Generations as a regular episode

[FreddyE]

Imagine that TNG had gotten a 8th season (which as far as I know it almost did) and instead of a movie Generations was a two parter replacing "All good things"..where the second part was the first episode of the new season. What do you imagine would have been different, story wise, editing wise, adjusting for budget constraints, etc?

They might or might not have done the crash of the saucer section (they actually thought about doing that during one of the later seasons I think).

 

[Tosk]

Apart from the cost for stuff like the crash and for guest stars (and even then, you could definitely do cheaper versions of most of the expensive stuff) I don't think you'd have to change pretty much anything. It's very like a TNG two-parter in a lot of ways. Many say that as a negative, I say it as a positive.

Trim it down a bit to conform to two 45-minute eps, have the promotion on the holodeck scaled down, spend a lot less money making a new, but far less extravagant stellar cartography...

That said, I kinda doubt they'd have blown up half the ship and crashed the other half if TNG kept going.

 

[FreddyE]

Apart from the cost for stuff like the crash and for guest stars (and even then, you could definitely do cheaper versions of most of the expensive stuff) I don't think you'd have to change pretty much anything. It's very like a TNG two-parter in a lot of ways. Many say that as a negative, I say it as a positive.

Trim it down a bit to conform to two 45-minute eps, have the promotion on the holodeck scaled down, spend a lot less money making a new, but far less extravagant stellar cartography...

That said, I kinda doubt they'd have blown up half the ship and crashed the other half if TNG kept going.

Wasnt the drive section blowing up a reused element from the show anyway?

I guess the Enterprise-E would have been another Galaxy anyway...maybe mildly kitbashed to be "New Galaxy Class" or something. I could see her having something similar to Sovereign Style Nacelles...

 

[SithHappens]

It wouldn't have had Kirk in it

 

[DonIago]

They probably would have had to scrap the location shooting, which, as much as we can argue that Worf's promotion ceremony isn't necessary, would have been a bit of a shame in terms of the overall look of the film.

Stellar Cartography likely would have been a bit more ho-hum as well.

 

[Tosk]

They probably would have had to scrap the location shooting

TNG shot on location every so often. But they'd probably have rewritten it to be somewhere a bit easier I bet.

 

[Riley]

There was a fan edit years ago called "Kirkless Generations" that proved just how useless he was to the overall plot. The 23rd century sequence was also removed completely and all that remained was what Generations essentially is: a middling late TNG two-parter.

That said, I think the story (with a new title, maybe something like "Time Is The Fire") could have been used to revamp the show a bit. The Enterprise-D should never have been so horribly treated, but maybe just the saucer could have been scuttled. The ship gets a refit (new saucer and nacelles) and there are crew changes while she's under refit. Worf still goes to DS9 and maybe some new characters are introduced to refresh the series.

Even better would have been that Picard decides to pursue a form of the life he saw in the Nexus, realizing that he's had a long career as a starship captain and can still have a family. He rekindles his relationship with Crusher and by the end of the season, they marry and leave the show, with Admiral Picard as commandant of Starfleet Academy and Crusher as head of Starfleet Medical (again). Riker gets the Enterprise, Data is XO, and the show goes into a 9th season with a new status quo.

It would have been far better than what the TNG films were.

 

[FreddyE]

There was a fan edit years ago called "Kirkless Generations" that proved just how useless he was to the overall plot. The 23rd century sequence was also removed completely and all that remained was what Generations essentially is: a middling late TNG two-parter.

That said, I think the story (with a new title, maybe something like "Time Is The Fire") could have been used to revamp the show a bit. The Enterprise-D should never have been so horribly treated, but maybe just the saucer could have been scuttled. The ship gets a refit (new saucer and nacelles) and there are crew changes while she's under refit. Worf still goes to DS9 and maybe some new characters are introduced to refresh the series.

Even better would have been that Picard decides to pursue a form of the life he saw in the Nexus, realizing that he's had a long career as a starship captain and can still have a family. He rekindles his relationship with Crusher and by the end of the season, they marry and leave the show, with Admiral Picard as commandant of Starfleet Academy and Crusher as head of Starfleet Medical (again). Riker gets the Enterprise, Data is XO, and the show goes into a 9th season with a new status quo.

It would have been far better than what the TNG films were.

well..at least its easy to be better then Insurection...just don´t have any "Have you noticed how your boobs have firmed up..." jokes...

 

[Yistaan]

When Generations aired the special effects differences between a sci-fi movie and an episode of a sci-fi tv show was still large. Now in the modern era of special effects, there's no real cinematic difference between a 2 hour episode or a movie in regards to Trek, other than a movie's storyline has to be presented as understandable within 2 hours and not too deeply connected to a serialized show.


Generations would look like 2 high priced episodes in the 1990s but in the 2020s probably as just run of the mill streaming episodes that happened to destroy the ship (like how the USS Defiant was blown up in one episode of DS9 for shock value)

 

[ananta]

There was a fan edit years ago called "Kirkless Generations" that proved just how useless he was to the overall plot. The 23rd century sequence was also removed completely and all that remained was what Generations essentially is: a middling late TNG two-parter.

That’s pretty sad, but true. Kirk wasn’t an essential part of the story at all and for me that’s kind of unforgivable. He should have been integral and not a cherry on top. Such a disservice to a truly iconic character.

Even better would have been that Picard decides to pursue a form of the life he saw in the Nexus, realizing that he's had a long career as a starship captain and can still have a family. He rekindles his relationship with Crusher and by the end of the season, they marry and leave the show, with Admiral Picard as commandant of Starfleet Academy and Crusher as head of Starfleet Medical (again).

Am I misremembering or did the actress who played Picard’s wife in the Nexus play the crew member who had lost her husband (and who had to endure Troi’s insufferable histrionics) in “The Loss”? Maybe she was still on board and they could have made a new life together?

Seeing how utterly toxic the Picard/Crusher relationship was in PIC completely soured me on that pairing. Retrospectively and forever!

 

[Headless_Hysteria]

They don’t need anything on the Ent-B. Could probably switch it out with Excelsior with Sulu, Chekov, Rand, Saavik (Robin Curtis) and Uhura. We probably already start in the energy ribbon, see the refugee ships get destroyed, get close ups of Guinan and Soran in the turbolift, never visit the deflector dish and no one from the TOS cast dies. That’s the cold open.

A truncated promotion scene, followed by the Amargosa station. No exploding sun or shockwave, and the Picard losing his family subplot gets cut. Saavik - now an Admiral - briefs Picard on the rescue mission 78 years earlier in person; they reuse footage of the USS Crazy Horse departing from the Enterprise to depict her arrival.

The subplots surrounding Data’s emotion chip and Geordi’s compromised VISOR stay. The stellar cartography scene happens on the bridge.

No saucer crash. A less exciting space battle between the Ent-D and the Duras sisters. Maybe the effort is put in to flip the shot of the exploding BoP, though it’s just as likely they reuse the BoP explosion from “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” The start of the battle is the cliffhanger. Instead of the loss of the stardrive section, Riker issues a belated evacuation order. They possibly reuse footage from DS9 of the USS Odyssey being destroyed to depict the destruction of the Enterprise, and flip that shot.

Kirk’s uncle’s farm becomes Soran’s farm on El-Auria. Antonia becomes either Picard’s or Soran’s lost love instead of Kirk’s. Kirk and Picard’s discussion becomes Soran and Picard’s discussion.

Instead of returning to Veridian III, Picard leaps back to the Excelsior and pre-emptively stops Soran. Picard then uses the Nexus to return back to the Ent-D and pre-emptively stops that battle.

The Ent-D heads to a starbase for a refit.

 

[DonIago]

"A less exciting space battle between the Ent-D and the Duras sisters."

Sarcasm? I mean, we saw more exciting space battles in the TV series than the one shown in GEN.

 

[ananta]

"A less exciting space battle between the Ent-D and the Duras sisters."

Sarcasm? I mean, we saw more exciting space battles in the TV series than the one shown in GEN.

They had more exciting space battles in TOS than in GEN…

 

[JamesRye]

"we need to hit them the instant they begin to De-cloak"

Later on, we cut to the BOP decloaking and then there's a long dramatic pause as Riker issues the order to Mr Worf, who should have already pressed the 'fire torpedo' button.

I was lucky enough to have a conversation with Ron Moore at a Star Trek convention in London many years ago. He said that they knew about the plot holes (such as being able to leave the Nexus wherever / whenever they wanted to). He said the whole film was terribly rushed and that he hoped the 'charming' performances from Stewart and Shatner would carry the film.

 

[Takeru]

There would have been no Enterprise-B or Kirk and no promotion ceremony for Worf, they never did such an elaborate scene for a promotion and without a movie budget and running time there would have been zero reason to do one for Worf.
The episode might have started with a flashback but from Guinan's perspective using the runabout interior as a cramped rescue ship, a nameless federation ship would have saved the people with her and Soran (not played by Malcom McDowell) being beamed out and appearing on a transporter platform.
There would have been no stellar cartography, that scene would have happened at the back of the bridge. I also don't think there would have been a saucer crash, it's true they toyed with the idea for the tv series but moved away from it because it would have been too expensive on a tv budget. They might have blown up the stardrive with the saucer remaining in orbit, getting a new star drive in season 8 and some cosmetic changes to the engineering set.

Picard in the Nexus still would have met Guinan, she would encourage him to leave and to save his crew who all died when the saucer couldn't escape the exploding star. Picard goes back, stops Soran and everyone reunites on the saucer.

Worf still goes to DS9 and maybe some new characters are introduced to refresh the series.

Word joined DS9 in season 4, a potential TNG season 8 wold have run concurrently with DS9 season 3, so there would have been no conflict, Worf would have remained on the Enterprise.

 

[Headless_Hysteria]

Sarcasm? I mean, we saw more exciting space battles in the TV series than the one shown in GEN.

I doubt a gold shirt is going to be pirouetting through the air across the bridge if GEN is a regular episode. So yes, less exciting.

 

[Yistaan]

I doubt a gold shirt is going to be pirouetting through the air across the bridge if GEN is a regular episode. So yes, less exciting.

Depending on how fast it is and how low resolution tvs were in the 1990s, they could've filmed a Trek action figure getting tossed around to stand in for the redshirt and maybe got away with it.

 

[SithHappens]

I know Generations divides fans, but for me it was very cinematic. The titles, the enterprise d on the big screen, the crash scene..it just would not have looked the same on a 24 inch CRT TV.

The music too was great.

And I love still Kirk and Picard on screen at the same time even if the fanwanker in me wanted to see Kirk on the bridge of the D.

For me if a season 8 had happened including the Enterprise D crew in Way of the Warrior somehow would have been great , and a good way for Worf to go to DS9.

 

[Yistaan]

including the Enterprise D crew in Way of the Warrior somehow would have been great , and a good way for Worf to go to DS9.

Worf: The Chancellor sees him as a political threat. These attacks against the Dominion are designed to humiliate General Martok in the eyes of the Empire. To force him to endure defeat after defeat.

Sisko: Are you telling me that this is a vendetta?

Worf: Similar to how you repeatedly assign Picard to the most dangerous fronts of the Dominion War.

Sisko:

 

[DonIago]

I doubt a gold shirt is going to be pirouetting through the air across the bridge if GEN is a regular episode. So yes, less exciting.

I suppose I was thinking more of the external shots, and in particular the E-D's spectacularly weak showing.