Should there have been a TNG/DSN movie crossover?

[Ghost]

Hello all,

I hope I can ask this opinion question here as it deals with movies based on the second and third Star Trek series, otherwise moderators please transfer it to the appropriate sub forum.

Recently I was going through a thread on another Star Trek board or at least a Star Trek related topic on a forum in which the Star Trek TNG movies were brought up.
The general consensus was that the Original Series movies were the best and that of the TNG movies "First Contact" was the most enjoyable but not completely flawless and breaking with the television series.

Discussion about the movie coming after "First Contact", "Insurection" also came up and most of us agreed that it did not feel like much of a follow up to FC, in fact I myself mentioned that it felt that the movie came rather out nowhere with its plot, the characters, and the new species (Ba'ku? Son'a? If the last were allies of the Dominion or at least trading with them why could they not appear on DSN)

Someone also wrote that it was pretty difficult to follow up to something as visual and action packed as First Contact, with the crew facing the Borg again and having to travel back in time, where do you go from there.

It was at this point that Deep Space Nine was brought up and that there should have been a TNG crew/DSN crew crossover with a story in which the Dominion are the antagonists, as the Dominion War was going on during DSN's seasons.

Having read a Marvel comics TNG/DSN crossover years ago called "Telepathy War" which also was about the two crews (and some comic original characters) have to deal with a Dominion masterplan to damage the Federation and Starfleet which I rather I enjoyed I also rather liked this idea.

Now I am not a big DSN fan but if the powers in charge wanted to do something as big as First Contact I think a TNG/DSN crossover would have been a very exciting concept for a movie.
Even non Star Trek fans would not have that much difficulty in understanding the basics behind the plot: The Federation and its allies are at war with a Galactic Superpower from the other side of the galaxy and now the TNG crew and DSN crew must work together to stop the Dominion from carrying out a plan that could result in the defeat of the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans.

You have clear heroes, clear bad guys, exciting space battles, this thing basically writes itself.

Edit: rephrasing this question: if this had been a concept proposed for Star Trek 9, what would people here thought of it?

 

[Tosk]

I'd have been up for it but considering the quality level of the TNG movies, maybe I should be glad they didn't do it.

 

[CorporalClegg]

No.

The Dominion war would have made a poor outlet for a one-off, crossover film.

 

[fireproof78]

I would have enjoyed seeing a crossover, but not necessarily in the Dominion War. But, it has some interesting promise, and I, for one, would have enjoyed seeing Sisko and Picard going back and forth.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

As bad as the TNG films were, I don't think the hypothetical crossover would have worked.

 

[Khan 2.0]

no,

 

[Ghost]

I'd have been up for it but considering the quality level of the TNG movies, maybe I should be glad they didn't do it.

Okay that is true, the quality of the TNG movies is really low.
Perhaps I should have mentioned some hypothetical scenario in which the quality of the script was higher than that of the preceding movies. (more to the standard of the series)
Action sequences but also some decent character writing that fits well with the characters. (Picard doesn't become Rambo, rather is more the strategic type commander operating from the bridge of the Ent-E)

No.

The Dominion war would have made a poor outlet for a one-off, crossover film.

I don't agree with that, I think the premise would be enticing for people who normally ignore Star Trek movies as they don't think they are not exciting enough or require a lot of background knowledge.
Sure the Dominion war would require some background explanation but it could very quickly be explained who the Dominion and her allies are to newcomers and why the Federation and the other Alpha/Beta Quadrant powers are fighting for their very existence.
It might have even made some people check out DSN to find out more about this conflict or the DSN characters.

Had the plot been about the Bajorans/Prophets I would have said yes, I don't think people would have been interested in a TNG/DSN crossover which plot centers around an alien religion and its perceived gods.

I am actually surprised to find out that most reactions are rather negative, I thought a lot of Trek fans here would have liked it if such a movie had been made during DSN's highlight.

 

[CorporalClegg]

The Dominion was a conceptual morass: not the kind of thing suitable for the succinct exposition required by blockbuster film.

 

[Karp666]

I always wondered what the crew of the Enterprise was up to during the Dominion War. I am in the middle of season 6 of DS9 at the moment and thought it would be so good to see them in one of the first six episodes, e.g. during the battle of DS9 in "Sacrifice of angels".

 

[Tosk]

Perhaps I should have mentioned some hypothetical scenario in which the quality of the script was higher than that of the preceding movies. (more to the standard of the series)

In a perfect world where they made a TNG/DS9 crossover and didn't screw it up...hell yeah I would have loved to see it.

I may be a biased DS9 fanboy (correct!) but I feel like many of DS9's multi-part eps were far better movies than any of the theatrical TNG ones.

 

[Ghost]

In a perfect world where they made a TNG/DS9 crossover and didn't screw it up...hell yeah I would have loved to see it.

I may be a biased DS9 fanboy (correct!) but I feel like many of DS9's multi-part eps were far better movies than any of the theatrical TNG ones.

I don't think there is not much to debate against that thought.
Actually I feel the same about some TNG and Voyager double parters (yes I know Voyager is one of Star Trek's ugly stepchildren but I still like some of it even if the show is flawed).
The budget may have been smaller but the stories were a lot better.

But yeah the TNG movie experiments' results were 'mixed' to say the least. (and this is from someone who was raised with TNG only later got into the Original Series and their movies)
I can understand that would be the main reason why people here think that a TNG/DSN crossover would not be so good, unlike me at the moment when I created this topic they are not blinded by rose tinted glasses.

I always wondered what the crew of the Enterprise was up to during the Dominion War. I am in the middle of season 6 of DS9 at the moment and thought it would be so good to see them in one of the first six episodes, e.g. during the battle of DS9 in "Sacrifice of angels".

That is one of the reasons why I thought such a movie would have been interesting.
It could still have retained the plot of the Ent-E crew putting out 'brush fires' in the Federation's backyard and finding new allies at the start before moving into the crossover bit.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think there should have been a TNG/DS9 crossover if the plan was for DS9 to take over the movies the same way TNG took them over from TOS. As it was, it was probably best the way things ultimately worked because DS9 would likely have been used to make the TNG cast look better, IMO (Given what happened in Generations, I wouldn't be surprised if a crossover movie started with the destruction of Deep Space Nine itself and the loss of a major DS9 character or two).

 

[Kor]

There should have been a TV movie-of-the-week crossover, not theatrical.

Kor

 

[Allyn Gibson]

As bad as the TNG films were, I don't think the hypothetical crossover would have worked.

I've sometimes wondered how First Contact might've been different if Sisko, Dax, and O'Brien were also aboard the Defiant. It didn't make a lot of sense to me at the time that Worf was commanding the Defiant with none of its usual crew.

Then we could have had Picard and Sisko butting heads over the best way to deal with the Borg threat. Sisko would, to some extent, fill the Lily role.

The Dominion war would have made a poor outlet for a one-off, crossover film.

I disagree. World War II films don't retell the whole story of the war. They tell small stories set in one part of the war, like Saving Private Ryan. Framed properly, a Dominion War movie could have worked -- one desperate mission in the midst of a wider conflict.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Then we could have had Picard and Sisko butting heads over the best way to deal with the Borg threat. Sisko would, to some extent, fill the Lily role.

That would have completely defeated the purpose of her role.

I disagree. World War II films don't retell the whole story of the war. They tell small stories set in one part of the war, like Saving Private Ryan. Framed properly, a Dominion War movie could have worked -- one desperate mission in the midst of a wider conflict.

But those films aren't required to provide much (if any) exposition because of the book learnin'.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

That would have completely defeated the purpose of her role.

Which is something of the problem with the Lily character in First Contact. The important thing she does -- telling Picard that he's gone too far -- is something that another character with a history with Picard, like Beverly Crusher, should have done. Instead, Crusher acts out of character, resigned and fatalistic, while Picard goes off the deep end. First Contact isn't really well thought out.

 

[BillJ]

Instead, Crusher acts out of character, resigned and fatalistic, while Picard goes off the deep end. First Contact isn't really well thought out.

24th century humans are all perfect and in agreement with one another.

 

[Vger23]

Prognosis: Negative!

 

[BillJ]

They didn't have enough time in the movies to give meaningful parts to all the TNG regulars. I don't see how adding DS9 characters and their backstory would make for a better movie?

 

[Paradise City]

Worf and the Defiant had an appearance in First Contact. Isn't that a crossover?

You could do a kind of experimental film on the relative cheap and be a bit nichey and do a DS9-TNG crossover with intrigue involving the Obsidian Order and/or Section 34 but probably with the TNG people given top billing as they are more known than the DS9 cast. Why not go off the reservation a bit with it? You'd have to abandon ambitions to be a conventional blockbuster. But often perfectly fine films are made without a specific intent of charging into the charts.

The thing is with the Dominion - or at least the Jem Hadar - they are quite a grim and miserable lot. The Vorta are slippery and somewhat amusing but that ain't enough to carry any particular film really is it?