Generations - Star Trek V part II?

[Khan 2.0]

In one of the extras docs on the Generations dvd Walter Konig is being interviewed in costume and he talks about the opening to the movie (at that point intended to be the Kirk skydive) saying how he thinks its abit similar to the opening to Star Trek V (im surprised Paramount let that one go – I cant imagine theyd have wanted anyone saying 'yeah this new ones going to be like Trek V')

anyway I remember watching Generations at the cinema (coming up for 20 years ago) and being surprised at the Trek V vibe:

-Soran/Sybok - similar names
-Shatner playing Shatner again (not Kirk as in I, II, III, IV, VI)
-abit of a comedic tone (esp in the opening Ent B which felt abit Trek V part II. Even the bridge felt abit 'V'ey. And of course Datas emochip)
-Main villain wants to get to a heavenly place - dosnt care about the consequences/who he harms in the process.
-rogue Klingons in the background (in a BOP) mixing things up
-Veridian III seemed abit similar to the ShaKaRee planet (rocky, uninhabited)
-Kirks death (talks about dying alone in V)
-and of course the original opening of kirks off time daring do skydive (similar to rock climb)


of course unlike Trek V the FX were top notch (thanks to ILM)

 

[David Ellerman]

Is that same ILM that Ralph Winter believed took advantage of them? Besides, Doug Trumbull and John Dykstra did better work on the first movie than any of ILM's work on II, III, IV, or VI.

 

[BillJ]

I don't really see the similarities.

 

[2takesfrakes]

-Soran/Sybok - similar names
-Shatner playing Shatner again (not Kirk as in I, II, III, IV, VI)
-abit of a comedic tone (esp in the opening Ent B which felt abit Trek V part II. Even the bridge felt abit 'V'ey. And of course Datas emochip)
-Main villain just wants to get to a heavenly place - dosnt care about the consequences/who he harms in the process.
-rogue Klingons in the background (in a BOP) mixing things up
-Veridian III seemed abit similar to the ShaKaRee planet (rocky, uninhabited)
-Kirks death (talks about dying alone in V)
-and of course the original opening of kirks off time daring do skydive (similar to rock climb)

When assembled in that fashion, GENERATION's similarities to THE FINAL FRONTIER do seem compelling. There do seem to be "sister" movies in this franchise: TMP and TUC both book-end the TOS movies and are stand-alone features. TWoK and TSFS are obviously interwoven together. TVH's success was a fluke, as far as I'd be concerned, and TUC only did well because of the hype of the 25th Anniversary to come and the fact that it was the last TOS movie. And now? There looks to be that GEN/TFF have much more in common than first meets the eye. On a personal note, I happen to love the TNG Navy sequence, out at sea ... it's so different from anything we get to see in any of the other STAR TREK movies.

 

[Lance]

^ Hmm, I'm not so sure I see TUC as being a stand-alone feature, Two-Takes. To me it's always felt more like an isolated "coda" (of sorts) to the II-III-IV trilogy. If anything, TFF is the one that to me feels more like it stands alone...

 

[enterprisecvn65]

Well it definitely shared the factor of Shatner wanting to look like the biggest macho stud alive, like in ST V, only in Generations he was even older and fatter. The horse jumping, the splitting wood, being able to take Malcolm McDowell when Picard had gotten his ass kicked in the first fight. How much of that was Shatner's doing I don't know like in TFF where Shatner clearly made the film as a vehicle to show how awesome he was in spite of his age and weight.

Thank god they took out the skydiving scene, as if that film didn't have enough things to roll your eyes at in the first place.

 

[enterprisecvn65]

Is that same ILM that Ralph Winter believed took advantage of them? Besides, Doug Trumbull and John Dykstra did better work on the first movie than any of ILM's work on II, III, IV, or VI.

Because Turmbull and Dykstra had a huge ass budget to work with compared to those other films.

I think the work in II and III with scenes like the Enterprise taking it to the reliant and the subsequent attempt to flee and the Spacedock shots, both arriving and leaving were all as good as anything in TMP.

In fact I think the first shot they show of the Enterprise fleeing the Reliant (not the backing away shot) when it is heading face on towards the camera and Reliant is in the distant background trailing debris is one of the best effects shot in the whole series.

 

[eyeresist]

-Soran/Sybok - similar names
-Shatner playing Shatner again (not Kirk as in I, II, III, IV, VI)
-abit of a comedic tone (esp in the opening Ent B which felt abit Trek V part II. Even the bridge felt abit 'V'ey. And of course Datas emochip)
-Main villain wants to get to a heavenly place - dosnt care about the consequences/who he harms in the process.
-rogue Klingons in the background (in a BOP) mixing things up
-Veridian III seemed abit similar to the ShaKaRee planet (rocky, uninhabited)
-Kirks death (talks about dying alone in V)
-and of course the original opening of kirks off time daring do skydive (similar to rock climb)

1. Sarek, Soval, lots of Vulcan names of two syllables starting with 's'.
2. Shatner is playing Kirk. To say otherwise is just semantics.
3. All the films have comic elements, even TMP. The bridges are all on the same design. There was no emochip in STV.
4. Okay, I'll give you that one.
5. There are Klingons in a bunch of other movies.
6. A deserted, rocky planet in Star Trek? Uncanny!
7. Yes, Kirk's death is an obvious connection.
8. If it's not on screen, it didn't happen.

 

[BillJ]

I tried to watch Generations last night after it was mentioned in this thread. And it just wasn't happening, it is soooo dull. I made it about 45 minutes before finally shutting it off.

 

[2takesfrakes]

^ Hmm, I'm not so sure I see TUC as being a stand-alone feature, Two-Takes. To me it's always felt more like an isolated "coda" (of sorts) to the II-III-IV trilogy. If anything, TFF is the one that to me feels more like it stands alone...

THE FINAL FRONTIER directly connected to the Khan trilogy, because of the obvious ILM footage used for Scotty's voiceover, especially. Nevertheless, I'm forced to agree that STAR TREK V is the Odd Sock, when it comes to The Original Series movies. There's no Magic, no spark of wit, or irony. It's almost vulgar in its blatant kissing of Shatner's ass.

 

[eyeresist]

^ Hmm, I still don't understand. How do you feel about this movie?