There's a sweet Star Trek movie comic! ...Unfortunately, it won't arrive until Tuesday.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Star Trek: Generations
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66 comments:
It's been a LONG while since I've seen the movie though I'm sure the meeting between Kirk and Picard was done much better in the movie than the comic.
Fortunately, we have First Contact which is not only the best of the four Next Generation movies, but the only good one as some claimed. I'm sure what you meant about the 2009 reboot is the comic prequel that bridges the gap between Nemesis and the reboot. Plus, I would love to hear your thoughts about the spin-off comics from Into Darkness that feature Khan.
Really looking forward to your First Contact comic review, as that is my personal favorite (though I acknowledge that Wrath of Khan is the best movie).
If I have any complaints about this review (or very minor quibble), it's that you didn't acknowledge how much younger Kirk looks here in comparison to the actual movie (though I suppose that could be forgiven, considering the limited resources they had access to).
You know, I really wish that they’d make a Series about Harriman. The show would be about him learning to become a better Captain, trying to get out of the shame he brought from the Christening, make a name for himself, etc.
I even considered there be one episode where we see how he deals with a Red Shirt scenario.
And then Scotty will live in denial and think when he’s resurrected seventy years later, Kirk is still alive and got Enterprise A out of Mothballs to find him.
A problem with this is the Art, as a majority of the characters are in a Neutral Face.
Surely, if performers are asked permission to use their likeness, should they at least have a photo session with them doing the Twenty Five Expressions Meme?
Maybe the Nexus is the reason that Guinan was so understanding about what was going on, when the Doctor showed up in Assimilation2 and knowing what a Tardis is? Maybe the Nexus Ribbon is actually the Cracks in Time?
Guinan’s smile there looks she’s asking; “Want to know how I got these scars!?”
Wait…Viridian System? Is there a gym leaded by Giovanni there?
Why would Picard give a Captains Log either?
“Captains Log, I need to stp this evil mastermind from…wait…Oh Nuts!”
Still, Nice Review, Linkara. ;3
Looking forward to seeing more from you.
The star implosion line made me sad and facepalm :(
Also why I get the feeling that if Data didnt have that emotion chip when Solan pulled his stunt, all of that could have been avoided?
I'm gonna miss that running joke of McCoy owing Spock $10.
Also....Mmmmmmmmm GRAVY.
I also don't have Generations hate that much of the fan base seems have. it is easily on my top 5 Trek films list
So, since the only star that could be between earth and Proxima Centauri is the sun... please stop Linksano, little foam lizard! o.0
Well, for the space suit solution, here's my problem with that premise, if the thing is going to damage star ships, then what do you think it would do to a guy in a space suit? Probably wouldn't get as close as you could in a star ship to the Nexus.
This was also my first theatrically seen Trek movie, and I did fairly enjoy it at the time. However, the problem with the movie is that it still mostly feels like an episode of the TV series. The feature film production values are there, but the writers still approach it like they were going into season eight of the show. They don't elevate the material to cinematic proportions, or at least, have enough sense to cutout the B plots to focus more strongly on the A plots and flesh them out so they feel more substantive.
Writers Ron Moore & Brannon Braga believe that "All Good Things" turned out better, but I'm not so sure. That series finale was so overloaded with techno-babble that it left the human substance of the story behind. At least Generations had a semblance of humanity weaved into its story talking about death, emotions, and cherishing the time you have in life. If Generations was just an episode of the series and NOT a movie, it might have gone over a little better, but for a theatrical film, it falls short of what that's supposed to be.
What do you mean only one expression? Look at that cute face on Guinan!
I will confess, I actually think the first 30 minutes of the film is pretty solid in itself, but somewhat dragged down by the rest of it. Otherwise, will say I liked the review, nice analysis on the contrast between the two mediums.
Will say one thing though, and apologies if it turns out there's other comments waiting in the wing saying similar, but an implosion producing a shockwave is technically correct, especially with stars, since that's how Type II Supernovae occur. Material condenses, can no longer contain itself, energy ripples outward - and with stars, the sheer density reignites fusion on such a ridiculous scale that the resulting burst will basically destroy anything in range, and output more power in a single moment than the star will have as a whole for much of its lifespan.
...Mind you that doesn't really fit with what happens in Generations anyway, since the star implodes from lack of fusion but just turns kind of... grey, and the shockwave is just a shockwave, not the star going nova from the implosion. Its like whoever they had on as scientific advisor for the film had all the info they needed, but just couldn't remember the word 'supernova' itself.
Damn it, watching this reminded me of how much nicer the old ship was vs the E.
As switching from that to the E is like switching from a B2 Bomber to an art deco A10 Warthog with some bright blue and redneon strapped to it
its just not the same
Plus there's no explanation as to why the Ship survived till 2394 in that one time line and not this one, damn it.
I mean Kirk's death I can accept but not that.
Man I wish they could have explained it away as some sort of outside influence or something that fried the weapon systems, like Q doing it so the borg wouldnt be able to capture picard again in the next movies borg attack.
you know something that would make sense, or atleast make it a Romulan warbird or that klingon vor'cha attacking it as that bird of prey should have had the stopping power of a spitball against a ship that could have doubled as a mobile city in space.
This is practically a barrage of technobabble and Star Trek cliches. The main deflector dish, proton torpedoes, quantum, space/time continuum, etc.
But anyway, it seems to me that the movie's problems were in execution, not premise (mostly). The theme of three characters, two protagonists and one villain, all dealing with their mortality and wanting more time to do what they wish could be a very compelling story. Just not how it was done in this movie.
On the uniforms, if SFDebris is correct the uniform problem was due to the budget. Of course that raises the question of why they had the cast on a ship, in period costumes. That can't have been cheap and I'm pretty sure the money would have been much better spent on basic necessities like the regular costumes.
The script is pretty clearly written to get characters from point A to point B without stopping to have it make sense.
Data decided to have his emotion chip of uncertain safety installed in the middle of a politically dangerous investigation that could mean the threat of war with a neighboring power.
Information critical to the plot is not provided naturally through dialogue but instead is just thrown at the reader.
I'm with Linkara on this one. I liked Generations as an entertaining ride as a kid. Is it good, hell no! But it's not the worse.
As for one of the plotholes, I'm going to need to disagree with him on why Picard and Kirk don't go back to where the Enterprise finds Soran and the station.
Yeah, it would change the timeline... but for the better! If they went back and threw Soran in the brig, and maybe blown up the station, nobody on the Enterprise would have died, the Klingons wouldn't have died, and a star system wouldn't have been turned into galactic dust!
Could've been worse. At least they had Alan Ruck doing his role from "Ferris Bueller" rather than his role from "Spin City."
Though that would've at least been entertaining, if most likely NSFW.
one thing iv always wondered is that if the nexus is somehow outside of time does that mean that even changing the timeline so Saran doesn't get into the nexus actually mean anything
they have changed the timeline but he is in a place outside of time so why would it affect him
and also if a echo of you stays does that mean that there is a echo of Saran that never left or even echos of Picard and Kirk thinking that they have left the nexus but are still trapped inside it living out new adventures
Apparently the uniform thing is even weirder. Because they did make new uniforms for the movie. (which can be seen on the toys) Sort of like crosses between the TV uniforms and TOS Movie uniforms and then decided not to use them.
And of course using the DS9 uniforms here and on VGR mucked things up because on DS9 there was the strong implication that they were specific uniforms for station personnel compared to starship ones since all the starfleet guest stars had TNG uniforms and Sisko even switched back to that style when he was assigned to earth.
Great review as always. Your Star Trek reviews always make me laugh.
Generations was also the first Star Trek movie I saw in theaters. I enjoyed it at the time, but now that I'm older, I can see the flaws and other things that don't quite work out.
The uniform thing always confused me too.
I look forward to the next Star Trek review sometime this summer.
There are certainly other, better contenders for worst Star Trek movie, but it's also not really one of the best, either. I'm of the school of thought that says Generations would have been a good two-part episode of Next Gen.
I'll give the people behind this one credit for managing to do this as well as they did. Generations was an OK movie, but light in a lot of areas, so not much to work with.
Great review. Generations was pretty much my favorite of the movies as a kid, maybe second to First Contact, and while its flaws have become more apparent in my adulthood, I still enjoy the hell out of it. Though I had no idea the Enterprise-B's Captain was named Harriman. He's just always been Captain Cameron to me.
And thanks to Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, I'm now imagining him as a giant posh rabbit with a top hat and monocle. "Ensign Francis! Your presence is required in the foyer!"
And yeah, I can never remember Boring Lady's name either. Even though I'm sure SF Debris said it in his review and I've watched that one several times. I get the feeling it was... Merida? Something like that? I dunno. Screw Insurrection. I could never remember what that one was about as a kid.
Anonymous LucasChad said:
"I'm sure what you meant about the 2009 reboot is the comic prequel that bridges the gap between Nemesis and the reboot."
I'm pretty sure that he meant the actual comic book adaptation of the 2009 movie.
Anyway, great review Lewis and I mostly agree with you about the movie. It has tons of flaw, but unlike some other bad Trek movies, it wasn't unbearable and seeing Kirk and Picard interact was kinda fun.
Can't wait for hearing your thoughts on First Contact. It is one of my favorites (can't decide whenever it should be 2 or 3 on my Top-5 list), but it also has many things to criticize.
One question before leaving: when you say that those Shatner's book are isane, do you mean in good and entertaining way or in facepalmingly stupid way?
Very Yes on Sisko! While I think that TNG is my favorite of the Trek series, Sisko is just suck a badass that DS9 almost wins by dint of that alone.
Awesome review as usual. First time poster, long time watcher.
Being a bit of a Star Trek nerd myself, I would like to show you (if you haven't already seen it) one of the best recaps of First Contact, I have ever seen. It is really damn catchy.. or at least midly catchy. There are some off key notes, but I don't think it hurts it too much. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7h7Mfe8BDw
I have a similar view on this movie to what SFdebris said, it doesn't really feel like it's about anything. There are ideas for themes, but they don't seem explored enough to know what to do with them. It's made worse by them deciding to to bring Kirk in when Star Trek 6 was intended as the last finale for the TOS cast (and it was a damn good one). It just seems like another case of them not knowing what they want to do, especially since they killed Kirk just because they could. Me, I feel he's only allowed to die of it's in a crossover with Star Wars and if it's somebody like Darth Vader killing him.
I suspect the reason for the hilariously awkward "the Klingons beam Picard down" thing was originally intended to set up the Shield Frequency trick by bringing up the idea that they can't beam to Soton because he's got a shield up and the Klingons can go right through because they know the frequency.
But this was cut at some point in the drafts so we're left with a contrived setup of "only Picard can go down" that was originally supposed to feel less contrived because it would be a thematic/logical pre-echo of a major plot point; at least its contrived nature would serve a purpose.
I bet they cut it to avoid drawing attention to the whole "Wait, why is Picard the only one beaming down? That's DUMB! Shit full of Starfleet engineers and NO ONE can figure out how to get through Soron's Radio Shack shield?"
I think Picard is holding an invisible phaser on the cover. By the way, nice to see the foam lizard again.
Oh, Star Trek comics, how I wish I could comment on the quality in comparison to the movie.
I do like the bit between Linksano and the Blue Lizard
Anij.
The wait for the next storyline is killing me. Please tell me that 90's Kid plays a big part in it. I'm love to see him step-up and become the unofficial "second-in-command" for once as opposed to Harvey. I love Harvey, but it's 90's Kid's time to shine, baby.
Linkara, I don't know which was more horrifying - the Gordon Purcell/Jerome K. Moore rendering of Whoopi Goldberg's Cheshire Cat-esque smile, or your wearing of the green TOS wraparound!
Moore did some great covers for DC's Star Trek series over the years, though his extensive use of shade lines belied the limited coloring capacity of the era. Unfortunately, he overwhelmed Purcell's pencils for most of the issue, and probably the one time he managed to really capture the essence of the moment was Data's seizure.
With regards to the uniform changes... we do know they were planning some funky wraparound variant of the TNG uniform - the original movie toys used this design - but while that evidently didn't work out, I'm guessing the idea behind the changes between the TNG and DS9 unis was maybe something of a nod to the many uni changes in ST:TMP? After all, Kirk had at least four uniform variants (not counting his spacesuit) in that one. Of course, it really comes down to Voyager using those jumpsuits, and the brain trust probably just wanted to establish them as appearing on starships and not just space stations.
Finally, I'm with you - as much as I like Kirk and Picard (and I grew up with Kirk via reruns and the movies), Sisko is my favorite too.
You see I have to get this out there. Everyone says that he couldn't use a starship, or a spacesuit because it would damage it... Only that doesn't matter!
Since the ribbon itself destroyed the planet or the implosion wave did later on. I just remember the planet blowing up in the movie.
So honestly your telling me you can create a device to blow up planets... but you can't say create a space suit that can withstand the forces of the ribbon till you get into it. Since once your in it, your safe, your free, your all that!
I mean come on! This is the same universe that uses artificial black holes for Romulan warp engines and where you have space stations built on top of black holes for a power source of some kind... I mean the exuse that if a space ship couldn't surive then a space suit couldn't is BS.
You could've found a way, had to be easier, like I said he just had to get into the nexus.
So how about buying a space ship or maybe a pod, reinforce it, shoot it towards the nexus while wearing a heavy space suit with a portable force field generator so that when your space ship blows up you go flying the rest of the way into it and your not hit by the debries of your ship.
I mean you can try and defend that all you want, and I'll just say that he could've focused on making better defenses then BLOWING UP STARS!
When Kirk was lecturing the new captain about risk, I couldn't help thinking of this clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toG6aSQFF7Y
AAH, CREEPY GUINAN FACE!!!
I remember seeing bits of the Kirk/Picard meeting before but never saw the movie. But it does seem pretty bad if the comic has anything to say about it. Oh and smart usage of the Ferris Bueller clips at the start; those were funny.
I know that here is a movie comic for the Star Trek 2009 movie, but I hope that you will also review Star Trek: Countdown, the prequel comic. I'd be happy to send it to you if you don't have it.
And despite what you said, I wouldn't mind seeing an hour long Star Trek review :-)
Of course the novels are insane, they're written by Shatner. Still I think the Nexus was meant to be a big plothole. I mean it's pretty much the Star Trek equivalent to heaven, which while considered unknowable in fictional mediums as well as real life, also implies that it takes you to your heart's desire. Heck Green Mile a book that has nothing to do with Star Trek had Bitterbuck describe heaven in almost the same way the Nexus was described. Though if I were to guess where it came from Star Trek wise I think it was the result of the Klingons destroying the God in Star Trek V. When it was blown up a wave of energy passed them all by, but odds are wasn't strong enough to do anything until the time Generations took place.
Well there is a (awfully contrived) way to explain why the enterprise was the only ship in range:
Earth is in the butt hole of our galaxy(so to speak).Granted,I dont know what borders of the federation are,but they could be made in a way that makes earth well isolated from everyone,with only one side exposed.So naturally,you would put all your ships on that side,and if anything happened in the back,you would have only those ships in the orbital docks in range to help them.
The things I remember most about seeing this movie were a younger step-brother only taking away that data cursed and being pissed as all hell they killed off those Klingon sisters. (I am feeling too sleepy/lazy to look up how to spell there names.)
I didn't even realize they'd re-used the footage from ST6 with the Bird of Prey exploding that's so beyond lame it's not even funny.
The thing that struck me again while you did the review is I thought most places on Earth had super safety systems, how did both the brother and nephew die in the fire? I know we see the Picard vineyard in the series and it isn't that modernized but still, it felt odd to me. I'm sure there was a way it could happen but it still makes me confused. Hell in the episode where that girl is finding out she's a Q there is the mention of how the tornado killed her parents and how it had been odd the things that keep bad weather from happening hadn't stopped it.
Also, I know this is another nitpick but Scotty must have forgotten Kirk was declared dead before going into the transporter buffer in 'Relics' since he thought Kirk was the one who rescued him when he heard the name Enterprise.
Though I'm sure some of that was the fact that the role wasn't originally written for Scotty in the movie.
@dragons_dusk
Team Sisko here as well, even if you meant it for laughs.
I took the adaptation of the Data/Crusher scene a little differently. To me it comes off as vindication for the view that Crusher had nobody to blame for her spontaneous plunge but herself, that Data's response, everyone's reaction to it notwithstanding, was so obvious and predictable it was unnecessary to explicitly show it. In other words, for all of Beverly's attempts to get everyone else to lighten up, she's pretty bad at taking her own medicine.
"You know, I really wish that they’d make a Series about Harriman. The show would be about him learning to become a better Captain, trying to get out of the shame he brought from the Christening, make a name for himself, etc."
The actor does play this character again in one of those fan films.
I mostly agree with you on Generations; it's not quite a godawful mess, and it has some nice moments, it's just...uneven. And the plot is just weird and fanfic-y. It's not really worth hate, but not really worth further attention.
It's been quite a journey getting through the Trek movies in comic form...I look forward to First Contact. I think it's legitimately one of the best films. Sure, you can nitpick things with the plot and time travel stuff, but then you can nitpick plot holes with TWOK, and nobody holds that against it.
Also, nearly everyone in this comic is pale enough that they may as well be all androids like Data.
With the implosion thing...I get the impression the writers imagine the thingy imploding, and then bursting outward as the energy releases. Still kinda confusing why shockwaves are so damn prevalent in a vacuum like space where, y'know, there's no air to displace.
What did you think of the Countdown comic to the 2009 movie, by the way?
Hah! Awesome. Had to stop watching as soon as you said this. My favorite Star Trek captain is Benjamin as well!
Well blabla (and Kain at the tgwtg site) have pointed out the main thing I wanted to point out about Proxima Centauri being an odd choice for having a star blocking Linksano's view (contra blabla I'm not to worried that Linksano means he wants to blow up the Sun to get an unobstructed view because even though the sun is a star people don't usually call it such). I was guessing that might have been intentional to demonstrate Linksano's insanity or Linksanity and incompetence (and of course the insanity of Soran's plan).
I would say I can see why a ship or space suit etc. would not work because remember the people on the ships in the ribbon were phasing out of reality but also back in (or at least the phrase "phasing in and out" implies that). If the ship explodes while they are in phase with the universe then you do not get to go to the mega happy fun place. I imagine it might likewise rip apart the space suit while you are phased in. Why a planet (that is about to get destroyed by an implosion) would make it easier to fully enter the Nexus is not as clear. However, I think Arc above has a good point, it just strains suspension of disbelief that it is easier to destroy stars than defend against or otherwise avoid the destructive powers around the ribbon.
As always a funny review. Am I the only one who think Soran just wanted to go to the Sock 'op?
I don't think I could pick my favourite Star Fleet captain.
YES! That's Captain Benjamin DON'TFUCKWITHTHE Sisko!
And yes, I paused your video just to post this comment. The Sisko demanded it.
First Trek movie I saw in the theatre was V, I was four at the time.
I do agree with you about this being the least bad of the odd numbered movies (and better than Nemesis as well), I think the emotional arcs for Data and Picard were interesting enough in addition to the Klingon angle.
It's a damn shame that Q was never used for any of the movies though.
The novels that William Shatner wrote about Kirk being alive after this you regard as insane.
Insane in the good way or not?
Team Sisko all the way. Even Q learned that you don't mess with him :3
I think Picard's supposed to hold a phaser on the cover o_O
Why do the movies always have to draw the "only ship in range" when the Enterprise is still in the heart of the Federation? Why not just follow the shows and have distress calls happen when the Enterprise is in one of the more thinly populated regions?
Don't insult shapeshifting salt vampires. They get RESULTS, dammit!
That uniform-thing is weird. They had some strange budget priorities.
And since when are phasers blue o_O ?
I'm rather wondering why Picard didn't travel far enough through time to warn his brother and nephew. He could've at least thought about that.
The part about Data controlling is emotions is basically how he's now just like everyone else. He got carried away earlier because he didn't know what to do with his emotions, acting VERY impulsively in the process.
(Or something along that way at least)
Honestly, with the amount of capabilities they've assigned to the deflector dish over the years, I'm surprised that people still bother constructing ships with any other parts. We've seen deflector dishes handle weapons (here), communications (first contact), movement (scorpion), sensors (datalore), and, as the name says, defence (the outrageous okana). It's been used as a deus ex machina so often, I'm pretty sure a deflector dish better at performing any task than the rest of the ship.
IiThis was the first ST film I saw in theaters and I didn't really like it when I first so it but warmed to it on video. I think part of the reason this film gets a bad rap is because of how friggin' misleading the trailers are. They made it like the whole movie was Kirk and Picard working together but that isn't until the very end.
Also, I think you misunderstand Soran's character. You say that that he is a hypocrite because he says that death happens to everyone and that makes him poorly written. First, ALL villains are hypocrite to one degree or another. Second, he wants to get to the Nexus to DEFEAT death. "The predator has no teeth." His depression and grief can make people do mental gymnastics to justify shitty behaviors. Honestly, Lewis, your nitpicking tendencies can be a serious liability at certain points. For instance, I could launch into a whole diatribe about how the Spock/McCoy 10 bucks running gag isn't funny and 10 bucks is such a paltry sum of money to get wound up about. Plus, isn't money obsolete in the Federation? There. That was some pretty pointless nitpicking right there. I hope I am not being a douche about this. I just think you either think about things way too much at times to the point of misconstruing their meanings.
And yes, I love SF Debris even though I don't always agree with him and his occassional use of "Corky" jokes.
You may already know this, but the novels addressed some of the points in your review.
"Enterprise Logs" has one short story for each Enterprise captain, including Harriman. According to that, he got the job because his father was an admiral.
In "The Captain's Daughter" (I think), Harriman is a lot more sympathetic during the rescue scene. Basically, when Kirk suggests "Use the tractor beam", Harriman is thinking "Yes, I've already thought of that, and if I had a tractor beam then I would use it! Now shut up and stop distracting me, I need to come up with another plan." However, he can't say that when all the reporters are pointing cameras at him, so he just has to smile politely and pretend that Kirk is being useful.
In one of Peter David's novels (possibly the first "New Frontier" story), Riker and Picard are standing in the wreckage of the Enterprise-D, and Riker is tempted to suggest feeding Picard's dead fish to Data's cat so that they don't go to waste.
I always viewed the film as this:
Picard never left the Nexus.
The Nexus can produce and simulate any want or desire the individual has. Picard did not want a fantasy family life as it first offered, but instead wanted conflict and the chance to set right his last big failure.
So the Nexus generated that. And of course Picard wins, all of his friends survive the Enterprise crash, and they all get put back on the Enterprise E to travel together into eternity. He even gets an improbable love interest in 2 of the next 3 films, something he rarely did in the series.(*Nemesis Spoiler*) Even when his fantasy produces the death of his friend Data, the fantasy already has a backup in B4 set to replace Data exactly.(*end spoiler*)
Picard never left the Nexus. At least that is how I like to view it. It negates the unspectacular death of Kirk, the revelation a Borg Queen exists and was his ex-girlfriend, everything about Insurrection, and the nonsensical setup and wrapup of Nemesis. And that keeps me enjoying TNG and DS9 much more than the alternative.
I liked the movie but I will admit the costume changes kept throwing me off. Only thing I wish you had done was sing SFDebris backstory song for this movie, that would've been awesome.
Also Guinan's smile scares me.
For those of you asking about the Shatner novels I will abridged the first arc thusly:
Kirk falls in love with a woman named Teilani who as it turns out is a Klingon-Romulan hybrid, like the one girl from the prison camp that the survivors of Kitomer were talked to but this is pre-Nexus. There's a scheme for war between the Federation and Klingons over Teilani's homeworld that may or may not rejuvinate people, like the planet from Insurrection. But Kirk kills the bad guy from the Federation and all it took was the destruction of the Enterprise-A.
Then post death, Kirk's corpse is stolen and he's revived by a Borg-Romulan alliance and turned into their assassin, but he's stopped before he can kill anybody on DS9. They take a Defiant-class starship that becomes the Enterprise D.5 to the Borg home world that Spock learned about from V*ger. And Kirk sacrifices his life to blow up the Borg so we'll never hear from them again and Kirk is now dead.
Except he actually ended up landing on the Borg garbage world where the Borg dump stuff from worlds they don't use, like dirt and plants and dead drones. And there are living drones who rejected the technology and live there purged themselves and him with...tree sap or something, I don't know. Anyway, cured Kirk has sex and then leaves to find Teilani only to find out that she's still alive and there's a galaxy wide plague killing off the uniform Federation grain so we've got a "Yay biodiversity and learning about native species instead of transplanting!" subtext. Anyway Kirk, Spock, original characters and the TNG cast save the day and the coolest part is that the Vulcans have holodeck prison cells. Oh and Kirk avenges the murder of Sarek...because Sarek was murdered apparently. And there are 2 more arc I've never read but involve the Mirror Universe's Kirk trying to conquer the regular universe.
The single worst Star Trek film for me. While Insurrection is correctly asserted as an awful film, its also far less impactful in the overall Star Trek franchise. Literally, ignore INS, and you can go from First Contact to Nemesis without missing ANYTHING.
Generations though... Oh, boy. Τhe character development makes zero sense for all the leads concerned. Data's characterization takes a step back - he's back to his season one bufoonery, complete with unfunny jokes to boot. Geordi is a complete idiot for not thinking "hey, maybe the reason Soran had my VISOR off was to temper with it or something?", Picard's whole behaviour seems labored by the cop-out death of his relatives, and Kirk's function in the film is almnost incidental. Its as if they forgot he was part of the damn film, and once they realized they HAD to meet Kirk and Picard up, they fucked it up.
The greatest Starfleet Captains meet... and the highlight of that is scrambled eggs. I mean, really? Terrible.
And of course, Kirk's death... Neither death scene was great, and honestly, they're both equally insulting. At least the canonical version Kirk had some last words. Suffice to say, I'm glad Shatner brought him back in his post-GEN novels.
Speaking of which... Lewis, would you mind elaborating WHY they're insane? I know some of them can be out there, particularly the one in which Kirk comes back to life, but honestly... they're not any more far-fetched or convoluted in storytelling terms than lots of other Trek material. And personally, as someone who was enormously dissapointed by Generations, I take them to heart - especially the first trilogy, Odyssey, that consists of Ashes of Eden, The Return and Avenger. Those are a great farewell to Kirk, I think, and far better generational stories than GEN.
Cause that was the pitch for the fans: TOS and TNG, meeting at last. Except that, at the end of the day, only Relics paid off on that promise (thankfully).
Anyway, awful movie, worse comic, but good review. I do wish you could've torn it apart, but its OK.
PS: Worf's remove-the-plank is not funny. Not at all - I feel embarassed every time I see that scene. Is this Berman's idea of humor?
"I'm rather wondering why Picard didn't travel far enough through time to warn his brother and nephew. He could've at least thought about that."
My guess is that he was a little more preoccupied with the more recent deaths of everyone in the immediate solar system and wanted to fix that as soon as possible
"Picard never left the Nexus. At least that is how I like to view it. It negates the unspectacular death of Kirk, the revelation a Borg Queen exists and was his ex-girlfriend, everything about Insurrection, and the nonsensical setup and wrapup of Nemesis. And that keeps me enjoying TNG and DS9 much more than the alternative."
Yeah, but then that means that TNG ends with Picard utterly failing his last mission and a bunch of people including the TNG cast dying. To me, that ending is not exactly the best trade off for ignoring everything that followed this movie when I can just, well, ignore everything that followed this movie. Not criticizing your point of view, just saying that I prefer to interpret the movie as is, because as depressing as Kirk's lame death is, Picard getting stuck in limbo for being a terrible fighter would be just as, if not more, depressing.
Linkara, I know this has nothing to do with comic or Star Trek,
but i think you should watch the documentary, it about the bankruptcy of Rhythm & Hues Studios and the rapidly changing forces impacting the global VFX community and the Film Industry as a whole.
LIFE AFTER PI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lcB9u-9mVE#t=18
Sorry, but it seems wrong to ignoring it, it is a serious issue in general.
In the debate between Kirk vs Picard, I choose Rachel Garrett.
In the movie, Geordie objects to installing the emotion chip. Which I thought was odd since he was the one to stop Data from destroying it in the series precisely because he thought Data may one day change his mind.
With regard to the uniforms, I just assumed that Star Fleet has an adjustment period for introducing new styles. Or maybe the rules committee for proper dress code has become so byzantine that it's hard for anyone to know which uniform they are supposed to be wearing on any given day.
If there is a prominent display for the shield frequency, wouldn't it stand to reason that this is something that can be easily adjusted? Why do they keep getting their asses kicked?
I think they could have had Harrimon save a little face if he said that many parts were not installed for security reasons. Some of the higher ups wanted the PR show, while others thought giving civilians access to their most advanced starship was a bad idea.
And finally, Picard has been stabbed through the heart, altered by the Borg, turned into a child, tortured by the Cardasians, and the implication in this movie is that a part of him will still be trapped in the Nexus. HOW IS THIS MAN STILL SANE?
Regarding the issue of interchangeable TNG/DS9 style uniforms in the movie, there is a precedent.
As you know (since you've worn both versions), the TNG 1st season uniform had a stripe in the shoulder area that was later removed. However, a lot of extras during the show's run show up in the old uniforms, while the regulars never do.
"Picard never left the Nexus. At least that is how I like to view it. It negates the unspectacular death of Kirk, the revelation a Borg Queen exists and was his ex-girlfriend, everything about Insurrection, and the nonsensical setup and wrapup of Nemesis. And that keeps me enjoying TNG and DS9 much more than the alternative"
Interesting theory but you kind of have to ignore the fact that the Borg Queen also appears in Voyager is that just an extension of Picard's fantasy? Also what about Worf being assigned to Deep Space Nine? If Picard didn't stop Soren then the entire crew of the Enterprise would be wiped out by the collapse of that system's star.
Yes the answer is Sisko (best Captain ever!)
When they started saying 'It's a bird', I expected the rejoinder 'It's a plane' - thus implying Kirk is Superman.
Like you, I never got why Data pushing Crusher in was "Not funny, Data", especially on a holodeck with the safeties ON (it does happen!). The only think I could come up with was if she was hydrophobic - but later, watching the whole series, nothing like that was established.
I, too, mourn Livingstone and have worried about him since. Johnckirk (and Peter David), lionfish are venomous. Feeding him to a cat MIGHT be dangerous for the cat.
I AM watching SF Debris!
I always thought the line (which you didn't mention in the review) 'It wouldn't be the Enterprise without a Sulu at the helm' was a dig at NexGen.
No "Time keeps on slipping into the future" joke?
Arc - I don't remember the planet itself ever exploding.
Allan Olley - "If the ship explodes while they are in phase with the universe then you do not get to go to the mega happy fun place."
Thank you! I've never understood, until now, why the ship blowing up would scare him, since he'd still be in the ribbon anyway. Like, y'know, the last time he was on a spaceship when the ribbon blew it up.
~ Mik
I agree with you, Linkara. Data pushing Crusher into the water was simply hilarious, made better by the fact that she should have known that he was going to do it.
In all honesty, Generations is not the worst of the Star Trek films... in my humble opinion, that honor belongs to either Insurrection or Nemesis.
Lewis, have you ever tracked down the Ashes of Eden comic adaptation of the eponymous William Shatner novel? It was done by DC, near the end of their licence, and I think you could still find it on Amazon and such.
Here's a link that shows the artists involved and the cover - in the REMOTE case you've not seen it: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/The_Ashes_of_Eden_%28comic%29
Would like to see your review of it, or even hear your thoughts about it if you don't intend to review it. Its my second-favourite of Shatner's Trek novels (favourite being Avenger).
I'll be honest with you. This comic is not good. I mean, sure Generations is not that great, but the film is actually better than the lame comic adaptation.
After you do the First Contact adaptation (no Insurrection or Nemesis), are you going to tackle any of the IDW Star Trek reboot comics?
Who exactly is Cisco? I did a search, and found a lot of things, including a town in Minnesota, but nothing related to Star Trek
"Who exactly is Cisco? I did a search, and found a lot of things, including a town in Minnesota, but nothing related to Star Trek"
That's because you're spelling it wrong.
Sisko. Look him up. XD
"That's because you're spelling it wrong.
Sisko. Look him up. XD"
Ah, that makes much more sense. Not to harp on Minnesota or anything, but I don't think that the city of Cisco would make a very good Starfleet Captain.
Sisko, however, is pretty awesome from what I've seen. I honestly think all of the captains are pretty bad-ass in their own way (at least for Kirk, Picard and Sisko). However, I cannot make any judgments on who is "the best" seeing as I am not as familiar with any of the Star Trek series' beyond the new movies and what you talk about on the show. I really should check these out.
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