Movie #4 of 2021:
Star Trek Generations (1994)
Filmed and released shortly after the final season of The Next Generation, this film reprises that show’s main cast along with William Shatner (and briefly, James Doohan’s Scotty and Walter Koenig’s Chekov) from the original Star Trek series, to officially pass the cinematic torch over from TOS to TNG. It’s reasonably successful on that front, although Captain Kirk himself features only in the first and last half-hour, and his eventual teaming up with his successor Picard doesn’t feel as monumental as it likely should. Mostly this seems like an overly-long episode of the later program, which still bites off more than it can chew and lacks adequate script space for all the core players.
The plot is pretty bizarre, too. I actually enjoy the opening sequence, as it manages to be funny, poignant, and exciting in turn while also setting up an engaging mystery for the rest of the movie to tackle. But we then jump forward 78 years to the Enterprise-D crew, at which point things begin to break down. Malcolm McDowell turns in some fine scenery-chewing as the villainous Dr. Soran, but his dastardly scheme is inscrutably abstract, planning to kill millions on his way back to the timeless Nexus where he can experience pure joy. The precise mechanics of that dimension are left unclear, especially once we learn that Jean-Luc can apparently time-travel out of it whenever he wants. The more I write about this concept the worse it sounds, so let me just stop there and reiterate that it’s a shade of technobabble nonsense that isn’t remotely satisfying on either a story or a character level.
Nevertheless, the title provides a few neat flourishes throughout, both in continuity ties to the TV version and in bold new elements that couldn’t have been done with the small-screen budget. The comedy of Data’s emotional chip is perhaps too broad, but it’s a fun contrast to his usual self and an interesting key for actor Brent Spiner to develop. There’s built-in pathos for the farewell to the earlier era, even if the actual send-off to its leading man ends up a tad underwhelming. I can’t imagine any part of this working for unfamiliar audiences, yet I don’t know that that’s a reasonable expectation for a mid-franchise release of this nature anyway. It’s ultimately a solid enough outing for what it’s aiming to do, and that gets a passing grade from me.
★★★☆☆
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