Wednesday, August 8, 2012

124 - Star Trek: Generations

    After an opening sequence in which Kirk dies, we join the Next Generation crew.  A guy named Soran is trying to manipulate a cosmic event, and his manipulations put an entire planet at risk.  It's up to Picard, and Kirk, to stop Soran.
    This has a weak reputation among Trek fans.  I know I've seen it before, but it's somehow not very memorable.  It's an interesting movie, because it's a good plot, but things don't feel right.
    First, the villain isn't villainous enough.  It's too easy to feel like he's got a decent point, and Picard doesn't seem to acknowledge that he isn't actually going to kill the inhabitants of the planet.  Those people will be entering the Nexus as well.  So they're going to be raptured into a paradise.  They won't die, either.  Somehow, people can exit the Nexus, so they could just leave to go wherever they want to.
    Second, the movie seemed like an excuse to get Picard and Kirk together.  That's not too bad a goal, but it seemed like the primary purpose, rather than a side effect of the story.
    Third, and this is a big problem with some people, is that Kirk's death scenes are not sufficiently heroic.  Since I've never felt strongly about Kirk, I don't mind this, but I think I can understand why it doesn't feel good.  When Spock died, it worked.  When Data died, it worked.  In both of those cases, it felt like a sacrifice.  Here, the sacrifice didn't feel substantial.

    I also realized that the movie has a really big problem.  If Kirk and Picard don't succeed in their efforts… nothing bad happens.  They get to retry.  As long as they don't die before being sucked back into the Nexus, they get to try again, and again, as many times as needed.  Realizing this loophole turned the movie from having a small amount of tension to having none at all.

    Still, there are plenty of positive elements to the movie.  It's very fun.  Data gets a lot of opportunities for show some dynamic range.  (Although I don't think it makes sense for him to cry at the end)  The cast is played with a nice balance, everyone gets a little something to do.  We get to see the Enterprise separate, and then the saucer crash-lands.  So that's pretty fun.

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