Wednesday, September 03, 2014

Star Trek Generations

So now that season two of DS9 is over. I can finally watch Generations, because it sort of takes place about now in the timeline. Anyway, I really wanted to love this movie. But, I ended up just liking it.

The plot is this: Kirk, Scotty and Chekov are at a gathering for the maiden voyage of the Enterprise-B captained by Alan Ruck. They suddenly answer a distress call and nearly get sucked into some vortex (actually The Nexus). In the process Kirk goes missing and is assumed dead. Fast forward to a hundred years later. Picard and crew rescue this guy named Dr. Soran from a Romulan attack on his observatory. Geordi and Data (who has recently installed his emotion chip) go to examine the observatory and find a stash of Trilithium (dangerous stuff). Suddenly they are attacked by Soran. Soran and LaForge end up transported to a Klingon ship. Seems that Soran has been working with the Duras sisters on stealing the Trilithium.

Guinan recognizes Soran and tells Picard that he is dangerous and that he is obsessed with returning back to the Nexus. Seems that the Nexus is a place where your dreams come true. He is using the Trilithium to explode a sun or something in order to make an energy belt that carries him to the Nexus ... or something. Then he will us a 1985 Russian missile to explode a sun and cause the Nexus ... for some reason. Picard ends up fighting Soran on a planet trying to stop him from shooting the missile. But he is too late. Picard ends up in the Nexus where he meets Kirk! Kirk has been living a dream for the past one hundred years. Picard convinces him to come back and help stop Soran. So together they go "back in time" and stop the missile from being launched. Sadly Kirk is killed, this time for real.

After a battle with the Duras sisters, Riker separates the saucer section of the Enterprise and it crashes onto the planet. This is one of the best scenes in the movie. It is rather well done for a movie made in 1994. And it seems like people really get fucked up in the process. It's weird that a ship full of families seemingly has no plan for when the ship gets violently jostled. People just go flying everywhere!

So what did I learn from this movie? First of all, the plot was not really that good. Secondly, the "villain" was just down right boring (although Malcolm McDowell was great as always). Also, as much as I love Data, I hated him in this movie...he was just so annoying with that damn emotion chip. Finally, I realized how much better William Shatner is than everyone else. Yes, he is the campiest actor ever, but damn it he steals every scene.

Also, this Nexus thing. You could literally live any dream that you want. So it's just weird that both Picard and Kirk end up in places where they just seem sad. I was hoping that Picard would go to a reality where was roommates with Teen Wolf and Officer Poncherello. And they would travel the Silk Road in 100 AD solving mysteries. In a rickshaw being pulled by Nell Carter.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Fuck this movie.

It looks great. Even today, the special effects and design hold up. That whole scene in stellar cartography, or whatever, is really cool looking.

But boy is it boring and drab. And, as you said, the plot sucks. Why is Soren blowing up stars instead of just flying into the ribbon? I know they inserted some dialogue about how you can't just fly into it, and yet everybody who just flies into it ends up in the ribbon.

Also... just let him go into the ribbon. Who cares?

Mugato said...

Right?? Why do they care if he goes into the Nexus. I get that they want him to not destroy stars and shit...ok, so why not work with him to find an alternative way.

Justin Garrett Blum said...

I have so little recollection of what actually happened in this film. I've probably watched it once. And then I watched First Contact about a billion times.