Leonard Nimoy was asked to appear in Generations. He agreed to appear if there were some changes made. Since the producers declined, Nimoy declined appearing. Does anyone know what plot changes Nimoy wanted to make? Cobra
Changes Nimoy wanted in Generations
- Thread starter CobraCommander
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My understanding was that he was asked to direct; but asked for changes to the script (not just his cameo, but the entire script). Perhaps someone can elaborate and confirm or deny my, admittedly, hazy memory. I seem to remember he thought the Data story was stuck in there, marring the drama.
Sir Rhosis
Sir Rhosis
He thought right. The Data story was unnecessary and the main story involving Soran was a mess.
Considering he made the best odd Trek film, and at that time the highest grossing "even" one too, I think its foolish they didnt let him have a crack at it. Couldn't have been any worse than what we got.
Yep. Nimoy's only directive for including Spock in a plot (same as the "Unification" TNG two-parter - and JJ's film) is that he must take an active part in the unfolding story. While Shatner's character had plenty to do to in "Generations", with Kirk interacting with Picard and helping to resolve the dilemma, Spock's lines, as written, were essentially what Scotty says in the final movie. A little more than a cameo bystander. Since the producers were unwilling to expand Spock's participation in that scene (or add the rest of the TOS gang - IIRC, he suggested they all should be there, not just three), Nimoy declined to appear.
When De Kelley learned that Nimoy had declined, he also declined and the MCoy lines were given to Chekov. Thus Scotty comes up with a few sciency ideas and Chekov is volunteering journalists to accompany him to sickbay as medics. (The line about Sulu's daughter was originally about Chekov's daughter.)
Shatner made a similar request to JJ Abrams. He wasn't willing to do a Kirk cameo ("I don't do cameos"); he wanted his part to have sufficient meaning to the story as a whole. As did Nimoy for that film, which the writers had already done for Spock.
Great posts! The weakest part of this film was he plot device of the Nexus. It should have allowed Picard to solve all of his problems on his own. So what did Nimoy want to do with Soran? Was he going to retool him or just jettison him altogether. If he was going to bring back all of the Original cast members, was he bringing back the Ent-A? How would he have combined to two crews to interact with one another? Cobra
P.S... I think he would have made a better film than what we got.
P.S... I think he would have made a better film than what we got.
Chick_McGeester
Lieutenant
Now that I think of it, NuTrek would have been a much better movie if Shatner was in it instead of Nimoy.
Nah, Shatner hasn't looked (barely) like Kirk since "Generations". Nimoy still looks amazing as Spock!
True. If Picard could really time travel out of the Nexus, it would've made more sense for Picard to stop Soran before he did any damage (like in this fan-edit).
what about the borg in Shatner's novels?
I don't believe that Nimoy has ever said what he wanted changed about the script. (And believe me, I've looked.) He was given the script to consider as both star and director; he passed on starring first, but did consider directing. The changes he wanted were, according to reports from the time, substantial, and he had a script meeting with Rick Berman to discuss his concerns. Nimoy, who had been involved in developing the story for two films (the fourth and sixth), felt like he knew what he was talking about. Berman wanted the script directed as written -- in television, which was Berman's background the director is a hired gun -- and said that there was no time for the rewrite Nimoy wanted. Nimoy had already passed on starring by that time, and he now passed on directing as well. He believed his involvement with Star Trek was at its end.
By the time Nimoy was given the script to consider for both appearing and directing, the Enterprise-B prologue scene had already been pared back from all seven of the original cast to just the Big Three, because Moore and Braga realized that the scenes were too unwieldy and characters like Uhura and Sulu only had at most two lines. It's possible that Nimoy suggesting adding the other four characters back into the script, but it wouldn't have been practical or feasible.
I've thought about an expanded role for Nimoy in Generations, and I think I'd rather have seen him as Ambassador Spock in the 24th-century portions of the script instead of as Captain Spock in the prologue. I don't know what kind of story you tell around that, but it would have been very interesting indeed.
The one quote I definitely remember reading that Nimoy made dealt with the Data/Geordi emotion chip scene. He mentioned that the rest of the crew was over on the station in grave danger, and he said something like, "And then we cut to this -- to Data and Geordi and his cat!?" Where I read it, I cannot recall.
Sir Rhosis
Sir Rhosis
Maybe Nimoy was used to working with talented people able to rewrite scripts in twelve days.
I was lucky enough to read the first draft of the Generations script and all of Bones and Spock's lines were rewritten for Scotty and Pavel. Demora Sulu was not created yet. Harriman is written a lot more assertive than he was depicted in the movie. It's quite interesting. The script is dated October 1, 1993 and is titled simply "Star Trek:TNG The Movie".
I did a rewrite of the 23rd century portions of "Generations" where I explained Spock's absence with Kirk quickly explaining that Spock is finalizing the Kitomher Accords with the Klingon's on the Klingon homeworld and couldn't make it and that Doctor McCoy declined to attend, enjoying his retirement in Georgia.
I did a rewrite of the 23rd century portions of "Generations" where I explained Spock's absence with Kirk quickly explaining that Spock is finalizing the Kitomher Accords with the Klingon's on the Klingon homeworld and couldn't make it and that Doctor McCoy declined to attend, enjoying his retirement in Georgia.
Nimoy's issues with the script had to do with the plot device of the nexus, not the emotion chip or anything like that. I have several interviews where he talks about his problems with the script and they all boiled down to the nexus.
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