Five Things I Liked in "Star Trek-Generations"

In the past I have taken a decent or even great movie, and commented on five things I hated in that movie. Today I am switching things a bit,since I am talking about a bad movie it only makes sense to talk about the things liked!

Poor Star Trek Generations. So much potential, such a disappointment.I really don't understand how they messed this one up. I mean the story sucks,they don't respect the characters, and the whole thing just feels like a drawn out episode. I mean what were they thinking? A part of the problem may have been that were rushing to get this out, and didn’t really make sure they were putting out a good product.

I mean Data and his emotion chip was annoying, Picard’s sad story didn’t work, and what the heck was up with the new sets and costumes? However, I still count this as a guilty pleasure as there are some things in this movie I can't help but really like

#5 The Music

I absolutely loved the main score for this film. It has aunique sound and is different from most of the other movies. I especially always loved how the tune ended, with that little nod to the series in the melody. It gets me pumped when I hear it, maybe more than any other theme (except Stat Trek IV). If you’ve never heard it, here is a link below. Not much else to say, great music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooIUtXEuTYQ

#4.The Final Scene

Yeah, this kind of sounds weird.  But the final scene where Picard and Riker look over the wreckage that was once their vessel is a nice moment. Picard gives one of my favorite Star Trek quotes regarding how time is a companion which goes with us along the journey of life, and reminds us to cherish every moment because they will never come again. Then Riker says he always thought he would get a shot at commanding the ship, to which Picard suggests he may still have that chance. This is probably not the last ship to be called Enterprise!

#3.Destruction of the Enterprise D

There was a lot of cool in this otherwise flawed scene. The way that it was written was kind of lame; I mean how could no one remember they can remodulate the shields? OR FIRE ALL WEAPONS? And why does it take one lousy shot from an ancient Klingon vessel to do the Enterprise in? But forgetting that, this was a pretty cool sequence. Probably the best in the movie. Very decent special effects added to the fact that it was still sad to watch this ship go down. After seven years we had grown as fond of the ship as we had the previous Enterprise.Granted the Enterprise explosion in Search for Spock worked better. First we get the separation which is always a cool thing, followed by the shockwave knocking the ship into orbit. Then we get one of the coolest crashes ever, andit just makes for a really good moment. Hard to describe, check it out if you've never seen it.

#2. The Opening Scene

The one thing that this film got right was that first scene on the Enterprise-B. It really seemed like this was going to be a great movie after this moment. Yeah I know I picked on Captain Harriman a few weeks ago,but that was more sloppy writing than anything, Alan Ruck did a decent enough job. And yeah we know that it was supposed to be Spock and McCoy not Scotty andChekov, but it still all works out. It is just a very well-paced scene withgood action. We get some strong character moments between Kirk and Chekov as well as Scotty. Heck I even liked Sulu's daughter, in fact I cared more about her character than most of the others later on! There is even just enough mystery with Malcolm MacDowell’s character muttering how he wants to go back to the Nexus. Then we get to the ending, and while I wish they would have shown more reaction of Kirk’s death it ends good enough. The novel adaptation actually explores that further, which I liked. But there is one thing that realty makes this work, and for that I refer you to my #1.

#1. Captain Kirk

It is really amazing. This was supposed to be the first movie to star The Next Generation, and Captain Kirk steals the show. Quite literally, William Shatner was the best thing in this thing. I am dead serious; this may have been one of my favorite Kirk appearances in any movie or episode. The opening scene is perfect, the way Kirk holds back until Harriman asks for help.Then Kirk races down to make the necessary repairs, and seeing Kirk in action was lots of fun. Cut to after all the silliness with Picard acting like a wimp and getting sucked into the Nexus, then Guinans ghost (or whatever) tells him he can leave and go back anywhere. Why did Picard pick ten minutes earlier? Anyway, we cut to Kirk at the cabin and the moment when Picard sees him is great, it just feels like William Shatner is having a lot of fun. Yeah the scene between Kirk and Picard in the kitchen drags on and is pointless, but Kirk is still awesome in it. Kirk just outshines Picard in every way. I love when he snaps back at Picard’s lecturing him on his duty. Then the fight on the bridge which is some decent action.

But the best part comes right before Kirk makes the leap onto the Bridge. Maybe it’s just me, but there is a second I love where the camera zooms in on Kirk’s face. He has a look on his face as if he knows what’s going to happen. But then he realizes there are lives at stake and makes the leap anyway. I don’t know maybe it’s just me but that was a great Kirk moment. Then we get that death scene…..yeah that death scene. Actually I do think it was well acted, what hurts it is that it is SO OBVIOUS the filmmakers wanted to kill Kirk off. Somehow that hurts the product, not sure how. Maybe because it’s not hard to figure away that scene could have gone without resulting in Kirk’s death. Like maybe he didn’t fall from the bridge, or in the end went back to the Nexus. It was not a fitting end for that character, I admit it, but for what it is I can’t complain about the way it was acted.

Before I go, I wanted to mention that the death scene we are familiar with was actually take 2. There is a deleted scene where Kirk is shot in the back, and dies in Picard’s arms. I am glad they changed it, because as bad as the moment we got is – this was worst! At least in the second version Kirk gets a few lines in. In the original version he barely says anything. Check it out if you can.

So there you have it, five things I really liked in an otherwise disappointed film.

Hmmm, that’s three Star Trek articles in a row. Need to do something different. Hey, I know! Coming soon : GAME SHOW WEEK!!!!!!