Customer Reviews

Star Trek Generations (Widescreen)

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(46)
3 star:		(44)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(18)

 

 

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.

Basically a re-make of The Final Frontier (#5;1989) but with the NG crew rather than the original series crew. Should any reader of this review come across this movie again, notice the likenesses: The Nexus versus the Great Barrier, and Soran the Madman versus Sybok the Madman. As for "uniting" the two ENTERPRISE crews, it of course failed because Spock and some others declined to take part. Moreover, the first crew gave its farewell in The Undiscovered Country and the Enterprise-D crew would fare just fine on its own in First Contact (with the sleeker if smaller Enterprise-E). Also, McCoy, Spock, and Scott (who for some reason did not sit out that token cameo role) already made appearances in one television series episode (Encounter at Farpoint I, Unification II, Relics). Therefore, why bother?

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 Contact. As for the main plotline with the Nexus dimension and Soran the Madman, it is merely a rehash of the Great Barrier dimension and Sybok the Madman.

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 movie bundled with the others...it's a natural.
This new release of Generations,like the original crew set,comes in two discs,loaded with extras and in its' glorious widescreen format.
Generations,in case you didn't know by now,is a transitional movie.That is the Trek "torch" gets passed from the original crew onto the "Next Generation" from the TV series of the same name.
As I'm NOT a big Next Gen fan my perspective comes from being a fan of the original series and its' crew and this movie didn't disappoint.The movie while a very good Trek movie in plot structure and acting shines best when (and my bias may be showing just a little here) the original crew is on the screen.The opening of the movie is as exciting as any movie gets with Kirks' death/disappearance.When next we meet Kirk he and Picard have joined forces to defeat a common foe and to me William Shatner totally steals the show away from Patrick Stewart in their scenes together.And I STILL have trouble "keeping it together" when Capt.Kirk dies.
But it is not only just Kirks' death that bothers me but what it signifies;the end of a long and wondrous journey with the original crew characters from TV to the movies and in reality going from a cancelled TV show and its'struggle and success on finally getting to movies..... and seven at that! A very poignant moment indeed.
So,if you're an original series fan like me and want the perfect companion piece to all of the original crew movies then this two disc special re-release is for you.

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. The one I was lookig forward to Kirk's orbit diving. As when Generations came out I was enthused to the combination of the two great Trek casts. Although I wish they had used McCoy and Spock as well.

What I disliked was the death of Picard's family subplot. This took away from the major storyline and the movie would have run more smoothly without it. Also, When Picard wants to leave the Nexus with Kirk (Guinan said you can leave and go anywhere you want)Why didn't he go back to when Soran was on the Enterprise??

The DVD is great to have for your collection. The extras are very interesting although there are no interrviews with the cast of the movie.

If your a Star Trek Fan, you will enjoy this film. This flim is a blending of the old to the new generation. It seems that at first William Shatner has a Cameo in the film's first half, but becomes a full member of the cast in the last half.
If your a TRUE Star Trek Fan, and want to enjoy this film even more, you MUST get the three books written by William Shatner. The first book is "Ashes of Eden." It takes place just before "Generations" and has Jim Kirk battling between his long Star Fleet Career and the lack of action in any retirement. In it Capt. Kirk find that he is still called to save worlds, even in his retirement. It fills the gap leading up to the first part of the film. It is true Captian Kirk in action. This book could have been made into a Star Trek movie by itself and can stand alone.
The second book, "The Return", takes place right after the death of Jim Kirk with Spock at his best friend's grave. As from the title, we all want Jim Kirk to live and he does "Return."
You can stop after this book too, if you want to have Jim Kirk dead. (Yes, he dies at the end) But, hold the phone, he will live again in the next book, "Avenger" to save the universe again. This time he has new friends. It's Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise TNG crew. Yes, Spock is logicly there to help Kirk(RET) save the universe again.
Read this and enjoy the movie even more.

A reviewer on May 14, 2004, said that this movie gets better each time you watch it and I have to agree.

I must admit that my expectations were high the first time I watched it, but after watching it the second and third time, I really loved and appreciated it for what it was... a tribute to the Star Trek universe and Star Trek tradition. A must see for Trek fans. (It's cool to see that Capt.Kirk can still throw a punch and drop a guy on his butt!)

I LOVE THIS MOVIE! I can watch it over and over again. If you really love Star Trek, this movie is worth owning.

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" cast---and does it almost seamlessly. Despite what many self-professed "Star Trek experts" may say, there was no perfect way to accomplish this. Having recently viewed this film for approximately the 10th time, I am as impressed as ever at the job that director David Carson and screenwriter Rick Berman (who took over as head of the STAR TREK franchise after creator Gene Roddenberry died in 1991) did. I can honestly say that I couldn't have done as good a job at bridging the two generations---and neither could have any of these "experts" who choose to pick apart at it.

If you're reading this review and others, you undoubtedly know what this film's about, so I'm not going into a rundown of plot here. I will, however, put in my two-cents worth of opinion about this film: it is a well-paced, fully realized cinematic vision, with great special effects, a compelling main plot, a humorous subplot and some excellent acting on the part of Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner and Malcolm McDowell. Even William Shatner is pretty good here---his acting *has* improved with age and experience! As Dr. Tolian Soren, Malcolm McDowell creates a villain for whom we can actually care; although we don't agree with what he does, we can certainly relate to the reasons why he does what he does. However, this does not make it any less compelling for Capts. Kirk and Picard to stop him from carrying out his destructive methods, leading to the extremely suspenseful---and, ultimately, sad---scene which is as inevitable as it is fateful.

I really love STAR TREK GENERATIONS. It has a winning combination of intelligent storyline mixed in with action, suspense and---surprisingly---humor, and plays fair with the rules of the game and the legacy of the series. I really can't imagine any true STAR TREK fan not loving it. It may require some patience on first viewing, perhaps, but the rewards are great for sticking with it. Plus, it only gets better on repeated viewings. I can vouch for that!

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED