DVD
Review | Star Trek: Generations (Special Edition)
Written by: Kage
Alan
One of the finest gifts the cast and crew of
“Star Trek: The Next Generation” could ever offer fans of the original
show is a nod to its origins. Despite the aging of the original cast,
I truly believe fans would have continued to go to theatres and see
them on the screen for as long as they could make movies. I certainly
would have. It seemed only fitting then that the first Next
Generation film would find some way to bridge the gap between the two
eras. While a huge number of fans point to “First Contact” as their
favorite, it’s my own humble opinion that “Generations” is the finest
of the Next Generation films. It has the most heart, warmth and
essence of what has made “Trek” so worth watching over the years.
The USS Enterprise B gets a warm sendoff when
former Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Scotty (James Doohan)
and Chekov (Walter Koenig) attend the christening ceremonies. A run in
with a phenomena while on an unplanned rescue mission leaves the ship in
some amount of trouble and also appears to have taken the life of the
legendary captain. Flash forward in time to the Next Generation and
we’re just in time to see Worf (Michael Dorn) get a promotion. As is
the nature of the universe, when something good happens, something bad
also happens. Picard (Patrick Stewart) faces personal tragedy on the
home front just as they receive a distress call from an observatory hit
by the Romulans.
What does the enemy want? Perhaps lone survivor
Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell) has some answers, only he’s not talking.
The crew find themselves in deeper intrigue than they ever thought
possible when the Doctor blows up the local sun and escapes via help
from the Klingons. Picard must figure out just what Soran is up to,
where he’s going next and a way to stop him. It’s not going to be easy
and he (Picard) may just need the help of a legend thought long dead.
Does Soran stand a chance against two captains of the Enterprise?
Hardly.
Picard has always been the diplomatic one while
Kirk remains the warrior. This theme is carried through here
beautifully, which can be evidenced when Picard gets his ass beat by
Soran while Kirk dishes it out in grand fashion. While several of the
supporting cast members don’t have much meat to their roles, their
presence is always felt and there is always the promise of more screen
time in future films. If there are any complaints to be had with
“Generations” despite a coherent theme throughout and a few other dodgy
plot elements, it’s the use of a certain special effects sequence ripped
right out of “Star Trek VI.” Like we weren’t going to notice that???
Other than that, it’s a bittersweet ending for the original series and a
new beginning for the next. Are good things to come? We’ll find out in
a month when the “Star Trek: First Contact” Special Edition is released.
Paramount has released “Star Trek: Generations” in
its original Widescreen format. As can be expected, picture quality is
very, very good while audio is quite zesty. As always, the extras are
divided up onto two discs. Disc One contains an extremely lively
commentary track with Brannon Braga and Ron Moore, and a Text Commentary
with Michael and Denise Okuda. Honestly, I had low expectations for the
audio commentary, but it was refreshingly fun and informative. Disc 2
contains “Scene Deconstruction” (“Main Title” (3 ½ min), “The Nexus
Ribbon” (7 min) and “Saucer Crash Sequence (4 ¾ min)), “Visual Effects”
(“Inside ILM: Models and Miniatures” (9 ½ min) and “Crashing the
Enterprise” (10 ¾ min)), “The Star Trek Universe” (“A Tribute To Matt
Jefferies” (10 ½ min), “The Enterprise Lineage” (12 ¾ min), “Captain
Picard’s Family Album” (7 min), “Creating 24th Century
Weapons” (13 ¾ min)), “Archives” (a “Production Gallery” and 3
“Storyboards”), “Production” (“Uniting Two Legends” (25 ½ min), “Stellar
Cartography: Creating The Illusion” (9 1/3 min) and “Strange New Worlds:
The Valley of Fire” (22 ¾ min)) and 4 “Deleted Scenes” (33 1/3 min), one
of which is the original Alternate Ending.
While the commentary suggests that a couple more
passes at the story would be called for if they had it to do over,
“Generations” certainly did the best it could under the circumstances.
The films that follow don’t have much in the way of continuity and
couldn’t escape the long, meddling arm of Rick Berman. Still, with the
exception of “Nemesis,” we keep coming back because it’s an opportunity
to check in with some old friends. Personally, I prefer to think that
the Next Generation hasn’t finished its journey just yet. The best is
yet to come and it’s name isn’t “Nemesis.”
Film Rating: A-
DVD Special Features: A
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