Star Trek: Generations

After celebrating the promotion of a crew member, Captain Jean-Luc Picard hears some distressing news regarding his family. Meanwhile, a rogue scientist receives help from a group of rogue Klingons, to destroy several major stars, in order to affect the gravitational path of a strange ribbon in space, which will allow him to return to an alternate dimension known as the Nexus. In order to stop him, Picard needs help, and he receives it from someone who has been dead for over 75 years!

Released in 1994, and directed by David Carson; Star Trek: Generations is a science fiction film, and the seventh film in the Star Trek film series. The film stars Patrick Stewart, Malcolm McDowell, William Shatner, and Whoopi Goldberg, with Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, and James Doohan in supporting roles. The film went into production whilst the final series of Star Trek: The Next Generation was being made, with the script being written by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, and Ronald D. Moore; who would later go on to develop the 2003 reimagined series of Battlestar Galactica.

I have never really been a big fan, well, not even a fan of Star Trek…but I did try to be. Growing up it was really hard to ignore, as the show was on TV very frequently. I grew up during the Next Generation era, and it was always on Saturday nights on BBC. The first episode I ever saw, featured some kind of outdoor theatre show; which I didn’t really understand, but I was a little interested in the character with the weird visor.

As the years passed, I saw a little more here and there, and then in my teenage years I did tried to get more involved with the show on a fan level. This mainly came in the form of watching repeats of Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager; but it really didn’t take any kind of hold. It really is a Marmite thing; you either like it, or you don’t. Doesn’t mean I outright shun it though, because whilst the whole being of Star Trek has never really attached itself to my life, I do enjoy watching it from time to time, especially so for the Next Generation movie quadrilogy.

Just for the record though, I have never really seen all that much of Nemesis; but the three preceeding films, I have seen them all the way through, on many occassions. The first time I saw Generations was back in 2000/2001 I belive, when it was on TV. It’s a surprisingly pleasant and relaxing experience, because it doesn’t really feel like you watching a film, but rather an extended episode of the TV series. There’s an increased level of action, but it goes along at a very easy pace. This pace allows plenty of time for explanation, and it doesn’t mean you are overloaded with too much information, nor is it blurred between intense adrenaline induced moments. That’s what makes it more of a pleasant ride, with the ocassional dip, but not too much to handle.

You can’t help but notice however, how weird it is. There are several things which may look like inconsistencies, but may be more understandable to the more die-hard Star Trek fan. Firstly you can’t help but notice how the style of uniforms keep switching. Some characters wear the uniforms where the shoulders are black, with coloured torso’s; whilst others are wearing coloured in shoulders and black torso’s. Now again this may be perfectly understandable, but outside of the Star Trek domain, it looks more like they burned half the Next Generation original uniforms, and quickly replaced them with available ones not being used on Voyager.

Data‘s constant quest to become more human can be a bit tiresome at times. It’s perhaps again something which may make more sense in the fandom, but to an outsider’s perspective, it can get borring, real quick. The emotional chip that gets inserted in his brain in this film, may turn him more into a comedy sidekick, but on the other hand, he his rather awkward to be around, and largely slows down the plot. I wonder if it was inserted into this film, to give him a chance to be occassionally dramatic?

There are some weird things in this film, but there are also some good touches of weirdness too, which provide some more memorable moments. These range from the Starship Enterprise losing it’s saucer section, creating one of the film’s best moments (whilst also providing it’s most tragic, with the image of a Teddy Bear being left behind, to be engulfed in flames as the body section explodes…it’s not right). Then there’s the horse riding scene, which whilst not much to look at, is backed up with the theme to Deep Space Nine, creating one of the film’s most truly pleasant scenes.

And then there’s the inclusion of William Shatner. Again, I have no real experience of watching the original Star Trek TV series (other than that episode of Deep Space Nine when they visit the original enterprise), so I cannot make any comparisons to how Shatner was in the original compared to Generations. But I can see parallels to his role in Airplane II: The Sequel.

His rather awkward presence, and delivery of speech, in somewhat regular circumstances, it’s like he walked off the set of Airplane II, and just kept going. In this instance though, he’s doing it out of dramatic and poiniant reasons, where as his delivery in Airplane II was of course more comedy based. But this approach with nice little flips and interuptions, just makes his scenes so enjoyable to watch, as he talks with a more human-like approach, whilst also providing moments to make you smile.

Star Trek: Generations is a a fun, and also frequently relaxing movie, that is so easy to get into, even if you’re not a huge fan of Star Trek. It’s an easy watch to, as it’s direction comes across more like an extended TV show, so you’re not preparing yourself to watch a movie; you are simply just sitting down to watch a TV show. It does have some in-frequencies, but these infrequencies add to it’s overall charm; which in turn create some truly memorable moments!