TF01 3,Generations - Movie Review 4,by Simon Plumbe Oh dear! Where oh where do I start with this film? After seven highly successful seasons on TV, Paramount have finally gone and done it to all of us TNG fans and tried to put us off the show for life in just 2 hours. Well, to be honest, Generations almost did that for me. I was originally going to review this film with everyone else, but as you'll see below, my review turned out to be a lot longer than I ever anticipated... If the film just had a few minor flaws, I could have lived with it. Let's be frank, no film is perfect and anyone who expects a film to be such is going to be in for a disappointment. Even what is arguably the greatest sci-fi film ever made, Star Wars, has faults and continuity errors (but that's another article... no doubt one that I will end up writing for Visions!), so to expect a Trek film to be flawless is asking too much. Unfortunately, in the case of Generations, it isn't marred by just one or two errors or flaws - I'd say that 90% of the film is flawed to the extent that it raises questions for the viewer or makes them ask themselves why they are bothering to stay in their seats. When I went to see Generations, I must admit that I was one of the many fans who had seen and read the script to the movie beforehand. After reading it, I was certain that I wasn't going to like the movie and to a limited extent, I admit that I had pre-judged the film. However, when I went to the cinema with a group of about 20 other Trekkers (a great way to enhance any of the films!), I tried to watch the film with an open mind, hoping that the on-screen representation would manage to gloss over the flaws and would at least keep me entertained for two hours. Boy, was I in for a shock. In fact, Generations turned out to be far WORSE than I had anticipated, for a number of reasons. While there were one or two points about the film that I DID like, the majority of the film left me cold. To best deal with how I felt about Generations, it's probably best to look at the film piece by piece... * The champagne bottle - what on earth were they thinking?! While I must admit that it is a nice sequence visually, and yes, it is a naval traditional to launch ships in this way, did it really have to be soooo long?! If this scene had been following a short fly- through of the galaxy, ending up in our solar system and then, for the last 20 seconds or so, concentrating on the bottle, then I think it would have created a suitable build-up to the start of the movie. As it is, 2.5 minutes is too drawn out and I found that boredom soon set in. Not a good start. The original opening with Kirk paragliding intercut with the champagne bottle would have worked so much better and it was a shame that the footage was left on the cutting room floor, purely for time reasons. * Captain Harriman - excuse me, but how did someone as downright incompetent as Harriman ever get offered the command of Starfleet's flagship? Surely anyone with the rank of Captain will have served on board another ship as First Officer and would have, on a number of occasions, been left in command of the ship and left to deal with delicate and dangerous situations. Just look at TNG for example, ALL of the bridge crew have been in command at one point or another (even Geordi in season ONE when he was still only a Lieutenant Junior Grade), and they were all able to cope reasonably well. That being the case, why, when Harriman has been trained specifically to command a Starship, does he crack under pressure and fail to act when needed. It was disappointing to see the Captain of the Enterprise being less capable than anyone else on board his ship. Even some of the visiting press could have handled the situation better! * The visiting journalists - now I can understand that there would be a great deal of media attention in the launch of a new ship, but the way the journalists were acting a crowding Kirk, Scotty and Chekov was hardly representative of how things would be in the 23rd Century. 20th century tabloid television, fair enough, but I don't think so in future. Anyway, wasn't it mentioned in TNG that television had ceased to be a popular form of entertainment in the mid-21st century, so where were all the journalists from? * Demora - I am really having a great deal of difficulty accepting Demora's background. I would estimate that by her rank, Demora is no older than 22 or 23. That being the case, she would need to have been born during the Enterprise's original five year mission. Did any of you see the relationship Sulu had with Demora's mother? And since when was Sulu married?? * Tuesday - oh please! On board the Enterprise B were legendary Starfleet heroes, and members of the public in the form of the visiting press, yet there was no medical crew on board. In our time, something like that would be illegal, and if nothing else, safety in the 23rd Century would be an even more important priority. Again, why would Starfleet send out an incomplete ship (minus the tractor beam and photon torpedoes) on its maiden voyage. Even if it was only a trip "around the block", it should still have been fitted with ALL of its equipment before leaving spacedock. This whole "joke" demeaned the Enterprise B and made light of its position in Starfleet history. I was embarrassed to watch this part of the film. * As a whole, the only saving grace of the entire Enterprise B sequence were the superb performances from William Shatner, James Doohan and Walter Koenig, and the Classic Trek atmosphere they managed to re-create, despite the weak scripting and "jokes". * Onto the 24th century now, and Worf's promotion. In the past when characters had been promoted, we never saw any sort of fantasy promotion scene, so why do it now? Admittedly, it was a nice scene to watch, although Geordi's reaction to the promotion was so over-the-top it was cringeworthy. One nice touch of continuity was Picard's more relaxed attitude towards the rest of his crew. On a couple of occasions he referred to Riker as Will, when in the past he would have called him Commander. It was nice to see that the card game in "All Good Things..." has had an impact on him. * After this, things go downhill for the TNG crew. Killing off Robert and Rene was a brave move for the writers to take, but surely it could have been handled better. I mean, killing them off in a fire seemed to be an easy way to write the characters out of Star Trek lore. There are plenty of ways a person can die, and I find it hard to believe that they couldn't have been saved from a simple fire. While talking about Robert and Rene, when we saw them later (in the photo album and during Picard's experience in the Nexus), why on earth did they bring in different actors? * Next, a controversial point - the lighting on the Enterprise. While many may argue that the dark lighting added to the atmosphere of the film, saying that the bright lighting of the series didn't fit the tone of the movie, I have to disagree. TNG has done dark and very serious stories in the past, such as The Best Of Both Worlds, and that hasn't needed to have half of the light bulbs on the Enterprise removed, so why did Generations. I'm surprised that none of the characters spent most of the film bumping into each other in the dark! * The sore point of the whole film for me however, is that of Data getting the emotion chip. Yes, we knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before it would be used, but to use the reason that Data didn't understand a joke was a little on the weak side. Surely a better reason could have been thought of? * This leads to the atrocious scene in Ten Forward with Data tasting the drink given to him by Guinan. Whether Data hated the drink or not is irrelevant, someone isn't just going to lose all of their tact and consideration for others feelings just because they suddenly develop emotions. One other thing I noticed in this scene is that Ten Forward seemed rather crowded. Even when the Enterprise has been host to large diplomatic gatherings, there have never been that many people in Ten Forward before. * Data's emotions - yet again they started to spoil the film. When Data and Geordi beamed over to the observatory, I could do nothing but cringe at Data's "jokes", his actions, mannerisms and puns. To see my favourite character degraded and humiliated in such a way was a terrible thing to see. In fact, the few scenes in the film with Data's have affected my opinion of the character so much that Data is no longer my favourite Star Trek character. And when Data started playing with "Mr Tricorder" it was all I could do to refrain myself from switch the video off or leaving the cinema. I generally had problems with the latter scenes with Data's emotions as well. When Data cowered while Soran kidnapped Geordi I spent the whole time asking why Data didn't intervene. For crying out loud, Data is an intelligent android with more than enough strength and ability to have stopped Soran in his tracks without harming Geordi and Data certainly must have been aware of that. Then there was the "Yes!" exclamation from Data at the destruction of Lursa and B'Etor's ship. Unfortunately, this is one of the few emotional reactions from Data that could have been explained (as Geordi acted in the same way over Worf's promotion earlier in the film), but to expect a Starfleet officer to take pleasure over the loss of life - any life - is beyond comprehension. On top of that, when Data started singing about searching for lifeforms, I just wanted to curl up and die! Characters have been seen singing in Star Trek in the past, but it has never seemed to be so out of character as this. I just can't believe that Brent agreed to do this. Finally, Data swearing. This was totally inexcusable. We have, to-date, NEVER seen anyone swearing in Star Trek other than Kirk's speech to the Klingons in Star Trek III, and the occasional "hell" and "damn" from Riker. It is a well-known fact that people pick up language from people around them and what they hear. Children from families who seldom swear are generally unlikely to do so themselves. That being the case, where did Data pick up his swearing habits from? The crew had been in worse predicaments than the saucer section crashing (such as "Cause And Effect") and no-one swore then, so why now? It was nothing more than a cheap shot aimed at gaining a few laughs. * Kidnapping Geordi, in the final cut of the movie at least, seemed to be a complete waste of time, other than to re-hash an old TNG episode plot to use Geordi's VISOR to see from a distance. However, what the effects team obviously forgot to realise is that we all KNOW what the signals look like from Geordi's VISOR. They appear as a mixture of colours as if viewed through a number of filters - Geordi doesn't have a built-in camcorder! * Stellar Cartography - a nice scene visually and I won't argue about it's importance to revealing Soran's plans, but did they really need to spend $150,000 on a new set, when we are already familiar with Stellar Cartography from the series? * The destruction of the Klingon Bird Of Prey - surely they would have tried to disable the ship and take Lursa and B'Etor prisoner, especially considering their importance as Klingon fugitives. Again, it all seemed to demonstrate the bloodlust of the movie. There was no regard for the preservation of life. * The initial confrontation between Picard and Soran was handled reasonably well with sterling performance from both Patrick Stewart and Malcolm McDowell. However, I felt that too much emphasis was placed on Soran as being the "mad scientist", explaining his plot to his adversary. * Kirk meets Picard - now this is a part of the movie that I DID like. When Picard first encountered Kirk in the Nexus I, like most Trek fans, was grinning like an idiot! Patrick Stewart managed to do a wonderful job in the initial scene where they met, portraying Picard's awe at standing in the presence of a Starfleet legend admirably. Shatner was his usual charismatic self and I felt that the way the two interacted was one of the highlights of the film. Simply superb. It was just a pity that such a strong bond of friendship that had obviously evolved between the two had to be brought to an abrupt end with Kirk's untimely - and more importantly, unwarranted - death. * Death of Kirk - why?! There was absolutely no need to kill Kirk off, other than to say, "That's it, no more Classic Trek movies". Whether his death was heroic or not was debatable as well. Yes, he died helping Picard to save millions of lives, but that was millions of lives on a planet we hadn't seen - there was no real sense given that 230 million lives were at stake. It's all very well mentioning lives as number, but the threat didn't seem real enough. Also, Gene had always stressed that he never wanted to see any of the original series cast killed off. No, they are not immortal, but shouldn't this wish have been respected? * The Nexus - I had a great deal of trouble with this as well. The very existence of the Nexus seemed to throw up more questions that it could answer, and the experiences of Kirk and Picard were a little odd to say the least. While Kirk was reliving old memories, Picard seemed to have had memories invented for him. There wasn't any consistency in the film. Also, Kirk's memories seem to place his return to Starfleet (presumably after resigning) 9 years prior to Generations - right in the middle of between Star Trek IV and V!! Sticking with Kirk's Nexus experience, he mentions that he met Antonia 7 years prior to Generations... but if that is the case, why was she in his house NINE years prior to Generations? Was it just that they were living together for two years before meeting? I think not! Finally, couldn't they have chosen a better time to leave the Nexus? Instead of cutting things tight, why didn't Picard go back to the Enterprise, and have Soran put in the brig before he could kidnap Geordi, or was that asking too much of him? * Destruction of the Enterprise - There are a couple of problems I have with this. First, was it really necessary to destroy the Enterprise in the FIRST Next Gen movie? It came across as being a marketing ploy from Paramount designed to persuade us all to buy a whole new range of Enterprise-E merchandise when the next film is released. If nothing else, it was yet another unoriginal idea thrown into the film's storyline borrowed from past Trek, namely Star Trek III. What made it worse was the way in which the Enterprise was destroyed. A brief battle with a Klingon Bird Of Prey (and an old design at that), a couple of shots and the Enterprise is damaged to the extent that a warp core breach is imminent. Again, more unoriginality here with the Klingons using Geordi's VISOR to spy on the Enterprise. Now surely the Enterprise crew would pick up something being transmitted to/from Geordi's VISOR, especially as someone else had already used his VISOR against him in the past. Next, and correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't all Starfleet shields adapted after their encounter with the Borg so that the shield frequencies rotate to prevent anyone from doing what Lursa and B'Etor did? Yet another continuity error. Next, why on earth didn't Geordi think about ejecting the warp core? It would have saved a lot of trouble and would have made the ship repairable. Geordi is one of the best engineers in Starfleet, so surely he could have done better than he did? Finally, the crash sequence. This is supposed to be a film made in 1994 with special effects by industry leaders Industrial Light & Magic, so why is the crash sequence worse than that of the Scorpio in the final Blake's Seven episode, "Blake"? The BBC were working with a budget for the entire season of episodes that was smaller than Generations entire effects budget, yet the BBC managed to do the same effect, but at a fraction of the cost, and more importantly, over a decade earlier. Also, we have seen with Voyager that Paramount CAN do very good effects of ships on planets (if you haven't seen it, the Voyager is seen to LAND on a planet in the episode "The 37's"). If this can be done on a TV budget, surely ILM could have done better considering the amount that they were being paid? * Spot - the final scene for Data in Generations and the only one that I felt worked with Data and that accursed emotion chip. All of the scenes in the film prior to this left me feeling either cold or repulsed, but when Data found Spot in the wreckage of the Enterprise and began to cry I felt a lump welling up in my throat. A very moving scene, played to perfection by Brent, Marina, and, of course, Spot! Probably the best scene in the entire film. There were also a couple of general things that were bugging me as well. The make-up generally was quite admirable, although there seemed to be an excess of blood in the film. I'm certainly not squeamish, but seeing the blood-soaked bodies on the observatory, and the death on the Enterprise, I think it went too far for Star Trek. Also, some of the cast, I must say, were starting to look old. Brent is now really beginning to show his age, and it looked as if he had aged 5-10 years since "All Good Things...". Riker as well looked quite older in the movie and it does make you think what they will be like in a few years time. However, none of the Classic Trek cast present looked any different to the way they did in Star Trek VI and they all seem to have aged far more gracefully. In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the cast had been apart for 10 years, but it didn't show as much as the couple of week gap the TNG crew faced. Admittedly there are one or two other good points about the movie. Firstly, the music - I must admit that once again, Dennis McCarthy has come up with the goods and produced a superb soundtrack which seems to fit the film wonderfully. Although the soundtrack is something of a departure for Star Trek, it still proves to be a memorable listening experience. Sadly, the soundtrack is marred slightly by the omission of the now-familiar TNG theme tune, which I felt should have been retained, if only to try and keep SOME continuity with the series. Also, generally the special effects are wonderful, from the CGI Enterprise effects to the Nexus ribbon, they all look wonderful and are certainly up to Industrial Light & Magic's usual standards... apart from one particular effect I mentioned earlier! As well as this, the acting was up to the usual standard we have come to expect from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Everyone gave 100% to their roles - it was just a pity to see that many of the cast were relegated to being glorified extras. Overall though, I would have to say without reservation that Generations is the worst Star Trek movie to-date and if this marked the end of The Next Generation I for one would not be disappointed considering the current quality of Voyager and Deep Space Nine. My main worry is that the next film is also being written by Ron Moore and Brannon Braga. Hopefully they can redeem themselves with the proposed Borg story. I only saw the film in the cinema once (and that was after a great deal of persuasion from a group of friends) and other than watching the (slightly edited) video recently prior to writing this review, I have no intention of seeing it again in the foreseeable future. In fact, unlike previous Trek films I didn't bother seeing the movie on the day it opened. Instead I waited until the following day. It is also be the first time in many years that I refused to purchase the rental edition of the movie on video. On top of that, I have even decided to boycott the sell-through edition. Fortunately, I have received a review copy from CIC, but even if that hadn't have been the case, I would NOT have paid for this film. Out of 100? It struggles to "earn" a score of 7.