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

Text File | 1995-11-12 | 22KB | 383 lines

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.