Revising the TNG films?

[dswynne1]

I always felt that the TNG film series needed just enough tweaks to make them better films. For example, one of the more obvious missteps, IMO, was not including Sela in NEM. In fact, if the TNG film series were to end at NEM, Sela's inclusion (along with Wesley Crusher) would have served as a bookend of sorts. In fact, I would want to see Sela appear in all the films, either as a cameo or a full-blown inclusion in the plot (Sela being rescued at the Romulan station in GEN; Sela secretly monitoring the Enterprise-E, just before the Enterprise-E warps to join the fight against the Borg; meeting Picard at the meet-and-greet function before being called away in INS). But, I digress.

So, what film or films within the TNG film series could use some tweaking, that might have made the film(s) better in your opinion?

 

[Tosk]

what film or films within the TNG film series could use some tweaking

All of them.

 

[Lance]

In my version of Nemesis, Shinzon wouldn't be Picard's clone, but merely an unknown quantity. I'd compare it to when a dictatorship replaces its leader and nobody knows yet how the new guy thinks or what his motivation is going to be. So, after X number of years of the Federation having some understanding of how to deal with Romulus, suddenly all the pieces on the board are swept off the table and they've got this new broom whose come out of no-where and who is unpredictable. Think of it as an allegory of America and North Korea. What's he gonna do? Is war between the two powers imminent? The Enterprise is sent into the Neutral Zone to get a feel of what this 'New Romulus' looks like, and maybe take a historic once-in-a-lifetime chance to negotiate change. But when they get there they find themselves caught in a quagmire, maybe even a civil war.

Basically, I'd have made it less 'popcorn action movie', and more 'tense political thriller with action movie bits'. No clones, no threat to Earth, no B-4. Maybe the plot could stretch to including both Sela and Spock as winks to the continuity. Given that the Rommies were the chief recurring "bad guys" throughout TNG's seven seasons on air, I don't think it's unreasonable for their final movie to do something to bring closure to that. Nemesis *tried* that, but largely got bogged down in the Shinzon-as-clone stuff.

 

[USS Firefly]

Indeed all the TNG movies needed fixing, for one thing I would use Tomalak for Nemesis, a great charakter an actor.

 

[fireproof78]

In my version of Nemesis, Shinzon wouldn't be Picard's clone, but merely an unknown quantity. I'd compare it to when a dictatorship replaces its leader and nobody knows yet how the new guy thinks or what his motivation is going to be. So, after X number of years of the Federation having some understanding of how to deal with Romulus, suddenly all the pieces on the board are swept off the table and they've got this new broom whose come out of no-where and who is unpredictable. Think of it as an allegory of America and North Korea. What's he gonna do? Is war between the two powers imminent? The Enterprise is sent into the Neutral Zone to get a feel of what this 'New Romulus' looks like, and maybe take a historic once-in-a-lifetime chance to negotiate change. But when they get there they find themselves caught in a quagmire, maybe even a civil war.

Basically, I'd have made it less 'popcorn action movie', and more 'tense political thriller with action movie bits'. No clones, no threat to Earth, no B-4. Maybe the plot could stretch to including both Sela and Spock as winks to the continuity. Given that the Rommies were the chief recurring "bad guys" throughout TNG's seven seasons on air, I don't think it's unreasonable for their final movie to do something to bring closure to that. Nemesis *tried* that, but largely got bogged down in the Shinzon-as-clone stuff.

Yeah, Shinzon's clone bit was rather unnecessary, in my opinion. There is not element of the "dark mirror" that Shinzon is supposed to be of Picard, so it comes across as dead weight. Also, I like the idea of a political thriller, with Shinzon putting forth the front that everything is fine with his "New Romulus" even as factions tear it apart.

 

[Smellmet]

Indeed all the TNG movies needed fixing, for one thing I would use Tomalak for Nemesis, a great charakter an actor.

I wouldn't have minded that one bit. He was a decent baddie in the fugitive, and was a good recurring character in TNG.

 

[Vger23]

Any thread that starts with the idea that the TNG films needed "more Sela" stands some scrutiny!

"MORE COWBELL!!"

 

[2takesfrakes]

I would like to know, though, why the end of every Trek film series has to include a mind-rape. Is it like ... tradition ... or, what's up with that? I really hope the reboots stray away from that formulae. But John Logan went one 'homage' too far, I thought, with that in Nemesis. If there's any revision needed in the TNG films, it would be to take Troi's assault out of the equation. I would welcome that. And the running time could be more than compensated for, by including some of the deleted scenes that fans feel looked quite good.

 

[Dukhat]

Honestly? I think that Generations should have just been a one-off. Just like how they made the first X-Files film and then went right back to the TV show afterwards. We get a cute movie where Picard meets Kirk, a budget large enough to show the Ent-D saucer crash that they had a hard-on for wanting to make, and then continue on with the 8th season of TNG. At that point, we'd get a new Enterprise, any cast member who wanted to move on could, while others could stay. Heck, they could even make a new story arc where the new Enterprise is lost in a distant part of the galaxy and is trying to get back...

But seriously, after FC, INS and NEM were just pointless films that ended up doing more harm than good for Star Trek. And FC wasn't that great either. Between the TNG film franchise and ENT, it was the death knell for Trek.

 

[RColtrane]

I never enjoyed watching TNG series so I didn't care about watching the movies. In fact I tried to watch some of them but I just don't like the new crew, they are all boring on screen.

 

[Paradise City]

I like the TNG movies and I'm glad they were made. They lack the epic quality of the TOS movies mind you and that's were alot of the moaning comes from. They can be tweaked, yes, most of Trek can be tweaked. I'd like to see some scenes giving Kirk a state funeral, follow through will Shinzon's characterisation. Less Rambo-Picard. Stuff of that sort.

 

[Danlav05]

GEN - a full blown TOS/TNG crossover would havew been epic; for NEM definitely involve Sela and Spock.

And as rumoured STXI should have been a Q movie.

 

[Paradise City]

Kahn's brother appears in Romulan space in another sleeper ship . Revived, he designs some game-changer tech for some Romulans plotters in exchange for a Romulan invasion where earth is given him to rule as he originally intended to do. There that's Nemesis done properly. haha

 

[Nerys Myk]

Kahn's brother appears in Romulan space in another sleeper ship . Revived, he designs some game-changer tech for some Romulans plotters in exchange for a Romulan invasion where earth is given him to rule as he originally intended to do. There that's Nemesis done properly. haha

It shoud be Kahn's sister, but she can't be bothered. She's just too tired.

 

[Smellmet]

Kahn's brother appears in Romulan space in another sleeper ship . Revived, he designs some game-changer tech for some Romulans plotters in exchange for a Romulan invasion where earth is given him to rule as he originally intended to do. There that's Nemesis done properly. haha

Into Darkness would have probably never have been made if this saw the light of day in 2002.

 

[Thomas Elliot]

I just recently watched most of the TOS films, and they are so much better than TNG films.

TNG series had episodes, as well as two-parters that felt epic. Somehow TNG films felt self-contained and small.
It was smart to use the Borg for one of the films but they seemed much more alien in the series than they did here. Having a traditional film villain in the form of the Borg Queen took away what made the Borg unique as antagonists.
Maybe a full-out Borg war film, and we get to see the Klingon Empire fighting side by side with the Federation against this threat.
Next film deals with the fallout and maybe the Cardassians and/or Romulans play a big role in taking advantage of the situation, while at the same time elaborating on the culture and look of those two cultures.

 

[Thomas Elliot]

Sorry, I misread the purpose of this thread.

For Nemesis, I think bringing back Sela would have been great. I think getting rid of the Remans would have bene a good start. Considering we had "clones" of Data and Picard, why not making it a mirror universe film?

 

[suarezguy]

Nemesis-completely drop B4 and give Shinzon some better, more developed reason for attacking the Federation. Maybe make it clear that he doesn't actually hate humans or even Picard but just wants to solidify his hold on Romulan power. Have more sense of why Riker and Troi got married, why Worf returned to Starfleet, maybe meaningfully revisit Wesley.

Insurrection-have a little more ambivalence and conflict, at least internal, about the situation. I think Worf or Crusher especially could have felt that the resource was needed without damaging their characters.

Generations-More sense of urgency in trying to rescue Geordi, that felt too much like a plot point, and probably make Soran even less of a standard bad guy.

 

[Galileo7]

Generations: no nexus, just temporal opening that the 1701-B passes through to meet 1701-D just like "Yesterday's Enterprise". Alter the plot to fit accordingly.
First Contact: Nothing, except maybe cast an actor to play Cochrane that looked like Glenn Corbett from TOS"Metamorphosis".
Insurrection: don't make it. It felt like a NG episode, not a theatrical released film.
Nemesis: Shinzon should not be Picard's clone because this would only work if they de-aged Patrick Stewart as Jeff Bridges was in the Tron sequel. Even if the could have back then, still no Shinzon as Picard's clone. The Shinzon character was not an great villian/antagonist.

 

[Tenacity]

First Contact: Nothing, except maybe cast an actor to play Cochrane that looked like Glenn Corbett from TOS"Metamorphosis".

iirc, glenn corbert was still alive at the time of the making of fc. although he probably was too old for the part.

changes, at the end of insurrection, i would have had the federation council (through riker) said that the particles would still be collected inspite of all the information picard discovered. insert some realpolitics into the conclusion. also, have at least one or two of the senior officers oppose picard's plan to prevent the collection of the particles.

tuc, have the federation side of the conspiritors possess a real military and/or social reason to oppose the peace with the klingons. not just go with the incredible simplistic "oh, it's because they're racists."