The funny thing about my complaint about the movie’s inappropriate humor is that, as a “Star Trek” fan, I enjoyed those moments.
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When "Star Trek: The Next Generation" ended its seven-year run in 1994, Paramount decided to continue the "Trek" movie line with the cast of "TNG" rather than the cast of "The Original Series". A decision was made to bridge the two casts with a crossover story, but only William Shatner (James T. Kirk), James Doohan (Scotty), and Walter Koenig (Pavel Chekov) wanted to return as their characters, with the others thinking that "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" had already given them a proper send-off.
At any rate, the winter of 1994 saw the demise of the Enterprise-D as the ship crashed on a planet while our Starfleet heroes saved the day once again. The movie begins with the retired Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov joining the crew of the Enterprise-B as guests of its maiden voyage. Answering a distress call, the Enterprise-B stumbles upon an energy ribbon that apparently kills Kirk but has in fact taken him into a never-ending place of fulfilled dreams. One man, a scientist named Soran (Malcolm McDowell), tries to get back into the Nexus for the next seventy-eight years, and the Enterprise-D under Jean-Luc Picard´s (Patrick Stewart) command must stop Soran from blowing up stars and destroying life on several planets.
The senior officers of "TNG" return, including First Officer William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), the android Data (Brent Spiner), Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), the Klingon Worf (Michael Dorn), Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton), and Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) makes a cameo appearance, too. The cast looks comfortable carrying a "big" movie, and the action sequences are very exciting and well-executed. There´s a tense space battle with the Klingon Duras sisters, and the Enterprise-D´s crash is spectacular. However, all is not well.
Here´s a list of the problems that I had with "Generations":
1) The distracting mix of uniforms. Extras without any dialogue wear uniforms from the first two, three seasons of "The Next Generation". Various crew members wear the uniforms found during Season 4-7. Still others wear the jumpsuit uniforms found during the early years of "Deep Space Nine" as well as the entire run of "Voyager". A real, important organization such as Starfleet would not be so poorly coordinated.
2) Inappropriate humor. Data´s discovery of emotions produces several very funny moments. However, they disrupt the flow of the movie and often run counter to what viewers should be feeling while watching certain scenes. Therefore, you end up laughing while the Enterprise is crashing to a planet´s surface! This severely weakens the movie.
(The funny thing about my complaint about the movie´s inappropriate humor is that, as a "Star Trek" fan, I enjoyed those moments. However, as a movie critic, I realize how the movie would´ve been better without that humor. The humor could´ve been used elsewhere or not used at all. Data in "Star Trek: Generations" is like Gimli in "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers".)
3) The handling of Picard´s longing for a family. In "TNG", Picard really had no use for families or children. Yet, in "Generations", the death of his nephew sends him into a catatonic state. The movie extends this uncharacteristic desire by making Picard´s Nexus fantasy one in which he is the head of a family with three or four offspring. This inconsistency reeks of sentimentality and a desperate attempt to create pathos out of thin air.
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[release]12402[/release]