Star Trek: Generations at 30

[CoveTom]

I like it.

It may sound like damning with faint praise, but I believe it is by a very wide margin the best of the TNG movies. A very wide margin.

The worst thing about it is Spiner. Also by a very wide margin.

That's interesting. I've seen very few people ever argue that Generations is a better film than First Contact. Would you care to elaborate on your reasoning?

 

[NCC-73515]

My brother likes GEN as much as FC

 

[Dukhat]

I just don't get it. At all. I'll never get the love that people have for the lighting of the Enterprise-D sets in Generations. It looks like they've suddenly decided to switch the Enterprise to being lit by fireplaces in each room. It's not "cinematic," it's just dark, IMHO. The only part of the Enterprise-D from that film I found impressive was the beautiful stellar cartography set. Other than that, I much preferred how the ship looked in TNG.

It would be one thing if the lighting was done for some type of artistic reason. But it wasn't. It was done because the television sets on the big screen would not hold up under close scrutiny, some sets had deteriorated, and portions of sets had already been moved around from their use on the show (which was why Riker exits the Ready Room into total darkness instead of the bright lights of the bridge.)

It's that you can leave the nexus and go anywhere in time and space. Why Picard didn't go back months, could of saved his family from being in the house when it burns down and still have time to have Soran arrested before he starts blowing stars up, there's enough shady stuff involving the Romulans we could have him detained. Also that would mean the enterprise-d doesn't get destroyed.

1. Because Robert and Renee dying in a fire was just a plot device that was completely forgotten about by the end of the movie.

2. Going back further and arresting Soran before he did anything means that Kirk stays alive, and the Paramount suits didn't want that.

3. As I mentioned in another thread, they absolutely could have changed the story so that they went back before the D was destroyed, as they had already shown the saucer crash they so wanted, and just made a reset button. But they wanted a new ship for the films, so they didn't care about saving the D.

For the longest time I did have a theory of what if Picard never actually left the nexus, and everything post generations is just Picard's make-believe land haha

I had that theory too. And still do. But I'm biased because I hate everything they've made since Generations.

We never saw the Malurians who were destroyed by Nomad, at least not until a member of the species showed up in "Civilization(ENT)," a story set over a century before the Malurian race was wiped out. Sometimes we don't really need to see every alien that's part of the wider story.

And the Malurians as shown in ENT seemed quite technologically advanced 100 years before Nomad wiped them out. That stretches credibility a bit. I always got the impression, based solely on "The Changeling," that the Malurians were just a primitive species that the Federation were studying (like the Mintakans) and were not advanced enough to defend themselves from Nomad destroying their planet. Instead we are shown that they have warp-capable starships even more advanced than what Earth had, not to mention what tech they would have had a century later. It was just another example of ENT name-dropping stuff from TOS without fully understanding the context.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

That's interesting. I've seen very few people ever argue that Generations is a better film than First Contact. Would you care to elaborate on your reasoning?

i'm not @Richard S. Ta , but here's mine.

Generations displays some ambition in its willingness to destroy the status quo. The Enterprise is destroyed, potentially scattering the crew. I've described the film's tone as "funereal," and there's a sense of closure to it that "All Good Things..." didn't have. It feels like an ending.

First Contact feels like just another story. The visual bling is different -- new uniforms, a new ship -- but it's a story that wouldn't have been out of place, or done any differently (except for the location shooting), if made five years before. Narratively, it's a tonal mess; you have this serious Borg plot happening alongside a fish-out-of-water comedy on Earth.

I've also never been impressed with Frakes' direction, which I find bland. David Carson made a much more visually interesting and varied film.

 

[Firebird]

and portions of sets had already been moved around from their use on the show (which was why Riker exits the Ready Room into total darkness instead of the bright lights of the bridge.)

The construction blueprints for the Bridge modifications in Generations shows that's not true. The Ready Room set stayed exactly where it was during production on the series: http://archive.frogland.co.uk/Set Blueprints/Enterprise D/Bridge/Bridge 25.png

 

[Dukhat]

The construction blueprints for the Bridge modifications in Generations shows that's not true. The Ready Room set stayed exactly where it was during production on the series: http://archive.frogland.co.uk/Set Blueprints/Enterprise D/Bridge/Bridge 25.png

Fair enough. However, the fact that Riker exits into total darkness was a clear indicator that something had changed and would not look good on the big screen.

 

[CoveTom]

Fair enough. However, the fact that Riker exits into total darkness was a clear indicator that something had changed and would not look good on the big screen.

It's dark when he exits, but you can still tell that the bridge is out there. You can see the viewscreen. I think it was just more of their attempt to do "cinematic" lighting.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

That's interesting. I've seen very few people ever argue that Generations is a better film than First Contact. Would you care to elaborate on your reasoning?

In Generations, it’s still the characters and ship I love from the show. It starts to shift a bit visually in FC in terms of uniforms and then there’s the E which… I just didn’t ever form any attachment to. I think it’s a bland design.

From FC onwards Picard becomes Movie Picard. It’s also a movie where it’s clear people were afraid to give Brent Spiner notes, cause he doubles down on the scenery chewing from GEN.

I think ultimately GEN feels like an event in the way FC doesn’t. Two worlds colliding. Two captains. Two shows. I think FC is fine. It’s hampered by having a workmanlike person in the directors chair visually, but it works as a movie. I just don’t feel it puts anything onscreen that TNG couldn’t do and I don’t think that’s the case with GEN.