Star Trek Generations (Widescreen)

 

 

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Picard and Kirk together again for the first time? Malcolm McDowell as the villain? It sounds like a dream come true for Star Trek fans. Sadly, Star Trek Generations fails to live up to expectations and - as far as I'm concerned - should never have been made. That's not to say that it isn't a decent movie because it is (barely). What I object to is the somewhat desperate rewrite of Star Trek history and the cinematic death of Captain James T. Kirk. Kirk - and William Shatner - deserved much better than this. I think even Spock would have to shake his head and say what a ridiculous way to bid a final goodbye to the original and eternal Star Trek icon. The film has a number of other problems, as well, the sum of which adds up to this being the silliest film in franchise history.

We start out with Kirk, Scotty, and Chekhov joining the ceremonial voyage of a new U.S.S. Enterprise in 2293. Before the ship can return to dock, it receives a distress signal and, albeit reluctantly, rushes to the scene. The ship is ill-equipped to deal with any problem - many of its men and materiel have yet to arrive and it has the great misfortune of being commanded by some namby-pamby no-name who shouldn't have lasted a week at Starfleet Academy. This joker probably needs ten minutes to decide which shoe to tie first in the morning. It's up to Kirk to save the day, as always - but at great personal cost. Now we jump ahead seventy-eight years, where Picard and his Enterprise arrive at a solar observatory that has been attacked by Romulans. Among the survivors is Dr. Tolian Soren (Malcolm McDowell), a man with a dangerous agenda all his own - to return to the Neverland reality of the Nexus. Surprisingly enough, McDowell generates no sense of menace or even great importance, even when he's in the process of decimating entire worlds. Deanna Troi should have been able to take this guy out, but it turns out that only the dream team of Picard and Kirk has any chance of stopping him.

This story's subplots don't do the film any great favors, either - especially the one involving Data and his emotion chip. Remember how Spock kept cursing during Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home? Now that was funny. In Star Trek Generations, we get Data with his emotion chip installed, which turns him in to an incredibly annoying character who behaves like an immature teenager, cowers in fear like a little girl, and pretty much destroys any attempt for the viewer to take this film seriously. If you want character development - not that it's all that important in a movie based on a series that ran for seven years - you have to look solely to Picard, who must deal with tragedy and personal regret in the performance of his duties here. And what's up with the Enterprise? All I'm saying is that I would certainly like to run the company in charge of making new starships. I liked the hot Klingon chicks, and there's a nice moment involving Data at the end, but on the whole I find this to be the most forgettable of the Star Trek movies. As far as James T. Kirk is concerned, I just pretend like this movie never happened.

as Star Trek movies go,this is a pretty good one.i'd say it's almost as good as the previous entry The Undiscovered Country.i say almost because there are some moments where i felt it dragged and lost momentum.other than that,though,i didn't really have any issues with it.it thought the story line was quite unique and original.the writing is pretty good,and the action scenes are decent.the acting was also pretty good.the only other thing lacking is a an actual threat of some sort.i mean there is one,but the focus is not really on that.but this movie didn't seem to need that.it works without it.i give Star Trek:Generations a 3.5/5

"Generations" is the seventh Star Trek film, and hit the movie screens in 1994. It was the first in the series of movies to feature the crew of the Next Generation (led by Captain Picard) and the last to feature any of the crew from the original series (led by Captain Kirk). The previous film, "The Undiscovered Country", focused on the last mission undertaken by Kirk and his crew.

The film opens in 2293, at the launch of the Enterprise-B. Commanded by Captain John Harriman, the helm officer is Demora Sulu - the daughter of Kirk's former helmsman, Hikaru Sulu. Since the ship's maiden flight is scheduled to be little ore than a brief trip to Pluto and back, it hasn't yet been fully equipped and doesn't have a full crew. All the same, Starfleet has invited the press and three 'living legends' for the occasion : Captain James T. Kirk, Captain Montgomery Scott and Commander Pavel Chelov. The short trip, however, is interrupted by a distress call from two refugee transports fleeing the El-Aurian homeworld - recently assimilated by the Borg. There is no option but for the under-equipped Enterprise to respond. Some of the refugees are rescued - the rescue, however, is not without its price. Among the surviving refugees are Dr. Tolian Soran, a scientist, and Guinan (later, a friend of Jean-Luc Picard's and barkeep on the Enterprise-D). Guinan reveals the energy strip to be an entrance to a place called the Nexus, a separate continuum where reality is based on the individual's desires.

Seventy-eight years later, Jean-Luc Picard's Enterprise receives and responds to a distress call form the Amargosa Observatory. The Observatory was apparently attacked by the Romulans - who, ot would seem, were attempting to retrieve some stolen trilithium. Once again, Soran is amongst the survivors. It appears he has been working on a way to return to the Nexus since Harriman's Enterprise 'rescued' him from it. His plan to return there, however, would result in the deaths of milions, and would also put a deadly weapon into the hands of his allies, Lursa and B'Etor. The sisters of the treacherous Klingon, Duras, would certainly use it to destabilise the Klingon Empire and end the alliance with the Federation.

It has been said that, while the even-numbered Trek movies tend to be excellent, the odd-numbered ones tend to be poor. As the seventh movie, the rule states that "Generations" sits in the "bad" pile. Admittedly, it does have the occasional corny moment - but it does have a great deal going for it also. Kirk's itchiness on the Enterprise-B and the teasing his former colleagues give him is quite funny. It's always enjoyable seeing Klingons (in this case, Lursa and B'Etor) playing politics and / or starting a fight - providing some impressively explosive moments.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Lame & Pointless
Basically a re-make of The Final Frontier (#5;1989) but with the NG crew rather than the original series crew. Read more

Published on Dec 29 2004 by N Joungyuob B Ohh

1.0 out of 5 stars Lame & Pointless
Why bother with the supposed hand-off? After all, the original crew made its farewell in The Undiscovered Country, and the NG crew would fare just fine on their own in First... Read more

Published on Dec 28 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars A sad goodbye to the best!!
This review is really a companion review to the box set of Original Crew movies.This is the crowning compliment to that set and I wouldn't be surprised down the road to see this... Read more

Published on Dec 21 2004 by Robert Badgley

4.0 out of 5 stars Star Trek Generations Special Edition
I was fortunate enough to get the Generations Special Edition before it was recalled. What I found lacking in the DVD was that deleted scenes were not added. Read more

Published on Sep 29 2004 by Kevin Mayne

4.0 out of 5 stars Making Generations Better!!
If your a Star Trek Fan, you will enjoy this film. This flim is a blending of the old to the new generation. Read more

Published on July 8 2004 by loonytoone

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth watching!
A reviewer on May 14, 2004, said that this movie gets better each time you watch it and I have to agree. Read more

Published on July 7 2004 by M. Smith

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Bridge Between The Old & The New...
STAR TREK GENERATIONS (1994) took on a monumentally difficult task---namely, the passing of the legendary STAR TREK torch from the original cast to the "Next Generation"... Read more

Published on May 14 2004 by Robert J. Schneider

2.0 out of 5 stars GENERATIONS DISAPPOINTS
For years, Trekkies wanted to see Captains James Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard finally team up and unite the two major generations of the Starship Enterprise in what would, doubtless,... Read more

Published on May 9 2004 by K. Jump

4.0 out of 5 stars "Human females are so repulsive!"
Six months following the airing of the final two-part series finale of the TV series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in May 1994, Paramount Pictures released the first... Read more

Published on April 19 2004 by M. Hart

3.0 out of 5 stars It Took A Generation
First off, when you review a Star Trek movie, or for that matter make one, you have to carefully consider your audience, which unfortunately causes enough compromises and... Read more

Published on April 17 2004 by Brian Tepper

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