Star Trek: Generations

“Star Trek Generations,” released in 1994, was supposed to be the movie that bridged the original “Star Trek” cast and the cast from “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Captain Kirk would pass the torch to Captain Picard and then the crew of the Enterprise-D would continue in a new series of movies. Even though this sounds like a good idea when written, in reality the results don’t do justice to either Kirk or “The Next Generation” crew.

The movie starts with the maiden flight of the Enterprise-B. Kirk, Scotty and Chekov are onboard as part of the ceremonial launch. During the launch the ship gets a distress call from two ships caught in some kind of energy ribbon called the Nexus, they respond with a rescue attempt where Kirk is “killed.”

This opening segment was to have Kirk, Spock and McCoy, but the late Leonard Nimoy turned it down because the script was really weak and the late DeForest Kelley’s deteriorating health prevented him from showing up. With very little change of the script, the late James Doohan and Walter Koenig came in to replace them as Scotty and Chekov. Scott Nash stated in his review, “Out of sheer laziness their lines remain the same despite the character change.” You can obviously see that when Chekov tells two crewmen that they’re now nurses as he goes to prepare a sick bay.

The film then fast forwards 78 years later on the holodeck of the Enterprise-D for a really embarrassingly unfunny segment of the crew on a ship for Lieutenant Worf’s, played by Michael Dorn, promotion ceremony. Data’s, played by Brent Spiner who voiced Pock in "Gargoyles," “I want to be more human” bit, which had gotten old during the series, is brought up one more time here and he is given the emotion chip.

When the story does eventually move forward, it is revealed that a Dr. Soran, played by Malcolm McDowell, who was one of the men rescued by Enterprise-B at the beginning of the movie, is trying to find a way back into the Nexus, because apparently once you are in the Nexus, anything you really want is there. Nash made a good comparison when he said, “It's like living in a Matrix of your own design.” His plan wouldn’t be such a problem except that to get back in the Nexus, he’s destroying stars to change the course of the Nexus so that it will pass through a planet that he wants to be standing on.

Nash is right when he said, “Although there are moments of excitement and action, this plot ends up feeling like a souped-up two part episode of the television series with some higher quality special effects. It's definitely not a movie for anyone who is unfamiliar with the characters. No introductions are provided and no background given.”

Picard does find out about the Nexus through his ship’s bartender named Guinan, played by Whoopi Goldberg, and ends up in the Nexus along with Soran. He finds out that instead of dying, Captain Kirk was actually inside the Nexus this whole time. Picard convinces Kirk to leave the Nexus with him and help him defeat Soran. Kirk does and he (spoilers) dies for real this time in a very unsatisfying way.

Kirk’s death should have been emotional. He should have been saving the galaxy one more time and he absolutely should have died while onboard the Enterprise. Nash mentioned, “Reportedly an early version of the script had Kirk commanding the battle bridge onboard the Enterprise-D and dying in combat against the Klingons, but the plot was scrapped. So instead he dies trying to stop a madman from destroying a star, which is noble enough, but not nearly legendary enough.”

What’s really annoying about his death is that he dies because of a ridiculous plan that is because of a poorly written script. When Kirk and Picard leave the Nexus, they are told they can leave it and go into any time or place that they want. Picard chooses five minutes before Soran’s plan is successful. This means that the finale is a race against time. Why doesn’t he leave with some more time before Soran’s plan was completed? It could have been anywhere from hours to a day or when Soran was on the Enterprise and make him a prisoner there?

Not only is Kirk’s death ruined, it also takes time away from “The Next Generation” cast, which this movie was supposed to be about. Dr. Beverly Crusher, played by Gates McFadden, and Worf are shrunken to extras in their first film. Commander Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes (who also did the voice of David Xanatos in “Gargoyles” and hosted “Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction”), gets a few lines, but only Picard and Data get their own plotlines. Commander Troi, played by Marina Sirtis who also did the voice of Demona in “Gargoyles,” has a scene with Picard early in the movie that you don’t really feel emotion for, but at the end is given the task to pilot the ship to give her something to do (something she was never shown to have before).

Nash is right when he says, “Being that this is Star Trek 7, an odd-numbered Trek film, I suppose it's no surprise that it's such a bad one.” This is evident that they shouldn’t have combined casts from two shows, at least not in this incompetent way. Kirk’s dead should have had a movie of its own and definitely “The Next Generation” deserved a better introduction than this one.

Like I already stated, this movie doesn’t make any sense because it’s all over the place. Some parts are good, some parts are bad, there some powerhouse scenes later and some nice effects, but it falls in the same trap that “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” did where it wasn’t a good first film of “The Next Generation” cast. If you were entertained by this, great, but I really thought it was insulting to make Data into Bozo the Android.

Also, I vaguely remember seeing this movie in the theaters years ago. I only remember two scenes of Data: one is where the Klingon ship was blown up, the camera pans around the bridge, then Data breaks the silence by going, "YES!" Another is when the ship is crashing and Data mutters the S word. My brother claims I sang Data's "Life Forms" song for an entire year, which I don't remember at all since I was only a kid. Plus, that song was really random and annoying.

After getting that movie out of the way, check in next Monday where we talk about a much better film in the series, which is also my personal favorite, for “Star Trek Month.”