obviously Picard can't oblige until they complete their investigation. SORAN: They say 'time is the fire in which we burn'. Right now, Captain, my time is running out. We leave so many things unfinished in our lives. ...I know you understand. Oh, you do? You know Picard understands? How's that now? So, I have objected to Guinan's force-powers before. It was one of the few sour notes in “Yesterday's Enterprise” for me...but...if we accept that this is, in fact, a feature inherent to the El-Aurian species, maybe some kind of very low-level telepathy, then Sauron's timely insight into Picard's state of mind can almost be justified. Almost. Before he leaves, Sauron and Guinan make eye contact. Whoopi Goldberg and MacDowell deliver wonderfully with their wordless facial cues. Scene 8 : **, 4% In Engineering, Worf explains to Riker that they have determined the Romulans were looking for Trilithium aboard the observatory, a nasty chemical compound that can freeze a star. Data and Geordi are sent to the observatory to look for more clues. Sigh...Data is...enjoying humour...recalling some of the horrible jokes in “Encounter at Farpoint,” laughing like a fucking idiot, making puns, playing hand-puppets with his tricorder, and generally being unforgivably annoying. The score tries to remind us this shit is serious and Data keeps riffing. Finally, they discover an unusual probe and Data's inability to shut off his canned laughter is attributed to an actual malfunction, reminding me instantly of Joker venom victims [shudder]. Geordi attempts to get the pair beamed back for help, but it turns out Sauron has joined them...and blocked communication...somehow. Rather than asking the creepy doctor, “What the fuck are you doing here?” or better yet, shooting him, he asks him to shut down the dampening field. Uh...what? Geordi gets sucker punched for his stupidity and Data is too terrified to resist. Scene 9 : ****, 4% Picard is admiring photographs of his family from “Family” in his space scrapbook. Troi enters and offers her counsel. Hoo boy. Apparently, Robert has mellowed a bit since his mud-wrestling days. So, no soft-pedalling this...Picard's nephew and uncle were burned to death in a fire. My sardonic reaction is, 'well that's what happens when you reject modern technology, your old-fashioned farmhouse is prone to preventable accidents.' But honestly, Patrick Stewart devastates with his portrayal of heartbreak and regret. And Marina Sirtis does not get in the way. This is one of the most moving scenes since Season 5. Picard saw Réné, his nephew, as the continuation of his family line which, despite himself, he always valued. Réné's existence unburdened Picard to pursue his career. The ensuing estrangement with Robert probably contributed to Picard's distaste for children in early TNG, as they were a constant reminder of the obligation he had the freedom to ignore. Fascinating stuff. Before Troi can ruin the scene by offering terrible advice, the star, who's amber glow has been flooding the Enterprise, lights up brightly in plain view. Scene 10 : **.5, 4% Deanna and Jean-Luc emerge from his ready room for some inexplicable reason as they were just in his quarters...the star is experiencing the same effect Worf had observed might be caused by that nasty trilithium. We piece this together easily, but apparently, when the observatory launched a probe at the star, nobody bothered to inform the captain, first officer or hail the station. Good going, guys. Well, anyway, the star is going to explode any minute, but they can't locate Geordi and Data on the observatory. So, Riker and co. beam over to rescue them before the shock wave destroys it. Sauron is playing around with Geordi's visor, unfazed by the approaching doom shockwave when a voice contacts him asking for his coordinates. Riker and Worf show up and, instead of waiting for them to ask stupid questions, despite this being more likely, he just starts shooting at them. A Bird of Prey decloaks nearby; the voice contacts Sauron again and beams him and Geordi aboard the Klingon vessel. Riker and the rest return to the Enterprise and we get a neat little action bit where it warps away just as the shockwave obliterates the observatory. On the Bird, we discover that the vessel is being run by the ol' Duras Sisters whom we saw recently in “Firstborn.” Sauron smacks B'etor across the face and calls her a careless. The Romulans went after their missing Trilithium which they...somehow knew was on a Federation observatory. Uh-huh. Lursa remarks that, mistakes aside, whatever they were, they now have the trilithium and super weapon. Yeah, except didn't this motherfucker just use it to destroy the sun *and* the observatory with the rest of the chemical and the equipment? Are we to assume that Sauron had some trilithium up his butt when he beamed aboard? Whatever...the Duras plan on conquering the Empire with this magical butt-weapon, but Sauron will have his reward first, which requires travelling to the Veridian System, so they're off. Scene 11 : **.5, 4% On the Enterprise, Crusher has identified Sauron and explains his backstory which we saw in the prologue. This leads Picard straight to Guinan. He visits the elusive El-Aurian in her quarters, which look like a small temple, strewn with enough candles to burn down a French farmhouse. Guinan explains that the energy ribbon is called the “Nexus” (who named this thing?), that it causes eternal orgasms or whatever (of course such a thing would be floating around space), and that, while Guinan has managed to force herself to let go of that happy place, Sauron has likely become obsessed, hence his hysteria to Chekov. So, did Guinan and Sauron hang out inside the Nexus? Or did she know him from before the Nexus and have him pegged as an obsessive lunatic? But then, she warns Picard that he will be just as obsessed as Sauron if he enters the Nexus (why would he do that?). So are the El-Aurians who were on those ships still alive in the Nexus? Does the Nexus only pick up sentient beings? Organic matter? What? Also, why “The Nexus”? What is being bound together by a happy-pills spacial distortion? It's a shame that the entire concept of the Nexus is so bafflingly stupid because the actual delivery between Stewart and Goldberg is masterful and cinematically captivating. Sauron, meanwhile, is still playing around with the visor. Geordi is strung up, being tortured...again. He really is the Enterprise's damsel in distress trope sometimes. This time, instead of being experimented on with Borg tech or being brainwashed by Romulans, he's being interrogated. Sauron wants to know what Geordi knows about trilithium. Yeah, sure. Scene 12 : *, 4% After the Captain's Log informs us that Data's emotion chip has been fused into his head (oh goodie), we see the pair in Stellar Cartography, which is a fun new set for the Enterprise. While they wait for the computer to figure out how the destruction of that star has affected the region, Data expresses his guilt at having been too afraid to save Geordi aboard the observatory. This, of course, begs the question of what Sauron had planned to do if Data hadn't decided on this stupid experiment in the middle of the mission. Data wants to be de-activated so he doesn't have to deal with his painful emotions, but Picard appeals to a different emotion, Data's commitment to duty. Now might be the best time to discuss why I hate the emotion chip so god-damned much. In the series, Dr Soong's deliberate choice to deny his son feelings was a direct response to the sociopathic behaviour of his brother. While Data accepted this limitation, his development as a person continuously challenged our assumptions about what emotions really are and mean. In episodes like “The Offspring,” “Data's Day” and “The Quality of Life,” emotional responses were, in a sense, derived from the android's logical mind, almost as if emotions are really an emergent property of consciousness. Skirting this line is part of what makes Data so fascinating a character. On the other hand, his attempts at overt sentimentality (which always fail) are what often make him so charming. While the question in “Descent” of how much of Lore might be in Data if his emotions were “turned on” is interesting, for me, this premise fails because we never see the reverse; how much Data is there in Lore? So again, while I empathise with the writers looking for new ways to explore the character, dumping Emotions™ into his brain like this destroys all the nuance in the central question of what Data means to the Star Trek ethos. With this chip in his head, Data is just light-side Lore. Picard tells Data that part of being human is learning to live with emotional burdens. Well, yeah, but what he's essentially telling him is that, in order to function, humans often have to find a way to ignore their emotions—an advantage Data already had over his colleagues. Picard even describes this as “courage.” We don't tend to label Vulcan heroes like Spock as “courageous” because their emotional-suppression renders the need to overcome fear moot. This is one of my favourite things about Star Trek, actually; noble actions aren't romanticised as personal courage so much as a social evolution beyond emotionality. Data was essentially made Vulcan by design, able to make all decisions based on logic tempered with ethics, and utterly incapable of arrogance. So now, we are left with the most pedestrian of character arcs for Data; he has to learn to have courage in the face of fear. Yawn. He and Picard determine that Sauron is destroying stars...to change gravity currents...to force the Nexus to collide with a planet in order to get back into it. This convoluted mess is justified in the script with Data explaining that ships which approach the ribbon are destroyed (as we saw in the prologue). Yeah, except those ships being destroyed did not prevent the people inside them from entering the Nexus, did they? It's interesting that Jammer considers this to be the best scene of the film, because for me, this is where it starts to fall apart. In addition to ruining Data's character and revealing how senseless the Nexus phenomenon is, the scene also sets up the artificial stakes of the film; Sauron needs to destroy another star to get the ribbon to pass through a habitable planet, and this will wipe out a pre-warp civilisation. In the series, when done well, the civilisation-in-peril trope was usually excusable as saving it involved resolving some moral quandary or intriguing sci-fi dilemma. Here it's just upping the stakes because BIG ACTION MOVIE. Sigh... Scene 13 : .5 stars, 4% On the filthy Bird, Sauron is still fucking about with the visor. He gives Lursa the info she needs to build a trilithium weapon, having apparently excavated a supply from his butt. He demands, having made his payment, to be beamed down to the third planet to complete his silly plan. But...the Enterprise appears and Picard demands the return of Geordi and threatens to destroy any probe launched into the sun. Okay, good. Sauron has something up his sleeve though. Worf has calculated that a probe will take 11 seconds to reach the star. Uh, yeah sure, probes can fly faster than light. Why not? Amid some tedious bridge banter, the Duras finally decloak and make contact with the Enterprise. Sauron has beamed to the planet, they say, and in the first of several inconceivably stupid decisions, Picard says he'll beam to his location. What? WHY? Because Worf said it might take 15 seconds to lock onto the probe? So, instead of figuring out where Sauron is and having Worf blow it up with a torpedo, he's going to talk him down? Ugh. So, Geordi is beamed back and Picard is beamed to the arid uninhabited planet. Scene 14 : *.5, 4% Picard materialises, unarmed, and without his communicator. Huh? Before he can make his speech to Sauron, he runs into a force field which smarts. While Lursa spins around in her chair, Geordi regains consciousness in sickbay and we learn that Sauron has put a little police camera into the visor which transmits to the Bird. Ah. Clever. Data apologises but Geordi just says that Data cowering in a corner unable to help his friend was him “behaving like a human.” So, problem swept under rug. Oof. While trying to find a gap in the field, Picard tries reasoning with Sauron, saying they can find another way to get him into the Nexus. Apparently, 80 years of research reveal that there is no other way. While this is bullshit, I'm willing to grant that Sauron is at the point, as Guinan eluded to, where he could give a fuck about morality or the irony of destroying a world—as the Borg destroyed his. Once he gets his eternal orgasms, nothing else will matter, right? Data, elated that being a coward means he has achieved his life-long goal (wow, what a climax for the character...), returns to the bridge and sings his infamous “Lifeforms” song. In isolation, this isn't as bad as the observatory scene, but Data's alleged character journey is now officially relegated to the realm of silly jokes. Whether the jokes will land is about all that we can hope to sink our teeth into. Scene 15 : *, 4% Geordi gets a glimpse of the Enterprise's shield modulation, giving the Klingons the opportunity to bomb the fuck out of the drive section. So, like in “Q Who,” they rotate their shield frequencies in order to stave...oh, no, wait. Here's a better idea, let's leave the shields in place and put the therapist at the helm. Why not? Oh, more good ideas, instead of firing their weapons or juicing up the deflector or doing any evasive manoeuvres (thanks, Deanna), Riker, Worf and Data concoct some technobabble nonsense way of forcing the Bird to cloak. For some reason, Data is no longer terrified, but quite happy-go-lucky and testosterone-y as people die and consoles explode around him. Finally, the babble succeeds and a single Enterprise photon blows up the Bird. Picard is mulling about while Sauron continues to fuck around with his rocket-probe. Riveting stuff. Unnoticed by the all-seeing eye, Picard discovers a gap in the field. Horray. Scene 16 : *.5, 4% Geordi makes a discovery of his own, a coolant leak which is going to destroy the warp core. Um, un-hooray. So, Riker orders the saucer separation and we get a few scenes of vacuous action drama (is sickbay in the drive section?)--people running through tubes, families clutching each other in terror (there are quarters in the drive section, too?!), teddy bears (NOOOOOO!). It's all very silly. We see the separation, which looks grand, but the shockwave throws the saucer right at the planet, giving us Data's other infamous bit (“Oh shit”). Yes, Data that's exactly what this is. Picard, meanwhile appears to be vaporised by Sauron while attempting to break the force field. The saucer section plummets into the planet. Deanna is still pushing buttons on her console for some reason even though the helm is non-functional. And finally, the ship crashes like a old-school flying saucer right through the treeline, as SFDebris said, “Roswell-style.” Seeing all the familiar sets get destroyed is admittedly a lot of fun, although I don't get why, with both Worf and Riker on the bridge, Data is the one clutching Troi. Following this big action piece, we see Picard (spoiler, he's not dead, somehow) throw down with Sauron. This manages to be even more disappointing than the Data stuff as our intellectual, diplomatic and emotionally-vulnerable hero is not only is reduced to perfunctory fisticuffs, but completely fails to succeed at beating up a 300-year-old scientist even with the element of surprise. Embarrassing. The ribbon enters the Veridian system, Sauron's 11-second rocket magically destroys the star. Picard looks around confused and the haunting choir returns to deliver Sauron (and Picard) to their orgasmatron while the the planet, the Enterprise and that nameless civilisation are obliterated by the shockwave. Scene 17 : 0 stars, 4% Someone is playing kinky blindfold sex games with Picard (oh yeah). And it turns out to be several small children...oh...Okay, actually Picard is in a Victorian house with Victorian children and a Victorian redheaded wife who *isn't* Beverly but some random person and it's Victorian Christmas. Oh, and Réné is there, too, not burned to death. In a tree ornament, Picard sees the star going super-nova which gives him a twinge of guilt. But, hey the windows are frost-painted white and 23rd century Guinan is in his study, so whatever, I guess. She calls herself an “echo,” which is El-Aurian for “forced exposition.” We endure several minutes of the pablum of Picard's Nexus dream, and as tedious and uninspired as it is, Picard shows a remarkable ability to let go of his fantasy and decide to leave the Nexus. Echo-Guinan is on a carousel because she really likes obvious symbolism. She explains that, since time has no meaning, Picard can go anywhere, anytime. At this point, I just have to assume that a Q let out a fart at some point and it became this Nexus thing. Speaking of farts, Picard's brain has one as his first genius thought is to return to Veridian III to stop Sauron, not the dozens of other times he could of stopped Sauron before he became a threat like, say, in Ten Forward. Nor does he consider, say, stopping the Borg from assimilating him since he apparently gives zero fucks about the integrity of the timeline. The infinite possibilities provided by this magical space fart aren't even briefly considered here. Furthermore, given his extreme heartache earlier, that Picard wouldn't indulge his fantasy, or other fantasies for even a few more moments—since, remember, time has no meaning—is totally absurd. He can live a thousand lifetimes and still stop Sauron if he wants to. What's the urgency? God this is dumb. Scene 18 : .5 stars, 4% Guinan suggests that there's someone else in the Nexus who might help him out, and we cut to Kirk, chopping wood by hand. Um, okay. Picard tries in vain to explain what is actually happening while Kirk revels in his fantasy of chopping wood and burning eggs. There is a woman—Antonia—whom Kirk had apparently broken up with when he returned to Starfleet, but in the Nexus version he's going to propose to her instead. This dovetails into the theme for Kirk's Nexus fantasy which is that he had never gone back to, or perhaps ever even joined Starfleet. Now, besides the fact that we've seen this arc put to rest in the previous films, where in the world did this come from? Is it because he “died” saving the Enterprise? You'd think if Kirk had a fantasy it would be just that! Despite assassinating yet another iconic Star Trek character, the film is still committing the same sin as in the prologue of artificially elevating Kirk beyond what makes sense in-Universe. Why does Picard burn his hands on the frying pan? Why is Picard—who rides horses as a hobby—barely able to keep up with Kirk? Why isn't it Picard who prompts Kirk to abandon his fantasy, but rather his own realisation that the Nexus isn't “real”? The most we get out of this scene is Kirk advising Picard never to give up his captaincy. It's a real cheese-ball sentiment with little depth, and has basically nothing to do with Picard's crisis in this film or really over his entire character journey in the series. In fact, “All Good Things” showed us that even after losing the Enterprise, he kept the most important parts of his command, an eagerness to explore and the connection to his family. It was never about “the chair” for Picard. Ugh. It's really amazing to me that the meeting between the two captains is this underwhelming. I'm remembering Moore's scintillating dialogue in “No Exit” from NuBSG and astonished that he couldn't think of something profound for these two characters to say to one another. I'm remembering Braga's skill for mining weird sci-fi for character depth in “Projections” from Voyager and dismayed that the character and the sci-fi are sidestepped for action hero schlock like this. Disappointing. Scene 19 : .5 stars, 4% Because this movie isn't long enough already, we get—I kid you not—a recap of the events from 20 minutes ago. This time, Picard and Kirk appear to confront Sauron together. Kirk is tasked with the fisticuffs—that's his forte after all, while Picard will disable the rocket-probe. Unfortunately, doughy late-middle-aged Kirk isn't quite the shirt-tearing “Arena” hero he once was and needs Picard to give him a hand. There's some really tedious action stuff with a control pad and a burning bridge and cloaking the rocket, all accompanied by generic McCarthy music that really undersells the alleged climactic nature of the scene. At one point, Picard says they're running out of time. Why? All they really have to do is stall Sauron until the Nexus passes, right? Cheesy, exhausting banter, William Shatner fat joke, Picard fakes out Sauron by stalling the engines, more cheesy closeups, explosion, and the day is saved, I guess. Picard picks through the wreckage to find Kirk on death's doorstep. He gets one last Shatner moment (“Oh my.”) and dies. Picard buries Kirk in a shallow grave, I assume because he isn't going to tell anybody he violated the Temporal Prime Directive. Oh, that's heroic. The Enterprise is unsalvageable. The emotion chip is staying put because fuck me, Spot survives, Picard recovers his scrapbook and abandons the archaeological treasures he's collected over the last seven years and roll credits. Film as Functionary : *, 13% That...was disappointing. Let's begin with the structure of the film, which is problematic for several reasons. The largest story is that of Kirk, entering the film on the bridge of the Enterprise B, regretting his choice to become a celebrity with no captaincy and culminating with his death...on a bridge. Nested within that story is a pedestrian action mystery between the Duras sisters and the Enterprise. Connecting these two is the Nexus (oh, *that's* why it's called that) and Sauron. Conceptually, this sort of works—a Gothic structure that nests stories in order to explore themes unencumbered by linear storytelling. The problem is, each of the elements is woefully misguided in execution, and horribly, unforgivably shallow. The Kirk story is very confusing. So, he goes from regretting his choice to retire, to having the chance to make a difference one last time, to the Nexus where he regrets his choice *not* to retire, to having a chance to make a difference one last time. What kind of arc is that? The only message we can tease out of this is that Kirk should always be making a difference, which, okay fanboys, I get it, but this is schlocky and uninspired. Kirk was never my favourite character from TOS, but most of the previous films did a good job of giving him some depth and exploring his humanity. This film is a pale echo of “Wrath of Kahn,” not unlike Carousel-Guinan. The Enterprise story, at times, succeeds at being entertaining, with nifty action sequences and sharp cinematography. But this action silliness is undermined by truly idiotic plotting in the mini-climax (the fight with the Bird of Prey), as well as ill-conceived character “arcs” for Picard and Data, which I'll return to. The Nexus story had the potentially to be truly engaging sci-fi sitting next to what was supposed to be interesting character stuff, but is so poorly thought-out and underutilised as to feel utterly ridiculous. There's all this promise, between the music and Guinan's mystical warnings, for a profound exploration of regret and timelessness and hope and meaning, but little imagination goes into the fantasies, making the preposterous “science” of this space fart ribbon all the more glaring. Sauron is a very shallow villain—we don't even get the chance to see what his Nexus fantasy is! Malcom MacDowell does what he can, but in the end he's just a plot device. What a waste. I discussed Data at length—I think the emotion chip was a mistake in the series. I understand why the writers went there, nonetheless, but even allowing for that, what could have been something interesting for the character is reduced to hammy one-liners and failed comedy. And poor Picard. Gone is the eloquent and righteous hero of “Darmok,” of “Chain of Command” and “Pegasus” and “The Defector” and in his place the Kirk-knockoff action hero from “Starship Mine.” His character journey, such as it is, connects to all the other points of the film; he mirrors Sauron having lost his family to tragedy as well as suffered at the hands of the Borg; he mirrors Data in having to carry around regret and pain while still finding a way to perform his duty; and he mirrors Kirk in having sacrificed so much for the Enterprise and for Starfleet. But because these surrounding elements are so poorly thought-out, Picard's arc is totally lost. What was the point of burning Réné alive? It would have been a rehash of “Family,” but did this tragedy give Picard pause about commanding the Enterprise? No! He was just sad and a bit short-tempered. What was the point of having him meet Kirk? Did he learn something about being a captain? No! He decided they had to save the day...and so they saved the day. I always enjoy watching this movie, right up until the point where the Enterprise crashes. Honestly, if they had expunged the Nexus plot entirely, left Kirk out of the story and had the Enterprise just crash right into Sauron's rocket-probe launcher, the film would have been really shallow, but it would have been serviceable entertainment. Because of the stupid and meaningless death of Kirk, failed character arcs and absurd fantasy elements, the film as a whole becomes very upsetting, and a real disappointment for the Star Trek legacy. Final Score : *.5

@Elliott Good to see you’re reviewing again. I think for many of us, including Jammer, there is a huge nostalgia factor for this movie. It’s the first TNG movie, it came at a time when the franchise was doing amazingly. That sort of feeling sticks with you when you watch this, perhaps making many of us here forgive its failings. That said, I’m with you on Data’s emotion chip. It’s funny how giving a character more emotional range doesn’t necessarily evoke more emotional resonance with the viewer. I’m suddenly reminded of the ending to “The Measure of a Man” where Riker is beating himself over the guilt of having to attack Data in court. Data’s very logical response to Riker that he harmed himself in order to protect Data reveals remarkable empathy. It also shows us that while human emotions are powerful, they’re capable of leading us to the wrong conclusions. In that regard, it’s nice to have a stoic figure like Data that can help others sort through their feelings and reach a higher level.

@Chrome: Thank you! I didn’t really take a break, this is just a long movie to get through and review. I appreciate what you say about the nostalgia factor—I was 6 when this was in theatres, so my Trek movie is really First Contact. It took many years for me to start to notice the flaws in that film. I haven’t watched it in years though, so it will be interesting to see how it plays for me now.

Elliott, thanks for that thorough examination. It really put a lot of what doesn't work about this movie in sharp relief. Thinking about it, I think what Kirk's arc was *supposed* to be is something like this. After The Undiscovered Country, Kirk has basically exhausted himself and his usefulness. He has lost his son to the Klingons and then had to put his animosity to the Klingons aside. His youth is gone, and the Federation (and Starfleet) are entering a new era, which specifically requires him to be out of it -- in the form of the Federation, his particular role as adventurer/warrior. Having Kirk attain "living legend" status maybe should have held with it a little more of an emeritus touch in those Enterprise-B scenes -- he should have maybe been a legend who was appreciated and looked up to, maybe even "worshiped," but in a way that was slightly more flattery than actual admiration. That's maybe the real question: what do you do when you give everything you have -- including your child -- to an idea, and then that idea needs you to step aside in order to evolve? The movie's answer is sort of basically confused. The one idea that Moore and Braga seem to have really held onto, which I think they (Moore at least) talked about in interviews, is Death Is The Ultimate Adventure, that Kirk's "oh my" was meant to resonate more than really plays out on screen. Which I think means to some degree that the main thing left for Kirk to do was die -- or at least, to really prepare himself for the idea of death. And there is sort of that arc there, in that Kirk dies a heroic death, but that's just solidifying Kirk's "legend" status, which is, again, was sort of a sop given to an old soldier upon retirement. And on that level I actually get why Kirk has to die nearly alone with only Picard to witness his death, a lonely individual. I can't believe I'm going to pull Star Trek V out here, but, Kirk always knew that he'd die alone, and while he's not strictly alone, because Picard is there, he does in principle get to die away from the cameras, and maybe the idea is *supposed to be* that he dies as a man rather than as a legend. But it all gets confused, because Kirk still dies to save millions of lives, etc., etc., still gets the grand operatic death while also getting an ignominious one. The parallel with Soren is also confused, though there's something there. Soren is obsessed with death and its inevitability. The Nexus seems to be an intersection of numerous threads, as an idea: 1) The Nexus is immortality 2) The Nexus is "outside of time," which is necessary for immortality 3) The Nexus is "heaven," an afterlife, the escape from the trials of the world. The way these combine should really more properly be about the Borg -- should be about the fact that Soren and Guinan had just survived a huge massacre, in which nearly everyone they cared about were wiped out by a monstrous figure and they were left to wander the galaxy alone. This is where things ostensibly combine with Picard, because Picard also lost a family, and Picard is mourning both his own brother and nephew's death and also the death of the Picard line, i.e. his own death. In fact the film *should have* played up the BOBW/Family stuff more, and even made clear that it was partly through his brother and Rene that Picard was able to come to some measure of peace from the way the Borg destroyed him, and why that leads to him sharing something with Soren. But anyway, I guess the thing is, Kirk's fantasy doesn't seem really to have much to do with his own arc. It sort of mirrors Picard's, in that it gives him an out from The Job, which took everything from him, and gives him an alternative. But I feel like making up some other woman that Kirk loved rather than giving him back his son (or even Edith Keeler) was a mistake. But even then, is that really Kirk's issue? I mean, why *couldn't* Kirk just go chop wood somewhere after Star Trek VI? Granting for the moment that it might be hard to find a woman to care about, etc., I think it's still something that Kirk could have reasonably sought after Undiscovered Country, and seemingly didn't. So here: I think Kirk's Nexus fantasy should have been The Enterprise. It should have been the death of the TOS legend. It would tie in with the Enterprise-D's destruction, help Picard further appreciate what he does have in the absence of blood family, show up the way in which Kirk's heroism itself is perhaps immature, follow up on the wish-fulfillment elements of the Enterprise-B sequence (where Kirk gets to school his youngers on heroism), and, most importantly, it'd feel immediately real and recognizable to the audience as what it was that Kirk wanted most. It'd be a sacrifice that we'd really feel for Kirk to pull himself away from. And I think it would allow his unglamorous-but-heroic death to resonate much more. I guess there are obvious reasons why this would be difficult to pull off -- the cast availability being a huge part of it.

I agree with a lot in Elliott's review. The one thing I think is actually quite clear is Kirk's legendary status. He wasn't just some noteworthy Captain like Pike or Robert April; he literally saved the entire Federation a bunch of times and was probably the most famous man in Starfleet's history. The Klingons looked forward to the chance to specifically meet him, personally, in battle. And that's just in TOS, to say nothing of the over-the-top victories Kirk had in the films. Where the films excel is in showing that these victories for the Federation cost Kirk a lot on a personal level, not the least of which is that he gets used up as a person principally in the service of others. Generations should have been about what it is to be immortal in the first place. Wtf is the Nexus even supposed to be? The thing that gives you what you always wanted? A life of ease? It's never specified and the portrayal of it is so anemic that it doesn't look much better than a holodeck. Guinan suggested that it's so alluring (and eternal) that once in no force in the universe would make you want to leave. Except, I guess, if you're Picard and Kirk, in which case a 5 minute chat is enough. Is the intent to show that these guys are superhuman? Or that there's nothing they actually want so much as serving the Federation? I think the latter is subtly the intention but is *so* does not come across. The one way out of the Nexus certainly would be that: "What's the thing I want the most in the entire universe? Why, to get the hell out of here and continue my service." Only someone self-sacrificially dedicated to duty would actually *already be living* their greatest desire. Kirk's arc should connect to this because he actually already had his greatest desire, and had now (as William B mentions) been asked to step aside. It's quite something when your desire is actually to give yourself up for others and you're not even allowed to do that any more! So his big problem is that if given the chance he'd rather be out there saving the day rather than enjoying himself in bed, and he can't. So Picard gives him the chance and it's a no-brainer. This should come across as a testament to Kirk's level of selflessness, not to his level of bravado as the film portrays. What they showed is basically garbage; something about 'Kirk the hero in action one last time.' No, it's much more than that, or it should have been. The real story is about the man who gave himself completely, to the point of having been married to his ship, and now needs to be given the chance to give himself away completely, which is portrayed as dying for his belief. The "dying alone" idea strikes me as being about an article of faith: he does what he does because of his own conviction, not for fame or public praise, and when he dies for it that, too, will be a matter between him and his duty and no one else's to partake of. It would always be "along" in that sense, whether or not someone like Picard was nearby. Picard connects to this because in light his the loss of his family he becomes like Kirk, now totally unattached to anything but Starfleet. The problem is, Picard does actually yearn for family and the Nexus has something to tempt him with to stay. It should have been Kirk to make him realize that the ship and crew are everything and that there should be no greater desire in Picard's mind. With that understood, the Nexus would have no power over them. That makes them different from Soren, who felt he had nothing left to live for other than fantasies. The theme should have strongly resounded with the audience with the message that you really do need to have a 'mission' driving you if you're going to have a real reason to avoid mere hedonism as your way of life. That can be any number of things, including duty (to one's family, country, etc), maybe a religion, or other reasons; but a total lack of having any purpose will be harmful to a person, so the argument seems to go. It would have been an inspiring message if they hadn't been so caught-up in trying to write a bloated motion picture full of nostalgia. I personally view this as a 'pretty bad' movie, FAR worse than ST: V. Actually I think only Nemesis is worse among the films.

Episodes like "The Paradise Syndrome" supply some precedent to the idea that Kirk's ultimate fantasy might be retiring to a quiet, agrarian life. It's not quite out of nowhere.

GharisonFord

I'm a relatively new Trek fan and have seen all of TOS and TNG (started DS9 relatively recently). I enjoyed this movie, honestly. Not great, but there's good stuff in it and it's well made. Where is stalls for me is the Kirk/Picard interactions. I wish that the film had gotten back to Kirk faster to give more time between him and Picard. There could have been some truly great dialogue between the two to really showcase the difference in their personalities and ideologies. I wouldn't say that was wasted, but it was incredibly rushed. What could have been a very memorable meeting of two of the most iconic characters in history came down to just a two minute mild disagreement. Generations gets 3/4 for me.

My brother will die in the near future of cancer and, at his request, we’re watching Star Trek together anytime he feels up for it. About 70% of what we’ve watched together so far has been new to me. Generations was our most recent viewing. I saw it in theaters as a teen and adored it. This was only my second time ever to watch it and I remembered many specific scenes from a single viewing 25 years ago. I would say it has visual and emotional impact, to be able to do that. I adored it again. I was never bored for a second and I loved the great variety of settings. To find that so many fans found it “middling” or worse baffles me. There were a few interesting continuity objections I hadn’t considered - like the inconsistent speed of the Nexus and back-and-forth uniforms - but otherwise few of the criticisms seem to affect me. Annoying emotional Data, Kirk fistfighting only to be buried under a cairn, the gorgeous lighting, the odd dice roll of Chekov, Scotty, and Kirk as The TOS characters, the counseling scene, the Christmas scene, they all made sense to me. And now a small confession: I had to choke back sobs when the little girl dropped her teddy bear. For work, I read about and summarize political and social crises of the 20th-21st centuries (torture of dissenters by the Taliban, for example). When she lost her bear unexpectedly just when she most would have benefited from its comfort, it suddenly symbolized for me all the people who I read about who suffer from shared traumatic crises, like Chernobyl or Tiananmen Square or Daesh. Was it handled with finesse and grace? No, the film work just then was definitely on the clunky side. But because of my background, I was affected. Obviously, mileages vary.

Nimoy said it best when he turned down being in this ‘tour de farce’....too many problems to fix in too short of time. 🤦🏼‍♀️

@Chess - I am sorry to hear about your brother. I hope you and he have some quality time together before his passing. I agree with your assessment of this film. It's obviously not perfect, but for me it hits all the right notes. I was so excited when I first saw it on the big screen with my friends in my final year of high school, and it has lost none of its charm in the years since.

Jean-Luc Picard

This is Jean-Luc Picard. I never left the nexus. Everything that follows in the films, the television episodes and in my series coming to CBS All Access all takes place in the nexus. Enjoy!

Sometimes it feels like the franchise never left the nexus.

Carbetarian

@chess I think that’s a nice way to spend the remaining time you have together, and honestly it’s a request I would probably make of my family if I was dying too. When I was badly hurt in a car accident and needed to get multiple MRIs, I used to close my eyes and pretend I was in engineering when it got scary. These last few years have been difficult for a lot of people, but Trek is something that I think brings folks together and gives us some much needed optimism about our future as a society. I really hope you guys enjoy your rewatch and cherish your bond. May your brother find as much peace as possible throughout his illness, and god bless. As for generations, it’s been years since I saw this movie. But I will always remember the “time is the fire in which we burn” line, which is already much more than I want to remember about Nemesis. So, I would say this movie was ok. Not the best of the Treks, but also not the worst! I enjoyed seeing Guinan in it. The Nexus stuff was poorly executed, but hey... I’ll still take a Kirk and Picard movie, even if it wasn’t that great.

I watched this one this weekend again and for all its flaws I actually think it gets a bad rap. There's enough good epic movie fare (The Enterprise D explodes, Data gets emotions, Picard loses his family, Kirk dies, Guinan gives poignant advice) to make it not only entertaining, but a step forward in the Trek universe. Most complaints I've read tend to be something like it didn't live up to expectations or, in the same line, it wasn't the most epic ending for Kirk. But it deserves praise for its competent and ambitious groundwork leading us to those expectations. Comparing this to the closest quality TOS film - The Search for Spock - which is overwrought with scenes of kid Spock howling on Genesis in an odd attempt to undo the poignancy of TWOK, I really like the epic scope of Generations. While TSFS does have some great character moments and a good message about the one sometimes being greater to the many, I think overall Generation's message about making a difference and enjoying the times you have is a stronger one that's, for the most part, delivered better. Before someone jumps in to defend The Search for Spock, I do want to express that I really do enjoy that film, and am just using it as a basis for comparing the medium-quality Trek films, to which Generations also fits. Just for fun, I'll break all the movies into tiers here. Tier 1 basically represents a Trek film that is not only good Star Trek, but simply a good film. On the bottom, Tier 4 represents the films plagued with scripting and production issues that led to missing the filmmaker's intentions. Tier 1 The Wrath of Khan The Voyage Home The Undiscovered Country Tier 2 First Contact Generations Star Trek 2009 Tier 3 The Search for Spock The Motion Picture Into Darkness Insurrection Beyond Tier 4 Nemesis The Final Frontier

A pretty reasonable review, Chrome. I think I disagree about some of the content of Generations being good (it is *significant*, but in my view also bad content) but at the very least they were aiming high without trying to make it into an action flick. And hey, Malcolm McDowell, can't go wrong with him, may as well get that whole family in the Trek universe. I don't tend to make tier lists, but if I were going to I would have a tough time with The Motion Picture. If your criterion is "good film" then I think I would put TMP in tier 1. But the problem is that it's not a good *Trek* film, so that makes it a weird beast. If it had been made as some other property, a random sci-fi flicj, I would say that it's exceptional and interesting sci-fi. It's just not really Star Trek as we know it. Feels more like Arthur C. Clarke to me, and frankly that's almost without a doubt what they were trying to clone. Whoops.

@Peter G. Thanks for the reply. I think the ideas were pretty good in Generations, but somewhere along the way it failed to bring those ideas together into one cohesive message like we get in say, The Wrath of Khan. William B spelled out Generations' intentions well above, so I won't rehash it. I too would have really liked to see more of a connection between Picard-Kirk-Soren-Guinan who are all these great characters that shared this thread of lost lives/families. In theory, this should be a great TWOK-like introspective on mortality but it doesn't quite pan out. Truth in reviewing, I haven't seen TMP in awhile and was having a hard time placing it on the list. I don't quite remember it being as good as STIII, but maybe that's me judging, as you say, Star Trek III as a *Star Trek* film. I'll probably watch that one again next.

I guess it goes without saying but I can't help it. The crash of the Enterprise saucer section might have been kinda cool but lets be real. That would have killed everyone onboard almost instantly. As soon as it hit the ground and they were splattered all over the first thing they hit while they were flying. This movie was OK (better than, say, Insurrection) but it actually had a lot going for it and didn't quite deliver as it could have. I still say that something has been wrong with Star Trek behind the scenes ever since TNG left TV. It has never been the same. Even though DS9 had some really good episodes and Voyager was kind of a nice show at times. It was very obvious that something wasn't right as soon as DS9 started. And then when the TNG movies didn't really turn out quite the way most of us fans thought they would, it was pretty clear something was rotten in Trek. I don't know. I'm just a casual fan. I have not seen anything obvious except for the death of Roddenberry that comes close to explaining it. I thought Soran was a pretty good "villain", actually (not as good as Chang but still). The "Time is the fire in which we burn" quote is actually pretty epic. Especially now that ST Picard is being made (I'd love to see Picard have a flashback of that being said). To me, that was almost the best thing in that movie. Looking back, I guess. This film is a moment when they still had a chance to do TNG justice with a series of films that lived up to the high standards set by the series. That just didn't happen.

Haven’t we done a Data gets emotions Episode before many times? In the poorly rated Descent on TNG for example? Data gets emotions and the. Can’t deal with them so suffers a near meltdown and short circuiting? Or Data malfunctions and tries to kill the crew? It seems like we’ve been down this road before. I can understand the writers wanting Data to evolve beyond his tv persona if we are moving into feature films now but it wasn’t done in a convincing manner and it was poorly written, it came off as a rehash and poorly done. That’s just one of many reasons in addition to the ones stated above by other commenters why this movie ultimately failed in its worthy ambitions. There were some nice scenes with the TNG cast and even at the beginning with Kirk, Chekhov and Scotty (Scotty: perhaps the most vastly underrated, under used and underapprecciated character in all of Trek). But ultimately the movie can’t come together as a coherent expression 2 stars.

For a far superior meeting of Kirk and Picard y’all should read the novel Federation from pocket books by Judith and Garfield Reeves Stevens. It has Trek history, for example Cl. Green from World War 3 and time travel because that’s the only plausible way the 2 captains could meet. Yes maybe time travel has been done to death but it makes a lot more sense than that half baked nexus idea.

Did anybody else think it was funny when Data pushed Dr Crusher into the water or is it just me?

Oh I definitely thought it was funny. I’m pretty sure we had a discussion about it on this thread somewhere

I think this movie is highly underrated. Yes, the Enterprise B scenes were darn weak, and having Cameron play another incompetent officer to make Kirk look good was bad. But the Next Gen stuff was good. One thing I *really* liked was when Soran manipulated Picard into sending him back to the station. This was a wonderful moment of showing vs telling. Later, Soran does literally tell Geordi that El Aurians are a race of listeners, but this Picard scene is first. There’s no cheesy sound effect to show Soran has a “power”, there’s just him reading Picard’s emotional state. A skilled human (manipulator) could have done this too. But Soran did and used it. I think that’s wicked solid.

And, no, the saucer crashing as it did would not have instantly killed everyone. The saucer cruises along to a more or less controlled “landing”. There’s even dialog, where Data says he’s leveling the descent. There is a nitpick though where Riker and others clearly realize they will be thrown forward when the saucer stops... then why didn’t they take brace positions? One other thing I really liked was it became clear Picard would go back in time, and I 100% expected the destruction of the D would be somehow averted. Nope, still happened in all its glory And that’s another nice touch— Picard didn’t *know* about the destruction, so he wasn’t aware to try to stop it. Seriously, a worse script would have had the echo Guinan telling him about it. And related to that, I did NOT realize the D would be destroyed. Contrast Search For Spock, where it was in the trailer... “the last voyage of the Enterprise.” It’s true the trailer did show the D saucer about to impact, but it was a small bit and not clear what was happening.

Ripley Clarke

Generations IMO was by far the best of the TNG films. The main point of this film was summed up best by Picard at the end on the bridge as he was speaking to Riker. He reminds us about what Soran said "time is like a predator that stalks us all our lives..." and then says he would rather think of time as a companion which travels with you remind you to cherish every moment. With many plot elements reminding you that all things end, Picard's relatives dying in the fire, the loss of the Enterprise D, the loss of Kirk. None of the other TNG films made me come nearly as close to crying as I did the two times you lose Kirk in Generations. First contact was yet another moby dick (which it competes with Wrath of Khan in that respect), Insurrection was yet another White guilt Native American analogy (again- tons and tons of episodes on this), and finally Nemesis was just flat out bad. To rate Generations on the same level is completely unfair in my opinion and im not sure why it seems to be the forgotten of the TNG films.

So having completed my, er, trek through the entirety of the seven TNG TV series a few days ago, this seemed the obvious next step. I hadn't seen it since I went to see it at a cinema in 1993. I liked it more than I expected, actually. I was not overly fond of it at the time. But coming straight off the back of the TV series, I appreciated the extra money spent on the production. The direction is a lot different, the incidental music more dramatic. Everything seems darker, presumably because it was intended to be seen in a darkened cinema. The scenes in Picard's cabin especially take place in a very moody gloom. The whole thing is slower-paced, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Giving Data a personality in this one was a brilliant move. Brent Spiner puts in a brilliant comedic performance, and Riker's facial reactions to his new-found sense of humour on the bridge were hilarious. Scotty's part is really well-written - he comes across as a wise old fox who's seen and done it all, and he has a lot more stature and dignity here than he did in his TNG TV cameo. I've always held the view that the Trek movies seem to take place in a different universe than the TV series, almost though they're written and directed by people who don't quite get the idea. And nowhere is that more apparent than in the frequent references to "Tuesday" on the Enterprise-B. I don't remember ever hearing a character in any of the Trek TV series referring to something so mundane as a day of the week. Malcolm McDowell is downright brilliant in this. A beautiful blend of thuggish menace and patrician English class. I can't imagine a more suitable actor to play a self-serving mastermind villain with an undercurrent of sadistic cruelty. I really liked the set pieces. The watery holodeck scene, the Enterprise "crash landing", although I sort of doubt that the crew would survive it. The scene on the Klingon Bird of Prey as the torpedo sizzles in across the void from the Enterprise, visible on the viewer. The xplosions on the bridge were possibly a bit overdone, though. Perhaps that was meant as an homage to the original series, where something on the bridge would blow up every week as the crew rocked from side to side in their chairs. I wasn't overly keen on the scenes on the planet surface, where Soran has deployed his weapon. The chain and the handrails and the walkway seem a bit 20th century to me, especially when the chain link fails. And the weapon itself .. it's supposed to collide with a star in a matter of seconds? But as it's launched it looks a lot like a 20th century chemical rocket, all a bit low tech. There should have been some sort of CGI beam or a huge flash representing it going to warp in a fraction of a second. Or something. Anything but a big firework going off. But here's my big problem with this film. What the Smeg is the Nexus? This is never really explored. How did it come to exist, how does it work? There's not even a half-hearted Technobollocks attempt to explain it. How does Guinan lead Picard from his own illusion to Kirk's? How does Picard get to have a second go at preventing the weapon being fired? And if that failed, presumably he'd have a third, or a fourth .. etc? Picard's wife should have been Beverly really. Missed a trick there. As for the scenes with Kirk and Picard, there's a nice contrast between their personalities, never more apparent than when Kirk declares that "the Galaxy owes me one". And that underlined the wisdom of not trying to repeat Kirk's character for TNG. Picard is anything but Kirk II, and the series is much the better for it. Kirk's grudging, almost sarcastic order to "take us out" of space dock on the Enterprise-B is Kirk at his most Shatneresque. This is of course, the story in which Kirk finally meets his end. And I think that was probably a mistake. For one thing it's a bit of a kick in the teeth for all the fans,a nd for another - Kirk has beaten death so many times in his career that it's actually hard to process the idea that he could be killed just like that, not emotionally, but dramatically. He's so indestructible that it barely seems real. Anyway - flaws aside it does have a lot going for it. The additional money was mostly well spent and there are some bravura performances from Spiner, McDowell, Doohan and Stewart. I was well entertained. Shame Netflix doesn't have this; I watched it on Amazon Prime and apart from costing me a few quid it also didn't support HD in Firefox (under Linux). Netflix works beautifully. But watching in SD didn't really detract from the fun. We were happy enough to have this sort of thing on VHS tapes back in the day.

"I liked it more than I expected, actually. I was not overly fond of it at the time. But coming straight off the back of the TV series, I appreciated the extra money spent on the production. " Same here. I thought little of Generations back when it came out - sort of a mediocre next gen episode. Ironically, one of the big hooks, seeing Kirk again, was not much of a draw because I grew up with TNG, not TOS, so Kirk was not my captain really. I felt at the time like Kirk was this interloper, like older people were trying to force their Star Trek on me. Of course I had watched all of TOS and all the TOS movies but it wasn't *my* Star Trek and Kirk was not *my* captain. But time has improved this movie. It really was the final chance to see TNG in all its glory, especially my beloved Enterprise D. And you know what? It is a pretty decent movie. I'd rate if on the level of say Time's Arrow - not a classic but a solid episode worth watching.

I'm not sure why people are asking for more technobabble concerning the Nexus. We have dozens of Trek episodes proving that never helps. What makes this the best TNG movie isn't the budget, the acting or the cast, it's the central question: "if you could take advantage of a phenomenon that inserted you into a heaven-of-sorts where all your deepest wishes became your experience, would you do so?". As a sci-fi premise, it's a great one, even though I find the final argument "no, because it's not real" lacking.

" As a sci-fi premise, it's a great one, even though I find the final argument "no, because it's not real" lacking." I don't think anyone needed a technobabble explanation of the Nexus in terms of how it was made, or natural phenomenon, or which chronoton particles blah blah blah. But we definitely needed an explanation of what it could do, or what it means that a person in it could choose one thing or another. For instance I intuit that Picard is meant to be understood to be some kind of paragon for willing himself out of eternal paradise to go back to his duty. Or at least that would be logical...but we see more or less nothing of the sort. This so-called impossible to resist magic place seems pretty easy to resist unless you just got noplace else to go. Soren wants to go there badly enough to commit genocide; is this supposed to say something about the Nexus, or about him being a looney bird? We just don't know. It would be a neat sci-fi premise if there really was a place so awesome that more or less anyone would do *anything* to get back. It would make Soren understandable if he was just a regular guy, even a good guy, and being there once did this to him, like the ultimate crack addict. But instead he's just a baddie, Picard does his usual handwave of temptation, Kirk is chilling until he decides to go, and Guinan's whole presence in it seems like an afterthought. I mean come on, this was the *prime* spot to show us that so-called closer than lovers relationship with Picard. So why not show it? That's a cool story right there, totally sci-fi, and not needing technobabble: what if two people spent an eternity together in one instant in the Nexus? Actually believe it or not the TV show Heroes did exactly this once, where Sylar and Pete are trapped in an Inception mind-trap together, and having gone in as mortal enemies they come out as brothers, all taking place in a few minutes in real time. That is cool writing - having their captor screw himself over by giving them time to unite against him in accelerated time. Generations had umpteen chances to show us cool sci-fi relationship stuff, and instead gave us a maudlin scene of Picard's family news, as well as some nostalgic Kirk stuff. I don't even mind the scenes on the grounds of being emotional; what I mind is that they end up just being a setup for reunion scenes and don't have much of a character pay-off. On paper I love this story. But I find the script focuses on all the wrong things, and frankly just isn't that well-written. I too had a lot of fun seeing it when it came out, but it has aged poorly for me. Take away giggling at Data and being surprised that the Duras sisters are in it, and there's not much left other than the usual fun I have with the TOS crew, and of course Malcolm McDowell.

@Peter they needed to really *tempt* Picard. The idea was great (giving him a family - especially in light of his real family's death) but the execution was lame. I don't mean to say it needed to have been a call back to Inner Light or something fans would have recognized (although that would have been awesome), but it needed to be more than the Hallmark postcard they gave us which would have been hackneyed and cheesy even for the 80s, like some Norman Rockwell painting. Right idea, wrong execution! As for Kirk, the concept was sound but it should have been him who rescued Picard from the Nexus not the other way around; after all Kirk's entire character was to spit in the face of "paradise". He was the one guy, the only one, who should have been able to resist the allure of paradise because that was what he did his entire career. Seeing him and Guinan working as a team would have been great. As for Soren, on paper his motivation for finding the Nexus should have been self-evident - a refugee from a world destroyed by the Borg given the chance to return to a home that no longer existed. I mean good God his motivation as an El Aurian particularly should have been obvious, even understandable to any audience with the slightest development. But somehow he just comes across as an asshole with no real motivation beyond mad obsession- just so wrong and so poorly executed! So much potential wasted. This is a movie that gets 4 stars in my imagination if only 2 stars in execution. But again, I still want to watch it again because hey it is TNG's last hurrah.

Really good concepts, Jason. And let's not even get started about the El-Aurians and their abilities. Like for instance what good is it that Soren is a "listener"? Wasted on him, and practically irrelevant. Many races died to the Borg, so why did he have to be that? Somehow his ability to hear the pain of others should have been relevant. Maybe he was so sympathetic to the plight of his own people he couldn't take it anymore and needed to get away. And Guinan, oh man. She could tell in Yesterday's Enterprise that things were "wrong", and yet we are not treated to even a short scene of how she inhabits the Nexus or what it meant to her. Or how about her so-called "imp" nature that Q refers to: all of these questions could have been interesting, but instead she's essentially just Whoopie Goldberg for the good the script makes of her. How about this for sci-fi: the Nexus exists outside of time, and can even permit you to re-enter anytime you'd like. Did it never occur to Picard (or anyone else) to go back, I dunno, to before the entire crisis started and stop Soren during lunch some day? Or perhaps that's another temptation they could have explored. Why wouldn't Picard be tempted to go back and save his family once he could go anywhere and anywhen? And what about Kirk saving David? Kirk's lessons in ST: II-IV could have been quintessentially important here, about loss leading to new life; about how you can't grow without losing what came before. Anyhow we could go on endlessly about all the material scattered across the oeuvre that they neglected to use, which was sitting right there. The Nexus was the perfect template to include literally anything from any series or film and have it be sensible, because it's anytime and any place. It's the core of the characters and their internal non-linear perception of their own lives. Or maybe it's just about horses and having breakfast. Either way.

One thing I'll give to Generations: it's the only TNG movie that feels cinematic and sweeping, something the other three movies, even the very good First Contact, never quite managed. For all its flaws, it has a different quality to it whereas the others, and especially Insurrection and Nemesis, always seemed like expanded TV episodes. That's why I think TOS movies are still unmatched. They operate on a whole another level compared to the series.

I myself watched Generations last week. I STILL think All Good Things isthe bigger, more climactic story that ties a bow on TNG better than this movie. But this film is richly themed, exploring the desires of both Catains and tying them together. I think it's easy to forget WHY Kirk's Nexus fantasy ends up as it does, because there's a whole movie between when he enters the Nexus and Picard meeting him. He goes from ringing in the Enterprise-B, feeling old and outdated, and yet struggling with the youthful inexperience of the ahem, Next generation of Starfleet officer, (no doubt the performance of the young captain emblematic of how fans fearedaTNG would go; a new younger crew, parroting Treknobabble while trying to emulate the example of the TOS crew) feeling reduced to giving empty soundbites for media outlets in what amounts to a tickertape parade, realizing his focus on his career lead him to this point and, for the moment, finding it empty. Meanwhile he finds out Sulu, a Captain like him, has found time for a family and has a living legacy while his is a young, inexperienced, unprepared captain sitting in the seat he gave up. And off to the Nexus he goes. To when he can take the last chance he had to avoid the life he ended up with and became personally disillusioned with. Picard goes on a similar journey. His brother hada kid and he saw that as his chance to devote himself to the life of Starfleet. An escape from the pressure and responsability of family life. Besides, he hated kids. But as we know, he actually met his nephew and related to him a bit at a time when his faith in Starfleet life was shaken and he grew to be if not at ease with kids, then at least able to tolerate them. And then his nephew dies and he's hit by the loss of that potential and connection to his own youth and feels like maybe he cheated choosing Stargleet over family and feeling perhaps empty in the moment about the course of his life. And of course,I've been watching some first time reactions to early TNG where the viewers find Picard's surliness towards kids amusing so his hatred of kids at that point was fresh in my mind when I watched this again and so help me I cried. I was just hit by that man's journey from not wanting to deal with children to recognizing the joy and pride kids can bring and wanting to be swarmed by their hugs and appreciation. And happy to have it. Both Captains find the thing that'll bring them joy from the despair of moment the Nexus took them. And were sorely tempted by that promise of family and happiness and in a way by the choice to be selfish. But both come to realize that's not who either of them are. They both chose the life of Stardleet, their career and the responsibility of self-sacrifice so that others could have the life they gave up. As nice as the Nexus was at giving them the happiness they needed, they knew they had to go back and sacrifice again. In Kirk's case, ultimately. I think that's also why they only went back as far as they did. Because they had a job to do and they while they could cheat and change things to be more ideal that's not who either of them are. They are men who sacrifice for the mission and reject the temptation of the Nexus. Also interesting is how when they first meet in the Nexus, their differences are subtly highlighted. Kirk, the outdoorsy, manly chef, Picard a bit more intellectually focused and a bit, dare-I-say, dainty. (You can almost see Kirk mentally rolling his eyes at how the legacy of the Enterprise captain turned out; "oh, great, here's another precocious young Enterprise Captain that doesn't know a thing.") But by the end of their time together it's been shown how similar they are too. Something else that occured to me is how Generations acts as a bookends of sort to TOS, where a DIFFERENT Enterprise Captain became trapped in a place where he was temped by his fantasies and desires after becoming disillusioned with the Starfleet life but ultimately regected it all because it wasn't real and was just a prison. Just a Cage. Sure, the movie lacked a big bombastic villain, was more introspective and quiet and the return & final battle of James T. Kirk lacked significant punch and some necessary pathos and it didn't really live up to the meeting of generations that it promised, but thematically it's a wonderful film that really digs into the characters and does a decent job compairing and contrasting the two lead men. Which is classic RDM. The Nexus I guess is classic Braga high concept idea. When it works, it works, when it doesn't, it doesn't. I definitely appreciated it more than I have this ladt viewing, and I always liked it. But I think First Contact is still the better movie. It succeeded more at what it was trying to be while Generations is a _little_ scattered.

All that said, I just watched the originally shot "Christmas" sequence on the DVD and it was clunky as all heck. Picard's blindfold comes off and all his kids (including two that got cut) are standing there in front of him, oldest to youngest, arrayed like their taking a darned photograph and "Acting." Rene wasn't there and it was far more subdued, stiff and formal. If you thought the version in the film was saccharine, then this version was choking to death on it's "sweetness" Picard would not have pulled himself away from that Christmas, he have RUN. The more chaotic, rambunctious version definitely rang truer and I think played into the mind set of Picard's head space at the time. "What if I had a family? What if I weren't a stick in the mud? What if I enjoyed being around kids? What if I could do everything different? Maybe I would be so grief stricken right now if *I* were different." And apparently, during this and the reshoot for the final fight, Stewart was on another movie and had grown out his hair. So for portions of Generations he was fake bald... er. You'd think with an actor like Stewart, you wouldn't have to deal with changing hair styles, but not so I guess, haha. It's no Super-stasche though. Lookin' at you, Justice League.

I just rewatched this movie. The first half is actually very good. I loved the sequence on the Enterprise B even if the new Captain was a little too green (isn't Captain of the Enterprise a big deal? Why is the Captain acting like a raw cadet? Everything with the death of Picard's family was heartfelt and impactful. The impetus for Data's decision to install the emotion chip was a little forced (seriously? Beverley just couldn't forgive him for throwing her in the water?) but some of it worked (I loved the scene where Data realizes he hates Guinan's drink). But then Data's stuff starts to deteriorate into tedium. Still, by the point where they track down Soren and Ursa and Bator things are holding up well. But then there is this extended sequence on the planet where Picard just kind of circles the forcefield for a long time. Then he loses in a fist fight to Malcolm McDowell sigh... then the Enterprise gets defeated by an outdated Bird of Prey. Then the extended crash sequence which is just so long and boring..... At this point things are going downhill fast. Now we are in the nexus and Picard's kids look like they are dressed out of a crazy Norman Rockwell or Thomas Kincaid painting. Seriously where did they get those ridiculous clothes? And then there is Kirk... chopping wood. And cooking eggs.... and it's just so ... lame? And finally the two captains join forces and can go anywhere or any time... and Picard's plan is... a two on one fist fight? And it goes on. And on. And it's. So. Boriiiing. This is a movie that had everything going for it that had a great script, great actors, great effects and yet... just terrible execution. It just falls flat on its face.

Hotel bastardos

Rikers face during the crash scene wuz reminiscent of tarrants in the last episode of Blake's 7... And yes, they clearly indulged bill shit's love of horses- so what? It wuz his last outing, give the old ham a break!

Just got around to watching this after running through 7 seasons of TNG , with some perspective on ''how things work', in the ST universe , I can understand why maybe a casual Sci-Fi fan who has never bothered watching the entirety of tng or tos (or it's movies) will probably think it's a decent sci-fi film . As for a ST fan to call this movie out as being poorly written and lame. That being said, it's a 6 on 10 for me , (or 21/2 out of 4 in this case), like some have mentioned , the movie beats the drums on solid notes , Kirk being reduced to a Starfleet spokesperson and finding retirement boring , honestly just Kirk , no Bones, Spock, Chekov or Scotty would of sufficed to convey what the entire scene was about. The whole uniform thing didn't bug me, in fact it might of gave an undesired touch of realism which I enjoyed. On the same note, I loved the refitted Enterprise bridge and the darker scene shades to give it that movie like atmosphere. And of course the advent of Worf's promotion, Picards entire extended family perishing in a fire adds to ''event'' being essentially a ''tng'' movie and not a star trek movie. What sunk this movie was poor writing, the potential was there for something memorable , instead we get a retrofitted Ent D getting blow out of the stars by an out dated bird of prey, Riker forgetting that shield modulation is a thing and that he heavily out guns a D12....they should of given the Duras sisters a Neg Var class , they had the model from All Good Things, could of made for a more credible battle. The whole mechanics surrounding how the nexus works could of been plot armored had they taken time to write a few more restrictions on what can and can't be done with the bloody ribbon. They say ships blow up yet at the beginning of the movie we see evidence that the transport ships withstood the nexus for a few moments before imploding, and the famous argument Picard could of returned at the point in time in 10 forward and have Sorin arrested.

Bob (a different one)

I agree with you 100%, zanki. For whatever reason, it feels like TPTB forgot what made TNG special. For me the TNG range from "forgettable popcorn flick" (Generations) to "embarrassing to the point of being unwatchable" (Insurrection).

I must be the only person grateful for the (notorious) 'uniform confusion' in this film, as for me at least it solved the in-universe puzzle of there apparently being two competing service uniforms in use at the time (one in TNG and another in DS9). This film inelegantly provided the elegant solution of the DS9/VOY uniform being the newer replacement being gradually and haphazardly rolled out throughout the fleet. Of course, it doesn't explain why TNG-era uniforms continue to show up throughout later seasons of DS9...

I enjoyed this more than I thought. It is not a great movie - I agree with the other criticisms that after Picard goes into the Nexus the movie just crashes. It's slows and is nonsensical. But before that I thought it was decent. I disagree that Data is annoying - I loved all his emotion chip scenes (and really all his scenes). I thought Soran was a good enemy but they did need to flesh him out a bit. Show his family and how much he wanted to get back to him. The battle I thought was really good, but I agree it should've been a more formidable ship than a dinky old bird of prey. And the crash sequence was way toooooooo looooong. Of the TNG movies, I'd put this in Tier 2 (with FC in 1 and the other 2 in 3).

Stolen from a FB Star Trek page. Why didn't Picard leave the Nexus and go back to when he is in Ten Forward chatting to Soran and have him locked up by Worf until the Nexus passes the planet and mess up his plans?

Jeffrey Jakucyk

"Why didn't Picard leave the Nexus and go back to when he is in Ten Forward chatting to Soran and have him locked up by Worf until the Nexus passes the planet and mess up his plans?" Because then three elderly men wouldn't be able to awkwardly fight on some rocks, and the movie would end unceremoniously without any contrived conflict.

The Shatner is in the air! “It was fun”!

Jeffrey's Tube

The more time that passes, the more I absolutely HATE the decision to blow up the Enterprise-D in this movie. That was not the case originally. I LOVED the Enterprise-E when it was first introduced in First Contact. It was sleek, with beautiful lines, and when it fired its weapons you could credibly imagine it going toe-to-toe with the Borg while the rest of the Fleet got blown up around it. Fighting the Borg hand-to-hand in its dark, red-and-gunmetal corridors was thrilling as they invaded and slowly assimilated the ship. But you know what the Enterprise-E wasn't? It wasn't grand. The Enterprise-D was grand. It was like a sculpture in space. Its proportions were strange and weird and looked appropriately futuristic. You knew just by looking at it that it wasn't a military vessel. It looked like a ship that was designed for more than fighting the Borg. It was also huge--much bigger than the E in interior space. It had larger interior spaces as well and softer colors. It was just . . . far more impressive a vessel, one that sparked the imagination more. When Star Trek moved from the TOS movies to TNG, they took the ship and rather than doubling the scale of what it was and what it could do, it felt like they upped it by a factor of 10x. The Enterprise-E conversely feels like a step down. And again, that isn't how I felt at the time. So I understand the impulse that lead to the design of the Enterprise-E as what would be exciting and what people would want to see at the time. They were right: it WAS what I wanted to see at the time. It's just that, 20+ years later, I've really come to lament the loss of the D and think it wasn't worth it. It's a decision I don't think has aged well. The rest of the film . . . starts well, dies hard as soon as the Nexus hits. Lursa and B'Etor destroying the ship in an old Bird of Prey is frankly cringe. I used to hate Kirk's death (the manner of it), but I don't anymore as I get older. He was always doing shit like this on random alien planets, and sooner or later it was going to catch up to him one time. So it goes. He died as he lived. And as far as the galaxy knows, he died on the bridge of the Enterprise-B being a hero, a legend of his own making, who went out in a blaze of glory when he was still young enough that the aspirational figure he represented to others wasn't undermined by watching him grow old and start drooling on his uniform and shitting his pants. He also got to meet Picard and know that his legacy was in good hands. Soran may have been a shit villain and therefore a shit villain to die to, but not a bad death, all in all. (I don't know why, but I've always assumed Picard never told anyone about Kirk's involvement or death on Veridian III. I always just assumed he buried him under a simple rock cairn, put the Starfleet badge on it as tribute, and kept the whole thing a secret. I think Picard would think Kirk wanted it that way. I've believed this for nearly 30 years, but I've only just realized that it's not actually confirmed canon--it's subtext, not actual text. Still, has anyone else been thinking the same all along?)

If I could pay money to erase this film from canon, I would. That's the extent to which I HATE it in regards to Kirk. Not that I truly consider it canon for TOS anyway, since Roddenberry was dead at the time of filming and it wasn't made by anyone involved with TOS. It consoles me to know that Nimoy hated it so much as well, that he refused to direct it. Apart from the lousy death scene, which has been talked to... well, to death, Kirk in general is terribly written. It shows that the film creators had no understanding of the character, neither a clue about his personal growth in the TOS films (did they even watch them!!?). At the beginning of the movie, Kirk is resenting his retirement and misses being the captain of the Enterprise (a character arc that was already resolved in TMP, many years ago). He's also feeling very lonely without a family (which is again bullshit, since that problem was addressed in Star Trek V, with the conclusion that he'll never be truly alone, bc Spock and McCoy are his family). So, here we have recycled issues that should have been closed off a long time ago, showing the shallow understanding of Kirk by the writers. Then it gets even more stupid in the Nexus. Suddenly, we find out that Kirk had briefly retired, nine years before getting lost inside the Nexus, and had almost married the one true love of his life...... this Antonia nobody ever heard about. This doesn't make any sense from a chronological point of view, since it falls right between TMP and Wrath of Khan. So Kirk, after finding again his purpose as captain of the Enterprise (even if temporarily) in the first film, thus overcoming his apathy for his desk job as Admiral, decided, for no good reason at all, to retire to Idaho to chop wood or something. And then, again for no good reason, abandons his would-be wife and rejoins Starfleet... to go back at the desk job that depresses him so much. That's the point where we find him at the beginning of WoK, as a somehow bored Admiral. But of course, there's absolutely no hint that he had retired for a couple years prior to that. In fact, the notion is absurd. And yet, you want me to believe that this was Kirk's most precious moment of his life, the one he chooses to revive in the Nexus!? Even though he abandoned it for some routine work as Starfleet instructor!? BULLSHIT. Besides, the love of Kirk's life is not Antonia, nor Edith, nor Carol. Make no mistake: The love of his life is, and always has been, Spock. The only person he was willing to sacrifice ship and career for. And Roddenberry pretty much said so. How difficult is for people to understand this?

Gorn with the Wind

Merry Christmas from the comments of the Star Trek’s most “seasonal” endeavor. In the spirit of yuletide warmth, I will say that this movie would have been considerably more bearable if it had lingered within the fantasy of the Nexus and on Picard and Kirk therein. It’s the only part of the movie that works at all. After a few eggnogs I can’t help but wish for a sequel of sorts where octogenarian Stewart and nonagenarian Shatner get to hang out in cosmic paradise for a while longer.

Willy Lovington

I say, the chap above me has gorn and stolen my thunder, what! What a dear chap and a rip-roaring movie! Two captains for the price of one, I certainly got my money's worth out of this! Why, in the spirit of Christmas, as I left the moving picture auditorium in 1994, a cheeky urchin came up to me and asked if I'd got any spare change. Well, I raised my eyebrow and gave him the vulcan salute and said 'Live Long and Prosper'. Well, the cheeky young scalliwag kicked me in the shins and I dropped my wallet, which he promptly ran off with. What a mischief!

For all the criticism of Picard should have gone back in time sooner to stop Soran (or save Robert and Rene), Picard had seen in the then-pretty recent, classic, written-by-Moore episode "Tapestry" that trying to change too much could be disastrous, that's definitely one of the best, strongest episodes about not changing the past, how that can seem good and be really bad. There could be a *bit* more in this movie about consideration or temptation of changing more and getting something better easier but that Picard wanted to change as little of the past, while still being able to save people, as possible doesn't striked me as a particular flaw or even really missed opportunity.

I generally defend this movie but it is really, really cheap that Picard and Kirk still wear their Starfleet uniforms rather than civilian clothes even in their fantasies of (probably?) being retired from Starfleet. Not getting to know about, care about, with Kirk really even see their fantasy wives was one particular problem of not making the Nexus fantasies more compelling or significant.

IIRC Kirk took some persuading to leave his empty ranch to stop some rando from destroying a few remote planets. How much harder would it have been to get him to leave a panoply of fantasy wives?

"Uneven" is a word that comes to mind for Generations. There are some really great moments scattered throughout, and some good ideas and also a bunch of missed opportunities. The Nexus as a concept, strikes me as a much more TOS kind of concept than a TNG one. An "energy ribbon" that takes you to Paradise is much more in line with the less sciency TOS humanistic vibe. Kind of like going to the center of the galaxy to find "God". I wonder if that was intentional as they were passing the torch over. I like the idea, just less so the execution. There's a lot of drawn out exposition that takes too long. Mostly with Data and his emotions and awkward flat landing jokes. As my gf said "I miss the emotionless guy." Glad Data toned back down for First Contact. They really should have played up the family themes more. When Picard gets to the Nexus, they really could have made it have more impact. This was their chance to really build on the Inner Light. Have Eline come back. Even if this was just for fans, it would have played better than that silly English caricature family. They could have even amped up the idea that Picard's real family is his crew. Kirk's story as well could have built on Carol Marcus and his lost son. Wouldn't it be good for him to have gotten his son back in the Nexus, and have to be convinced to leave with Picard? Likewise, maybe Soran could have been visited as well in the Nexus, happy with his family. There could have been some tension trying to convince him to leave as well. Hell, technically the whole enterprise was near the Nexus as well. Maybe the whole crew could have been scooped into the Nexus, having met their own families. It would at least given everyone something more to do in the final act than just land the enterprise. Speaking of which, while the crash sequence was great in terms of its level of excitement, the space battle was a technobabble disappointment with no real sense of victory. I like how the Klingons stole the Enterprise's shield frequency, that was clever. I think they needed a more relatable way to have beaten the Bird of Prey beyond some random "ionic pulse". Not sure how they could do this in a good way, since Star Trek VI already did the whole gas seeking torpedo bit. Maybe the Bird of Prey should have just got damaged, and forced to retreat, so as to hopefully return in a sequel. Soran was a near decent villain, but really needed more development. I think Lursa and B'etor could have been saved / not killed off for use in a future installment. TNG doesn't have too much in the villain front. There could have been a good Klingon movie made down the line with them, but it never happened. Strange in this movie, my favourite moments are not from the main plot. Data finding his Cat and Worf falling in the water are always the best moments for me. I loved the whole sailing ship sequence. Nautical themes and trek really fit well together. Kirk and Picard's meeting in the nexus was nice enough, but I think we were all hoping for a bit more. It would have been really great if they had gotten the WHOLE TOS crew into the nexus to meet the WHOLE TNG crew. Would have been like an Avengers Endgame crossover two decades early. And how come the wine bottle wasn't from Chateau Picard? Would have been a great start! In the end I feel this movie works just barely if you really love the characters. However anyone seeing this movie with a more dispassionate connection will find it mediocre at best.

The part in the Nexus for Kirk and Picard was more like Robert Frost moments for them. The paths not taken. But think about these two men for a moment. These are men of action. Theirs lives are full of moment that have kept them and all those around them on the edges of their seats for DECADES! When trouble does not find them, they find it. It makes some sense that after all that nail biting adventure, what they may have been dreaming about was a quiet home, love and especially for Picard, carrying on the family line. And that means children. But for both of these hard core men of action, that calm, slow moving, completely lacking in heart racing moments life is not for them. That is way they are not enamored by the idea of staying in the Nexus. It was the life they had both rejected time and time again. IMO I liked the comment about how Picard’s family was all British. Re: Data and his emotion chip. Yes, his actions were weird. Why? Because at the moment of instillation, Data becomes and emotional child! And I don’t mean that as a criticism, but as a fact. His laughing at the joke Geordi told during the Farpoint mission tells us that Data is now trying to process his memories and view them through his brand spanking new emotions eyes. Imagine for a moment what that would be like? On top of that, they are (like normal) in the middle of a crisis. I would think the fear he felt when they were attacked was the FIRST time he ever experienced fear in real time. (not as a reaction to a memory) He was understandable freaked out. Killing off the guy who was our first Captain, with the lame parting lines that he got was gut wrenching to me. Better that he was killed off like Spock...off screen in his sleep or something. This end to his life, I felt was insulting. That all said, I did like the movie for the most part. Could have done without Rene dying and without Data cursing... child like tantrum, I guess

Michael Miller

..Travels through this galaxy every 39.1 years.. ..temperature of a borg ship is 39.1 degrees Celsius..in the other movie. Coincidence? Given Star Treks other obsession with the number 47 I think not!

Submit a comment

Movie & TV
Apple TV 4k
Cable & Satellite
Prime Video 4k
Comcast XFINITY TV
Spectrum HD
Verizon FiOS HD
All TV Providers
Amazon Fire TV
DirecTV Stream
Hulu + Live TV
Watch HDR Movies & TV Shows
Watch 4k/HDR on Amazon
Watch 4k/HDR on Apple TV
Watch 4k/HDR on Movies Anywhere
Watch 4k/HDR on Netflix
Get Atmos on Apple TV 4k
Get Atmos on Disney+
Get Dolby Atmos On Max
Get Dolby Atmos On Movies Anywhere
Get Atmos on Netflix
Get Atmos on Prime Video
Watch HD Channels Free Over-the-Air
4k Blu-ray Disc
4k Channels
Paramount+ 4k

Digital Media
Movies & TV
Streaming News
4k Blu-ray Release Dates
Blu-ray Release Dates
Digital Movie Release Dates
List of 4k Blu-ray Movies & Shows
Blu-ray & 4k Blu-ray News
Digital HD & 4k UHD News
Blu-ray & Digital Reviews
AT&T U-Verse TV
Comcast Xfinity TV
Cox Communications
DISH Network
Google Fiber
Time Warner Cable
Verizon FIOS TV
All Provider News
Google Play
Fandango At Home
Movies Anywhere
Prime Video
All Streaming News
4k Blu-ray Pre-Orders
Blu-ray Pre-Orders
Special Deals
Channel News
Free Previews
Movie Reviews

Star Trek Generations 4K Blu-ray Review

Star Trek: Generations (1994) 4k Blu-ray

Paramount has restored the four Star Trek ‘Next Generation’ movies in 4K for release on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and Digital 4K. The films arrive in a 4-Movie Collection as well as single-movie editions on April 4, 2023.

Each combo edition from Paramount Home Media includes a 4k disc, a 2k (1080p) disc, and a code to redeem a Digital Copy with either Apple iTunes or Vudu.

Here’s a review of Star Trek VII: Generations , the first of ‘The Next Generation’ movies and the one that bridges original cast members William Shatner, James Doohan, and Walter Koenig with TNG cast members lead by Patrick Stewart.

‘Generations’ opens with “living legends” Kirk, Scottie, and Chekov joining the maiden voyage of the USS Enterprise-B. But it doesn’t take long before the officers, along with a skeleton crew and unfit starship, are thrust into a distress signal only 3 light years away. The plot of the movie is anchored on the obsession of Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell) to return to the Nexus, an existence in which pure happiness is found and time is irrelevant.

It’s great to go back and revisit this film, especially in the highest quality it’s ever been. The plot does a great job of linking both generations of Stark Trek by jumping 78 years through the space-time continuum. It’s great to see Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, and Brent Spiner among other TNG cast members in their first TNG film. And, let’s not forget the appearance of Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan, the mystic character who seems to transcend both time and space.

“They say time is the fire in which we burn.”

As expected from a 4k disc the 4k/24p video streamed in high bitrates with a low average of around 40Mbps to 50Mbps and higher averages between 50Mbps to 60Mbps depending on the scene. The highest peak noticed from the 4k Blu-ray playback was 66.8Mbps (not determined by any scientific method).

You can get an idea of the quality of the restoration of Star Trek VII: Generations just from the opening scene with the celebratory bottle of champagne floating through space and breaking against the USS Enterprise-B. This is also a great time to make sure your TV is calibrated so the darkness of space looks like it should.

The colors are what stand out most when you watch this upgraded version of Generations. The crew’s bright red uniforms are vibrant and rich in color with Dolby Vision HDR (noticeably better in Dolby Vision because of the spec’s dynamic nature).

Some colors seem to be exaggerated beyond what has previously been seen over the last 30 years of home media. For example, in the starship lounge when Dr. Soran meets Captain Picard there is an overwhelming, yellowish cast that I don’t remember seeing so prevalent in past presentations. Again, at 36 minutes when Data opens a hidden door (when his emotional chip is out of control), the yellowish-green cast is extremely pronounced.

The sharpness is also impressive in this 4K restoration. Kirk’s watery eyes at about 11 minutes, the crew’s uniform emblems, and the touch panels the crew work on are all enhanced significantly in 4k. The closeup shot of Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) at 31 minutes is exquisite. The first appearance of the Klingons in this movie at 45 minutes opens eyes with high-quality, makeup and styling that hold up well in the enhanced resolution.

As much as this remastering could have brought out some additional details and sharpness in shadow areas, the image retains a level of thick black that still retains an analog quality. One example of this can be in found in Picard’s quarters at the 40-minute mark. The shadow treatments and brightness enhance the dramatic quality of the scene but is certainly not what we are used to in more contemporary treatments of black levels.

We also tested the film on a 100” projection with pretend HDR. The black levels were noticeably not as detailed when picking up the film at Chapter 13 when Picard meets Kirk at his ranch in the Nexus. Part of this is the lack of true HDR on a projector, but also inherent qualities of a projected image versus a backlit image.

The soundtrack to ‘Generations’ is offered in Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channels that allow plenty of spatial audio for an immersive experience. The 48kHz audio averaged 2.5Mbps with some bumps into the 3.2 – 3.5Mbps range. This is an improvement over previous Blu-rays that offered Dolby TrueHD 5.1. It’s worth noting the new 2k Blu-ray presentations offer the upgraded 7.1-channel tracks.

Like previous Star Trek films, surround effects are not overly done just for the sake of immersive audio. Choice moments utilize side and rear channels effectively, albeit driven by a mainly frontal approach to dialogue that is crisp and easy to translate.

The low-end audio treatment is much like other Star Trek films, used sparingly but mostly distortion free. When the Klingon ship attacks the USS Enterprise at about one hour and seven minutes, the explosions provide some of the best subwoofer and low-frequency moments in the film.

The score by Primetime Emmy Award winner Dennis McCarthy ( Deep Space Nine ) creates a nice balance of voice, effects, and music composition that give ‘Generations’ that trademark Star Trek theatrical experience.

Bonus Content

Audio and text commentary is provided on the 4k Blu-ray Disc under the Extras tab. However, any other legacy content is included on the 2k Blu-ray Disc.

Commentary by director David Carson and Manny Coto
Commentary by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
Library Computer
Uniting Two Legends
Stellar Cartography: Creating the Illusion
Strange New Worlds: The Valley of Fire
Scoring Trek
Inside ILM: Models & Miniatures
Crashing the Enterprise
Main Title Sequence
The Nexus Ribbon
Saucer Crash Sequence
A Tribute to Matt Jeffries
The Enterprise Lineage
Captain Picard’s Family Album
Creating 24th Century Weapons
Next Generation Designer Flashback Andrew Probert
Stellar Cartography on Earth
Brent Spiner – Data and Beyond Part 1
Trek Roundtable: Generations
Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 007: Trilithium
Deleted Scenes

Audio 3.5/5

Bonus Material 4/5

Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection

Star Trek VII: Generations is also available in Star Trek: The Next Generation 4-Movie Collection on 4k Ultra HD Blu-ray. The collection includes Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) on 4k Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and Digital 4k.

STAR TREK: GENERATIONS

What You Need To Know:

(B, Pa, NA, L, VV, S, A, AB) Moral worldview with some fantasy elements which it subtly rebukes by emphasizing need to live in real world; 3 obscenities & 2 profanities; action violence & some fist fighting; vaguely implied fornication; brief alcohol use in bar scene; and, some anti-biblical innuendoes.

More Detail:

STAR TREK: GENERATIONS, a worthy addition to the STAR TREK tradition, bridges the generation gap between the original and new casts as Captains James Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard team up to save the solar system. The year is 2265 as the new Enterprise is christened and takes its first “cruise around the block” to Pluto. On board are retired legends Kirk (William Shatner), Scotty and Chekov and all is well … until the ill-equipped ship picks up a distress signal and must answer the call. Moments later, following a huge explosion, Kirk and Enterprise bay 15 are lost. 78 years later, Captain Jean-Luc Picard finds he must enlist the help of one Captain James T. Kirk, who was not killed but was transported to a fantasy realm called the “Nexus.”

Delightful writing and acting complement GENERATIONS, which is a highly entertaining and engaging film that in the tradition of the STAR TREK series calls its viewers to fight the good fight, to make moral choices and to be faithful to one’s duties. It draws clear distinctions between good and evil and depicts the superiority of the good, and it contains very little objectionable content. For the discerning viewer, however, the limited definition of purposefulness as “making a difference” and the absence of discussion of the after-life in a movie that deals with much grief will be disappointing.

4000+ Faith Based Articles and Movie Reviews – Will you Support Us?

Our small team works tirelessly to provide resources to protect families from harmful media, reviewing 415 movies/shows and writing 3,626 uplifting articles this year. We believe that the gospel can transform entertainment. That’s why we emphasize positive and faith-filled articles and entertainment news, and release hundreds of Christian movie reviews to the public, for free. No paywalls, just trusted, biblically sound content to bless you and your family. Online, Movieguide is the closest thing to a biblical entertainment expert at your fingertips. As a reader-funded operation, we welcome any and all contributions – so if you can, please give something. It won’t take more than 52 seconds (we timed it for you). Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

For Parents
For Educators
Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

Get the app
Movie Reviews
Best Movie Lists
Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

Best TV Lists
Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
Common Sense Selections for TV
Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

Book Reviews
Best Book Lists
Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

Game Reviews
Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

Podcast Reviews
Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

App Reviews
Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

YouTube Channel Reviews
YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

Explaining the News to Our Kids

Family Tech Planners
Digital Skills
All Articles
Latino Culture
Black Voices
Asian Stories
Native Narratives
LGBTQ+ Pride
Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Star trek: generations.

Parents say (3)
Kids say (6)

Based on 6 kid reviews

This title has:

Report this review

Excellent movie, but still inappropriate for younger kids, nooo action., okay for 11 and up, hopless trekkie, flawlessly blends two generations.

Find Family Movies, Movie Ratings and Movie Reviews

Star Trek: Generations Parent Guide

The story isn't quite as strong as the special effects. fortunately, they are phenomenal..

On her maiden voyage, the newly-christened USS Enterprise-B is struck by a bizarre ribbon of energy, and Captain Kirk is missing, presumed killed. Seventy-eight years after the tragedy, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise-D encounters the same ribbon, along with a madman determined to fly into it at any cost. Picard will need to examine the mystery of what happened to Kirk all those years ago.

Run Time: 118 minutes

Get Content Details

The guide to our grades, parent movie review by keith hawkes.

A retired Captain James Kirk (William Shatner) and his remaining crew are invited to the maiden voyage of the newly christened (and not completely equipped) USS Enterprise-B , but before they can get far, they encounter two refugee ships being torn apart by a bizarre energy wave. Although they can only rescue a few refugees, the ship does manage to break free of the wave. But it does so at great cost: Admiral Kirk is killed in an explosion while reconfiguring the deflector dish to save the ship. Seventy-eight years later, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) encounters a survivor from those long-destroyed ships who is determined to re-enter the energy wave, and Picard will have to summon all the help he can find to save a system with hundreds of millions of inhabitants.

Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley both declined to reprise their roles (as Spock and McCoy respectively), as they felt that they had satisfactorily wrapped up their characters in The Undiscovered Country ), and I’m inclined to agree with them. None of the original cast, save Shatner, has significant screen-time or makes any contribution to the plot that couldn’t have been provided by any other cast member. Thankfully, they don’t take up much runtime, but the question remains, why bother?

Parts of the film are particularly impressive, especially its phenomenal practical effects. While the production team is still getting some good mileage out of old models (see the Klingon Bird-of-Prey that’s been in every movie since Wrath of Khan ), the stand-out effect is the Enterprise crash. Heartbreaking as it is for a long-time fan to see the Enterprise destroyed (again!), the effects are spectacular. The crash was shot on a 40x80 foot set, with a 12 foot saucer, which is huge. Interior shots had the advantage that The Next Generation was done shooting, and the sets had to be removed for Voyager , so the team could weather them a lot more aggressively than they might have if they needed them next week.

This isn’t the strongest film (as far as I’m concerned, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country is unbeatable), but it is a worthwhile watch. It does a respectable job of marrying classic Trek with the modern interpretations as it signals an end for both the original cast and the TNG TV series, while also heralding the upcoming films with the Next Generation cast. More importantly, Generations conveys a meaningful message about the importance of family and the hazards of prioritizing work over your personal goals.

About author

Keith hawkes, watch the trailer for star trek: generations.

Star Trek: Generations Rating & Content Info

Why is Star Trek: Generations rated PG? Star Trek: Generations is rated PG by the MPAA for sci-fi action and some mild language

Violence: Several fistfights occur, in which individuals are punched, kicked, shoved, and occasionally headbutted. Explosions destroy three ships, killing all aboard. Several corpses are shown briefly, some with a small amount of blood. A number of shootouts occur, in which no one is shot. An individual sustains some burns from an exploding control panel. Another is thrown over some furniture during an explosion. An individual is blown up. A person hatches a plot that would destroy an entire star system, killing billions of people. Sexual Content: None. Profanity: Sporadic use of mild profanity and terms of deity. One use of moderate profanity during a crisis. Alcohol / Drug Use: Several individuals are shown drinking in a bar setting (although, technically they aren’t consuming alcohol - it’s synthehol, which does not have the same intoxicating effect or addictive nature).

Page last updated September 24, 2019

Star Trek: Generations Parents' Guide

Dr. Soran is obsessed with returning to the Nexus. Would you classify this as an addiction? Which of his other behaviors would indicate or contradict that idea? Do you think you have any addictions? How can you determine which of your hobbies and habits are potentially addictive?

the m0vie blog

Following Us

Adding Our RSS Feed to Your Gmail
Following our Feed in Internet Explorer
Millennium (Reviews)
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (Reviews)
Star Trek: Enterprise (Reviews)
Star Trek: The Next Generation (Reviews)
Star Trek: The Original Series (Reviews)
Star Trek: Voyager (Reviews)
The X-Files (Reviews)
X-Files Fandom Poll Form

Check out the Archives

Awards & Nominations

Non-Review Review: Star Trek – Generations

This August, to celebrate the upcoming release of Star Trek: Into Darkness on DVD and blu ray, we’re taking a look at the Star Trek movies featuring the original cast. Movie reviews are every Tuesday and Thursday.

There are lots of problems with Star Trek: Generations . It feels too much like a two-parter from the television show. It tries to fit in a laundry list of demands from the studio. It wastes Malcolm McDowell. It decides that the only part of the original series deserving a send-off is James T. Kirk, and then pushes him off-screen for an hour before dragging him back into the movie to kill him off in the most ironic and anti-climactic manner possible.

Yet, despite these considerable flaws, Generations also has a lot to recommend it. Although the script occasionally feels a little overcooked, the themes concerning mortality lend it a serious amount of weight. Director David Carson demonstrates that he can work wonders on a tiny budget. Cinematographer John A. Alonzo finds a way to shoot familiar sets in a way that makes them look incredibly beautiful. None of these strengths can fully compensate for the very fundamental flaws with the seventh Star Trek cinematic outing, but they do mitigate them somewhat.

Generations isn’t a great Star Trek film, and it isn’t even the best odd-numbered Star Trek film, but it is far from an unmitigated disaster. Well, except for the way it treats Kirk.

Riding the wave…

The most obvious problem with Generations is the way that it tries to tie together Star Trek: The Next Generation with the original television show. To be fair, it’s easy to understand why Rick Berman wanted to do a story featuring both casts, but it feels a little misjudged here. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was already an effective farewell to the classic crew, allowing them to ride off into the sunset. It dealt with their advancing years, but afforded them one last “hurrah.”

In short it did everything you might reasonably expect of “the last Star Trek film.” So Generations has a different role. We’ve already sat through an effective farewell film for Kirk and company, so the primary objective of Generations should be to introduce us to the cast of The Next Generation on the big screen. It should be about transitioning the crew from weekly television to biennial feature film, in the same way that Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan demonstrated that the rules had changed for the original crew.

All he needs now is a star to steer it by…

The biggest problems with Generations stem from the fact that it completely messes up the simple task of getting us to invest in the crew of the Enterprise-D as heroes capable of carrying a motion picture franchise. This is most obvious in the way that it tries to tie back to the classic Star Trek television show. We can understand the temptation to do a crossover. After all, barring the occasional guest shot from James Doohan, DeForest Kelley, Leonard Nimoy or Mark Lenard, The Next Generation has remained quite distinct from the original Star Trek .

However, even if we allow that the crossover is a good idea for the first feature film starring the cast of The Next Generation , Generations makes several mistakes. For one thing, it assumes that the only member of the original crew that we care about is James Kirk. While Kirk was one of the faces of Star Trek , there’s an argument to be made that bringing Kirk back for this film is only barely a bigger deal than getting Leonard Nimoy back for Unification , a two-part television episode.

“What do you mean Paramount aren’t optioning The Return?”

Spock is just as iconic as Kirk, and he did a guest shot on the show. So making a movie that centres on Kirk and Kirk alone feels like it undersells the potential for a crossover. The crew of the Enterprise-D completely disappear from the last half-hour of the film, with a subplot involving the Klingons in the jungle completely deleted from the final cut. As a result, the movie’s climax hinges on Kirk and Picard teaming up to beat the bad guy in what amounts to little more than a fist-fight.

To describe it as anti-climactic is an understatement. “We’re running out of time,” Picard gasps as events build to a crescendo. “Look! The control PADD is still on the other side.” Kirk offers, “I’ll get it. You go for the launcher.” Picard cuts across, as if realising that the audience doesn’t want to watch Picard and Kirk doing separate action stuff in the middle of the desert. “No, you’ll never make it by yourself,” he insists. “We’ve got to work together.”

He certainly left a hole in the franchise…

It feels like it’s building to some nice cheesy dramatic moment where the duo punch out Soren in tandem. Then they’d high-five and finish each other’s awful action movie puns. Yes, it’s incredibly cheap and more than a little silly, but that’s the entire point. You’ve brought back James T. Kirk, so it stands to reason you want some of the geeky fanboy thrill of the two actors and characters kicking ass and taking names. Instead, Kirk tries to assure Picard, and the audience at home, “We are working together. Trust me.”

That’s the moment where you realise that this is as good as this team-up is going to get. In fact, it will get worse quite quickly, when Kirk is killed by a falling bridge. I understand what Braga and Moore were going for, but a cruel and ironic twist feels like a cynical conclusion to what is supposed to be a celebration. Everybody involved seems ashamed of how it played out.

Between a rock and hard place…

Malcolm McDowell initially boasted in Shatner’s Movie Memories that he was thrilled at getting to kill Kirk ( “I’d immediately become a trivia question at ‘Star Trek’ conventions all over the globe,” he joked), but has since admitted disappointment with the scene . Brannon Braga himself has joked that it was all down to a script typo :

It was a script typo. We accidentally wrote: Killed by ‘Bridge on Kirk’ instead of ‘Kirk on the Bridge.’

Even director David Carson, who does a wonderful job with the material and restrictions handed to him, has conceded that Kirk’s death was far from the movie’s finest moment .

“I still like Braga more than Abrams…”

It just feels profoundly unsatisfying to bring Kirk back, to marginalise him for most of the movie and then to kill him off by dropping a bridge on him. That said, it’s more than the rest of the original Star Trek cast get. Reportedly the crew tried to recruit the rest of the ensemble to appear, and even to get Leonard Nimoy direct. Nimoy turned it down, feeling that it was unnecessary and that his character contributed nothing to the script .

Getting the rest of the cast to appear might have made Generations feel like more of a proper (but still unnecessary) send-off. Unfortunately, a brief opening scene with Scotty and Chekov doesn’t quite give the impression that we’re passing the baton from one generation to the next as much as “it’s all about Shatner.” (To get a sense of how interchangeable the script views the original Star Trek characters, note that Chekov seems to be reading lines originally intended for McCoy, recruiting nurses to help with triage.)

Show me heaven…

In a way, you could make a serious argument for Generations as a spiritual successor to Star Trek V: The Final Frontier , which is not a good thing. Both movies centre on Kirk as the most important character of the original Star Trek show, although Nimoy and Kelley were able to temper the Kirk-centricism of The Final Frontier a bit. Soran’s conversation with Picard about time echoes Sybok’s philosophy regarding pain. Picard’s “it’s our mortality that defines us, Soran – it’s part of the truth of our existence” feels like a companion to Kirk’s “I need my pain.”

Even on a superficial level, both films feature somewhat gratuitous Klingon villains – complete with equally gratuitous Klingon periscopes. (Ronald D. Moore points out the absurdity of this in his commentary.) There’s also a climax in the desert and some nice shots of Shatner riding a horse – included in The Final Frontier because he was the director and the guy responsible for the story, and included here as a way of trying to lure him to take part in the film. Both films feature Kirk encountering an item of religious significance. In The Final Frontier , it’s God. Here, it’s the Nexus, which is very close to heaven.

Thinks can only get B’Etor…

To be fair to writers Ronald Moore and Brannon Braga, they inherited a lot of the problems with Generations . Both were television writers having their first crack at a big screen movie, but at the behest of studio executives. Star Trek on television is very different from Star Trek on the big screen, and Generations doesn’t quite account for this. Take out all of the problematic Kirk stuff, and it works quite well as a enjoyable two-part adventure. The runtime would even be close.

On the commentary, Moore jokes that a lot of the big moments from the movie came from Moore and Braga’s pitch for the sixth season cliffhanger, and it feels like this would make a pretty fun two-parter. The movie leans incredibly heavily on continuity from the show. It brings back Lursa and B’Etor, for crying out loud. I don’t mind the duo, but they felt stretched a little thin when they guest-starred on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . They don’t make convincing heavies for a big screen adventure.

“Well, there goes the budget…”

That said, Moore alludes to a cheeky “Roman orgy scene” that the duo pitched on the Bird of Prey, which sounds ridiculously absurd. Then again, it’s arguably a consistent extrapolation of B’Etor’s sort of creepy sexuality which we catch a glimpse of here. B’Etor did hit on Picard back in Redemption , and she seems to flirt with Soran here. “I hope for your sake you were initiating a mating ritual,” she coos, wiping her blood on his lips.

While there’s no way that a scene like that would have made it to the final cut of the movie, it would have at least given the duo some definition and character. As it stands, the cinema-going audience really has no reason to invest in them beyond “they were in Star Trek a couple of times.” And that doesn’t really work when you’re bringing Star Trek to the big screen. The dialogue alludes to the most generic of motivations – their “plans to reconquer the Klingon Empire” – but there’s no reason to care.

Picard’s in the field…

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan featured the return of a villain from a first season episode, but the script was careful to paint his motivations so clearly and so compellingly that he worked without any context. Generations seems to drop in plot points from the show without any real care that the audience has no investment. There’s a brief appearance of the Romulans which is contextualised within the show’s framework of galactic politics (Picard dreads “a new Romulan threat in this sector” while Soran knows they’re hunting for stolen “trilithium” ), but none of this really matters to the audience who just want to watch a science-fiction adventure.

Similarly, the whole subplot with Data feels like it’s paying off seven years of character development from the television show. It feels like his emotion chip should have been covered as a character arc in the final year of the show, rather than shoved into the franchise’s first trip to the big screen. It’s a huge piece of his character arc, but it doesn’t work outside the context of the character’s seven-year quest to become more human.

Lighten up…

To be fair to Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, it seems like the studio pretty much just gave them a checklist to run through when producing the film:

As I recall, it was a difficult genesis for this project. There were a series of requirements that this film sort of had to have that we thrashed out early on. We wanted this to – like I said earlier – to bridge the two generations. … We wanted it to… There was a requirement from the studio that the original series cast members only appear in – what was it? – the first ten or fifteen minutes of the film? Right. Captain Kirk could then recur and come back at the end of the motion picture and have an adventure with Picard, but this was very much supposed to be a Next Generation film. They also wanted a very large villain, sort of an arch-nemesis that would be our antagonist throughout the film, á la Khan, who was in the most successful – creatively successful – of the Star Trek films, The Wrath of Khan. And they also wanted some Klingons. Because everyone likes Klingons. And then they also wanted sort of a Data comedy runner to go through the whole thing. So with those sorts of requirements in mind, we started crafting a story. And I remember early discussions about what the film would be.

It’s quite difficult to imagine any writers making all of that work much better than Generations ultimately turned out.

A caged beast…

Although this points to what is probably one of the biggest problems with The Next Generation movies. When the original Star Trek came to the screen, there was a rather conscious shift from television to film. In particular, when the movie series started working, it was clear that the movies were the product of particular individuals and teams, distinct from those who had worked on the television show. Harve Bennett and Nicholas Meyer are the most obvious examples, imposing their own vision of what Star Trek should be that was quite distinct from that seen on television. Which is a good thing, because cinema is more than just television on a larger budget.

The first three Next Generation movies were driven by a lot of the same talent responsible for the television show, and working under the same sort of network and studio structure. However, what works for television doesn’t necessarily work on film. For example, Moore did an exemplary job on Deep Space Nine . One of the show’s strongest seasons – the fourth season – was the result of a network edict to more heavily feature antagonistic Klingons. With a team of writers thrashing out ideas and stories and arcs, it’s easier to work through notes than it is as two individual writers working on the first feature film.

Picking Data’s brain…

On the commentary, Moore and Braga make the argument – and it’s hard to disagree – that most of Generations feels like an extended episode of the show. It was famously written around the same time that Moore and Braga were working on All Good Things… , and it’s not too difficult to imagine the two scripts could have been swapped around easily enough, with Generations making a solid finalé:

I think in many ways that this was the most true to what the show was of the Next Generation films. First Contact is a big gigantic adventure, but we never really did that in an episode. We never really had an episode like that. And because you’re in a different time period, it just sort of felt… you’re right. This is sort of the show. For good and bad, this is what the show was really. And we were writing the show. It was so funny to be writing both the final two-hour and this, because they were in a sense both movies. And I remember thinking, “Oh my god, All Good Things is better!” I did too!

Being honest, as brilliant as All Good Things… was, I suspect it wouldn’t have worked as well on the big screen. Which ever idea had been chosen as the feature film would suffer, because both ideas were very solid television ideas.

Space, man…

To be fair, this television criticism is also a problem with Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection . First Contact is a brilliant sequel to The Best of Both Worlds with fantastic direction and thrilling cinematography. Insurrection feels like it could have worked as a two-parter in the show’s somewhat fatigued final season. I think First Contact works better than any of the other Next Generation movies because the concepts are a lot smarter and a lot more brilliant, but the first three Next Generation films could easily have been made for television with slightly cheaper special effects.

The films really lack a strong vision that’s willing to push the concept and cast of The Next Generation beyond the television show, in the same way that The Wrath of Khan pushed the original crew of the Enterprise out of their comfort zone. The Wrath of Khan felt almost like a bizarro reboot, where once young characters were replaced with older and wiser leads in familiar roles. Given Patrick Stewart was hardly the youngest of performers when he signed on to the show, it’s hard to imagine how the crew might have been reimagined for the big screen.

He is the monarch of the sea…

The only real shift seen in the films – and one that arguably begins here – involves the attempt to reinvent Jean-Luc Picard as an action hero. Stewart reported demanded more action sequences in the film, echoing his complaint from the show that Picard doesn’t do enough “ f$@!ing and fighting.” Turning Picard into an action hero worked for First Contact , given the personal stakes involved and the sheer desperation Stewart conveyed, but it feels like a step in the wrong direction for the other films.

While the big screen saw the original cast of Star Trek grow up, the Next Generation films seemed to see the cast of the spin-off regress, play-acting at being younger and more dynamic than they had been on television, but without scripts strong enough to support that shift in characterisation. What’s interesting is that there’s a clear reversal of the technique that made the classic Star Trek movies work so well.It’s as if the writers looked at what worked in the films starring the original crew, and decided to do the opposite.

As villains go, I’m not sure he makes the cut…

Excluding the leading trio, the ensemble in the original Star Trek show existed mainly to deliver exposition and quick gags. Scotty, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura were very hazily defined. However, the movies took the time to develop the ensemble, and to define the characters within it. While characters like Kirk and Spock got the lion’s share of the character development, Scotty and Chekov and Sulu got more to do in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home than they did for most of the television show. Chekov’s defining moment is “nuclear wessels.” Scotty will be remembered speaking into a mouse.

In contrast, the main cast of The Next Generation were reasonably well-defined in the television show. Sure, we’d dread the occasional Troi-centric episode, but the crew had a clear dynamic and the actors had a chemistry that worked. After seven years, we felt like we knew Riker and Geordi and Crusher. However, the feature films pushed those characters very clearly to the background. You’d be forgiven for assuming, based on the feature films, that Picard and Data were the only characters to appear on The Next Generation .

Chipping in…

Watching Generations divorced from the television show, we get no real sense of who the rest of the ensemble are beyond their relationships with Picard and Data. Riker is Picard’s right-hand man. Geordi is captured and tortured as a lesson to Data about the value of courage. Crusher gets angry at Data to motivate him to install his emotion chip. Troi serves as as a springboard for Picard’s exposition and then crashes the ship to remind the audience that she exists. Worf is promoted at the start of the film, but he’s also bullied by his co-workers.

Indeed, that establishing scene manages to expertly convey the “cliquishness” implied in episodes like Lower Decks . While that might be an interesting piece of self-criticism on a television show, it’s a terrible way to introduce a movie audience to your cast. “Hey, meet your heroes! They hang around all day and play naval ships! Also, they passive-aggressively bully one another! Woot!” Nobody wants to watch a movie where your heroes are a bunch of elitist jerks – certainly not where none of those jerks have any real personality.

Things are heating up…

Despite the attempt to open the film on a quite character scene, the sequence on the holodeck doesn’t define any of the individual characters within the ensemble. Well, it sort of makes Riker seem like a jock jerk, but beyond that there’s no real sense of what makes Worf a fun character or why we care about Crusher. The movie doesn’t bother to introduce us to these characters, instead assuming the audience’s interest is already invested from the television show. It’s the same problem apparent in the movie’s use of Lursa and B’Etor or Data’s emotion chip.

To be fair to Generations and First Contact , this is a problem that would become more pronounced as the Next Generation movies went on. First Contact made a half-decent effort to give the characters who aren’t Picard and Data something to do, and both Generations and First Contact play to Picard’s strengths as a character and Stewart’s skills as an actor. Barring the confrontation at the climax of Generations , Stewart spends most of the movie ruminating on mortality and time. It’s more convincing than the way that Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nem esis would ask us to accept Picard as an out-and-out action hero.

Opening up…

The movie asks us to emotionally invest in Picard as a character. Once again, the movie relies too heavily on the television show, as we’re expected to mourn the passing of two guest stars we met briefly at the start of the fourth season. Stewart does great work in giving us a tortured version of Picard. His character arc feels fairly smooth, even if it is somewhat interrupted by his return to the planet with Kirk. Stewart is a stronger actor than Shatner, and he sells the whole “it’s our mortality that defines us” better than Shatner sold “I need my pain.”

As great as Stewart is, and as hard as he sells that emotional arc, the film runs into trouble when we’re asked to join Picard inside the Nexus. Picard’s version of paradise looks like something from a particularly pretentious Christmas cards, complete with over-dressed children and a healthy dose of sap. The sequence is far too cute and saccharine for its own good, and it actually does a lot to undermine the fairly clear emotional arc that Picard has been following.

This isn’t what the studio meant when they asked the writers to blow the top off the franchise…

Given that he rejects Soran’s philosophy even before he enters the Nexus, the movie needs to convince us that he might be tempted to stay. It doesn’t work because Picard’s idealised family life seems so shallow and so generic. As much as Patrick Stewart convinces us that Picard is caught emotionally off-guard, we don’t buy any of this. As a result, there’s never any suggestion that he might choose to stay – or even that, with a little thought, he would even want to stay.

That said, the whole Nexus subplot seems ridiculously contrived. It’s obviously a way to get Kirk and Picard together so they can start kicking ass and taking names and getting bridges dropped on them, but it’s a concept that falls apart if the audience even stops to think about it for more than a second. Picard has a magical space doorway that can send him anywhere in space and time. He could travel back in time to warn his brother and nephew about their house fire . You know, that thing that is eating him up inside.

Real starship captains cry…

But he doesn’t. Why? Perhaps because that would undermine the movie’s theme about how mortality is what defines us or something, even though he uses the Nexus to save millions of lives that were killed by Soran’s missile the first time around. Saving two humans as well probably isn’t going to damage Picard’s karma or the time line or whatever justification the film could offer. It’s also worth pointing out that he could also probably do something a bit easier than taking on Soran in the middle of a desert unarmed as well. Maybe send Kirk back to the Enterprise-B and have him keep an eye on Soran after the rescue. Or even just back an hour or two earlier on the Enterprise-D.

Still, there is a lot to like here, even with the many serious problems. Director David Carson does wonderful work. Some of the sequences on the Enterprise seem designed to evoke his sterling work on Yesterday’s Enterprise . Given how so many of the commentators on the commentary track for that episode suggested it would have made a nice film, it’s a shrewd move. There’s a lovely tracking shot during Soran’s obligatory motive rant ( name-dropping the Borg! ) which makes the whole thing work much better than it should, following Soran as he wanders around his camp.

You can’t switch it off…

There has been some redesign work done on the sets for the film, and they look a lot more cinematic. Again, the bridge seems to borrow a few cues from Yesterday’s Enterprise . However, the real beauty is in the way that cinematographer John A. Alonzo shoots the sets. Unfiltered sunlight seems to pour through the window, lending the whole film a decidedly golden hue which makes the Enterprise look much more vibrant and cinematic than it did on the small screen. There’s beautiful use of shadow and space. Even if the movie isn’t written to feel cinematic, it looks cinematic.

That said, the fact that the movie’s biggest set piece is the Enterprise’s stellar cartography lab speaks volumes about the problems with the film. It’s a nice set, but it feels like the movie probably shouldn’t be spending so much money building a gigantic room where two people can deliver plot exposition. Stellar cartography is only used once. It looks great, but it doesn’t have the necessary “wow” factor to justify the production design and effort. It’s the kind of investment that would make sense in a television show, where you could use the set multiple times, but the fact the movie puts such emphasis on stellar cartography seems to hint at its misguided cinematic sensibilities.

The sky’s the limit…

There are also lots of little nice touches. I like the decision to open the film with a shot of the Enterprise-B, the missing link that had never been featured before. In particular, I actually really like the weird ensemble that populates the ship. Alan Ruck as the timid and unassertive Captain John Harriman makes a nice change from the kind of Star Trek captain we’ve come to expect. The character has enjoyed something of a rehabilitation in tie-in media, but you can see the potential apparent in Ruck’s small performance.

Harriman’s bridge crew is composed of recognisable cult actors in small roles. Jenette Goldstein from Aliens is there. So is Thomas Kopache. Look, it’s Tim Russ! And Glenn Morshower! Indeed, the only real member of Harriman’s crew who cult film lovers won’t recognise is the most important – Jacqueline Joan Kim as Demora Sulu, the daughter of Hikaru Sulu. (Indeed, many of her lines from the film were apparently written for her father.)

He’s really Ruck-ed now…

I also like Malcolm McDowell’s work here, even if Soran is very hazily defined. The character suffers from having to share story space with the Duras sisters and the Romulans and having a back story that leans rather heavily on the Borg. McDowell relishes some of the better lines that he is given ( “time is the fire in which we burn,” for example), and he gives Soran a strange gravitas that I’m not entirely sure the character deserves.

The only problem is that Soran never feels like that much of a threat. He’s just a needy and desperate individual, more pathetic than hateful. We’re told that his plan will cost millions of lives, but it’s not given any real texture. The threat he poses is never palpable. He manages to kill Kirk, but – even then – he only does so indirectly. There’s a deleted scene where he brutally tortures Geordi, but in the final cut he just says some mean words and then offers a one-liner that makes no sense.

“You’ll tell me what I want to know, or I’ll pump The Final Frontier into your ocular implants. On repeat.”

Soran feels more like the script’s means to a particular end than a credible foe in his own right, but McDowell does the best that he can. His exchanges with Stewart sizzle, demonstrating that Picard works best with a verbose and sophisticated antagonist rather than a physical foe. (There’s a weird bit in the fight at the climax, where they both climb in and out from underneath one of Soran’s platforms, like kids playing chasing.) Soran’s introduction to B’Etor on the Bird of Prey is (quite literally) striking, and it’s the one point where he seems a scary mixture of ruthless and suicidal, and I love the way he takes over the command chair.

While the horse riding sequences were clearly only included as part of a cynical ploy to get Shatner to sign on to the film, there’s something surprisingly effective about Kirk and Picard both riding horses together, harking back to the classic description of Star Trek as “Wagon Train to the Star s.” Although the sight of Kirk and Picard cooking together isn’t quite what most fans would have wanted, there’s something quite charming about the way that Kirk’s ego leads him to immediately start offering life advice to his fellow captain.

Patrick Stewart manages to do what most of the original cast had been fantasising about for decades…

There’s an incredible amount of ego required to deliver the line “I think the galaxy owes me one” , and the fact that it works at all is a testament to just how brilliantly comfortable Shatner is in the role. Shatner gets a tough time – I know because I give him one – but he also has an incredible and undeniable charm as Kirk. Despite the fact that it doesn’t seem enough to anchor a blockbuster film, it is a giddy fanboy thrill to see Stewart and Shatner playing off one another, even if the material isn’t as strong as we might like it to.

Truth be told, I’m actually quite fond of Generations . I think that – if you cut out most of the Kirk stuff – you’d end up with a fairly decent Next Generation episode. However, this draws attention to the movie’s two most severe problems: (a.) you can’t cut the Kirk stuff out; and (b.) it’s meant to be a feature film. A lot of the problems that would haunt the Next Generation films start here. Even if the movie has its strengths, these are never enough to quite surmount the fundamental flaws.

Check out our reviews of the S tar Trek movies featuring the original cast :

Supplemental: Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor by John Byrne
Supplemental: Ex Machina by Christopher L. Bennett
Supplemental: Crucible – Spock: The Fire and the Rose by David R. George III
Supplemental: Space Seed
Supplemental: Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh by Greg Cox
Supplemental: Star Trek (DC Comics, 1984) #7-8 – Saavik’s Story
Supplemental: The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes
Supplemental: Myriad Universes – Echoes and Refractions: The Chimes at Midnight by Geoff Trowbridge
Supplemental: The Klingons: Starfleet Intelligence Manual (FASA)
Supplemental: Star Trek (DC Comics, 1984) #28 – The Last Word
Supplemental: Star Trek Special #1 (DC Comics, 1994) – The Needs of the One
Supplemental: Unspoken Truth by Margaret Wander Bonanno
Supplemental: Music of the Spheres by Margaret Wander Bonanno
Supplemental: The Ashes of Eden by William Shatner et al (DC Comics)
Supplemental: Dwellers in the Crucible by Margaret Wander Bonanno
Supplemental: In the Name of Honour by Dayton Ward
Supplemental: Star Trek Special #2 (DC Comics, 1994) – A Question of Loyalty
Supplemental: Excelsior – Forged in Fire by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels
Supplemental: Shadows on the Sun by Michael Jan Friedman
Supplemental: Cast no Shadow by James Swallow
Epilogue: Star Trek: Generations

36 Responses

Another top Trek review! I’m fond of Generations also but not oblivious to it’s ‘episodic’ limitations.

It’s a shame that – beyond First Contact – the Next Gen films didn’t really excel in the way that the original cast films did and the way you address this point is totally valid – namely there was no Bennett or Meyer to mix things up creatively.

Thanks! The problems with the Next Gen films was that they generally felt like big-budget two-parters rather than “movies”, sort of “more of the same” rather than realising that what works for television doesn’t work on film. (Indeed, Generations would have made a reasonable final episode, if nowhere near as good as All Good Things…)

I believe Generations was filmed at the same time they were filming the last few episodes of TNG, and that it was even considered for the final episode while All Good Things was considered for the first film?

I’m not sure if it was filmed at the same time, but Braga and Moore were working on the scripts at the same time.

I don’t believe that they ever considered swapping them, but I’ll probably get into that when I get to the seventh season of TNG. My research tends to be quite light until I arrive at the season in question.

Just stuff I heard, have no idea if I am correct. All Good Things is far better, and for that matter far better than most of the Trek films period 😛

As Moore and Braga were writing All Good Things, they conceded it was a better script then Generations. How true.

“…In the first ten minutes, the retired captain (Kirk) manages to successfully mount a rescue in an under equipped ship and lays down his life to save it. In the hour and twenty that follow the standing captain of the flagship (Picard) had succeeded in doing one thing: Identifying the next likely target of the villain… which actually was a mistake because the star was blown up anyway along with his ship and crew…

…or else this ending goes from TWO LEGENDS TEAMING UP TO SAVE THE DAY to MASSIVE FAILURE FINALLY FINDS THE REAL HERO TO SORT THINGS OUT FOR HIM.”

-S.F. Debris

That is certainly a succinct summary of the plot. Nobody comes out of Generations looking particularly good.

S.F. Debris is usually spot on in his reviews. He’s someone to check out when you have the time!

Just looking at your comment about “All Good Things” working as a TV episode, so swapping it with “Generations” not helping all that much, I think the difference is that “All Good Things” had a stronger base that could be expanded into a movie.

You want a recurring character? Q’s one of the TNG antagonists who’d benefit most from being the on the big screen, he had the scale and had a character so he wouldn’t be another generic God level character.

You could use multiple time periods to bring in the old crew and segment the TNG crew as they did in First Contact to give more people more to do.

Fudge the plot a bit, and the Nexus is a way into the Q Continuum, Soran wants to get back for ultimate power, giving him a more defined motivation and threat.

One story had lots of narrative building blocks, the other had a checklist, I think it’s easier to add the latter as you work through it than the former.

That’s a pair point.

I’ve said before that Riker should never be put in command of the Enterprise because when Picard’s away, bad things happen. And this is undoubtedly the worst example – the Enterprise was lost on Riker’s watch, without even so much as a court martial. Maybe Captain Jellico was right about Riker.

This is the first time we’ve seen Guinan after her rather mysterious disappearance from TNG. Why did Whoopi Goldberg leave the series anyway? Is it because her film career was taking off? I could never understand why Guinan was tending bar one minute and then gone the next, and then she’s suddenly back on the Enterprise without so much as a word from anyone.

The revamped Stellar Cartography is an interesting addition, and rather different from the way it looked in Lessons. This is probably how they imagined it on TNG but never had the budget for, and it probably formed the basis for the Astrometrics Lab on Voyager.

We get another example of Brannon Braga’s fondness for the reset button with unwinding time at the climax. I’m surprised he stopped there with Veridian III; he could have prevented the destruction of the Enterprise while he was at it.

I could never understand why Generations seems to be TOS passing the baton to TNG when the series was already over. It seemed to be a sentiment that came a little late, and didn’t McCoy already do as much in Encounter at Farpoint? And both Kirk and the Enterprise D are lost on Veridian III. I’m not sure if it’s passing the torch or the closing of a chapter.

I wonder if they named Harry Kim after Jacqueline Joan Kim? Malcolm McDowell doesn’t share any screentime with a Romulan Darren. The closest is a dead one turns up on the Armagosa Observatory when Soran is recovered. McDowell was so taken with the line “they say time is the fire in which we burn” that he had it engraved into Soran’s pocket watch. Soran is probably Picard’s most “verbose and sophisticated antagonist” since Gul Madred. Did you think First Contact was more then a glorified two-parter Darren?

You’re right, I was unclear about what I meant. I changed “screen time” to “story space.” Thanks!

First Contact is very much the exception to the “two-parter” rule. And it could be argued that Nemesis feels more like a Voyager two-parter than a Next Gen two-parter.

Personally, I always assumed that Guinan was still around during the later seasons of TNG, just off-screen? (I assume Goldberg left to do movie work. She certainly had a lot of affection for the show, and understandably so. Refresh my memory, was Rascals her last appearance?)

Heh, Nemesis feeling more like a bad Voyager two parter is a pretty good point (btw, I find many of Voyagers two parters to be quite strong, Scorpion for example). I’ve seen some people try to lump FC into that quip, and claim its just Best of Both Worlds on the big screen, but I disagree, I don’t feel it’s paced like an episode at all, it feels like its own movie, and I in fact like it a lot more than Best of Both Worlds (which isnt my favorite epic Star Trek multi-parter, I actually like Scorpion a bit more, don’t kill me)

Nah, I’m a big Scorpion fan. Although, I prefer the two-parters around it to that. (Future’s End, Year of Hell, The Killing Game.)

Interesting. I actually dislike Futures End (despite it having Sarah Silverman, that’s still strange to me) and Killing Game, but I do like Year of Hell, however its reset button ending really weakens it. Would have been better as a season arc (which it was originally intended to be).

Oh, it would have. And Braga kinda eventually got to do it as a season arc during the third year of Enterprise. And I’d argue it was better than anything Voyager ever did.

I don’t dislike Futures End, I actually got confused with the season two finale for some reason, so disregard that…I only got reminded with what it is after your review. Sorry 😛

No, it was Suspicions. Like I said – one minute tending bar and giving out good advice, the next she vanishes into the ether without even a mention until back again in Generations. We even get to see Guinan’s quarters for the first time.

Thanks for the spot. I knew it was not a particularly memorable episode anyway.

Yeah Darren, you’d think Guinan’s swansong would have involved Picard, but in Suspicions they don’t share any screentime at all. I don’t think it was intended to be Whoopi Goldberg’s last episode, but perhaps a film offer came in (Sister Act maybe?) and she had to leave the show behind because of it. In Generations, there does seem a sense of unfinished business with Guinan’s character, but she would vanish again in the next two films (Guinan would have slotted in perfectly in First Contact helping to fight off the Borg invasion of the Enterprise) until she’s reduced to a cameo appearance in Star Trek: Nemesis as a guest at Riker and Troi’s wedding.

Im probably one of the few people who doesn’t totally hate this film

While it’s not a very good film, not by a long shot, esp. when compared to the film that came before it and the one after it, but I do like it. I was a little kid when it came out and I watched it on a big screen TV with my family, and it’s just a very nostalgic film. I like the soundtrack and like that we got one big budget theatrical film with the Enterprise D and its look and feel, even if they can’t seem to be consistent with what uniforms they’re wearing, a very odd Roger Cormenesque error for a major big budget Star Trek film…

Yep, the TNG cast never looked great in the DS9 uniforms. The early DS9 uniforms always reminded me of work overalls which fit well with the tone of that show. But the Enterprise crew were not doing the some sort of job as DS9, so it felt strange to see the flagship crew rotating into what looked like uniforms designed to hide dirt and grime.

I’m not even sure they give a reason, it just seems the characters randomly switch uniforms, because I guess the production crew couldn’t decide what they liked? Also, apparently the movie was supposed to feature a whole new type of uniform that would be a cross between the original movie red uniform and the TNG uniforms, which sounds awful. I like the gray ones way more…

Also I admittedly love the look of the film, despite its pacing and writing being the most like just an extended episode, it just looks really good, perhaps because I largely like the NextGen look of things, esp the Enterprise D and its in the early 90s when practical effects and CGI were merged together, making effects age much more well in general. I wish First Contact had kept the Enterprise D or at least how stuff looks like here 😛

I meant to say despite it being paced and written like an episode, it very much looks like a film (in a good way), more so than say Insurrection IMO, which looked like a (albeit bad) DS9/Voyager episode.

Yep. It’s a shame that they had to destroy the Enterprise D. I thought it would look great on film. I particularly like the lighting on Generations. It makes the sets look much more like feature film sets.

It still looks very modern. I’ll take the Enterprise D bridge over the Abrams bridge any day.

Oh, random fact, the Enterprise separating and the saucer section crashing on a planet was apparently planned for a sixth season episode (I think a two parter that never materialized, and Descent took its place), and then All Good Things before being used in Generations. Man, All Good Things had a lot of cool things cut out (Borg, stealing the Enterprise from a museum, crashing onto a planet) yet still remains far superior to this and all the films, maybe except First Contact.

Though I’m kind of glad it wasn’t in All Good Things. Not because it’s a bad scene, quite the opposite, the saucer crash is one of the few things I truly like about this film, and it benefits from the very high budget for the movie, which I don’t think a tv episode, even one like All Good Things, could have pulled off as well. Though maybe I’m wrong.

I seem to have inspired a bit of debate about Generations. I thought opinion on this film was always a bit scanty.

I feel like this is sort of a “coming out”, but I need to say it: I LOVE this film. I just rewatched it yesterday, partly becaused it seemed fitting given the chateau Picard-background of the newest series, and I more than ever felt the beauty and depth of the film. (And while I am at it: I also hold “Insurrection” quite dear, but maybe not as much.)

It has its flaws, but I would not count it being “episodic” among them. Kirk wasted? Well – why should “heroes” always die a grandiose dramatical death? It somehow seemed fitting for Kirk to die after a fistfight. And indeed, it is spectacular how well they made the sets look given therather small budget. The Enterprise never felt that lively. I even admit that I love the score which has a very uplifting and inspiring theme (although it is somewhat derivative of the DS9 theme). Soran was a pretty intriguing adversary – a very driven, dark, haunted character. His dynamic with Lursa and B’Etor is both funny and frightening. The battle between the Enterprise and the bird of prey was great (even at today’s standards which also applies to the Enterprise-B in the nexus – good old models), not to mention the crash of the saucer section. I liked the mix of old sets refreshed (like the Bridge) and old and new costumes. I don’t know, but I find this film heavily underrated – and maybe this might be part of the reason why I love it even more.

BTW: Any plans for “Picard”-reviews?

I would love to be able to review Picard . But my schedule has been chaotic lately. Two weeks ago, my family have a bereavement. Last week, I got summoned for jury duty. This week, the Dublin Film Festival is launching, so that’s me out of action for eleven days. I will be guesting on a podcast covering it, though, towards the end.

And on Generations , even if I am not overly fond of it, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that my podcast co-host Andrew ranks it among his favourite Star Trek movies.

Oh, I am sorry to hear about the bereavement. I wish you strength!

Have you had a podcast about Generations with Andrew?

Oh, we didn’t discuss it “on the record.” It has just come up a few times. I like First Contact a lot more than he does.

Recently tweeted…

"I Simply Am Not There": The Existential Horror of Eighties Excess in "American Psycho"...
Doctor Who: Space Babies (Review)
Doctor Who: The Devil's Chord (Review)
Star Trek: Enterprise (Reviews)
Adding Our RSS Feed to Your Gmail

Available at…

Blogs Well Worth Your Time

1001 Must See Films
Andrew at the Movies
Anomalous Material
Cut the Crap Movie Reviews
Encore Entertainment
Fandango Groovers
FlixChatter
Four of Them
It Rains… You get Wet…
Jameson Cult Film Blog
Jar Watches Films
Let's Go To The Movies
M. Carter at the Movies
Marshall and the Movies
Movie News First
Musings from a Man Lost in La Mancha
Never Mind Pop Film
Paragraph Film Reviews
Roger Ebert's Journal
Ross v. Ross
Scannain.com
Screenwriter (Donald Clarke, Irish Times)
Strange Culture
The Film Cynics
The Pompous Film Snob
The Projection Booth
Things That Don't Suck
Too Busy Thinking About My Comics
Undy a Hundy

Film Nerd Resources

CinemaBlend (News)
Internet Movie Database
Rope of Silicon
The Guardian Film Blog
James Berardinelli
Roger Ebert

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Email Address:

Sign me up!

Blog at WordPress.com. WP Designer.

Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Subscribe Subscribed
Copy shortlink
Report this content
View post in Reader
Manage subscriptions
Collapse this bar

May 14, 2024 | IDW Celebrating 500th Star Trek Comic With Big Era-Spanning Anthology
May 14, 2024 | Denise Crosby Returns As Captain Sela From Another Universe For ‘Star Trek Online: Unparalleled’
May 14, 2024 | See Captain Sisko Meet A Familiar Face From ‘Picard’ In Preview Of ‘Star Trek’ #20
May 13, 2024 | Preview ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Episode 508 With New Images, Trailer, And Clip From “Labyrinths”
May 11, 2024 | Interview: Elias Toufexis On Making Star Trek History Playing L’ak And Nerding Out In ‘Discovery’

Denise Crosby Returns As Captain Sela From Another Universe For ‘Star Trek Online: Unparalleled’

| May 14, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 13 comments so far

Star Trek Online is getting ready to launch a brand new season which will see the return of one of the stars of Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Unparalleled arrives in 2 weeks

Today Arc Games and Cryptic Studios announced Trek Online: Unparalleled , the 32nd season of their long-running free-to-play Star Trek MMORPG. This new adventure features Star Trek: The Next Generation star Denise Crosby, playing Captain Sela, Captain of the Enterprise from a parallel universe. This is a return to Star Trek: Online for Crosby who voiced her TNG characters Tasha Yar and Sela for the game back in 2013.

Star Trek Online: Unparalleled also includes a new event, a gender/race change feature, along with updates to the Infinity Lockbox. Unparalleled will launch on May 28, 2024 for PC and will launch on PlayStation and Xbox consoles on June 19, 2024.

Key art for Star Trek Online: Unparalled

Defend the Iconians against a new Borg threat

Season 32 continues Aetherian and Mirror Borg story content. Here is the official synopsis for the story:

In Star Trek Online: Unparalleled, the Borg threat to the multiverse continues as the player’s Captain discovers a last stand between a new, peaceful alternate universe Iconians and a new type of Borg, infused with a mysterious nanite technology. The player’s Captain must work with allies across the universe including Enterprise Captain Sela from this new parallel universe and Aetherian ally Captain Grendat-Bex to defend the Iconians against this new Borg threat and their queen.

New features

Unparalleled also includes the following new features…

New Episode – Situation Under Control The Aetherians will send you on a mission with one of their own into a new universe, and you must join forces to stem the tide of a new Borg foe!

Brand New Task Force Operation – Borg Battle Royale

A new 5 Captain Ground TFO.
After the Season event ends, an infinite round version will be available.

Season 32 Event – Delete Alt Control For this new event, players can play selected content to earn the following rewards:

Dimensional Hypermass Torpedo Launcher
Type 14 Shuttle Support Squadron
500 Lobi Crystals
1 Phoenix Epic Prize Token
30,000 Dilithium Ore

Infinity Lockbox Update T6 Aetherian Revelation will be added to the Infinity Lockbox .

Captain Alteration Token Want to change your character but keep your hard earned rewards? Now you can, with the Captain Alteration Token. This new token will allow you to change your Captain’s species and/or gender, within your chosen faction.

Star Trek Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online game available on PC, PlayStation and Xbox. To download and play Star Trek Online today for free, visit www.playstartrekonline.com .

Keep up with all the Star Trek Online news and updates here at TrekMovie.com .

Comics , Star Trek Universe TV , Trek on TV

IDW Celebrating 500th Star Trek Comic With Big Era-Spanning Anthology

Games , Kelvin Universe

Star Trek Event Coming To ‘World Of Tanks’ Online Game – Watch Mission Preview

Celebrity , Conventions/Events/Attractions

Star Trek Team Was Top Fundraiser For Pancreatic Cancer Action Network 2024 Charity Walk

Comics , DS9 , TNG , VOY

The Fight Against The Space Parasites Isn’t Going Well For B’Elanna In Preview Of ‘Star Trek: Defiant’ #14

Key art is incorrect. Phaser would not fire from the area illustrated. When the top lens is exposed the phaser is in “kill” mode and would fire from there. Only when lens in down does it fire from the area shown.

And this matters because…

but it’s a fake gun…..

I’m not sure what’s worse, that you took the time to muse about a pointless alternate universe phaser, or that I’m banging out this rather pointless reply.

Everything about this screams badly written fan fiction.

it’s an MMORPG – that’s pretty much a sub-category of badly written fan fiction

the guys on Mission Log used to say “when Star Trek is out of ideas they turn to Shakespeare” – nowadays it’s the multiverse

Everything even remotely resembling science fiction and fantasy these days is the multiverse. It’s Shatners last chance to put on the gold tunic and be an action hero one last time, so there’s that…..

I may be only one who thought Sela was a terrible character, created just to appease an actress who unwisely decided to leave the show early and decided to come back when the show became successful. There was more potential with that character but we didn’t see enough of the character to fully realize her full motives or character traits.

TNG was always successful, though. It was not like Denise Crosby left because the show had bombed. She left because she was unhappy with the fact that they did not give her character anything to do. The writers of Season 3 brought Tasha back for Yesterday’s Enterprise to give her the heroic send off she was denied in Season 1- and from there she and the producers came up with Sela.

Yes and it’s unfortunate the producers were not wise enough to see the potential in her character. She was a little over the top sometimes but that’s the writing and all the characters were still being defined in season 1. She remains one of my favourite characters in all her incarnations and would have been even more so had she stayed in the show.

In the first couple of seasons, everyone was over the top…..

Absolutely.

Star Trek: Discovery review, Episode 508, "Labyrinths"

A nother Thursday, another Star Trek: Discovery episode for us to feast our eyes and ears upon. With only two episodes left in the series, things are definitely heating up.

As the Discovery crew gets closer and closer to the Progenitor's technology, time is running out in the race against the Breen. In the last episode, "Erigah," we saw L'ak, the Breen Scion, accidentally overdose and die a tragically sad and unnecessary death. Moll has revealed that she and L'ak had gotten married at some point and made the Breen aware of the Progenitor's artifact, claiming she can not only help get it back but use it to bring L'ak back to life.

With all of that in the mix, let's talk about the episode in detail. Here's your SPOILER WARNING! Please read at your own risk .

Star Trek: Discovery review, "Labyrinths"

In my previous review , I mentioned how much the episodes "Whistlespeak" and "Erigah" channeled the original spirit of Star Trek by embodying the core elements of the series: humanity, diplomacy, and the preservation of life. "Labyrinths" is also very much honors those elements as well. The script really lets us get under Burnham's skin, giving us a peek at what goes on in that pretty head of hers at any given time.

The Discovery crew heads over to the Eternal Gallery and Archive, which conveniently changes location about every 50 years and is protected by a massive plasma storm cloud. They're met by Hy'Rell, who's sworn to tend to the archives. Fun fact: she's an Efrosian, and her kind hasn't been seen since the Star Trek movies Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. She humorously guides them through the plasma storm and allows Burnham to enter the Eternal Gallery and Archive, asking for the Kwejian on board the Discovery, who happens to be Book, to accompany her.

Book and Burnham beam down and meet with Hy'Rell, who takes them to two prepped viewing rooms, one for Michael and one for Book. Michael finds some sort of metal card in a book placed on the table. By touching the metal card, her mind becomes now stuck in a virtual liminal space. She must solve the clue before all the lights go out; otherwise, she basically becomes brain-dead. No pressure.

Michael is met by Book, who is actually not Book. He's the embodiment of an entity, there to guide her through the test without giving her any direct answers. Michael's subconscious picked Book's form for the entity as well as the location where her mind is stuck: the Archives, even though she's never been there before. Michael goes through a series of thought processes, ideas, and resolutions, only to find out she's constantly wrong as the lights start going out and her frustration becomes more and more palpable. As she notices she's running out of time, Michael comes to terms with the fact she's about to die.

Meanwhile, Lt. Gen Rhys completely kicks ass commanding the ship while Rayner and Michael are away. The Breen have arrived and start to infiltrate the Archive. There's lots of scientific babble as Adira and Stamets complete each others' sentences (or say the same thing at the same time) and figure out how to disrupt the Breen's tunnel, stopping their forces from pouring in.

The show goes quiet as Michael lets it all out. There's not a single background noise or musical cue during this incredibly touching scene. Turns out she's a lot more relatable than she lets on. Under that gorgeous smile, there's a lot of uncertainty, a lot of fake-it-till-you-make-it, a fear of failure, of not being good enough.

"The great Michael Burnham. Afraid."

Michael starts to have a heart-to-heart with the entity, expressing regrets about her life, especially her relationship with Book. She talks about living with fear, shame, and anxiety over not being a good captain. The entity allows her to just get it all out of her system, and this is where Discovery gives yet another nod to its roots: in a very The Next Generation -like sequence, it's revealed that Michael's endurance, adaptability, and patience have been getting tested this whole time. Jinaal needed to know for herself if Michael was one of the good guys, so she'd know whether Michael could be trusted to do the right thing with incredible power.

As Michael has passed the test, she returns to her body and witnesses the craziness going on. She grabs the final clue and returns to the Discovery. The Discovery wedges itself between the Archive and the Breen dreadnaught, which is getting ready to destroy the Archive. The Primarch states that unless Michael sends him all the clues, he will destroy the Archive, which grinds the gears of the other Breen in his ship. In classic Star Trek style, Michael grabs the coordinates to the Progenitor's tech before sending all the clues over and warping out. The Primarch now believes the Discovery has been destroyed when, in reality, it's much closer to the Progenitor tech.

And, because we totally saw this coming, Moll gets the Breen to side with her as she kills the Primarch. She vows to bring L'ak back, chanting "Long shall he reign" with the Breen as they start to make their way to the coordinates.

I loved this episode so much, I actually watched it more times than I care to admit (about five), and the bit at the end, with Burnham opening herself up to be judged, never fails to touch my soul. She talks about the constant pressure of having to prove she's right for the uniform, of being a good captain, friend, and partner. I understand that a lot of Trekkies aren't a big fan of Burnham as a character, and I hope this changes that a little. She's just like us: afraid, anxious, wanting to do her best and not let anyone down. She's one of the most relatable captains in the franchise and one of the reasons this show has been such a treasure.

Two more episodes to go until this groundbreaking series comes to an end. This makes me nervous, sad, and anxious. Will it end on a sour note? Will the show continue to challenge our perception of Star Trek and end in a beautiful way? We shall find out soon.

Don't forget to tune into Paramount+ next Thursday, May 23 , for the penultimate episode in this incredible series.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account , sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel .

This article was originally published on winteriscoming.com as Star Trek: Discovery review, Episode 508, "Labyrinths" .

Screen Rant

5 star trek actors with real-life children in tv & movies.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

10 Best Star Trek: TNG Episodes For Kids To Watch

Captain picard’s 10 best star trek tng episodes, ranked, data's lost chapter begins, as star trek's android quits starfleet to kill a god.

Star Trek has celebrated found families and close bonds between shipmates on long space voyages since The Original Series.
Only a handful of Star Trek actors have appeared alongside their real-life children, creating special moments on screen.
Star Trek actors like John de Lancie, Patrick Stewart, and William Shatner have had their children make cameo appearances in the franchise.

Star Trek has always been a family affair, and some Trek actors have starred alongside their real-life children. Since the camaraderie of the crew of the USS Enterprise on Star Trek: The Original Series, the franchise has always celebrated found families and the bonds formed between shipmates on long space voyages. Star Trek has largely been geared toward families, with its stories of fun space adventures and moral lessons. Several Star Trek actors also found love with others involved in the franchise, most notably Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and his wife Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.

Only a handful of Star Trek actors have appeared alongside their real-life children, but this trend began with William Shatner himself during Star Trek: The Original Series. Shatner's three daughters, Leslie, Lisabeth, and Melanie, all had small cameo appearances in Star Trek, as did James Doohan's twin sons, Christopher and Montgomery. Patrick Stewart's son, Daniel, appeared in one of the most celebrated episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and John de Lancie's son portrayed his onscreen son, as well. Most recently, LeVar Burton's daughter, Mica Burton, played Alandra La Forge in Star Trek: Picard season 3 .

Leonard Nimoy's son, Adam Nimoy, never appeared in a Star Trek film or television series, but he did direct two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as the documentary For the Love of Spock.

Star Trek: The Next Generation has plenty of episodes that could turn kids into Trekkies. Here are 10 episodes kids should check out.

5 John de Lancie & Keegan de Lancie

Star trek: voyager season 7, episode 19 - "q2", star trek voyager.

John de Lancie first appeared as the omnipotent being known as Q in the premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and he quickly became one of Trek's best recurring characters. Q checked in on Captain Picard about once every TNG season, much to Picard's continued annoyance. After the end of TNG, Q turned his affections to Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) — after a brief interaction with Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) that ended with Q getting socked in the face.

In Star Trek: Voyager 's "Q2," Q arrives on the USS Voyager with his son, Q Junior, in tow, played by de Lancie's own son, Keegan . Q hopes that Captain Janeway and Voyager's crew can help Q Junior become more disciplined. After Q Junior's powers are taken away, he shadows Voyager's crew members and eventually befriends the former Borg drone, Icheb (Manu Intiraymi). In the end, Q Junior's powers are restored as long as Q takes eternal custody of his son. "Q2" may not be the best Q episode , but it's fun seeing John de Lancie's real-life son play his character's offspring.

"Q2" was directed by LeVar Burton, who, of course, portrayed Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard.

4 LeVar Burton & Mica Burton

Star trek: picard season 3, star trek: picard.

Star Trek: Picard season 3 reunited the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew on the USS Enterprise-D, which had been painstakingly rebuilt by Commodore Geordi La Forge. Not only did Picard season 3 reveal that Admiral Jean-Luc Picard had a son with Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), but the season also introduced the two daughters of Geordi La Forge . Sidney (Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut) and Alandra (Mica Burton) La Forge both followed in their father's footsteps and joined Starfleet, although Sidney chose to become a pilot rather than an engineer.

Played by Burton's real-life daughter Mica, Alandra helped her sister ensure that Geordi would help Picard and his friends, despite his initial reluctance. When the Borg assimilated the youngest members of Starfleet, both Sidney and Alandra were affected and eventually helped seize control of the USS Titan-A. Thankfully, this assimilation was soon reversed due to the actions of Picard and his reunited Enterprise-D crew.

In addition to playing Alandra, Mica Burton is involved in the Star Trek fan community, having hosted multiple livestreams with Star Trek's stars.

3 Patrick Stewart & Daniel Stewart

Star trek: the next generation season 5, episode 25 - "the inner light", star trek: the next generation.

In the now iconic episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "The Inner Light," Captain Picard gets hit by an energy beam from an unidentified probe. He wakes up as a man named Kamin, a villager on the planet of Kataan. Picard then continues his life as Kamin, eventually having a daughter and a son with his wife Eline (Margot Rose). As an adult, Kamin's son Batai was played by Patrick Stewart's son, Daniel. After living an entire lifetime as Kamin, Picard wakes up back on the Enterprise, where only around twenty minutes have passed.

"The Inner Light" is often considered one of Star Trek's best episodes.

Picard realizes that the people of Kataan knew that their planet was dying, and they preserved Kamin's life in a probe to preserve the history of their society. Picard never forgets his experiences as Kamin, and the Ressikan flute Kamin plays remains one of Jean-Luc's most prized possessions even decades later in Star Trek: Picard. With its incredibly compelling story and phenomenal performances from Patrick Stewart and the guest stars, "The Inner Light" is often considered one of Star Trek's best episodes.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard anchored every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, but some episodes let him take more of a spotlight.

2 James Doohan & Christopher and Montgomery Doohan

Star trek: the motion picture, star trek (2009), star trek into darkness, star trek (2009).

Star Trek: The Original Series was canceled in 1969, but the show gained a large fanbase in the 1970s thanks to television syndication. Because of this renewed success, Paramount Studios began working on plans for a Star Trek feature film in 1975. At one point, these plans changed from a film to a new television series known as Star Trek: Phase II , and then back to a film again. Incorporating some of the ideas from Phase II, Star Trek: The Motion Picture follows Admiral Kirk and his crew as they work to understand a powerful probe known as V'Ger .

Two of James Doohan's sons, twins Chris and Montgomery, appeared as background extras among the Enterprise crewmembers in Star Trek: The Motion Picture . After a fan campaign requesting that Chris or Montgomery portray Scotty in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek (2009) film (a role that went to Simon Pegg), Chris portrayed an unnamed Starfleet officer in Star Trek (2009) and a transporter officer in Star Trek Into Darkness.

Chris also played Mr. Scott in the fan-made television series, Star Trek Continues, and voiced the character in the Star Trek Online video game.

1 William Shatner & Leslie, Lisabeth, and Melanie Shatner

Star trek: the original series season 1, episode 11 - "miri," star trek iv: the voyage home, star trek v: the final frontier, star trek: the original series.

William Shatner has three daughters with his first wife, Gloria Rand, and all three of them had small cameo appearances in the Star Trek franchise . Shatner's oldest daughters, Leslie and Lisabeth, both appeared in the Star Trek: The Original Series season one episode, "Miri," which featured a planet populated solely by children. Lisabeth, who was only five at the time, recalled her experience on set was "like a giant Halloween party to me," according to the book Captain's Log: William Shatner's Personal Account of the Making of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, which she co-wrote with her father.

William Shatner's daughters are some of the few Star Trek children who got the chance to step into their father's shoes.

William Shatner's youngest daughter, Melanie, appeared as a jogger in an uncredited role in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, before appearing as the Captain's yeoman in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Melanie appeared in a handful of television shows and movies before she retired from acting in 1999. Leslie and Lisabeth both pursued careers other than acting. Despite having only small roles, William Shatner's daughters are some of the few Star Trek children who got the chance to step into their father's shoes.

Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Picard, & the J.J. Abrams' Star Trek films are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home & Star Trek V: The Final Frontier are available to stream on Max.

The Original Series
The Animated Series
The Next Generation
Deep Space Nine
Strange New Worlds
Lower Decks
Star Trek Movies
TrekCore on Twitter
TrekCore on Facebook

This thread will remain open until our episode review is posted.

DSC Season 5
Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery Just Dropped a Sneaky Timeline Easter Egg

Let's talk about 2371.

Tig Notaro as Jett Reno in 'Star Trek: Discovery' Season 5.

What was the most action-packed year in Star Trek’s future history? Thanks to some deep-cut Easter eggs in the latest episode of Discovery , the answer might surprise you. As Discovery approaches the end of its fifth and final season, the show continues to expand our knowledge of the Breen, while also sending its eponymous starship on a zig-zag quest around the galaxy to solve a puzzle that explains the very nature of life itself .

Along the way, Discovery is retreading a bit of Star Trek history the crew skipped over thanks to their time-traveling shenanigans at the end of Season 2. Now, in the episode “Erigah,” Discovery has reminded us that several major Star Trek events all happened in the same year. For us, it was 1994, but in Star Trek it was 2371. Spoilers ahead.

Why the 24th century matters

The USS Voyager in the Badlands in 2371.

Although Discovery, which is now in the year 3191, exists well beyond all the other Trek shows and films, it still has several ties to the franchise’s past. From Season 3 onward, Disco’s retro-Trek connections mostly stem from the fact the majority of the regular characters are from 2258, just before The Original Series, before they jumped forward in time. But now, because the ship is on a quest to find the Progenitor tech uncovered in the 24th century by Jean-Luc Picard, many of Discovery’s Easter eggs are tied to that golden era of Trek.

The 24th century is the most robust spot on the Trek timeline, simply because three classic shows took place between 2364 and 2379: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager . When you add in four feature films, and the recent series Lower Decks and Prodigy, it’s easy to see why the 24th century is such a big part of Star Trek. But why is 2371 so pivotal? Discovery just revealed the answer through two seemingly unrelated Easter eggs.

2371, the year that everything happened

The crash-landed saucer of the USS Enterprise

23171 was a busy stretch.

In “Erigah,” the Discovery crew learns the next clue on their list is an antique Betazoid book called Labyrinths of the Mind , written in 2371. By the end of the episode, with the help of Jett Reno (Tig Notaro), they also learn this book is in a mobile library called “The Eternal Gallery and Archive,” currently situated in a part of space called the Badlands. At the same time, Dr. Culber is researching medicine during the Federation’s struggle against the Dominion. Guess what this all has in common? Events in 2371.

As revealed in the Deep Space Nine Season 3 finale, “The Adversary,” 2371 was the year the Federation learned the Changelings had come to the Alpha Quadrant and could shapeshift into anyone and anything. This was also the year when Thomas Riker, Will’s naughty transporter duplicate, stole the USS Defiant to help the Maquis fight the Cardassians. The first place Thomas took the Defiant ? Yep, the Badlands, where Discovery is now headed.

For Voyager fans, the Badlands is the rough and tumble area of space that flung Voyager halfway across the galaxy to the Delta Quadrant. Yes, Voyager also launched in 2371. And while DS9 was dealing with shapeshifters and a Riker doppelgänger, and Voyager was trying to figure out how to get home, the beloved USS Enterprise-D was forced to separate its saucer section and crashland on the planet Veridian III. While Will Riker (the good one) is crashing the Enterprise in Star Trek Generations , Picard is fighting a mad scientist named Dr. Soran and dealing with a time-traveling Captain James T. Kirk. All in the year-of-our-Q, 2371.

In our universe, all these events played out between May 1994 and January 1995. Star Trek was packing in as many events as possible, and impressively, fans were able to follow all the twists and turns in the canon. Discovery may not have meant to make a connection between a fictional book, the Badlands, and the most important year in 24th-century history, but when you look at all the stuff that happened back then, it was, as William Shatner might say , a very, very good year.

Star Trek: Discovery streams on Paramount+.

Phasers on Stun!: How the Making — and Remaking — of Star Trek Changed the World

Science Fiction

Star Trek's Walter Koenig Had A Big Idea For His Cancelled Next Generation Cameo

There were multiple crossovers between the original "Star Trek" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation." This first happened in the 1987 pilot episode of the latter, wherein DeForest Kelley appeared as a very elderly — 137! — Dr. McCoy. Then in 1991's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country," Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Dr. McCoy were put on trial in a Klingon court, and their Klingon defense lawyer was played by "Next Generation" Worf actor Michael Dorn. There is some debate as to whether or not Dorn was playing an ancestor of Worf's in that film. What's more, Sarek (Mark Lenard) appeared on "Next Generation" in an episode devoted to him.

Later still, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) appeared in a two-part episode of "Next Generation" as a rogue diplomat trying to reunify the Romulans and the Vulcans. Luckily, Vulcans are very long-lived. And finally, Scotty (James Doohan) appeared on an episode of "Next Generation," having been kept alive for 80 years inside a transporter buffer. This was all before 1994's "Star Trek: Generations" opened with a prologue involving Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov (Walter Koenig) before flashing forward 87 years to the "Next Generation" characters. Many, many torches were passed.

It turns out that Chekov might have appeared on "Next Generation" prior to "Generations," however. In a 2011 interview with StarTrek.com , Koenig talked about how he was called into Paramount during the final season of "Next Generation" (the 1993/1994 year) to discuss the possibility of him reprising Chekov in some way. the mandate was that the story couldn't involve time travel — that was seen as a little corny — so Koenig thought of a way to cleverly connect Chekov to Worf.

Sadly, the meeting was canceled.

The meeting that was canceled halfway through

Koenig recalls first talking to Brannon Braga, one of the main writers on "Next Generation," and the man who would eventually co-create and run "Star Trek: Voyager." While sitting with other writers, Koenig was shocked to see everything abruptly end. He said:

"I met with the people at ' The Next Generation.' I met first with Brannon Braga. I don't remember if they invited me or if I suggested that we get together and talk about me doing a guest role. Then he wanted me to meet with the entire writing crew. We were in discussions about what this appearance could be because there were restrictions, like no time travel. Then the meeting was canceled, right in the middle of the meeting itself. They were getting to the end of their last season and they were also preparing for the finale."

It's worth noting that the two-hour "Next Generation" finale dovetailed directly into production on "Generations," which was released in theaters only four months after the series ended. It was indeed a busy time, and Koenig was already in talks to be in the movie. One can see why executive producer Rick Berman felt he could simply end a meeting with Walter Koenig. Sadly, it seems like the meeting was never picked up again, and Koenig had to just go home.

Wait, Worf is Russian, right?

Koenig then presented his outline for a potential Chekov cameo that wouldn't involve time travel, and that tapped into an established element of "Next Generation" lore. Trekkies will be able to tell you that Worf's Klingon parents died when he was very small and that he was raised on Earth — specifically in Russian — by human parents named Helena and Sergey Rozhenko (Georgia Brown and Theodore Bikel). Because Chekov was also Russian, Koenig felt that his character could possibly have contacted Worf's Russian grandparents and been friends with them. The face-to-face meeting between Worf and Chekov would have been realized via a disease-induced flashback.

Koenig said:

"[T]he meeting was abruptly postponed and actually canceled because Rick Berman said he needed the entire writing staff together right then. I'd had an idea for a story. When I learned that Worf in fact had Russian grandparents, I constructed a back story that would have involved Worf and Chekov meeting. I'm a little hazy now, but it was Worf on the ship, he becomes infected with something, and he begins having visions, hallucinatory episodes, and that's how I was able to introduce Chekov into the story."

The story never went through, and Keonig had to wait until "Generations" to brush up with the "Next Generation" crew.

More recently, Koenig got a second chance, however. In the final episode of "Star Trek: Picard" (April 20, 2023), which featured older versions of the "Next Generation" characters, Keonig provided a voice cameo for a character named President Anton Chekov, a descendent of his original "Star Trek" character, now a President of the Federation. It took decades, but it happened.

an image, when javascript is unavailable

93-Year-Old William Shatner ‘Might Consider’ Returning as Captain Kirk in New ‘Star Trek’ Project Through De-Aging: ‘It Takes Years Off of Your Face’

By Zack Sharf

Digital News Director

Nicola Coughlan Asked to Be ‘Very Naked’ in a ‘Bridgerton’ Season 3 Scene as a ‘F— You’ to Body Shamers: I Want to ‘Remember How Hot I F—ing Looked’ 17 hours ago
Nickelodeon Star Victoria Justice Says Dan Schneider Owes Her an Apology Because ‘I Was Being Treated Unfairly’ at Times: ‘Dan Had a Very Large Ego’ 18 hours ago
‘The Simpsons’ Star Harry Shearer Stopped Voicing a Black Character and Then Started Hearing ‘Folk Say the Show Has Become Woke in Recent Years’ 2 days ago

William Shatner recently told Canadian Press that he wouldn’t rule out returning as Captain Kirk in a new “ Star Trek ” project if the script impressed him. While the actor’s age might pose an issue as Shatner turned 93 years old in March, that’s nothing a bit of de-aging technology couldn’t fix.

“It’s an intriguing idea,” Shatner said about returning as Kirk. “It’s almost impossible. But if was a great role and so well-written and if there were a reason to be there not just to make a cameo appearance, but if there were a genuine reason for the character appearing, I might consider it.”

Popular on Variety

“[It] takes years off of your face, so that in a film you can look 10, 20, 30, 50 years younger than you are,” Shatner said.

Another issue around Shatner’s “Star Trek” return is Kirk’s death in the 1994 film “Star Trek Generations,” which is the last time Shatner appeared in the iconic franchise. He’s already brainstormed a plot device that could serve as a workaround and have his version of Kirk come back to life.

“A company that wants to freeze my body and my brain for the future might be a way of going about it,” Shatner said. “‘We’ve got Captain Kirk’s brain frozen here.’ There’s a scenario. ‘Let’s see if we can bring back a little bit of this, a little salt, a little pepper. Oh, look at that. Here comes Captain Kirk!’”

Variety exclusively reported in March that Steve Yockey, creator of the Max series “The Flight Attendant,” had signed on to write the script for “Star Trek 4.” The movie is being designed as the final installment for Pine and the cast. Several attempts to get a fourth “Star Trek” movie off the ground with this cast have failed over the years. One version of the project was to be directed by Matt Shakman (“WandaVision”) and written by Lindsey Beer (“Sierra Burgess Is a Loser”) and Geneva Robertson-Dworet (“Captain Marvel”). Shakman left the project to direct Marvel’s “The Fantastic Four” instead.

Other “Star Trek” projects remain in development at Paramount as well. The studio is working with screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter”) and director by Toby Haynes (“Black Mirror: USS Callister”) on an origin story movie, while a project with screenwriter Kalinda Vazquez (“Fear the Walking Dead”) that was first announced in 2021 also remains in development.

More From Our Brands

‘resident evil 4’ is a bombastic resurrection of a horror camp classic, this bonkers half-helicopter, half-airplane just completed its first flight, former nfl star drew brees invests in sports illustrated tickets, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, will young sheldon and missy appear in georgie & mandy’s first marriage iain armitage and raegan revord weigh in on spinoff buzz, verify it's you, please log in.

IMAGES

Star Trek: Generations Movie Review
Star Trek: Generations movie review (1994)
Star Trek Generations Movie Review
Movie Review
Star Trek Generations review
Movie Review: Star Trek: Generations

VIDEO

Star Trek Generations Official Pre-Production Teaser [HD Remaster]
Star Trek Generations PC
003 Let's Try Star Trek: Generations (Shoot to kill, Mr. Worf)
STAR TREK: GENERATIONS
Star Trek "Generations" Movie Tribute Video
Bring Back Kirk

COMMENTS

Star Trek: Generations movie review (1994)
The "Star Trek" saga has always had a weakness for getting distracted by itself, and "Star Trek: Generations," the seventh film installment, is undone by its narcissism. Here is a movie so concerned with in-jokes and updates for Trekkers that it can barely tear itself away long enough to tell a story. From the weight and attention given to the transfer of command on the Starship Enterprise ...
Star Trek Generations
Kirk (William Shatner) averts calamity, but is exposed to the field and presumed dead. Years later, the Enterprise's new commander, Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart), learns that one of the disaster ...
All Star Trek Movies Ranked by Tomatometer
(Photo by Paramount) All Star Trek Movies Ranked by Tomatometer. Star Trek (2009) celebrates its 15th anniversary!. We're boldly ranking the Star Trek movies by Tomatometer, from the original film series (1979's The Motion Picture to The Undiscovered Country), into the handoff to films featuring the Next Generation cast (Generations to Nemesis), and through to the reboot series (2009's ...
Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Star Trek: Generations: Directed by David Carson. With Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton. With the help of long presumed dead Captain Kirk, Captain Picard must stop a deranged scientist willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to enter a space matrix.
Star Trek Generations
Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 25, 2020. Stephen Hunter Baltimore Sun. The best thing about "Star Trek Generations" is [Patrick] Stewart, as Captain Picard, and the way the movie allows ...
Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek: Generations. Metascore Mixed or Average Based on 22 Critic Reviews. 55. User Score Generally Favorable Based on 98 User Ratings. 6.3. My Score. Hover and click to give a rating. Add My Review.
Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Malcolm Macdowell also is a terrific villain, with a real, simple aim which thankfully makes the plot a lot clearer as science, admittedly complicates matters a bit too much in several sequences. All in all this is a terrific, traditional Trek adventure. Well worth a watch. 9/10.
Star Trek Generations
It may not "boldly go where no man has gone before," but "Star Trek Generations" has enough verve, imagination and familiarity to satisfy three decades' worth of Trekkers raised on several ...
Star Trek: Generations Movie Review: Patrick Stewart and William
Review: Star Trek: Generations is an occasionally interesting and slightly uneven cinematic voyage. The movie introduces us to a promising new crew while offering a brief farewell to an old legend. William Shatner and Patrick Stewart star in this transition film.
Star Trek: Generations [Reviews]
Star Trek: The Next Generation Motion Picture Collection DVD Review Oct 2, 2009 - Captain Picard and his crew are back on DVD, but is it worth the triple dip? Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek: Generations (1994)
Star Trek: Generations serves as another bridge between the established original crew and the innovative, much-loved chemistry of The Next Generation cast. Although thematically speaking, the torch had already been passed to future generations of the Federation's Starfleet in 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the notion of a crossover film containing both Captain Kirk and ...
Star Trek: Generations Movie Review
STAR TREK: GENERATIONS came to theaters as a bridge between the Star Trek movies starring the classic TV cast and a set of new movie blockbusters continuing with the (younger) Next Generation cast. In the 23rd century, the retired Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is a guest at the ceremonial first voyage of a new starship Enterprise when a dangerous deep-space energy field shears off part ...
Star Trek Generations
Star Trek Generations is a 1994 American science fiction film and the seventh film in the Star Trek film series. Malcolm McDowell joins cast members from the 1960s television show Star Trek and the 1987 sequel series The Next Generation, including William Shatner and Patrick Stewart.In the film, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D joins forces with Captain James T. Kirk to stop the ...
Star Trek: Generations
One of Generations ' strengths is its willingness to take chances with the familiar Star Trek mythos. This movie spends as much time tearing down old bridges as building new ones. There are problems, however, several of which are too obvious to ignore. First time feature director David Carson's inexperience is at times evident.
"Star Trek: Generations"
Review Text. When Star Trek: Generations was released in late 1994, Star Trek was at the height of its popularity.The Next Generation had wrapped its television run the previous May, still very highly rated.Deep Space Nine was on the air.Voyager was in production, less than two months from premiering. Sci-fi magazines were devoting half their issues to do season retrospectives of TNG and DS9.
Star Trek Generations 4K Blu-ray Review
Paramount has restored the four Star Trek 'Next Generation' movies in 4K for release on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and Digital 4K. The films arrive in a 4-Movie Collection as well as single ...
STAR TREK: GENERATIONS
More Detail: STAR TREK: GENERATIONS, a worthy addition to the STAR TREK tradition, bridges the generation gap between the original and new casts as Captains James Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard team up to save the solar system. The year is 2265 as the new Enterprise is christened and takes its first "cruise around the block" to Pluto.
Kid reviews for Star Trek: Generations
flawlessly blends two generations. Star trek Generations is my favorite Star trek film. It has excellent special effects, solid acting and plenty of humor. A touch of language and some sci-fi violence is the only thing objectionable in this film. If you are a star trek fan like me be sure to see this film. Show more.
Star Trek: Generations 4K Blu-ray Review
Dress to impress. Star Trek: Generations was shot on 35mm film using Panavision cameras and for this release Paramount has completed a new 4K scan of the original camera negative and master interpositive elements producing a new 4K DI from which this UHD is sourced.. The disc presents a native 3840 x 2160p resolution image, in the widescreen 2.39:1 aspect ratio, uses 10-bit video depth, High ...
Star Trek: Generations movie review
About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright ...
Star Trek: Generations Movie Review for Parents
Star Trek: Generations Rating & Content Info . Why is Star Trek: Generations rated PG? Star Trek: Generations is rated PG by the MPAA for sci-fi action and some mild language . Violence: Several fistfights occur, in which individuals are punched, kicked, shoved, and occasionally headbutted. Explosions destroy three ships, killing all aboard. Several corpses are shown briefly, some with a small ...
Mr. Plinkett's Star Trek: Generations Review
Chapters:00:00 - Introduction00:26 - 1. The Transition02:54 - 2. Things don't make sense!04:52 - 3. Not everyone got the memo about the uniforms05:34 - 4. Di...
Non-Review Review: Star Trek
Movie reviews are every Tuesday and Thursday. There are lots of problems with Star Trek: Generations. It feels too much like a two-parter from the television show. It tries to fit in a laundry list of demands from the studio. It wastes Malcolm McDowell. It decides that the only part of the original series deserving a send-off is James T. Kirk ...
Denise Crosby Returns As Captain Sela From Another Universe For 'Star
Star Trek Online is getting ready to launch a brand new season which will see the return of one of the stars of Star Trek: The Next Generation.. Unparalleled arrives in 2 weeks. Today Arc Games ...
Star Trek: Discovery review, Episode 508, "Labyrinths"
With only two episodes left in the series, things are definitely heating up. As the Discovery crew gets closer and closer to the Progenitor's technology, time is running out in the race against ...
5 Star Trek Actors With Real-Life Children In TV & Movies
Star Trek: Picard season 3 reunited the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew on the USS Enterprise-D, which had been painstakingly rebuilt by Commodore Geordi La Forge. Not only did Picard season 3 reveal that Admiral Jean-Luc Picard had a son with Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), but the season also introduced the two daughters of Geordi La Forge.
STAR TREK: DISCOVERY Spoiler Discussion
The newest episode of Star Trek: Discovery — "Labyrinths" — has just debuted, and we're sure you're ready to dive into a discussion about the story! Here's your place to take on all the new Trek lore this episode brought us, with no restrictions on spoilers.If you haven't yet watched the new episode yet, here's your last warning!
30 Years Later, Star Trek Dropped a Sneaky but Massive Easter Egg
But now, because the ship is on a quest to find the Progenitor tech uncovered in the 24th century by Jean-Luc Picard, many of Discovery's Easter eggs are tied to that golden era of Trek. The ...
Star Trek's Walter Koenig Knew How To Bring Chekov to The Next Generation
In a 2011 interview with StarTrek.com, Koenig talked about how he was called into Paramount during the final season of "Next Generation" (the 1993/1994 year) to discuss the possibility of him ...
William Shatner Open to 'Star Trek' Return as Captain Kirk ...
William Shatner recently told Canadian Press that he wouldn't rule out returning as Captain Kirk in a new "Star Trek" project if the script impressed him. While the actor's age might pose ...

Movie Reviews

Roger Ebert

Now playing

Chicken for Linda!

It's Only Life After All

Turtles All the Way Down

The Last Stop in Yuma County

Simon Abrams

Force of Nature: The Dry 2

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

Directed by

Latest blog posts

Cannes 2024: Table of Contents

Netflix’s Bridgerton Makes Some Improvements to its Popular Formula

Cannes 2024: The Girl with the Needle, Wild Diamond

Roger Corman's Greatest Legacy Was Giving So Many People Their Big Break

All Star Trek Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

Star Trek (2009) 94%

Star Trek: First Contact (1996) 93%

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) 87%

Star Trek Beyond (2016) 86%

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) 84%

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) 83%

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) 82%

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984) 78%

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) 55%

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) 53%

Star Trek Generations (1994) 48%

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) 38%

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) 21%

More Countdown

Movie & TV News

Top Headlines

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Email not verified

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

Movies / TV

Star Trek Generations Reviews

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

Did You Know?

Photo & Video

Related Items

Recently Viewed

Cinephile Corner

Star Trek: Generations Movie Review: Patrick Stewart and William Shatner Bridge the Gap Between Two Eras

Star Trek: Generations Cast and Credits

More Reviews for Star Trek Films

Movie Reviews

Lists and Rankings

Movie Genres

Genres (cont.)

Star Trek: Generations

Related Titles

The Definitives

Recent Reviews

Recent Articles

Star Trek: Generations (United States, 1994)

Comments Add Comment

Search this site

Review Text

Comment Section

Michael Lee

Matthew Weflen

Daniel Lebovic

grumpy_otter

Latex Zebra

ScooterGirl

John the younger

David E. Miller

Captain Jon

GharisonFord

Jean-Luc Picard

Carbetarian

Ripley Clarke

Hotel bastardos

Bob (a different one)

Jeffrey Jakucyk

Jeffrey's Tube

Gorn with the Wind

Willy Lovington