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Stars:
Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn,
Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Malcolm McDowell, James Doohan, Walter Koenig,
and William Shatner
Writers:
Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga
Based
On A Story By: Rick Berman, Ronald D. Moore, and Brannon Braga
Based
On “Star Trek” Created By Gene Roddenberry
Director:
David Carson
Feature
length: 117 minutes
Extras:
Audio Commentary With Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, Text Commentary By
Michael and Denise Okuda, Production Featurettes, Star Trek Universe
Featurettes, Visual Effects Featurettes, Scene Deconstructions, Deleted Scenes,
and Still Galleries
Languages:
English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Sound, Dolby Surround Sound, and French Language Dubbed Dolby Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and French Language Subtitles (For Select
Extra Features On Disc Two Only)
Packaging:
Two-Disc Alpha Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 16
Sound:
DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, and
Dolby Surround Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1994/DVD Release: 2004
Theatrical
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Wow
it has already been ten years since “Star Trek: Generations” played in
theaters and I can remember that day going to see it still pretty well. The
themes of time as it relates to how one lives his or her life, one’s own
mortality, and the legacy we leave behind are what is at the heart of “Star
Trek: Generations.” We open in the 23rd Century where retired
Starfleet Officers James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Montgomery Scott (James
Doohan), and Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) are guests of honor aboard the newly
christened Starship Enterprise-B. During a test run, the Enterprise
encounters a temporal energy wave referred to as the Nexus. Two El Aurian
refugee ships, presumably containing survivors not assimilated by the Borg, are
caught within the Nexus. Only several dozen are saved before both ships are
destroyed, but then the Enterprise gets caught in the energy ribbon and
Kirk rushes to engineering to reconfigure the deflector array so the ship can
break free. He is successful, but a whiplash energy beam pierces the hull of
ship and Kirk is presumed dead since there is no evidence of his body aboard
that fractured area of the ship.
78
years later, the Enterprise-D arrives at the Amargosa Observatory Station
answering a distress call. The sole survivor is a mad El Aurian Physicist named
Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell). There’s evidence that Romulans searching for an
unstable energy source they have been developing that in theory could implode a
star attacked the station. However Soran denies any knowledge of why the station
was invaded. Only after Soran destroys the Amargosa star with the stolen Romulan
weapon does Picard (Patrick Stewart) learn of Soran’s obsession with
re-entering the temporal Nexus, which includes destroying another star system
and millions of innocent lives. Along the way Picard discovers that Kirk has
been alive in the Nexus and as far and as he is concerned no time has past since
he first entered it decades earlier. In a virtual heaven where the laws of time
do not imply, Picard must convince Kirk to leave the Nexus and assist him with
thwarting Soran’s plan.
There
are a few brief moments in “Star Trek: Generations” that enable cast members
like Levar Burton, Jonathan Frakes, and to a small extent Gates McFadden to
shine, but as would be the case for all four “Next Generation” feature films
in the venerable series, Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner as “Data” get the
most screen time. Elements from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” are
revisited with select characters and storylines being utilized for the big
screen adventure, but in many ways “Star Trek: Generations” still feels like
a two-part episode of the series that spawned it. It is certainly not the worst
film in the series. In fact “Star Trek: Generations” features a terrific
performance by Malcolm McDowell, who just might be the best of the big screen
Trek villains to appear since Ricardo Montalban’s role in “Star Trek II: The
Wrath Of Kahn.” Stewart could read a grocery list onscreen and make it sound
dramatic. So it is no surprise that as likeable as William Shatner is in the
role of “Captain Kirk,” when he shares his swan song scene with Stewart, it
is hard not to laugh because Stewart is so good that he makes Shatner look worse
than he might have appeared with another actor. For the record, I love Shatner.
There are plenty of times in both the original “Star Trek” TV series and
subsequent feature films that I simply admire his ability to throw himself into
his signature character and do the silly things his character often was scripted
to do like the trademark “Captain Kirk” karate chop and rolling on the
ground to knock over an opponent or the screaming like when he yells out
“Khan” in the second Trek film that is almost over the top. I would not want
Shatner to be any other way than as he is. Patrick Stewart is great actor that
could outshine nearly anyone on the big screen depending on the strengths and
weaknesses of whoever he is set up with so Shatner fans don’t take offense.
At
the time “Star Trek: Generations” was in production, “Star Trek: The Next
Generation” was wrapping up production on the superior series finale “All
Good Things…” and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” was in production too. To
add to the hectic pace faced by Berman and his creative team at Paramount,
“Star Trek: Voyager” was in pre-production so for whatever shortcomings the
film might have as a whole, I can forgive Berman, Moore, and Braga because I
know that given the same situation, I really do not think if I were a Writer and
Producer for “Star Trek,” I could do any better. It is hard to juggle that
many projects at once. “Generations” fulfills in some ways the predictions
set forth in “Star Trek: IV: The Voyage Home” and “Star Trek V: The Final
Frontier.” The Klingon Ambassador warned the Federation council in the fourth
film “There shall be no peace so long as Kirk lives.” Though we have seen
the overture to the alliance the Federation and Klingons benefit from in the 24th
Century in the sixth film, we know from the “Next Generation” episode
entitled “Yesterday’s Enterprise” that it was the sacrifice the Enterprise-C
made defending a Klingon outpost from a Romulan attack that solidified that
peace. No one knew Kirk was alive so in effect, the Klingon Ambassador was
right. Kirk himself in “The Final Frontier” made the second prediction when
he told his comrades and friends Spock and McCoy that he knew that when he died,
he would die alone. In a sense this does come to fruition since none of his
friends are with him at the point of his death. Just another Captain of the Enterprise
he hardly got the chance to know.
Finally
released for the first time ever with an anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) aspect
ratio presentation, “Star Trek: Generations” has never looked better on home
video. There are still a few specks and a bit of grain from the source print
used, but otherwise this is a very good transfer with rich colors and nice
contrasts. The English DTS Digital 5.1 Theatrical Surround Soundtrack is very
rich with a great use of the surround channels and subwoofer to maximize the
home theater experience in ways the previous letterboxed movie only disc
technologically could never achieve. An English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack mix as well as an English and a French Language Dubbed Dolby Surround
Soundtrack mix are included along with English Captions and Closed Captions for
the hearing impaired and French Language Subtitles also appear on select bonus
features on disc two. Writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore provide an
insightful feature length audio commentary track for the film and Michael and
Denise Okuda provide yet another fact and trivia filled text commentary that has
become the highlight of Paramount’s “Star Trek” Director’s and Special
Collector’s Edition two-disc sets since the original DVD release of “Star
Trek: The Motion Picture” back in 2001.
The
balance of the extra value features is on disc two. Beginning with a set of
scene deconstructions which cover “The Main Title Sequence” (3:32), “The
Nexus Ribbon” (7:08), and the “Saucer Crash Sequence” (4:56), viewers are
given an eye opening glimpse into the preparation and production of the special
effects work performed for the film by the visual artists at Industrial Light
and Magic with comments by Dan Curry, Alex Seiden, and Patrick Sweeney, who each
worked on different aspects of the film’s amazing mix of practical and
computer generated images. The visual effects are explored in even greater
detail with a look “Inside The Models and Miracles at ILM” (9:39) and
“Crashing The Enterprise” (10:44) with ILM’s John Knoll. These featurettes
are among the most interesting because the technicians demonstrate the scale of
the various models, as it would relate to the interior of the ship we see the
cast perform in. In some cases the models are so big, that they easily could be
stood up and reach heights taller than most of the people that actually build
them.
The
next phase of the extras focuses on the Universe of Star Trek with “A Tribute
To Matt Jefferies” (19:37), which not only covers in detail the influence
Jefferies has had on every technician that has followed in his footsteps on the
subsequent Trek films and TV series, but also examines the various drawings and
ideas that were developed for the original Enterprise, some of which were used
in later “Star Trek” projects. It is interesting to note that the influence
of Jefferies work was so inspiring that the U.S. Government actually consulted
with Jefferies and Roddenberry about the design of the communications station
aboard the ship for classified projects. “The Enterprise Lineage” (12:48)
examines the history of the various vessels to carry the name “Enterprise”
from seafaring vessels to the various incarnations of the starship Enterprise
seen on television and on the big screen. Penny Juday, who has kept a detailed
archive of “Star Trek” props for Paramount and has participated on previous
“Star Trek” DVD featurettes gives the viewers a detailed look inside
“Captain Picard’s Family Album” (7:05), which is now on display in Las
Vegas as a part of the “Star Trek Experience” attraction. Another
interesting featurette covers the various futuristic knives developed for the
shows and movies in “Creating 24th Century
Weapons” (13:37).
There
are storyboard galleries as well as production shots and a reel of deleted
scenes that can be viewed individually or as one reel (33:09) with introductions
by Rick Berman. These include the “Orbiting Skydiving Sequence,” “Waking
The Plank,” “Christmas With The Picards,” and an “Alternate Ending.”
Behind the scenes production featurettes entitled “Uniting Two Legends”
(25:38), “Stellar Cartography” (9:23), and “Strange New Worlds: The Valley
Of Fire” (22:41) wrap up the bonus features on disc two. The menus on disc one
feature the Enterprise-B in front of the Nexus while disc two features
the Stellar Cartography room. All of the menus feature animated transitions and
are easy to navigate.
“Star
Trek: Generations: Special Collector’s Edition” is set to debut on DVD-Video
on Tuesday, September 28, 2004 at retailers on and offline from Paramount Home
Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2004 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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