It's still their planet. They found it and they colonized it before the Federation even existed, let alone made an arbitrary claim on the territory.
Which is a good argument against this feeling like a two-hour episode of the series. Because the series (hopefully) would have taken a more thoughtful approach to this whole situation.
And because Sarjenka specifically asked Data for help. Picard couldn't ignore it. It's actually a pretty well constructed episode, but Data did play dirty - even though nobody called him on it
At times I wonder if the Original Sin of the NextGen films is that they were made by a television producer and written by television writers, and all of them best known for their connection to Star Trek.
Braga and Moore are going to write two hour long television episodes because that's what they know. Piller is going to write a two hour long television episode because that's what he knows. And I don't mean in terms of the script (though there's a definite sense of where the commercial breaks would go in Generations). I mean in conceptual terms.
I'm not faulting them. They did the job they were hired to do. But maybe the studio needed to think harder about whether or not Berman was the right person to shepherd a film franchise. He makes sense -- they wanted films, he was the most experienced and successful Star Trek producer they had, go with the guy who's there and who knows -- but if they'd handed off the film franchise to someone else who reconceptualized NextGen as a film franchise, maybe they would have had more success.
Insurrection looks like the point where the lack of ambition in the films begins to hurt.
Yeah, I wouldn't blame them really because the TOS films were successful under a TV producer, so it made sense to leave it with Berman's empire.
There were vague attempts to make them more filmic - hiring John Alonzo for GEN, the discussions with Nimoy over directing. But the main creatives were all basically the TV crew and it showed at times.
It all came together really well for First Contact - Frakes showed he could step up, Moore and Braga wrote a good script and the three guest leads are all excellent and complement the TNG cast well. All of the main guys get something memorable to do. The Jerry Goldsmith score is a cracker.
It just didn't quite work for Insurrection. Jerry Goldsmith still came up with the goods, as he always did.
There were vague attempts to make them more filmic - hiring John Alonzo for GEN, the discussions with Nimoy over directing. But the main creatives were all basically the TV crew and it showed at times.
It all came together really well for First Contact - Frakes showed he could step up, Moore and Braga wrote a good script and the three guest leads are all excellent and complement the TNG cast well. All of the main guys get something memorable to do. The Jerry Goldsmith score is a cracker.
It just didn't quite work for Insurrection. Jerry Goldsmith still came up with the goods, as he always did.
Nick Meyer and Leonard Nimoy, right?No one gonna mention the time they hired a big-time "movie writer" and mid-time "movie director" for the fourth film?
Pretty sure it's the 4th TNG film - meaning John Logan and Stuart Baird.
I don't think the script was the main culprit. The leaked version I read before the film debuted made me feel good about the movie. The edit was what killed it. A lot of interpersonal scenes were cut. Riker also had a great "action hero" one-liner I was really looking forward to when he kicked the Viceroy into the Enterprises's bottomless pit:
"Don't worry. Hell is dark!"
Logan was a solid writer and a fan. So I thought we were in good hands. But Patrick Stewart wanted a car racing scene, which looked fun on paper. Especially when Logan compared to the Jeep scenes in The Rat Patrol in the script.
Stuart Baird - only two previous films under his belt as director - was the problem. He was an good workman action director, but this was the third in a 3 picture deal and he didn't give a shit about the material.
Nemesis. John Logan and Stuart Baird teaming up to arguably prove that hiring "TV writers" and "TV directors" for the previous TNG films wasn't such a bad idea after all.
That's why I personally don't think it's the direction that sank Nemesis. There's nothing particularly egregious about the directing. It's the "Patrick and Brent get to have their say!" script and the final decisions on the edit that cooked that turkey.
Executive Decision and US Marshals were both solid actioners. ED in particular was very well done. Baird just had zero interest in getting any background on TNG, so he thought Geordi was an alien, etc. And yes, Stewart and Spiner had story approval and it's obvious that's not a good thing.
What truly killed it at the box office was just a total lack of interest in the film. Even the worst Trek movie has a great opening weekend before hitting the skids. Nemesis was beaten by the J-Lo comedy Maid in Manhattan of all things. Nobody came out to see Nemesis. Whether it was "franchise fatigue," or a bad marketing campaign, the leaked script or all three, there was just no excitement heading into this movie. Which is a shame because, for all of its faults, it knows what it wants to be. It doesn't flop around in tone like Insurrection and gives us some cool scenes.
Yeah I remember it was out around the same time, but Nemesis came out the week before. That opening weekend, if it held true for the rest of them, should have had a least a decent fan turnout. Maybe the lackluster Insurrection didn't help either. But when even fans don't show up, there's something else going on other than competition.
Die Another Day and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets had recently been released, and The Two Towers was released a week after Nemesis. It was not a good release window!
But it also wasn't a good film. I saw it opening weekend out of duty, in an empty cinema. It was not a good experience and I wouldn't have recommended it to anyone.
But it also wasn't a good film. I saw it opening weekend out of duty, in an empty cinema. It was not a good experience and I wouldn't have recommended it to anyone.
Wasn't Star Trek 2 made by Paramount's television division? Perhaps they thought they would be able to capture the same energy.
I think it started there, but was moved to the movie division early on.
Yeah I liked it at the time and I don't mind it now. It's cute. Some of the comedy doesn't work for me (like Data's emergency floatation testicles). I've heard people describe it as a mediocre TNG ep with a big budget. It has rehashes of "Who Watches the Watchers" ep from s3 but doesn't re-cover the same ground too much.
It does have some good star trek philosophising - the argument of indigenous rights over the needs of the many with the massive medical benefits from the planet's radiation. Do two wrongs make a right.
It does seem odd that the Starfleet flagship is cruising around hosting dinner parties whilst the Federation is getting battered in the dominion war. Could have been a film of two parts and included this somehow, it felt too apart even though it gets a mention.
It also continues the Picard is now an action hero thing. They didn't need to do that, cmon. Worf is right there for goodness sake. It is great when he gets to let loose and owns the sh1t out of the Son'a.
7/10. Nice to see more Enterprise E. Riker gets to do space battle again. Picard's love story I like... shame that didn't continue into 10 and Picard... cute lil alien slug. Worf's gorch. Data's firm boobies.
It does have some good star trek philosophising - the argument of indigenous rights over the needs of the many with the massive medical benefits from the planet's radiation. Do two wrongs make a right.
It does seem odd that the Starfleet flagship is cruising around hosting dinner parties whilst the Federation is getting battered in the dominion war. Could have been a film of two parts and included this somehow, it felt too apart even though it gets a mention.
It also continues the Picard is now an action hero thing. They didn't need to do that, cmon. Worf is right there for goodness sake. It is great when he gets to let loose and owns the sh1t out of the Son'a.
7/10. Nice to see more Enterprise E. Riker gets to do space battle again. Picard's love story I like... shame that didn't continue into 10 and Picard... cute lil alien slug. Worf's gorch. Data's firm boobies.
The Bak'u weren't indigenous to that planet.
