Having recently upgraded the NextGen movies to a 2nd-hand blu-ray set, it's time for a re-watch and some long rambling reviews...
Star Trek Generations (1994)
'Generations' was peak Trek for me and probably for a lot of other people too. The TOS crew had gone out in style in ST6 (still rotating heavily on TV and video),
'The Next Generation' series had ended on a high,
'Deep Space Nine' was on it's 3rd season and
'Voyager' was just about to air. I had a poster, a mug, the interactive VHS boardgame, a couple of TNG novels, the '94 Encyclopedia and many of the ERTL model kits (Enterprises OG/A/B/D, Reliant, Klingon Bird of Prey/TMP-Cruiser/TNG-Cruiser, DS9, Runabout and Voyager). I think 'Generations' was probably the first Star Trek movie I saw at the cinema. In that spirit I was deaf to it's flaws but over the years the deficiencies have become more apparent. Now after revisiting the film in the shadow of recent Trek travesties, I was more than willing to overlook those flaws and love it all over again. Still, let's explore those flaws anyway...
Star Trek's long-running cheapness when it comes to costumes, FX, props and sets is unfortunately obvious. There are at least three completely different uniforms (in a range of assorted colours) being used by the crew to save money and some of them don't even fit. Geordie's is 5 sizes too big and Riker's is 5 sizes too small, like they were borrowed from the DS9 costume department (and I'd bet they were). There is also some re-used footage from ST6 to save more money and it stands out like a sore thumb. The decision was made to drastically change the lighting on the Enterprise-D to be dark and moody, which feels weird after 7 seasons of it looking another way. I agree about the need to not have bright, flat TV lighting in a movie but some sort of balance could've been struck. Is anybody suggesting that brightly lit sets like in
Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' aren't cinematic? Data's emotion chip is finally put into play but the writers seem more interested in using it for cheesy gags, than for exploring Data's character. Of course bringing Kirk and co back for one last cameo after they all had the (literal) perfect sign off in ST6 kinda sucks. They should've left it alone and had more faith in the TNG actors to carry the movie. Picard lets go of the Nexus far too easily, with no real explanation given beyond him being our hero, so that's what he's supposed to do and his plan to stop Soran is just dumb. Despite them doing a re-shoot to fix it, Kirk's last scene is still weak. With that over...
I hadn't seen this in so long (and never on blu-ray) so I'd quite forgotten how beautiful most of the FX shots are. The ships look terrific (the Enterprise-B is one of my all time favourites) and the early uses of CGI hold up very well indeed.
Dennis McCarthy isn't one of the more famous ST composers but his Nexus theme is stunning. It's got that magical Christmas music sound to it. All the TNG actors still look young and athletic, more or less just like they did in the TV show. They're all still taking their characters very seriously and haven't forgotten their accents, attitudes and behaviours. Picard is still mostly portrayed as the reserved negotiator and diplomat, something that would be eroded as the franchise went on. There is a long, involved scene of Picard trying to dissuade Soran from his course of action by just reasoning with him and he almost gets through. The later Picard would've just fired a barrage of torpedoes at first glance. There are many great moments like when Kirk jumps his horse and doesn't feel the danger. It's very poetic, I can totally believe that would break the Nexus spell for an "adrenaline junky" like Kirk (plus wow! You can tell Shatner is a great horseman). Overall, I really enjoyed watching 'Generations' again!