^ Absolutely. While the existing opening scenes of the movie do pay lip service to the Federation being at something of a low ebb due to the ongoing War, they're also a goofy sequence of scenes that are played for comedy value (Picard in a funny hat). IMO it would have been more dramatically satisfying to have seen the effect of the Dominion War on the Federation at some point in the movie. As you say, it might be a little too close to the explosive Borg battle from the start of First Contact, but it'd give the plot some kind of dramatic impetus that it currently lacks, in my opinion. For me that's what Insurrection is missing. It's maybe 85% of the way there, but the script needed a few more little nips and tucks to just bind things together in a more dramatically pleasing way than what we got.
^ If the Brier Patch mission is intended to be some kind of 'trump card' in getting allies for the war effort, then Data being seconded to the mission (perhaps by Doughty going over Picard's head?) on assignment is excusable. Maybe there is some way in which his unique and particular skills are somehow useful to the mission? Actually, does Insurrection itself actually offer any explanation for why Data, in particular, is chosen for that mission? Or is it just brushed off, pretty much like any tangible explanation for why Worf is back on the ship?
Hell, it would be a good plot point. "What the hell is so important about this mission to the middle of nowhere that they took Data from us in the middle of the war???" A hell of a lot more sensible than Worf magically being on the ship, though from a meta standpoint I get a kick out of the fact that they don't even bother trying to explain his presence this time around. I kind of think Data was assigned because they (obviously erroneously) figured he would follow ethically questionable orders without making a fuss and had capabilities exceeding those of the other Starfleet personnel assigned...and who annoyingly disappear entirely in the course of the film.
Because conflict drives drama. Since there was little in the way of actual, tangible conflict between the S'ona and Ba'ku, a sharp divide in the crew might have engaged the audience more and made the movie more palatable to watch. No one in the movie really hit Picard with how dire the Federation situation was. What if Geordi had been dying in sick bay and the concentrated particles were the only way to save him? Then you've created an argument that has two strong, but diametrically opposed sides. Picard would then have to make the decision whether or not to back the Ba'ku knowing that doing so would sentence Geordi and thousands of others like him to death. Hell, they should've promoted Riker off screen and had the movie be Picard vs. Riker with the Ba'ku in the middle.
...they were terrible films. No one in their right mind would ever suggest that....unless you want to name names?
The Federation is a big place and they would have needed some starships handling the sorts of crises that occurred on a weekly basis while TNG was on the air. It's possible that the Enterprise was kept off the front lines for exactly those sorts of missions.
Going back to what I said earlier (this thread ?): Betazed had been invaded during the war. Troi, if anybody, should have had issues working with a race that made White; if not that her and Crusher should have been on the side of "We're in (just got out of) a horrible war, we need the healing energy of these rings"
When did it become Dougherty's plan? My feeling from watching the movie is that Dougherty was probably brought in after the Federation Council already decided to move the Baku and harvest the particles. The plan was theirs. Dougherty assignment would have been to oversee the operation, he would have been like a project manager. It was never Dougherty's plan.
I could never figure it out. Why involve Data and thus Picard if you're doing something dodgy. Is Data meant to be some expert on native behaviour or something? And why does Data go pyscho again?
Data discovers the holoship in the lake, and then some of the Sona shot him, resulting in a malfunction. But if Data was part of the team studying the Baku, so that the simulation in the holoship would be believable to the Baku during the relocation, wouldn't he already know about the holoship and the Federation's intention to relocate the Baku?
I haven't watched INS in a long time, so I'm vague on the specific details of its plot...but holographically-concealed anthropological observation outposts had been established in "Who Watches the Watchers?" (Season 3), so he was probably only aware of the outpost's "cover", not its true purpose.
When Picard asks Data, later on Enterprise, what he can recall about having been shot, Data notes that he was "following some children into the hills." Uh ... This one line is so deeply disturbing on its own, but especially, in relation to Data's fixation with the boy, until the kid's resolve weakens enough to finally tolerate, then accept Data. It's INS' only major flaw. As a fan, I "get it" that Data is a child, himself, at least in terms of his being naive and innocent, generally. But objectively, it's wholly inappropriate. Only a fan would understand. It's too "inside" ...
My feeling from watching the movie was that Dougherty didn't have full and formal support of the Council. Maybe Dougherty didn't think up the whole thing, but then who did? The whole film is rather squishy on the subject of who's behind him and who isn't. In TUC, the conspiracy was unmasked (literally, depending on which version you saw). In INS, the whole thing just kinda drops. It would be too dramatic a revelation, for democracy in the Federation to be in jeopardy like that, just to let it drop. If such a dramatic revelation was the intent of the film, then that's a failing of it. I took the Council ordering a top-level review after the Enterprise makes contact to be confirmation that Dougherty didn't have full and formal support of the Council [ref]: Since that's the end of it, and everything's all hunky-dory again (fade to credits on a happy note, or bittersweet if you count Data having to go home now), I'm just going with the face-value interpretation, that the conspiracy did not go all the way to the top. But, to be clear, the movie raising questions like this and not following up is one reason why the film is weak sauce. Playing the "Ambiguity!" card is not a strength, in this instance.
Absolutely right. But then, you can't bring up the whole "conspiracy" and "rogue admiral" angle if you admit that Dougherty was just following orders. And of course since the orders DID come from the top, then Picard knowingly violated lawful orders from a representative body of a democracy. His actions directly led to violence and deaths. And he basically got off clean.
I think people prefer to think Admiral Dougherty was working autonomously, because of the whole dumbass 'Riker-being-sent-off-to-tell-the-Federation-what's-really-happening-on-the-planet' subplot... I mean, if they know about it already, then assuming he does get a message out, are the Federation council just gonna shrug and say they don't care? Basically just another plot hole in Insurrection's script that's big enough to fly a Romulan Warbird through.
I think Data discovered something on the planet that Dougherty was hushing up. I still don't understand what though. That the Baku were not primitives? That the Sona were mean? What would make the Federation change its orders to remove the Baku? Is it OK to move primitives or is it OK to move Warp civilisations. I don't really understand the purpose of the study Data was in.
Lay off? Where's the fun in not throwing rotten tomatoes at crappy movies? As long as one offers constructive criticism.
Yeah, someone here(T'Girl, maybe?) in these threads usually brings up the idea of a hilarious comedy scene where we see that Riker gets a message to the Council, and they're like "yeah? So what? We already know what's going on because WE GAVE THE ORDERS, STUPID!")