Star Trek: Generations Movie Review

Star Trek: Generations (1994)

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Written by: Gene Roddenberry (television series Star Trek), Rick Berman & Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga (story), Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga (screenplay)
Directed by: David Carson
Starring: Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Malcolm McDowell, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, 
Rated: PG
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Plot
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.

Verdict
I grew up on the show, and this seems like a longer episode, though it never feels cinematic enough. With the length, not much happens. The world building, or ship building in this case, isn't very deep. The Enterprise must save a planet from destruction and they do exactly that. I wish this had more interaction among the crew. Several of them seem to only appear because they were series regulars. They don't have a function here. The movie tries to dress it up with Picard and Kirk teaming up, assuming that will wow the audience, but it's just not that impressive. It's a generic sci-fi story that uses the Star Trek name for credibility.
Skip it.

Review
Star Trek: The Next Generation was the Star Trek television show I remember watching growing up, so I was excited for this movie when it released with the series having ended. Apparently I held it with a fondness that it doesn't deserve. This is the seventh Star Trek movie, transitioning from the original series cast to The Next Generation films. This released only three years after the last movie featuring the original cast.

This opens in the past with the retired Captain Kirk (William Shatner) along with Scott (James Doohan) and Chekov (Walter Koenig) attending the christening of the first enterprise class star ship in thirty years. What's supposed to be a publicity appearance soon turns into a rescue mission when they receive a distress call. Kirk isn't used to be someone else being in captain's chair. This movie marks the hand off to The Next Generation crew.

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes play Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William Riker

That crew is on the holodeck promoting Warf (Michael Dorn). It's such an odd way to introduce them, especially if you haven't seen the series. They're on a boat in the water that looks like it's from the 1700s. The holodeck is a neat idea, but it always stretches belief, a concept you shouldn't think about for too long. A distress call cuts the ceremony short.

Captain of the Enterprise Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) crew saves a single survivor from an observatory. This is also the time that android Data (Brent Spiner) decides to install a new emotion chip. All that does is make the character ridiculous and unreliable. He's like a five year old. Just a few scenes in we get these strange choices, both for anyone familiar or unfamiliar with this series. While you don't need to have seen the series, it does help. There's a lot of backstory from the series, and many of the main Enterprise crew barely appear on screen.

Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes play Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William Riker

Soran (Malcolm McDowell) puts lives at risk to get back to the Nexus. It's a realm outside of time and space of pure happiness. He's willing to blow up planets if that's what it takes. Soran kidnaps one of the crew, working with the Klingons to ensure his plan's success. Picard trades himself for the crew member in an effort to stop Soran.

This is not as good as I remember, though it has been over thirty years since I've seen it. Picard enters the nexus, soon realizing it's not real. While this set up a reason he'd want to be in the nexus, that spell is quickly broken. It's there that he discovers James T. Kirk who didn't die eighty years ago. He ended up in the nexus. Unfortunately Kirk isn't interested in helping. He likes having a life where he can correct his mistakes, but he soon grows disillusioned. That's convenient since he and Picard must save a planet.

William Shatner, Patrick Stewart play Captain James T. Kirk, Captain Jean-Luc Picard

The conclusion with the villain Soran is predictable. Meanwhile the Enterprise suffers critical damage with the saucer portion of the ship detaching for evacuation and crashing onto the surface of a planet. That's a wild moment. The Enterprise is supposed to be indestructible. It's a surprise when it proves fragile.

From memory, I thought we saw more of the crew which also would show us how this star ship functions. How can a Star Trek property not show us the captain on the bridge? Other than Picard, Data gets the most screen time. The choices with that character are absolutely bizarre. The only pay off is when Data is so scared he can't process his emotions and Picard reprimands him. Picard is always dealing with fear and stress. This coasts on the name. There's not much to the story to begin with. If you take away name recognition, it's pretty shallow.