Star Trek: Generations
by David Carson
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DVD details
Actor: Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Stewart, William ShatnerDirector: David Carson
Producer: Bernard Williams
Producer: Peter Lauritson
Producer: Rick Berman
Writer: Rick Berman
Writer: Brannon Braga
Writer: Gene Roddenberry
Writer: Ronald D. Moore
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround; Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 2.35:1
Running Time: 118 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-11-17
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Paramount
DVD Reviews of Star Trek: Generations
DVD Review: A bit clumsy
Summary: 2 Stars
So one of my main issues with this film is how the story is handled. As much as I love Malcolm McDowell as an actor, his character here seems horribly out of place and curiously convenient.
By that, I mean he seems to be more of a villain than the "innocent doctor family man guy" he claims to be, until the Borg killed his whole family. He seems too prepared for evil actions, and all just to get himself into the Nexus, where he can live forever in perfection and joy.
The entire plot of the film solely involves this, and the Enterprise crew trying to stop him because of something. I forgot why. I think it has to do with him re-directing the Nexus in a way that it could destroy a bunch of inhabited planets.
That sort of shows you how the plot was thought out and directed. The only real focus is on the way people remember the film: "The one where Kirk and Picard meet"
I loved the first few minutes of the film, which show the launch of the Enterprise-B with Kirk, Chekov, and Scott aboard, and a bunch of news reporters covering its launch. Problems abound, they take in refugees from a pack of ships destroyed by the Nexus, one of which is Guinan(!) who is a "The Next Generation" mainstay, and the other is Dr. Somebody whose name I don't know but is Malcolm McDowell.
In order to save the ship, Kirk sacrifices himself in some way, then gets sucked out of the airlock and into the Nexus.
Almost 80 years later, the rest of the story begins with the TNG crew and such. Their story is mostly boring and pointless. Data gets an "emotion chip" which makes him an annoying douche. Sometimes he's funny or cute, but it's mostly annoying. Geordi has to put up with Data's stupid, and that's kind of it.
Out of nowhere, Picard receives news that his brother or cousin or someone has died, and thus the Picard line has no heirs, because Jean-Luc is the last one left, or something, and he has no children. So he has a breakdown, causing some minor tensions and odd command decisions.
Notice how I say things like "or something" or "or someone" or "kind of". This is in no way an implication that I'm an idiot who doesn't pay attention unless there's explosions; it's an implication that the movie either doesn't really care, doesn't really show or explain it much, or that it's so poorly shown or told that I just can't honestly remember any part of a certain point.
The core of the movie was really something that should have occurred in the pilot episode, as it involved a symbolic "passing of the torch" to the TNG crew... the year their 7 year show ends.
So Picard ends up in the Nexus as Doctor Strangelove's plan succeeds, and he finds himself in a scene of idyllic perfection, at an olde style house during Christmas, with a wife and family and children like he always wanted. But he's smart enough to realize it's the Nexus's bullpies, and Guinan appears to be MISS EXPOSITION! and explain how the Nexus works, and how there is no concept of straight chronology in the Nexus. So Picard realizes James T. Kirk is alive in the Nexus, and is warped to Kirk's own "heaven".
And Kirk is chopping wood.
I find that important to note because it would make sense if Kirk had been living there for the past 78 years and was just doing a daily chore, but he's not. He says he had only just arrived a few hours ago, and found his way there. And he's chopping wood.
From there, Kirk is treated as a befuddled old man, as he notices Picard wearing a STARFLEET EMBLEM on his odd uniform, looking strikingly different from the uniform Kirk is still wearing, and he makes no mention of this. He doesn't seem to care, and he instantly believes Picard is part of Starfleet.
Now at this point, I was still having my mind blown by the Nexus's concept of keeping people basically trapped in a time vacuum where nearly a century passes like an hour, and Kirk is sitting on the bridge of the Enterprise-B by noon, then is greeted by a man commanding the Enterprise-D at sundown, and told 78 years had passed since noon.
Instead, Kirk ignores most of what Picard is saying, and keeps talking about the cabin he's in and how it's exactly how he remembers it, and how his girlfriend is inside a room expecting breakfast, and then goes out horseback riding.
ONLY THEN does Kirk seem to finally accept the truth, and start talking to Picard instead of talking AT him, and learn about how it is now 78 years in the future in the "real world". So Picard magically has Guinan warp the laws of everything, and they SOMEHOW escape the Nexus just at the moment when Picard confronts Doctor Jeckyll on the planet where he brings down the Nexus to him, and this time he and Kirk fight with the Doctor and disable his magic magnetic laser.
And then, as they call it, they dropped a bridge on Kirk.
It's not too accurate, and I imagined it as them dropping like a SUSPENSION BRIDGE on Kirk or something. But no---Kirk is clinging to a metal bridge when it comes off, and he stays clinging to a man-sized piece like a starfish in a cage falling downhill.
THE ONLY benefit to this movie beyond eye candy or petty plot devices that would be of more benefit for the TV show is Kirk FINALLY accepting someone else in command of the Enterprise. From The Motion Picture, Kirk nastily stole command from Decker, then smuggly kept it on as Decker conveniently disappeared. Kirk politely took command from Spock in Wrath of Khan. Captain Alan Ruck guy even BEGS Kirk to take command of the Enterprise-B when they run into the dangerous Nexus.
But finally at the end, Kirk "passes the torch" to Picard, with the line "Who am I to argue with the captain of the Enterprise?"
What else did the film offer? A fun prologue, some pointless and stuffy TNG character interactions, meaningless Klingon intervention that made almost no sense from the context of the Klingons supposed to be at peace with the Federation, then having a hasty, incomplete explanation that the Klingon sisters are 'renegades' of some sort flying a Warbird that is 20 years outdated. If anything else of some importance happened, I completely forgot it, because it was just that unimportant.
DVD Review: A great DVD for an excellent movie.
Summary: 5 Stars
I agree with many reviewers and will say that this film doesn't have the big screen film feel like others in the series, but is that a bad thing? I always liked the movies but they felt detached from the series. This does it's best to hold the feel of the The Next Generation. It has some plot holes that could easily be remedied without all the action, but what fun would that be? The villain is sufficient even if he is a little soft. I think Kirk alone could take him but let's not dwell on that. There is a lot of action in the film and some excellent CGI for it's time. The ending is what makes this film as iconic as it is. With Spoiler alert the death of Captain Kirk. Yeah he died in the beginning but that doesn't really count does it. I would have liked to see more of Kirk in the film, but it is a TNG film not a TOS one. I didn't like at first how Kirk sort of wanted to stay in the Nexus and turn his back on people in need. This is not the James Kirk I know, but he eventually takes on the challenge. Picard is also guilty of wanting to stay in the Nexus at first which is very out of character for him as well. Let me get back to Kirk's death. His death is heroic and meaningful, yet he did not die alone like predicted in ST: V. Picard was there but in fact none of his crew was so he was alone in that sense. The scene at the end really sums up the movie well and I am overall happy with the film. Great action sequences, good music, and the return of an iconic captain make this film a must watch for original trekkies and next generation trekkies.
The DVD itself is well put together with the two disc set. The alternate ending is worth buying the special edition along with the other excellent special features. The quality of the film itself could be better now under the scrutiny of high definition. If you have a Blu Ray player upgrade to the new set it has the same special features, but with a better video transfer.
DVD Review: Good Effects, Good Quality image--bad way for JTK to die
Summary: 3 Stars
I am really surprised about why more folks are not upset with the cheesy end to the true legend of ST...James T. Kirk.
Like him or not, he was the one that galvanized TOS and in effect gave birth to the rest of the ST lore--to have him die under the weight of a poorly constructed metal bridge is really a poor ending considering that we have seen through ST--you can do just about anyting that you want with a character--including bringing them back to life!
Shatner had written a book called "The Return"--and despite how badly his baby ST 5 was and it was AWFUL..."The Return" is a great story about how the Borg steal Kirks' body and reanimate him to get control of Star Fleet--it would have made a great film and a much more fitting end to Kirk/Shatner;
DVD Review: A hard movie to follow
Summary: 2 Stars
This should've been the dream movie to have the captains from both the original "Star Trek", and "The Next Generation" in on the same movie. However, this wasn't to be as it starts out with Captain Kirk being a guest captain on the new Enterprise which is commanded by Mr. Sulu's daughter. Then through some glitch it travels through time to where the "Next Generation" where they take over the rest of the movie, but the tie is the character played very well by Malcolm McDowell. Who was on the Enterprise when Sulu's daughter was in charge, and somehow he ends up on it when Picard's in charge. Anyway this character is looking for heavenly peace through a device known as The NEXUS, and hijacks the Enterprise in order to get to the NEXUS. For starters I feel that this was too long, and too elaborated as it fixated on Data's prank he pulls on Beverly, and the fear she will get even with him. It's pretty good, but it's also too long, and too boring. I found this to be on the same calibar as "The Wrath Of Kahn". I'm not sure what could've been done to ressurect this movie, but something should've been done. DVD Review: Generations DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
I am really pleased with my purchase of the dvd Star Trek Generations. It is a wonderful transition from the old Star Trek to the Next Generation Star Trek. Having Captain Kirk and Captain Picard in the same movie was exciting. My set of all the released Star Trek movies is now complete!
Description of Star Trek: Generations
There were only two ways for "classic Trek" cast members to appear in a movie with the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation: either Capt. Kirk and his contemporaries would have to be very, very old, or there would be some time travel involved in the plot. Since geriatric heroes aren't very exciting (despite a welcomed cameo appearance by the aged Dr. McCoy), Star Trek: Generations unites Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) and Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in a time-jumping race to stop a madman's quest for heavenly contentment. When a mysterious energy coil called the Nexus nearly destroys the newly christened U.S.S. Enterprise-B, the just-retired Capt. Kirk is lost and presumed dead. But he's actually been happily trapped in the timeless purgatory of the Nexus--an idyllic state of being described by the mystical Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) as "pure joy." Picard must convince Kirk to leave this artificial comfort zone and confront Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell), the madman who will threaten billions of lives to be reunited with the addictive pleasure of the Nexus. With subplots involving the android Data's unpredictable "emotion chip" and the spectacular crash-landing of the starship Enterprise, this crossover movie not only satisfied Trek fans, but it also gave them something they'd never had to confront before: the heroic and truly final death of a beloved Star Trek character. Passing the torch to the Next Generation with dignity and entertaining adventure, the movie isn't going to please everyone with its somewhat hokey plot, but it still ranks as a worthy big-screen launch for Picard and his stalwart crew. --Jeff ShannonGeneral DVDs
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