Generations - I enjoyed watching that movie, and I thought it had some great moments. The plot doesn't hold up on scrutiny though, but over all I think it's still a fun movie. I have never been a big fan of Shatner though, so the manner of his death never riled me as much.
First Contact - I adore this movie, and it was the first Star Trek movie I saw in theaters. I do wish could have had a bit more borg fighting with Starfleet (and I think they should have sent more than one ship) but that's a minor thing. I thought it was a extremely enjoyable action based adventure. The Borg were great villains, and I didn't mind the concept of the Borg Queen either. It is a shame that Voyager overused them later on though, but that doesn't affect my ability to enjoy this movie. I really enjoyed Cromwell's take on the character Zephram Cochrane and how intimidated he was at the idea of how he would be idolized in history and being shown as a real person with flaws.
I loved seeing the Defiant being used against the Borg and wish we could have seen a bit more of that. And I loved Worf's line "It's not a little ship!" I would have liked to have seen Miles O'Brien make an appearance with him, because I would have assumed he would have also been rescued along with Worf. I like First Contact's method of getting Worf into the story; it seemed more seamless than in the other movies.
Insurrection - This is a movie I enjoyed at the time, but subsequent viewings have left me much less enamoured with it. I don't think this plot was handled well and I find myself not sympathetic at all to the alien people who want to selfishly stay on this magical healing planet, which could benefit untold billions. They aren't even the original inhabitants of this world of I recall correctly! I didn't mind the humor or romance angle as much as some people did though.
Honestly, I think they should have done some sort of tie-in with the Dominion war that was going on at the same time. I can understand wanting to do a different, more light-hearted movie after "First Contact" but the Dominion with its changeling spies, cloned warriors, could have made just as equally good interesting. villians. The title "Insurrection" could have directly dealt with some of the morally grey issues that comes with war. DS9 did a good job addressing those issues, but I would have enjoyed seeing the TNG crew tackle them too.
Nemesis - I hated this movie. B4 (or was it B9?) was a stupid addition, and Data's death was done in an awful cheesy manner and obvious rip off of TWoK. I couldn't buy this actor as a clone of Picard, and I thought his motivations for wanting to destroy Earth were contrived and having Earth in danger is so, vastly, over used. Are moviegoers only able to care about an inhabited planet being destroyed if it's ours? I think it would be much more suspenseful for Shinzon to go after a non-Earth target, because then you would be able to make the audience really wonder if he was going to be able to pull it off or not. C'mon no one seriously thought that the producers would let Shinzon destroy EARTH? There was not one iota of suspense. Now if he were after a fictional world however (Romulus would have made infinitely more sense) there could be some room for doubt.
Also, I hated that instead of the cunning Romulans as villians we got this EMO clone of Picard and these ugly Remans that we had never seen before. I really was disappointed with what they did with Worf too. I liked the way DS9 ended with him becoming the Federation ambassador to the Klingon, and I HATED the way Nemesis undid that for no reason whatsoever. Why not just have Worf attending as a guest at the wedding of his old friends? He could still have been ambassador. There was no reason to undo DS9's ending. Worf did absolutely nothing worthwhile in this movie, so in my eyes they regressed the character for no reason, except to stuff him in a Starfleet uniform again.
Did you also want there to be a DS9 film? A DS9 film under the production of Rick Berman?
Yes, I would have liked for there to be, but realistically I don't think DS9 had the wide range appeal of the TNG crew (and they squandered theirs after First Contact). I wouldn't have been too happy with Rick Berman as the producer, but it would depend on who else was involve. Rick Berman alone doesn't make a bad movie.
What did you think of the overall disclusion of DS9 from the "TNG film-verse?" Was the brief appearance of the USS Defiant and the name dropping of the "Dominion War" enough for you?
I think it was a missed opportunity not to use the Dominion War to tie into DS9, which might have prompted more people to check out the TV series, and so over all I'm disappointed that the Dominion war was merely name-dropped. I was fine with the Defiant's use in First Contact, though I think it would have been fun to see the battle last a bit longer!
Did you consider the quality of the 4 TNG films to be on par or below that of the usual DS9 episode?
I don't really like making comparisons like this and I'm not sure what I'd consider the "usual" DS9 episode. I enjoyed most episodes of DS9, but they ranged the spectrum of horrible, to excellent.
Finally, if there were 4 DS9 feature films made, what would you want the overall plot to be for the 4 films. Would you want them to be standalone films or connected like the TOS feature films?
I'd like to see at least one film deal directly with the Dominion threat again, as I think the Dominion could translate well on the big screen as interesting movie villians. I'm not sure if I'd want all four movies to be about that though. A movie centering around Section 31 could possibly be compelling if done right. I think Cardassians are also great villains, and I would have liked to see them used as such in one of the movies too. I have no idea how well such movies would be received by the general public, but I think if well produced, directed, and acted with a great script and good advertisement and word of mouth, they would at least as decent a chance of making a good profit as any movie these days. We'll never know of course.
Also, please share your opinions on the 6 TOS feature films in comparison to that of DS9. Thanks.
I'm not sure how exactly to compare the 6 TOS movies with DS9. To me comparing movies to a TV Show is very difficult to do since the format is so different and the expectations are different as well. It's really like comparing apples an oranges to me. My favorite TOS movies are 2 and 4. I don't mind the rest at all except for 5 which I think is just plain bad and an embarrassment.
Ira Behr or nobody.
