Make it so!
Recently, Steph and I rewatched the movies "Star Trek: Generations" and "First Contact," two movies I have not watched in several years. I actually liked "Generations" when I was a kid, and after watching two reviews which really didn't flatter it much, I decided to give it another look. I mean, "Return of the Jedi" was another movie I loved growing up, but after reading Greg Weisman's critiques on it and then rewatching it, I really couldn't find any fault in his logic. So, here's some of my thoughts after rewatching "Generations":
-I love how Chekhov suddenly has knowledge of medicine. During the opening scene on the Enterprise B, Stephanie asked me when he learned this, and I answered "since they asked Deforest Kelley to be in this movie, and he said no." Hell, I was surprised to see Walter Koenig and James Doohan at all. I wasn't surprised to see William Shatner, since the man suffers from the delusion that the Star Trek universe can't function without James Kirk. But I thought all the other actors at least grasped the meaning behind the ending to "Star Trek VI." Ah, well. At least four out of seven did.
-In some ways, this reminds me of the movie "Serenity," in that appears to be tailored directly for the fans, while casual viewers of the show will be wondering what the hell is going on. The first time I watched "Serenity," I thought it was okay, but didn't understand a lot of what was going on. The second time I watched it was after I had seen the series "Firefly," and that time, I enjoyed it much more. So many aspects of the story of "Generations", such as Data's emotion chip, Picard's brother and nephew, and also the rogue Klingons, will only make sense to people who have seen certain episodes of the TV series. Of course, certain scenes in "Generations" don't appear to be as well written as "Serenity" was.
-Case in point, Data's emotion chip. This became a dead horse very, VERY quickly. Like, immediately after Data tried that drink in the bar and hated it. Although, I was amused by the fact that the "Mr. Tricorder" voice sounded exactly like Puck. As long as the writers keep referencing episodes of the series, why not reference that android that Data created named Lal, who eventually had to be taken off-line because her circuits couldn't keep her alive? I saw that episode, and right before she was deactivated, Lal told Data that she loved him, and Data replied that he could not return the sentiment, because he was incapable of feeling love. Why not reference that at some point in the movie, instead of just using the chip for cheap jokes that get tired very fast?
-Given what we know about Geordi's character, did it ever occur to him to do a diagnostic on his visor? He knew that Soren had taken it, and he had it in his possession for some time. Did he think that Soren just liked to look at it? Maybe there's a deleted scene covering this, but since this movie was made in the VHS era, I doubt it. I guess the destruction of the Enterprise D finally got Starfleet to spring for some tamper-proof eyes for him. Also, I guess Soren's plan counted on Geordi to be on one of the away teams. What would he have done if Geordi hadn't gone with an away team? Find some excuse to get him alone and then slip him a roofie? Actually, that might have been more fun to watch.
-Both the Nostalgia Critic and Harry Plinkett have gone into the problems with the roundabout prisoner exchange, but there was one thing I liked about it. I was about to ask why, once Picard was on the surface, he didn't radio his position to an away team? Then I noticed in one of the shots that he wasn't wearing his communicator badge. That little attention to detail surprised me, especially since the NC is definitely right when he said they recycled the shot of the warbird exploding from "Star Trek VI."
-And why is blowing up stars the only way to get into the Nexus? Earlier, they talked about how ships can't fly into it. But if ships can't fly into it, how did the refugee ships from the beginning of the movie get caught in it? Couldn't Soren have recreated the flight of the refugee ships? Voltaire were correct in their observation of the Star Trek Universe's tendency for making ridiculous shit up for the sake of the story, without paying any attention to anything else (and to be honest, this is one of the reasons the Star Trek Universe has only ever been a passing amusement for me), but this is one of those cases where you just can't overlook this. The beginning of the movie showed that ships CAN fly into the Nexus. So Soren's plan does not make any sense.
-I'm also a little fuzzy on just how Guinan's echo works. I assume that since the Nexus is pure energy, and energy is given off by all living things, the echo is just an energy stamp that Guinan left behind. But since she was in the Nexus decades before she met Picard, how does her echo know who Picard is? I feel this is just another instance of lazy writing that only hurts the story, simply because they wanted to put a familiar character in there with Picard.
-I also couldn't find any fault in the Nostalgia Critic's argument: It is lazy writing to give a character the power to do anything, and then have them completely squander it. We've established that Picard can go anywhere he wants in the past, present, or future when he leaves the Nexus, so why is his aim so narrow? Why not go back to Amogosis and stop Geordi from getting kidnapped? Or go back farther than that and stop the Romulan outpost from being attacked? Or, since the grief of losing his brother and his nephew is still fresh in his mind, I refuse to believe that Picard did not even consider going back to try and stop the accident that killed them. This is why time travel works best under the rule that any time travel that happens happens because it was supposed to.
-And actually, I didn't mind Captain Kirk's death. I like to think that the writers crushed him with a bridge because if they hadn't, Shatner would have been bugging them for a part in the next Star Trek movie. And the next. And the next. So to put a stop to that, and also to really get his goat, they came up with the most ridiculous death ever. Also, as Steph pointed out, the picture quality of the DVD really makes it look like a "Star Trek II" Captain Kirk action figure trapped under plastic model of a bridge. I just wish his last words had been something more dignified. If he had stopped talking after saying "Least I can do for the captain of the Enterprise," that would have been better. Instead, his last words are a bad Sulu impression. But maybe that was just the writers jerking him off even more.
-And to any Gargoyles fans who have seen this movie: who wasn't thinking about Xanatos when Riker told Picard, "I plan to live forever." Though I can't see you, I imagine you probably aren't raising your hand.
-And finally: what is the deal with Troi's new uniform? Did Marina Sirtis request that? If she did, that's fine, I'll shut up. But if she didn't, then I'd like to meet the guy who has a problem with seeing Marina Sirtis in a low-cut V-neck. Boobs, dammit! Boobs!
So at the end of the day, I don't think "Generations" is as good a movie as I remembered it. There's good things to it, there's bad things to it, but there are also too many "why didn't they..." moments in the story to really make it enjoyable. And I don't have a lot to say right now about "First Contact," largely because I actually haven't watched the Red Letter Media review. I'm planning on it soon, though.
-I love how Chekhov suddenly has knowledge of medicine. During the opening scene on the Enterprise B, Stephanie asked me when he learned this, and I answered "since they asked Deforest Kelley to be in this movie, and he said no." Hell, I was surprised to see Walter Koenig and James Doohan at all. I wasn't surprised to see William Shatner, since the man suffers from the delusion that the Star Trek universe can't function without James Kirk. But I thought all the other actors at least grasped the meaning behind the ending to "Star Trek VI." Ah, well. At least four out of seven did.
-In some ways, this reminds me of the movie "Serenity," in that appears to be tailored directly for the fans, while casual viewers of the show will be wondering what the hell is going on. The first time I watched "Serenity," I thought it was okay, but didn't understand a lot of what was going on. The second time I watched it was after I had seen the series "Firefly," and that time, I enjoyed it much more. So many aspects of the story of "Generations", such as Data's emotion chip, Picard's brother and nephew, and also the rogue Klingons, will only make sense to people who have seen certain episodes of the TV series. Of course, certain scenes in "Generations" don't appear to be as well written as "Serenity" was.
-Case in point, Data's emotion chip. This became a dead horse very, VERY quickly. Like, immediately after Data tried that drink in the bar and hated it. Although, I was amused by the fact that the "Mr. Tricorder" voice sounded exactly like Puck. As long as the writers keep referencing episodes of the series, why not reference that android that Data created named Lal, who eventually had to be taken off-line because her circuits couldn't keep her alive? I saw that episode, and right before she was deactivated, Lal told Data that she loved him, and Data replied that he could not return the sentiment, because he was incapable of feeling love. Why not reference that at some point in the movie, instead of just using the chip for cheap jokes that get tired very fast?
-Given what we know about Geordi's character, did it ever occur to him to do a diagnostic on his visor? He knew that Soren had taken it, and he had it in his possession for some time. Did he think that Soren just liked to look at it? Maybe there's a deleted scene covering this, but since this movie was made in the VHS era, I doubt it. I guess the destruction of the Enterprise D finally got Starfleet to spring for some tamper-proof eyes for him. Also, I guess Soren's plan counted on Geordi to be on one of the away teams. What would he have done if Geordi hadn't gone with an away team? Find some excuse to get him alone and then slip him a roofie? Actually, that might have been more fun to watch.
-Both the Nostalgia Critic and Harry Plinkett have gone into the problems with the roundabout prisoner exchange, but there was one thing I liked about it. I was about to ask why, once Picard was on the surface, he didn't radio his position to an away team? Then I noticed in one of the shots that he wasn't wearing his communicator badge. That little attention to detail surprised me, especially since the NC is definitely right when he said they recycled the shot of the warbird exploding from "Star Trek VI."
-And why is blowing up stars the only way to get into the Nexus? Earlier, they talked about how ships can't fly into it. But if ships can't fly into it, how did the refugee ships from the beginning of the movie get caught in it? Couldn't Soren have recreated the flight of the refugee ships? Voltaire were correct in their observation of the Star Trek Universe's tendency for making ridiculous shit up for the sake of the story, without paying any attention to anything else (and to be honest, this is one of the reasons the Star Trek Universe has only ever been a passing amusement for me), but this is one of those cases where you just can't overlook this. The beginning of the movie showed that ships CAN fly into the Nexus. So Soren's plan does not make any sense.
-I'm also a little fuzzy on just how Guinan's echo works. I assume that since the Nexus is pure energy, and energy is given off by all living things, the echo is just an energy stamp that Guinan left behind. But since she was in the Nexus decades before she met Picard, how does her echo know who Picard is? I feel this is just another instance of lazy writing that only hurts the story, simply because they wanted to put a familiar character in there with Picard.
-I also couldn't find any fault in the Nostalgia Critic's argument: It is lazy writing to give a character the power to do anything, and then have them completely squander it. We've established that Picard can go anywhere he wants in the past, present, or future when he leaves the Nexus, so why is his aim so narrow? Why not go back to Amogosis and stop Geordi from getting kidnapped? Or go back farther than that and stop the Romulan outpost from being attacked? Or, since the grief of losing his brother and his nephew is still fresh in his mind, I refuse to believe that Picard did not even consider going back to try and stop the accident that killed them. This is why time travel works best under the rule that any time travel that happens happens because it was supposed to.
-And actually, I didn't mind Captain Kirk's death. I like to think that the writers crushed him with a bridge because if they hadn't, Shatner would have been bugging them for a part in the next Star Trek movie. And the next. And the next. So to put a stop to that, and also to really get his goat, they came up with the most ridiculous death ever. Also, as Steph pointed out, the picture quality of the DVD really makes it look like a "Star Trek II" Captain Kirk action figure trapped under plastic model of a bridge. I just wish his last words had been something more dignified. If he had stopped talking after saying "Least I can do for the captain of the Enterprise," that would have been better. Instead, his last words are a bad Sulu impression. But maybe that was just the writers jerking him off even more.
-And to any Gargoyles fans who have seen this movie: who wasn't thinking about Xanatos when Riker told Picard, "I plan to live forever." Though I can't see you, I imagine you probably aren't raising your hand.
-And finally: what is the deal with Troi's new uniform? Did Marina Sirtis request that? If she did, that's fine, I'll shut up. But if she didn't, then I'd like to meet the guy who has a problem with seeing Marina Sirtis in a low-cut V-neck. Boobs, dammit! Boobs!
So at the end of the day, I don't think "Generations" is as good a movie as I remembered it. There's good things to it, there's bad things to it, but there are also too many "why didn't they..." moments in the story to really make it enjoyable. And I don't have a lot to say right now about "First Contact," largely because I actually haven't watched the Red Letter Media review. I'm planning on it soon, though.