Would Generations had been better off had they used Q instead?

[The Rock]

The Nexus didn't make any sense whatsoever. Not even the writers knew what it was exactly. They said it was simply an excuse to have Picard and Kirk meet.

Because of that, do you think the movie would've been better off had they had Q be the one to have Picard and Kirk meet? I know that in TNG's final episode they wanted to make it seem as though it would be a long time before Q would talk to Picard again, so having Q in the first TNG movie right after the show ended might've been a bit much at the time for Trekkies. However, looking back at it, since the movie itself was met with mixed reviews and wasn't warmly embraced by everyone, the way I see it is that they might as well have put Q in it. If the movie was going to turn out badly anyway, at least Q, a supreme being who has all of the powers of time and space, was something that fans knew already as opposed to the Nexus with rules that made absolutely zero sense at all. I hope you see where I'm coming from.

 

[Smellmet]

The Nexus didn't make any sense whatsoever. Not even the writers knew what it was exactly. They said it was simply an excuse to have Picard and Kirk meet.

Because of that, do you think the movie would've been better off had they had Q be the one to have Picard and Kirk meet? I know that in TNG's final episode they wanted to make it seem as though it would be a long time before Q would talk to Picard again, so having Q in the first TNG movie right after the show ended might've been a bit much at the time for Trekkies. However, looking back at it, since the movie itself was met with mixed reviews and wasn't warmly embraced by everyone, the way I see it is that they might as well have put Q in it. If the movie was going to turn out badly anyway, at least Q, a supreme being who has all of the powers of time and space, was something that fans knew already as opposed to the Nexus with rules that made absolutely zero sense at all. I hope you see where I'm coming from.

Anything had to be better than the Nexus which was just a poorly thought out Mcguffin, that being said I'm no fan of Q either - not the actor or the character's portrayal, which was fine, but the whole idea of the Q is just too OTT fantasy for me.

I would have much preferred just a straight forward time travel plot that throws Kirk, or the entire Enterprise-B into the future somehow than what we got.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I'd rather have had Kirk cut from the film altogether and keep it as the E-B first encountering the Nexus, saving Guinan and Soran, then being heavily damaged but escaping by the skin of their teeth, then jump forward 78 years and have the E-D dealing with Soran's obsession with getting back.

Keep the Nexus an unknown anomaly that travels through space that no one really understands, the air of mystery never hurt.

But if Kirk has to be included then have the fight with him and Picard versus Soran be in the Nexus itself, it could get rather trippy in there with Kirk giving his life to save the day before the E-D manages to get a lock on Picard and beam him out at the last second.

 

[somebuddyX]

Star Trek Generations should have been about the meeting between the two classic Enterprise captains: Scott Bakula's Jonathan Archer and Chris Pine's James T. Kirk.
Think about it.

 

[Jayson1]

I actually think Q should have been in the movie after First Contact. We really should have had Q movie and have them follow First Contact up with a comedy. As for me I like the Nexus idea so I was fine with that. We should have gotten both crews together though and make it a true crossover. Have the Nexus pull the Enterprise B into the future and everyone is aboard. Except maybe Dr McCoy. I am not sure of Deforest Kelly was still alive at the time. Enterprise B is stolen by Soren and the Klingons and kidnaps Picard. Kirk takes command of the Enterprise D to go after them. Meanwhile you got Spock helping Data deal with emotions from his chip.

Jason

 

[Khan 2.0]

I actually think Q should have been in the movie after First Contact. We really should have had Q movie and have them follow First Contact up with a comedy. As for me I like the Nexus idea so I was fine with that. We should have gotten both crews together though and make it a true crossover. Have the Nexus pull the Enterprise B into the future and everyone is aboard. Except maybe Dr McCoy. I am not sure of Deforest Kelly was still alive at the time. Enterprise B is stolen by Soren and the Klingons and kidnaps Picard. Kirk takes command of the Enterprise D to go after them. Meanwhile you got Spock helping Data deal with emotions from his chip.

Jason

You see what you've come up with there (possibly just off the cuff) sounds far more exciting, intriguing, logical etc than what was done.. Id bet had Nimoy been able to rejig the script and direct maybe it'd been more along those lines..(although maybe hed have wanted to explore older TNG Spock encountering Kirk & co again? would've been something slightly different/more interesting than usual for him to play at least).. and ultimately Kirk could've gone down George Kirk style with either Enterprise D or B (or even the A if was in mothballs/museum in TNG era) sacrificing himself to save TNG

Kelly was still around in 94 (died in 99) although possibly in ill health? I remember reading something about him having difficult to get insured for health reasons as being one of the reasons he didn't do VII? or maybe just thought the part was inconsequential like nimoy idk

Oh and Q in TNG III would've made alot of sense

 

[somebuddyX]

I think if Q was going to be in something I'd rather it be something completely different than just subbing in for the Nexus, maybe something like being the catalyst for a crossover of the crews in a hypothetical TNG #5 film. Or even not at all. I love Q and I think like the Borg on TNG he was best done sparingly in the roles where he was a critical piece of the story.
I think the Nexus is actually a neat idea of how to bridge a story between two time periods but it's inconsistent rules and it's internal appearance and lack of connection with the audience makes it a failure. Smarter people than me here have said about it giving people either what they want deep down or in the moment, which would be great in imagining what does Kirk or Picard have wistful thoughts about and what would they sacrifice. Kirk could be Edith Keeler or living a full life with David and Carol or just back on the TOS Enterprise. He gets losing some chick we've never heard of and riding horses. Maybe Picard wants a family but I think the immediacy of having his brother and nephew back would be more powerful than christmas with some random wife and kids. I don't feel like there's any sacrifice to them leaving what they left behind. The only Nexus scene I really like is Picard talking to Guinan because it's kind of otherworldly and I feel like she did actually lose something in coming back out of the Nexus, even if it was just a sense of wholeness that she can never regain.
My ideal TOS/TNG crossover film would probably have been some other script.

 

[plynch]

I hate Q.
As a character. (He can change the outcome of ANY episode movie. If you remember he exists, there is no drama, because any negative consequence, say a death, could be undone by Q if you can just contact him and get him to.)
And I can't stand the performance. But I mean Delancie no ill will. Just can't stand Q.

 

[Smellmet]

I hate Q.
As a character. (He can change the outcome of ANY episode movie. If you remember he exists, there is no drama, because any negative consequence, say a death, could be undone by Q if you can just contact him and get him to.)
And I can't stand the performance. But I mean Delancie no ill will. Just can't stand Q.

I agree, I always thought the entire concept was utterly ridiculous.

 

[Oddish]

They had a choice between giving us an 8th TNG season, maybe a 9th... or giving us "Generations". They chose wrong.

 

[Smellmet]

They had a choice between giving us an 8th TNG season, maybe a 9th... or giving us "Generations". They chose wrong.

I don't think they chose incorrectly necessarily, TNG was done after S7, a movie was the logical progression of things given what happened with their TOS counterparts, the issue was the movie wasn't really good enough. The visuals were excellent but the writing was extremely sub-par.

There were two other choices you missed out - leaving it a few years, or not making any movies at all - and there's a strong argument for the latter given the overall patchy quality of the TNG big screen outings.

 

[at Quark's]

^TNG was a great series but running out of steam by S7, ending the series in itself wasn't the wrong decision.

As for Generations, I think the central theme of the movie is Picard questioning his life's decisions by a traumatic event, meeting Kirk and getting new inspiration to carry on. Oh and Kirk 'handing over the torch' to Picard by dying or ascending or some such thing. That could have been done by any threat that somehow intersects time and space - and therefore involve Q. On the other hand, the Q schtick was becoming a bit stale by then, but I'll agree the Nexus thing is not much better.

Then again, I would have been curious to a movie where Kirk went more like "What did you turn my precious cowboy-style Starfleet into, you pathetic tea-sipping French, PD-pontificating pussy?"

 

[Dukhat]

By that time, Q had become nothing more than a comedy relief character. They were not looking to make a comedy.

 

[KennyB]

No..........but killing him off I could get behind.

 

[KennyB]

As for Generations, I think the central theme of the movie is Picard questioning his life's decisions by a traumatic event

I always thought that was a graphic and horrid way to pick for the family to perish.......maybe a shuttle accident or something. #hardcore

 

[fireproof78]

I always thought that was a graphic and horrid way to pick for the family to perish.......maybe a shuttle accident or something. #hardcore

Or, if you want to add a bit of punch to it have it be the Nexus. Their shuttle is lost in the Nexus, and presumed destroyed. Now Picard has to wrestle with stopping the Nexus to prevent further tragedy or saving his family out of the Nexus.

 

[The Rock]

I always thought that was a graphic and horrid way to pick for the family to perish.......maybe a shuttle accident or something. #hardcore

That, and I always thought it was contrived and ridiculous. Are they telling me that during the 24th century, their futuristic firefighters (who would probably be drones or holograms at that point) couldn't have immediately quelled a fire in seconds with futuristic technology that earth would have at the time? Or that they couldn't have simply beamed them out before they got burned to death? C'mon.

I hate Q.
As a character. (He can change the outcome of ANY episode movie. If you remember he exists, there is no drama, because any negative consequence, say a death, could be undone by Q if you can just contact him and get him to.)
And I can't stand the performance. But I mean Delancie no ill will. Just can't stand Q.

My friend, my dad feels the exact same way lol. He can't stand Q either.

 

[Tosk]

Are they telling me that during the 24th century, their futuristic firefighters (who would probably be drones or holograms at that point) couldn't have immediately quelled a fire in seconds with futuristic technology that earth would have at the time?

We saw that Robert shunned that kind of thing. "Wretched technology" as he put it. He wouldn't even abide a replicator in the house.

 

[The Rock]

We saw that Robert shunned that kind of thing. "Wretched technology" as he put it. He wouldn't even abide a replicator in the house.

True!

Still, I figure that emergency response would be so great at the time that they'd be able to beam anyone out in a disaster like that before they got seriously hurt, from France's control room with a press of a button.

 

[fireproof78]

Yeah, I'm sorry, dying in a fire strikes me as incredibly contrived. Even with Robert's anti-tech stance I would imagine emergency response is still a thing that could get to a house rapidly.