Review of Star Trek: Generations

Introduction

After seven years of boldly going, the cast of The Next Generation were rapidly approaching the end of their contracts and Paramount were in no mood to see the end of a lucrative cash cow, despite the DS9 series and the newly commissioned Voyager. As it stood, the cast of the original series had bowed out with Star Trek VI as their swansong, and with TNG coming to the end of its run, it seemed ripe for a big screen outing. Paramount was adamant on a rapid transition, so the final season and the movie would be filmed simultaneously. The makers thought this would be a great opportunity to pass the baton, and decided that both generations should meet in a story that would encompass eighty years. Killing off Captain Kirk was an early decision, but as the opening sequence was essentially prologue to the Next Gen story, only James Doohan and Walter Koenig from the original cast appear. Would the Next Generation be as successful on the big screen and how would audiences feel about the death of a much-loved character?

Captain Kirk is finding retirement tedious, and he reluctantly accepts an invitation to the launch of the third Starship Enterprise, under a new young Captain, John Harriman. Accompanying him to the launch party are old shipmates Scotty and Chekov. Facing up to the gathered media is a small challenge, but when a distress call comes in from two ships carrying El-Aurian survivors, the ill-equipped new Enterprise is the only starship in range. Captain Harriman reluctantly orders a hasty rescue mission, and when they find the two ships trapped in a ribbon of coruscating energy, the young Captain seems out of his depth. Captain Kirk is itching to help, and when Harriman asks for his advice, Kirk and his friends jump into action as if they had never retired. Moving the Enterprise into the ribbon they manage to rescue some survivors, but get trapped themselves. Scotty as usual has a plan to escape the raging energy and Kirk dashes to the deflector room to implement it. But as the Enterprise breaks free, the energy ribbon lashes the ship and severely damages it. When Scotty and Chekov get to the deflector room, they find it open to space, with no sign of Captain Kirk.

Eighty years later on board a different starship Enterprise, a crew we know well is relaxing in the holodeck, celebrating Worf`s promotion and enjoying the camaraderie. For Picard, this idyll is tragically interrupted by some distressing news from Earth. The rest of the crew don`t relax much longer when the ship is diverted by a distress call from the Amargosa laboratory that is under attack. When they arrive, Picard is too grief stricken to function and he delegates the investigation to Riker. Beaming over, they find a survivor, Dr Tolian Soran and the corpse of a Romulan. They realise that the Romulans were searching for a rare substance, trilithium. Soran is insistent that he be allowed to return to the station to complete his experiments and uses his charisma to convince Picard to allow this. Not long after, a trilithium weapon destroys the Amargosa star, and Soran escapes with Geordi as a hostage in a cloaked Klingon ship. Riker soon finds that Soran was one of the survivors that were rescued by the Enterprise B and another survivor was the ships bartender, Guinan. Guinan tells Picard that Soran desperately desires to return to the Nexus, the energy ribbon that caught the Enterprise B originally where all is a paradise and time has no meaning. Soran is willing to do anything to accomplish this, including destroying stars. With Data`s help, who is having emotional problems due to a faulty chip, Picard plots the course of the Nexus to Viridian III. To get into the Nexus, Soran must destroy the Viridian star and kill millions of innocents. He has promised the Klingon renegades the weapon in exchange for their help and when the Enterprise catches up to them, he releases Geordi as an unwitting mole. Picard beams down to the planet to face Soran in exchange for Geordi`s return, but the Klingons can see through Geordi`s visor and determine the weakness in the shields. They mount a devastating assault on the Federation flagship while Picard futilely struggles against Soran as the Nexus inexorably approaches. But just as the Nexus means destruction for the Viridian system, it holds salvation as well.

Video

Star Trek: Generations is presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer. The picture is very clear and sharp, with some strong colours. There is no evidence of artefacts and the print is pristine, bar the rare fleck of dirt. TNG veteran David Carson makes his feature film debut here and he warms to his medium. This film is an education in light and shade as the Enterprise D appears in warm lush colours. He uses strong `natural` light to illuminate many scenes. The strong golds of the Amargosa star are reflected in the shipboard scenes, the strong light lights up Ten Forward and the Captain`s ready room to dramatic effect. Likewise, when Geordi and Data are discussing his emotion chip, the powerful use of shadow and reflections shows the intimacy of the conversation. The locations are equally impressive, with venues switching from mountain scenery to the American Midwest, to the generic rocky crags where every Star Trek confrontation has taken place since Kirk faced of against the Gorn all those years ago. The effects are strong as well, with the Enterprise D making the most of its first and last big screen outing. The transporter beams get a new 3D effect, and this is the first Trek movie to make use of substantial amounts of CGI. In fact almost all the effects are excellent, especially the stunning battle between the Klingon ship and the Enterprise which gets pummelled, but all this good work is let down by the destruction of the Bird of Prey, which is a stock shot used from Star Trek VI. While many of the sets were redressed for the movie, some appear better in widescreen than others. The Enterprise Bridge is a considerable improvement, but Engineering lacks the level of detail necessary for the big screen. Also the perspective seems wrong on the saucer crash, the saucer is a massive craft hundreds of metres across, but it seems on the same scale as the Viridian trees. They must be some tall trees.

Audio

You get a choice of sound, DD 5.1 English and German, DD Surround Czech and DD Mono Hungarian. After careful deliberation I decided to listen to the English one. Having seen (and heard) the Next Generation boxsets with their 5.1 soundtracks, I have been impressed, but they hardly compare to a feature film. Here the surrounds really get a workout, as the effects are conveyed. Starship battles, warp drives, explosions and phaser beams, all this is an excuse to turn the volume up and let the sound of the 24th Century envelops you. The music by Dennis McCarthy is good, if a little functional. The Nexus is suitably ethereal and otherworldly, and the incidental music complements the action well.

Features

None. Even the novelisation has a making of, but not the DVD

Conclusion

Great sound and a great picture are all well and good in a movie, Generations has even more, with characters from both eras making an appearance, but the story has to match also. And there we fall down. Star Trek Generation was more of an event than a story, a means by which to pass the torch from Kirk to Picard and introduce cinemagoers to a new crew. The story may as well have been tacked on as an afterthought. While I have praised the director for the spectacle, the final story is a little disjointed and often contrived. The original beginning with Kirk skydiving was cut in favour of the spinning bottle, which admittedly is impressive, but it`s also no secret that the ending was changed prompting a quick reshoot, due to adverse audience reaction to Kirk being phasered. Much of Dr Crusher`s dialogue fell on the cutting room floor to be replaced with exposition and log entries, to the point where she is hardly in the film. Guinan`s little voiceover in the Nexus also seems contrived and hastily done. Reading the novelisation also hints to lost scenes, Soran`s throwaway line of "his heart wasn`t in it" referring to Geordi`s interrogation and Dr Crusher`s subsequent reference to a nanoprobe and cardiac damage have no meaning at all in this cut of the film, but the novel explains this with a torture scene, that obviously didn`t make the final cut.

In fact this is symptomatic of a major problem in this film, the bad guy. Played by Malcolm McDowell, Soran has no teeth. He is portrayed as a motivated but ultimately pathetic character that wishes to return to the Nexus to escape his grief. There is very little malice shown and if, as I assume his scene with Geordi was shortened, then an opportunity to give the character some meat was lost. He ends up merely as a device to kill Kirk. This film does give the chance to compare and contrast the two crews of the Enterprise and admittedly, I do enjoy the beginning aboard the Enterprise B. Alan Ruck is excellent as Captain Harriman and I would have preferred more time spent on that ship. But then I have always preferred the original series movies. You can see the differences in the characters when you see the interactions between Kirk, Scotty and Chekov. They are obviously enjoying themselves and the lighthearted banter and gentle teasing between them is something that has always been a part of the original cast. It`s something that is natural and compelling, and something that is less apparent in Picard`s crew. The Next Gen cast play their parts with accustomed ease. Most noteworthy are Patrick Stewart, who is impressive as always as Picard, and Brent Spiner finally gets to emote courtesy of an emotion chip for Data. Whoopi Goldberg is uncredited as Guinan, but her role is pivotal to the story.

A fairly disappointing and disjointed story is somewhat redeemed by the sheer spectacle of the first cinema outing for the Next Generation. The plot has holes that you can pilot a starship through, ahem. But the cast performances make up for the shortcomings. After seven years, certain people were tired of the Enterprise D and a spectacular crash results. There is an appropriate degree of big screen schmaltz as Data cries custard tears over his cat. And this is the film where Kirk dies, so that has to count for something, and although Spock may have come back to life in Star Trek III, the same thing can`t happen again, can it? There are a series of preposterous books, starting with The Ashes of Eden and continuing with The Return, Spectre, Dark Victory and Preserver where just that happens, and Captain Kirk continues to save the galaxy in some far-fetched stories set in the 24th Century. The author is a certain William Shatner. He just wouldn`t let it lie. But when it comes to the films, Generations will always be where Kirk kicked the proverbial bucket. Taken with a pinch of salt, Generations is a harmless bit of fun. Great sound and picture but an otherwise anorexic disc means you should look for this in a bargain bucket somewhere. It does the job as the Next Generation`s first screen outing but thankfully better was to come.

As usual, take a mark or two off if you aren`t a Star Trek fan.