Insurrection was the best NG movie.

[Cepstrum]

I think INS was an acceptable film, but it did have some strange elements. For example:

1 The crew was not staging an insurrection; rather, they were rebelling/disobeying an admiral. "Insurrection" would imply there was an attempt to overthrow Starfleet or the UFP. I guess the title is more dramatic than the more accurate "Star Trek: Insubordination".

2. Once it was discovered the Ba'ku were not a pre-warp, primitive culture (they just decided not to utilize their technology), I'd think Prime Directive issues would no longer apply. And because it's a Federation world hoarded by 600 people who are preventing helping countless people with health problems, I'd think this would be a case of "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

3. Because the Son'a would be able to utilize the metaphasic, live-giving particles, why couldn't they relocate the Ba'ku and give them all the metaphasic magic they want? They could still go own living indefinitely and eschewing technology, they'd just have to move to a different planet and get regular metaphasic "treatments". So I don't see the moral dilemma here, unless it's horribly wrong to relocate 600 people to a similar planet and let them continue their idyllic lifestyle forever.

Of course, the producers have to ensure the metaphasic particles remain unusable; otherwise the entire Federation's population would stop aging. That would cause severe continuity problems for the future. They could have cured Shinzon easily, but then we'd be deprived of Nemesis!

 

[Search4]

They could have cured Shinzon easily

NOW THAT is a great hook for the next movie, one that could easily have been used and gives Shinzon a strong reason to attack the Federation... they have anti-aging technology, and he is the Praetor and dying. Its a specific reason to go after Picard, a specific reason to get the Enterprise-E (which probably has the research files, and perhaps Picard is sympathetic) and it even references the prior movie... just like Star Trek III was in part about the Klingons acquiring Genesis.

 

[JarodRussell]

3. Because the Son'a would be able to utilize the metaphasic, live-giving particles, why couldn't they relocate the Ba'ku and give them all the metaphasic magic they want? They could still go own living indefinitely and eschewing technology, they'd just have to move to a different planet and get regular metaphasic "treatments". So I don't see the moral dilemma here, unless it's horribly wrong to relocate 600 people to a similar planet and let them continue their idyllic lifestyle forever.

The way I see it, the Ba'ku would have died during relocation. Sojef told Picard that they were MUCH older when they arrived at the planet, but the radiation made them young again. But since Geordi lost his natural eyes again in the end, it means that the Ba'ku need constant exposure to the metaphasic radiation, otherwise they revert to their original state (and by the time of Insurrection, that would have probably meant death to all of the original settlers).

 

[Cepstrum]

3. Because the Son'a would be able to utilize the metaphasic, live-giving particles, why couldn't they relocate the Ba'ku and give them all the metaphasic magic they want? They could still go own living indefinitely and eschewing technology, they'd just have to move to a different planet and get regular metaphasic "treatments". So I don't see the moral dilemma here, unless it's horribly wrong to relocate 600 people to a similar planet and let them continue their idyllic lifestyle forever.

The way I see it, the Ba'ku would have died during relocation. Sojef told Picard that they were MUCH older when they arrived at the planet, but the radiation made them young again. But since Geordi lost his natural eyes again in the end, it means that the Ba'ku need constant exposure to the metaphasic radiation, otherwise they revert to their original state (and by the time of Insurrection, that would have probably meant death to all of the original settlers).

Are you sure? The Son'a were pretty close to dying, too. I would have assumed that they (the Federation and the Son'a) would've immediately begun treating both the Ba'ku and the Son'a. After all, the Son'a initially were willing to go along and show incredible "compassion" to the Ba'ku by trying to relocate them without disturbing or harming them (or even making them aware of it).

That was probably at the insistence of the Federation, but it showed the Son'a were (initially) willing to abide by Federation rules. So would it be that hard to believe they wouldn't be willing to treat the Ba'ku at once, at the behest of Picard & Co.?

I guess the only way it would harm the Ba'ku is if the treatments couldn't begin in time to ensure their safety. We don't know how long the Ba'ku would survive off-planet, do we? Even if they began aging, the treatments would reverse the process once they received it.

Did any Ba'ku ever leave the planet to, eg, visit the Enterprise? I don't recall. But I'm not sure they'd die immediately.

And even if they did die, why would they be so selfish? They'd already lived much longer than they should've, and 600 vs 600 billion (or however many people live in the AQ and BQ) seems like a no-brainer. It's not like they'd be actively killing people, like the Vidiians did. And even the Vidiians were portrayed as a morally complex villian, given that they required new organs to survive.

I guess it just seems odd that Picard would choose to a allow a small group of people to hoard life-saving material. He strikes me as the type who would do the opposite. After all, didn't he more than once forcibly relocate colonists to serve a greater good?

 

[JarodRussell]

After all, the Son'a initially were willing to go along and show incredible "compassion" to the Ba'ku by trying to relocate them without disturbing or harming them (or even making them aware of it).

That's only because they needed the Federation. And Ruafo was at first ready to play the Admiral's game, until he was fed up with the situation and killed the Admiral and was ready to kill everyone on the planet.

And even if they did die, why would they be so selfish?

Lol, are you fucking serious?



Perhaps you didn't understand what I meant. I didn't mean that they would simply grow old. They would revert to their true physical state (some of them would be 600+ years old already). Geordi's eyes reverted to their original state, which means his cells reverted. The Ba'ku would have died a horrible death.
In the original ending that was cut from the film, Ruafo is aboard the probe that the injector fires into the rings. The closer he gets to the rings, the younger he gets, and dies painfully. Relocating the Ba'ku would have probably been the same effect in reverse, letting them grow old in a couple of minutes and kill them.