That's one way of putting it. OTOH you can look at it as "This is the passing the torch story we were implicitly promised and there was no way we were going to get Shatner on television. (Oddly.)"
And then they botched it.
I think Generations is one of the better stories of the TNG movies except it needed another re-write to fix some gaping holes. It's also the first time I can think of where the writer's urge to "subvert audience expectations" really got in the way of telling the story in the first place. It's common place now. Maybe it always was and this just the first time that I noticed it. I mean, you can take that swing and sometimes make it work. But if it doesn't... Well, you get Generations and you screw up the time Kirk met Picard.
I think it's almost a great story for Picard, it's certainly a great performance for Stewart, and it's my favorite Sertis performance EVER. But you need to 1) Kill Rene in a very casual and offhanded way (it's very Alien^3) and 2) Picard's sudden need for a family comes out of nowhere. Even it's understandable one would expect the Nexus to say "Dude, this is a phase. Here is your REAL heart's desire. Oh, and you don't have to have a wife who kinda looks like Beverly. We're all grownups / supergalactic phenomena here." 3) You can't set up the Nexus as this amazing inescapable thing and then have your hero shrug it off in a scene. TWO of your heroes! "Wow, Guinan must have issues! You can almost see the cardboard here!" Kirk: "Let me tell you about the Dohlman of Elas. That was supposed to be a big deal too. Pfft."
