It's time for the Star Trek: Generations appreciation thread

[Lance]

Of the four TNG movies, it's by far the one that feels the most like "Star Trek: The Next Generation... on the big screen".

The simple comfort factor of good old 1701-D being there; the combination of the TNG and DS9/VOY uniforms; the callbacks to older TV episodes (Data's emotion chip, Picard's family, Spot, the Duras Sisters, etcetera); Picard being 100% in-character on Veridian III when trying to reason with Soran by appealing to deeply hidden his sense of morality (it almost works at one point, too)...

Even now, 21 years later, 'Generations' is the only TNG movie that to me actually feels like TNG ('Insurrection' has its moments, though). I never really embraced 1701-E as a starship, I never liked the gray-and-black-dirge uniforms introduced in 'First Contact', I hated that the following movies all took these characters and turned them into something atypical of what we expected from seven years of the TV show, and also disliked that 'negative continuity' had crept in by the time 'Nemesis' came around (the TNG TV show actually had an admirable sense of continuity that built up over 7 years and remained relatively consistent).

As much as I hate some parts of 'Generations', particularly the lame ass destruction of 1701-D (when, frankly, I never bought the idea of replacing it with a new ship anyway), 'Generations' is still a guilty pleasure of mine...

 

[Starborn Dragon]

I liked the movies, but Picard proved Guinan II wrong when she told him he would never want to leave the Nexus. of course if he stayed there would have been no stopping Saran.

 

[Greg Cox]

The opening bit with the champagne bottle is gorgeous, and the whole sequence on the Enterprise-B is great. I actually prefer Kirk's "death" in that sequence to his actual death later on.

And Malcom McDowall makes a great villain. "Time is the fire in which we burn," etc.

 

[EnriqueH]

It's dangerously tempting to come into this thread and spew everything that's wrong, kinda like having a loaded gun at a shooting range and being asked not to shoot.

But I promise to be good because you know what? I've never attempted to say only good things about Generations.

So here I go:

*) William Shatner
*) There's an attempt to involve all the TNG members in some way.
*) All controversy aside, I enjoyed the Data/emotion chip subplot in and of itself. Brent Spiner did a great job, and was fun to watch.
*) Patrick Stewart
*) Malcolm McDowell
*) The mortality theme
*) Enjoyed the dreamlike quality of Picard's Nexus.
*) The destruction of the Enterprise-D. The whole thing was handled very well. Good effects, suspense, and sadness. I totally didn't see it coming.

 

[NeroShrimp]

I really enjoy the humor used in the movie. The writers were not experienced at all in writing a film after only have experience when coming from the television show, so I can understand that aspect.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I love that out of all the Star Trek episodes/movies and characters, Data, of all people, has the most human moment of all. Everybody knows they'd do it in that situation.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh SHIT!"

 

[chevron]

Ok.... Generations is probably in my bottom two of the original 10 movies but here goes...

I did like that we finally got to see the Enterprise B. It was the "missing link" for me as we had seen the C on TNG.

Um......

Malcolm McDowell. He was good.

I liked that location they were in at the end, up on that rock formation.

I did think the Enterrise D crashing was well done. And this might be controversial but I never liked the Enterprise D design, so I was ok with seeing the thing blow up and crash.

I'll stop there.

 

[Kilana2]

I hope they send ships on a shakedown cruise with installed tractor beams, torpedos and at least an emergency medical crew now.....

 

[Danlav05]

I have great nostalgia for this movie. I was 6 when it came out.

I love how we finally saw Kirk and Picard together. The circumstances could have been better but it's one final heroic journey for Kirk.

Some say that this is basically like an episode of TNG on the big screen, but on the other hand the E-D gets a chance to really show her beauty before being destroyed!!

Thanks to what it's filmed on and the lighting the ship does look different and for the better; with the updated bridge and other sets familiar from the tV show. Even the 'in space' shots look better, and yes I have watched both in HD.

 

[Smellmet]

I have great nostalgia for this movie. I was 6 when it came out.

I love how we finally saw Kirk and Picard together. The circumstances could have been better but it's one final heroic journey for Kirk.

Some say that this is basically like an episode of TNG on the big screen, but on the other hand the E-D gets a chance to really show her beauty before being destroyed!!

Thanks to what it's filmed on and the lighting the ship does look different and for the better; with the updated bridge and other sets familiar from the tV show. Even the 'in space' shots look better, and yes I have watched both in HD.

Some of the in-space shots looked like they were just lifted from the show, but for every one of those there were some real great shots of the D - The Amagosa approach, warping away from the shockwave, the BoP battle, the D never looked better IMO.

The interior shots of the D just looked so different from the show, despite being the same sets. The bridge shots and the scenes where the interior was being lit by the nearby star in particular looked fantastic, and lent the film a bigger screen feel to it that the two following movies failed to capture in my view.

Bar the odd bit of cost-cutting, I would rank Generations as possibly the fourth most visually spectacular Trek film behind the JJ's TMP, and maybe NEM, and would watch it over INS and TFF any day. I think it has stood the test of time quite well.

 

[Memory Alpha]

I'll mention Malcolm McDowell. Good to see him and he does a great job with what he has. Also good to see the Lursa/B'etor arc come to an end. Data also does/says some things that really are amusing. In the end, this one does feel like a big, sweeping movie, and I've warmed to it over the years.

My only real problem with GEN is the Nexus, which I realize is a pretty big deal, but I can't object to anything else, really, and in fact I think everything else is very good. The Nexus was too contrived and too far out; better ways (i.e., "Relics") could have been thought up for bringing Kirk into the 24th c.

 

[Smellmet]

I'll mention Malcolm McDowell. Good to see him and he does a great job with what he has. Also good to see the Lursa/B'etor arc come to an end. Data also does/says some things that really are amusing. In the end, this one does feel like a big, sweeping movie, and I've warmed to it over the years.

My only real problem with GEN is the Nexus, which I realize is a pretty big deal, but I can't object to anything else, really, and in fact I think everything else is very good. The Nexus was too contrived and too far out; better ways (i.e., "Relics") could have been thought up for bringing Kirk into the 24th c.

Absolutely. The film up to the Nexus scenes is excellent in my view, and you're right the way Kirk was brought forward in time could have been so much better. My rating of it down the years has gone from high to low then back up reasonably high again.

 

[Ithekro]

I hope they send ships on a shakedown cruise with installed tractor beams, torpedos and at least an emergency medical crew now.....

Normally, ships being launched aren't complete. They require more work to get things fitted to them. The launching is done when the hull is complete to the point she can move on her on as a vessel and get from point A to point B. A small trip to test out he engines and make sure the hull is secure at speed, then back to the yard to get other things fitted. Like weapons, sensors, furnishing for the quarters. The crew.

 

[Long Syntax]

I just watched Generations last night. My eight year old daughter cried because 1701-D was destroyed. I think it was a hold over from just recently finishing the series with her, but I think it's also a testament to the story line - is was very moving.

 

[Smellmet]

I just watched Generations last night. My eight year old daughter cried because 1701-D was destroyed. I think it was a hold over from just recently finishing the series with her, but I think it's also a testament to the story line - is was very moving.

Nice to see you've got an eight year old into TNG. I would imagine that wouldn't be that easy. Clearly I'm wrong...

 

[HarryCanyon1982]

Those who have said that the visual FX were good are dead-on. The ships, planets and nexus effect are all beautiful. The BoP vs E-D scene was the first time we've seen the BoP look true-to-scale in the franchise.

The cinematography / lighting is also absolutely gorgeous. The interiors all look and feel very moody and real. The Picard home in the Nexus has a beautiful authentic and magic "Christmas" feel.

The E-D saucer crash is awesome. Still pins me to the back of my chair every single time I watch it.

The opening sequence, pre-launch, is very sentimental and well-done. One of my favorite moments in the whole film is "no, you were younger."

The film has a sweeping, epic feel that really hadn't been achieved since TMP. There's a ton of locales to explore here, and it's made even more rich by liberal and effective use of location shooting.

The soundtrack, while not my favorite, is very good.

Most agree with what you said.

I saw this 3 times in theaters when i was 12 and i remembered first time feeling sad when Kirk passed on, but it was a nice moment to see 2 captains meeting each other.

 

[eyeresist]

Did we mention Stellar Cartography yet? That was a beautifully realised set (allowing that much of it was CG), and there were some very effective scenes set there.

 

[Long Syntax]

I just watched Generations last night. My eight year old daughter cried because 1701-D was destroyed. I think it was a hold over from just recently finishing the series with her, but I think it's also a testament to the story line - is was very moving.

Nice to see you've got an eight year old into TNG. I would imagine that wouldn't be that easy. Clearly I'm wrong...

I think she gravitates to sci-fi, so I can't claim an accomplishment here. a couple of years ago she begged me to watch ST:ENT (I had been re-watching at the time), I I started her on Broken Bow and she's been hooked ever since. We've watched all 4 seasons of ENT and 7 seasons of TNG. Now that we'd seen Generations we're going to watch the other three TNG movies and then move onto VOY, then DS9. I suspect that'll take us to around her 11th Bday.

I'm happy to have my daughter as my "Star Trek buddy" (as she calls it)

 

[USS Firefly]

Why not first DS9 and then VOY?

 

[Long Syntax]

Why not first DS9 and then VOY?

I could be persuaded to view DS9 first, I guess that was the order of first broadcast. I think my daughter had mentioned voyager and that's why I had considered that next.