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Episode
265
Star Trek Generations
Picard and crew have landed on the big screen, and they’ve brought some history with them. There are the Duras sisters, and Guinan, and – holy cow! Is that Captain James T. Kirk?!? Yes it is. No longer the captain of a starship, he’s found a side of paradise all his own. But Picard needs his help! Millions of lives are in the balance. TOS meets TNG when we put Star Trek: Generations in the Mission Log.
I may be in the minority, but this is my favourite of the TNG movies because it actually feels like TNG. From First Contact to Nemesis, the only resemblance are the characters, and even then they feel as different to TNG as movie Kirk and crew do to TOS, without the virtue of being gone for so long.
It doesn’t help that I never really liked the Enterprise-E. I always found it to be squat and ugly and never grew fond of it like I was able to do with the Enterprise-D.
You are correct, it is the most like the series.
You are wrong though, the E is the best looking Enterprise. I personally never liked the swoopiness of the D
I wish we’d seen more of the ‘E’. It looks like a lovely Star Ship but we rarely get to see much of it in the following movies. I personally wish if they were going to change for ‘D’ to ‘E’ they’d given us the ‘E’ in season 7 of TNG.
Can;t be wrong with a personal opinion. We just have different tastes it seems.
Yes you can be wrong because you are. 😉
I hope you can tell I am teasing
ugh…the E was ugly! Where’s the frickin’ neck???
Snap – I agree!
Last time I watched GEN, I found myself enjoying the TV-TNG feel 🙂
The uniforms I loved, The ship I loved, the bridge I loved etc. There`s even a shot of the ENT-D moving into the frame with a familiar voiceover….
“…Captain`s Log, Stardate….etc etc”
Which looks right out of a TNG ep!
(except for better lighting)
😉
Oh and Geordi sports the Visor for the one and only time, in the four films.
Yeah, I never warmed to the ENT-E either, or the drab new black/grey uniforms…ugh.
Ah well!
Time to go rewatch First Contact.
See you, out there!
I wonder if they felt that the Enterprise D sets just would not work well for movies so had to contrive a way to get different sets for a new ship without just unexplainedly redesigning the D.
Or maybe when they make movies, they just can’t help themselves destroying spaceships.
I agree!
I had a tough time with this one. Found out Netflix no longer has it. Pulled out my DVD, it was broken. Geez.
I liked this first movie but, was it really nessesary to have the Original Series crew. We have had 7 seasons on Next Gen to get used to the New Crew. Now don’t get me wrong, I liked seeing them again and it served the story well but I really did not need to see them again.
The whole idea of the Nexus is fascinating. Being able to forever live in whatever fantasy land you want sounds great but as Picard says, with no real stakes, it would get really old.
Anyway, a fine first outing, even if Troi crashes the ship. Perhaps giving her that command PIP was a bad idea. 😉
The Vulcan on the bridge of the B became Tuvok in an episode of Voyager, ‘Flashback.’ For this movie, Generations, IMDB lists his character only as ‘Lieutenant.’ He has a few lines and… oh… he’s a human! So, it was a retroactive decision… and they hoped no one remembered that his ears were round.
Gotta differ on you with that. Flashback’s set on the Excelsior (there’s a whole different continuity issue with the apparently dead Valtane clearly being visible in the crew shot at the end of TUC). Tim Russ’s character in this is just… another human.
Unless I’m missing something.
D’oh! You’re right of course. It’s Sulu’s ship from TUC. Been awhile since I watched ‘Flashback.’
RETCON madness…ugh….
Thanks.
He had a very similar haircut
I feel your pain man. My copy stopped on 1 hr 33 mins.
I had to youtube key parts…I just did the same for First Contact..ugh…I think I had Generations DVD lying around somewhere…but I don’t recall buying First Contact on DVD, only VHS…hahaha. At least I own Nemesis. It was a $2 DVD at Blockbusters funeral sale…
I have all the Trek movies, just no idea why this one refused to work.
And I too have quite a few movies from the Blockbuster/Hollywood Video closing sales.
OH MY GOD!!! You killed the Enterprise D!! YOU BA$TARDS!!!!!
I loved that ship so much and you just destroy it (twice!!!) like that!!!
Seriously, I enjoy this film a lot, but it feels like an extended TNG as opposed to a feature film. Not too keen on what happens to Data but I guess
they felt it was the natural progression. Shame they hit reset in FC.
Overall an enjoyable film & it’s nice to see the TNG crew again so soon after we’ve said goodbye…
Data was able to switch his emotion chip on and off by the time of FC. The chip malfunctioned ‘again’ in Insurrection. And in Nemesis, I’d say he finally became as close to human as he ever did. So to be fair, no reset button in this instance. Data was probably the only character who actually grew and changed in the TNG movies, and Picard.
Hmmm. Been while since I saw Insurrection and I’ve only ever seen Nemesis at the cinema (Once was enough!) so I’ll have to watch Insurrection at least one more time.
Not only that, but he WAS able to remove it by the time of Insurrection. When asked if Data’s behaviour could have been due to his emotion chip malfunctioning, Geordi says “He didn’t take it with him.”
So, was it “fused” and “could not be removed” or not?
Data was malfunctioning wasn’t he?
What happened in Insurrection was not related to the emotion chip.
That wasn’t the point and I didn’t say it had anything to do with the chip.
The point was in Generations, it was said the chip “cannot be removed” while in Insurrection, Geordi just casually says Data didn’t take the emotion chip with him, despite it being fused with his neural net and unable to be removed.
In Generations Data could not turn the chip off for a start – he asks to be relieved of duty to Picard in Steller Cartography, because he felt he couldn’t handle his new-found emotions. The chip was fused into his neural net as we are told by Picard.
In First Contact Data just casually switched off his -chip- when Picard asked him to, when they went to confront the Borg for the first time.
Later the Borg drilled into his head, maybe to access the chip? Anyway, the Queen managed to switch his chip back on herself when she was about to unveil her ‘gift’ of organic skin to him, probably for dramatic effect.
I think a very good explanation here, is Starfleet engineers managed to remove Data’s chip from his Neural Net or whatever, by the time of Insurrection, for security reasons, of course.
“Captain’s Log, Stardate 48632.4. Dr. Crusher has informed me that Data’s emotion chip has been
fused into his neural net, and cannot be removed. However, she believes
he is fit for duty so I have asked him to join me in stellar cartography.”
It was clearly more than just a situation where Data was merely unable to to turn off the chip. Furthermore, if a chip is “fused” and “cannot be removed” then removing such a damaged component such as the Borg drilling into his head in First Contact effectively destroys it.
We’ve seen similar examples in Trek before, such as the damaged module in TMP which resulted in the transporter accident when the transporter was being used while it was being replaced, bio-neural gel packs succumbing to disease and requiring replacement. There just can’t be any magic wand waving to say “this problem is fixed” when it doesn’t make sense in either a real world context or within that of the fiction.
Could the original emotion chip have been destroyed and a new one created? Sure, but we have seen a number of times that efforts to replicate Soong’s work, even by Data, have ultimately failed. So it is theoretically possible, but highly unlikely.
I also do not subscribe to the idea that Starfleet engineers removed the chip for security reasons, because that brings ethical issues into consideration. Why should Data having emotions be a security risk when Data himself is not considered as such? Furthermore, all the way back in “The Measure of a Man” it was ultimately ruled that Data was not the property of Starfleet and for Starfleet to impose such an edict would be as disgusting as if they were to order Nurse Ogawa to terminate her pregnancy. The only possible argument anybody could make why it would be okay to do so with Data but not Ogawa is because Data is not a biological lifeform. Hell, Starfleet even tried to steal Lal from him under the arrogance that they would be able to help Lal develop better than Data, which it could be argued directly contributed to her death.
Such a scenario (Starfleet removing Data’s emotion chip) actually took place in the “A Time to Be Born”/”A Time to Die” novel duology because they decided Data was being too emotional when imploring Picard on a particular course of action. What gives Starfleet the right to decide Data should not have emotions when the fleet is filled with emotional humans (not to mention Zaldans, who only appreciate hostility and confrontation) and insane admirals?
Such arguments about security don’t hold up especially when you consider when it was Kirk’s command crew not only conspiring to and successfully stealing the Enterprise, but also sabotaging the Excelsior to prevent them from pursuing as well as assaulting Starfleet personnel to break McCoy out of holding. Yes, Data has been compromised a few times (though only once through influence from the emotion chip and that required his ethical subroutine to be disabled), but how is his emotion chip any more a security risk than human Starfleet officers who take matters into their own hands to achieve a goal of importance to them?
Good points. I
But somehow Data could remove the chip in Insurrection, so who Knows.
Data seems to have his chip working full time in Nemesis, no switching on and off and so forth. Maybe he managed to temper the effects of the chip to avoid emotional overload such as we saw in Generations.
I read ‘The Fifty Year Mission’ with horror about the details on the production decisions. EVERYONE wanted to kill characters. They got their wish. For my tastes, this film is grim because of the sheer number of named characters who die. Kirk? I wish they hadn’t. The Duras Sisters? Um, I guess. Picard’s brother and nephew? WHY? Plus, Soran of course and billions of non-seen people and hapless redshirts on the space station. My feeling is that these deaths were there strictly to bolster a weak script.
One of the complaints of the series (and many others of its time) is that you know that at the end, the main cast is going to be OK.
At least in this movie they were willing to kill a few folks, even if our main cast somehow made it out fine.
I wouldn’t really blame Generations for reusing footage from a previous film as it is far from the first to do so.
Star Trek II – reused the entire departure from drydock from TMP.
Star Trek III – used a truncated version of Spock’s farewell to Kirk and the funeral scene, as well as “flight recorder” footage to reveal Spock had mind melded with McCoy. It also re-used the Genesis video from TWoK, with Kirk narrating instead of Carol Marcus. By far the most extensive re-use of footage
Star Trek IV – used shots of the Enterprise destruction as well as some of the Kirk portion of the Genesis video.
Star Trek V – used the reveal shot of the Enterprise-A to show it in spacedock.
Great episode guys 🙂
I always thought they had Picard burying Kirk as some sort of weird symbol of passing the torch at the end. Really wish Kirk had gone out in a better way, but at least he made a difference.
I have some of the Playmates figures. Kinda cool. Sleeve rank!
The aforementioned incorrectly costumed action figures, from my own collection. LOL https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/337aead9a76fbfdfaf009cba545490856d8ad7b6117b3e5734818f978b617d19.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cee4e5ab8effcad8fbb188f51b6adb7fc9ede81bb08569ca0592f59365a56905.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dc4d9aaef8de1d00d7465f8983f69691df1604d34a832b921870c88352c28f57.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a54eea67a93adff038f8e3424355666f50ea84ff5ae6c3bc8ad33eb71d008eb2.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f202f0fe3e9495f6142a05ccaff98dd05225800631316249c22630594ceb93b1.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/be77fed7191c6156b1cfae6a8c80af89c2096fe83f4fe547218a15c175520c74.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/ef589dcd0b5b3284a660bf61a613d9fdb1ba73c0ca985213efaa42635bc76705.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bf36b67b310db0812c0efe049e6af1a9ff821938d1b096624dd8717b32bfbb32.jpg
Also, Orbital Skydive Kirk (with and without helmet). https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/7993a0e141781c7515b1aca43e8bb7783c63daedb0fd32b0b3c1b0f30c31fb65.jpg https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e67428395cb37de7f96c7e9959050bfd19b1df9b47054269cad47244242da8f3.jpg
I am glad they ditched these uniforms. The collar looks daft and is not practical for a crew of an active starship. It is basically a rehash of Trek II to VI uniforms. I actually like the clever use of DS9 and TNG uniforms in this as it fits with the films theme, of change, of passing of the torch.
I have Riker. I really wish they kept these unis.
I really dug the “big-screen-ification” of the Enterprise sets. I kind of wish that the bridge had sprouted those extra science stations in season 7, because it was a really cool look.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/cec46e1120e95d587fdd8a79ef6b55bc436d70bd0b6800d5946ff624d1df2b12.jpg
And agreed about Stellar Cartography – that was a fantastic exposition device that was visually engrossing. It looks nothing like Stellar Cartography did in “Lessons”, but maybe that set was just the “lobby” you go through before getting to the walkway/platform/holo-tank seen here.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/d8d900d876277d2ba8d97e4eced636665d69cf4eac563e06e99cc4b0891e6c95.jpg
I think, if there’s a message here, it’s about obsession with the past. Soran’s obsession with getting back to what he thought was perfection is dangerous. It destroys those around him, even his uneasy Klingon allies. Kirk, on the other hand, is like “Hey, this is cool. I never wanted to be a starship captain anyway, I always wanted to be a lumberjack!”, but when there’s work to be done and a universe to be saved, especially if he can get there on horseback (hey, where did the horses go when they jumped back in time?)…Kirk’s down for one more adventure. Always. And of course, Picard’s just not having it because his buds in the special effects department left him a clue on the Christmas tree. But Soran? He’ll dispose of anyone he has to – hell, everyone’s disposable – to attain his goal.
I think there are some interesting parallels between the “sunlight blasting in from outside” lighting in this movie, and the similar lighting schemes seen in the past two episodes of Discovery (“The Wolf Inside” and “Vaulting Ambition”), especially the scene where Tyler sheds his human persona in front of Burnham. Very dramatic, moody, and effective, and enough to make Lorca reach for his eye drops.
I think the soundtrack is worth a shout-out here – Dennis McCarthy doing the music is one of those things that made Generations seem like “TNG writ large”, since he’d done so much of Trek on TV, but he really blew things out for this one and got “bigger” than he could get on TV. And that Nexus theme…wow. One of my favorite Trek movie scores ever. In retrospect, I actually wish he’d gotten another crack at it, say with “Insurrection” or “Nemesis”. But I suppose DS9, Voyager and Enterprise kept him plenty busy without any movie assignments.
I have a great deal of fondness for this movie’s look, feel and tone, and all these years later, it really is my favorite TNG movie. This is the last time TNG feels like TNG. In the movies to come, Picard gets a lion’s share of the screen time, and is beefed up into a bizarrely macho version of himself. The characters don’t seem like the people I spent 7 years with after this. This, to me, is the true series finale of TNG.
The bridge set “look” was almost just like what we 1st saw in the “alternate timeline” version on the bridge in “Yesterday’s Enterprise” -Also Direct by David Carson https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2bd5a4c95778ff30c031f19067297ff9ca8a7a65f9c92cf342bce601da6bd50a.png
Wow, you’re right – I’d forgotten those. Were they just screens or full fledged stations with seats a la the rear science stations like Generations had? Either way, good eye! Evidently David Carson and I have similar tastes as far as how “busy” the bridge should look.
Well it makes sense. The bridge of a major starship is going to be awash with activity, especially during periods of crisis.
The TNG bridge we see in the show is very bright, inviting, is very simple and elegant, but is totally unbelievable, when you stop to actually think about how a starship would operate.
Just screens: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2cfcc9b078935308de783ac000c2a0c624b7b96f8d0e2cac9182dd860363c3df.jpg
Yup, I was going to say this. Both set revisions had extra stations on the sides, and a raised dais for the captain.
STVII; Concept Art https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/953e98f9161c3541029cb2a224aa2ce18ebb8d1940b0b4bfcbd5b1c7ca2af6dc.jpg
This films seens to have a divided reputation among fans. I enjoyed it.
Seeing all the sets from the show, redressed and, BIGGER and BETTER is an experience. The film looks great and it feels confident. This is a cast who are clearly having a great time, and that translates onto the screen fr me.
First Contact is still the king of course, but Generations probably is a more authentic TNG movie. Its a close second place in my opinion.
I sorta enjoyed it at the time, but soon after I had viewer’s remorse…Lol. It was just too fan service-y. Which made it less enjoyable. Ugh. I’m so picky sometimes…
I enjoyed it at the time for the chance to see my characters on the big screen, but even then I knew it was too soon. Rushed. There was no anticipation factor, nothing remotely close to how TOS fans were waiting for TMP. I keep thinking TNG should have been allowed to marinate for a while, or ferment? like a wine…Picard Vineyard of course!! hahaha, but seriously, this was a mere 4-5 months after TNG went off the air. There’s lots of pickier complaints I posted on the FB page, but I enjoyed it at the time for what it was, fan service. Hmm….well, I guess that’s it….
IMO: StarTrek VII: Generations was easily the second worse Stat Trek Movie ever. Period.
They ( the Producer’s of this piece of Trash) had So much going for them before going into this endeavor ( the entire history of TNG episodes to pull from , not to mention $25Million Dollar budjet with most ALL of your standing sets already built ! ) -that to suffer such an epic fail as this film was – at this level – ought to be criminal, and someone should have been fired. “Generations” existed for one reason, and one reason only. Rushed – w/ no anticipation factor you say. I couldn’t agree more. That was due to the fact that those GD bean-counter’s at the head of Paramount wrongly believed that by canceling Next Generation an entire season early – ( they were going to possibly produce an 8th) and investing what would have been
the then pending Season 8’s intended production budget ( @ just under $30 Million bucks) – into a “movie-of-the-week” series ending $6 Million Dollar two-hour long final, and into producing their 1st Major Motion Picture.
As Star Trek has always worked best on the small screen as opposed to the Big, this was their 1st Mistake.
So, TNG died for business reasons,
Not creative ones,
( even though- truth be told – fans could tell the writer’s were beginning to run out of fresh – GOOD ideas for TNG at this point. It was canceled by Paramount, at the height of its success – ( The Cover of Time) as it was one of , if not, the most popular shows on television and easily one of the most profitable, making more than $1M an episode after expenses at that time. It’s gone on to make much more due to selling the re-run Why would they do this? Well, you can read all about that here: LINK. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/24/arts/television-profits-reruns-and-the-end-of-next-generation.html?pagewanted=all
But the bottom line had to do money.
As it turned out, this movie is yet just another prime example of how poor writing can and did doom a film before it was ever released,
and like The Final Frontier before it,
I can truly say that I wish it was never made.
Now matter how talented your production staff is, or what the awesome acting talent brings to you, it’s simply just impossible to overcome a bad script. Thank you Rick Berman.
As a matter of fact – the staff of TNG
( not to mention the MANY fans ) –
felt like the final episode “All Good Things” was and still is a better Movie than “Generations” .
They could have had Leonard Nimoy direct this
( man- talk about connecting both crews )
but according to him, the “Generations” script – besides really lacking is Spock character , was so bad he said “I’ll pass.” This was because they didn’t have the “time” to do script changes. What a crock ! Why? Why the Hell not!?
They could have easily taken another year ( or two for that matter ) to make this movie IF they really wanted to. Hell – it would have been way better to wait and release this film in 96, instead of 94 – for the 30th Anniversary of Trek. Why the rush? Answer- $Money. It’s always about Money. This is the entertainment BUSINESS after all. This was Not about the quality of the product. Had they really wanted to create demand for a TNG movie – Paramount should have pulled the Entire series from Television until after this film was released. THIS then would help to Make the fans “miss” TNG. But did they do that? No, no they didn’t. As a matter of fact – they did they exact opposite – by playing TNG re-runs FIVE Nights A Week.
As for “Generations” , BCC Film reviewer Tom Coates wrote “ You don’t have to be an avid Star Trek fan to be Massively Disappointed. The plot holes are obvious & disconcerting, the sub-plots feel tacked-on, and the characters are both thinly-drawn and badly-played by actors who are well aware of the failings of this ( POS – again IMO) script. Unfortunately, rather than highlight the best of the two series, it merely exposes their weakest points…” and merely “ feels like three lackluster episodes of the TV series mashed together” into a movie. WOW! I could Not have said it better myself. This film should have been THE Blockbuster Event fans wanted. -By that – I mean better than Star Trek IV level of boxoffice success – like $150million dollar Best Trek ever in the History of the Series success. But NO. – They could not even manage to figure out how to kill Kirk off in a glaze of glory ( heck – they should have really killed him saving The Enterprise B – at least That death was a good one – and stayed TRUE to the line Kirk told Bones in that other disaster of a Trek film – you know , the one where Kirk says “I’ve always known – I’ll die alone.”) as ether they were going to kill him by having get shot in the back or fall off a cliff and have a bridge fall on him! ( Talk about Jumping the Shark !) I’m suddenly reminded of Tasha Yar’s original death in season One of TNG – the one that was so bad – they brought her back in “Yesterday’s Enterprise”, which also happened to be Directed by “Generations” director David Carson, just to kill her off right damn it. Speaking of , TNG had already brought back Spock and Scotty in previous episodes. They were already in the same time period as Picard’s crew. And they failed to use either of those character’s. Heck – they could have had major roles. That’s would have given the title of the film more weight and more meaning. Why the whole terrible Nexus plot device – ( I mean hell if you need a GD Plot Device- why Not just Use The Guardian of Forever-right ) just to get Kirk into the picture, and into the 24th century just to kill him? I just can’t say enough about bad things about this movie. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1eeee6df79e528b13a767b27b9c26245b40457d40213d5ec95e53f9abdad6fd4.jpg As much as I wanted to see the original crew in this film – I believe that TNG had establish everything they ever needed to proudly stand on it’s own merits as a Major Motion Picture – and ,in fact , proved it when they Capitalize on that very fact in the next film “First Contact”.
Have to disagree. Into Darkness is the worst Trek film. At least Generations is an original story.
Hi@Pete2174:disqus Well – I don’t consider JJ Trek – “Trek” – but -ok -Yeah !
Haha. I don’t consider it Trek!!!
Yes…it was truly a missed opportunity. My head canon is….TNG S5 finale Best of Both Worlds. S6 E1 “Family” and Picard off Enterprise x 10 episodes, to recover, while Riker is Captain of the Enterprise. When Picard returns, Riker must leave to Captain the USS Titan… so Riker accepts, but proposes to Troi, season finale? or series finale wedding w some other big battle fight…series ends, then NO TNG MOVIE for 3 years. Generations is NEVER MADE. 3-5 years later, 1st TNG movie Picard and Enterprise re-unite w Riker and Titan for some ass-whooping of ? The Dominion? not sure. 3 years later, 2nd TNG movie Borg? who knows…? some sort of follow up on a TNG episode? w heavy social commentary message? Maybe “Pen Pals” has the race Data saved become intergalactic assholes? 3rd TNG movie = “Q” All Good Things…. lol …just things I think of….
Thanks for pointing out so much that I did not have to!
@MLhostJohn:disqus After you read my comments above – I have another question for you . So Once you get into “The Nexus” – and you become like all energy right- with no physical body anymore- how exactly does one “leave” “The Nexus” and transport “yourself” anywhere across time and space? IMO – It’s just Terrible writing and It does NOT hold up – at all.
Oh -also – why is it that when Picard went back to stop Soron after leaving The Nexus w/ Kirk – there wasn’t Two Picards there now? He didn’t need Kirk – he just needed another Picard. Hey – 2 Season 7 Picards !
You guys were talking about the movie having a “different Picard” because the focus on family seemed out of place. However, I have to disagree, especially if you put it in the context of it happening after “All Good Things”.
Remember at the end, the final scene at the poker table. They were talking about how Picard told them about the future he experienced, and why he would tell them. The consensus was that by knowing what happened in Picard’s future, they can change it to make it better.
What’s not to say that Picard was going through the same thing? Let’s look at the future he experienced: an old retired man alone in a field of vines, who turns out to be the ex-husband of the woman that he loved all his life. Already we have a connection to the Picards purely with the idea that Picard finally took up his brother’s life, 25 years after he rejected it. With the reunion on the Pasteur, there seems to be no connection between Beverly and Picard; i.e no children.
I would argue that this is a Picard who has the future he saw in the back of his mind, and finding out that his brother and nephew died is another reminder of that future. A man alone in a field. I think that this is a Picard who has been asking himself what kind of future he wanted, and without the distractions of the holodeck, or of a mission, he would be forced to confront that possible reality.
I thought it odd how quickly Deanna felt something was off with Picard, but if she knew what he’s been thinking, she could easily have guessed what was wrong and went to him immediately.
Just my thoughts.
Am I misremembering, or was there no mention of a really bad visual joke? The sisters are eagerly looking at the view screen, get the message that they have the shield freqs. They cry out, “Fire at will!” And the screen jump cuts to Riker, bracing for the attack…
“Time is the fire in which we burn…”
Taken from Delmore Schwartz poem “Calmly We Walk through This April’s Day”
Picard’s wife should have been…..Kamala ! Famke Jansen!!
Fine. Kirk’s fantasy chick should have been either Edith Keeler, Mirimani, or Carol Marcus. Who the hell is Antonia??
The one who got away!…lol, no idea…
From the Extension Files of The History of Star TreK TOS on Consumer Home Video . There is a Great “Making of: Retrospective” Link if you scroll to the Bottom: Enjoy. http://ds9on.blogspot.com/2018/01/star-trek-generations.html https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8db4addb6da60fc2d7471b1d11c520a27f3f12fb3cd58b43f0c1cccf711c5461.jpg
Well I was already to knock this movie, but that would be like kicking a dog when he is down.
Yes, if your a Star Trek fan, it’s fine. It won’t make you sick like Nemesis, or angry like Into Darkness, or bore you like Insurrection. But it is lots of plot and action that adds up to very little (Shattner’s This Old house being the great exception)
And the horse he road in – or rather, I should say, in this case – out on.
Kirks house is absolutely brilliant, bliss, cooking eggs, riding horses out in the country, in the sunshine!
I’d love it!
I thought that the Duras sisters agreed to beam Picard to the surface as a plot to get Geordi onto the Enterprise so they could use his visor to get the shield modulation.
It does make one wonder though, why did Riker and Co, not think of the very point you raise here?
The Duras sisters are not exactly anything other than a devious pair of devils, who always lie. Maybe Picard thought they had changed and could be trusted? I don’t know!
Still my mouse pad after all these years. Also, mouse pad more enjoyable than video game it game with. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/097becd03eade4f73970b2a41f69c82d5bde6a96d4516773f595368cf5c12c1b.jpg
Excellent discussion – I truly enjoyed it! It sounded like you were both having fun.
Despite the huge faults this movie has, I still like it. The first thing I think about when I think about this movie is its WARMTH, and the intimate scale it so often had. The entire sequence from when Picard and Troi are processing the death of Robert and Renée through the destruction of the Amargosa array, with the strong golden lighting, remains spectacular. I think of the Geordi visor sequence, and the vision of Beverly’s face (and the accompanying dialogue between the Klingons). I think of Troi’s soft “I’m OK” to Data after the crash. Small, personal moments. They were scattered throughout and connected with me.
The TOS crew was, for all practical purposes, superfluous. One of the moments I still hate is Shatner’s reaction to being introduced to Demora Sulu. His nearly snide “inCREDible” comment took me out of the movie completely, until the line “No, you were younger” helped pull me back in.
All in all, a flawed but not bad movie.
I agree with many of the Mission Log comments that this FELT like the most TNG of their movies, but I’ll say that the next one is their strongest movie story, where TNG had the time and the balls to stake a claim to movie greatness on their own terms.
Just a couple thoughts on this episode:
1. When Soran launches the missile to the star, it should take a lot longer for the light to be gone. For example, if our own Sun was to disappear, it would take 8 minutes for us to notice.
2. Is this an alternate timeline now? And would it mean that Soran is still in the Nexus?
Ultimately, I think this is a good movie but not one I would be in a hurry to re-watch. I love the banter between Chekov, Kirk, and Scotty. This was something that TNG’s characters could never really replicate.
Well folks, it has been a while since I have posted. Listening to the season 7 run made me realize how spotty that season was. Redeemed with a great finale.
Folks, this movie stinks. You can defend it all you want, but I cannot forgive the insulting way Captain Kirk is killed off. He dies by basically doing the comedic effect of slipping on a banana peel and falling off a ladder at the same time. I know that is not quite an accurate comparison, but you know the point I am trying to make. Hated it then and still do.
A legitimate problem with the Star Trek movies, especially the TNG ones(exception First Contact), is that for all the money spent on them, they look like a TV show set. The cinematography looks second rate. I WANT to love these movies, but I have two somewhat good eyes. I can see and hear a mediocre movie, and this is it.
By the way, I would love to spend eternity in a fantasy land where anything I dream comes true. I suddenly have God-like power and can never die? I’ll take it. No “real” stakes? So? And? I will take a fantasy and never dying any day.
That is one of the continuing Trek question. When nothing you do has any impact, is it worth doing or being there.
Still, I’m sure though I could find a few decades of stuff to entertain myself with
Cinematography; Second rate? I very calmly consider, did we watch the same movie?
Generations has problems with it, all of us can acknowledge that. But the visual look of the movie is the biggest factor going for it.
The movie –looks– great. Let us not forget this was a movie made on a tight shoot, not a huge budget, and in 1994.
First Contact was also terrific might I add, with the new look of the Borg. Honestly I cannot fathom how you would describe the TNG movies as second-rate in the cinematography department. The only TNG movie that felt to TV’ish for me, was Insurrection, and even here some of the effects still hold up OK to contemporary films of the day.
No mention in trivia of the awesome Jeanette Goldstein?
You forgot to discuss the central theme of the picture (according to the screenwriters) – time! Yes, an exploration of the concept of time this was meant to be. For starters, time is the fire in which we burn …
The most irritating part of Generations has to be the bottle of Chateau Picard that flies through the vacuum of space to hit the bow of the Enterprise-B and explodes into liquid rather than freezing as a solid as it should. Seriously people, go back and correct that scene!!!
Actually, if there was any significant heat present in the champagne (and there is if it’s liquid to start), it should boil or “vaporize,” then with sudden removal of heat, some should become delicious snow.
But don’t let physics irritate you when it comes to enjoying Star Trek!
I have read too many reports by our astronauts where they describe the stark beauty of dumping their urine out of their capsule. The ice crystals reflect beautifully in the sun. Knowing the champagne should also turn to ice just takes me out of the moment. It is a minor nitpick and I still enjoy the movie. It wouldn’t be Star Trek if we couldn’t find something relatively minor to bitch about. ; )
Yeah that would have been neat if they’d gotten it right.
In addition to what Will Wright mentioned about the bridge modifications, another parallel with Carson-directed “Yesterday’s Enterprise” is the scene with Geordi dealing with an imminent warp core breach. Very similarly blocked scenes, even down to the same panel blowing up and Geordi rushing people out.
The Excelsior model was physically altered to become Enterprise-B (which was not CG). Therefore I don’t think reuse of a stock shot of Excelsior would have been possible. One or two saucer separation shots of E-D were recomposites of footage shot for “Encounter at Farpoint”, though.
The Excelsior alterations were still present on the model (relabeled USS Lakota for a DS9 episode) at the Christies 2006 auction.
One story that I’ve come across in fragments from different sources concerning the 6-foot model of the Enterprise-D:
After they started using the 4-foot model, the six-footer was never shot again for the series and was in storage for years. Apparently during that time a Paramount exec gave or loaned it to someone with a restaurant/bar and they had hung it from the ceiling near the grill. No one in TNG production knew this (or had noticed it missing since they no longer used it) until one day it just showed up in the production office, damaged and filthy with grease.
So while they surely would have spruced it up anyway for the movie, due to this treatment it was quite necessary.
I’d love for this to be clarified/expanded by someone in the know; perhaps Richard Arnold?
The 6 footer is superior isn’t it?
That shot of the Enterprise D when Picard reads out his Captains Log is a great showcase of what an awesome model it is, touched up for the movie as well.