Re: I just watched Star Trek: Generations for the first time in ten ye
Didn't Moore and Braga basically have a checklist from Paramount of things they had to include in the film? I think a lot of the times the studios demand things be put into movies that aren't well considered and that can hamper the writing of a script. If it's more organic it may make for a better script. I think Moore/Braga had a more freer hand in First Contact and it shows since it is a superior film to Generations.
That's correct. Among other things, they could only use three TOS cast members in the first reel, Picard needed a plotline, Data needed a subplot, the villain had to be "larger than life," there needed to be Klingons, etc. Moore and Braga go into more detail in their (surprisingly candid) DVD commentary.
While I agree with the first poster (I thought GEN was awesome when I was 10; today, not so much)...
...I think this film is, at times, more epic than FC or INS, both of which seem smaller by comparison. I know that sounds odd given FC's epic tale of time travel and Borg, not to mention INS' location photography, but... I don't know. There's some stuff in GEN that still impresses me: the main titles, the shot of the ribbon moving along the planet's surface which they used in the TV spots, the visual effects, the cinematography (I happen to love how they lit the Enterprise in this film).
Maybe it's simply the transition from TV to film. After all, we had just finished TNG six months earlier so anything they did on the big screen would seem bigger and "more epic" by comparison.
