How would you fix Generations without a complete rewrite?

[Lance]

So YOU'RE the guy who did those on Fan-Edit.com? I've been trying to download those but can't figure it out. There's also a Kirkless Generations there I want to watch.

Alas I can't claim that honor, though I did for my own amusement create my own "Generations as a TV episode" edit, which included using footage sourced from a VHS copy of the movie (so as to get the authentic TV look ) and TV show (mostly model shots of 1701-D and the BOP, but also obviously the TV titles sequences and end credits for authenticity ), and even soundbites from the Generations video-game (which used all the original actors, including Malcolm McDowell and William Shatner) paired with footage from the movie and TV show in order to create slightly different links between scenes. It took a lot more work than I had initially realized, but the end result was kinda cool, and definitely felt like it was a two-part episode from a hypothetical Season 8 of TNG. I never shared it online, but I've probably still got it burned on a DVD-R somewhere

 

[DarKush]

A few changes I would make:
-I would not use the Duras sisters. I would've saved them for DS9. I would've enjoyed seeing what they would've been doing during the Federation-Klingon War and later the Dominion War. In their place, I would have had DaiMon Bok. I really wanted to see a Ferengi Marauder-class ship on the big screen. Plus, Bok had a long-running history and hatred of Picard so it would've been a nice call back.
-When Picard is in the Nexus his dream wife would've been Crusher. I would've used Generations to start the Picard-Crusher romance which would've threaded through all the subsequent TNG movies.
-Maybe bringing more Romulans into it. Another ship to investigate. I wished we had seen a D'deridex Warbird on the big screen as well.

 

[Nyotarules]

GEN doesn’t need fixing IMO but I would make a couple of tweaks

1-make Harriman less of an oaf. This isn’t TOS... how was that man ever given a state of the art starship???

He was meant to be an Admiral....

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

To answer the thread title: You couldn't. Sorry.

 

[alpha_leonis]

I would rewrite Generations into two movies, minimum. The main problem with Generations as-is, is that they tried to cram too much into it, and it suffered as a result.

I mean, I understand why they did that. They'd just come off of producing a seven-year episodic series, and moved right into a feature-length movie. It was like a candy store for them, where they could do anything they wanted, anything they couldn't do when they were still producing a weekly series. And they weren't able to resist their inclination to do literally all of it.

Have Kirk and Picard meet? Check. Give Data his emotions? Check. Destroy the Enterprise? Check. Show us the Enterprise B? Check. Show us a big fight with the Duras sisters, complete with fancy (recycled) explosions? Check.

Take away any three of those, and the remaining story points could have been still have been fleshed out into a compelling storyline. And the movie would have been better as a result.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

The essential problem with GEN is that there is no flow to it. The plot seems very arduous and needs a lot of actions to be taken that are not accountant to logic or reason. Like... why does Picard have that sense of urgency when he's on the Nexus? He could literally save the day with ease, and without breaking a sweat, or change the timeline.... which, he actually does in the end anyway since he does end up foiling Soran's plan. And that's just one of many plot contrivances the film is privy to.

 

[admiralking]

I think Kirk should have died in space battle. Perhaps with a skeleton crew. Rather like the Enterprise C did. I would keep the Nexus, the beginning of that film with those classic crew is brilliant. I would have said that it would have been great for the whole of the original cast to have appeared and that the Enterprise B could have weaved throughout the film rather than just show up in the "prologue" at the same time not all the cast crew will have wanted to, or were in health maybe. The whole concept was to launch the Next Generation film series and also have Kirk and Picard team up.

In retrospect there's a huge missed opportunity not having Kirk team up with Picard and co to face off against the Borg! Malcolm McDowell is obviously iconic. But he was certainly not evil enough in this film...rather, he was just desperate. And the klingon aspects of the sisters etc was farcical. Imagine, Picard recruiting Kirk in the Nexus and the two of them helping to fend off the Borg!

 

[Lyon_Wonder]

I think Chekov should have been captain of the Enterprise-B with Harriman as first officer.

 

[Lyon_Wonder]

A few changes I would make:
-I would not use the Duras sisters. I would've saved them for DS9. I would've enjoyed seeing what they would've been doing during the Federation-Klingon War and later the Dominion War. In their place, I would have had DaiMon Bok. I really wanted to see a Ferengi Marauder-class ship on the big screen. Plus, Bok had a long-running history and hatred of Picard so it would've been a nice call back.
-When Picard is in the Nexus his dream wife would've been Crusher. I would've used Generations to start the Picard-Crusher romance which would've threaded through all the subsequent TNG movies.
-Maybe bringing more Romulans into it. Another ship to investigate. I wished we had seen a D'deridex Warbird on the big screen as well.

IMO, if the Duras sisters weren't killed in Generations they would have likely showed up in DS9 S4 trying to get their hands on the Sword of Kahless instead of Toral.

 

[DarKush]

IMO, if the Duras sisters weren't killed in Generations they would have likely showed up in DS9 S4 trying to get their hands on the Sword of Kahless instead of Toral.

I would've preferred that. Or having them working with the Dominion to wrest control of the Klingon Empire away from Gowron. Could've been a nice big Klingon mini-arc.

 

[Emperor-Tiberius]

You know, having the Duras sisters in the Kahless episode rather than Word would've been better.

 

[Lance]

In hindsight, the sisters being in the movie is one big missed opportunity. Killing them off was also daft. (I recall hearing rumours that in one draft of the script their fate was more ambiguous)

 

[Paul755]

Yeah, it would have been nice to see them show up during the war. Going with the “all hands on deck” attitude of the war. Something along the lines of “how do we rule a non-exsistant empire”. So a save it to take it over sort of thing.

 

[Tenacity]

Picard recruiting Kirk in the Nexus and the two of them helping to fend off the Borg

Meh and no, the next film features the Borg.

I recall hearing rumours that in one draft of the script their fate was more ambiguous

Never heard this before. Disabling the BOP would have been enough, it wouldn't have been necessary to kill the opponent.

Could of even had Worf ask Riker if he should "finish off" the BOP and have Riker (in typical Starfleet fashion) tell Worf no, because the enemy ship was no longer a problem.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

How would you fix Generations without a complete rewrite?

Expose the negative.

 

[Lance]

One thing that would help but wouldn't require a rewrite is the music score. I've always felt like Generations has some decent motifs and the occasional theatrical flourish, but that McCarthy was coming out of five years of being told by Rick Berman to make sure the music doesn't overpower the scene, so in some ways the score sounds like the usual 'musical wallpaper' we'd gotten used to on TV. And especially after the theme from The Motion Picture had become synonymous with The Next Generation over seven seasons, arguably more associated with The Next Generation than even with the original movie, then I'd say it was a critical flaw that the movie doesn't use or feature it at any point.

 

[Jayson1]

Here is some changes I would make. Spock and Bones would be on the Enterprise-B instead of Scotty and Chekov. Sulu would be the captain instead of Harriman thus instead of playing the captain is a fool jokes I would have it more about Kirk being embarrsed a little that is former Helmsmen kind of knows more about what he is doing than he does since this is HIS Enterprise which I know is kind of the whole Decker stuff over again but I would simply pay up the humor in this case. Like before Kirk goes into the Nexus.

You then cut to the Enterprise doing the promotion stuff with Worf. Picard gets a message about his family. Everyone finds Data's joke to be funny because it was but it's kind of hollow in that he can't enjoy the fact that everyone laughed but him. Instead of using the Emotion Chip it would be more bittersweet sadness that this is just they way life will always be. Ship receives a distress call from a Klingon ship in distress and it's Lura and Bea'tor sort of trapped by the Nexus. Enterprise crew has to beam over to save the Klingon sisters because of tech reason. Riker,Data,Worf, LaForge beam over. Picard has the confession scene with Troi about his family where he cries. We see him then have a sex scene, but family friendly sex scene with Dr Crusher. It seems they have been dating in secret and haven't told anyone. Meanwhile on the ship Worf gets into a badass Klingon Sword fight with both sisters at once. IN other part of the ship RIker,Data and LaFOrge find Captain KIrk unconscious and Dr Soren tampering with a Transporter. He plans to beam himself back into the Nexus. Data tries to stop him and in the process it's Data who gets beamed into the Nexus but RIker and LaForge are able to stop Soren from going back in.
In the Nexus Data is pure human and he is on the ENterprise where he gets to tell his friends how he feels about them through emotion for the first time. Lal and Dr Soong are also their. He then gets beamed back out and he is aboard the Klingon ship again and in Android form but you can tell he is still filled with human emotion. Everyone is beamed back to the Enterprise and they get away in the nick of time before the Bird of Prey explodes. The Sisters and Soren are in a holding cell. Data and KIrk are in sickbay as Crusher attends to their needs. Kirk is surprised to find himself in the future but you can tell he doesn't want to be their and wants to be in the Nexus as does Data but with Data we also find his emotions proably aren't permantent and they will slowly fade away. We also find out the Klingons had teamed up with Soren to get him to the Nexus in exchange for him helping them pull out Kirk who they would use as a prisoner and a means of gaining control over the Empire because the Klingon Empire really, really hates Kirk. He would be like the ultimate trophy.
Picard even though he is going through alot can't also be a little excited to meet James T Kirk and wants to show him around. You now have the two Captains who are not happy. Picard because his family is dead and is feeling old and Kirk who had been living out the adventures of his youth on the old Enterprise. Meanwhile Soren being clever and all is able to escape and also brings the Klingon sisters with him because he will need help. He is able to do a A;-Aurian Mind Trick that we have never known they have to sort of appeal to Kirk's inner desires via a kind of brainwashing to help take over the ship. So you basically have the 4 of them trying and takeover the ship. Picard and the crew of course fight back so we do sort of get to see Kirk vs Picard match each other using command tatics. In the process a warp core breach is created allowing Soren,KIrk and the Klingon sisters to escape in Picard's special shuttle that we never saw but is part of the tech blueprints. Mostly just because I don't want them in just some dinky old Shuttlecraft. Data has a moment were he could stop it but hesitates and they escape and the Enterprise crashes on a nearby planet. which is Andor and even though I didn't mention it until now you kind of set it up earlier in the film the planet is nearby.
The bad guys escape but then the Brainwashing with Kirk is starting to wear off and you can tell he is realizing the mistakes he just did. Meanwhile on the planet after the Sasuer crash you start to see Andorian rescue workers show up. Not though before you get some character beats such as Picard and Crusher having a moment of RIker and Troi having one. Data and LaForge and for comedy a Worf and Spot one. Picard uses his rank to have the Andorians give him a ship to go after Soren and the others. Data wanting to make up for his mistake goes along as well. Worf as well because you will naturally want another Hand to Hand Fight. Data is able to tech away of tracking where they are heading and its of course where the Nexus is headed which is populated alien world. Which means a extra level of threat is added in they now need to also destroy the Nexus to save lives. Data comes up with a tech bomb that can destroy the Nexus but you have to go inside it for it to work. Which means someone will have to sacrifice themselves and stay inside when it goes off.
Well Picard and his people meet up with Soren in the old Picard shuttle as it has now gotten close to the Nexus again. Brief space battle and then Picard,Data and Worf beam inside. More fighting in which. KIrk turns on Soren to help stop him. Worf kills the Duras sisters. Soren though is able to beam inside the Nexus. Picard and Kirk have to follow them also taking the bomb with them and tell Data to beam whoever doesn't have the bomb out in 30 minutes because if they don't stop him in that amount of time it will be to late and both of them shouldn't die. They beam inside and for the first time we see the Al-Aurain homeworld as it was before the Borg assimilated it. Guinan helps tell them were Soren is and we find him being happy with his family. Soren want go without a fight though and it seems illusion people in the Nexus can turn into vessels of combat if the person who creates them under attack, kind of like dream people in the movie "Inception." Well Soren is killed but before that happens he mortally shoots Kirk. Kirk knowing he is going to die chooses to stay and use the bomb. Picard is relucant to just do this but Kirk does talk to him into doing, because mainly he has many more adventures to experience and also a family in his crew and even someone to love in Dr Crusher. Picard beams back. The Landscape Changes to the old Enterprise where KIrk is dying while sitting in his old Captain's chair and all his friends are back which is the entire TOS crew. He exchanges some banter with them and then he says "It Was Fun" and then we see the Nexus explode thus the alien planet is saved.
We then cut back to the Enterprise ruins for the code were Picard now has a new lease on life. Data feels his emotions are gone for good but is surprised when he feels love when seeing Spot so maybe in small degree's they will always be apart of him even if it's not a every moment or everyday kind of thing. Starfleet ships takes off at the end. Movie is over.


Jason

 

[Peach Wookiee]

@DarKush: The fact that the woman in the Nexus fantasy was a redhead made me think, "they can't outright go for Beverly, but it seems obvious where they're going.". I ship it!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I found why he wanted kids after all while searching dxdy script search for something else:

PICARD: I can't help keep thinking about ...about all the experiences that Rene is not going to have. Not going to Academy, reading books and listening to music, falling in love. ...Building a life. ...Well, it's not going to happen now.
TROI: I didn't realise he meant so much to you.
PICARD: I'd come to feel that Rene was as close as I would get to having a child of my own.
TROI: Your family history is very important to you, isn't it?
PICARD: Right. Oh, ...from being a small child, I can remember being told about the family line. The Picard who fought at Trafalgar. The Picard who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry. The Picard's who settled the first Martian colony. When Robert married and had a son, I...
TROI: ...You felt it was no longer your responsibility to carry on the family line.
PICARD: Right. Yes. That's it exactly. You know, Counselor, Recently I've become very much aware that there are fewer days ahead than there are behind. ...But I took comfort from the fact that ...the family would go on. But now there'll be no more Picards.

 

[Lance]

"The end of the family line" feels like a powerful motivator, the presumption seems to be that Picard is infertile etc, but it'd surprise me if 24th century medicine didn't have an answer for such things??