The Final Frontier 9/Final Frontier 9 (Disk 2 of 3).adf/LCARS/TextFile/Generations/Generations_Missing_Scenes.pp/Generations_Missing_Scenes

Text File | 1995-11-11 | 12KB | 218 lines

TF01
3,Generations - Missing Scenes
4,by Simon Plumbe

             Star Trek Generations - The Missing Scenes
            --------------------------------------------
                           by Simon Plumbe
                          -----------------

With every film or TV show, there  are  always cuts that are going to
be made. In many cases, this is because scenes are unnecessary to the
storyline, or because they  are  too  drawn  out.  In  the case of TV
shows, they often  have  to  be  edited  to  fit  within the episodic
format. However, in the case of  Star  Trek Generations, there were a
number of edits made from the final script to the finished movie that
were made  for  a  different  reason...  to  increase  the  number of
potential screenings per day of the film.

Taking the scenes in order, there  are a substantial number that have
either been edited or removed  completely.  As with all movies, there
have also been a number  of  scenes  with minor dialogue changes, and
one or two that had the order  of the dialogue altered. Many of these
removed scenes don't affect the plot  too  much, but a couple did add
important character scenes to the movie  and  one or two lead to some
embarrassing continuity errors...

The  first,  and  most  well-known  edit  is  the  opening  sequence.
Originally, the film's  opening  saw  the  champagne  bottle sequence
intercut with a scene featuring Scotty and Chekov standing in a field
on Earth, looking up  into  the  sky.  After  a  few moments, a small
object can  been  seen  that  gradually  flies  towards  them.  It is
revealed to be Kirk in a  body  suit  skydiving. There ensues a brief
conversation about why Kirk didn't want  to  attend the launch of the
Enterprise-B.

The film then moves onto the  sequence set on board the Enterprise-B.
For the most part, this is unchanged  other than minor changes in the
actual wording used by the  characters,  with  the  odd line added or
removed. One point of note is  that  many  of the lines spoken by Tim
Russ's character (an unnamed Lieutenant), were originally meant to be
spoken by Demora Sulu!

The only edit on board the 1701-B  is the final scene after Harriman,
Scotty and Chekov were  looking  out  into  space.  The missing scene
features a brief conversation between the three of them and Demora on
the bridge about the death of  Kirk.  A  nice character scene, and it
was a pity to lose it.

Next, in the  24th  Century,  during  Worf's  promotion,  there are a
number of alterations.  First,  when  Riker  is  reading  the list of
"charges" against Worf,  the  original  script  had  three charges as
opposed to two in  the  final  movie.  Then,  the sequence where Worf
falls into the water has  been  changed completely. The original plot
saw a conversation  between  Riker  and  Picard  over  what they were
doing, followed by Crusher  prodding  Worf  with  a pike, pushing him
over the edge. There was no mention of the hat-grabbing or removal of
the plank as seen in the film.

Nothing more has been removed until the first encounter with Soran on
board the observatory. There is a brief segment missing where Crusher
discovers the body of a Starfleet scientist and Riker gives the order
to split the search party up prior to Worf discovering Soran.

The next change is in  the  short  scene  in Data's quarters where he
decides to use the emotion chip.  Nothing  has been removed here, but
the actual order of the scene has been altered. Originally, the scene
starts with Data asking Geordi is Beverly is still angry.

The next thing of note with  the  film  is  in the scene after Picard
talks to Soran in Ten Forward.  The scene then changes to Engineering
with Riker and Worf and this is  where  we first see Riker in the DS9
style uniform (sans explanation!). The  next  scene after this, where
Geordi and Data are on  the  observatory,  sees  the sudden change in
Data's costume. Still on the observatory, when Data is telling Geordi
that he got the joke  that  Geordi  told during the Farpoint mission,
Data was originally supposed to say the punchline in Geordi's voice.

More editing is seen when we see  Picard in his Ready Room looking at
the photo album prior to  Troi  walking  in.  The original script saw
Picard ordering tea from the  replicator  as Troi entered. After Troi
has entered, an additional piece  of  dialogue is present when Picard
tells Troi briefly about his family. The major change is about a page
of the script being removed where  there is a discussion between Troi
and Picard where Troi is trying  to  persuade Picard to tell her what
is wrong.

Still in the same scene,  after  Picard  tells Deanna how his brother
and nephew were killed, there  are  a  couple  of missing lines where
Picard expresses guilt over  his  brother  shouldering  the burden of
continuing the family line. Then, at  the  end of the scene after the
explosion within the star,  there  was  originally  supposed  to be a
communicator voice over from Riker shouting  "Red Alert! All hands to
duty stations!" which was omitted.

Later, after Geordi has been beamed aboard the Klingon ship, there is
a brief segment removed which sees all of the Klingons on the bridge,
and Lursa and  B'Etor  commenting  on  the  explosion  prior to Soran
entering the bridge. The scene then  continues until Lursa orders the
ship to lay in a  course  for  Veridian.  Then  there are a couple of
scenes removed where Geordi is dragged  off  the bridge by Soran, and
the next scene where Riker  and  Worf  discuss  the  fact that it was
Lursa and B'Etor involved with Soran.  The scene was then supposed to
change to sickbay where  Beverly  was  examining  Data and the damage
caused by the overloading emotion chip.

The next edit is a small  cut  in the conversation between Guinan and
Picard in Guinan's quarters.  There  is  a  small  two  line piece of
dialogue where Guinan reveals that it  was the Nexus that gave Guinan
her ability to "sense" things happening.

The next is a MAJOR cut from  the  film.  In the scene where Soran is
talking to Geordi on board  the  Klingon  ship,  Soran spends a great
deal of  time  talking  to  and  torturing  Geordi  by  implanting  a
nanoprobe into Geordi, controlling  and  stopping  his  heart. In the
script, this runs for two pages  of  dialogue and would have probably
lasted for a few minutes  on  screen.  It  is actually a fairly major
scene as well, giving  an  insight  into  Soran's personality and the
lengths to which he will go to  return to the Nexus, and it's removal
also creates a continuity error  later  on where Beverly is examining
Geordi and removes the nanoprobe.

The next scene in  the  film  is  the spectacular Stellar Cartography
sequence and this is where we  first  see  Picard change into the new
uniform. There is also a  brief  voice  over  describing the scene in
sickbay where Data was examined.  In  terms  of edits, there are some
minor sentences removed from the conversation between Data and Picard
including a section where Data  discusses  how  he felt when his fear
stopped him from acting and  how  he  started  to feel guilty. Again,
there is some extra dialogue added  as  well, where Data spends a few
moments requesting and insisting that he be de-activated.

Some significant changes appear next.  In  the  scene where Geordi is
returned to the Enterprise, there are  a  few areas where the running
order of the  dialogue  has  been  changed  and  it  also sees Data's
"lifeforms" song being moved to later on in the film. For once in the
movie, they left something in that should have been edited out!

Later on, after the  prisoner  exchange,  we  see  Data and Geordi in
Sickbay. There is a brief conversation  between Data and Geordi where
Data is trying to apologise for not  acting to save Geordi, which has
been added since the script. The dialogue prior to this has also been
changed to mention the nanoprobe, even though the scene with it being
inserted has been removed!

Next is a sequence  where  Lursa  and  B'Etor  are observing Geordi's
movements on board  the  Enterprise.  There  are  a  couple of scenes
edited out here seeing Geordi taking  a  bath, and a scene with Lursa
and B'Etor watching him looking at himself in his bathroom mirror.

Finally Geordi  enters  Engineering,  after  another  scene  has been
removed with Picard and Soran on  the planet where Picard experiments
with Soran's forcefield (note - this  is different to the scene later
on in the film).

After Lursa and B'Etor  discover  the  frequency for their torpedoes,
there are a few  extra  pieces  of  dialogue  added.  The first is in
Engineering when Geordi orders a crewmember  to fix a stabilizer on a
conduit (originally the scene then cut  to  the bridge), and there is
also an extra scene on the Klingon ship's bridge.

There is nothing else altered  for  quite  a  while  until we see the
scene with Picard in the Nexus, enjoying Christmas with his "family".
Most of the dialogue here  has  been  changed, re-ordered or removed.
The basic scene remains the same, but  it is just done differently to
the shooting script. There is  also  a  lengthy sequence missing when
Picard's "children" present him with gifts.

Eventually, after Picard has realised what  is  going on, he meets up
with Kirk and here is where the  next change occurs. Only a minor one
this time. When we see Kirk in  his house, his dog enters. Originally
the dog's name  was  Jake,  but  for  some  strange  reason, this was
changed! Another name change occurs  when  Kirk refers to his uncle's
barn in Idaho (the script referred to Iowa).

The final major change however, is the scene where Kirk and Picard go
back to the planet to defeat  Soran.  The  original scene saw a fight
between Kirk  and  Soran,  while  Picard  tried  to  stop  the  probe
launcher, pressing buttons randomly,  seemingly  not  knowing a thing
about what he  is  doing.  Then  the  fight  between  Kirk  and Soran
concludes with Soran shooting  Kirk  in  the  back,  killing him. The
probe is then launched, but Picard  managed to alter it's trajectory.
It launches upwards, then arcs backwards towards the planet, crashing
in the distance. Soran, in his anger,  lunges at Picard but Picard is
quicker... he pulls out Soran's  disruptor,  shooting him in mid-air.
Soran's lifeless body then lands on  the ground, smashing his pocket-
watch.

Even this isn't  the  end  for  the  modifications.  After Picard has
defeated Soran and buried Kirk, he  looks  up  and sees a shuttle fly
past. After this, a scene has  been  removed where were see a shuttle
land. Worf and Geordi step out of  the  shuttle and ask Picard how he
is.

The next we see in the film is Picard's log entry while we see people
walking on top of the saucer section. There is one final edit here as
an entire scene featuring Beverly  and  Ogawa  has been removed where
they are removing the wounded  from  the  remains of the ship. Again,
another nice character  scene  edited  out.  Finally, another costume
change for Picard as he enters  his  Ready Room looking for his photo
album - again with no explanation.



As you can see, there has  been  quite  a  bit removed from the film.
Most concerning are the scenes  which  lead to continuity errors, but
more of a worry is that it  appears that most of the scenes featuring
Gates McFadden have been left on the cutting room floor. If it wasn't
for the scene where  Sickbay  was  evacuated  (which SHOULD have been
removed as it was a  somewhat  technically inaccurate scene - Sickbay
is located in the CENTRE of  the  Saucer Section, the safest place in
the ship!!) then Gates would have been left with virtually nothing to
do in the entire movie.

Whether or not these scenes would have improved the movie is entirely
in the eyes of the individual, but  the  removal of some of them does
seem to be in question.