Yesterdays Movies on Tuesday: Star Trek Generations 1994
In 1994 Star Trek Generations saw the ending of one era and the beginning of another, in the film verse that is, in an effort to pass the film torch from Star Trek: The Original Series to Star Trek: The Next Generation. In this weekly feature, Star Trek Generations will be the last film that I discuss before the premiere of the new Star Trek film this Friday. The reason being that this is the last film is because it's the last film that features the legendary Starfleet Captain, James T. Kirk - which is the story of the new film, the story of Kirk and co.
After Star Trek: The Next Generation ran its course on television, although it could have probably gone on longer, Paramount Pictures was looking for a new Trek movie to hit theaters. Rick Berman, who was executive producer up until the end of Enterprise, was asked to start development on a new film that featured the crew of the USS Enterprise D commanded by Jean-Luc Picard. Series writers Ronald D. Moore, who eventually became the genius behind Battlestar Galactica, and Brannon Braga were commissioned to put a script together but in a move that franchise creator Gene Roddenberry never wanted, they mixed both crews (TOS & TNG) together and it slightly back fired. In this new film, it was meant that Kirk, Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy return to play some kind of role. Leonard Nimoy was offered the directors chair once again but upon reading the script, Nimoy declined both the directors seat and reprising his role because, simply, he didn't like what was written. That should have been their first sign to stop. Sadly, Deforest Kelly was too ill to return to the role of McCoy. So both roles were rewritten for James Doohan and Walter Koening to return as Scotty and Chevkov. These characters set up a story which would follow through all the way up until the days of Picard, Riker and Data.
The problem, however, is that Star Trek Generations killed off a character the should have never been killed. The death of James T. Kirk would piss off fanboys all across the world and would even present problems when JJ Abrams and co tried to bring the character back to the big screen joining Leonard Nimoy once again. Sadly, the death of the character really was the death of the character.
"In the late twenty-third century, the gala maiden voyage of the third Starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-B) boasts such luminaries as Pavel Chekov, Montgomery Scott, and the legendary Captain James T. Kirk as guests. But the maiden voyage turns to disaster as the unprepared ship is forced to rescue two transport ships from a mysterious energy ribbon. The Enterprise manages to save a handful of he ships' passengers and barely makes it out intact...but at the cost of Captain Kirk's life. Seventy-eight years later, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D find themselves at odds with the renegade scientist Soran...who is destroying entire star systems. Only one man can help Picard stop Soran's scheme...and he's been dead for seventy-eight years..." Star Trek Generations was directed by an inexperience film director, David Carson from a script by Ron Moore and Brannon Braga. Returning to their iconic roles is William Shatner as James T. Kirk, James Doohan as Scotty and Walter Koening as Pavel Chekov. The Next Generation crew makes their film debut with Patrick Stewart leading the way as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker, Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data, LeVar Burton as Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge, Michael Dor as Lt, Commander Worf, Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher and Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi. Introducing Malcolm McDowell as the desperate mad scientist Dr. Tolian Soran.
Star Trek Generations is not my favorite Trek film but it's also not the worst. With great special effects and a half-way decent TNG story, Generations fails in one major way - they killed James T. Kirk. I think it's safe to say that moment ruined Generations for a lot of fans, especially myself since Kirk is my favorite ST character. Even the manner that he died was insulting. What's funny, if you look at certain interviews of the production team at the time - they all basically regret the decision with some pointing blame on others. I'm not going to discuss gossip but I'm sure you can find some of that on the web. The death of Kirk would resonate with fans, fans who were angry that the most legendary science fiction character died and died in a stupid way. I think many fans would agree that if you were going to kill off a character it should be at their post, in this case on the bridge of the Enterprise doing something incredibly bold - not jumping over a little bridge. For example; the death of Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan was perfect and done in a honorable, respectable and very touching way. It was emotional and very true to the character. The team behind this film really missed the target when it came to emotion.
The TNG story, however, proved to be satisfying on that end. It was nice to see that core of characters on the big screen in big budget, for the time, style. In that story we were presented with some character developments for two main characters, Picard and Data. Sadly, Picard's family back on Earth died in a horrible fire leaving him as the last Picard in the universe. The thought of that, not carrying on the family name, was very troubling but I suppose from our point of view the name Jean-Luc Picard would go down in Starfleet history and be remembered as one of the finest Federation Captains. As for Data, he would evolve in this film with the implantation of his emotion chip. For the first time, Data now has a wide range of emotions that he'll explore but won't help him during this crisis. It was great character work for both characters but the rest of the cast seemed to get the short end of the stick because they didn't have any development. Riker getting the Enterprise destroyed doesn't count.
Should you see Generations? Only if your a general Trek fan or a TNG fan, otherwise I personally don't think it's worth it. In short, this movie wouldn't be good for someone who's never been involved with the franchise but if you've been a fan for as long as I have then you should see it just for context. This movie wasn't made for general audiences like the new film premiering this Friday and although that's not a bad thing people who've never been fans of either TNG or Trek as a whole wouldn't understand what was going on. It really doesn't matter anyhow because the death of Kirk screws up the movie. I suppose if your a movie fan you could see it just for the creative outlook.
As much as I appreciate The Next Generation and their films, my heart was always more attached to the crew of The Original Series and that's why this new movie is so special to me. The buzz for it has been fantastic and I'm very excited to see it. My review for that will of course be up on Monday. Until then, that's if for Tuesday reviews of Star Trek! Down the line you'll see sprinkled in reviews of the later TNG films like First Contact and Nemesis but not for a while. Next week we're back to the random movie of the week starting with a French science fiction, Chrysalis Robinson Crusoe on Mars.
It's worth noting, that the score for Generations is great!
For more Tuesday reviews, CLICK HERE.
-Phil
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