Jornada nas Estrelas: Generations

I always loved this movie. From the very first time I saw it, at the age of 10, I absolutely adored it. It took a big risk, admittedly, in bringing the Original Series and TNG together, but I believe it did it extremely well and with a lot of ingenuity.

The first part of the movie seems to pick up where "The Undiscovered Country" left off; and it does so on a somewhat sour note. Retirement does not sit at all well with Captain Kirk, and he hates the idea of being a "legend" and having the namesake of his beloved ship run by a bunch of inexperienced kids and a skeleton crew (the running "tuesday" gag is hilarious). I think Walter Koenig and James Doohan were marvellous in the first part of this movie, and the scene where they arrive on deck 15 and find themselves staring into the void of space is chilling.

After this, it picks up with the Next Generation Crew, and boy, does the camera love the Enterprise D. It's emotional to see the crew going through the changes this movie throws at them, and by the time Geordi's kidnapped and Data's emotions are uncontrollable, my heart was in my throat.

It's also a pleasure to see Whoopi Goldberg reprise her role as Guinan, and as far as humor goes, Data's newfound sense of humor had me on the floor.

I LOVED Picard and Kirk's interactions and the segment in Kirk's cabin is an absolute hoot. (Picard: "This is not your bedroom.") Soran is a great villain, truly ruthless and threatening. Out of all the Next Gen films, this is probably my favorite. It has an atmosphere about it that's very appealing to me, and the only other TNG film that had the same feeling was Nemesis, which I still maintain was a DAMN good movie.

The one problem we have with the Next Generation films (all four of them) is that someone high up in the film-making process seems to forget that the Next Generation began as a television series about equals, as opposed to the Original Series having 3 stars and a lot of supporting characters. I understand that Picard and Data are seen as the most popular characters in the Next Generation that appeal to the general public, but the story lines that get played out for the two of them in the movies (family and finding humanity) have already been done in the series.

Those two themes - Picard's family and Data's quest for humanity - are central parts of this film, and take up a lot of the time, but the other characters do get their moments, and being the gracious professionals that they are, Frakes, Sirtis, McFadden, Burton and Dorn all give fabulous performances. Whoopi Goldberg appears unbilled as Guinan, and Patti Yasutaki also appears as Nurse Ogawa.

"Generations" also features three members of the Original Trekers, Captain Kirk, Scotty and Chekov, the latter two in small roles, while Kirk has a much larger role, yet his scenes, alongside Picard, are the slowest and most boring part of the film, even if they are confronting the enemy together.

One of the enemies in "Generations" is a mad man, well played by Malcolm McDowell, the others are the two Klingon sisters who appeared towards the end of the Next Generation series, and make welcome appearances once more. Also watch for Jacqueline Kim as the daughter of Sulu from the Original Series.

This is a decent film, but like all Next Generation films, can be quite repetitive and leaves some of the cast (particularly the lovely McFadden) with little to do.

Above average Sci-fi action drama movie that has a modest production in comparison to the average high qualily fare STAR TREK film.This 7th Star Trek movie played more like a special TV episode which although still good,kind of let down a lot of high expectations due to a great potential storyline and incredible trailers.The movie was rushed and the screenplay/script really took the steam out of the storyline.Also,the special effects were very trimmed down.Still,if one is a big Star Trek fan,you will never forget the emotional scenes of Captain Kirk(what a guy!) and the great acting of Shatner (not to be outdone by Stewart!) here.Yes,this one could have been so much better but I would take a Star Trek movie over the majority of Scifi movies out there!For Star Trek fans only......

*** out of ****

Star Trek: Generations stands out, in my mind, as the most underrated of all the Trek installments. Fans of the original series may not like the transition from old to new, but I personally prefer the crew of The Next Generation, and having been familiar with these characters through the show's seven season run on TV, seeing them on the big-screen was a welcome sight. Personal preference aside, Generations does a fine job of delivering an engrossing tale packed with exciting action and understated humor.

The plot involves an energy ribbon called the Nexus, a place where time has no meaning, where you can live out your greatest joys without fear or worry.

A near deranged scientist, named Soran (Malcolm Mcdowell), has amassed a horrific plan to enter the Nexus, one which could cause monumentous destruction and kill hundreds of millions. It becomes a race as the crew of the Enterprise-D struggles to find Soran before disaster strikes.

Generations has a fair share of problems, but for the most part, it's a very entertaining adventure boosted by excellent special effects and good performances. The film's highlight is the spectacular crash of the Enterprise, one of the most harrowing, exhilarating action sequences of any of the Star Trek films. Then, of course, there's the meeting between the two captains, Picard and Kirk, a memorable union that symbolically passes the torch and ends on a poignant note, which is enough to ignore the plot holes in the climax. Definitely recommended, Generations is a good stand-alone film and makes for an enjoyable warm-up to the superb First Contact.

A new Enterprise generation takes over from the old one in this Star Trek franchise movie. Remembering back when this first came out I recall that Paramount signed William Shatner and Patrick Stewart for a movie and then wrote the script to contain both captains who roamed the galaxies a century apart.

This opens with William Shatner along with Walter Koenig and James Doohan out of retirement to take a short spin on the inaugural voyage of a new Enterprise. The ship gets called on a rescue mission but James T. Kirk is lost and presumed dead.

A century later Patrick Stewart and his Next Generation crew are involved with chasing a renegade scientist Malcolm McDowell whom you can usually find playing disturbed people. He's got some kind of mad scientist scheme to get to a place called the Nexus where time and space have no meaning. To do that he has to launch a missile into a star and have it explode. That it will kill all life in its solar system has little concern. As mad a scientist as you will ever find.

So there's Jean-Luc Picard in pursuit and he gets help from an unlikely source.

That's as far as I go. McDowell is a great villain, always is. It's not the greatest of science fiction plots I've seen. But Trekkies around the globe will love this summit film from the Star Trek franchise.