Star Trek: Generations

When Star Trek VI was in early pre-production, one of the ideas bandied about was a meeting between Captains Kirk and Picard. Since Star Trek: The Next Generation was still doing well on TV, they did not at that point want to make the leap to the big screen. Once that series wrapped at the end of season seven, the plot line was resurrected as a sort of passing of the torch. While not the best film in the series, I do still have a lot of affection for Star Trek: Generations. 

While overseeing the launch and test run of the new Enterprise starship, the newly retired Kirk (played by William Shatner), along with Scotty (played by James Doohan) and Chekov (played by Walter Koenig) is finding himself missing the good old days of his time in the Captain's chair of the Enterprise. He finds an opportunity when the Enterprise B has to respond to a distress signal. A couple of ships are caught in a strange energy ribbon. In attempting to rig up a solution, something goes wrong and there is a hull breach of the Enterprise B and Kirk is sucked out into space and into the ribbon, but the Enterprise is able to break free and was able to rescue several members from one of the ships via the transporters, including a strange man named Soran (played by Malcolm McDowell) and future Enterprise-D bartender Guinan (played by Whoopi Goldberg).

We then move 78 years into the future with the Next Generation crew celebrating the promotion of Lt. Worf (played by Michael Dorn) on a 18th century sailing ship version of the Enterprise via the Holodeck when Picard receives some tragic news that his brother and nephew were killed in a fire and leaves the festivities. Picard later explains to the ship's counselor Troi (played Marina Sirtis), that his brother having a family meant he felt free to focus on his Starfleet career and that the Picard name would still live on but not anymore. Meanwhile, the Enterprise receives a distress call from an observatory overlooking the Amargosa star. Arriving there, they rescue the people from the observatory, including Soran. After talking with Soran, Picard gets a bad feeling about the man and his suspicions are raised. Engineer Geordi LaForge (played by LeVar Burton) and the android Data (played by Brent Spiner) check out the observatory and find evidence of the radioactive Trilithium crystals. Before they can investigate further, Soran arrives and kidnaps Geordi, beaming them both aboard a renegade Klingon ship commanded by the treacherous Duras sisters, who eventually beam Geordi back with a spy chip installed on his visor so the Duras sisters can find a way to defeat the Enterprise. 

Discussing his concerns about Soran with Guinan, Picard learns that both Guinan and Soran were in the energy ribbon, which is a gateway to a place called the Nexus which creates a fantasy filled with pure joy for anyone who is in it. Neither Guinan nor Soran wanted to leave the Nexus, but were forced to during the collision between the starships and the energy ribbon all those years ago. While Guinan came to terms with the fact she couldn't go back, Soran has been obsessed with getting back and is prepared to do anything he can to get back. Picard departs the Enterprise, leaving the command of the ship to his second in command Will Riker (played by Jonathan Frakes). With his initial attempt to stop Soran thwarted, Picard finds himself in the Nexus and after rejecting his own fantasy, comes to find James Kirk at a Mountain cabin, chopping wood. He is able to convince Kirk to join him in defeating Soran. The two then leave the Nexus, and because they leave it willingly they can apparently go anywhere they want, they team up to stop Soran from achieving his plan, which would not only destroy a star, but also a planet populated with nearly 300 million lives.

While it is a far from perfect film, there is still a lot to like about Star Trek: Generations. The first part was the thrill of seeing Captain Kirk and Captain Picard working side by side. I had always really liked both Captains, so seeing them brought together was something special and the film came up with a unique way to do it with the creation of the Nexus. There is just something about the Nexus that captured my imagination. I can't help but wonder what it would be like to go into the Nexus. What fantasy would it conjure up for me? The cinematography of the film is at times breathtakingly beautiful, especially in the scenes set at Kirk's mountain cabin (I know I'm not the only Star Trek fan who wanted that place!). Likewise, the special effects are rather strong, including a new room in the Enterprise-D where Picard and Data figure out Soran's plan (and the room rather reminded me of Cerebro from the X-Men movies which also star Patrick Stewart!) There is also the impressive crash of the Enterprise into a nearby planet following an attack from the Duras sisters. And maybe it's because I've been watching on the Star Trek films on such a compacted timeframe, but I also, to my surprise, found myself becoming rather emotional at Kirk's final scene in the film. While I've always really liked Picard and even Sisko and Janeway from the series Deep Space Nine and Voyager, Kirk was always my favorite. So, naturally his final scene had some added poignancy to it, even if how it went about was never a hundred percent satisfactory to me.

But there are also some problems with the film as well. The film was directed by David Carson, who had previously directed several episodes of both The Nex Generation and Deep Space Nine, which probably explains why the film tends to feel like an expanded episode of the series, rather than a true feature film. There are grand moments in the film, like the ones I previously mentioned, but the overall feel of the film ties much more to the series. Part of it may be that this film literally came out the fall after the series ended in 1994. There are also some nagging plot holes that the writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore don't quite manage to explain, such as how the Guinan that exists in the Nexus can know who Picard is as well as explain to him where to find Kirk and how the Nexus works. And I won't even try to figure out how Worf can fall overboard the sailing ship Enterprise and land in the water and actually get wet on the Holodeck.        

Despite my quibbles, I've always enjoyed Star Trek: Generations. For an odd numbered Star Trek movie, it's not bad. It has some unique and imaginative plot lines to it along with some added humor from Data getting his emotions chip put back in. It's not a perfect movie by any stretch, but it is one I have enjoyed nonetheless.