Just a measly six months before Star Trek: Generations was released theatrically the hugely popular
syndicated series ended its seven year run. This flick was rushed into
production (I read that the whole crew only received one day off in between the
show ending and the start of filming the feature) and the story was to be a
“passing of the torch” to bridge the gap between the two casts. While I did
have a huge amount of love for this flick when it was first released in 1994 I
have to admit that my feelings toward it have changed significantly over the
years.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard
(Patrick Stewart), with the help of supposedly long dead Captain Kirk (William
Shatner), must stop a madman willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to
locate and enter a space bound phenomenon known as The Nexus.
The story is a convoluted mess. I was willing to make
excuses for it back in the day, but now when I watch it my head hurts. The
whole idea of the Nexus is dumb and is a cop-out writing device to get the two
captains together. If the filmmakers just focused on making the best Next Generation movie they possibly
could without having to resort to the lame crossover stuff I’m sure this could
have been a winner. As it is the narrative is all over the place, there are
jarring tonal shifts and some of the characters go through ridiculously stupid
changes that come off as annoying instead of interesting (Data getting his
emotion chip).
The cast is fine and give it their all, especially Patrick
Stewart. The uber talented Shakespearean actor gets some truly heartbreaking
moments where he mourns the loss of his only family (the episode “Family” which
dealt with those characters is one of my favorites), and when the Nexus gives
him a family of his own you see him act in ways that he never has before. His
arc is one of the only aspects of the movie that truly works.
Brent Spiner, who plays my favorite character in this cast,
just goes completely overboard once Data’s emotion chip is installed. We’re
talking off the deep end overboard. He’s supposed to be feeling emotions for
the first time, but all he really does is come off as an annoyingly bi-polar
stand-up comedian. He just does and says stupid shit for the entire film; his
Macaulay Culkin arm pumping “YES!” and when he sings while scanning for life
forms are two of the dumbest moments in the entire franchise. And I’m sorry to
point out, dear screenwriters, that finding something funny isn’t an emotional
reaction, it’s an intellectual one.
The rest of the cast runs around like chickens with their
heads cut off. There’s LeVar Burton’s Geordie being kidnapped and his visor
used as a spying tool (an overused cliché from the series), Marina Sirtis’
Counselor Troi piloting the Enterprise during a Klingon assault (tying up a
loose end from the series) and Riker doing some random stuff that isn’t
important. It was a little strange that Worf (Michael Dorn) was
dating Troi at the end of the final episode and here it's totally abandoned with no
explanation.
All the guest stars are great, especially Whoopi Goldberg
and Malcolm McDowell. We get a little bit of insight into what makes Guinan
tick and some welcome backstory. Malcolm McDowell makes for a completely
credible emotional villain. He’s been driven mad with sorrow from the loss of
his family and will go to any length, including destroying entire solar
systems, to be with them one more time in the Never-Never Land of the Nexus. He
knows what people’s emotional weak spots are and exploits them to get what he
wants (“Time is the fire in which we burn”), and when forced to fight he’s not
unlike anyone else – he fights dirty. I bought into his plight and he ends up
being one of the few things worth watching this movie for.
Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley weren’t interested in
coming back once again, so Walter Koenig and James Doohan took their place
alongside William Shatner one last time. They just do what they always do, play two small moons in orbit of the red dwarf known as Kirk. We get to see a different side of Kirk inside
the Nexus, one who is desperate not to lose the love of his life like he did in
reality years before. One who has given up on Starfleet and finally wants to do
something for himself. It’s a nice change, but he goes back into swashbuckling
mode once Picard throws his “duty” in his face. Shatner looks like he’s having
fun riding horses, jumping across chasms and smacking punk bitches. He sells the
bad crossover plot device, but his death scene (yes, a bridge falls on him) is
kind of lame.
Director David Carson, who had helmed some of the better
episodes of the series, was hired to take on the mammoth task of cranking out a
major effects filled event film in under a year. Unfortunately he kind of
failed. Sure the action is cool, the Enterprise gets destroyed and some of the players turn in amazing performances,
but he seems to love awkward camera moves (all the bridge bound handheld
panning from person to person in one take shots), dark and dreary looking sets, lame humor and overly
melodramatic crap (Data finding Spot is more goofy than heartwarming). Sure
most of it can be blamed on writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, but he actually
directed these bad ideas and somehow made them worse. There’s a reason he went
from making a Hollywood blockbuster to cranking out direct to video garbage
afterward.
Star Trek: Generations
is not a complete disaster like The Final
Frontier, but it’s definitely not a great entry in the franchise either.
It’s just kind of there to let you know that the Next Generation crew had moved to the big screen and that the next
sequel would (hopefully) be better. It’s watchable, but the good parts are few
and far between.
2 out of 5
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