And why? For me, it would be insurrection. I just found it to be incredibly boring, I think most people will pick Nemesis but I found that to be at least mildly entertaining at times. The only forgivable thing about Insurrection is the hot Trill who gives Riker the eyes.
Insurrection is also my least favorite. Out of the four TNG films it's the one where the story is way too heavy on the guest aliens (Bak'u and Son'a) and is least impactful on the core group of characters from the show. Generations, First Contact and Nemesis all had major events that affected the TNG crew's lives and that's what I want to see when paying to go to the theater. By the end of Insurrection even the insurrection was tame.
I also chose Insurrection. While I didn't hate it, to me it felt like a TNG script adapted and elongated for the big screen. I think it's a decent story idea and would have worked fine as a television episode or possibly a 2-parter. It may have even been a fan-favorite if it were one of the episodes. But it just didn't work as well to me on the big screen as the other films did.
My vote would go for Generations. Don't get me wrong, it had some great moments: the entire Enterprise-B opening, for example. But, some decisions to "break the normal" as explained by the writers led to odd decisions like replacing a battle with the Romulans with the pointless naval promotion scene, Kirk making eggs with Picard and the whole Nexus Christmas scenes. It was really a mixed bag, and overall, not very satisfying.
To me, insurrection was everything TNG was, so it's actually my favourite of the lot, and I have to credit Generations for at least trying to make an intriguing story work. First Contact is an ok sci-fi action flick, but Nemesis is just poorly conceived. There was potential there, but it's just an awful execution. The big battle is the only positive point of the movie.
Nemesis, because it was the prime continuity committing suicide. Watching it in the theater was like watching a train wreck in slow motion. And then it flopped.
Nemesis. I agree with the OP that it was boring. A clone of Picard becoming Praetor of the Romulan Empire caused my suspension of disbelief to snap. Data's death seemed unnecessary, and having B4 there as a built-in reset made Data's death feel hollow. The ending was melancholy and wistful, when it should have ended on an optimistic note. All in all, if the storyline were tweaked a little, it could have been a better movie somewhere in the middle of TNG's film run, but it was awful as a sendoff.
Easily Insurrection. It felt like it was spawned because Rick Berman or another Paramount executive got their McMansion bulldozed in favor of a strip mall.
I didn't even get to see it in theatres because it didn't show in my area ! That's when I knew it was in trouble.
To a point. Generations was worse than the rest and First Contact better than the others. They were all pretty poor though - not a patch on the series...
Nemesis for me. And not that I hate it or anything, but to many moments that were just to plain stupid or weird. I really love Insurrection actually. More Trek then any other TNG film if you ask me.
For me, it's First Contact. Loved the opening part with the Battle of Sector 001, but the sudden switch to a time travel story really blows it for me. I think they missed an opportunity to do a big-scale, galaxy-spanning story that would have made "Best of Both Worlds" look tame in comparison, IMO (for those who have read the post-TNG novels, we ultimately got that with the Destiny trilogy).
I agree with you, there. There's also the glaring plot holes I discussed before. It's a mess. Entertaining, but that's about it.
I voted for Nemesis. So many errors, plot holes, and weak elements in it to forgive. Of the others, I actually quite like Generations though always see it more as a TNG TV Movie than a feature film. First Contact is one of my favourite Trek films ever made. Insurrection is pretty lame, but it at least has some development and makes sense--plus it also gave us the great looking Son'a ships.
Yes, you're not wrong. When I re-watch First contact I always enjoy immensely up to the point where the sphere goes back in time. After that, I tend to skip ahead. Good observation. Up till now I wasn't conscious of how much of the movie I skipped. As for worst - had to go to Nemesis. It is consistently un-watchable. Given the strength of the series finale, it's such a shame this pile of garbage was the last voyage we bore witness to.
Generations, easily. I hated what they did to Kirk in that movie. I was never as attached to the TNG crew, so nothing Nemesis or Insurrection did to them upset me much (though they were certainly both mediocre movies). I still like First Contact.
Nemesis: 1.) The premise was stupid. Essentially a clone is a twin. There are plenty of them around who don't have so many deep conversations about how they know what each other is thinking or doing blah blah blah... But the biggest sin it committed... 2.) It was just damn boring. What action it had was broken up with long drawn out monologues. It was self-indulgent, pseudo-intellectual crap.