A question about Generations

[Timby]

Quite a well-known story, they'd designed new uniforms for the movie - sort of a cross between the TNG uniforms and Monster Maroons in TNG colours, decided they didn't like them and ditched them to use a mix of TNG and DS9 uniforms - which were actually borrowed from the DS9 actors. Jonathan Frakes wore Avery Brooks' uniform, though the arms didn't fit which is why he has the sleeves rolled up whenever he wears it.

I believe Stewart and Spiner had uniforms actually made and tailored for them. Frakes was wearing costumes from Brooks' wardrobe, and Burton was wearing ones from Meaney's (which is why his looks so tight around the chest -- Meaney's about four inches taller and has about 50 pounds on Burton, so they had to get creative with getting the thing to even fit).

 

[Galactic Alignment]

Ugh, rewatch Generations and the wardrobe malfunctions are so obvious when you know about it. I have no words, really.

 

[RAMA]

Why don't the crew take escape pods before their saucer crashed ?

This question is answered in the STNG Technical Manual. The saucer is designed to coast and land as a lifting body and makes a suitable escape vehicle in it's own right.

 

[Lance]

In an ideal scenario, as that diagram describes, the saucer would have adequate time to "pre-scan" for a suitable landing area, before gently adjusting it's course to make impact with ground level. It does call itself a "best case" scenario. I suspect the one depicted on film is way more hectic.

 

[OtherGene]

Imagine if the pods had been pre-programmed to land as near to the Captain as possible? It could've changed the ending dramatically if Soran suddenly had to fight off forty seven members of Worfs security detail as well as Kirk and Picard.

In fact, if you picture those final scenes with nearly a thousand people suddenly emerging from their escape pods and the place being too busy to get anything done, let alone launch rockets at suns, and it sounds quite comedic.

Scene - Veridian III - Mountain Top - Outside

Soran "PICARD! Get away from that, sorry, could I just get passed? PICARD! GET AWAY, excuse me, could you three move I need to - oh, you know what? Forget it"

 

[Aldo]

Except Picard didn't have his Comm badge on him, so the computer wouldn't be able to locate him.

 

[The Old Mixer]

My standard response to all questions about Generations: Who the hell knows?

 

[Trimm]

My standard response to all questions about Generations: Who the hell knows?

That's about as good an answer as any.

 

[arch101]

The saucer section IS a lifeboat in certain conditions, such as the one in the film. (see excellent diagram above)

 

[Nebusj]

In an ideal scenario, as that diagram describes, the saucer would have adequate time to "pre-scan" for a suitable landing area, before gently adjusting it's course to make impact with ground level. It does call itself a "best case" scenario. I suspect the one depicted on film is way more hectic.

More hectic, and without the thrusters under control. It does a good job as a lifeboat considering.

 

[Galactic Alignment]

Famously, Playmates were given these uniform designs for their Generations figures line, and the decision to drop them was made too late to change the figures, so they were released with the unused uniforms:

Just realised that these look like a halfway design between the TNG uniforms and the future uniforms from All Good Things...

 

[Tracy Trek]

In an ideal scenario, as that diagram describes, the saucer would have adequate time to "pre-scan" for a suitable landing area, before gently adjusting it's course to make impact with ground level. It does call itself a "best case" scenario. I suspect the one depicted on film is way more hectic.

They should have had landing struts on it. In case they ever did have to enter an atmosphere. Even in an ideal situation, the bottom of the ship is still hitting and scraping along the ground.

 

[Aldo]

Maybe what happened to the D is what caused Starfleet to put the landing struts on the U.S.S. Voyager.

 

[timtonruben359]

I believe plot logic is inverse to producer requirements to destroy the ship at all costs in order to get a shiny new one for the next film.

See also Worf not modulating shields, and Riker's awful display of command when 'fighting' back.

I always believed that the writers of Generations were given an edict to destroy the D in Generations but based on things Moore and Braga have said over the years the decision to destroy the D was their own creative decision. Allegedly the had wanted to crash the saucer since season 6 but in early 90s the ability to do a big crash on a TV budget wasn't possible so when were assigned to write the movie, the decided to incorporate the saucer crash.

Quite a well-known story, they'd designed new uniforms for the movie - sort of a cross between the TNG uniforms and Monster Maroons in TNG colours, decided they didn't like them and ditched them to use a mix of TNG and DS9 uniforms - which were actually borrowed from the DS9 actors. Jonathan Frakes wore Avery Brooks' uniform, though the arms didn't fit which is why he has the sleeves rolled up whenever he wears it.

I remember reading, I think it was the TNG companion but I could be wrong, the new uniforms were created because there was a fear that the TNG uniforms from the show wouldn't hold up on the big screen. However after a day or two of using the new uniforms, it was discovered that new uniforms didn't look good on screen and with no extra money in the budget, the decision was made to use what they had. They also found the DS9 uniforms held up better on the big screen.

 

[Tracy Trek]

Maybe what happened to the D is what caused Starfleet to put the landing struts on the U.S.S. Voyager.

Except the whole bulk of Voyager could land. Not just the saucer.

 

[timtonruben359]

Maybe what happened to the D is what caused Starfleet to put the landing struts on the U.S.S. Voyager.

Technically in the Trek timeline, Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant before the events of Generations. The Intrepid class would have been designed and launched long before the Enterprise saucer crashed.

The saucer landing was meant to be an emergency save our skins maneuver according to the technical manual. The Galaxy Class was far too large to land regularly like the smaller Intrepid ships.

As for why they didn't launch escapade pods, based on the the events that took place upon separating the ship the saucer section took a direct impact by the anti-matter explosion shock wave. The force of the shock wave knocked out primary systems and caused the saucer to become stuck in the gravity of the planet. It's unlikely there would have been sufficient time to launch the escape pods before the ship entered the atmosphere.

My question is why was the Enterprise so close to the planet should they have not moved ship as far away from any planets prior to warp core exploding?

 

[somebuddyX]

I always liked seeing different uniforms together onscreen, so even though I don't get why it's being implemented in Generations (inside the film by Starfleet, I mean) I liked seeing it. It's the same way I always liked seeing the TNG uniforms in DS9, especially in Tears of the Prophets, where the main cast is sitting at a meeting in the First Contact uniforms and there are a couple of guys in the background still wearing TNG reds!

 

[Lance]

I always believed that the writers of Generations were given an edict to destroy the D in Generations but based on things Moore and Braga have said over the years the decision to destroy the D was their own creative decision. Allegedly the had wanted to crash the saucer since season 6 but in early 90s the ability to do a big crash on a TV budget wasn't possible so when were assigned to write the movie, the decided to incorporate the saucer crash.

Moore and Braga had suggested it as a possible season six cliffhanger, the saucer having to land on a planet while the stardrive is occupied elsewhere, but it was held over for the movie (as they knew they'd be doing a movie by that point.)

 

[BJ Wagner]

Why don't the crew take escape pods before their saucer crashed ?

All the escape pods were shipped to Deep Space Nine along with eleven phaser arrays, one torpedo launcher, a supply of 249 photon torpedoes, and hundreds of antimatter mines. That left only a single phaser array capable of a 2 second burst, and one photon torpedo--or so the events of the movie demonstrate.

 

[LeadHead]

Best explanations that I can come up with for not launching the escape pods:

1. The Saucer hit the atmosphere very quickly after the core explosion. Launching the escape pods would have meant dropping the shields, causing the saucer to incinerate. There's no way in that short a time, they could have coordinated all pods to launch simultaneously to ensure all survivors got off the ship. In addition, the pods were located on the outer hull, they would be instantly damaged when the shields dropped to allow them to launch.

2. The escape pods may not be powerful enough to achieve both launch and a soft landing while within an atmosphere.