Shatner's own words about Kirk's death in Generations

[BigDaveX]

As has been pointed out many times, the writers write the story. The director decides whether it fits his vision, and changes are made from there.

That's usually how things work. However, as evidenced by the abortive attempt to get Leonard Nimoy to direct Generations, Berman seems to have been very much of the opinion that a director should film the script as written in as fast and efficient a manner as possible, and nothing more.

 

[Kirk Prime]

Kirk's participation in this movie WAS pretty meaningless. Nothing in that movie required Shatner/Kirk. Picard's helper could have been a generic redshirt.

Everything about Kirk's treatment in Generations was awful, except maybe the opening scene.

His death meant nothing to the plot. Had the bridge not collapsed, Soran is still stopped, which meant the sole purpose of Kirk in this movie was to die.

Why? Had Kirk lived, all he had to do was "ride off into the sunset." Add a scene where he finds out Spock, McCoy and Scotty are all still alive, and say he's off to reunite with his friends--maybe find a job in Starfleet, or go on his next adventure.

Then they could either use him again, or not. But knowing he was out there was all that was needed.

 

[XCV330]

Kirk's death didn't bother me. Most of us don't get the demise we'd want, if we could pick one. At least he wasn't in a mobile box with a blinking lightbulb.

 

[2takesfrakes]

-- or on The Shitter!
Like Elvis Presley & Judy Garland ... (or even Don Simpson, who produced Top Gun!)

 

[saladdays]

Generations was obviously more TNG focused, which is why Kirk is put on the backseat a lot, even in his death scene. They probably should not have even done a movie using the old crew again, although I really don't think that they created some travesty with his death.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

That is wise.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

One part of Kirk's death that I think has got poetic resonance is that he's laid to rest beside the destroyed remains of the Enterprise. Not *his* Enterprise, admittedly, but still it's a cute touch.

Really? I never got the impression that Kirk was buried that close to the Enterprise. More like miles apart. Is his grave even in the same shot as the wreckage of the Enterprise-D?

 

[Mytran]

Could be thousands of miles apart. It's a planet, after all!

Although knowing how later Trek normally dealt with planetary scales, I imagine it was within walking distance

 

[JonnyQuest037]

It was far enough apart for them to send a shuttle to pick Picard up, at any rate.

 

[DonIago]

Well, given Picard was in a mountainous region, even just a few miles could merit a shuttle.

Though, as always, even if we assume the saucer's transporters were no longer functional, one would think at least some of the shuttles must have retained working transporters.

 

[Tenacity]

Could be thousands of miles apart. It's a planet, after all!

Both sites were in mid day daylight at the same time (shadows), other than that apparently not all that close.

I'd imagine the saucer section made a considerable sonic boom, Picard made no noticible reaction. So a hundred miles or more.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Both sites were in mid day daylight at the same time (shadows), other than that apparently not all that close.

I'd imagine the saucer section made a considerable sonic boom, Picard made no noticible reaction. So a hundred miles or more.

I have always wished there had been some sort of reaction shot of Picard witnessing the Enterprise's destruction and the saucer entering Veridian III's atmosphere. Even if not overhead, the detonation of the warp core should have caused a noticeable flash on the surface. As far as Picard would know at that point, he was all alone.

 

[DonIago]

Agreed; another missed opportunity for the film.

 

[Mytran]

Both sites were in mid day daylight at the same time (shadows), other than that apparently not all that close.

I'd imagine the saucer section made a considerable sonic boom, Picard made no noticible reaction. So a hundred miles or more.

Did we ever see two concurrent scenes though? Also, one piece of the action took place in a heavily wooded region; the other in a desert

It was far enough apart for them to send a shuttle to pick Picard up, at any rate.

That just limits it to the same solar system

 

[TrickyDickie]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to this thread....been super busy for a while.

The note that I opened the thread with is genuinely Shatner's....it was one of a bunch that was put up for auction a while back.

There is endless talk about Shatner coming back in a new movie, especially if they re-set the Kelvin timeline back to the way things were before. Might be nice, but I doubt that they will bring Shatner back. It's just not something that CBS seems to care about at this point, unless something changes.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Kirk's death didn't bother me. Most of us don't get the demise we'd want, if we could pick one. At least he wasn't in a mobile box with a blinking lightbulb.

Rimmer: "That's more than most of us get. All most of us get is 'mind that bus' 'what bus?' Splat!"

 

[Terok Nor]

He shouldn't have died or even appeared in Generations. TUC was the perfect send off for TOS and Kirk.

With that said, they wanted Kirk dead and the Enterprise-D destroyed. Why not have Kirk command the battle section in one last fight against the Klingons? The saucer section still crashlands on Veridian III and Picard can deal with Soran. Some stuff would have to be worked out but it's better than what actually went on screen.

 

[DonIago]

Only works if the Klingons have a better ship to begin with. Ability to fire through shields or not, that the BoP lasted as long as it did against the E-D was just sad.

 

[suarezguy]

He shouldn't have died or even appeared in Generations. TUC was the perfect send off for TOS and Kirk.

With that said, they wanted Kirk dead and the Enterprise-D destroyed. Why not have Kirk command the battle section in one last fight against the Klingons? The saucer section still crashlands on Veridian III and Picard can deal with Soran. Some stuff would have to be worked out but it's better than what actually went on screen.

I think that would require making Riker and the whole Enterprise-D-crew-aside-from-Picard as completely inept, a good example of how giving Kirk a great exit would require having him take over the film, or at least the climax, and become its dominant character at the expense of others.

 

[Noname Given]

I think a death like George Kirk's (ST09) would have been more fitting for James T. Kirk.

Both GEN versions were seriously anticlimactic to say the least.

here here. If Kirk is to die; it SHOULD have been in command of a Starship. That's what he was known and lauded for. The fact they never really showed hin in Command of a Starship before he dies (and no sorry, giving advice the Captain "It'll be install Tuesday..." really doesn't count) really did a great disservice the the final appearance of a lead character who made Star Trek what it is today.

Also, I'll never understand why they bothered to have Picard's reaction to the death of his nephew; because the Nexus ALSO presents Picard with the opportunity to 'fix' that - and also still resolve the whole 'Mad Scientist Soran' plot; and Picard never even has a line considering that possibility - Guess Picard wasn't that broken up about his nephew's death after all, eh?

The whole movie is a mess and just shows the TNG writer'scontempt for the TOS era characters (that was first shown in the TNG episode: "Relics").