When Star Trek: The Next Generation went off the air in 1994,
many Trekkies found themselves lost. Even though Deep Space Nine
was going strong, many felt that it was missing something that would have made
it as good as The Next Generation (TNG) series. But, their
faith would be once again renewed as the first feature film starring the cast
of the TNG series was opening later that year. That movie was Star Trek:
Generations.
The original Star Trek series spawned six movies of its own
over the course of a few decades. Granted a few of them were kind of cheesy,
the rest were great films (by a Trek Fan’s standards of course.) With
the release of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country in 1991,
which was to be the original crew’s final feature, it was time for the
next crew of the Federation’s flagship Enterprise to take center stage.
Though as the title of the movie suggests (Generations), the
gap will be bridged. So in case you missed it ten years ago, and haven’t
had a chance to rent it or catch it on television, here comes the two-disc Special
Collector’s Edition of the seventh Trek movie, Star Trek: Generations
which includes a fabulous widescreen version of the movie and an enormous helping
of special features.
Disc 1 - The Movie:
"Generations" begins in the past (according to the TNG standards),
as the newly designed and built Enterprise-B is christened while moored at spacedock.
The Enterprise-A, as seen in the original films, was retired sometime after
the Star Trek VI. Coming aboard for this auspicious event are
some of the old favorites, Captain Kirk (William Shatner), Captain Scott (James
Doohan), and Chekov (Walter Koenig). The plan is for the Enterprise to take
a quick run around the block (the end of the block being the planet Pluto),
and come back to dock just as a special maiden voyage. However, we wouldn’t
have the basis for a movie if something did not go awry, would we. The Enterprise-B
detects two ships in distress. They are caught in a hauntingly beautiful, but
equally deadly energy ribbon that is flying through space. Enterprise runs to
the rescue, saving over 200 passengers and refugees, but finds itself caught
in the rift too. Through some heroic action, Kirk helps the Enterprise break
free and escape. But the victory comes at a great cost – Kirk was swept
out into space and the energy ribbon as a piece of it smacks the hull where
he was located. History records that James T. Kirk died saving the Enterprise-B.
Now, some 70 years later (the present – confused yet?), the crew of the
Enterprise-D, going happily along their way, will suddenly find themselves caught
in a deadly scheme almost a century in the making.
As the Enterprise-D responds to a distress call from an observatory under attack,
they arrive to find everyone dead, except one man: Dr Soran. When he goes back
to the damaged observatory, he turns against Cmdr. Geordi LaFroge (Levar Burton),
and Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner), taking Geordi hostage as he is beamed away
to a rebel Klingon ship. Now it’s up to the crew of the newest Enterprise,
Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Doctor
Crusher (Gates McFadden), Lieutenant Commander Worf (Michael Dorn), Counselor
Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Data to find out what Soran has in store, and to get
back their missing crewman. What ensues is a fairly good story. At times it
does seem like some extended version of an episode, but if you try to put that
feeling behind you, you should be okay. However "Generations" is much
darker in mood and atmosphere than the series was, which adds something to it.
Captain Picard discovers that Soran is trying to return to the energy ribbon
involved in the incident 70 years ago where Kirk was killed. It turns out that
Soran was one of the refugees rescued from those two ships the Enterprise-B
was helping. The energy ribbon, which by the way is a fantastic piece of imagery,
is actually a doorway to the Nexus – a place where time has no meaning.
It is said that being inside the Nexus is like being “inside joy.”
It’s a place Soran will do anything to get back to…even destroy
a star and kill millions of innocent people.
I won’t spoil the rest of the movie for you, and I fear I have already
said too much. But I will say Star Trek: Generations does a
good job of bridging the gap between the two series’ characters. The inclusion
of some of the original cast, and especially Kirk’s larger role, is a
nice treat I think, and a good way to sort of pass the torch. I recall many
people, including diehard Trek fans did not have good things to say about this
movie. Then again, those are the type of people who are overly critical too
often. Generations is in fact a good movie. Granted, it’s no Undiscovered
Country, or Wrath Of Khan, but it holds it’s own. It’s nice to see
more time spent on detail and design of sets, costumes, and even the model/miniatures
of the starships. The special effects are a step above what we all saw throughout
the seven years of TNG, even though those were pretty good. All in all, it’s
a movie that doesn’t have too much Trek techno-babble, and an interesting
story that anyone can enjoy.
Disc 2 – The Special Features:
This two-disc set is named the “Special Collector’s Edition”
with good reason. There are a ton of features included on the second disc that
will keep you busy for quite a while. And to up the ante – they are good!
These are the kind of special features I enjoy the most. They are both entertaining
and informative. They give you a behind the scenes look at a number of different
aspects of moviemaking, as well as the cast and creator’s reactions. Like
I said, there is a lot, so I will try to review them as succinctly as possible.
There are several main categories, so I will list them within each category.
*The Star Trek Universe:
-A Tribute To Matt Jefferies: Cast, crew, and creators look back at the man
who designed much of the Star Trek Universe like the original Enterprise designs,
bridge designs, costumes, and many other things.
-The Enterprise Lineage: This nice little feature explores the ancestry of the
name Enterprise. From the first sailing ships to the latest class of starship,
it’s cool to see how the name has been used in reality, as well as how
far it was taken in fiction.
-Captain Picard’s Family Album: Production overview of Picard Family album.
Not all that exciting.
-Creating 24th Century Weapons: A look behind the scenes at how some of the
weapons, mostly knives, were concocted.
*Production:
-Uniting Two Legends: A featurette on how Captain Kirk and Captain Picard came
together in Generations. Interviews with cast and crew.
-Stellar Cartography – Creating The Illusion: A behind the scenes look
at one of the coolest sets ever constructed in Star Trek history.
-Strange New Worlds – The Valley Of Fire: Go with the cast and crew on
location at the Valley Of Fire – a beautiful desert location with amazing
rock formations. This was the setting for the latter half of the movie. Interesting
to see how everything needed to be built, torn down, and built again.
*Visual Effects:
-Inside ILM – Models & Miniatures: Go inside closed doors at Industrial
Light & Magic to see how the models and miniatures are used in the filming
of the movie. An interesting watch.
-Crashing The Enterprise: One look at how the saucer section of the Enterprise
was crashed into a planet. Cool.
*Scene Deconstruction:
-Main Title Sequence: Producers explain the concept behind the opening sequence.
-The Nexus Ribbon: Reviews the creation of the Nexus Ribbon visuals. Interesting.
-Saucer Crash Sequence: Explore how the saucer section was crashed from a different
perspective. Computer models and lighting and miniatures. Also interesting.
*Deleted Scenes: I won’t explain each of these, but there are a bunch
here that were left out, and the others are actually scenes that were cut from
the movie, and eventually rewritten and refilmed for the actual movie. These
were good – this includes the opening sequence, as well as an alternate
ending that everyone should watch.
*Archives: Another section that has a few subsections – most include storyboards
and production pictures. The storyboards are interesting kind of.
Other special features include trailers, and two separate commentaries (regular,
and text). Each is a good way to gain insight from the screenplay writers and
others.
The two-disc Special Collector’s Edition of Star Trek: Generations
is definitely a good DVD set to have if you’re a Trek fan. The movie is
a great one to add to the previous six you hopefully already have, and with
billions of extras to watch on disc two; it earns its “special edition”
label. If you already own a copy of the movie it’s certainly up to you
whether or not you wish to purchase another copy of it simply for the special
features included here or not. One thing that annoyed me about the set is that
it comes in a double-width size case, so unless you have a DVD rack that holds
cases that size, you’ll have to store it somewhere else. Other than that
small gripe, this is a solid release, and if you get around to, go ahead and
pick it up. I guess now I’ll have to wait for the Special Collector’s
Edition Star Trek: First Contact – because that movie
rocked!
Movie Score: B+
Extras Score: A
Overall DVD Score: A-
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