Who here has found his original assessment of any of the ten films ever challenged upon repeat viewing, either for better or for worse?
In preparation for the new film, I have watched several of the older Trek films recently, out of sequence, just the ones I felt like watching. Turns out it's nearly all of them by now. And I'm amazed by how my perception of some of these films have changed in the years since last I saw them.
I have already gone on record in the "I like STV" thread that I think TFF actually has a lot to offer for the true and hardcore TOS fan (that I am).
Now today I watched Insurrection, just three days after seeing First Contact. And guess what? I like Insurrection better than FC. I didn't before.
Here's why: Until now, I hadn't fully realized how choppy FC is as a story. Or to put it differently, I now see that First Contact is actually two separate stories that never really intersect much. And that bothers me. The scenes on Earth don't have any urgency regarding the Borg threat. They can't of course because Riker and the others know nothing about the Borg intrusion on board the Enterprise. But this imbalance seriously impairs the flow of the film, IMO. The drama of the Borg invasion keeps getting interrupted by fairly lighthearted scenes of Troi being drunk, Cochrane dancing and drinking, Barclay and Geordi (and Riker, too) fawning over Cochrane's supposed genius. Fluff. Entertaining fluff, but unfortunately combined with another story that wants to go dark and disturbing, thus sabotaging both.
Also, all scenes with the Borg Queen are now like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. The sexual innuendo, the Data-kissing, the whole concept of a Borg Queen doesn't make much sense to me anymore except for the obvious reason Braga and Moore decided they needed a conventional villain to kill off at the end. The originally scary concept of the Borg as a collective mind, a race where no individuals exist - in contrast to the Federation where individuality and diversity were always celebrated - never comes into play, which strikes me as a missed opportunity.
I also feel Jonathan Frakes directorial skills improved significantly between this and Insurrection. In FC, I didn't really feel the scale and the scope that things should have in an apocalyptic scenario like this. The opening space battle suffers from a lack of buildup, too many FX shots and too little reaction from the characters to make the danger palpable. When we join the battle, we only get a brief glimpse at the Defiant and then Picard routinely issues his command to attack the ship upon which it is destroyed. An anticlimax, I'd say. I wonder by the way if uninitiated viewers even got what the Borg were or why they were dangerous based on Picard's dream sequence alone. In this viewing, I found myself desperately wanting an opening sequence in which we actually see the Borg destroy the colony that the Admiral talks about.
I also got the distinct impression that the writers were trying to force the TNG cast into the structure established by the TOS films - two leads resembling the Kirk/Spock duo, with Picard cast as the action hero that he just is not (Kirk could've pulled off the angry man out for vengeance nuch better - cf. the beginning of TUC) and Data acting as a second-rate Spock replacement. It did the cast wrong.
In short, the film feels small, disjointed, lacking scope and tonal coherence. I was amazed by my reevaluation that I didn't even think FC was the best TNG film anymore. I used to. I think I like Insurrection better - which, to be sure, very nearly derails itself by the embarrassing and forced attempts at comedy. But altogether, it had a valid story with a theme, great location visuals (if somewhat flimsy effects work) and a villain whose motivations I could buy. If anything, this reminded me the most of the TV TNG. It's still not a motion picture, but as a new TNG episode it works. Which, as detailed above, I can't say anymore about First Contact.
I wonder if subsequent Star Trek series and films (specifically, the VGR Borg episodes) have shaped my new opinion on these films, FC especially, after so many years. Was I so enamored with that film 13 years ago because at that time the idea alone of seeing the Borg, TNG's most spectacular foe, on the big screen that I tended to overlook all the weaknesses of the film itself that now reveal themselves to me because the Borg have lost their luster due to VGR?
Any of you ever made a similiar discovery when rewatching one of the films after a long time?
In preparation for the new film, I have watched several of the older Trek films recently, out of sequence, just the ones I felt like watching. Turns out it's nearly all of them by now. And I'm amazed by how my perception of some of these films have changed in the years since last I saw them.
I have already gone on record in the "I like STV" thread that I think TFF actually has a lot to offer for the true and hardcore TOS fan (that I am).
Now today I watched Insurrection, just three days after seeing First Contact. And guess what? I like Insurrection better than FC. I didn't before.
Here's why: Until now, I hadn't fully realized how choppy FC is as a story. Or to put it differently, I now see that First Contact is actually two separate stories that never really intersect much. And that bothers me. The scenes on Earth don't have any urgency regarding the Borg threat. They can't of course because Riker and the others know nothing about the Borg intrusion on board the Enterprise. But this imbalance seriously impairs the flow of the film, IMO. The drama of the Borg invasion keeps getting interrupted by fairly lighthearted scenes of Troi being drunk, Cochrane dancing and drinking, Barclay and Geordi (and Riker, too) fawning over Cochrane's supposed genius. Fluff. Entertaining fluff, but unfortunately combined with another story that wants to go dark and disturbing, thus sabotaging both.
Also, all scenes with the Borg Queen are now like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. The sexual innuendo, the Data-kissing, the whole concept of a Borg Queen doesn't make much sense to me anymore except for the obvious reason Braga and Moore decided they needed a conventional villain to kill off at the end. The originally scary concept of the Borg as a collective mind, a race where no individuals exist - in contrast to the Federation where individuality and diversity were always celebrated - never comes into play, which strikes me as a missed opportunity.
I also feel Jonathan Frakes directorial skills improved significantly between this and Insurrection. In FC, I didn't really feel the scale and the scope that things should have in an apocalyptic scenario like this. The opening space battle suffers from a lack of buildup, too many FX shots and too little reaction from the characters to make the danger palpable. When we join the battle, we only get a brief glimpse at the Defiant and then Picard routinely issues his command to attack the ship upon which it is destroyed. An anticlimax, I'd say. I wonder by the way if uninitiated viewers even got what the Borg were or why they were dangerous based on Picard's dream sequence alone. In this viewing, I found myself desperately wanting an opening sequence in which we actually see the Borg destroy the colony that the Admiral talks about.
I also got the distinct impression that the writers were trying to force the TNG cast into the structure established by the TOS films - two leads resembling the Kirk/Spock duo, with Picard cast as the action hero that he just is not (Kirk could've pulled off the angry man out for vengeance nuch better - cf. the beginning of TUC) and Data acting as a second-rate Spock replacement. It did the cast wrong.
In short, the film feels small, disjointed, lacking scope and tonal coherence. I was amazed by my reevaluation that I didn't even think FC was the best TNG film anymore. I used to. I think I like Insurrection better - which, to be sure, very nearly derails itself by the embarrassing and forced attempts at comedy. But altogether, it had a valid story with a theme, great location visuals (if somewhat flimsy effects work) and a villain whose motivations I could buy. If anything, this reminded me the most of the TV TNG. It's still not a motion picture, but as a new TNG episode it works. Which, as detailed above, I can't say anymore about First Contact.
I wonder if subsequent Star Trek series and films (specifically, the VGR Borg episodes) have shaped my new opinion on these films, FC especially, after so many years. Was I so enamored with that film 13 years ago because at that time the idea alone of seeing the Borg, TNG's most spectacular foe, on the big screen that I tended to overlook all the weaknesses of the film itself that now reveal themselves to me because the Borg have lost their luster due to VGR?
Any of you ever made a similiar discovery when rewatching one of the films after a long time?
