Promotional Lines: "Two captains. One destiny."
"The torch of adventure is about to be passed."
The basic story involves a Federation scientist,
Dr. Tolian Soran, who threatens the existence of the universe
in his attempt to return to a strange dimension, the Nexus,
where everyone lives out their own dreams of paradise. In order
to save the universe, two generations of "Trek" captains
must unite to defeat him. "Star Trek Generations"
features the long awaited meeting of legendary Enterprise captain's
Kirk and Picard.
Patrick Steward is convincing as Captain Jean-Luc
Picard, who enters the Nexus and personally experiences that
his dream of paradise is to have a family and a wife, as he
experiences what it would have been like at Christmas. He also
sees his nephew, Rene who was recently killed, whose death he
was mourning at the beginning of the film.
Whoopi Goldburg as Guinan, does a great job
in this small role. Guinan is the character that is the bartender
aboard Picard's Enterprise, and who had been taken from The
Nexus along with Dr. Soran, leaving a part of herself in The
Nexus. Through the help of Guinan, Picard finds Kirk happily
living in his own version of paradise, not dead as presumed,
but merely enjoying his retirement.
William Shatner, does his usual fine portrayal
as Admiral/Captain Kirk, enjoying his retirement, before being
recruited back into the service of Starfleet.
While it is perhaps unfortunate that Shatner
and Picard do not have more screen time together, the much anticipated
get together is memorable nonetheless. My favorite scenes are
those involving the two of them.
Admiral / Captain Kirk: "I take it the
odds are against us and the situation is grim."
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "You could say that."
Admiral / Captain Kirk: "Sounds like fun!"
Malcolm McDowell is great as an evil scientist,
Dr. Tolian Soran, obsessed with getting himself back into this
wonderful space matrix, to be with his family, who were killed,
despite the cost to humanity around him, which would include
the destruction of a sun in the way of his quest & then
consequently its planets. Without chewing up the scenery as
much as Ricardo Montalban in "Star Trek 2," McDowell
manages to create one of Trek's most charismatic and memorable
villains. McDowell's talents are well showcased in the new CBS
series "Pearl."
Data (Brent Spiner) has a special implant which
gives him emotions. Data fans will enjoy seeing their android
buddy engaging in uncharacteristic, and sometimes hilarious,
behavior.
The FX in this "Trek" adventure are particularly good.
Some of them, involving a VERY rough landing for the Enterprise,
go where no "Next Generation" adventure has gone before.
While Kirk (Shatner), Scotty (James Doohan), and Chekov (Walter
Koenig), do show up, "Star Trek Generations" does
suffer from the absence of Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Nimoy
turned down the chance to be involved, apparently because of
the small size of the part offered. I do not know if logic or
emotions dictated his decision.
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