The Next Generation movies picked up
where "All Good Things..." left off. We got a snapshot series of images
into events that were turning points in the history of the future, some larger
turning points than others. While this series of movies has been diminishing
in popularity, they can sometimes still have something important to say.
STAR TREK: GENERATIONS
(November 18, 1994)
Generations
is set after the end of "All Good Things..." We get one final look
at the 23rd Century at the beginning of the movie with the christening and
maiden voyager of the Enterprise 1701-B ("...just a quick run around the
block."). Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov are present along with several
members of the press corps. This Enterprise charges for the first time
to the rescue of two civilian transports, where they pick up Guinon and Dr
Soran (important later in the movie), and in the process loses Captain
Kirk.
Flash forward to the 24th Century and the Enterprise-D. There are
design element changes, like the addition of stations to the port and starboard
side of the bridge and the entire ship is shown in shadow. The senior
officers are on the holodeck, promoting Worf to Commander, when Picard finds
that his brother, sister-in-law, and nephew have died in a house fire (a
stretch if you ask me, but, then again, nobody asked me). The Enterprise
is sent to investigate a distress call at the Amagosa (sp?) Observatory. The
Amagosa star is destroyed, the Enterprise barely escaping in time (in the
process, they lose Geordi as a prisoner of Lursa and B'tor). Data is
feeling emotions for the first time, and he wrestles with them through the
entire movie (sometimes funny, sometimes not). We do get to see Captain
Picard as a normal person with normal emotions, although I had mixed feelings
about seeing Picard in tears, as well as some interactions between the crew
that gave us a little more insight into their characters.
Then, all hell breaks loose. The Enterprise tracks Soran and the
Bird of Prey with Lursa and B'tor to the Viridian System, where Soran intends
on destroying the Viridian star. The Enterprise must put her safety
on the line to stop that, there is a populated planet in the system that supports
millions of individuals in a pre-warp society. In an unlikely series
of events, the Bird of Prey whoops up on the Enterprise (did anybody else
have a problem with how FEW times the Enterprise fired?). In the end,
the Enterprise is victorious with a single torpedo shot that destroys the
Bird of Prey (to quote Data: "Yes! Mmmfp!"). The warp core
coolant is leaking and Geordi claims there's nothing he can do (but he didn't
TRY anything), causing the crew to have to evacuate to the saucer for an
emergency seperation sequence. The saucer very dramatically plunges
into Viridian III's atmosphere, crash-landing on the planet's surface (quoth
the Data: "Ooooh Shit!") where it is obliterated along with the planet
when the Viridian Star explodes.
After a romp through the Nexus, Captain Picard returns with Captain Kirk
for one last battle with Soran, which they win, but at the cost of Kirk's
life ("...it was ...fun..."). The Enterprise crew is safe, but the
D herself is a total loss. When Riker comments that he had always hoped
for a chance at the command chair someday, Picard tells him that they'll
be another ship. They leave on the rescue vessels, warping away and
leaving one of my favorite ships behind.
I think that all in all, this movie was alright, but more than anything
was the production company's attempt in not-too-uncertain terms to tell
us that Gene was dead and his Star Trek died along with him. It was,
in some ways, the end of an era.
"...the
Captain's place is on his bridge. I'll take care of it."
Box Office Earnings:
$75.7 Million (US)
STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT
(November 22, 1996)
First Contact is the first time we get to see the Enterprise-D's successor,
the E. She is a beautiful ship, but unlike the D was designed from
the "keel-up" as more of a warship than anything else. She no longer
has families aboard and sports some of the most advanced technology in the
fleet.
The Borg have invaded the Federation again, but this time have come within
sight of Earth mostly (apparently) unopposed AND are defeating the currently
dwindling numbers of Federation ships. The Enterprise has been ordered
to patrol the Neutral Zone, as Starfleet is worried about how Picard would
react in close proximity to them considering he was once Locutus. The
Enterprise learns of how badly the battle is going and Picard disobeys orders
to charge to the rescue ("I think I speak for the rest of the crew when I
say - to hell with our orders."). The Defiant is present, and is almost
disabled when the Enterprise enters the scene, saving the Defiant's crew
and giving Worf an excuse to be there. The Enterprise manages to destroy
the Borg cube, but not before it launches a sphere that travels back to the
21st Century, the E following suit after seeing that Earth will have been
(don't you just hate time travel) assimilated.
Once in the past, the Enterprise destroys the sphere, but not before picking
up a few passengers, unknowingly of course. They help Dr. Cochrane
launch his warp ship, the Phoenix, and win back the Enterprise from the Borg,
who had assimilated most of her. In the end, first contact happens with
the Vulcans "on schedule" and the E returns to her time.
We did get to see a little more into the psyche of Captain Picard and
company, but especially Picard. He has a complex about losing his
ship (after all, he lost the Stargazer, he lost the D, and he was not about
to lose the E, especially not after just getting her), which leads to great
conflict. He calls Worf a "coward", which he responds with one of
my favorite lines, "If you were any other man I would kill you where you
stand.", and there is his tirade in the briefing room. In the end
he decides on the most sensible thing and sets the auto-destruct, but not
until after talking with Lily ("...blow up the damn ship!" "NOOOO!
I am not going to lose the Enterpirse. Not to the Borg, not
while I'm in command..."). This movie did have good action sequences,
but did take liberties with the established history (after all, first contact
was originally with the Alpha Centarians, and Zephram Cochrane traveled
to them, he didn't stay on Earth. Also, warp drive was not invented
by humans, it was given to us by the people of Alpha Centuari.). All
in all, it was a pretty decent movie that had me on the edge of my seat,
until Data stopped the Borg queen ("Resistence is FUTILE....").
"They invade
our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall
back...The line must be drawn HERE. This far, no further...and **I**
will make them pay for what they've done..."
Box Office Earnings:
$92 Million (US)
STAR TREK: INSURRECTION
(December 11, 1998)
Insurrection takes
place during the Dominion War outlined on DS9. The Federation is supposedly
becoming desperate for allies against the Dominion, allowing races to enter
they normally wouldn't (there are fish-like people at the beginning of the
movie that are pre-warp, if i remember correctly), and apparently not paying
attention to what their Admirals are doing. The Enterprise is called
to the "Briar Patch" because Data has gone "crazy".
As it turns out, Data had a problem with his ethical program because,
surprise, what he was being ordered to do was unethical. In a nut
shell, the B'aku (native to the only habitable planet in the Briar Patch)
are going to be relocated by a Starfleet Admiral and the S'ona. The
S'ona are a war-like, dying race that hopes to harvest the rings of the planet
to make themselves young again. This plan is whole-heartedly supported
by the Admiral, and the Federation has already allied themselves with the
S'ona. Picard falls in love, and the crew put their lives at risk to
save the B'aku, defeat the S'ona, and let Starfleet Command know what's been
happening. It all ends so happily when some of the S'ona (who actually
were children of the B'aku who left over a hundred years prior) are reunited
with their parents and the Enterprise leaves.
I had a few problems with this movie. First and foremost, I have
a hard time believing that the Federation would ally themselves with a race
that has already demostrated they will do anything to get what they want
(it was shown in the movie that the S'ona use weapons outlawed by the Federation).
Secondly, I don't believe for a second that (despite what else was
going on) that Starfleet Command would be totally oblivious to the Admiral's
operations (they built a holoship and a duckblind manned partially by Starfleet
personnel). Third, I don't believe that the Federation would allow membership
to just about anybody just because they're at war (after all, what good WOULD
a pre-warp race be to them when fighting an enemy at least as advanced as
the Federation?). Lastly, I can't believe for an instant there would
be a joystick (oops, manual steering column) on any starship. The entire
fleet was set up with push-button (or, well, tap-screen) controls, so why
would anyone feel they had "more control" with an instrument most of them
had probably never used?
This was an alright movie that did try to explore some bad aspects of
ourselves (how far would WE go if we could become instantly younger?), along
with the good (the Enterprise crew putting themselves on the line to save
people they hardly knew). It wasn't one of my favorites, but I'd watch
it again.
"How
many people does it take before it becomes wrong, Admiral? A thousand?
Fifty thousand? A million? How many people...."
Box Office Earnings:
$70.2 Million (US)
STAR TREK: NEMESIS
(December 13, 2002)
This movie takes place as Commander Riker and Deana Troi are finally getting
married (or, well, they are GOING to get married) and Riker taking his own
command (FINALLY). The Enterprise is on its way to Betazed to the wedding,
when its called away on a priority mission to Romulus. There, the
crew is introduced to the new leader of the Romulan Empire, Shinzon. Apparently,
Shinzon is Picard's clone, intended to replace Picard at some point and
"wreck havoc". That plan is scrapped by a new regime and Shinzon is
banished to Remus and grows up in the mines. He holds a grudge against
the Romulan Empire (understandibly) and stages a coup to take control of
the government. Apparently, he also begrudges Earth (for what reason,
I still don't understand), and has built the Schimitar to destroy everybody
on Earth (oh, and blow everything up along the way). His plans are
thwarted by Picard and Co, with the help of some Romluans that finally came
to their senses, and the day is saved.
I had so many problems with this movie it's not even funny. First
of all, nobody bothered to explain to us why Worf was in uniform (wasn't
he the ambassador to the Klingon Empire?) and why he just took his old station
onboard the Enterprise. Secondly, nobody bothered to explain how Wesley
came to be back and why HE was in uniform (didn't he go galavanting around
the galaxy with the Traveler?), and why he mysteriously disappeared along
with Guinon after the reception. We meet B-4, apparently the prototype-prototype
to Date, which Dr Soong just happened to forget building (they never did
explain where B-4 came from) on a planet that they explore with a glorified
dunebuggy (that's futuristic because...well, it DOES have a control panel
on the dash and says "Argo", the name of the shuttle that it's stored
in, on the side). How could the Romulan Empire build a weapon like the
Schimitar without anybody knowing about it (the Federation surely has at
least ONE deep-space telescope pointed in that direction, not to mention that
they probably have a network of spies and informants, or if nothing else
a conscientious Romulan would tell them about it - it's happened before)?
It would have been nice to know exactly HOW the Romulans expected to
replace Picard with Shinzon to begin with, and why he held a grudge against
the Federation. They never did explain it satisfactorilly enough for
me to remember why, and I'm usually pretty good at those things. They
also used a time-honored tradition of Trek movies, but it was poorly executed
(hmmm....epic battle, the Enterprise has plenny of sparks and 'splosions....maybe
a hole or five....and we crash her....it worked for ST III, ST VI, and Generations,
why not here?). They also had Deana crash the ship....again. Wasn't
it enough for the poor woman that she was blamed for crashing the D (hehe)??
All in all, I think that this movie was a good premise that was VERY poorly
executed. There were some good action scenes and wonderful special
effects, but as far as Star Trek goes, it was a bad story. When you
think about the "Nemeses" of past movies, Khan and Chang, they were easier
to understand. The backstory of Khan had already been explained on the
TOS episode, but they did an excellent job of summarizing it in a few paragraphs
of dialog. Chang was a little easier to explain than Khan, he was a
Klingon and acted like one, and the development of his character in the early
parts of the movie told us what kind of Klingon he was. It was NO SURPRISE
to find out he was behind the entire scheme and had his own Chancellor offed
to further his plans. Shinzon failed as a Nemesis because they didn't
explain his backstory well enough to understand what kind of person he really
was or what motivated him to go after Earth. When you have a brand-new
character from a brand-new place (Remus had been mentioned before, but never
explained in any kind of detail, so in essence it was a whole new place),
you HAVE to explain him either through actions or dialog, or both. He
made no sense in the story because I couldn't understand the man, so his
actions were without meaning (even a madman has reasons). I'd watch
this one again, but not at the theater.
"You have
the bridge, Mr. Troi."
Box Office Earnings:
$41.6 Million (US)
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