Which TNG episodes would have made awesome films?

[GalaxyX]

Seeing as to how the TNG movies were largely a bomb, I was thinking of TNG episodes that would have kicked ass if remade as major high budget motion pictures.

There's a whole bunch, but some of my top contenders:

1. Where no one has gone before (Would have been an awesome epic "Sphere" like movie")

2. Best of Both Worlds (we would get to see the wolf 359 battle in full high quality CGI, not to mention the Borg ship interiors)

3. Time's Arrow (Would be interesting to see the crew duke it out with those triolic wave aliens, using future technology in the 19th century

4. All Good Things could also have made a great epic film.

 

[TheKeeper]

Seeing as to how the TNG movies were largely a bomb, I was thinking of TNG episodes that would have kicked ass if remade as major high budget motion pictures.

There's a whole bunch, but some of my top contenders:

1. Where no one has gone before (Would have been an awesome epic "Sphere" like movie")

2. Best of Both Worlds (we would get to see the wolf 359 battle in full high quality CGI, not to mention the Borg ship interiors)

3. Time's Arrow (Would be interesting to see the crew duke it out with those triolic wave aliens, using future technology in the 19th century

4. All Good Things could also have made a great epic film.

My choice would be "Unification". It had a story that could have been upscaled for a feature film. Even though Unification had a big budget for a two episode package, most of that went into short SFX shots while the sets looked cheesy and way under proportion to the needs of the story. In fact, I would have had Unification trade places with INS, which should have been the big budget two-part episode.

One side effect of this -- it would have been redundant to have Spock in a TNG feature after Kirk in GEN, but I've always thought the whole Kirk thing in GEN was unnecessary anyway.

 

[Admiral Shran]

"Gambit" could have been a good movie. It would have involved a legitmate threat to Vulcan without having to destroy it.

 

[Lor'Vela]

I have to go with what GalaxyX said. The moment I read the title of this thread, the episode names he mentioned immediately spread to mind.

 

[Kibbin]

How about yesterdays enterprise. I think I recall word that had they known they would be doing movies later down the road they would have kept it for then.

 

[General Kang]

2. Best of Both Worlds (we would get to see the wolf 359 battle in full high quality CGI, not to mention the Borg ship interiors)

I dunno - what there was of a borg battle in First Contact was good, but there wasn't very much of it... I almost prefer "Emissary" from DS9 to the battle in First Contact - so much of the action in FC is from far away, plus we don't get much in the way of interior shots.

I think that your best movie potential isn't from TNG at all, but from DS9... and it is already movie quality - "Sacrifice of Angels"

 

[sbk1234]

They could have upped the drama/tension in Contagion, and had quite a flick.

 

[Piper]

Chain of Command, but up the stakes. First half as Part One, but Part 2 as Picard and Madred do their thing, relations between the Cardies and Feds break down and all-out war seems inevitable. The only way to avert it is for the Ent to break through Cardie lines and rescue Picard!

 

[Too Much Fun]

How about yesterdays enterprise. I think I recall word that had they known they would be doing movies later down the road they would have kept it for then.

There was a thread or discussion about this before and I made the same suggestion. Out of all the TNG episodes, I think this one, "Best of Both Worlds" and (to a lesser extent) "Q Who" were the most cinematic, and "The Best of Both Worlds" didn't need to be a movie because we already got a great Borg-centered movie with "Star Trek: First Contact".

"Yesterday's Enteprise" was a very epic story with some really exciting action drawn from intense conversations and space battles (like many of the best Star Trek movies), but the one thing I'm not sure about is how they would have handled the Tasha Yar factor.

Her character arc was central to the story (and in my opinion the strongest part of the episode), and I don't know how the backstory with Tasha could have been explained for members of the audience unfamiliar with what happened to her, but they found a way with Picard's assimilation, so it might be possible. On the other hand, I thought the episode was perfect as it was, so I'm afraid a movie version might have been inferior.

 

[GalaxyX]

My choice would be "Unification". It had a story that could have been upscaled for a feature film. Even though Unification had a big budget for a two episode package, most of that went into short SFX shots while the sets looked cheesy and way under proportion to the needs of the story. In fact, I would have had Unification trade places with INS, which should have been the big budget two-part episode.

One side effect of this -- it would have been redundant to have Spock in a TNG feature after Kirk in GEN, but I've always thought the whole Kirk thing in GEN was unnecessary anyway.

I like the episode, but I think it's a bit hurting in action for a feature film, at least one that the general audience might be interested in watching.

"Gambit" could have been a good movie. It would have involved a legitmate threat to Vulcan without having to destroy it.

I also like the episode, but there never really was any feeling of danger in it. Plus how would you upscale that story?

I have to go with what GalaxyX said. The moment I read the title of this thread, the episode names he mentioned immediately spread to mind.

Thanks

How about yesterdays enterprise. I think I recall word that had they known they would be doing movies later down the road they would have kept it for then.

That would have made a kick ass film too, I agree.

I dunno - what there was of a borg battle in First Contact was good, but there wasn't very much of it... I almost prefer "Emissary" from DS9 to the battle in First Contact - so much of the action in FC is from far away, plus we don't get much in the way of interior shots.

I think BOBW would have been a much better replacement to FC as a film. It was epic in scope and basically already HAS movie feel to it. It just needed a movie budget to kick ass.

I think that your best movie potential isn't from TNG at all, but from DS9... and it is already movie quality - "Sacrifice of Angels"

I definitely agree to an extent. It would be hard to fit in the whole story with the war for one movie though.

Chain of Command, but up the stakes. First half as Part One, but Part 2 as Picard and Madred do their thing, relations between the Cardies and Feds break down and all-out war seems inevitable. The only way to avert it is for the Ent to break through Cardie lines and rescue Picard!

Mix this with "Sacrifice of Angels" for a movie, and now we're cooking.

 

[Admiral Shran]

"Gambit" could have been a good movie. It would have involved a legitmate threat to Vulcan without having to destroy it.

I also like the episode, but there never really was any feeling of danger in it. Plus how would you upscale that story?

To upscale the story, I would have showed that the Romulans were secretly funding and inspiring the Vulcan Isolationist Movement as a way to destabalize the Federation and reclaim Vulcan for themselves. We could have also seen some awesome land-based action/fight scenes between the Isolationists and Starfleet/Vulcan Security, maybe even a good space battle between Starfleet and a small Romulan fleet.

We could also have had some psychological drama from exploring what would essentially be a Federation Civil War. This was hinted at in the episode, when Picard says "Do you seriously believe that Starfleet will just sit back and watch as you tear apart one of the founding worlds of the Federation?!"

 

[Broccoli]

"The Chase"

I think it has a good epic story where the major thrust is discovery with the lesson that we all come from the same place, so there is no need for hostilities.

Of course, to upscale it to a film, there would probably be a Data sideplot, perhaps do more with Worf's relationship to that other Klingon, introduce the Romulans earlier to the audience (but not necessarly to Picard and Co, and maybe throw in a quick space battle between the Enterprise and one of the other races.

 

[RegFan]

Best of Both Worlds would definitely make the best movie out of all TNG episodes, possibly replacing FC. It already was cinematic as an episode. All Good Things would also be a brilliant movie. Actually, I agree on most of these suggestions.

 

[Nardpuncher]

"The Chase"

I think it has a good epic story where the major thrust is discovery with the lesson that we all come from the same place, so there is no need for hostilities.

Of course, to upscale it to a film, there would probably be a Data sideplot, perhaps do more with Worf's relationship to that other Klingon, introduce the Romulans earlier to the audience (but not necessarly to Picard and Co, and maybe throw in a quick space battle between the Enterprise and one of the other races.

Yes!
I was going to say this one. It was fast paced, and had all the big players in it ( Klingons, Romulans and Cardassians)
You just need a bit of action at the end and the big surprise reveal...everyone's happy.

 

[JarodRussell]

Seeing as to how the TNG movies were largely a bomb, I was thinking of TNG episodes that would have kicked ass if remade as major high budget motion pictures.

There's a whole bunch, but some of my top contenders:

1. Where no one has gone before (Would have been an awesome epic "Sphere" like movie")

2. Best of Both Worlds (we would get to see the wolf 359 battle in full high quality CGI, not to mention the Borg ship interiors)

3. Time's Arrow (Would be interesting to see the crew duke it out with those triolic wave aliens, using future technology in the 19th century

4. All Good Things could also have made a great epic film.

Very good choices. Yesterday's Enterprise could have been epic on the big screen, but this time with the Enterprise under Captain Kirk. That would have been the much better version of Generations.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

How about yesterdays enterprise. I think I recall word that had they known they would be doing movies later down the road they would have kept it for then.

Rick Berman said that, actually. That, in retrospect, the story should have been held for a generational crossover film.

However, I'm not sure that it would have worked as a crossover film. Yes, it's a way of putting the two casts on screen together. But audiences, after seven years of Star Trek: The Next Generation, want to see their heroes, not alternate history versions of them. The Picard of "Yesterday's Enterprise" shares some of the history with the Picard we know from the series, but his experiences of the long, intractable war have made him into a different man. Maybe that's a difference that casual audiences wouldn't have picked up on. I don't know.

"Future Imperfect" might've made a really interesting film.

 

[Brikar99]

I second "All Good Things..." I seem to recall Ron Moore and Brannon Braga saying something in their DVD commentary for "Generations" that they wish they'd done that one instead, because it was so much better (and more fun to write). With some bigger special effects, and a few extended sequences here or there, it'd translate extremely well.

 

[Dingle Fritz]

Yesterday's Enterprise would have been a great movie.

How I would handle it: We have the crew celebrating the anniversary of Yar's death, and over the course of the brief scene someone fills in the story with flashbacks (updated FX of course) to her death... explaining to a nOOb that we (the crew) choose to do this because her death was kind of empty and without meaning... and they don't want her to be forgotten. We then transition with a call about a spatial babble, and we have the ship begin investigating the spatial babble as in the episode when suddenly EVERYTHING CHANGES.

Proceed from there, but updated and padded for the big screen.

That's the easiest way to fill in the casual fan, IMHO. You have character development, you have an external conflict, you have drama, you have a resolution and you have closure. In short a decent movie and a nice waste of two hours and $15 for tickets.

All Good Things... I don't think that would have made a good enough movie. Not enough conflict, too self-referencing and no external hook to draw in new fans.

 

[Kibbin]

Actually couldn't we just get the thing about yar from the story itself. Go from shot of our ent to theirs, where Worf dissapears and this blonde woman appears. Then for thouse who still don't know we learn as she does that she is not meant to exist.
As for what Allyn said maybe that would be the best way to show a new audiance Picard, yes he's rougher and harder and so forth but get a few scenes in there where we can see that it is still Picard despite all the differences.
And I still count AGT as a better movie than Generations

 

[Too Much Fun]

The problem with making "All Good Things..." a theatrical movie is that you would lose what worked perfectly as a series finale. And I think they needed a good series finale more than they needed good movies. Yes, the movies could potentially make more money, but season 7 had a fair share of stinkers, and I don't know how the hell Q could be explained to casual audiences with what a long history he has (although I do wish the final TNG film had involved him).

"Yesterday's Enterprise" could have been a great movie, but I don't think it could have included the original series crew. With the big 7 of TNG, plus Tasha, plus Guinan, plus Castillo to deal with, there would be way too many characters already before getting to Kirk and his crew (or even just Kirk). There wouldn't be enough time to establish all of these characters for the many viewers going into the movie not very familiar with TNG and its history.