How would you improve Insurrection?

[The Overlord]

We already had a thread discussing how to improve Nemesis, so I thought it be fun to to discuss ways to improve Insurrection.

Sfdebris had the idea of making the moral conflict more grey and having half the crew side with the Federation and the other half side withe Ba'ku.

[Dantheman]

I would've gone with Sfdebris' idea as well, and I probably would also suggest not rushing it, giving it rewrites and such. I have this conspiracy theory that INS was rushed into development so Paramount could have a Star Trek movie in theaters before Star Wars Episode One The Phantom Menace was released, for whatever reasons you can come up with.

[BillJ]

Go back before they started writing the film and make sure that Stewart and Spiner have absolutely no input. Then go with Piller's idea of serium krellide as the basis for all Federation medical technology.

Make the Ba'ku likable, drop the S'ona and make it a purely Starfleet vs. Starfleet affair.

[Silversmok3]

Its so easy, anyone can do it. First, find a paper shredder and stick the entire original script into it.

Take clean sheet of paper, and begin. Repeat 1000 times, add a spice of $$$ ,and voila!A better Insurrection!

[Jeff O'Connor]

Sean Connery as Dougherty.

[gottacook]

Get rid of the apostrophes.

[billcosby]

Maybe make it about something interesting?
Fountain of Youth stories are so lame.
Rewrite it with the weird-ass aliens from S1's Conspiracy. I want to see Riker eat maggots again.

[R. Star]

The Overlord wrote:

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We already had a thread discussing how to improve Nemesis, so I thought it be fun to to discuss ways to improve Insurrection.

Sfdebris had the idea of making the moral conflict more grey and having half the crew side with the Federation and the other half side withe Ba'ku.

Sfdebris had a good idea with the whole "family fight" thing. If you look at Insurrection, all the parts are there for a very dramatic and powerful story. It was just horribly thrown together.

It certainly doesn't help that the Baku are so self-righteous and entitled that I have a very hard time feeling sorry for them. They apparently don't even consider the prospect of the 600 of them living out a normal life to help out billions. "No our immortality is too more important than those outsiders petty lives. Now fight our war for us, and get me a martini while I wait."

[inflatabledalek]

BillJ wrote:

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Go back before they started writing the film and make sure that Stewart and Spiner have absolutely no input. Then go with Piller's idea of serium krellide as the basis for all Federation medical technology.

In fairness though, based on Piller's book, the first script was thrown out without Stewart ever seeing it. Berman rejected it based on what he thought the lead might say, which is hardly Stewart's fault. If anything he seemed to have brought it back closer to the original idea.

And I also think Spiner should have been listened to more, his concerns that Data was being written appalling in a style that ignored years of character development was pretty much bang on the money. Frankly I wish he'd been prepared to make more of a push against it.

Hell, if the studio's notes (especially the one on making the Ba' Ku argument stronger) had been listened to more we'd have a better film. And how often is that the case?

[Use of Time]

To me a movie has to be daring and provide lasting changes to the Star Trek universe. This story could have been an episode in a bottle in the grand scheme of things. If you removed it from canon what effect does it really have on the progression of Star Trek? Nothing. It's all wrapped up in nice little bow in the end and our heroes warp off to the next assignment just like every episode of the TNG series. We've never hear of the Son'a or the Bak'u and we likely never will again. There is absolutely no emotional attachment to these new species and I found myself hardly caring what happend to either by the end.

[King Daniel Into Darkness]

Replace Dougherty with Dr Evil. And Ru'afo with Darth Vader. And instead of that HMS Pinafore song, they sing the Team America theme.

A Trek movie you will NEVER forget!

[JarodRussell]

inflatabledalek wrote:

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In fairness though, based on Piller's book, the first script was thrown out without Stewart ever seeing it. Berman rejected it based on what he thought the lead might say, which is hardly Stewart's fault. If anything he seemed to have brought it back closer to the original idea.

Yeah, it was painful reading about that. Stewart would have liked the original draft, but they simply threw it away without ever showing it to him. And when the said he liked the Fountain of Youth story, they never returned to the original draft.

Arrrrgh!

[Captaindemotion]

Jeff O'Connor wrote:

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Sean Connery as Dougherty.

Whatever flaws this movie may have had, I wouldn't lay any of them at the feet of Anthony Zerbe.

Anyway, given that Dougherty wasn't the main villain (that was Ra'fu who was played by Oscar-winner F Murray Abraham), I don't think it would have made sense to have him played by an iconic actor like Connery. The role was better suited to a respected character actor like Zerbe, than a legend.

[Mage]

I like Insurrection, so I wouldn't change a lot. I agree with the moral dillema, feeling that the needs of the many don't always outweigh the needs of the few.

Take out the silly boob joke and pimple joke, and to me it's still a fun film. I will agree that as a film, FC was better. But to me, Insurrection was the better Trek movie.

[RyuRoots]

By throwing it out entirely and making a movie about the liberation of Betazed instead. There are things you could do to make INS less terrible, but nothing short of a complete rewrite would make it good.