Generations was...

[Use of Time]

I liked Generations. Some of the imagery was fantastic. The sunlight in Picard's ready room and ten forward was a nice touch. The updated bridge with the sharper uniforms. I even found Soran to be a compelling villian with good structure. I just didn't like the wasted time in the Nexus as it was so far removed from I wanted to see. I wanted to see more of space, the crew working together, the Enterprise -D, etc. I don't want to see Captains riding horses and chopping firewood or enjoying a French Christmas. I enjoyed the scenes up to that. I could have gone without seeing Krik again in the 24th century seeing as he lived just to get into a fist fight and fall off a bridge.

The movie still holds a special place in my heart mainly because I had just started to get into Star Trek around this time. The movie seemed really cool at the time.

 

[Gforce1971]

…a Star Trek film with heart! I just re-watched Generations last night and it holds up very well to be 19 years old. The film was special to me because, it was thoughtful. There were nice character moments for most of the major players. It was also kind of a nostalgic look back at one’s life and examining what was important. I remember leaving the theater in 1994 kind of sadded by the death of Kirk and the destruction of the ENT D. It was deeper than that really, I went out and purchased the soundtrack - this film had touched a chord. The idea of the Nexus has been land blasted by a great many on this board but, it was really thought provoking for me. It made me imagine what I would change about my own life if I could. I would also argue that this performance by Shatner was one of his best as Kirk. He seems to finally come to terms with the character.

 

[Lance]

The Enterprise-D was the best design of all the various Enterprises, and destroying it was the worst part of GENERATIONS. Even Kirk's death wasn't as stupid. I'm still disappointed that Starfleet didn't give Picard an identical replacement the way they did with Kirk when he lost his first Enterprise. The Enterprise-E is easily the ugliest ship ever seen in Star Trek

Agreed, Randy. And about the Enterprise E too. Internally and externally, I've never understood why people champion it. The Enterprise-D was a superior design in nearly every quantifiable way.

I have to agree/disagree with you guys on the D/E.

Enterprise-D:
Exterior: Looked ungainly and misshapen from too many angles.
Interior: Looked too much like an 80's hotel lobby.

Enterprise-E:
Exterior: Looked fast and scary from many angles.
Interior: Here is where you get my agreement. E was too dark inside.

See, the trouble with that is that the Enterprise (in my opinion) shouldn't look fast and scary.

I think AlignmentX said it best in the post just below mine:

The Enterprise-E design would be OK-ish (well, tolerable) if it was meant to be a big sister of the Intrepid class or something like that. As an Enterprise... No. It's just a very mid '90s 'badass' design that isn't right for a peaceful exploration starship that the Enterprise lineage represents.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts.

 

[Third Nacelle]

^I agree the Enterpise should not look "fast and scary."

I thought the D was beautiful, inside and out, hotel lobbiness and all. It was futuristic without being cold, it was graceful, and it had character.

The E looked to much like a bad guy ship. Starfleet is supposed to be the good guys.

 

[Noname Given]

^I agree the Enterpise should not look "fast and scary."

I thought the D was beautiful, inside and out, hotel lobbiness and all. It was futuristic without being cold, it was graceful, and it had character.

The E looked to much like a bad guy ship. Starfleet is supposed to be the good guys.

The exterior of the 1701-D was a 1980ies modern art disastertpiece.

The interior of the ship (carpet of the friggin' Bridge - come on!) was more suited to say, "Love Boat The Next Generation -- Hell, Patrick Sterwart even looked similar to Gavin McLeod.

 

[Lance]

You know, it's going wildly off-topic, but I think the Enterprise E did work well in the context of the movie it was introduced in. As a contextual counterpoint to that Borg cube, and within the rest of First Contact's darker production design, both interior and exterior are... okay. Looking "fast and scary" is excusable within that certain context. And maybe within context of a wider Dominion War.

Where it gets pissed up the wall is that I can't believe in the Enterprise E being part of more mundane missions. It's a badass intimidating ship and I can't say it would have been well suited to diplomatic relations, because it would veritably loom over other ships. And that isn't the Federation way.

I think Eaves did fine making a ship for First Contact. But he failed to make a ship that is nearly as believable as the 1701-D, in context of the wider Star Trek universe. 1701-D embodies the virtues of Star Trek better than it's successor ship.

 

[Stardate]

well didnt Eaves first initial approach designing the Enterprise E, IT look closer to Enterprise D. http://www.utopiaplanitia.info/blueprints/1701e/original/1701edev1.jpg

 

[GalaxyX]

The problem with Generations was the death of Kirk and the E-D was badly done and pissed off too many people.

They should have gone with more of a crowd pleaser story like BOBW or AGT.

Yes what the fuck was wrong with them? You don't kill off the most iconic character of Star Trek!

And you don't destroy the iconic machine of The Next Generation.

FC was a good movie, but no longer a TNG movie, it was more like a reimagining of TNG

 

[Stoo]

Just happened to be watching Generations myself yesterday. The subplot with Data's emotion chip is pretty cringeworthy. I don't mind killing Kirk, but he probably deserved a more impressive send off than an old-dudes fistfight.

That said I can agree that it has heart. I was pondering what I should take away from it, and I guess the message is accepting the passing of time rather than wishing to escape it somehow? A legend of Trek dies but that's a part of life, legends come to an end. And Picard, despite feeling his age and the loss of his family, manages to resist the lure of the nexus and value his real life.

But the execution ended up messy and the time-travel aspect of the Nexus leads to plot holes.

re: ent D and E, the former always looked a bit weirdly proportioned to me. E over-does the sleek and aggressive profile somewhat, but I think it's meant to represent a leaner and meaner enterprise for more dangerous times.

 

[Lance]

The Enterprise D was an ugly duckling that hides within it a beautiful swan... the Enterprise E was a chicken lying in a pan.

 

[GalaxyX]

Enterprise E looks like some kind of insect like creature, particularly those nacelles.

Something like this would have worked better:

My personal preference would have been to see this in the movies:

But I know I'm in the minority for this. The first design would have been better than what we go IMO.

The Sovereign Class looks hideous from almost every angle IMO, but the nacelles are the worst part of the design.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

To everyone who mentioned the Enterprise E looking like an enemy ship... if you've seen the Vengeance in "Into Darkness," I think it bears more than a striking resemblance to the Enterprise E...

 

[RandyS]

^I agree the Enterpise should not look "fast and scary."

I thought the D was beautiful, inside and out, hotel lobbiness and all. It was futuristic without being cold, it was graceful, and it had character.

The E looked to much like a bad guy ship. Starfleet is supposed to be the good guys.

The exterior of the 1701-D was a 1980ies modern art disastertpiece.

The interior of the ship (carpet of the friggin' Bridge - come on!) was more suited to say, "Love Boat The Next Generation -- Hell, Patrick Sterwart even looked similar to Gavin McLeod.

Have you ever seen the concept drawing for the D's bridge from 1986-1987 that had plants behind the captain's seat, and a second level where the conference table sat? This was before they settled on the final design, and to tell you the truth, I'm actually disapointed that they DIDN'T build this set. After all, this was in a time of peaceful exploration, before writers like Ron Moore started in with their imperfect character nonsense, and so-called "drama".

What's so wrong about traveling the galaxy in a ship that has all the comforts of home and looks like a "hotel lobby" (whatever the hell THAT means. I've never been in a hotel that looked like the Enterprise.)?

 

[shapeshifter]

I have one issue with Generations; William Shatner agreed to the death of Captain Kirk. You do not kill Living Legends. All of my respect for him has drained away because he made himself a part of that idiocy. I've grown so cold about this I no longer see the scene as the death of Captain Kirk, it's now the symbolic death of my respect and admiration for Shatner.

Otherwise it's great, warts and all!

Concerning the Ent. E, my liking of the D waned greatly after the premier of the E. I began wishing the design of E had been used for the D because it's such a logical evolutionary extension of the TMP/1701-A refit, imo.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Sauron trying to get back to the nexus.

You just made Generations a hundred times better. Now it's a love story for the ages...

 

[GalaxyX]

After all, this was in a time of peaceful exploration, before writers like Ron Moore started in with their imperfect character nonsense, and so-called "drama".

Yeah I'm so sick of hearing their complaints about being unable to write "drama". When they were given full ability to do what they wanted, we got the Star Trek soap opera "Deep Space 9".

I have one issue with Generations; William Shatner agreed to the death of Captain Kirk. You do not kill Living Legends. All of my respect for him has drained away because he made himself a part of that idiocy. I've grown so cold about this I no longer see the scene as the death of Captain Kirk, it's now the symbolic death of my respect and admiration for Shatner.

I don't know if I blame Shatner. Perhaps he felt that he had to agree to the role or he wouldn't have been given the part? He seemed to quickly revive the character in his books again (not that it means anything on-screen). I do agree if he didn't want the character to die, he should have stood his ground on that.

Concerning the Ent. E, my liking of the D waned greatly after the premier of the E. I began wishing the design of E had been used for the D because it's such a logical evolutionary extension of the TMP/1701-A refit, imo.

I could live with it if it weren't for those hideous nacelles. Dear God what were they thinking?

 

[MacLeod]

Generations is a Star Trek Movie. It has all the elements of Star Trek. The ship, the crew, special effects, etc. etc. etc.

Star Trek is like pizza. When it's good, it's really good. When it's bad, it's still pretty good.

I don't really notice movie soundtracks. Funny, as a musician you'd think I'd hone in on that. But not so much.

Perhaps one of the distictins between a good musical score and a bad one is that you don't notice it when it's good.

 

[shapeshifter]

I have one issue with Generations; William Shatner agreed to the death of Captain Kirk. You do not kill Living Legends. All of my respect for him has drained away because he made himself a part of that idiocy. I've grown so cold about this I no longer see the scene as the death of Captain Kirk, it's now the symbolic death of my respect and admiration for Shatner.

I don't know if I blame Shatner. Perhaps he felt that he had to agree to the role or he wouldn't have been given the part? He seemed to quickly revive the character in his books again (not that it means anything on-screen). I do agree if he didn't want the character to die, he should have stood his ground on that.

That's it, I wish he would not have agreed to the part, kept forcing rewrite's until they got to a version which didn't include the death of Kirk.

Concerning the Ent. E, my liking of the D waned greatly after the premier of the E. I began wishing the design of E had been used for the D because it's such a logical evolutionary extension of the TMP/1701-A refit, imo.

I could live with it if it weren't for those hideous nacelles. Dear God what were they thinking?

Agreed, the Ent. E nacelle design was a radical step backwards. The refit nacelles were also hideous. Took me years to acknowledge the refit even had nacelles attached!

 

[Stoo]

I have one issue with Generations; William Shatner agreed to the death of Captain Kirk. You do not kill Living Legends.

Why not?

 

[T'Girl]

I have one issue with Generations; William Shatner agreed to the death of Captain Kirk.

I don't know if I blame Shatner. Perhaps he felt that he had to agree to the role or he wouldn't have been given the part?

To be fair, while he still died, the original scripted death of Kirk was "better." Shatner's decision to do the movie would have been at least in part based upon that script, and not on the script they use for the re-shoot of the death scene days after the original scene was filmed.

Soren's death was also much more satisfying in the original script (Picard shoots him in the stomach with his own gun).