Generations as a regular episode

[suarezguy]

As TV episodes I really don't see Data getting emotions being done in same episode with a plot as different and also big as decades-spanning Nexus (although maybe Data learning to deal with fear would have been a follow-up to initial introduction included in Nexus plot). The ship maybe could have been blown up but there would be some way to prevent it from happening in next version so it wouldn't be permanently destroyed, the whole stopping Soran involving more of the main crew rather than just being Picard or Picard and Kirk in fight with Soran (feels like the plotting would feel more like "Time's Arrow" again). I do kind of like that the film doesn't feel like something you would see, expect for a season finale or even really premiere, more like pretty regular situation that gets a lot bigger and more consequential (like TV episodes you would more expect to see airing in November, January).

 

[Set Harth]

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 had to watch it again to see what you were talking about, lol.

 

[CoveTom]

Way of the Warrior was a TV episode and had what I consider to be, to this day, the best action sequence in all of Trek.

Generations was a feature film and had one of the worst.

So, no, I don't think being a TV episode would automatically make it less exciting.

 

[SithHappens]

Way of the Warrior was a TV episode and had what I consider to be, to this day, the best action sequence in all of Trek.

Generations was a feature film and had one of the worst.

So, no, I don't think being a TV episode would automatically make it less exciting.

I always class way of the warrior as a movie in my own re-watch selection

 

[DonIago]

I usually do the same for the last two episodes of the occupation arc as well.

 

[Qonundrum]

It wouldn't have had Kirk in it

Which is for the best. While there are two available endings - the released version then the intended one that audiences somehow hated more - we'd also miss out on that epic scene where Kirk is talking about Carol Marcus Antonia and makin' eggs because that's apparently the most epic moment in the movie, makin' an omelet. In other words, Kirk didn't even need to be in the film and did any of the TOS cast need to be? Scotty's dialogue is loaded with TNG treknobabble (Doohan does a good job with it, though!) and Chekov is now Dr McCoy's stand-in as opposed to taking over Navigation station after the 1701-B is hit (where a bunch of rocks could have the navigator seeing stars, or was there no navigator until Tuesday? Oh well...).

Add in the Duras sisters, and it does feel more like an above-average season 7 story trying to end a chapter (the Duras feud in this case). Yet this movie was aimed at fans, honestly why not as the show was plenty popular at the time and didn't need to lure in people unfamiliar with a property so esoteric it had a spinoff airing as well as another in development.

I recall too reading that the big-D would be destroyed. For the end of season 6? But unlike the ship, the idea was scrapped.

Speaking of season 6, trilithium was talked about in a script so for everyone to go "durrrh, what is trilithium?" in the movie made no sense. Then again, neither did Data's emotion chip arc between the films.

On the plus side, saving the big crash was a good idea as it was well-realized in the big screen (where it should be). Yep, Blake's 7 did it first, but the 1701-D's is so much better (if you overlook how the windows are now made from glass and not transparent aluminum (also mentioned in the TNG TV show).

The music was definitely top-tier. None of the music has been this good since... season... four... except for "The Next Phase" or "The Pegasus", but "Generations"'s music is still better...

But why destroy the big-D when it looked so good on the big screen?

I think there's enough stuff in the movie to keep it movie-worthy, but chucking in loose ends with the Duras sisters then shoving in Kirk and forcing him into a future where he just wants to keep cracking eggs all day with Carol Marcus Antonia? Where'd she come from and why not Carol Marcus? Too many tie-ins?! (then again, it adds a little more complexity to Kirk in having Antonia being his biggest love interest - even more than Carol, whom he had left (per dialogue in TWOK) so it does honestly make fair sense that his truest love of all things loveylove would be someone else.

Plus, not since TWOK has Trek really dived into aging and the ephemeral nature of humans and, yep, it does it really well. It may be a cynical take, but the line "time is the fire" is incredibly poignant and strong. The cruel thing is that Dr Soran, much like most El Aurians, see the universe timelines slightly differently and have some high level empathic/esper-type ability with people they know. Soran easily could have picked up on Picard's mind and what he had just found out and used the fire metaphor deliberately. It's a damn good scene and it's dabbles into the philosophical bent that do rescue this movie. Would the TV show have done this level of justice to it? Not in season 7, which was too busy conjuring up new relatives for the crew faster than "The Final Frontier" had for Spock "The Golden Girls" did for any of the four leads and each new entry being less compelling.

But all said, I like Mr Tricorder as well, even if they didn't ADO dub Patrick Stewart's voice in as a missed opportunity. Two opportunities as think of the Mr Tricorder Playset form Playskool! Talk about "make it so"!

 

[Mage]

Here's what I don't get.....

Yes, both Generations and Insurrection (Insurrection even more so) felt like they would feature length episodes...... And people complain about that! I thought that was a great thing. I could see what I loved about that show, on the big screen.
I love First Contact, which is arguable the best TNG movie in terms of production. But the entire thing felt like a generic action movie with some Star Trek sprinkled on top. Generations and Insurrection feel much more TNG to me than FC ever did.