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Generations
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Deja_Vu
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1995-11-18
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TF01
3,Deja Vu
4,by Colin Gunn and Simon Plumbe
Star Trek Generations has been subject to a mixed reaction from Star
Trek fans, many loving the film and praising it as being one of the
best movies yet, others slating it believing that the movie could
lead to the end of The Next Generation as we know it.
However, despite people's opinions of the film, be they good or bad,
it is very difficult to deny the fact that, for the most part, the
film is highly unoriginal and primarily borrows plot elements and
major features of the story from past episodes and films.
What follows below are a few of the elements that may appear to be
relatively new to Trek, although when placed under closer scrutiny
betray their origins to earlier Trek outings. Throughout the film,
there are so many occurrences that it is difficult to believe that it
is purely coincidence that this has happened. There are many more
than what we have highlighted below, but you can see why we decided
to call this article Deja Vu!
First off in the movie, was the fact that the Enterprise B was an
unfinished ship and was also the closest ship to an impending danger.
Think back to the first movie where the original Enterprise was under
going a complete refit and had to confront the V'Ger threat. But
also in Star Trek V the Enterprise was again incomplete and had to
head of for Nimbus III to handle the situation. Also the fly by
scene after Kirk's "first" death is very similar to that of the fly
by at the end of The Motion Picture.
Next is the death (and subsequent resurrection) of a major character.
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that we are, of course,
referring to Spock's death in Star Trek II and return in Star Trek
III. Killing Kirk in Generations was a cheap publicity stunt for the
film at best, but to give the impression of death, followed by his
resurrection showed a distinct lack of originality.
The first scene we saw in Generations concerning the TNG crew centred
around Worf's promotion. Now, while it is only understandable that
characters are going, to be promoted during the course of a show
(with Geordi being promoted twice, and Deanna once), the movies seem
to have had more than their fair share. Not only have we seen Kirk
move from Captain to Admiral (and back again!), Spock to Captain,
Scotty to Captain, Sulu to Captain (do you see a pattern here?!!),
Chekov to Commander and so on... In Worf's case, the promotion just
happened - there didn't appear to be any direct reason for it. The
reason given in the film was for Worf's service record and loyalty to
Starfleet, but if that is the case, why hasn't Data been promoted yet
when all of his fellow officers have either been promoted or offered
promotions/higher positions within the Starfleet echelons.
In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, when Spock re-joined Kirk et al on
their mission to investigate V'Ger, we saw a new development for the
character as he started to show emotions, most notably after his mind
meld with V'Ger. In Generations, we were "treated" to Data finally
experiencing genuine emotions for himself. In Spock's case, it was a
gradual development that lead Spock to discover that he wasn't suited
for the Kolinahr ritual and instead that his place was with his
friends on board the Enterprise, which also helped Spock realise the
true nature of V'Ger. Data's, on the other hand, came across as
forced, unnatural and played no part in the progression of the film's
storyline.
You would be forgiven in thinking that the scenes in the Nexus with
Kirk and Picard were strictly an original concept. But cast your
minds back to the original Star Trek pilot, The Cage. In this, Pike
is given to believe that he is back on Earth with a loved one and
with his favourite pastime of horse back riding. Now compare that
with Kirk's images. He too is back in a particular time of his life
with a loved one and with one his favourite pastimes - horse back
riding. See what we mean?
Of course, one of the biggest let downs (for us in anyway), is the
destruction of the Enterprise D. And yes, we all know that this to
is not an original idea. Back in Star Trek III the original
Enterprise went down in a blaze of glory, but there was a purpose to
her destruction. Crippled, the ship was about to be boarded by
Klingons who intended to claim her for a Klingon prize. But in
Generations the ship exploded due to a coolant leak which led to a
warp core breach. How many times has this (and worse) happened to
the ship in the series and she has escaped?! And of course there is
the fact that a new designated Enterprise will now be in the next
movie. Just yet another example of not being able to come up with
any original material for the movie.
There are alot more examples of unoriginal ideas throughout the movie
- some obvious and others more subtle than perhaps the more ardent
fan would spot. In all this film fails on many themes, but the most
for us was the fact of the unoriginal ideas.