Star Trek TNG: Movies & final thoughts
Here's my review of each of the four Star Trek: The Next Generation movies. Final thoughts on the series as a whole will be right after the reviews below. For those of you who missed the Season 7 review, go here.
Star Trek: Generations
"They should have called it 'Star Trek VII / The Next Generation Part I'... actually never mind, just fuck it!" (James Rolfe, aka. The Angry Video Game Nerd, 2006) Starting off with Captain Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov was awesome but where the hell are everyone else from The Original Series (er... what excuses did they have for not being in this movie)? At the very least, we find that Sulu had children and his daughter got to become a helmsman like him. There is also Guinan onboard and even actor Tim Russ ("Tuvok" from Star Trek: Voyager) who gets a minor role as one of the ship's crew. They attend the maiden voyage of the Enterprise-B. During the voyage, they are pressed into a rescue mission to save two refugee ships from a strange energy ribbon despite its lack of readiness (Kirk: "let me guess, two weeks?"). The Enterprise-B is able to save some of the refugees before their ships are destroyed but the Enterprise-B becomes trapped in the ribbon itself. Kirk descends to the lower decks to alter the deflector shields, allowing the ship to escape. The ribbon makes contact with the ship's hull, exposing the section Kirk is in to the vacuum of space. He is presumed to have been killed. It's also the last we see of Scotty and Chekov in this movie (lame!). 78 years later, in the TNG era, the crew of the Enterprise-D receives a distress call from a solar observatory. They find that everyone, except Doctor Tolian Soran, has been killed by Romulans. Data, who recently installed a chip that enables him to experience emotions (left over from the Season 7 opener "Descent Part II"), helps La Forge search the station. The two discover a compound called trilithium in a hidden room. Soran appears, knocks La Forge unconscious, and launches a trilithium solar probe at the nearby star. The probe causes the sun to go supernova, sending a shock wave towards the observatory. Soran and La Forge are transported away by a Bird of Prey belonging to the treacherous Klingon Duras sisters. Data is rescued just before the station is destroyed but is paralyzed by fear and feels guilty for letting La Forge get captured. Captain Picard learns more about Soran from bartender Guinan. She tells Picard that Soran and her were among those rescued by the Enterprise-B. She explains that Soran's goal is to return to the "Nexus", the energy ribbon the ship encountered. Picard and Data realize that Soran is altering the path of the ribbon by collapsing stars, and determine that Soran will attempt to reenter the Nexus on Veridian III by destroying its star - and, by extension, a heavily-populated planet in the system. Data is having trouble adjusting to his emotions and requests Picard that he'd be deactivated and the chip removed but Picard refuses, saying that it is something he has to learn to get used to and that his help is needed. On arrival in the Veridian system, the Duras sisters appear and offer to trade La Forge for Picard. Picard is transported to the planet's surface and finds Soran working on a missile, protected by a shield. La Forge is brought back aboard the Enterprise, unaware that his VISOR is transmitting a video signal to the Klingons (this I found stupid... he knows of his VISOR being taken away, he didn't think that it was altered after it was returned and got it checked out when back on the Enterprise? It happened in TNG before!). When the Duras sisters discover the Enterprise's shield frequency, they attack, bypassing the shields. Worf informs Riker that the Bird of Prey is a model that the Klingon Empire abandoned 20 years prior because of defects in the shielding system. Taking advantage of this information and the superior advantage of their Federation starship, Riker commands the Enterprise to fire on the Bird of Prey at the right time, destroying it (take that Klingon she-bitches! Fuck yeah!), but the Enterprise sustained critical damage. Riker orders an evacuation to the saucer section of the ship to separate from the damaged engineering section. The explosion of the engineering section causes the saucer to crash on Veridian III (that's right people... of all villans in Star Trek: TNG to destroy the amazing Enterprise-D... it was the Duras sisters and they managed to do it with a 20-year out-of-date Bird of Prey... wow... I'm disappointed...). Picard finds a hole in Soran's shield, but is too late to stop him from launching the missile. The Veridian sun collapses and Soran and Picard are transported to the Nexus before the shock wave annihilates the planet. Picard is placed in a world of his own wish: it is Christmas time and he is married with wonderful children. Figuring out that it isn't real, he asks for help from an "echo" of Guinan in the Nexus. She sends him to meet Captain Kirk, who is also safe in the Nexus and back in his home in Iowa. Picard tries to convince Kirk to return to Picard's present and stop Soran. Before agreeing, they ride horses through the wilderness and Kirk advises Picard after asking him about retirement from Starfleet (in which Picard doesn't plan on): "Let me tell you something: don't! Don't let them promote you, don't let them transfer you, don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship because while you're there, you can make a difference!" To me, this was the emotional highlight of the movie - both Kirk and Picard riding and conversing. The two leave the Nexus, arriving on Veridian III minutes before Soran launches the missile. They distract Soran long enough to lock the missile in place, causing it to explode on the launchpad, killing Soran. Kirk is mortally wounded from the encounter; as he dies, Picard assures him that he helped to make a difference. Picard buries Kirk before being shuttled to the wreckage of the Enterprise saucer section, reuniting with his crew, and leaving the planet aboard the USS Farragut (this was the same ship Kirk served on before he became captain).
I was a little disappointed by this first TNG movie and its plot. I was expecting that the majority or all TOS crew to be transfered to the future of TNG as a way of "passing on the torch" and having some grand adventure together, while the TOS crew return back to their respective time. I'm sure they could have worked something in (given that Spock and Scotty were featured in TNG). The villian, Soran, was nothing special. The situation with La Forge and the destruction of the Enterprise... I expected better. To its credit, how they handled the way it crashed was good special effects for the time. That thing with La Forge's VISOR... argh! The death of Captain Kirk... sorry, that's bullshit! Like all the rest of the TOS crew, he should pass away by age. And why not beam his body back to the Farragut, and then bury him back in his hometown of Riverside, Iowa instead of on some insignificant planet? Grrr...
To see the Nostalgia Critic's funny review of this movie go here or below:
Star Trek: First Contact
Picard awakens from a nightmare in which he relived his assimilation by the Borg six years earlier (re-shown in the episode "The Best of Both Worlds"). Starfleet informs him of a new Borg attack against Earth, but orders the new Enterprise-E to patrol the Neutral Zone for Romulans so as to not introduce an "unstable element" to the fight. Learning that the fleet is losing the battle, the Enterprise crew disobeys orders and heads for Earth, where a single, damaged Borg Cube opposes a group of Starfleet vessels. The Enterprise arrives in time to save the crew of the USS Defiant which is being commanded by Worf. After Picard hears Borg communications in his mind, he orders the fleet to concentrate its firepower on a seemingly non-vital section of the Borg ship. The Cube is destroyed after launching a smaller sphere ship towards Earth. The Borg sphere generates and enters a temporal vortex, and Picard orders the Enterprise to follow. As they are enveloped in the vortex, the crew briefly glimpses an Earth populated entirely by Borg; Picard realizes that the Borg have used time travel to change history. The Enterprise arrives in the past, on April 4, 2063, the day before humanity's first contact with alien life after Zefram Cochrane's historic warp drive flight. The Borg sphere fires on the planet. Realizing that the Borg are trying to prevent first contact, the Enterprise crew destroy the sphere and send an away team to the Montana, USA site where Cochrane is building his ship, the Phoenix, to look for survivors. Picard sends Cochrane's assistant Lily Sloane to the Enterprise for medical attention, then returns to the ship and leaves Riker on Earth to make sure the Phoenix's flight proceeds as planned. The Enterprise crew sees Cochrane as a legend, but the real man is reluctant to assume his historical role. Borg survivors invade the Enterprise, and begin to assimilate its crew and modify the ship. Picard and a team attempt to reach engineering to disable the Borg with corrosive coolant used in the warp core, but Data is captured and meets the Queen of the Borg collective, who gains his trust by giving part of him human skin. A frightened Sloane seizes the captain but he gains her trust, and they escape the Borg-infested area of the ship by using the holodeck and shooting some Borg with a tommy gun. Picard, Worf, and the ship's navigator, Lieutenant Hawk, stop the Borg from calling reinforcements with the deflector dish outside the ship, but Hawk is assimilated and killed. As the Borg continue to assimilate, Worf suggests destroying the ship, but Picard angrily calls him a coward and vows to continue the fight. Sloane confronts the captain and, reminding him of Moby Dick's Captain Ahab, makes him realize he's acting irrationally. After apologizing to Worf, Picard activates the ship's self-destruct mechanism and orders the crew to abandon ship. While the crew heads to escape pods, Picard remains aboard to rescue Data. As Cochrane, Riker, and La Forge prepare to activate the warp drive on the Phoenix, Picard confronts the Borg Queen and discovers she has grafted human skin onto Data, giving him an array of new sensations. She has presented this modification as a gift to the android, hoping to obtain his encryption codes to the Enterprise computer. Although Picard offers himself in Data's place, the android refuses to leave. He deactivates the self-destruct sequence and fires torpedoes at the Phoenix, but they miss on purpose and the Queen realizes Data betrayed her. Data ruptures a coolant tank, and the corrosive gas dissolves the Borg's biological bodies. Cochrane completes his warp flight, and that night, April 5, 2063, the crew watches as Vulcans, attracted by the Phoenix warp test, land and greet Cochrane. Having repaired history, the Enterprise crew returns to the 24th century.
This was certainly an improvement over Generations and to me, the best movie of the four. Good action and we get a glimpse into how the universe of Star Trek began. They certainly make the Borg more menacing in this movie compared to the show. Oh yeah, having a cameo of The Doctor (played by Robert Picardo) from Star Trek: Voyager for one scene was... interesting. Watching Troi get pissed drunk out of her mind was kind of funny too.
The scene in which Picard loses it and smashes his display window was parodied perfectly in South Park by Randy Marsh. Go here or below (may need to turn your volume up a little bit):
Star Trek: Insurrection
Starfleet is observing the peaceful Ba'ku people on their planet but Data appears to malfunction, revealing the hidden presence of the joint Federation and Son'a task force to the Ba'ku. Admiral Matthew Dougherty requests the help of the Enterprise to capture or disable Data. Dougherty's allies, the Son'a, are a decrepit race who use medical techniques to prevent death and their repeated use of cosmetic surgery gives them a mummified appearance. After stopping Data, Picard becomes suspicious of Dougherty's insistence that the Enterprise is no longer needed, and his crew investigate the cause of Data's malfunction. They discover that the Ba'ku are technologically advanced but have chosen to live in harmony with nature. Due to unique radiation or "metaphasic particles" emanating from their world's rings, they are effectively immortal. The Enterprise crew also begin to experience the rejuvenation effects of the planet. La Forge finds his eyes have regenerated and he no longer requires occular implants, Riker and Troi rekindle their long-abandoned relationship plus Riker shaves his beard (I smack the back of his head for that!), and Picard develops a romantic relationship with the Ba'ku woman Anij (she's not as bright as she lets on...). Picard and his team discover a cloaked Federation ship containing a gigantic holodeck set up to recreate the Ba'ku village; Data's malfunction was due to a Son'a attack when he previously discovered the vessel. Confronting Dougherty with his discovery, Picard learns that Federation officers and the Son'a plan to move the Ba'ku to the ship while they collect the planet's radiation to further Federation science, destroying the planet in the process. Dougherty orders the Enterprise to leave, but Picard tells Riker and La Forge to tell the Federation what is occurring while he and others fly down to the planet and evacuate the Ba'ku, all agreeing that the moral crimes that would be committed to acquire the healing radiation are not worth the medical benefits that would result. With the Enterprise crew stranded on the planet following a mineral deposit that disrupts conventional transporter locking systems, the Son'a send robotic probes to tag and transport the fleeing Ba'ku, while their leader Ahdar Ru'afo convinces Dougherty to allow two Son'a ships to attack the Enterprise. Riker stops the ships from attacking and the Enterprise escapes. With their plan exposed, Ru'afo insists that they must begin to harvest the radiation immediately, but Picard reveals to Dougherty that the Son'a and the Ba'ku are the same race. The Son'a are a breakaway faction of younger Ba'ku whom a century previously wanted to give up their bucolic existence and re-embrace the use of technology. Tensions escalated until they attempted to take over the colony, but when they failed the elders exiled the Son'a from the planet and its regenerative radiation, dooming them to age and eventually die from natural causes. The Son'a have spent the past century trying to preserve their lives through artificial means, accounting for their altered appearances and their reckless attempt to harvest the radiation. The Son'a kill Dougherty when he refuses to allow Ru'afo's scheme to continue (by cosmetic surgery? Hollywood stars should take notice LOL!). Picard, Anij, and several Ba'ku are transported onto the Son'a ship. After convincing one of the Son'a, Gallatin to help him, Picard masterminds a ruse to transport Ru'afo and the Son'a to the giant holoship, delaying the destructive metaphasic process. Ru'afo discovers the deception and transports to the radiation harvesting ship to start it manually. Picard follows him and activates the self-destruct, destroying the harvester and killing Ru'afo. The remaining Son'a are welcomed back by the Ba'ku who forgive their actions; Picard arranges a meeting between Gallatin and his Ba'ku mother. The Enterprise crew take a moment to enjoy their rejuvenated selves before returning onto the Enterprise.
I thought Insurrection was kind of dull and felt like a long TNG episode. It's not a bad Star Trek movie, but it was underwhelming and I consider it the worst of the 4 TNG movies. Much to its credit, unlike First Contact, there was better emphasis on the Enterprise crew as a whole. What is up with that blue alien they glossed over in the beginning? Picard and Data singing Her Majesty's Ship Pinafore... was bizarre. This whole "technology is evil" preaching from the Ba'ku and yet... they know the latest technology going around? We all saw the watering system in the opening credits which is clearly using "technology"! Aren't they contradicting their own philosophy? And the Enterprise crew is using technology to save their asses! That romance scene in which things slowed down... how? why?
To watch part 1 of Nostalgic Critic's review go here or below:
Part 2 here or below:
Star Trek: Nemesis
We make it the final movie and the conclusion to the TNG series! The Romulan military offers the Imperial Senate plans to join forces with the Reman military and invade the Federation, but the Praetor refuses to cooperate. During a meeting, a green thalaron radiation mist is released into the room, and everyone is killed. We then cut to the Enterprise crew preparing to bid farewell to Riker (he has his beard back!) and Troi, who are soon to be married on Betazed (sadly, we don't get to see anyone naked... nor Worf LOL!). En route, they discover a positronic energy reading on a planet in the Kolaran system near the Neutral Zone. Picard, Worf, and Data land on Kolarus III and discover the remnants of an android resembling Data throughout the area but are attacked by the planet's inhabitants. After their escape, the android is reassembled and reveals its name as B-4, and the crew deduce it to be a less advanced earlier version of Data. Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Janeway became an Admiral??? When did that happen? Did this movie take place after the events of Voyager? Guess I'll have to wait and find out... anyways, great to see her for this one scene!) orders the crew to conduct a diplomatic mission to Romulus. Janeway informs Picard that the Romulan government has undergone a military coup and is now controlled by a Reman named Shinzon, saying he wants peace with the Federation and to bring freedom to Remus. This is a surprising development as the Romulans had regarded Remans as an undesirable caste used principally as slave labor, due to their long history of prejudice. They had also been deployed during the Dominion War as shock troops, used as cannon fodder in the most brutal engagements. Upon their arrival on Romulus, the crew learns that Shinzon is actually a clone of Picard, a remnant of a secret experiment conducted by the Romulans to take Picard's place in Starfleet as a spy; however, he and the project were abandoned after a political change in the Romulan government left him cast away to Remus as a slave. It is there that he meets his Reman brethren and effects his rise to power. It was also on Remus where Shinzon constructed his flagship, a heavily armed warship named Scimitar, with a completely undetectable cloaking device, an arsenal of weapons, and virtually impregnable shields. Though the diplomatic mission seems to go smoothly, the crew discovers that the Scimitar is emitting low levels of extremely dangerous thalaron radiation (the same radiation used to assassinate the Romulan senate), several unauthorized computer accesses take place aboard the Enterprise, and Troi is mentally attacked by Shinzon while she is making love to Riker (trekkie-bears are getting jealous...). Shinzon captures Picard and informs him that Shinzon is slowly dying from the accelerated aging from his cloning process, and thus needs Picard's blood to live. Shinzon also transports B-4 aboard the Scimitar, revealing that Shinzon was behind the placing of B-4 on Kolarus III in order to lure Picard to Romulus. However, B-4 reveals himself to actually be Data! He rescues Picard and they make their escape back to their ship. Realizing that the Scimitar is a weaponized thalaron emitter with enough power to destroy all life forms in a fleet of ships as well as an entire planet, Data deduces that Shinzon is using the warship to conquer the Federation and destroy Earth. The Enterprise races back towards Federation space, but is soon ambushed by the Scimitar, disabling the Enterprise's warp drive in the process in her first volley of torpedoes. In the ensuing assault, the Enterprise is outmatched. Two Romulan warbirds arrive and assist in the assault, but Shinzon destroys one warbird and disables the other. Refocusing his attention on Picard, Shinzon damages the Enterprise to a significant degree. Refusing to surrender, Picard uses his heavily damaged ship to ram the Scimitar, but only succeeds in slightly damaging it. In retaliation, Shinzon initializes the Scimitar's thalaron weapon in a desperate attempt to take the Enterprise down with him. Picard boards the vessel alone and faces Shinzon. Unable to stop the weapon from activating, Picard kills Shinzon by impaling him. Data arrives with a single-use personal transporter, using it to quickly beam Picard back to the Enterprise before sacrificing himself to destroy the ship, shutting down the weapon in the process (sniff...). While the severely damaged Enterprise-E is under repair in a space dock in Earth orbit, Picard bids farewell to the newly promoted Captain Riker who is off to command the USS Titan and to begin a true peace negotiation mission with Romulus. Picard then meets with android B-4, whereupon he learns that Data had succeeded in copying the engrams of his neural net into B-4's positronic matrix not long before his death. The series ends with Picard hopeful of a bright future ahead - a future made possible through the efforts of his crew for the last 15 years.
While better and more action-packed than Insurrection, Nemesis does have a few flaws. At the wedding, we see Wesley Crusher after 8 years... but he's just a prop! How about: "Hey Wesley! It's been 8 years since you left Starfleet and traveled the universe with the Traveller - how was it and what did you get to experience? I mean... holy shit, you must have a lot to talk about and now that you're back, what are you going to do with your life?" Begs the question why Wesley was in the movie to begin with. The villian, Shinzon, was pretty interesting as a concept: a failed clone of Picard who is kind of his younger doppelganger. They can think the same way but their backgrounds and motives are different. I'm glad they brought the Romulans in this movie and in the end, there may be a future of peace between them and Federation (maybe an end to the Neutral Zone?). I already knew of Data being killed but the way I look at it: he was able to complete his quest to become truly human. He has basically experienced everything that defines the life of humanity. And at the very least, they gave him an honorable death. As for Riker, was sad to see him leave the crew but at least he had a good send off.
So it seems I've now come full circle on TNG. After watching TOS, the Animated Series, and the first six movies I knew that TNG would expand greatly on the Star Trek universe. I always wondered if TNG would be better than TOS given how much I loved the first Enterprise crew - especially the chemistry between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. After 7 seasons and 4 movies of TNG, I honestly can't say. I like them both about equally. Having to watch the series from the very beginning helped immensely as I was introduced to the next generation crew and slowly see what progress was done well after TOS. There was a brand new Enterprise with greater technology than before. It even came with a holodeck. There were new alien races and even classic ones were expanded upon. There was a greater emphasis on philosophical and ethical questions (though admittedly, it had a humanistic bias). I noticed in Seasons 1 & 2 that the episodes were very much in the same vein as TOS and I could tell that the writers were emulating ideas and situations from 20 years prior. The set pieces, clothing, special effects, and styles very much reflected that late-80s vibe just like TOS had in the late-60s. I enjoyed those first two seasons, watching the beginning of the crew of the Enterprise-D being fleshed out before solidifying them from Season 3 and beyond. I felt the death of Tasha Yar in the last half of Season 1 was premature as I liked her character. Having Dr. Katherine Pulaski for all of Season 2 was a nice experiment though it was a shame we never see or hear from her ever again after that season. The Borg were also introduced in Season 2 and have big implications from then on in all of Star Trek. Season 3 and 4 were probably my favourites as the series has finally made a name for itself and the characters have established their personalities and roles. Season 3 had a number of great and memorable episodes, ending with Picard becoming part of the Borg collective. Season 4 has Wesley leaving the show, which was too bad as he was getting better compared to the first two seasons. Just like last season, Season 4 was increasingly fleshing out Klingon culture and Worf's place among his people. Season 5 was when I was noticed the writing starting to go downhill. The two-parter "Unification" episode had the death of Sarek and we got to see Spock too (too bad Spock wasn't mentioned at the end of Nemesis as he would be perfect to help [Captain] Riker in establishing peaceful relations with the Romulans). We also got introduced to Ro Laren though it's a shame she got downplayed in the main cast. Season 6 was all right but not too notable. Season 7 was soured because of what happened to Wesley, Alexander, and Ro - I wanted better things for them considering everything that happened in the series. Speaking of Alexander... why was he not featured in any of the 4 movies?
Now that I'm done with TNG, the question you all must be asking: when am I going to continue with Deep Space Nine? Currently, I'm working on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I have about 19 discs of episodes left. I'm going through the series pretty quickly and once I'm done, I believe I will be starting DS9 right after as there are currently no other TV shows I need to catch up on. I'll be re-watching the 2009 Star Trek reboot and have my thoughts on it in my June monthly entry. Star Trek: Into Darkness will be reviewed later this month as a separate entry after I check it out in theatres.
Hope you guys enjoyed my (long) reviews and first full journey through Star Trek: The Next Generation and you enjoyed the nostalgic trip. Thanks for your comments and opinions! Deep Space Nine will start sometime in late summer or early Fall.
Star Trek: Generations
"They should have called it 'Star Trek VII / The Next Generation Part I'... actually never mind, just fuck it!" (James Rolfe, aka. The Angry Video Game Nerd, 2006) Starting off with Captain Kirk, Scotty, and Chekov was awesome but where the hell are everyone else from The Original Series (er... what excuses did they have for not being in this movie)? At the very least, we find that Sulu had children and his daughter got to become a helmsman like him. There is also Guinan onboard and even actor Tim Russ ("Tuvok" from Star Trek: Voyager) who gets a minor role as one of the ship's crew. They attend the maiden voyage of the Enterprise-B. During the voyage, they are pressed into a rescue mission to save two refugee ships from a strange energy ribbon despite its lack of readiness (Kirk: "let me guess, two weeks?"). The Enterprise-B is able to save some of the refugees before their ships are destroyed but the Enterprise-B becomes trapped in the ribbon itself. Kirk descends to the lower decks to alter the deflector shields, allowing the ship to escape. The ribbon makes contact with the ship's hull, exposing the section Kirk is in to the vacuum of space. He is presumed to have been killed. It's also the last we see of Scotty and Chekov in this movie (lame!). 78 years later, in the TNG era, the crew of the Enterprise-D receives a distress call from a solar observatory. They find that everyone, except Doctor Tolian Soran, has been killed by Romulans. Data, who recently installed a chip that enables him to experience emotions (left over from the Season 7 opener "Descent Part II"), helps La Forge search the station. The two discover a compound called trilithium in a hidden room. Soran appears, knocks La Forge unconscious, and launches a trilithium solar probe at the nearby star. The probe causes the sun to go supernova, sending a shock wave towards the observatory. Soran and La Forge are transported away by a Bird of Prey belonging to the treacherous Klingon Duras sisters. Data is rescued just before the station is destroyed but is paralyzed by fear and feels guilty for letting La Forge get captured. Captain Picard learns more about Soran from bartender Guinan. She tells Picard that Soran and her were among those rescued by the Enterprise-B. She explains that Soran's goal is to return to the "Nexus", the energy ribbon the ship encountered. Picard and Data realize that Soran is altering the path of the ribbon by collapsing stars, and determine that Soran will attempt to reenter the Nexus on Veridian III by destroying its star - and, by extension, a heavily-populated planet in the system. Data is having trouble adjusting to his emotions and requests Picard that he'd be deactivated and the chip removed but Picard refuses, saying that it is something he has to learn to get used to and that his help is needed. On arrival in the Veridian system, the Duras sisters appear and offer to trade La Forge for Picard. Picard is transported to the planet's surface and finds Soran working on a missile, protected by a shield. La Forge is brought back aboard the Enterprise, unaware that his VISOR is transmitting a video signal to the Klingons (this I found stupid... he knows of his VISOR being taken away, he didn't think that it was altered after it was returned and got it checked out when back on the Enterprise? It happened in TNG before!). When the Duras sisters discover the Enterprise's shield frequency, they attack, bypassing the shields. Worf informs Riker that the Bird of Prey is a model that the Klingon Empire abandoned 20 years prior because of defects in the shielding system. Taking advantage of this information and the superior advantage of their Federation starship, Riker commands the Enterprise to fire on the Bird of Prey at the right time, destroying it (take that Klingon she-bitches! Fuck yeah!), but the Enterprise sustained critical damage. Riker orders an evacuation to the saucer section of the ship to separate from the damaged engineering section. The explosion of the engineering section causes the saucer to crash on Veridian III (that's right people... of all villans in Star Trek: TNG to destroy the amazing Enterprise-D... it was the Duras sisters and they managed to do it with a 20-year out-of-date Bird of Prey... wow... I'm disappointed...). Picard finds a hole in Soran's shield, but is too late to stop him from launching the missile. The Veridian sun collapses and Soran and Picard are transported to the Nexus before the shock wave annihilates the planet. Picard is placed in a world of his own wish: it is Christmas time and he is married with wonderful children. Figuring out that it isn't real, he asks for help from an "echo" of Guinan in the Nexus. She sends him to meet Captain Kirk, who is also safe in the Nexus and back in his home in Iowa. Picard tries to convince Kirk to return to Picard's present and stop Soran. Before agreeing, they ride horses through the wilderness and Kirk advises Picard after asking him about retirement from Starfleet (in which Picard doesn't plan on): "Let me tell you something: don't! Don't let them promote you, don't let them transfer you, don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship because while you're there, you can make a difference!" To me, this was the emotional highlight of the movie - both Kirk and Picard riding and conversing. The two leave the Nexus, arriving on Veridian III minutes before Soran launches the missile. They distract Soran long enough to lock the missile in place, causing it to explode on the launchpad, killing Soran. Kirk is mortally wounded from the encounter; as he dies, Picard assures him that he helped to make a difference. Picard buries Kirk before being shuttled to the wreckage of the Enterprise saucer section, reuniting with his crew, and leaving the planet aboard the USS Farragut (this was the same ship Kirk served on before he became captain).
I was a little disappointed by this first TNG movie and its plot. I was expecting that the majority or all TOS crew to be transfered to the future of TNG as a way of "passing on the torch" and having some grand adventure together, while the TOS crew return back to their respective time. I'm sure they could have worked something in (given that Spock and Scotty were featured in TNG). The villian, Soran, was nothing special. The situation with La Forge and the destruction of the Enterprise... I expected better. To its credit, how they handled the way it crashed was good special effects for the time. That thing with La Forge's VISOR... argh! The death of Captain Kirk... sorry, that's bullshit! Like all the rest of the TOS crew, he should pass away by age. And why not beam his body back to the Farragut, and then bury him back in his hometown of Riverside, Iowa instead of on some insignificant planet? Grrr...
To see the Nostalgia Critic's funny review of this movie go here or below:
Click to view Star Trek: First Contact
Picard awakens from a nightmare in which he relived his assimilation by the Borg six years earlier (re-shown in the episode "The Best of Both Worlds"). Starfleet informs him of a new Borg attack against Earth, but orders the new Enterprise-E to patrol the Neutral Zone for Romulans so as to not introduce an "unstable element" to the fight. Learning that the fleet is losing the battle, the Enterprise crew disobeys orders and heads for Earth, where a single, damaged Borg Cube opposes a group of Starfleet vessels. The Enterprise arrives in time to save the crew of the USS Defiant which is being commanded by Worf. After Picard hears Borg communications in his mind, he orders the fleet to concentrate its firepower on a seemingly non-vital section of the Borg ship. The Cube is destroyed after launching a smaller sphere ship towards Earth. The Borg sphere generates and enters a temporal vortex, and Picard orders the Enterprise to follow. As they are enveloped in the vortex, the crew briefly glimpses an Earth populated entirely by Borg; Picard realizes that the Borg have used time travel to change history. The Enterprise arrives in the past, on April 4, 2063, the day before humanity's first contact with alien life after Zefram Cochrane's historic warp drive flight. The Borg sphere fires on the planet. Realizing that the Borg are trying to prevent first contact, the Enterprise crew destroy the sphere and send an away team to the Montana, USA site where Cochrane is building his ship, the Phoenix, to look for survivors. Picard sends Cochrane's assistant Lily Sloane to the Enterprise for medical attention, then returns to the ship and leaves Riker on Earth to make sure the Phoenix's flight proceeds as planned. The Enterprise crew sees Cochrane as a legend, but the real man is reluctant to assume his historical role. Borg survivors invade the Enterprise, and begin to assimilate its crew and modify the ship. Picard and a team attempt to reach engineering to disable the Borg with corrosive coolant used in the warp core, but Data is captured and meets the Queen of the Borg collective, who gains his trust by giving part of him human skin. A frightened Sloane seizes the captain but he gains her trust, and they escape the Borg-infested area of the ship by using the holodeck and shooting some Borg with a tommy gun. Picard, Worf, and the ship's navigator, Lieutenant Hawk, stop the Borg from calling reinforcements with the deflector dish outside the ship, but Hawk is assimilated and killed. As the Borg continue to assimilate, Worf suggests destroying the ship, but Picard angrily calls him a coward and vows to continue the fight. Sloane confronts the captain and, reminding him of Moby Dick's Captain Ahab, makes him realize he's acting irrationally. After apologizing to Worf, Picard activates the ship's self-destruct mechanism and orders the crew to abandon ship. While the crew heads to escape pods, Picard remains aboard to rescue Data. As Cochrane, Riker, and La Forge prepare to activate the warp drive on the Phoenix, Picard confronts the Borg Queen and discovers she has grafted human skin onto Data, giving him an array of new sensations. She has presented this modification as a gift to the android, hoping to obtain his encryption codes to the Enterprise computer. Although Picard offers himself in Data's place, the android refuses to leave. He deactivates the self-destruct sequence and fires torpedoes at the Phoenix, but they miss on purpose and the Queen realizes Data betrayed her. Data ruptures a coolant tank, and the corrosive gas dissolves the Borg's biological bodies. Cochrane completes his warp flight, and that night, April 5, 2063, the crew watches as Vulcans, attracted by the Phoenix warp test, land and greet Cochrane. Having repaired history, the Enterprise crew returns to the 24th century.
This was certainly an improvement over Generations and to me, the best movie of the four. Good action and we get a glimpse into how the universe of Star Trek began. They certainly make the Borg more menacing in this movie compared to the show. Oh yeah, having a cameo of The Doctor (played by Robert Picardo) from Star Trek: Voyager for one scene was... interesting. Watching Troi get pissed drunk out of her mind was kind of funny too.
The scene in which Picard loses it and smashes his display window was parodied perfectly in South Park by Randy Marsh. Go here or below (may need to turn your volume up a little bit):
Star Trek: Insurrection
Starfleet is observing the peaceful Ba'ku people on their planet but Data appears to malfunction, revealing the hidden presence of the joint Federation and Son'a task force to the Ba'ku. Admiral Matthew Dougherty requests the help of the Enterprise to capture or disable Data. Dougherty's allies, the Son'a, are a decrepit race who use medical techniques to prevent death and their repeated use of cosmetic surgery gives them a mummified appearance. After stopping Data, Picard becomes suspicious of Dougherty's insistence that the Enterprise is no longer needed, and his crew investigate the cause of Data's malfunction. They discover that the Ba'ku are technologically advanced but have chosen to live in harmony with nature. Due to unique radiation or "metaphasic particles" emanating from their world's rings, they are effectively immortal. The Enterprise crew also begin to experience the rejuvenation effects of the planet. La Forge finds his eyes have regenerated and he no longer requires occular implants, Riker and Troi rekindle their long-abandoned relationship plus Riker shaves his beard (I smack the back of his head for that!), and Picard develops a romantic relationship with the Ba'ku woman Anij (she's not as bright as she lets on...). Picard and his team discover a cloaked Federation ship containing a gigantic holodeck set up to recreate the Ba'ku village; Data's malfunction was due to a Son'a attack when he previously discovered the vessel. Confronting Dougherty with his discovery, Picard learns that Federation officers and the Son'a plan to move the Ba'ku to the ship while they collect the planet's radiation to further Federation science, destroying the planet in the process. Dougherty orders the Enterprise to leave, but Picard tells Riker and La Forge to tell the Federation what is occurring while he and others fly down to the planet and evacuate the Ba'ku, all agreeing that the moral crimes that would be committed to acquire the healing radiation are not worth the medical benefits that would result. With the Enterprise crew stranded on the planet following a mineral deposit that disrupts conventional transporter locking systems, the Son'a send robotic probes to tag and transport the fleeing Ba'ku, while their leader Ahdar Ru'afo convinces Dougherty to allow two Son'a ships to attack the Enterprise. Riker stops the ships from attacking and the Enterprise escapes. With their plan exposed, Ru'afo insists that they must begin to harvest the radiation immediately, but Picard reveals to Dougherty that the Son'a and the Ba'ku are the same race. The Son'a are a breakaway faction of younger Ba'ku whom a century previously wanted to give up their bucolic existence and re-embrace the use of technology. Tensions escalated until they attempted to take over the colony, but when they failed the elders exiled the Son'a from the planet and its regenerative radiation, dooming them to age and eventually die from natural causes. The Son'a have spent the past century trying to preserve their lives through artificial means, accounting for their altered appearances and their reckless attempt to harvest the radiation. The Son'a kill Dougherty when he refuses to allow Ru'afo's scheme to continue (by cosmetic surgery? Hollywood stars should take notice LOL!). Picard, Anij, and several Ba'ku are transported onto the Son'a ship. After convincing one of the Son'a, Gallatin to help him, Picard masterminds a ruse to transport Ru'afo and the Son'a to the giant holoship, delaying the destructive metaphasic process. Ru'afo discovers the deception and transports to the radiation harvesting ship to start it manually. Picard follows him and activates the self-destruct, destroying the harvester and killing Ru'afo. The remaining Son'a are welcomed back by the Ba'ku who forgive their actions; Picard arranges a meeting between Gallatin and his Ba'ku mother. The Enterprise crew take a moment to enjoy their rejuvenated selves before returning onto the Enterprise.
I thought Insurrection was kind of dull and felt like a long TNG episode. It's not a bad Star Trek movie, but it was underwhelming and I consider it the worst of the 4 TNG movies. Much to its credit, unlike First Contact, there was better emphasis on the Enterprise crew as a whole. What is up with that blue alien they glossed over in the beginning? Picard and Data singing Her Majesty's Ship Pinafore... was bizarre. This whole "technology is evil" preaching from the Ba'ku and yet... they know the latest technology going around? We all saw the watering system in the opening credits which is clearly using "technology"! Aren't they contradicting their own philosophy? And the Enterprise crew is using technology to save their asses! That romance scene in which things slowed down... how? why?
To watch part 1 of Nostalgic Critic's review go here or below:
Part 2 here or below:
Star Trek: Nemesis
We make it the final movie and the conclusion to the TNG series! The Romulan military offers the Imperial Senate plans to join forces with the Reman military and invade the Federation, but the Praetor refuses to cooperate. During a meeting, a green thalaron radiation mist is released into the room, and everyone is killed. We then cut to the Enterprise crew preparing to bid farewell to Riker (he has his beard back!) and Troi, who are soon to be married on Betazed (sadly, we don't get to see anyone naked... nor Worf LOL!). En route, they discover a positronic energy reading on a planet in the Kolaran system near the Neutral Zone. Picard, Worf, and Data land on Kolarus III and discover the remnants of an android resembling Data throughout the area but are attacked by the planet's inhabitants. After their escape, the android is reassembled and reveals its name as B-4, and the crew deduce it to be a less advanced earlier version of Data. Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Janeway became an Admiral??? When did that happen? Did this movie take place after the events of Voyager? Guess I'll have to wait and find out... anyways, great to see her for this one scene!) orders the crew to conduct a diplomatic mission to Romulus. Janeway informs Picard that the Romulan government has undergone a military coup and is now controlled by a Reman named Shinzon, saying he wants peace with the Federation and to bring freedom to Remus. This is a surprising development as the Romulans had regarded Remans as an undesirable caste used principally as slave labor, due to their long history of prejudice. They had also been deployed during the Dominion War as shock troops, used as cannon fodder in the most brutal engagements. Upon their arrival on Romulus, the crew learns that Shinzon is actually a clone of Picard, a remnant of a secret experiment conducted by the Romulans to take Picard's place in Starfleet as a spy; however, he and the project were abandoned after a political change in the Romulan government left him cast away to Remus as a slave. It is there that he meets his Reman brethren and effects his rise to power. It was also on Remus where Shinzon constructed his flagship, a heavily armed warship named Scimitar, with a completely undetectable cloaking device, an arsenal of weapons, and virtually impregnable shields. Though the diplomatic mission seems to go smoothly, the crew discovers that the Scimitar is emitting low levels of extremely dangerous thalaron radiation (the same radiation used to assassinate the Romulan senate), several unauthorized computer accesses take place aboard the Enterprise, and Troi is mentally attacked by Shinzon while she is making love to Riker (trekkie-bears are getting jealous...). Shinzon captures Picard and informs him that Shinzon is slowly dying from the accelerated aging from his cloning process, and thus needs Picard's blood to live. Shinzon also transports B-4 aboard the Scimitar, revealing that Shinzon was behind the placing of B-4 on Kolarus III in order to lure Picard to Romulus. However, B-4 reveals himself to actually be Data! He rescues Picard and they make their escape back to their ship. Realizing that the Scimitar is a weaponized thalaron emitter with enough power to destroy all life forms in a fleet of ships as well as an entire planet, Data deduces that Shinzon is using the warship to conquer the Federation and destroy Earth. The Enterprise races back towards Federation space, but is soon ambushed by the Scimitar, disabling the Enterprise's warp drive in the process in her first volley of torpedoes. In the ensuing assault, the Enterprise is outmatched. Two Romulan warbirds arrive and assist in the assault, but Shinzon destroys one warbird and disables the other. Refocusing his attention on Picard, Shinzon damages the Enterprise to a significant degree. Refusing to surrender, Picard uses his heavily damaged ship to ram the Scimitar, but only succeeds in slightly damaging it. In retaliation, Shinzon initializes the Scimitar's thalaron weapon in a desperate attempt to take the Enterprise down with him. Picard boards the vessel alone and faces Shinzon. Unable to stop the weapon from activating, Picard kills Shinzon by impaling him. Data arrives with a single-use personal transporter, using it to quickly beam Picard back to the Enterprise before sacrificing himself to destroy the ship, shutting down the weapon in the process (sniff...). While the severely damaged Enterprise-E is under repair in a space dock in Earth orbit, Picard bids farewell to the newly promoted Captain Riker who is off to command the USS Titan and to begin a true peace negotiation mission with Romulus. Picard then meets with android B-4, whereupon he learns that Data had succeeded in copying the engrams of his neural net into B-4's positronic matrix not long before his death. The series ends with Picard hopeful of a bright future ahead - a future made possible through the efforts of his crew for the last 15 years.
While better and more action-packed than Insurrection, Nemesis does have a few flaws. At the wedding, we see Wesley Crusher after 8 years... but he's just a prop! How about: "Hey Wesley! It's been 8 years since you left Starfleet and traveled the universe with the Traveller - how was it and what did you get to experience? I mean... holy shit, you must have a lot to talk about and now that you're back, what are you going to do with your life?" Begs the question why Wesley was in the movie to begin with. The villian, Shinzon, was pretty interesting as a concept: a failed clone of Picard who is kind of his younger doppelganger. They can think the same way but their backgrounds and motives are different. I'm glad they brought the Romulans in this movie and in the end, there may be a future of peace between them and Federation (maybe an end to the Neutral Zone?). I already knew of Data being killed but the way I look at it: he was able to complete his quest to become truly human. He has basically experienced everything that defines the life of humanity. And at the very least, they gave him an honorable death. As for Riker, was sad to see him leave the crew but at least he had a good send off.
So it seems I've now come full circle on TNG. After watching TOS, the Animated Series, and the first six movies I knew that TNG would expand greatly on the Star Trek universe. I always wondered if TNG would be better than TOS given how much I loved the first Enterprise crew - especially the chemistry between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. After 7 seasons and 4 movies of TNG, I honestly can't say. I like them both about equally. Having to watch the series from the very beginning helped immensely as I was introduced to the next generation crew and slowly see what progress was done well after TOS. There was a brand new Enterprise with greater technology than before. It even came with a holodeck. There were new alien races and even classic ones were expanded upon. There was a greater emphasis on philosophical and ethical questions (though admittedly, it had a humanistic bias). I noticed in Seasons 1 & 2 that the episodes were very much in the same vein as TOS and I could tell that the writers were emulating ideas and situations from 20 years prior. The set pieces, clothing, special effects, and styles very much reflected that late-80s vibe just like TOS had in the late-60s. I enjoyed those first two seasons, watching the beginning of the crew of the Enterprise-D being fleshed out before solidifying them from Season 3 and beyond. I felt the death of Tasha Yar in the last half of Season 1 was premature as I liked her character. Having Dr. Katherine Pulaski for all of Season 2 was a nice experiment though it was a shame we never see or hear from her ever again after that season. The Borg were also introduced in Season 2 and have big implications from then on in all of Star Trek. Season 3 and 4 were probably my favourites as the series has finally made a name for itself and the characters have established their personalities and roles. Season 3 had a number of great and memorable episodes, ending with Picard becoming part of the Borg collective. Season 4 has Wesley leaving the show, which was too bad as he was getting better compared to the first two seasons. Just like last season, Season 4 was increasingly fleshing out Klingon culture and Worf's place among his people. Season 5 was when I was noticed the writing starting to go downhill. The two-parter "Unification" episode had the death of Sarek and we got to see Spock too (too bad Spock wasn't mentioned at the end of Nemesis as he would be perfect to help [Captain] Riker in establishing peaceful relations with the Romulans). We also got introduced to Ro Laren though it's a shame she got downplayed in the main cast. Season 6 was all right but not too notable. Season 7 was soured because of what happened to Wesley, Alexander, and Ro - I wanted better things for them considering everything that happened in the series. Speaking of Alexander... why was he not featured in any of the 4 movies?
Now that I'm done with TNG, the question you all must be asking: when am I going to continue with Deep Space Nine? Currently, I'm working on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I have about 19 discs of episodes left. I'm going through the series pretty quickly and once I'm done, I believe I will be starting DS9 right after as there are currently no other TV shows I need to catch up on. I'll be re-watching the 2009 Star Trek reboot and have my thoughts on it in my June monthly entry. Star Trek: Into Darkness will be reviewed later this month as a separate entry after I check it out in theatres.
Hope you guys enjoyed my (long) reviews and first full journey through Star Trek: The Next Generation and you enjoyed the nostalgic trip. Thanks for your comments and opinions! Deep Space Nine will start sometime in late summer or early Fall.