Am I wrong in saying that Generations is the only TNG movie to LOOK like a movie?

[The Rock]

Putting the quality of Generations aside, am I alone in saying that out of all the TNG movies Generations is the only one that has movie-like cinematography? The lighting, the camera angles and shots.....everything about it makes it feel distinctly different from a regular TNG episode. The movie feels very epic and grand in scope because of its cinematography alone. Despite its budget not being all that much more than the most expensive TNG episodes, it feels much higher budget.

Now I know that for FC and INS, they were directed by Frakes and since he has directed a lot more TV episodes than movies at that point in time, that explains why FC and INS feel very TV-like. Even NEM (despite being directed by a movie guy) still feels very TV-like to me despite the final battle between the Enterprise and the Scimitar looking really fantastic.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

You are not wrong. The others look like high-budget TV movies.

 

[arch101]

I thought the opposite back then. I was thoroughly unimpressed with Gen as I thought it felt like a TV film. Especially when the Dennis McCarthy incidental music cues came in during the Excelsior segment. FC looked and felt far more big-budget to me.

 

[Vger23]

I thought NEM looked and felt pretty cinematic, to be honest.

 

[JamesRye]

I think Generations was lit very well. But the direction is pretty pedestrian. Some nice framing shots when they are on the horses. But on the whole, it doesn't embrace the wide-screen cinematic feel. And what the hell were they thinking having the actors whispering dialog all the time. Stewart gets a lot of praise for First Contact, but in Generations, I think he just phones it in.

Frakes at least used some Dutch angles and the camera moves around a lot more. There's some verve and energy. First Contact works because it's the only movie with consistent tone in my opinion. But it's simple stuff, riffing off Alien. Insurrection is tonally inconsistent and I dont think Frakes does too good of a job. It needed more crane shots on the planet. The VFX have aged really, really badly on that one.

Whatever you think about the Abrams movies, they truly embrace the cinematic wide-screen format. ST09 and STID are full of energy, the camera's often moving, there's a lot of medium wide shots. The only movie that really competes is TMP, which has a ton of wide shots.

It's interesting to see the progression between Star Trek 3 and 4. I always think Nimoy shot very Conservative and workman like in 3. But in 4, he mixes up the lenses and really opens up the frame. There's some avant-garde stuff in 4 that I like.

 

[herofhyrule]

Having recently rewatched all four TNG films, I felt that there was something different about Generations that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I think this has put it into words for me. I think there must have been a few holdovers from the TOS films before the TNG films established their own style. Also, I imagine they wanted Generations to stand out as a film the most, since it still has the Enterprise-D instead of the E, and so reuses a lot of sets and a few CGI/physical models from the series. Even the costumes are pretty much the same, with Geordi still having his VISOR instead of his ocular impacts, and the uniforms still being the same (except that for some reason half the crew are wearing the old DS9-style uniforms). It would make sense that they made the largest effort to make Generations "film-like" to properly differentiate it from the series.

 

[Set Harth]

Especially when the Dennis McCarthy incidental music cues came in during the Excelsior segment.

 

[Vger23]

Generations had legendary cinematographer John Alonzo on board.

That did not hurt.

 

[Mudd]

FC.

 

[Smellmet]

Putting the quality of Generations aside, am I alone in saying that out of all the TNG movies Generations is the only one that has movie-like cinematography? The lighting, the camera angles and shots.....everything about it makes it feel distinctly different from a regular TNG episode. The movie feels very epic and grand in scope because of its cinematography alone. Despite its budget not being all that much more than the most expensive TNG episodes, it feels much higher budget.

Now I know that for FC and INS, they were directed by Frakes and since he has directed a lot more TV episodes than movies at that point in time, that explains why FC and INS feel very TV-like. Even NEM (despite being directed by a movie guy) still feels very TV-like to me despite the final battle between the Enterprise and the Scimitar looking really fantastic.

I think you are correct and have always thought this. I absolutely love the lighting in this film. It's a gorgeous looking flick. I think the visual effects are largely superior to the following 2 movies also.

I think Nemesis also looks pretty good in parts and some of FC does too but there's some cheap TV-standard looking work in both these films

Insurrection, bar some ok location work, looks cheap and bland.

 

[ananta]

I agree. The cinematography is beautiful. The modifications to the Enterprise-D sets really help. I just realised after rewatching the films how bland and uninspiring I find the Enterprise-E sets, particularly the bridge. I’m quite a visual person; while I don’t think Generations is a particularly great film, each scene had such gorgeous contrast of lighting and use of colour. Coupled with the lovely new transfer, it looks so much better than the other TNG films, which I think lends it a more cinematic feel (although it is definitely let down by the TV movie feel of the writing).

 

[Smellmet]

I agree. The cinematography is beautiful. The modifications to the Enterprise-D sets really help. I just realised after rewatching the films how bland and uninspiring I find the Enterprise-E sets, particularly the bridge. I’m quite a visual person; while I don’t think Generations is a particularly great film, each scene had such gorgeous contrast of lighting and use of colour. Coupled with the lovely new transfer, it looks so much better than the other TNG films, which I think lends it a more cinematic feel (although it is definitely let down by the TV movie feel of the writing).

The Enterprise E sets were a downgrade from the D for me. The bridge looked like a TV set.

 

[Jason_Adank]

I recently bought the 4 disc TNG Movie UHD/HDR set. And I gotta say, of the four, Generations looks absolutely stunning visually. Both because of the HDR in the mastering, but also just how scenes were lit in general ad how the shots were framed. Everything just looked awesome. Very dramatic. Wish they woulda kept that style going... because I agree with the OP, the other three movies just looked kinda bland in comparison (and they were HDR too.... didnt help... cause the lighting sucked!).

 

[El Maestro]

I recently bought the 4 disc TNG Movie UHD/HDR set. And I gotta say, of the four, Generations looks absolutely stunning visually. Both because of the HDR in the mastering, but also just how scenes were lit in general ad how the shots were framed. Everything just looked awesome. Very dramatic. Wish they woulda kept that style going... because I agree with the OP, the other three movies just looked kinda bland in comparison (and they were HDR too.... didnt help... cause the lighting sucked!).

Do we know if the UHD/HDR versions of the movies are streaming anywhere?

 

[Jason_Adank]

Aaah, I dont know. I guess Paramount+ is bringing them all back, so you could check. But imo, buying the discs is the way to go.

 

[Vger23]

But imo, buying the discs is the way to go.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Yeah streaming, no matter how great your bandwidth, isn't the same as hardcopy media. My 4K blu rays look and sound much better than what comes over the innerwebz. And I never have to worry about them disappearing due to rights agreements.

 

[Jayson1]

I think First Contact. Generations might have with Alonzo doing his thing if they weren't using sets made for tv in the 70's and props and uniforms made for the shows in the early 90's. Worst mistake was reusing the Bird of Prey explosion from Trek 6. How could they have been so foolish to think nobody would notice.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I think First Contact. Generations might have with Alonzo doing his thing if they weren't using sets made for tv in the 70's and props and uniforms made for the shows in the early 90's. Worst mistake was reusing the Bird of Prey explosion from Trek 6. How could they have been so foolish to think nobody would notice.

That pulled me right out of the moment. It wasn't just another stock explosion or traveling ship shot. It was the action climax and one of the emotional highs of the previous film.

 

[Vger23]

That pulled me right out of the moment. It wasn't just another stock explosion or traveling ship shot. It was the action climax and one of the emotional highs of the previous film.

Yeah, super cheap. They wasted a ton of money on the orbital skydive sequence that was never used, a bottle of champagne floating through space that was completely unnecessary, and even a few million dollars on a re-shoot that wasn't REALLY an improvement...but yet they couldn't be bothered to make a good sequence of the BoP exploding.