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

Text File | 1995-11-17 | 13KB | 240 lines

TF01
3,Generations - Movie Review
4,

                            Rory Johnston
                           ---------------

This has got to be the best Star  Trek  movie so far, and I loved it.
Yes, it isn't like your average  Next  Generation episode, but then I
doubt that would be appropriate  for  the  cinema.  As I'm sure other
reviewers will say, "It can only  get  better",  and on this I agree.
I'm sure the next movie will be  even  better,  but I think this is a
hard act to follow.

Generations is undeniably a 'passing  the  torch'  movie, and so it's
format must change and adapt to  include  elements of Classic Trek. I
think a  purely  Next  Gen  movie  will  have  all  the  more thought
provoking storylines and  subplots,  but  that's  all  still to come.
Anyway, who can resist one  last  heroic  adventure for Captain Kirk?
And yes, "It was fun."

Star Trek has always been about  exploring the human condition.  What
does it mean to  be  human?  Surely  the  most  important thing about
humanity is  our  mortality.  We  all  have  to  die  some  time, and
Generations explores this.  Picard  faces  up  to  the  death  of his
brother, and Rene who he considered almost his own son. The death the
of Picard family line, and of course,  the  death of Kirk. I think it
says something when a living legend  like James Kirk, despite all the
heroics he has been through and all the status he has, dies just like
anyone else.

Easily the best line in  the  film  was:  "Oh... shit."  True, it may
irrevocably  change  one  of   the   Next   Generation's  best  loved
characters, but then I always thought  that Data would eventually get
his emotions and become more  human.  He  had to get them eventually,
and this seems as good a time as  any. Now we've a couple more movies
to follow Data's newest stretch  on  his  quest to become more human,
and for Geordi relive seven years  worth  of  his bad jokes. Data has
always been  a  way  to  explore  the  human  condition,  as  he sees
everything so honestly, as if through  the  eyes of a child. Emotions
are very human things, and Data has  never been able to examine them,
other than to yearn for them and comment on their complexity. My only
fear is that Data may now become solely a comic relief character, but
surely the addition of emotions makes  his character far more diverse
than it had ever been previously.  After  all,  how many TV shows and
movies have had boring, emotionless andriods? To use a terribly over-
worked cliche, he has gone were no android has gone before.

Yes, the special effects were great, but extolling their virtues does
beg the question: what about the rest  of  the movie? On the whole, I
don't think Generations  suffered  from  the  wealth  of  effects. If
Paramount were planning on making  this  a big selling point, they're
in for a shock: come video release time, the effects won't be half as
impressive on the small screen.

I must complement Brannon Braga and Ron  Moore on a job well done (in
a small effect  to  offset  the  inevitable  scathing criticisms from
others). I though the story held together very well. Malcolm McDowell
is easily the best Star Trek  villain  ever,  but I had to feel sorry
for him at  times,  as  it  was  not  his  fault  that  he  became so
fanatical. Picard's grief over  Rene  and  Robert  and continuing the
family line  tied  in  well  with  the  Nexus  and  allowed  Soran to
influence Picard with his 'listening': "Time  is the fire in which we
burn." Lursa and B'Etor were good as ever, although there wasn't much
need to kill them. Data's reaction,  "Yes!", was understandable as he
was coming to  terms  with  his  emotions,  and  I  guess  relief and
satisfaction were new ones for  him.  Note  that  as far as we known,
Geordi is still transmitting  everything  he  sees;  I sincerely hope
this doesn't play a part in any further movies.

Was destroying  the  Enterprise  necessary?   Whatever  the arguments
about storylines needing it and any  ulterior motives behind having a
new Enterprise in further movies, it  still  makes a damn good scene.
Without the Enterprise in such disarray,  Kirk would have been beamed
up and saved... Worf could have  shot  down  the rocket... and so on.
Suffice to say that it would  have been a completely different movie.
One of the major themes of the  movie is that the Enterprise survives
through the generations.  We  see  the  sailing  ship Enterprise, the
crew  from  the  Enterprise-A,   the   Enterprise-B,   and  then  the
Enterprise-D.  The underlying  message  here  is  that  there will be
another Enterprise, better than the one before.

I'm sure a lot  of  people  would  have  preferred a different movie,
well, you're just going to have to live with it. It seems Generations
has created quite a divide.  Some  love  it, others loathe it. A mark
out of 100?  Well rather than  tediously break this down into special
effects, plot, suspense and whatever, I  will just pluck a percentage
out of the air. What would be  reasonable... 99%. Yes, I'm sure there
are several people having wild fits right about now, but calm down, I
will justify this with one remark:  I'm  saving the 100% for the next
movie.


                             Mark Platts
                            -------------

I watched the film  on  the  first  day  of  its  general release (no
previews for me I'm afraid) in a small cinema in Sheffield, packed to
the brim with young students. The atmosphere was optimstic and light.

I have to say I really enjoyed  Generations (although I seem to be in
the minority here - perhaps it's  because  I'm not a fanatic). As I'm
an artist, any film that is  visually exciting and action packed gets
my vote!!

This film included numerous 'beauty  shots'  of the various ships and
were beautifully done, namely the  Enterprise  B (thanks for changing
it from the original Excelsior model  so  I  have to make ANOTHER one
guys!!) and the Nebula class ship at  the  end of the movie. It seems
the director payed a  lot  of  attention  to  the visual aspect alot.
Superb special  effects  such  as  the  star  'dying'  (time  to  get
Lightwave running to try that one  out  for myself!!) and the hole in
the Enterprise B were much appreciated,  but  few and far between for
my liking.

Oe thing I did notice  was  very  little  movie time was allocated to
each character. TNG has a lot of characters - I'm disappointed to see
little expansion of their personalities in the movie (while Trek fans
know most characters in depth, the  casual movie goer needed a little
more time to get to  know  them),  the obvious exceptions being Data.
While I laughed  at  his  jokes  (which  went  down  very  well in my
cinema), his newly found emotions were  just  fear and humour - where
were the others? Anger seemed to  do  well in "Descent" (I would have
loved him to have made a pass  a  Troi!!)  - he just seemed to be the
funny man.

I would liked to have  seen  more  of  Marina Sirtis (but that's only
because she's the most perfect  woman  in  both this universe and the
Trek one!!!)  but  I  got  the  feeling  that  she  has  borrowed Bev
Crusher's wig somewhere along the line. Whose idea was that? Stick to
the black hair, love!

I really disliked the part when  Picard/Kirk  were in the Nexus - the
scene could have been shortened, and  the  time saved could have been
used developing the other characters more.

I nearly burst out laughing when  I saw the ridiculously inept saucer
crash (Simon put it best when  he  said  it  looked like a scene from
Thunderbirds - no disrespect to Gerry Anderson, as he could have done
a hundred times better on a smaller budget. Gerry is GOD).

I liked McDowell as Soran. Wonderfully  OTT  but  a joy to behold (it
would have been interesting to see him in a clinch with B'etor!!).

When I came out of the cinema, I  felt good. It was a good, enjoyable
movie - a bit sad to see old Kirk hang up his toupe, but there you go
- the end must come. The general consensus seems to be that the movie
could have been so much more -  and  I  agree. Can the next film have
the Borg in, Mr Director??!

But it comes in a close second in my fave Trek films to "The Wrath Of
Khan" and I will snap up the video when it gets released.

90% for a Trek film, 70% for a film in general.


                           Marcus Priddey
                          ----------------

I won't bother boring you with a plot synopsis as you've all seen the
movie, and those that haven't... tough.

Suffice it to say this  is  the  latest  of the Trek movies combining
some of the Classic Trek cast with the Next Generation cast. Now this
movie, for one reason or  another  has  had  a  lot of flak and undue
criticism which I feel it doesn't deserve.

Yes, the film has some holes in  it  but show me a film that doesn't.
Yes, the film has some continuity errors  in it, but that is going to
happen when you move a series from  the small screen and turn it into
a big screen adventure that has  to  appeal  not only to Trek fandom,
but also to a much wider movie going audience. To try and explain why
I liked it, I will have to raise the criticisms made.

First, apparently, according  to  Gene  Roddenberry's  guidelines for
Trek, none of the regular characters should be killed, so Kirk should
not have died. Oh, really?! Why's that  then?  Is he, and the rest of
them immortal or something? I  don't  like Kirk (I don't particularly
like Shatner, either for that matter)  and I have never liked Classic
Trek. I HAVE watched all the  Classic  Trek  episodes, just to see if
there was one I liked  and  I  didn't  rate  any  of them higher than
tolerable. So it was no great loss to  me when he died (which, as you
all know caused all the  hoo-har  about continuity). People die. That
is the one guarantee in life, and  you  are not going to venture into
something as big as space  without  casualties  and why should any of
the series characters be treated any different.

Second, why was Harriman (Captain of  1701-B) so useless and what was
he doing in charge of the  flagship  of Starfleet's erm, fleet? Right
then. Hands up those of you that have been in a position of authority
where there is no one to run to  if anything goes wrong and no one to
fall back on. Remember that feeling  when you were told "There's your
post. Now go do your job." It  felt like you'd swallowed a lead ball,
your heart was going into overdrive and your brain was a blank slate.
Yes, you say, but any captain has  had to go through command training
and also the position of  first/executive officer. Okay then, command
training is just that - training. It is no substitute for experience,
and I would refer you to  the  book,  when Kirk first took command of
his Enterprise. He alienated virtually  the  entire crew on his first
mission. And as for the post  of  first  officer, well you still have
the captain to rely on if something goes wrong.

Next, where were all  the  lights?  Lighting  is  a  key  role in the
setting of the atmosphere of a film.  "Generations" was not a laugh a
minute comedy film, but a semi-serious sci-fi yarn. Let's put it like
this, Picard's brother  and  nephew  have  been  burnt  to  death, an
observatory was attacked with some  few people killed, the Enterprise
went into battle with a Klingon  ship,  which  blew up killing all on
board and a "legend" died at the  end.  Hell yeah, let's have lots of
lovely light everywhere 'cause we're  all  a  jolly bunch! Light sets
the atmosphere which in  turn  gets  the  audience  responsive to the
film. I'm sure these same people shouting "LIGHT!" were also shouting
"COLOUR!" during "Schindler's  List"  and  "The  Elephant Man". Would
either of those two films been  as  effective if they were in colour?
No, I think not. And neither  would  "Generations" if it had been lit
up like a Christmas tree.

Finally, Data should not have  had  the  emotion chip fitted and most
certainly should not have  swore.  Why  not?  Data  is an android who
wishes to become human. To understand the human condition you need to
experience it, and emotions are part of  our existance. If he felt he
had reached an impasse in his  learning  of our behaviour then having
the emotion chip  fitted  was  the  next  logical  step.  He  said he
couldn't grasp such a simple  concept  of  humour.  Can you? I know I
can't. Oh, we all know how  to  tell jokes and understand humour, but
what makes one person find something funny but another find annoying.
Can you define humour? The dictionary describes humour as the faculty
of saying or perceiving what excites amusement. Anyone can understand
the definition, but can you descibe what it actually feels like?

As for saying "Oh,  shit"  when  the  Enterprise's saucer section was
going to hit the planet's  surface,  what  would  you say if you were
staring the Grim Reaper in the face?  Besides, I thought it was quite
funny myself, which is exactly  the  reason why the scriptwriters put
it in there.

These reasons are why I  enjoyed  Generation's  and  why I'm going to
give it 80/100.