From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:56 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: redman@indepen.com (Michael Redman) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek Insurrection Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 17 Dec 1998 06:47:40 GMT Organization: ... ~Lines: 115 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75a9ec$1i80$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> ~Reply-To: redman@indepen.com NNTP-Posting-Host: homer35.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913877260 51456 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15736 Keywords: author=redman X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer35.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14883 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2202 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2550 Another day in the Trek life Star Trek Insurrection A Film Review By Michael Redman Copyright 1998 By Michael Redman **1/2 (Out of ****) Ever-expanding civilizations run into a problem eventually. The Roman Empire had its external enemies, but internal problems are what finally defeated the massive state. The government had fallen into a state of disrepair, the infrastructure couldn't stand the weight and it all collapsed into itself. The "barbarians" at the gate were merely finishing off what had already been accomplished. Some critics of modern western civilization compare it to Rome just before its downfall. They say that it's too complex and the center cannot hold. We'll see. In the far-flung future of "Star Trek", the United Federation Of Planets, spanning hundreds of planets, could be slowly falling apart. The Borg and Dominion are pressuring it from without. More importantly, the Federation High Council seems willing to abandon its most sacred rule for a shot of rejuvenation. As the third Next Generation "Star Trek" film opens, an investigatory team of Federation and their new allies the Son'a are spying on a peaceful Ba'ku village. Android Data (Brent Spiner), on loan from the Enterprise, goes berserk for some reason, attacking his teammates and exposing them to the Ba'ku. Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) is determined to destroy Data, but Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) demands a few hours to rectify the situation. When he arrives at the planet, he discovers that the android is the least of the problem. In apparent violation of the Prime Directive, the Federation is attempting to secretly re-locate the Ba'ku because their world is the fountain of youth. As anyone with any Trek knowledge would know, Picard decides that the civilian population is being wronged. Casting aside direct orders from a superior officer, he and the rest of the Enterprise officers beam down to save the innocents. "Star Trek" has a remarkably long history in terms of popular culture. The television program debuted 32 years ago and has spawned several sequel series and nine films as well as nurturing a substantial subculture of Trekkies and Trekkers. This movie, as well as previous ones, is for them and they'll love it. The "Next Generation" series has been off the air for a while and the films are the only opportunity to watch new adventures of Picard, Data, William Riker (Jonathan Frakes who also directs), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden). For the rest of the audience, the film is a mixed experience. It is a well-done new episode in the future history of the Enterprise crew, but it isn't anything spectacular. Showing the new "Star Wars" preview before the film might be a mistake. After the breathtaking scenes from what will surely be next year's blockbuster, "Insurrection" pales by comparison. Trek has a history of an odd style of storytelling. There are very few moments of high drama. Most of the scenes take place in small rooms. There's a whole lot of talking and rarely a sense of danger. The big battle on the planet's surface involves the Federation and Son'a tracking down the fleeing Ba'ku and shooting them -- with little darts. When they are hit, they are teleported up to the orbiting ship. It doesn't come across as real combat, but more like a futuristic game of paintball. Get shot and you're out of the game. The space battles aren't much better. Most of the action is offscreen. Word has it that some of the effects didn't work and scenes were cut. When Riker uses a video game joystick to steer the ship, it laughable not exciting. Even the sinister Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham), leader of the Son'a, is underdone. Abraham is capable of a fine performance, but we don't get much here. Ru'afo will not rank in the list of great "Star Trek" villains. "Star Trek" also has a long-standing tradition of recycling old stories and ideas. It's obvious when the camera pans over the Ba'ku village and shows them to be beautiful people living in harmony with their environment, that they're soon to be in big trouble. The Son'a are hideous, confirming the problems with too many facelifts. Guess who are the aggressors. Disobeying the Federation to do the right thing is so common that we don't even see Picard agonizing over his decision. I kept awaiting the "insurrection" in the title but it's nothing that we haven't seen before. Heavy handed allegories are also a Trek convention. The Ba'ku being relocated for their natural resources is a reference to any number of historical events especially the plight of Native Americans. Picard's romance with the Ba'ku Anji (Donna Murphy) follows his trend of falling for strong women but never following up. Murphy is a nice touch in that she's a sensual intelligent woman who's not a Hollywood 19-year old drop-dead beauty. Riker and Troi renew their romance and end up in a bubble bath drinking champagne although in the chaste world of "Star Trek", you suspect that they're wearing swim suits under the suds. Some of the humor works. Commenting on their rejuvenation, Troi asks Dr. Crusher "Do you feel your boobs starting to firm up?" Data's follow-up is hilarious. And some of it doesn't work. Data singing a tune from "H.M.S. Pinafore" is just goofy. Although the theme of the Federation's aging is never explored, it does leave possibilities for future films that go a bit deeper. "Insurrection" is enjoyable for the Trek fan and not too bad for the general audience. Maybe one day we'll see that marvelous "Star Trek" film we've been waiting for. (Michael Redman has written this column for over 23 years and has been a Trek fan for even longer -- although he's discovered that "Babylon 5" leaves it in the dust. Trekkies can send hate mail to Redman@indepen.com.) [This appeared in the 12/17/98 "Bloomington Independent", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be contacted at Redman@indepen.com.] -- mailto:redman@indepen.com This week's film review at http://www.indepen.com/ Film reviews archive at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Michael%20Redman From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:56 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!192.220.250.21!netnews1.nw.verio.net!netnews.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: PBBP24A@prodigy.com (Edward Johnson-ott) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 9 Dec 1998 06:30:29 GMT Organization: Prodigy Services Company 1-800-PRODIGY ~Lines: 102 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Distribution: world Message-ID: <74l5e5$pea$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer06.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913185029 26058 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15583 Keywords: author=johnson-ott X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer06.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14769 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2186 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2524 Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, Anthony Zerbe, Lorella Cuccarini, Mark Deakins, Breon Gorman, Max Grodénchik, Gregg Henry, Stephanie Niznik, Michael Welch, D. Elliot Woods. Written by Michael Piller and Rick Berman. Directed by Jonathan Frakes. 103 minutes. Rated PG, 3 stars (out of five stars) Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo-online.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests to pbbp24a@prodigy.com To put this review in its proper context, I should acknowledge right up front that I'm a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" fan. Yes, I've reached that point in life where I can publicly admit that I am in touch with my inner geek. Like many who enjoyed "ST:TNG," I was irritated when Paramount elected to fold the still-thriving show so that the vigorous cast could replace the geezers from the original series and keep the company's lucrative "Trek" movie franchise alive. Thanks to the corporate money-grubbers, instead of 24 varied episodes a season, we now only get new doses of the Enterprise crew every two or three years, usually in trumped-up "thrill-ride" movies that bury the characters under a barrage of action scenes. Thankfully, "Star Trek: Insurrection" is the exception to the rule. While the ninth entry in the franchise has plenty of battles to appease the testosterone junkies, "Insurrection" places the emphasis more on people than explosions. The quirkiest "Trek" yet, "Insurrection" is breezy, low- key and often humorous. It plays less like an "event" movie and more like a juicy two-part episode of the series. This time around, the crew faces off against corrupt Federation officials allied with some nasty aliens bent on removing a group of settlers from a planet that is a virtual fountain of youth. When the Enterprise crew discover the true agenda of the Son'a, age-obsessed beings who get more face-lifts than Michael Jackson, Captain Picard and company remove the pips from their uniforms and become freedom fighters, protecting the idyllic Ba'ku colony from Starfleet and the alien invaders. Along the way, most of the cast gets a chance to live it up. In particular, Patrick Stewart lets his hair down (so to speak) with an exceptionally robust portrayal of Jean-Luc Picard. As opposed to the last two films, which placed the Captain in a variety of grim situations, this "Trek" highlights the swashbuckling aspects of the character. Picard even gets a little planet-side romance with Anji (Donna Murphy), a Ba'ku woman who bears a striking resemblance to Susan Oliver, the actress who romanced Captain Pike in the pilot episode of the original "Star Trek" series. The Ba'ku planet emits particles that retard the aging process and the Enterprise crew quickly feels the effects of the phenomenon. Blind engineer Geordi LaForge (Levar Burton) finds his eyes regenerated and finally gets to witness a sunrise without using high-tech visors or ocular implants to "see." After wearing a car fender over his brow for seven seasons and machine-like contact lenses for two films, what a relief it must have been for Burton to have his eyes clear of appliances. The planet affects the libido as well, stirring up the long-dormant romance between Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), who share a bubble-bath in one playful scene. Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) shows more zest than usual, while Worf (Michael Dorn) suffers the indignities of Klingon puberty, dealing simultaneously with an increase in his already aggressive nature and a Texas-sized zit on the side of his nose. Only the android Data (Brent Spiner), who leaves his emotion chip on the Enterprise, is unaffected by all the hyper-hormonal activities. He spends most of the film tending to business, while a Ba'ku kid tries to teach him how to play. After the last two Data-centric films, it was nice to see his character in a supportive role, allowing the others a bit more time in the spotlight. "Insurrection's" mix of humor and heroics is the most successful since "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home." Two early gags, one showing Worf taking a bump on the noggin and the other involving several characters singing a Gilbert and Sullivan tune, triggered memories of cringe-inducing scenes from "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier," the worst "Trek" movie ever, but director Jonathan Frakes handles most of the jokes with style. The film has its weak moments. Compared to previous "Trek" villains, Son'a leader Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham) is a real featherweight. For an exotic race of immortals, the Ba'ku look an awful lot like a bunch of lily-white suburbanites preparing for a camp-out. And why, oh why, do the producers feel the need to include a leaden catch-phrase in every film? When Brent Spiner is forced to say "Saddle up, lock and load," you can sense the embarrassment behind his expressionless face. But enough complaining. The light and lively "Star Trek: Insurrection" deserves credit for daring to break from the standard "Trek" formula. While some fans will grouse about the film, I found this change of pace most welcome. Instead of witnessing yet another struggle to save the universe, it's refreshing to see the Enterprise crew have a little fun for a change. © 1998 Ed Johnson-Ott From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:56 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.cwix.com!192.220.250.21!netnews1.nw.verio.net!netnews.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Scott Renshaw ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 11 Dec 1998 23:05:11 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 94 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <74s8f7$1g44$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer36.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913417511 49284 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15609 Keywords: author=renshaw X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer36.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14793 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2189 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2533 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION (Paramount) Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham. Screenplay: Michael Piller. Producer: Rick Berman. Director: Jonathan Frakes. MPAA Rating: PG (profanity, violence) Running Time: 101 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw. By now, every "Star Trek" fan deserving of the name is familiar with the "odd-even" rule for the feature films. The second, fourth, sixth and eighth films in the series have been the most entertaining; the first, third, fifth and seventh, not so much. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, the latest biannual return of the "Next Generation" cast, marks the ninth big-screen journey into the Trek universe, inspiring a combination of trepidation and hope. Could this finally be the adventure which would break the odd-number jinx? Well, not exactly. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION is an average story, competently told, energized primarily by the chance to mingle once again with the characters from the "Next Generation" television series. The premise finds the Enterprise called to assist when Data (Brent Spiner), participating in a mission on another planet, apparently malfunctions. Once in the system, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and company discover the voluntarily agrarian Ba'ku society about to be removed from the planet by an alliance between a Federation admiral (Anthony Zerbe) and a race called the Son'a, led by Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham). It seems that radiation on the Ba'ku planet possesses a "fountain of youth" quality which makes it incredibly valuable, particularly to the genetically deteriorating Son'a. Picard is outraged by the plan to forcefully relocate the Ba'ku, however, and leads his crew to help defend the planet against the Son'a's sinister plans. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, like most of the films in the series, is clearly designed to appeal to the Trek faithful first, and to a broader audience second. That's one of the qualities which makes INSURRECTION feel as fragmented as it does. Every cast member gets to bow to the crowd in a showcase sub-plot -- Data bonds with a Ba'ku boy over the mysteries of childhood; Worf (Michael Dorn) re-experiences Klingon puberty as a side-effect of the planet's radiation; Riker (Jonathan Frakes, who also directed) gets frisky with Troi (Marina Sirtis) and shaves off his beard; LaForge (LeVar Burton) has his natural eyesight regenerated and weeps at the sight of a sunset. During the run of the series, each cast member could get a couple of episodes per season to anchor the main story line. Over the course of a 100 minute film, trying to give seven characters enough to do to keep them happy leads to plenty of punch lines but not enough focus. It's particularly unfortunate that all the business for the other crew members draws attention away from Patrick Stewart. Here he gets a romantic relationship with a Ba'ku woman (Donna Murphy), as well as a chance to lecture on the historical tragedies of "ethnic cleansing." Stewart has the presence to make virtually anything he does feel commanding, but there's always a sense that he should have _more_ to do. Just as he was always the best thing about the "Next Generation" series, he's the bext thing about the "Next Generation" films, whether playing the fool in a ceremonial headdress or radiating moral courage. Stewart as Picard is almost always going to be a good enough reason to watch a Trek film, while watching him step back for the good of the ensemble will always be a bit disappointing. There are other good reasons to see this particular film, including some sharply-staged action sequences (Frakes showed a similar facility in 1996's FIRST CONTACT) and plenty of belly laughs. There are also other reasons to be disappointed, including a wasted villain in F. Murray Abraham and a resolution which you may miss if you blink. Altogether it feels a bit small for the big screen, more like a solid episode of the series (complete with obvious allegory) than a film. Perhaps there aren't that many great ideas for Trek features to go around, and maybe that's why the heirs to Gene Roddenberry's vision manage to come up with a really good one only once every four years. If they decided not to make a movie every two years, and waited until that really good idea was ready, they could eliminate that "odd-even" problem once and for all. On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 Trek meets: 6. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit Scott Renshaw's MoviePage http://www.inconnect.com/~renshaw/ *** Subscribe to receive new reviews directly by email! See the MoviePage for details, or reply to this message with subject line "Subscribe". -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:56 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!192.220.250.21!netnews1.nw.verio.net!netnews.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "Steve Rhodes" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 11 Dec 1998 23:05:38 GMT Organization: Internet Reviews ~Lines: 63 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <74s8g2$1kcg$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer19.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913417538 53648 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15612 Keywords: author=rhodes X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer19.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14836 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2197 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2541 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1998 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2 Data, a.k.a. Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner), goes haywire in the ninth theatrical release of the STAR TREK saga, called STAR TREK: INSURRECTION. Flying solo in his spaceship, Data fires on his comrades in the Federation. Rejecting all orders to stand down, it takes the singing of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera by his leader, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), to trip him up. Yes, it is time again to go back to one of science fiction's longest running soap operas, STAR TREK. Its fans will likely love this latest episode. Lesser devotees, like this reviewer, will probably be entertained but slightly confused. Although most of the movie is relatively straightforward, some sections play like a foreign language film without benefit of subtitles. The story this time concerns the Ba'ku, a people who have "warp capability" but who have rejected technology. A pacifist race, they live an agrarian life. The story revolves around a sort of fountain of youth that they've discovered and that others want to steal from them. In a bad latex suit, F. Murray Abraham plays the nefarious Ru'afo, who wants the Ba'ku's regenerative secret for himself and his people. He'll stop at nothing to get it, and Capt. Picard is willing to risk a court-martial to thwart him. The intelligent but talky script mixes in some nice doses of humor. Data, in one of the funnier scenes, reveals that he was designed to become a flotation device in the event of a water landing. He then proceeds to demonstrate this ability, providing a nice little sight gag. Too often director Jonathan Frakes, who plays the part of Cmdr. William T. Riker, has a sense of pacing that borders on the glacial. Data, for example, has a long dialog with a 12-year-old Ba'ku about the meaning of childhood. This is one of many soporific scenes that would have been better eliminated or at least trimmed significantly. Although the story has a nice twist toward the end that almost everyone will appreciate, the movie seems designed to please STAR TREK fans while not caring much about the casual viewers. Taken as a whole the movie is fun even if it does contain several long, dull passages. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION runs 1:43. It is rated PG for sci-fi violence and sexuality and would be fine for kids around 9 and up. My son Jeffrey, age 9, said that he could not compare this one to other STAR TREK movies since this was his first one, but he really liked it and gave it ***. His favorite parts were the action sequences, especially those using the phasers and the other guns. He said that the movie was frequently confusing about exactly who were the good guys and who were the bad and what each was up to. Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: www.InternetReviews.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:57 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!newsfeed.enteract.com!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: alex@rea-alp.com (Alex Sandell) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 14 Dec 1998 00:59:58 GMT Organization: Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion ~Lines: 36 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <751nue$15je$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer12.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913597198 38510 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15619 Keywords: author=sandell X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer12.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14818 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2196 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2539 *This review was originally published at "The Juicy Cerebellum" and is copyright 1998 Alex Sandell [All Rights Reserved]. To read the full review, head to www.juicycerebellum.com* If Merchant-Ivory produced a "Star Trek" film, this would be it. A man who must have been about 7 feet tall sat in front of me at the theater, blocking my view. At first, this infuriated me; by the end of the movie I felt like thanking him. Watching his gigantic head bobbing up and down was the only thing that managed to keep me awake. "Insurrection" runs less than two hours but feels like it never ends. Whenever Picard's new girlfriend Anij (Donna Murphy) magically puts the world in slow- motion (don't ask), it feels like director Jonathan Frakes is applauding his pacing of the film. It just plods along as though there is no need to actually entertain the audience when you can just bore the hell out of them and still bring in 30-million the first week. There are a few redeeming scenes toward the end of the movie, but nothing you haven't seen in the million sci-fi flicks that have went before it. There's nothing new in the special-effect's department, either. The effects seem to have been sacrificed to cover the lead actor's ever-growing salaries. The film suffers from a dated look due to this. 1996's "Star Trek: First Contact" was ahead of its time with the stunning visual effects it showed us. It is unfortunate "Insurrection" took a step backward. All in all, this film isn't worth your time. It is nothing more than one of those "sucky" episodes you would turn off on TV. "Oh, no! They're playing that 'Insurrection' episode again! Is 'Jerry Springer' on?" If you must see it, wait for video. Pass this one up at the theater and go rent any of the even numbered sequels such as parts 2, 4, 6 or 8. When it comes to the "Star Trek" series, odd just isn't better. -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:57 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!newspump.monmouth.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Michael Dequina ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 14 Dec 1998 01:00:29 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 56 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <751nvd$ls6$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer25.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913597229 22406 (None) 140.142.17.40 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15623 Keywords: author=dequina X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer25.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14796 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2191 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2534 _Star_Trek:_Insurrection_ (PG) ** (out of ****) I am not a "Trekker," so I was quite surprised by how much I enjoyed the last big-screen installment of the long-running film and television franchise, 1996's _Star_Trek:_First_Contact_. Delivering thrills and a terrific adversary (the menacing Borg race) for general audiences to chew on, and enough of the trademark techno-talk to appease the geekiest of Trekkers, director/co-star Jonathan Frakes had his cake and ate it too. After _First_Contact_'s critical and popular success, it comes as no surprise that Paramount and _Trek_ producer Rick Berman tapped Frakes to helm _Trek_ movie#9, but not even he can break this series from its curious "even/odd" curse--that is, even-numbered installments = good, odd = bad (or at least not good). To be fair, Frakes's direction is not the problem with _Insurrection_--it's the weak script by Michael Piller, from a story Piller co-devised with Berman. This time out, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Commander Will Riker (Frakes), android Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner), Lt. Cmdr. Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton), Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Michael Dorn's Lt. Cmdr. Worf (again on loan from his current TV home on _Star_Trek:_Deep_Space_Nine_) commit the titular act of insurrection against their higher-ups at the Federation when they set out to protect the population of a peaceful planet from a maniacal, Federation-allied alien (F. Murray Abraham) determined to harness the planet's power of granting perpetual youth. _Insurrection_ is a far cry from the violent, "Resistance is futile" Borg antics of _First_Contact_ in terms of action, excitement, and, unfortunately, interest--to non-Trekkers, that is. A lot of the time is spent on light character moments, such as Data bonding with a technology-fearing young boy, Riker and Troi rekindling their romance, and Worf re-experiencing Klingon puberty, thanks to the perpetual youth bug. Trekkers will eat that stuff up; others will be looking elsewhere for something engaging, which cannot be found in the by-the-numbers story or the incredibly boring villain. What they will ultimately fix their attention on is the always-commanding presence of Stewart and the typically polished effects and makeup work. Aside from that, this subpar outing has nothing to offer anyone outside of the _Trek_ faithful. __________________________________________________________ Michael Dequina mrbrown@iname.com | michael_jordan@geocities.com Mr. Brown's Movie Site: http://welcome.to/mrbrown CompuServe Hollywood Hotline: http://www.HollywoodHotline.com __________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Simplify your holiday shopping... Visit our partners for great holiday gifts. http://www.netzero.net/etoys http://www.netzero.net/amazon From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:57 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!news-peer.gip.net!news.gsl.net!gip.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "Brian Koller" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 14 Dec 1998 01:01:30 GMT Organization: MPSi Net ~Lines: 53 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <751o1a$13us$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer23.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913597290 36828 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15632 Keywords: author=koller X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer23.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14817 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2195 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2538 Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Grade: 28 The ninth in an apparently endless series of films based upon the television series "Star Trek", this is also the third film to use the "Next Generation" cast. "Insurrection" gives us the answer to the question, what would happen if a one-hour show is stretched to a two-hour film? While the cinematography is better and the budget is bigger, it seems that we have been down this road before, and too many times. Special effects, techno-babble, and makeup that looks like uncomfortable rubber scarecrows take the place of plot, dialogue and character development. Midway through "Insurrection", there are attempts to add some warmth to the formulaic sci-fi fantasy action plot. Fearless captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) gets a platonic love interest with uninteresting Donna Murphy, while the android Data (Brent Spiner) is taught how to play by an uninteresting pre-adolescent. Romance is rekindled between director/second banana Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and consellor Troi (Marina Sirtis), both of whom are unbearably smug as a result. There's also some kind of moral about the evils of technology, and that it is wrong to steal planets from people. Then, it is back to the fantasy action adventure, with Picard and his heroic crew rescuing the gentle, peace-abiding villagers from the ugly mutants attempting to dislocate them. The plot is reconciled in wholly predictable fashion, with nothing being done to prevent Star Trek X from appearing in theatres two years hence. Since the formula has run aground, I have a suggestion for Frakes and Rick Berman. Why not make "Star Trek X" a musical? Picard can perform "MacArthur Park". Frakes can sing "You're So Vain". LaForge would sing "I Can See Clearly Now". Data will perform "Hooked on a Feeling". Troi can warble "Torn Between Two Lovers" while Whorf tackles "In the Year 2525". Sure, Trekkie fans would feel alien-ated, but perhaps it would be a cult film classic, like "Rocky Horror Picture Show". kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:57 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Craig Roush ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 14 Dec 1998 01:01:13 GMT Organization: ExecPC Internet - Milwaukee, WI ~Lines: 79 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <751o0p$13sq$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer13.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913597273 36762 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15629 Keywords: author=roush X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer13.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14908 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2205 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2552 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION ** 1/2 (out of 4) - an enjoyable movie Release Date: December 11, 1998 Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham, Anthony Zerbe Directed by: Jonathan Frakes Distributed by: Paramount Pictures MPAA Rating: PG (sci-fi action violence, mild language, sensuality) URL: http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio/reviews/1998/st-insur.htm STAR TREK is inarguably the most successful entertainment franchise of all time. The latest motion picture in the formidable line follows in a tradition that is now thirty-three years old, and it is the ninth feature in a string of sequels that extends back to 1979. It might be thought that STAR TREK: INSURRECTION has a lot to live up to. That's not the case. Although there are certain conventions and customs to pay homage to, it has long been a hallmark of the STAR TREK series that each movie is nine-tenths self-contained. Certain features have been major turning points for the series -- for example, in STAR TREK: GENERATIONS, audiences saw the destruction of the Enterprise-D -- but INSURRECTION is more modest in its intentions. This is, simply put, bread-and-butter STAR TREK -- a double-length television episode with beefed-up special effects and a bit more polished script -- all for the enjoyment of the fans. INSURRECTION begins in the Sierra-Nevadas -- er -- a peaceful planet inhabited by an idyllic race of metahumans. These people live a life delightfully free of technology and have a youthful vigor about them; but like all good things, it's not destined to last. As it turns out, their planet holds certain "magical" properties which have attracted the interest of the highest levels of Starfleet and its alien allies. When Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the crew of the Enterprise-E learns of this, however, it's obvious that the Starfleet's intentions are a clear violation of the Prime Directive (the Directive is Starfleet's rule prohibiting interference with the natural course of a civilization's progression). Hence, Picard and his top officers resign from their commands and lead a mission of insurrection on behalf of the planet's people. Even for non-fans, the movie is still some very impressive cinema. On the technical side, INSURRECTION is the most awesome TREK feature to date, giving the audience a good load of special effects. Of course, TREK special effects have never been on-the-cheap, but the significantly larger budget for a motion picture allows the computer folks to get a bit more creative. On the aesthetic side, however, a lot of that grandeur is lost. The script is not pervasive or moving -- Picard only gets one great speech -- and instead fills its time with sniveling bad guys or straight-faced humor for the Enterprise crew (most of which is genuine). The acting corps is back in fine form, although these actors have been playing the same characters for over ten years now. Stewart is considered by many to be the most accomplished actor to have ever donned a Starfleet uniform, and he makes a fair impression here. Jonathan Frakes (directing himself again in his second TREK feature), as Commander Riker, and Brent Spiner, as Lt. Cmdr. Data, are wonderful as Picard's top two officers. Director Frakes even makes a point of giving more screen time to the rest of the ensemble cast, whereas the previous two features -- FIRST CONTACT and GENERATIONS had focused almost exclusively on one character. Overall, INSURRECTION is not the best STAR TREK movie to date. It lacks much of the inspiration that the previous two features had, opting instead to take a lighthearted tone. Those not expecting greatness will find this to be a real crowd-pleaser; but there will be disappointed fans out there. Probably best seen on a Saturday afternoon with nothing else to do. -- Craig Roush kinnopio@execpc.com -- Kinnopio's Movie Reviews http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:58 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "Sheelba" NNTP-Posting-Host: homer39.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913599797 21098 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15645 Keywords: author=sheelba X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer39.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14808 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2192 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2535 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. There are rumors bouncing off the walls of Hollywood that this, the ninth installment of the Star Trek Legacy, is the last we will see. If this is the case then I think this is an appropriate ending to a long series of movies. Plot Overview Captain Picard (Patrick Steward) and the crew of the Enterprise are faced with a delima, allow a Federation/Son'a alliance to remove the peaceful Bak'u people from their planet and re-locate them to another planet without any re-juvination abilities or defy orders and protect the Bak'u from relocation. Picard and crew (naturally) decide to go against orders and defend the Bak'u. As the show develops Picard falls in love with the Bak'u woman Anij (Donna Murphy). Review Writing Rick Berman and Michael Piller did a great job of crafting a fun, funny, and light-hearted action movie. I found myself laughing at almost all of the jokes in the movie, especially an exchange between Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) when Troi was commenting on how the radiation of the planet was making her "boobs" firm up. The plot-line of Bak'u v.s. Son'a was well crafted with an unexpected twist. I also liked the way the show gave us a glimpse of a darker side in the Federation. Dispite the strong points in the main plot there were a few weaknesses, like the way Berman and Piller decided to leave Data's emotion chip out of the episode, a definite backstep in his characters evolution. The sub-plot relationship between Picard and Anij was stronger than the plot and left me wanting more, much more. I got the impression from the movie that the romantic sub-plot was once the plot of the show but at one point they decided to change the focus, possibly in post-production. The sub-plot was the shining jewel of the entire movie. On final note, I also liked the scenes between Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Troi. They were cute, fun, and I feel like their relationship was a longtime coming. Acting The performances in this movie were polished, a pure joy. Patrick Stewart played his role flawlessly, with an ease that was developed over more than ten years of playing the same role. F. Murray Abraham played the role of Ru'afo with the malicious talent that he showed in Amadeus. The stunning Donna Murphy (Anij) was equally polished, it is easy to see why she won her Tony Awards. As for the secondary characters, Johnathan Frakes, Michael Dorn (Worf), and Brent Spiner (Data) all delivered great performances once again. LeVar Burton was good in the movie but he wasn't given much time on the screen to really shine. Marina Sirtis was fantastic once again, I just wish they would use her more often since she seems to steal most of the scene's that she is in. Unfortunately Gates McFadden (Crusher) wasn't given much screen time, in fact, some of the Bak'u secondary actors were given more screen time than McFadden. Directing Jonathan Frakes did another great job in directing this movie and it is easy to see why he has been tapped to direct Total Recall II. There was a time in the film where he used a moving camera shot that seemed to distract from the scene. Sound The sound effects were good (dispite not being filmed in THX). The movie sountract was not particularly memorable and there weren't any new theme's in the film that stayed in my mind. Effects The special effects were better than most films. There were a few times where I could tell the effects were computer generated. The stunts were also well done, although once again there was a scene where the stunts looked contrived (when the villagers were blown off of a bridge). Recap I really enjoyed this movie and plan on seeing it again. The nature of the movie (i.e.. a lighthearted adventure) didn't allow me to walk away with a lasting emotional impression and that is the only real flaw with the movie. I think that if they had focused more on the relationship between Picard and Anij this flaw would have been resolved. I think fan's of Star Trek will enjoy this movie more than non-fans. This is mainly because the fans finally get to see Picard fall in love and the relationship between Troi and Riker is growing again (yahoo!!!). My only real disappointment with the movie was the way they got rid of Data's emotion chip. I have the impression that either Berman or Pillar didn't like the idea of the emotion chip and want Data to de-evolve into a character trying to discover his humanity again. Personally I think this is a mistake. Score: 4.5 out of 5 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:58 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.wli.net!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "MikeJ1" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 14 Dec 1998 01:43:22 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 58 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <751qfq$kjc$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer27.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913599802 21100 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15646 Keywords: author=mikej1 X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer27.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14809 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2193 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2536 >From http://www.ChainReactionBicycles.com/movies.htm Please note this review is from a general movie section on our website (and yes, it *is* a bicycle shop's website, not exactly where you'd expect to find a movie review section!). It's intentionally casual. --Mike-- STAR TREK: INSURRECTION. The 9th movie in the series (really!), the 3rd with the Next Generation cast, and the first in a very long time where it doesn't even seem like the characters are acting, but rather playing, or almost being the roles as they played them best in the series. A great amount of playful banter amongst the cast does, in fact, give you that "warm and fuzzy" feeling that some reviews have talked about. The villains...well, no, they really aren't all that scary, they're just a bunch of mean & nasty ordinary people, and, in the best tradition of the Next Generation series, you could even say they're misunderstood. Only now, instead of Counselor Troi getting to the bottom of their feelings, it's the wise old sage Picard coming to the rescue...the thinking-man's captain. This movie could have been a simple two-dimensional story about good and evil, but an intriguing plot twist may cause you to ask some important questions at the very end of the film. Are the Bake truly blameless victims in what has transpired? Perhaps this is my only real disappointment with the film as they spring such a major development far too late in the film to play it out in the way it deserves...just a bit too tidy an ending to a story that's akin in some ways to a Shakespearean tragedy. I would say this is finally a Star Trek movie that can hold its own against the work of the original series cast in Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home (otherwise known as Save The Whales). Let's hope that it's not followed by something as bad as Star Trek V (Kirk meets God and surprisingly it's not his reflection in a mirror). One final thing that just came to mind, and it's surprisingly negative. In contrasting this movie with the TV series, I suddenly came to an interesting realization. Unlike the wasn't anything that was, as they say, "Larger than life" that required big-screen treatment. This could have just as easily been an excellent two-part TV episode, with the only thing really setting it apart was the obvious comfort and almost ad-lib quality of the acting. In fact, the scenes that depended upon actors outside of the regular cast were those that fell flat! In contrast, the exceptional two-part Borg cliffhanger/season opener from the TV series (titled "The Best of Both Worlds") transcended the small screen and would have been worthy of all that 70mm film and huge budgets have to offer. But overall this movie is great fun and anyone familiar with the Next Generation cast is going to have a great time...it would be virtually impossible for a fan of the series to be disappointed. As for those not real Star Trek (The Next Generation) believers...more later. We attended the movie with at least two such people, Steve (who runs our Los Altos operation and just happens to be my brother besides) and his 10-year-old son Eddie. I know Eddie definitely enjoyed it...there's enough action to keep things interesting (the usual phasers, explosions, space battles etc.). My almost-11 daughter Becky definitely enjoyed it, but she's a confirmed Trekkie! From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:58 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!newsfeed.enteract.com!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Ssg722@aol.com (Susan Granger) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 14 Dec 1998 01:43:27 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 27 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <751qfv$kje$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer37.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913599807 21102 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15647 Keywords: author=granger X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer37.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14920 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2207 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2554 Susan Granger's review of "STAR TREK: INSURRECTION" (Paramount Pictures) Love springs eternal in this ninth film of the popular "Star Trek" franchise, as Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) is attracted to Anij, one of the leaders of an endangered planet and First Officer William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) resumes his romance with Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). True to the spirit of the Starship Enterprise, whose purpose is to explore strange, new worlds and, in doing so, learn about many different species, Captain Picard and his crew come to the rescue of the Ba'ku, a small community of humanoid people whose serene and peaceful way of life is threatened, along with the Fountain of Youth properties of their planet's atmosphere. And, as it has been so often, the Star Trek plot is a metaphor for current events with Picard challenging a Starfleet authority that he believes to be corrupt and becoming an intrepid freedom fighter. Doing his best to overcome the weaknesses of the script - a blustering but relatively ineffectual alien villain (F. Murray Abraham), a leading lady who totally lacks screen charisma (Broadway's two-time Tony winner, Donna Murphy), and an overdose of techno-babble - director Jonathan Frakes keeps the pace light and lively, breaking from the standard save-the-universe, thrill-ride formula and emerging more as a robust, fun-filled reunion episode of "Star Trek: Next Generation." To its credit, once again, the humanity outweighs the hardware. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Star Trek: Insurrection" is a breezy, lightweight 7, combining idealism, action-adventure, and the requisite special effects with some of the gentle humor and romance that characterized the original television series. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:58 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!192.220.250.21!netnews1.nw.verio.net!netnews.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: FilmFan16@aol.com (Dustin Putman) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 14 Dec 1998 01:52:52 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 71 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <751r1k$15ck$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer36.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913600372 38292 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15652 Keywords: author=putman X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer36.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14917 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2206 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2553 Star Trek: Insurrection * 1/2 (out of * * * * ) Directed by Jonathan Frakes. Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Levar Burton, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Donna Murphy, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham, Anthony Zerbe. 1998 - 103 minutes. Rated PG (for mild violence). Reviewed December 13, 1998. By Dustin Putman Dustin Putman's Film Reviews I have never been a "Star Trek" fan, and, to tell the truth, out of the five films in the series that I have seen (1,2,3,8,9), I have disliked all of them. I do, however, always go into one of these with an open mind, and the ninth film in the series, "Star Trek: Insurrection," is no exception. Dropping almost completely the hard-core sci-fi element of the previous one in the series, "First Contact," "Insurrection," tells the story of a planet that holds only 600 people, known as the Ba'ku, as well as the Fountain of Youth. At the start of the picture, the villagers go under attack by a second alien species, known as the Son'a, who want to push all of the Ba'ku out so that their own race will not die out. Also attacking the Ba'ku is Data (Brent Spiner), a robot from the Star Trek Enterprise. After returning to Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the gang on their space ship, no one can understand why Data was somehow taken over by another force. So several of the Star Trek members travel down to the planet of the Ba'ku, where Picard meets up and starts to fall in love with one of the inhabitants, a sultry, kind alien woman (Donna Murphy), who is over six-hundred-years-old, but looks to only be in her thirties. "Star Trek: Insurrection," is a completely unoriginal and cheap-looking installment in the series, and is a big step down from, 1996's "First Contact," which at least appeared to try to make something a bit different. In, "Insurrection," however, it plays like a low-rent episode of the television show, due to the small-scale, generic storyline, and an emphasis on one-liners rather than excitement. The film was filled with nearly non-stop comedy, and worse yet, most of it fell flatter than a cartoon character that drops off a cliff. Meanwhile, when there were action sequences, they were not at all interesting or inventive, relying on that old reliable ticking timer that counts down very, very slowly. This plot device, which is seen in just about every action film made nowadays, is getting old fast. Are filmmakers so bankrupt of ingenuity and ideas that they must always have a timer ticking away during the climax? Another element of, "Star Trek," films in general is that Picard seems to always have to have a love interest, but then she always miraculously disappears when the next film is made two or three years later. Although Donna Murphy, who falls victim to this thankless love interest role here, is actually one of the few characters that we get to know in the 103-minute running time, Alfre Woodard was far superior in, "First Contact." She should have returned for this one, but I don't blame her for not wanting to waste her time with this movie's disappointing and often lifeless screenplay, by Michael Piller. "Star Trek: Insurrection," is perhaps the weakest film in the "Star Trek," series, although I have not seen what is widely considered the worst, "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier." "Insurrection," is the type of "safe" sequel that will bewilder non-fans, since it is so low-tech compared to most of today's blockbuster action films (although most of these are honestly not very good, either), and should disappoint the loyal Trekkies, since it could have easily been better if the makers had realized that the screenplay needed to go through a few more drafts. On second thought, they probably should have completely thrown the script out. That way, they could have come up with a story that at least had a sign of intelligence and freshness. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:59 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!newspump.monmouth.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!newsfeed.wli.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "Mark O'Hara" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 14 Dec 1998 01:53:18 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 99 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <751r2e$1e54$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer21.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913600398 47268 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15657 Keywords: author=o'hara X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer21.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14812 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2194 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2537 Star Trek Insurrection (1998) A Film Review by Mark O'Hara Visit Online Film Critics Society at http://www.ofcs.org In time for Christmas we have the ninth 'Star Trek' feature, Insurrection, a picture that succeeds largely because of the risks it takes. In the opening shots we see the idyllic lifestyle of the Bak'u, a people who are dead ringers for Homo Sapiens, and who choose to exclude their advanced technology from their everyday existence. (Have you noticed, by the way, that intermittent apostrophes in names give them a foreign smack?) Thus there are blacksmiths and bakers and other artisans who wear costumes and live in a village reminiscent of the late Middle Ages. The set decoration resembles a resort, in fact, a place one might reach by a small craft across a man-made bay from Epcot Center. It is the quaintest part of the movie. Another aspect of the set that accents the film's action is the beauty of the planet; similar to the forests in Return of the Jedi, these landscapes provide a natural backdrop in which the story unfolds. The few deep space shots look wonderfully luminous, like the multi-colored photographs of gaseous formations sent back by the Hubble telescope. A sudden intrusion on the simple routines of the Bak'u tells us trouble is afoot. Data (Brent Spiner) has gone haywire, and anyone who knows 'Trek' lore knows Data is an android with the strength of a backhoe. Quickly he thwarts the Federation lackeys who pursue him, and then uncloaks the spy-post occupied by none other than Starfleet Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) and some loose-skinned species with whom Dougherty is in cahoots. Soon we witness the re-assembly of the crew of the enterprise, whose mission is at first to capture Data. When matters become more complicated, a restored Data, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and a comely Bak'u woman named Anij (Donna Murphy) discover a holographic double of the Bak'u village. It seems that this Admiral Dougherty has wheedled the leaders of the Federation into approving the evacuation of the Bak'u to another planet, in order to exploit a most unusual natural resource. If carried out, these orders would of course violate the Prime Directive. Will the principled Jean-Luc Picard permit these peaceable people to be displaced? In the tradition of the best episodes of the series, Insurrection floats some worthwhile political ideas - a plotting strategy right out of Gene Roddenberry's notebooks. The agenda of this installment attacks the relocation of native populations; at no point does Picard mention Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany, though the comparison comes across. So the central conflict of the film springs from a trusty, if unoriginal, premise, and director Jonathan Frakes - Cmdr. William T. Riker, the loyal 'Number One,' - moves the story engagingly while staging variations on familiar themes. Michael Piller's screenplay is well edited, with punchy scene-closings and a few hearty chuckles, nods to comic relief generated by Worf's revisted puberty and Data's misinterpretation of references to boobs. Pretty standard stuff, this, but it works again. The villain's seat is occupied by F. Murray Abraham as Ru'afo, an angry alien who looks like a mummy with a steel plate in his head. Abraham's makeup is actually a throwback to his Academy Award-winning role of Salieri in Amadeus, skin sagging in even greater folds and pouches. Ru'afo is moderately effective as a baddie; it's just that he's mostly bark, the script not giving him the menacing bite given Christopher Plummer as a Klingon general in an earlier flick. Not until we discover Ru'afo's history with the Bak'u does his character take on more mythical proportions of evil. Once again Patrick Stewart plays a brave and noble captain. His acting is probably the most transparent among the cast. He makes us believe a 60-ish action hero whose ethics and actions are beyond question. Picard even gets a love interest in this episode - Anij, whose beauty belies her 300-plus age. Unfortunately, the Captain gets no farther than hand-holding, though he promises to spend an upcoming 318-day leave with her. Hints of a rekindled romance turn up repeatedly between Riker and the buxom Counselor Deanna Troi, though we do not see much consummation in this relationship, either. (The dearth of affection is probably one cause for the PG rating, for which I am thankful; my 10 year-old was able to attend with us when usually she misses 'Star Trek' installments.) Music in Insurrection nicely compliments scenes that require it, giving the audience cues for climactic moments. As I believe the makers of the 'first' episode of 'Star Wars' are doing with John Williams' theme, the 'Star Trek' people reuse the famous 'Next Generation' main theme, big on horns, at the end. All the baloney about numerology aside, this odd-numbered 'Star Trek' is a solid entry in the series. It is not as riveting as the last, First Contact, which featured the Borg, the worst cross you could imagine between zombies and vampires, and which was very heavy on technology and space exteriors. By leaving this trend at least momentarily behind, Insurrection takes a chance on a slower pace and more character development. Two decisions that, for my three and a half dollars, make for good entertainment. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:59 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!newspump.monmouth.com!newspeer.monmouth.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!128.223.220.30!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Victory Marasigan ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 16 Dec 1998 06:00:54 GMT Organization: University of Maryland, Baltimore County ~Lines: 70 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <757iam$1kog$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer32.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913788054 54032 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15663 Keywords: author=marasigan X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer32.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14932 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2208 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2557 Latest _Trek_ Boldly Goes Nowhere STAR TREK: INSURRECTION Review by Victory A. Marasigan http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~vmaras1/reviewsidx.html It's hard to believe it's been nearly five years since "The Next Generation" crew gave up their top-rated syndicated TV series "to explore new worlds and new civilizations" on the big screen. What's not as difficult to believe is the ebb of rich characterizations and fresh storylines their infrequent adventures have necessitated. _Star Trek: Insurrection_, the crew's third feature, sadly rings more like a _Return to Mayberry_-type reunion than a thrilling further adventure. This time around, the Enterprise and her crew must travel to a remote planet, where one of their own has apparently gone renegade and taken people hostage. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and crew manage to subdue their comrade and beam down to investigate, only to find a small colony of youthful Ba'ku living in an eerily tranquil, unchanging paradise. The actual threat to these humanoid people is a group of stretchy-faced aliens called the Son'a (led by _Amadeus_' F. Murray Abraham) who, under the sanction of the Federation, have devised a sneaky plan to steal the planet -- and its rejuvenating resources -- right out from under the Ba'ku's wrinkle-free noses. The planet's virtual Fountain of Youth is a thinly-veiled excuse to show Our Gang acting uncharacteristically giddy and energetic, a la the break-dancing old geezers in Cocoon. Counselor Troi and Commander Riker (Marina Sirtis and director Jonathan Frakes) rekindle their early TV series romance. Worf (Michael Dorn) goes through Klingon puberty all over again. Geordi LaForge (Levar Burton) gets to see for the first time. And Picard finds love with a sweet (and improbably unattached) Ba'ku (Donna Murphy). It's too bad the planet's powers can't work true miracles, like subtracting the pounds some of the crew have gained during their two-year hiatus (Is it just me, or is Commander Riker prematurely showing the famous Captain Kirk lovehandles?). The temporary augmentations brought about by the planetary anomaly only highlight a failure of the new movie voyages so far. After three films, no major changes in the characters' lives have occurred, barring Picard's Ahab-Moby Dick awakening in _First Contact_. Beloved personalities like Troi and Worf have become mere caricatures of themselves. And the pasty-white android Commander Data (Brent Spiner) has had nothing to do but plod along and "discover" yet another strange facet of humanity -- in this case the concept of adolescent fun (Really, after almost a decade on the Enterprise, you'd think he'd have learned the meaning of "fun" long ago). Much of Insurrection's self-aware script plays off the fact that these characters know each other so well, they can predict exactly what the other is going to do in any given situation. Their familiarity with each other is sort of a private joke, albeit one which seasoned viewers of the series will eat up. It's all too apparent that writers Rick Berman and Michael Piller were trying to duplicate the virtues of their last film, the enjoyable _First Contact_. But all the eye-winking humor and space-chase action they packed into this outing can't mask the fact that the story is silly, dull, and ultimately inconsequential to the _Star Trek_ mythos. Unless the Enterprise breaks free of the orbit into which it's currently locked, the hit-or-miss legacy of the franchise will likely continue. GRADE: C+ Reviewed December 9, 1998 at RC Eastpoint, Baltimore, MD. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:59 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!newsfeed.enteract.com!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Bill Chambers ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 16 Dec 1998 06:02:00 GMT Organization: Film Freak Central ~Lines: 90 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <757ico$1hhg$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer03.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913788120 50736 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15673 Keywords: author=chambers X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer03.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14846 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2198 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2543 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION * (out of four) -a review by Bill Chambers ( wchamber@netcom.ca ) (Merry Christmas from Film Freak Central! http://filmfreakcentral.net ) starring Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, F. Murray Abraham, Anthony Zerbe screenplay by Michael Piller directed by Jonathan Frakes Everything about this ninth Trek movie seems on the cheap, from the Roger Corman-grade special effects to its highly derivative and ugly ad campaign (the poster is nearly identical to that of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). But Piller’s not-quite-half-baked screenplay should ultimately claim responsibility for Insurrection’s failure. I’m about to give the same advice to Rick Berman and co. as I’ve given to the financiers of James Bond movies: it’s time to breathe life into this workhorse by hiring solid genre writers and a real director. (While we’re at it, put that visor back on LaForge!) For three hundred years, the Ba’ku species (who look just like humans) have lived on a ringed-planet that might as well be called the Fountain of Youth. Six hundred of them occupy the Briar Patch, the area affected by metaphasic radition, a positive energy that reverses the aging process in the elderly. But evil Ru'afo (this is probably Abraham’s last stop before performing "Amadeus" at a dinner theatre near you), leader of the Son'a (who look just like burn victims after reconstructive surgery), wants to relocate the Ba’ku and movie his people onto the Briar Patch in their place, in order to replenish his dying breed. The Federation is all for this, but Picard feels this is a direct violation of the Prime Directive: to not interfere with the development of an alien race. (Never mind that the Ba’ku didn’t exactly evolve—they went wandering in the universe one day and stumbled upon the magic world.) Every time Frakes gives an interview lately, he seems to top whatever ludicrous statement he last gave regarding this installment. He has called it a comedy, a thinking man’s picture, a throwback to the old series, and, most grievously, he has likened it to a John Ford western. (I presume that’s some John Ford he went to school with, not the director of The Searchers.) He has also gone on record as saying Paramount recut the film from his version. That’s no excuse—someone generated this footage. Muddy cinematography and sitcom sets are the least of its problems; Star Trek: Insurrection appears to have been beamed in from the planet Plotholia. Consider such curiosities... Picard’s love interest, Anij (Donna Murphy), can slow things down by staring at them (such as a waterfall or falling rocks)—her scientific explanation for this? "Don’t ask." Worf gets a pimple (he’s re-experiencing Klingon puberty thanks to the time-defying atmosphere), LaForge regains his eyesight (trust me, Levar Burton’s real eyes are scarier than those electronic lenses he wore in First Contact) and Troi brags about her firm boobs, but Picard remains as bald as an android’s butt. Most suspiciously, what exactly is the problem with letting this endangered race have a little fun in the sun? The filmmakers cloud the issue with some nonsense about a family feud of sorts, and they also turn Ru'afo into a completely power-mad superfreak, just so the characters will have something to do in the climax. (And if you’ve seen Return of the Jedi, you’ve seen the ending of this movie.) Didn’t Picard himself previously disobey the Prime Directive when he prevented the Borg from assimilating millions? Frakes lucked out with First Contact, and repeat viewings of that film reveal the seeds of what went wrong in his direction of Insurrection: he has no sense of comic timing, and he mines for acting chemistry where none exists. (Take a look at the painful "Troi gets drunk" scene in FC and you’ll get the general idea of Insurrection’s unsuccessfully jokey and hollow tone.) Even the worst Shatner and co. Treks, like The Final Frontier, maintained a watchability thanks to the effortless, charming comaraderie between Kirk, Spock, and Bones. Neither First Contact nor Insurrection has any idea what to do with Crusher (Gates McFadden, whom I must say maintains a fabulous physique), Troi, or LaForge. And all three Next Generation films spend too much time on Data, who is the franchise’s answer to Urkel. Need a cheap laugh? Have Data say something sexual, or start singing, or lift up a four hundred pound boulder as if it’s the hunk of styrofoam it really is. Here’s my proposed title for number 10: Data Star Data Trek: Data Data Data Data Data. In this movie, Data will become preoccupied with learning to blow his nose, while Crusher and Troi watch silently from 500 yards away and LaForge points his sinister gaze at the android in doubly robotic observation. Star Trek: Insurrection had one nice, eerie, silent moment that hints at a better, darker film. I’m not saying all of them should be Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, but this one boldly went where no movie should go again. -December, 1998 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:59 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!newsfeed.gamma.ru!Gamma.RU!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Matt Williams ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 16 Dec 1998 06:39:12 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 67 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <757kig$1o3e$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer08.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913790352 57454 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15704 Keywords: author=williams X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer08.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14868 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2200 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2545 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION A film review by Matt Williams RATING: * 1/2* out of * * * * The odd-numbered Star Trek film curse strikes again. For those of you unfamiliar with Star Trek lore, it has been maintained that the only good Star Trek films are those with even numbers. Perhaps in response to this, Paramount stopped numbering their Star Trek films after #6. The latest outing of the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Insurrection, is the ninth film in the series...and like many of its odd-numbered brethren, it proves to be an awkward misstep. Once again, it is the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew which takes center stage. This time, they're embroiled in a plot that feels like a leftover tv episode. The peaceful Ba'ku people are in trouble, but they don't know it. Their idyllic paradise planet is being lusted after by the evil Son'a race, who crave its fountain-of-youth properties. Certainly the Federation wouldn't allow this warlike race to totally eliminate another society, would they? Well, therein lies the problem, the evil Son'a are allies with the Federation, and the Federation is willingly assisting the Son'a in their efforts. Enter Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and crew. Brought in to disable malfunctioning android Data (Brent Spiner), the crew learn of the plot, and quickly take sides against their own beloved Federation in order to save the 600 Ba'ku people. The dialogue of Star Trek: Insurrection is easily the worst quality yet seen in a Star Trek film. Virtually every other line is either a quip or a catchphrase. The rest of the script is meaningless technobabble. There are several good acting talents among the cast, and they all deserve better than this. The special effects are above average, though most of them are pointless effects for effects sake. The starship combat scenes are visually impressive, but confusing and lacking urgency. Apparently more time was spent determining what would look cool, rather than worrying about things such as pacing, or even common sense. There's precious little, if any, character development here. In fact, several of the characters have seemingly regressed from the events of the last several movies (for example, Data's emotion chip is nary to be seen). There are a few romantic subplots: Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis) rekindle a relationship, and Picard gets together with Anij (Donna Murphy), a Ba'ku woman. The villains are also rather bland. The most interesting thing about the Son'a is their obsession with obtaining eternal life through technology (rather than the Ba'ku's "natural" methods). However, their leader, Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham) is all bark and little bite. Star Trek: Insurrection isn't painful to sit through, but it adds nothing to the Star Trek mythos, and overall is a complete waste of time. Copyright 1998 Matt Williams - Matt Williams (matt@cinematter.com) Reviewer for Cinematter: http://www.cinematter.com Home of over 650 reviews, and information on nearly 700 upcoming releases From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:15:59 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!masternews.telia.net!news-nyc.telia.net!newshub.northeast.verio.net!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: brianlt@aloha.net (Brian Takeshita) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 17 Dec 1998 06:32:28 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 138 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75a8hs$1mim$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer31.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913876348 55894 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15713 Keywords: author=takeshita X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer31.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14873 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2201 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2549 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION A Film Review by Brian Takeshita Rating: **1/2 out of **** Beginning on September 8, 1966, the original "Star Trek" TV series ran for three years on NBC, and only survived that long due to a massive fan-based letter writing campaign mounted after announcement of it's impending cancellation by network executives in it's second year. However, moved to a time slot regarded as death by ratings standards, the show failed to be profitable enough to be included in the 1969 fall lineup, and lived on only in syndicated reruns. In contrast, the TV series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" ran for seven seasons from 1987 through 1994 without any network association (it was syndicated from the start), and showed no signs of any waning popularity. Whereas most television programs which last more than a couple of years die agonizing deaths as viewers slowly tune out, "The Next Generation" voluntarily took itself off the air in order to make the transition to the big screen. Passing the TV Trek torch on to two new series, "The Next Generation" cast bowed out gracefully. Whether or not their transition to theaters has been entirely successful is another story. The beginning of this film finds a malfunctioning android Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) exposing an operation conducted jointly by the Federation Starfleet and a race of beings known as the Son'a. The operation is to study the Ba'ku inhabitants of a planet which seemingly possesses the ability to grant immortality to those who live there, and exploit the planet's unique resources for the good of billions. The planet is in Federation space, but the Son'a have the technology to make the exercise work, resulting in a mutually beneficial alliance. However, when the covert nature of the operation is blown and captain of the Starship Enterprise Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) arrives to take Data into custody, he interacts with the peaceful Ba'ku and slowly begins to uncover the real agenda of the Son'a, and their ties to a goal which goes against the very foundation of Starfleet: The Prime Directive of non-interference with less-developed civilizations. Captain Picard must then lead his crew against the orders of Starfleet Command and the Federation Council in order to save the Ba'ku from potential destruction. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION marks the third big-screen outing of the heirs to the top tier of active "Trek." The first film, GENERATIONS, was heavily anticipated, but marginally received. The second, FIRST CONTACT, was widely regarded as the shot in the arm that the flagging franchise badly needed. With very little originality and a retention of the TV series mentality, INSURRECTION seems unfortunately content to ride on the popularity of its predecessor. The first question that occurred to me was, "Why is the film called 'INSURRECTION?'" It sounds so ominous and negative. If the heroes of the film are the ones fighting against the corrupt authority, it's not really an insurrection, but more like a rebellion or crusade or something that sounds a little more noble. "INSURRECTION" would have been more apt if the film were about how the Enterprise were sent to put down a mutinous band of Federation citizens or something like that (then, in typical Star Trek fashion, it would be later revealed that there was reason for the uprising, exposing tainted elements of authority). One of the working titles for this third Next Generation installment was STAR TREK: PRIME DIRECTIVE. Would've been a heck of a lot better, if you ask me. Jonathan Frakes, who also directed STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, and who also plays the role of the Enterprise's first officer, Commander William Riker, shows a solid directorial talent once again, but the principal problem with this film is that the story plays like something from one of the series episodes, but has been dragged out for two hours. A tighter screenplay could have the whole film in a one-hour installment, but a great deal of useless filler is added in order to stretch the story into feature length. Watch for one of the Ba'ku women's ability to seemingly slow time, then be prepared to be let down as neither this ability, nor its significance, is explained. Worse yet, some of the filler poses elements intriguing to fans, but are left untended and unresolved by the end of the movie, almost as if we'll be able to see a continuation next week. However, there won't be a next week; we'll probably have to wait another two years, and it'll be interesting to see if they remember to even give lip service to some of these things. There's a lot of stuff in INSURRECTION that's being passed on to us as new, but which has really already been covered during seven years of episodes. I suppose if you haven't watched much of "Star Trek: The Next Generation", it may not matter, but the movies are essentially made for the fans, and those are exactly the ones who will be disappointed in this film's lack of originality. For example, one of the filler subplots involves Data interacting with a child and discovering childhood for himself. He must have done it a half dozen times during the series. Isn't his search for humanity getting a little old? What happened to the computer chip which gave him emotions? It was included in both the previous movies, but in this one, the Enterprise's Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton) claims Data "didn't take it with him" to the planet. It would seem as though it this was done just so screenwriters Rick Berman and Michael Piller (both of whom had extensive involvement in producing "The Next Generation") could recycle a theme which has already been explored repeatedly. There's also a trick that Picard pulls on the leader of the Son'a (F. Murray Abraham) that seems so incredibly clever until you realize that Picard had the same trick pulled on him years ago, then subsequently used it himself, and all done years before this movie. Did the filmmakers think we've got really short memories, or that we'd nod knowingly at the "homage" to the series? The current incarnation of the Starship Enterprise (NCC-1701E) still hasn't grown on me. Perhaps it's because the new ship was thrown to us in such a nonchalant manner in the last film, greatly contrasted with the extensive (although admittedly a bit excessive) showcasing of the Enterprise in STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE, and I still feel that we haven't yet been properly introduced. The "Enterprise-E", as it's called, looks alien, and although I realize there are probably a lot of aliens in Starfleet's design bureau, the classic look of the Enterprise has been a reassurance that we, the humans of the here and now, are the forefathers of those who would explore space in the future. As the very symbol of the whole "Star Trek" franchise becomes further altered into something unrecognizable, we as the fans become distanced from "Star Trek" and from the hope that was engendered in those who so faithfully followed it. Before you go wondering if there was anything I liked about STAR TREK: INSURRECTION, I will say there were some very positive aspects to the movie. The film's pacing is pretty good, with enough action interlaced with the dramatic and lighter moments to keep things moving. Special effects, while widely downplayed as a contribution to the "greatness" of a film, are superb and deserve note for their technical contribution. As a side note, this is only the second "Star Trek" film out of nine to not use Industrial Light and Magic for any of its special effects. The actors play their roles with the aplomb of old pros, once more slipping into their familiar personae. Additionally, they actually look as if they're having fun, and that really goes a long way. It was also nice to see that Captain Picard has a love interest (Donna Murphy), since he so rarely got one in the past. How Patrick Stewart must envy William Shatner. Unfortunately, the talents of F. Murray Abraham are woefully underused in a role which requires little of the skilled actor. The character itself is not even very good as a villain, and no where near some of its deliciously over-the-top predecessors. And you know how they say the villain often makes the picture. There has been a rule of thumb used by both critics and fans of the Star Trek movies: The even numbered ones are good, the odd numbered ones not as good. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION is number nine in the series. The rule lives on.... Review posted December 16, 1998 From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:00 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!chippy.visi.com!news-out.visi.com!Supernews73!supernews.com!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: cjc@interport.net (Cheng-Jih Chen) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 17 Dec 1998 06:35:16 GMT Organization: Interport Communications ~Lines: 70 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75a8n4$10mc$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer34.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 913876516 33484 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15730 Keywords: author=chen X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer34.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14886 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2203 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2551 Odd-Numbered Curse A-Go-Go. This movie works on so many levels! There are elements of that Kevin Costner-meets-Lakota movie ("Star Trek 9: Dances with Llamas"), a whiff of Pennsylvania Dutch chic ("Star Trek 9: Dances with Amish"), all suffused with old-fashioned Vermont hippie-commune idealism (well, at least before the sellout). It's an amalgam of all these, but set in northern California. Yes, the crew of the Enterprise-E, after long voyages of discovery and galactic adventure, has found a bunch of technologically advanced people who enjoy living their immortal lives as dirt farmers, and have been doing so for centuries. Yup. Don't let the warmly lit, Italian-rural-style dining fool you (dining scenes themselves taken from the "American|Brit in Villa For Summer" genre, therefore "Star Trek 9: A Starship With A View"). Those poeple, while they have not yet evolved into pure energy, know all about warp technology, positronic brains and quilt-making. Unfortunately, they wrote down their nuclear-weapons technology on a napkin and lost it, so when it came time to "kick Son'a ass", all they have are sticks with rusty nails in them. We'd otherwise have a much shorter film, giving back to us ninety minutes of lives. We could have used those extra ninety minutes to contemplate the benefits of a simpler, rustic life. I suppose that in taking this opportunity for contemplation away from us and instead subjecting us to this movie, the filmmakers have betrayed their own vision of paradise. I suppose I should explain why nuclear weapons would have been needed. Bad guys, led by F. Murray Abraham (oh, how far he's fallen: I saw "Amadeus" recently on DVD, and what a wonderful Salieri he was. Now, he's simply the pathetic New Face of Evil.) in cahoots with the Federation, have decided to steal the secret of Amish immortality. They come up with this wacky plan involving holodecks and a trail of breadcrumbs to trick the Amish to their reservation. The offer of casino rights apparently wasn't contemplated. Picard, through a series of humorous accidents and chance encounters, discovers the wacky plan and sets out to foil it. He also gets laid in the process. (Oh, we now have proof that Picard was born bald (well, you know what I mean): bathed in age-reversing metaphasic radiation, his scalp budges not an inch). Of course, the Enterprise crew is successful, the rustic paradise is saved, and Disney acquires rights to build a theme park on the other side of the planet, Bed-and-Breakfast Land. The other amusing tidbits: you can fly the Enterprise with a pop-up joystick on the bridge. This ain't no fancy Thrustmaster-type joystick. It's one of the nasty ones that come with your computer if you buy it at Bob's Bait and PC Shack, the ones that get your X-Wing creamed by those TIE fighters on Mission 4. Riker got to use the joystick (and had the bubblebath scene with Troi) 'cause he's the director. I have the impression that Riker was as screwed as the hypothetical X-Wing player (not me, I suck at those games), because the "fire phasers" trigger wasn't working. If it did, it would have saved many more minutes of movie. There are actually lines of dialog that invoke Gilbert and Sullivan in what would ordinarily be a tense, bad special effects-laden situation. There are other lines of dialog that refer to breast size. Boggle. If I were the actors on Deep Space 9 or Voyager, I'd be pissed at the whole movie-making apparatus over at Paramount. To think, the studio bigwigs may flush the franchise down the crapper before they get their turn at making movies. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:00 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!master.news.rcn.net!howland.erols.net!news-peer1.sprintlink.net!news-in-east1.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!netnews1.nw.verio.net!netnews.nwnet.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: leeper@mtgbcs.mt.lucent.com (Mark R Leeper) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 20 Dec 1998 18:15:12 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 87 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75jerg$116c$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer16.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 914177712 33996 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15764 Keywords: author=leeper X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer16.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14947 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2213 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2567 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION A film review by Mark R. Leeper Capsule: In a relatively minor STAR TREK story, the "Next Generation" crew stop a miscarriage of justice against a group of six hundred people living a sort of idyllic existence on a magical planet. Beautiful special effects, but a somewhat lackluster story. Rating: 5 (0 to 10), low +1 (-4 to +4) New York Critics: 6 positive, 3 negative, 7 mixed Maybe STAR TREK is growing up and what we are seeing with STAR TREK: INSURRECTION is really a good thing. For once the Next Generation crew are not out trying to save the universe from a mad man trying to destroy it. The basic issue being discussed is one that gets seen in American courtrooms every year. The issue is one of eminent domain. Does the Federation have the right to relocate a group of six hundred colonists from a planet and turn that planet into a boon to the entire human race? Do the colonists have a right to say they do not want to give up their planet at the expense of the greater number of people? It is an important legal point. Certainly there are examples in the past when relocating people has been a great injustice. What is at stake are the principles of the Federation. But do we really care, given that we are living in a decade when many large institutions seem to be betraying their founding principles? The idea that the Federation of Planets may be no better than many of our own government agencies is hardly shocking today. This principle of possession is an odd basis for what is in large part an action film. It certainly is a complex moral issue. Or it could have been a complex moral issue if the writers had the courage to leave it ambiguous. But not surprisingly they did not have that courage. Rest assured that when the movie is over--and in fact from very early in the film--the viewer will know who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. And what is more--I doubt that this is a spoiler--it is the pretty people who will be the good guys and the ugly people who will be the bad guys. So if the themes are a little more sophisticated than usual, the approach is not. The Ba'ku are an advanced race who have abandoned their advanced technology and returned to a simple life in which they can do simple, pleasant, creative tasks all day long. They have found themselves a planetary Shangri-La that keeps them forever young. It is the kind of non-technological utopia where everybody has nice creative tasks like baking bread or making pottery and nobody within range of the camera has to do laundry, scrub mildew stains, or clean toilets. But another race, the Son'a, are plotting to get control of the Ba'ku's planet so that the Federation can analyze the magic of the planet. The Son'a people look like they were inspired by the Katherine Helmond character of BRAZIL. They look like they started human looking but have had too many facelifts so the flesh is pulled too tightly over their skulls. It is a kind of nightmare that people must have in affluent neighborhood of Los Angeles. There is also something of The Shadow in them as they and the Federation were able to build a large observation station within yards of the Ba'ku encampment, all the while clouding Ba'ku minds so they were never detected. The Enterprise crew get involved on the side of the Ba'ku, defending their right to monopolize the positive effects of their planet. Curiously this film almost directly contradicts the theme of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN in which Spock tells us that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. The actors playing crew of the Enterprise do their standard competent acting job. It may take a little while to get up to speed remembering the personalities of each of the characters as one viewer told me. But they step through their roles with performances that are equally without flaw or excitement. Even the former great Patrick Stewart is a competent but pedestrian starship captain. Rejoining the crew is Michael Dorn as Worf who manages to be assigned to the Enterprise or to Deep Space Nine, whichever this agent prefers at the moment. F. Murray Abraham is the alpha Son'a, but even he cannot put much passion into his role. The actors are much upstaged by the usual exquisite Enterprise effects. Views of the old starship tacking in and out of nebulae where this film shows its real artistry. The STAR TREK: INSURRECTION might make a decent episode or two of the TV-series, but it has hardly the makings of a classic film. It just is not sufficiently involving. I give it a 5 on the 0 to 10 scale and a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. Mark R. Leeper mleeper@lucent.com Copyright 1998 Mark R. Leeper From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:00 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Walter Frith ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 21 Dec 1998 06:04:42 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 78 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75kodq$src$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer22.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 914220282 29548 (None) 140.142.17.40 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15776 Keywords: author=frith X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer22.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14979 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2215 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2573 'Star Trek: Insurrection' (1998) A movie review by Walter Frith Member of the 'Online Film Critics Association' http://ofcs.org/ofcs/ Anyone who knows the 'Star Trek' movie series knows that they are all characteristically different in style as well as substance. The even numbered ones, 2, 4, 6, and 8 are said to be better than the odd numbered films 1, 3, 5, and 7, but each film in its own different way has been mystical, action packed, compelling, funny, religious, intriguing, harmonic, and terrifying. Notice that there are 8 adjectives described here. One for each film in order since 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' in 1979. Wow! Talk about a movie critic who doesn't ramble on! What better way to describe these films than in one word. The adjective that best describes 'Star Trek: Insurrection' is "romantic". The film is a nice 180 degree turn from 'Star Trek: First Contact', the best of the three films so far that incorporates the cast from television's 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' (1987-1994). Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew help a race of people who are about to be sent into exile from their peaceful planet of prosperity by others of the same race who want to take revenge for being sent into exile years before. The plot is quite monstrous. Led by Ru'afo (F.Murray Abraham), the exodus will come without the citizens knowing it. You see, in the 24th century it is possible to create a hologram which is a fake image of something that seems real. The entire planet was to become a hologram and the unwitting citizens would be whisked off the planet living in this hologram without even knowing it is false. Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Data (Brent Spiner), LaForge (LeVar Burton), Crusher (Gates McFadden) Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Worf (Michael Dorn) tag along with Picard in heroic fashion to help save the people of the planet and fight against the Federation at the same time who make a disastrous decision early in the film. The good thing about this movie is that all of the film's characters seem to be displayed in an even flow of presentation and none of them are given too much or too little screen time. I thoroughly enjoyed this film for taking the necessary steps and keeping in the tradition of being very different from the other eight 'Star Trek' films. Jonathan Frakes does a good job directing the picture while keeping the pace free flowing and the running time relatively short. Some of the dialogue is wooden and a few of the performances a bit lazy but overall I recommend this installment in the series simply for its ability to entertain, tell a good but nevertheless predictable story and establish its own identity. When you consider that so many films that get released are copies or variations of other films, it's really a surprise to see a NINTH installment in a film series come off looking so much different than its other chapters. F. Murray Abraham (remember him). He won a Best Actor Oscar in 1984 for 'Amadeus' for playing Mozart's rival Antonio Salieri. His work as the villain in this film isn't exactly the way I wanted to see him make a comeback in film but he does his job well and creates probably the best 'Star Trek' villain since Christopher Plummer's portrayal of the evil General Chang in 'Star TrekVI: The Undiscovered Country' in 1991. Take advantage of this film on the big screen if you value the 'Star Trek' series and while talk of this being the last 'Star Trek' film has made its way through the movie grape vine in recent days, its box office numbers suggest otherwise. It remains a profitable and successful franchise and the term 'Star Trek', when entered into any search engine on the Internet, probably brings up more matches than any other genre of its kind. OUT OF 5 > * * * 1/2 Visit FILM FOLLOW-UP by Walter Frith http://www.cgocable.net/~wfrith/movies.htm wfrith@cgocable.net From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:01 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!newsfeed.enteract.com!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!newsfeed.berkeley.edu.MISMATCH!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "Joe Chamberlain" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 23 Dec 1998 05:17:01 GMT Organization: The Movie Guy ~Lines: 72 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75pucd$srm$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer10.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 914390221 29558 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15792 Keywords: author=chamberlain X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer10.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15005 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2218 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2578 Star Trek: Insurrection A review by Joe Chamberlain Starring Patrick Stewart; Jonathan Frakes; Brent Spiner & LeVar Burton Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the rest of the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise are back for their third outing in the ninth film based on the 1960's series, Star Trek. Gone are Kirk, Spock and McCoy and in their wake in the very able and very talented cast from Star Trek: The Next Generation. As usual, a crisis is brewing and it is up to the crew of the Enterprise to make the galaxy safe again. This time out The United Federation of Planets and an alien race led by F. Murray Abraham are trying to move some colonists off a planet against the colonist's will. It turns out that this planet is the fountain of youth and the Federation and their alien buddies feel that is should be used for the good of everyone and not just a few hundred colonists. Of course Picard feels that this sort of treachery is wrong, so he disobeys direct orders and vows to help protect the colonists. Insurrection is a lighter movie than the last two Star Trek films. The film focuses on the lofty question of whether the rights of society as a whole outweighs the rights of a small group. In this respect it gets back to the roots of Star Trek by disguising social commentary as science fiction. It doesn't do a bad job, other than it tries to inject too much humor into the story line. Many of the jokes are your typical inside Star Trek-Fan-Only jokes, while many of the others just fall flat. The other criticism that I had with the story was that it ignores common sense. There are only a few hundred people on this whole planet, why do they have to be moved? The explanation is that the planet has to be bombarded with deadly radiation so that this fountain of youth effect will be strong enough to help heal F. Murray Abraham's aliens who number only a couple of dozen. So the basic story line is bad enough in that we have a few hundred being booted out for a few billion, at least that's plausible. But in reality we have a few hundred being moved for the benefits of a few dozen, which makes no sense whatsoever. The other little hiccup in logic is the inclusion of Worf (Michael Dorn), the trusty Klingon. Worf was on Star Trek: The Next Generation, so they want to include him in the films. No problem so far. Worf is now a character of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, so the writers have to find a way to have him show up. In the last Star Trek movie, First Contact, the included Worf in a credible fashion, in this one, the writers are so lazy that the completely gloss over why he is even in the movie. What little explanation they do give is so small that you would have missed it if you weren't hanging on every word on the screen. My minor problems with the movie aside, Star Trek: Insurrection does have an overwhelming number of good points as compared to its bad ones. While many of the jokes do miss the mark, many are pretty good, even for non-trekkies. The special effects are among the best for the Star Trek series. The action is plentiful and well done. This is a very good-looking movie. It should come as no surprise to anyone who ever watched Star Trek: The Next Generation that the acting is first rate. It is very obvious that these actors have been working together for over a decade. They interact with each other with a skill that few other ensemble casts can muster. Most Star Trek fans probably will not be disappointed with this latest film in the series. If you've always hated Star Trek, there is nothing here that is going to change your mind. Star trek: Insurrection is not the best film in the series, but it is good enough to dispel the long standing tradition of the odd numbered films in the series being far inferior to the even numbered ones. 7/10 Visit The Movie Guy http://members.tripod.com/~MovieGuy/index.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:01 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!masternews.telia.net!news-nyc.telia.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!awabi.library.ucla.edu!128.32.206.55!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Homer Yen ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 23 Dec 1998 05:28:01 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 59 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75pv11$1ec4$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer09.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 914390881 47492 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15795 Keywords: author=yen X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer09.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:14986 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2216 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2576 “Star Trek: Insurrection” - A Familiar Frontier by Homer Yen (c) 1998 Something odd has happened to Commander Data (Brent Spiner). He was a part of an observation team that was sent to secretly observe a peaceful colony known as the Baku. But he exhibits insubordinate behavior by making his presence known to the villagers (a severe violation of a non-interference clause known to watchers of the series as the Prime Directive) and also attacks his fellow officers. What has caused Data to act this way? Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the rest of the Enterprise crew, who have always entrusted their lives to Data, comes to his aid and subsequently launch an investigation to determine the motivation behind his actions. As a result, they uncover a secret plot that could forever affect the lives of the Baku. And although the Enterprise crew would be quick to defend the peaceful colonists against mighty oppressors, their actions may jeopardize a new-found alliance as well as their own future. It seems that an incredible phenomenon makes this planet something of a Fountain of Youth. Secrets learned from this planet may help humanity survive the ongoing challenges from hostile alien factions of the Star Trek universe. The wizened Picard, however, can not justify the forced removal of a people. He must find a way to protect them. Unfortunately, Picard seemed like the only one that exhibited any kind of convictions. His Shakespearean background allowed him to inject a believable pathos into his role. The rest of the crew and even the tone of the movie, however, seemed to lack any kind of fervor, excitement or wit, which made the previous Star Trek movie (First Contact) so enjoyable. Much can be blamed on the subject material, which centers more on a moral battle rather than a life-or-death struggle. The goal of Picard’s crusade didn’t seem all that compelling, which made the whole movie experience somewhat uninteresting. One thing that I've always admired about many of the Star Trek storylines is that it frequently presents a plot that has some educational value - whether the episode is intended to impart a lesson or whether it reflects on a significant chapter of humanity’s history. The drawback, however, is that the presentation can be somewhat sobering, and in a 2-hour, feature-length film, the message can wear thin rather quickly. So, as a fan of Star Trek, I enjoyed seeing the crew reassemble for another mission. But I was disappointed to a degree because this latest installment offered an all-to-familiar premise that amounted to a slightly better-than average episode. Grade: C+ if you’re a Trek fan C if you’re not. _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:01 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Steve Kong ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 25 Dec 1998 04:17:19 GMT Organization: The Hard Boiled Movie Guide (http://boiledmovies.sbay.com/) ~Lines: 100 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75v3kf$112c$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer38.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 914559439 33868 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15815 Keywords: author=kong X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer38.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15013 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2219 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2580 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION (1998) A film review by Steve Kong Edited by Cher Johnson Copyright 1998 Steve Kong If you're a Trekkie, serious or casual, you'll most likely know about the curse of the odd-numbered Star Trek films. But, for those of you who don't, here's a quick rundown of the movies. Number one was overly long. Number two is the best of the films featuring the original crew. Number three, was there a number three? Number four was a light-hearted and fun adventure. Number five, well, what can I say? William Shatner directed it. Number six was exciting. Number seven suffered because of Kirk and a mediocre story. Number eight, First Contact, is the best of the series - there's no beating the Borg as an enemy. Now, we have number nine - will it suffer the wrath of the odd-number? Unlike First Contact, Insurrection is more light-hearted. The film reminded me a lot of The Voyage Home (IV) because it doesn't take itself too seriously. There are quite a few laughs in this film; I would say a few too many. This veers the film from light-hearted to campy. Insurrection opens with Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) on a field study of the Ba'ku, a Luddite-like culture. Data goes berserk and takes hostages. The Enterprise is called to come get Data before he is put out of commission. When the Enterprise arrives, a series of events thickens the plot. We find out that the Federation has made new partners with the Son'a and are studying the Ba'ku. The Son'a have ulterior motives for the study, though. It seems that the planet the Ba'ku inhabit is surrounded by rings of a substance that continuously regenerates the cells of living organisms. This substance is of interest to the leader of the Son'a, Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham), and is seen by Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) as a saviour for the Federation. What could be better than the eternal life provided by the rings of the Ba'ku planet? What Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) finds is a ring of conspiracy within the Son'a/Federation partnership. He finds that the partnership is in violation of the Prime Directive (the Federation cannot interfere with technologically limited civilizations). The main theme of Insurrection is so obvious that unless you're brain dead, it'll hit you like a two-by-four between the eyes. It's obvious from the first twenty minutes that the writers are drawing parallels to the Europeans invading North America and ridding the land of the Native Americans. One fun thing about going to a Star Trek film on opening night is the atmosphere of the crowd. The Star Trek crowd is different than all others. There is a loose Trekkie bond between people who don't know each other. While waiting, my friend Aaron and I talked to some beer-drinking Trekkies about different cameos in the different films (Christian Slater, Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Lloyd) and in front of us was a guy dressed as Riker. There's nothing like going to a Star Trek film on opening night. As for the film itself, I thought it was a bit too campy. It was an entertaining film, but there were a few flaws. First, and foremost, there was too much comedy in the film. I like to laugh, but Insurrection felt more like a comedy than a Star Trek film. From Worf's puberty to Riker and Troi running around like horny teenagers, this film just felt weird. Second, the special effects were awful - a full step behind those of First Contact. The new Enterprise looked like a cheezy model bought from a discount store - as did most of the ships in the film. I'm not sure if the production ran out of money for special effects or what, but they were not up to par with those presented in First Contact. And last, the plot felt like an overly long version of a TV episode. The two good things about the film were director Jonathon Frakes and music composer Jerry Goldsmith. Frakes is able to keep the film moving at a brisk pace and Goldsmith is able to integrate the score into the film seamlessly. Goldsmith is one of the hardest working composers in Hollywood and I'm always delighted to hear his work. The best performer in the film is Stewart. As always Stewart is a joy to see onscreen because he never fails to entertain. Kudos to Stewart for a great performance in Insurrection. Also kudos to Brent Spiner for another funny performance as Lt. Commander Data. Spiner gets some of the best moments of the film and he juices each and every one of them for its full entertainment value. F. Murray Abraham's Ru'afo is one of the less memorable bad guys in the Star Trek series. He doesn't even come close to Ricardo Montalban as Kahn in The Wrath of Khan. All in all, Insurrection is not a bad film, but it still does suffer a little from the curse of being an odd-numbered film. I was fairly entertained by the end of the film, but not as much as I was after seeing First Contact. Though, I admit it is a hard task to follow up a brilliant film like First Contact. Catch Insurrection at matinee or on video. [Rated PG – Some violence. Running Time: 103 Minutes] --- Steve Kong reviews@boiled.sbay.org recipe for a hard boiled review: one egg, two cups water, a pot, a helluva attitude, and a guy who loves the cinema. i'm your hard boiled movie guide. http://boiledmovies.sbay.com/ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:01 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!newsfeed.enteract.com!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Arnold Kim ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 25 Dec 1998 04:17:43 GMT Organization: University of Washington ~Lines: 66 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75v3l7$1ae8$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer25.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 914559463 43464 (None) 140.142.17.40 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15820 Keywords: author=kim X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer25.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15019 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2220 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2581 ~Title: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Okay, I admit it. I do like to watch Star Trek on occasion, and might even consider myself a slight fan of the series. I've seen 7 of the 9 movies, and many of the episodes of Next Gen., Deep Space 9, and Voyager. A lot of the good and the bad aspects of the series in there, and the latest incarnation, "Star Trek: Insurrection" (1998) mixes both. It has the premise and the ideas of the wonderful TV series, but with the execution of some of the worst films. "Star Trek: Insurrection" once again brings us back to the familiar company of Captain Picard, Commander Riker, Lieutenant Data, Worf, and the rest of the "Next Generation" crew. This time, we are reunited with them amidst a plot between corrupt Starfleet officials and an alien race called the Baku, who attempt to basically evict the peaceful, agrarian Sona people from their home planet, which is basically a giant fountain of youth. This, of course, is in the interests of research, as discoveries about the planet can potentially help millions of people suffering from variosu illnesses or whatnot. Of course, when Picard finds out about the intention to move these people, him and his crew revolt against the officials and their alien allies. Now here's the main problem with the film. When I was watching it, I thought to myself, what was so bad about moving them- 600 people- if it were in the interests of millions of others? On the other hand, it _is_ the eviction of 600 innocent people. The story would have been made a lot better if it addressed this moral dilemma- do you sacrifice the few for the greater good? Rather, it answers this question way too quickly and then the story just turns into a fairly mindless "sci-fi flick", using film cliches like the child going back into a dangerous area to save his pet. And in order to try to make up for the lack of plot, it attempts for a "twist" towards the end revealing something about the relationship between the Sona and the Baku, but that twist feels contrived. Similarly, I think the characters and their relationships seem to suffer as a result of the disappearance of strong plot as well. I liked the way things were going with the characters in the beginning, articularly the rekindling of the relationship between Counselor Troi (Mariana Sirtis) and Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes, who also directed). The moments they shared were snappy, smart, and with some welcome sexual energy. But those moments, of course, are gone later in the film. Captain Picard also starts up a romance of his own with a young-looking Sona woman (actually a few centuries in age) and I think that the chemistry between them can be pleasant and beautiful, just like the woman herself is, but again, that suffers as the romance tries and fails to integrate into the latter half of the film with the phaser blasts going in every direction. Many believe that today, good special effects are taking the places of a good story, and that pretty much seems to be the case with "Insurrection". The visual effects are probably the most remarkable element of this film, and are a step above those that are offered in the other Trek films. Some shots, particularly involving the Enterprise itself, are obviously computer generated, while others, like when we see more of Lt. Data's body as he strips off the "invisible" clothing that he wore, are pretty eye-opening. My personal favorite is the shot of the invisible Holodeck revealed after water had been sprayed on it. However, none of this makes up for what I think are the foundations of a good film- characters and plot, both of which 2/3 of the film is lacking. The ideas behind this film had pretty good potential; it's disappointing to see them with relatively half-baked execution. My score out of 10: 4.5 They said they tried to make it more like the TV series, but I guess not enough. Arnold Kim From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:01 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "Nathaniel R. Atcheson" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 25 Dec 1998 04:40:15 GMT Organization: Film Psychosis (http://www.pyramid.net/natesmovies) ~Lines: 83 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75v4vf$15lo$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer01.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 914560815 38584 (None) 140.142.17.40 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15838 Keywords: author=atcheson X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer01.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15020 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2221 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2582 Star Trek:  Insurrection (1998) Director:   Jonathan Frakes Cast:  Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham Screenplay:  Rick Berman, Michael Piller Producers:  Rick Berman Runtime:   US Distribution: Paramount Rated PG:  action violence, mild language Copyright 1998 Nathaniel R. Atcheson One can not observe a Star Trek movie and expect to see serious science fiction. The purpose of Star Trek is to provide flashy, innocent fun. Sometimes the stories are compelling. Sometimes they’re not. But, with the exception of the first film in the series (which provides little more than endless shots of amazed faces), I’ve never been bored by any of the Enterprise’s numerous missions. Star Trek: Insurrection is no exception. The film has gotten some negative reviews (a friend of mine actually thinks it’s the worst in the series), but I’m not really sure why. It’s an exciting, often hilarious movie that engaged me and left me ready for the next Star Trek film. Some say it’s a bit too light, and more of a long episode than a film. Others say the special effects are cheesy and that it’s boring. I simply enjoyed the film. Insurrection, which is the second film to feature strictly the Next Generation cast, introduces us to a race of people called the Ba’ku; the Ba’ku are very old (most of them are about three hundred years old), but they actually appear younger with age due to strange radiation in the rings of their planet. Of course, these peaceful people can’t horde this fountain of youth all for themselves – leave it up to their archenemies, the Son’a, led by Ru’afo (F. Murray Abraham), to mess everything up. The Son’a, who are horribly disfigured and rely on daily reconstructive surgery to be aesthetically acceptable, strike a deal with the Federation to move the Ba’ku elsewhere and exploit the secret to keep their race from dying. That’s when Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) steps in: he realizes that moving the Ba’ku would kill them (it also helps that he falls in love with a Ba’ku woman (Donna Murphy)). So, with his trusty crew, Picard defies the federation to keep the Ba’ku in their natural habitat. When dealing with a series with as much history as this, it’s not entirely necessary to re-introduce your characters with each episode. This is why I believe non-fans have a hard time getting into Star Trek; in order to enjoy it, one has to understand how to approach it. Insurrection, however, does a surprisingly good job of us new aspects of the characters. Stewart is bold as always, a magnetic screen presence and perfectly capable of holding an entire film together. Jonathan Frakes, who also directed, is funny as Commander Riker; a subplot with Data (Brent Spiner) discovering his lost childhood is fairly interesting; and Abraham makes a perfect Star Trek villain, overacting like crazy. Frakes showed similar aptitude for direction in First Contact; Insurrection is an exciting film, with some really attractive special effects and a lot of good action. This is apparently the first Star Trek film to utilize computer animation, and the result is very pleasing to the eye: particularly in the climactic scenes, in which the Son’a employ a giant space ship to suck up the rings of the Ba’ku planet, the special effects have a clean, impressively sharp look. If I have any complaint about the film, it’s that it tries to take a moral stance when it’s not very appropriate to do so. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal that the Federation wanted to move 600 Ba’ku in order to save the lives of thousands. Better yet, why couldn’t they have co-existed? Insurrection feels a little to light to spring these kinds of big moral questions on the audience. With it’s inherent camp factor, the Star Trek series doesn’t seem well-equipped to deal with issues like this. I prefer to just enjoy the spectacle. Psychosis Rating:  7/10 **********/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\************ Visit FILM PSYCHOSIS at http://www.pyramid.net/natesmovies Nathaniel R. Atcheson **********/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\************ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:02 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Nicole Lesley ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 30 Dec 1998 06:31:43 GMT Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science ~Lines: 72 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <76chcf$qhk$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> ~Reply-To: nikki@cs.usyd.edu.au NNTP-Posting-Host: homer20.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 914999503 27188 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15885 Keywords: author=lesley X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer20.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15092 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2224 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2588 Star Trek Insurrection Director: Jonathan Frakes. Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis. With any Star Trek movie, there comes a lot of baggage. Lots of people stay away because they're not trekkies: they've never watched the television show and they don't like Science Fiction. On the other hand, fans expect so much, even becoming a tad proprietal about their show. So who should go to see the latest instalment of the Next Generation films? How does it hold up for the two extreme ends of the viewing population? I fear trekkies will be a bit disappointed. Just like First Contact, the previous Star Trek movie, Insurrection doesn't have a lot of plot. It's basically an extended television episode on a bigger screen. All the standard characters are there, doing what you'd expect of them, and it's an interesting enough plot but it's not a ground breaking movie. On top of that, the effects are pretty cheesy. When I go to a Star Trek movie, I basically expect an extended television episode with cool special effects: I got the former but was robbed of the latter. The ships, docking and moving about in space looked like models. Even worse were the less amazing scenes like when Data (Brent Spiner), Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the love interest were entering the water-craft they had discovered: the mountain backdrop was clearly fake. I don't know how much money was spent on special effects for Insurrection, but when I compare it to the great crash scene from the first Next Generation movie, it comes up very short. There are, however, many pluses for Insurrection. While there will never be any Best Actor Oscars being awarded to the cast of a Star Trek film, all the performances are quite good. On top of that, there is a lot of humour in this movie. Whilst there were humorous pieces in First Contact, it had a very dark tone. There is no such tone in Insurrection: we have goodies and baddies, people to save, lessons to be learned but it is all done with a light-handedness that is very funny. The ability of the cast to laugh at themselves makes the film quite enjoyable. The moral of the story, standard Star Trek, is also handled well. Although it's fed to us via Picard pontificating about the rights of people to self determination, watching Picard pontificate is not an unpleasant thing. His mellifluous voice can make anything palatable. Overall, I think non-Science Fiction fans may enjoy Insurrection more than the hard core fans. Like most Science Fiction, it's really a morality play. In this case, however, Insurrection contains lots of morality, heaps of play and very little Science Fiction. Rating: CR © Nikki Lesley 1998 nikki@cs.usyd.edu.au http://www.cs.usyd.edu.au/~nikki/m_r/Intro.html ratings system: HD: High Distinction D: Distinction CR: Credit P: Pass CP: Conceded Pass F: Fail From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:02 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: me@alanine.ram.org (Ram Samudrala) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 1 Jan 1999 20:15:31 GMT Organization: Movie ram-blings: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies.html ~Lines: 77 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <76jad3$15be$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer22.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 915221731 38254 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15905 Keywords: author=samudrala X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer22.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15104 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2225 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2589 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Star Trek: Insurrection http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/generations.html#9 I have seen every episode of the original /Star Trek/ series and the various spin-offs (/The Next Generation/, /Deep Space Nine/, and /Voyager/). I even own a couple of /Star Trek/ pins. When I was eight or so, I snipped the ends of my eyebrows and extended them in an arched shape with a black marker and pretended to be Spock, which freaked my mom. That is about the extent of my obsession with Trek, which I don't think is excessive, but indicates I do enjoy the concept and the series. So going into the ninth film, /Star Trek: Insurrection/, I knew I'd enjoy it quite a bit. The reason I like /Star Trek/ has little to do with the anthropomorphising that commonly occurs, but rather for the really cool sci-fi ideas. Though every so often, /Star Trek/ manages to make a bit of insightful social commentary; most of this occurred in the /The Next Generation/ series. I think the original series struck the right combination between humanising a story and bravely going where no one has gone before, and the spin-off series that come closest to achieving this balance is /Voyager/. From this perspective, /Insurrection/ isn't one of my favourite /Star Trek/ episodes: it involves concepts such as colonisation and how human history is replete with horrific incidents where the needs of the many have outweighed the needs of a few to serve "a greater good". Fortunately, however, these concepts are ones I take an active interest in and that made the movie enjoyable for me. The other problem with most of the /Star Trek/ movies is that they're not long enough. In the TV series, an hour could be devoted to showcase each of the characters. In the /The Next Generation/, there are at least six prominent characters, and each of them are given some time here but their time on the screen is spread way too thin. It doesn't help that /Insurrection/'s basic plot is lacking and appears to have gone through meat grinder to make it work: While on a First Contact mission, the Enterprise is alerted that Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) has gone wild while passively observing a idyllic and unrealistic race of people known as the Ba'ku. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) manage to disable and capture him before he faces termination at the hands of Federation Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) allied with another race of people known as the Son'a. Unknown to Picard and the Enterprise crew however, Data's actions were protecting the Ba'ku from the Son'a, who have other ulterior motives, including mining the planet for its "fountain of youth" properties. The Federation High Council is eager to please the Son'a because they produce large quantities of Tetracel White (which is the drug the Dominion use to control the Jem'Hadar soldiers), even if it means throwing aside the Prime Directive (which really is only a convenient plot device). As you may have guessed, Picard must live by his conscience and go against the Federation High Council, the Admiral and the Son'a in order to save the Ba'ku. There are some nice shots of the new Enterprise and of the region in space known as the "Briar patch" where the space action takes place. The movie has a campy feel to it, which distracts from the weakness in the plot. The dialogue is forced at times. The age of the crew is starting to show, with the exception of Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Picard. The music by Jerry Goldstein is of the standard high calibre. The direction by Frakes is decent, but even he can't do much given the weak plot. But as I say above, I enjoyed the movie; primarily for the visuals and cinematography, but also for invoking certain ethical dilemmas (best applied to events in our real world instead of a concocted one where they don't make sense), and for the chance to hear Picard, Data and Worf sing /A British Tar/. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- email@urls || http://www.ram.org || http://www.twisted-helices.com/th Movie ram-blings: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:02 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Tim Voon ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 1 Jan 1999 20:43:32 GMT Organization: stirling ~Lines: 37 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <76jc1k$1qau$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer03.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 915223412 59742 (None) 140.142.17.35 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15932 Keywords: author=voon X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer03.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15129 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2227 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2590 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION 1998 A film review by Timothy Voon Copyright 1998 Timothy Voon 3 out of 4 for the crew of the Enterprise Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham. Screenplay: Michael Piller. Director: Jonathan Frakes. There are those of you who will whinge about the fact that INSURRECTION, is just as ordinary as another episode of the successful STTNG franchise. There will be unfair comparisons made to the previous, likely to be more successful, well made, FIRST CONTACT. All of the above may be true, but this is still an enjoyable movie to watch. Then there are those who will complain about the lack of action or special effects. My reply would be, if you want to see special effects visit George Lucas, if you want something more thoughtful and evenly paced, watch STTNG. It is true that the tension is not as great as in FIRST CONTACT, but hey, you can't have a Borg in every movie, and the lack of cliff hanger action is well compensated by light humour and character developments. The dependable cast is a joy to watch although visibly older - especially Counsellor Troi, but appearances are secondary - it's the characters we've come to watch. This movie is a team effort, with an almost even focus on each member of the original cast, unlike FIRST CONTACT, which belonged to Picard. Despite much criticism from others, this is still a fine movie in the vein of what we have come to love and enjoy about the hearty crew of the USS ENTERPRISE. Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au Movie Archives http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Tim+Voon Movies In Melbourne http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~pfowler/week/movies.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:03 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!masternews.telia.net!news-nyc.telia.net!newsfeed.cwix.com!128.223.220.30!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: James Sanford ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 1 Jan 1999 20:56:21 GMT Organization: University of Washington ~Lines: 44 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <76jcpl$ht4$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer06.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 915224181 18340 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15937 Keywords: author=sanford X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer06.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15153 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2230 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2592 There's a time-honored theory among hardcore viewers of the "Star Trek" films: Every odd-numbered movie in the series stinks. For example, the first, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," was a long-winded yawn, but the follow-up, "The Wrath of Khan" was terrific fun. The third, "Search For Spock," was mildly tedious, but the fourth, "The Journey Home," spiced up the usual formula with romance and wacky humor, as the Enterprise crew tried to fit in in contemporary San Francisco. And so on and on. "Star Trek: Insurrection" is the ninth installment, following 1996's "First Contact," which many regard as one of the very finest of the bunch. "Insurrection" doesn't have the nightmarish visuals of that film, or as strong a story, but it features enough goofy humor and clever plot twists to qualify as the "Trek" that effectively breaks the curse. The movie's single best feature is its villain Ru'afo, played with scornful malevolence by F. Murray Abraham; he can take his place alongside Alice Krige's Borg Queen in "First Contact" and Ricardo Montalban's Khan as a memorably creepy nemesis. Ru'afo is the leader of a race that ages so quickly they must frequently subject themselves to the scariest onscreen face-lifts since Katherine Helmond's nip and tuck in "Brazil." So who can blame him and his gang for wanting to move to a planet where pulsating rings of radiation have allowed the peaceful Baku to remain both youthfully spry and as mellow as the inhabitants of Shangri-La? After meeting the Baku, most of whom talk like they've read too much Rod McKuen ("A single moment in time can be a universe in itself," theorizes one), Picard (Patrick Stewart) decides to prevent Ru'afo's planned relocation of the tribe to another world. Cue the requisite explosions, chases and perils. But though it moves swiftly, Michael Piller's screenplay takes a few breaks for romance -- Picard and Riker (Jonathan Frakes, who also directed) each get a love interest -- and laughs, as Data (Brett Spiner) rehearses "HMS Pinafore" and Picard re-discovers the magic of the mambo. If the picture errs on the side of touchy-feely occasionally, it still manages to regain its bearings in time for a suspenseful climax that includes a major surprise regarding Ru'afo. Though it's not quite top-flight, "Insurrection" is reasonable fun and its tale of eternal life is quite fitting in this, the 20th anniversary of the "Star Trek" movies. Live long and prosper, indeed. James Sanford From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:03 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "David Wilcock" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Date: 3 Jan 1999 22:13:50 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 74 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <76oq2u$1cqu$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> ~Reply-To: "David Wilcock" NNTP-Posting-Host: homer33.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 915401630 45918 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15967 Keywords: author=wilcokc X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer33.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15146 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2229 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2591 Star Trek: Insurrection Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner and F. Murray Abraham. Directed By Jonathan Frakes Running Time: 1 hour 40 minutes. (Paramount Pictures) The new Star Trek movie has a lot to live up to: it is an odd numbered Star Trek film. (The ninth to be exact.) It must therefore try to escape the dreaded 'odd numbered Star Trek film curse,' which is that every odd numbered Star Trek film is rubbish. (Remember number five? Ouch!) Thankfully, while not brilliant, it is certainly not a mess by any means. The rather silly plot centres around a planet with magical properties that Captain Picard (Stewart) wants to protect from an alien race, led by Abraham. The film manages to cram in action, laughs and romance in even amounts. Although it could be a little more light hearted (like the wonderful Star Trek IV) the film is entertaining. The plot is alright, but there's a nice twist in the film when it threatens to drop dead. The lines, though, are sometimes banal, especially the ones by the inhabitants of the planet. There's the usual philosophising and grand speeches that come part of the Star Trek package, but there's nothing to cringe worthy in this film. There's not as much action in the film until the very end, so the film has to rely on the characters. They're played with the usual gusto by the Next Generation cast, and the actors are also given the opportunity to act a little younger. (The planet enables people to remain young.) There are some gratuitous love scenes involving a beardless Riker (Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis), which are even more gratuitous when you consider Frakes directed the movie. But there's some standout scenes: when LaForge (LeVar Burton) sees a sunset with real eyes for the first time, and anything involving the Klingon Worf (Michael Dorn) returning to puberty is also amusing. The increasing popularity of Data (Spiner) is evident in this movie, as nearly the entire film centres around him. Sadly, the film is missing a enemy as menacing as the Borg in the previous First Contact (1996.) The alien race in this film are somewhat menacing, but Abraham isn't a strong enough presence to warrant as a 'good' bad guy. Therefore, the Enterprise is lacking a definite evil to fight against. Still, the bad guys look good, and they're suitable enough to keep the plot going. The special effects are nice, and the Enterprise is looking as fine as ever (if a bit small.) The effects are done entirely on computer, so some parts look like the Wing Commander game. Still, they are generally exciting, and are used well in the action sequences. Talking about action, when it finally arises, it's well handled, and is a break away from the heavy-handed plot that is taken far too seriously. Star Trek: Insurrection is fine for trekkies, and good for non-trekkers as well. I'm not a Star Trek fan, but I enjoyed this film. It's nothing special, and Star Wars: Episode 1 will probably whoop it's ass (sorry) but it's good, solid entertainment. Worth watching. RATING=*** OUT OF ***** A David Wilcock Review ©1998 DAVID WILCOCK david.wilcock@btinternet.com Visit the Wilcock Movie Page! http://wilcockmovie.home.ml.org -OR- http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/9061 Recieve Wilcock Movie Page Reviews via E-MAIL Send a blank E-MAIL to wmp-reviews-subscribe@makelist.com to join the mailing list! "You know, for kids"- Norville Barnes From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:03 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cyclone.news.idirect.com!island.idirect.com!newsfeed.enteract.com!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Justin Felix ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 6 Jan 1999 06:04:57 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 124 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <76uue9$lvu$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer37.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 915602697 22526 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15985 Keywords: author=felix X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer37.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15178 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2231 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2594 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION (1998) A film review by Justin Felix. Copyright 1998 Justin Felix. All of my film reviews are archived at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Justin+Felix This review also appears in the Shrubbery -- http://www.theshrubbery.prohosting.com/0199/movie3.html Rating: ***1/2 (out of five) Written by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. Directed by Jonathan Frakes. Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, F. Murray Abraham. Rated PG (contains violence and mild profanity) 102 mins. Synopsis: Captain Picard and the crew of the starship Enterprise disobey Federation orders and defend a peaceful community of 600, the Ba'ku, from the evil Admiral Dougherty and Ru'afro. The Enterprise crew, in the meantime, experience the rejuvenating qualities of the Ba'ku homeworld: Lt. Worf grows a pimple, Data sings opera pieces, Picard scores with a Ba'ku chick, Riker shaves while sharing a bubblebath with Troi, and the Enterprise women note their firmer breasts. Comments: "Star Trek: the Next Generation" was a hugely successful sequel TV series to "Star Trek," a science fiction series which developed a devoted fan following in the 1970s. Even though it still enjoyed high ratings, "Star Trek: the Next Generation" ended production after seven years so that the cast could replace the original "Star Trek"'s cast in Paramount's film franchise centering on the voyages of the starship Enterprise. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION is the ninth "Star Trek" movie and the third to focus on the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" crew. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION qualifies as one of those movies Star Trek fans, such as myself, would rate somewhere between "okay" and "good." After STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER, a nearly awful movie almost as bad as the repugnant "Star Trek: Voyager" TV series, "Star Trek" fans could probably swallow anything Paramount throws out in the Trek film franchise. I don't wish to spend this review comparing INSURRECTION to the eight other Trek movies. Most people reading this probably haven't followed "Star Trek" anyway, so a comparison would seem tedious at best. Let me, thus, make my comparisons briefly so that it's out of my system: STAR TREK: INSURRECTION is not as good as the previous installment, STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT; STAR TREK: INSURRECTION's comic tone may be best compared to STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME; STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN is still the best Trek movie. Okay. Let's move to the movie itself. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION infuses a basic science fiction premise, humanity's exploration and colonization of space, with a lot of lowbrow humor and witty oneliners. This combination works well more often than it fails, but when it does fail, the humor really seems cheesy. Much of this film appeals to Trek fans' nostalgic fondness for the starship Enterprise's crew. Audiences unfamiliar with Trek lore may miss the significance of some plot points and may even become confused at times. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION begins with scenes of the tranquil life on the Ba'ku homeworld. Forget the actors and special effects, the beautiful setting of this movie, with its snowy mountaintops and verdant valleys, steals the show. This tranquility, however, is broken by Data, an android, who reveals to the Ba'ku that they are being secretly monitored by the Federation and their alien allies, the Son'a. It seems that this world is a veritable fountain of youth, sustaining its inhabitants indefinantly in a young, healthy state. The Enterprise crew, led by Captain Picard, investigates Data's actions and uncovers a conspiracy between the Son'a and an Enterprise admiral to relocate the Ba'ku and plunder the planet's youth-restoring properties. Sound pretty heavy? It is, though this plot, anything but unique and groundbreaking, is undermined by the film's constant barrage of humor. When going after Data, for instance, Picard sings an opera piece with him (this is supposed to be cute and humorous). In a much more funny sequence, Work grows a large pimple on the side of his nose as a result of his exposure to the Ba'ku homeworld, a pimple which his crewmates, try as they might, cannot avoid looking at. The acting in STAR TREK: INSURRECTION is, for the most part, pretty good. Since they've been playing these characters for years, those portraying the Enterprise crew reassume their roles effortlessly enough. The terrific actor Patrick Stewart plays Captain Jean-Luc Picard and delivers a moral speech, Picard's trademark, with his usual aplomb. Brent Spiner, another fine actor, plays the android Data well enough again and provides the best moments of comic relief in the film (though the old android-wishing-to-be-human motif will tire some Trek fans familiar with the routine from the TV series). The supporting cast who appear in this movie alone are also pretty good. Despite many other critics' negative opinions, F. Murray Abraham (the winner of an Academy Award for his performance in AMADEUS) plays the major villain Ru'afro well enough. Ru'afro reminds me, somewhat, of the Baron Harkonnen in the 1984 film version of DUNE. Like the Baron, Ru'afro continuously has his skin looked after: it is stretched and stapled by servants. In one particularly memorable scene, Ru'afro becomes very agitated, and his facial skin splits open and bleeds. Ru'afro is no Khan from STAR TREK II--the best Trek villain ever--but he is much better than the forgettable Dr. Soran from STAR TREK: GENERATIONS. (Okay, I promise, no more comparisons.) Donna Murphy must also be noted as a Ba'ku woman, Anij, who Picard falls in love with. Murphy is not a young woman with a supermodel body; she is a mature woman with an attractive countenance. This is the type of woman whom Picard, for those who know the character well, would be enchanted with. In fact, the chemistry between Murphy and Stewart works very well here. A particular plot point involving Anij's ability to slow time down, an ability which she shares with Picard, becomes one of the most intriguing parts of the movie. For as good as the actors and setting were, STAR TREK: INSURRECTION's special effects were surprisingly disappointing. They proved adequate, sometimes barely, for a 1990s mainstream science fiction film, but they fell way short of the standard Trek movie and paled in comparison to those seen in the trailer for STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE (a trailer which reportedly preceded many showings of INSURRECTION). The space battles involving the Enterprise and Sona ships, in particular, seemed trite and unsuspenseful, and the final confrontation between Picard and Ru'afro took place on a completely unconvincing interior of a satellite. The new Enterprise itself, only seen in this film and its predecessor, remains largely unexplored, though its exterior doesn't look quite right for a reason I cannot explain. Despite STAR TREK: INSURRECTION's frequent comic goofiness and occasional substandard special effects, I enjoyed the film. It maintains Roddenberry's largely optimistic view of the future and rejects the gritty violence of its predecessors, particularly STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (though, don't get me wrong, the dark tones of Trek films like FIRST CONTACT can work very successfully). I'd recommend INSURRECTION as a matinee film for a Saturday afternoon, especially for fans of Trek or science fiction in general. Rated PG, I can't see this film being objectionable to the viewing audience, young or old. Review written December 27, 1998. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:03 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!newsfeed.cwix.com!128.32.206.55!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Kevin Patterson ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 6 Jan 1999 06:17:57 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 93 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <76uv6l$lrk$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer36.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 915603477 22388 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15993 Keywords: author=patterson X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer36.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15184 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2232 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2595 Film review by Kevin Patterson STAR TREK: INSURRECTION Rating: *** (out of four) PG, 1998 Director: Jonathan Frakes Producer: Rick Berman Screenplay: Michael Piller Starring Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner If nothing else, STAR TREK: INSURRECTION should convince people that the supposed curse on odd-numbered installments of the TREK series has been lifted. It more or less plays like an episode of the "Next Generation" TV series with a bigger budget, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. While maybe not the best of the four TREK series, "The Next Generation" was certainly the most politically idealistic and can lay claim to two of the franchise's most consistently interesting characters: Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the android Lieutanant Commander Data (Brent Spiner). Screenwriter Michael Piller, who has been involved in all three of the new STAR TREK series, wisely puts Picard and Data at the center of the action for most of the film. As the film begins, Data is on a survey mission with a team from Starfleet secretly observing a race known as the Ba'ku, who have abandoned their technology in favor of a return to a simpler, more agricultural way of life. Suddenly Data turns against the other team members, exposing their secret observation post and telling the Ba'ku that the team are their enemies. Picard and the rest of the Enterprise crew are called in to handle the situation, and after apprehending Data, discover that he suffered an injury which rendered inactive all of his artificial brain except for his moral/ethical subroutines. Soon the situation becomes clear: there is a special kind of radiation emitted by the ring system of the Ba'ku planet which prevents the aging process. A rogue Starfleet Admiral, along with some seedy aliens, have decided to move the Ba'ku against their will in order to take advantage of this radiation. When these plans are discovered, Picard objects on the grounds that they would be violating Starfleet's Prime Directive, which states that all alien civilizations must be allowed to develop independently. The impatient aliens then prepare to kill the Ba'ku as well as the Enterprise crew. From this point on, INSURRECTION follows the reliable formula for a STAR TREK action/adventure story by splitting up the crew between one group on a planet and/or a hostile spaceship while the other group fights a space battle with the aliens. In this case, Picard, Data, and several other Enterprise officers go to the planet to protect the Ba'ku from the alien onslaught, while First Officer William Riker (Jonathan Frakes, who also directed) takes command of the Enterprise. The biggest success of INSURRECTION is the way it handles some of the philosophical questions underlying this latest TREK adventure. At this point in the storyline, Picard and his crew have been relegated mostly to diplomatic duty, as Starfleet's war with the invading Dominion (a story arc from the "Deep Space Nine" TV series) has strained their resources and forced them to concentrate on the political rather than on exploration and science. As he spends more time with the Ba'ku, we can see that Picard is considering that he might prefer to return to a simpler form of exploration, that of human relationships and community, given that he probably won't be getting back to quasars, solar systems, and wormholes any time soon. The use of technology has always been a source of controversy and moral dilemma in the STAR TREK universe, but I don't recall ever seeing the technology-driven futuristic idealism of the TREK franchise questioned so directly. If anything, the filmmakers push this aspect a little too far, as the screenplay seems to be so ga-ga over the utopian community of the Ba'ku that it never questions the morality of their decision to exile anyone who wants to take another try at a technological society. Aside from that, the only other noticeable problem is the often sophomoric humor that arises out of the effects of the anti-aging radiation on the Enterprise crew. The giggly romance between Riker and ship counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) is so corny that one wonders if Frakes and Sirtis had been receiving some radiation treatment themselves when they performed these scenes, and Picard breaking out into a samba dance in his quarters isn't far behind on the silliness meter. There is some slightly more credible, and seemingly less radiation-induced, attraction between Picard and a Ba'ku woman, but it still comes off as a movie romance rather than a real one. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION is certainly not the best of the movie series: FIRST CONTACT and THE VOYAGE HOME, at the very least, are clearly superior, and a case could be made for THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY, THE WRATH OF KHAN, and maybe even THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK as well. Nevertheless, its entertaining mix of sci-fi adventure, character development, and philosophical questions about humankind and its future makes it easy to see why STAR TREK has indeed managed to live long and prosper. Send comments to ktpattersn@aol.com. Film Reviews archived at: http://members.aol.com/KTPattersn/reviews.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:03 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!newsfeed.xcom.net!news.maxwell.syr.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Homer Yen ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 7 Jan 1999 07:04:06 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 56 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <771m96$1kpq$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer36.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 915692646 54074 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #16016 Keywords: author=yen X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer36.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15202 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2233 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2597 “Star Trek: Insurrection” - A Familiar Frontier by Homer Yen (c) 1998 Something odd has happened to Commander Data (Brent Spiner). He was apart of an observation team that was sent to secretly observe a peaceful colony known as the Baku. But he exhibits insubordinate behavior by making his presence known to the villagers (a severe violation of a non-interference clause known to watchers of the series as the Prime Directive) and also attacks his fellow officers. What has caused Data to act this way? Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the rest of the Enterprise crew, who have always entrusted their lives to Data, comes to his aid and subsequently launch an investigation to determine the motivation behind his actions. As a result, they uncover a secret plot that could forever affect the lives of the Baku. And although the Enterprise crew would be quick to defend the peaceful colonists against mighty oppressors, their actions may jeopardize a newfound alliance as well as their own future. It seems that an incredible phenomenon makes this planet something of a Fountain of Youth. Secrets learned from this planet may help humanity survive the ongoing challenges from hostile alien factions of the Star Trek universe. The wizened Picard, however, can not justify the forced removal of a people. He must find a way to protect them. Unfortunately, Picard seemed like the only one that exhibited any kind of convictions. His Shakespearean background allowed him to inject a believable pathos into his role. The rest of the crew and even the tone of the movie, however, seemed to lack any kind of fervor, excitement or wit, which made the previous Star Trek movie (First Contact) so enjoyable. Much can be blamed on the subject material, which centers more on a moral battle rather than a life-or-death struggle. The goal of Picard’s crusade didn’t seem all that compelling, which made the whole movie experience somewhat uninteresting. One thing that I've always admired about many of the Star Trek storylines is that it frequently presents a plot that has some educational value - whether the episode is intended to impart a lesson or whether it reflects on a significant chapter of humanity’s history. The drawback, however, is that the presentation can be somewhat sobering, and in a 2-hour, feature-length film, the message can wear thin rather quickly. So, as a fan of Star Trek, I enjoyed seeing the crew reassemble for another mission. But I was disappointed to a degree because this latest installment offered an all-to-familiar premise that amounted to a slightly better-than-average episode. Grade: C+ if you’re a Trek fan C if you’re not. _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:16:04 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!Sprint!news-peer1.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: "Scott Andresson" ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 8 Jan 1999 06:56:21 GMT Organization: None ~Lines: 236 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <774a6l$f26$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> ~Reply-To: "ScottAndresson" NNTP-Posting-Host: homer27.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 915778581 15430 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #16027 Keywords: author=Andresson X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer27.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15208 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2234 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2600 (Here goes my "Insurrection" review, which I thought I'd get out the way before the ol' memory cells start to fade. Look out for the final three episodes of DS9's sixth season within the next week or so...) ** SPOILERS BELOW ** STAR TREK: INSURRECTION --------- Screenplay by Michael Piller Story by Rick Berman and Michael Piller Directed by Jonathan Frakes Although they've ditched the numerals, believe it or not "Star Trek: Insurrection" is the ninth entry in the STAR TREK film legacy, and the third to feature the cast of THE NEXT GENERATION. First of all, those of you aware of the "curse of the odd-numbered TREK films" (ie, they're somehow never as good as the even-numbered) may well be wondering whether or not they've finally broken the jinx. The answer is both yes and no; while "Insurrection" isn't on a par with the best of the TREK films, it's certainly not the worst and beats the other odd-numbered entries, such as "The Motion Picture" and "Generations" and certainly the dismal "The Final Frontier". In itself "Insurrection" is a reasonably good film, if sometimes a little patchy in execution. Things start off with a beautifully-shot montage of scenes featuring the serene village of the Ba'ku, a peaceful, spiritual race who have put aside technology to build themselves a paradise. This is a particularly Trekkian statement; that the future of mankind lies not so much in technology and space as it does exploring the *real* Final Frontier -- the human spirit. The Ba'ku represent what humanity is capable of becoming. Of course, they are helped along by the fact thheir world contains rejuvenating radiation which keeps them forever young. This energy captures the interest of the Son'a (there's nothing like an apostrophe to make a name look cooler is there? I'm half-thinking of changing my name to Sc'ott Andre'sson ;-)). The Son'a are a dying race, and at first glimpse the exact opposite of the Ba'ku -- materialistic, vain and bitter. I do suspect that if the Ba'ku represent what humanity is capable of becoming, then the Sonn'a are what we currently are (one can't help but notice we live in a very materialistic, consumer-driven, dare I say *greedy* society). Incidentally there's a clever convergence of the Ba'ku/Son'a storylines at the end which further emphasise the choice that each of us has today (we can be a Ba'ku or a Son'a, to put it quite simply). Yeah, well I won't go into the philosophical side of it too deeply, needless to say this is an intelligent, sophisticated story with a very relevant, positive message for today. The Son'a attempt to relocate the Ba'ku in a bid to use the planet's regenerating energy and this is nicely paralleled with the tragedy of the Native American West. STAR TREK is often at its best when it explores deeper issues in a positive light and although this is h! ardly TREK at its finest (by a long shot) this is a pretty good attempt. Given that the majority of sci-fi films nowadays have about as much depth and I.Q. as a blade of grass (which in some cases is probably unfair on the grass!) that's a welcome thing, indeed. Unfortunately, while the basic storyline is strong and intelligent, the film flounders a bit on its execution. Generally it was fine, but on occasion rather patchy. For a start, there was *way* too much "technobabble". Now it's fine in very small doses, because it makes the characters look like they can do their job, but particularly towards the end, there was far too much "scientific" mumbo-jumbo, constituting plot. Incidentally, Michael Piller's script was generally proficient, although the dialogue sometimes lacked that all-important sparkle. There were a number of rather wordy expositions which I guess were necessary, but there was perhaps a slight predisposition to *tell* instead of *show*. It transpires that the Federation (represented here by the sleazy Admiral Dougherty, the latest in a long line of corrupt Starfleet Admirals) are conspiring to work with the Son'a to move the Ba'ku in order to share the secret of the planet's "fountain of youth". Whilst intriguing, the conspiracy aspect wasn't handled as deftly as it has been before on THE NEXT GENERATION and particularly DEEP SPACE NINE. But any attempt to inject some shades of grey and make the good guys seem less cardboard is always welcome. And it wasn't an especially clear-cut issue, either -- the Son'a were a dying species and as Admiral Dougherty said, the planet's radiation would have helped billions of people. Would relocating the Ba'ku really have been so much given that? Of course, I'd tend to side with Picard and the Ba'ku (as we're obviously meant to) but I'm just going to show that there's a degree of moral ambiguity and certainly no easy answers. Yet one of the film's main problems is that it d! oesn't capitalise on this, and there's absolutely no hint of doubt on Picard's side -- for him there *is* an easy answer! It would have been a lot more dramatically-sound had his decision been made tougher. DS9 does an excellent job of portraying rounded, three-dimensional characters by instilling a degree of moral ambiguity. "Insurrection" would have benefited from that, and it would certainly have made Picard and co seem a bit less cardboard (and more human) under the circumstances. Incidentally, I'd heard that they were aiming to give "Insurrection" a lighter tone, likened to "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home". I'm not quite sure they pulled it off; the comedy didn't *blend* as well as it did in "First Contact" and while there were some nice amusing touches, this aspect was a bit hit-and-miss. I got a giggle out of the exchange on the shuttle; Picard: "Do you know Gilbert and Sullivan?" Worf: "I have not had the opportunity to meet all the new crew." Picard: "They're *composers*, Worf!", but having Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner singing a song from HMS Pinafore was...icky. The gag about Data repeating Beverly and Troi's comment about "have you noticed your boobs getting firmer?" to Worf *was* funny, even though it made Data look a bit dim in the process! The rest of the comedy was largely down to the characterisation of the regulars. The writers evidently tried to have some fun and it works to varying degrees as the crew are affected by the planet's rejuvenating radiation. Riker and Troi prance about like gormless teenagers, resuming a relationship they had several years prior to the television series while Riker finally gets rid of the beard -- and not a moment too soon for Troi. Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis have a nice, light chemistry and their scenes togetheer are pleasant enough, even if none of it felt especially true-to-character. Geordi's regaining his sight was rather touching, however brief. And while Picard loses a few wrinkles around his neck, there's no sign of any hair sprouting up! Was he always bald? Poor Beverly again has next to nothing to do -- was it even worth having Gates McFadden there at all when she was so superfluous to the plot? Worf seems to be the butt of much of the humour with most of the jo! kes on him and his pimple as he once again undergoes Klingon puberty. Speaking of Worf, it would have been nice to have had some reference to Dax, or better yet, an appearance (even just a brief one) by Terry Farrell herself! Even a small cameo by TREK's most engaging, charismatic actress certainly wouldn't have gone astray. By the way, where was Quark?! I thought he was supposed to have a quick cameo? And although I spotted Max Grodenchik's name in the end credits (billed as "alien ensign"), I evidently missed him. D'oh! Anyway, "Insurrection" had two little sub-stories alongside the main plot. The first, Picard's relationship with Anij (Donna Murphy) was amiable, if a bit insipid (it would have been nice if they'd actually *kissed*! Even just a peck on the cheek). Stewart and Murphy didn't quite have the chemistry to make it work, but it was quite sweet nonetheless (I loved the bit with the hummingbird!). And I liked Anij -- here we have a mature, strong, intelligent woman who doesn't have to display an acre of flesh or become a vulnerable damsell in distress (though, yes, she did get injured at one point). Another sub-story was shared by Data and the kid (can't remember his name). Anyone who's ever watched THE NEXT GENERATION will immediately experience deja vu -- the Data-befriends-frightened-child storyline was a stock TNG cliche. Apparently its only reason for being here was to up tthe "cuteness" factor. It was harmless enough, but I think I'll pass. As far as Data was concerned, there was more character *regression* than development. Have the writers already tired of his "emotion chip" (which, we're told, he didn't take with him on this trip)? The performances are all enjoyable, even though the script doesn't really tax anyone too much. Patrick Stewart does his usual great job, and the rest of the regulars are obviously having some fun. The guest cast were generally solid; Donna Murphy did a good job as Anij, even if she was a little low-key for some tastes, and Anthony Zerbe made a suitably slimy Admiral Dougherty. As Ru'afo, the leader of the Son'a, F Murray Abraham was a rather forgettable villain (mind you, it didn't help that all the Son'a looked virtually the identical) although he did have his moments (one of them *not* being that laughably exaggerated "Nooooooooooooooooo!!!" when his mission is aborted). Once again Jonathan Frakes does an exemplary job directing. He's certainly got an eye for visual flair, and whilst he's not exactly James Cameron quite yet, for a relative beginner I'm very impressed. On the other hand the special effects were surprisingly mixed -- whilst the explosions were quite spectacular, the close-ups of the ships were unconvincing. The robotic "tagging" devices llooked fake and the shot of Data in the Son'a ship attacking Ru'afo was unintentionally funny. I assume they used CGI, which has its virtues (like I said, the explosions were great), but as far as the ships go, actual models are far more convincing. I did love the music, though! Jerry Goldsmith is one of Hollywood's finest composers and he does an absolutely tremendous job. His opening theme was superlative and he keeps the momentum going right through the film. One niggle I had with "Insurrection" was it's climax; not so much because of what happened, but more the *way* it happened. The final ten minutes are a flurry of beaming on and off different ships, activating particle collectors, being transported aboard holographic ships, chasing the bad guy before he can carry out his planÖoh, and it's all seasoned with a dash of technobabble, of course! Thing is, you have to concentrate exceptionally hard if you're to follow the plot. There's fast-paced and then there's so-fast-paced-it's-difficult-to-follow. Some other thoughts; * OK, so Riker piloted the Enterprise manually using what looked like a home PC *joystick*?! I'm not quite sure whether that was meant to be funny or taken seriously... * The "Collector" ship immediately reminded me of the Bajoran light ship Sisko built in DS9's "Explorers". The "sails" looked almost identical. Oh, and did it strike anyone else as odd that this technology was utterly beyond the grasp of Starfleet? * There were about three references to the Dominion. I had hoped that the film would tie-in closer with the events of the past season's DS9. There was no mention that the Federation was actually at war, but an interesting observation on Ru'afo's part that the Federation may be crumbling. Picard also mentioned "negotiations with the Dominion" -- huh? And on researching the Son'a, Riker claims that they manufacture the drug Ketracel-white. This strikes me as extremelyy unlikely, as it's previously been established that the drug is specific to the Founders, who use it to control the Jem'Hadar. * Did I mention that the location work was absolutely gorgeous? Well, it was! I wonder where it was? Wouldn't mind a holiday thereÖ * The scenes of Son'a skin-stretching were rather vile. Mind you, they don't bear a patch on the Vidiians from VOYAGER (who would just as happily graft *your* face onto theirs!). Admiral Dougherty met with a particularly nasty end -- in fact I'm surprised the film was only a PG certificate. That's about it, I think you get the idea by now! I'm not sure how accessible it is for those completely unfamiliar with TREK and I suspect the uninitiated might go away feeling rather more confused than they were to begin with! But as far as I'm concerned, "Insurrection" may have its flaws and it's certainly not TREK at its best, but it's still an intelligent, thoughtful film that works reasonably well. The only major disappointment was that they never blew up the Enterprise at the end! It has to be one of the ugliest ships I've ever seen on TREK. Ah, well, there's always the next movie...or the one after that...or the one after that... Rating: 7 -------- *Scott Andresson +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | The coolest site for free home pages, email, chat, e-cards, movie info.. | | http://www.goplay.com - it's time to Go Play! | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ -- Moderated by Scott Forbes. Article submissions: trek-reviews@ravenna.com Moderator contact: trek-reviews-request@ravenna.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Feb 11 16:34:10 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!erix.ericsson.se!uab.ericsson.se!newsfeed1.telenordia.se!192.108.210.10.MISMATCH!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!Sprint!news-east1.sprintlink.net!news-peer1.sprintlink.net!-program!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: tlcclp@aol.com (Christian Pyle) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 30 Jan 1999 17:31:48 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Lines: 53 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <78vfm4$197u$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer08.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 917717508 42238 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #16381 Keywords: author=pyle X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer08.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15575 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2246 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2625 STAR TREK: INSURRECTION (1998) a review by Christian Pyle Of the nine Star Trek films, "Insurrection" most closely approximates the style of the television series. It begins, as many TV episodes did, with a surprising turn of events that intrigues the viewer. Working with an invisible survey team, Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner) suddenly reveals his presence to the planet's inhabitants and takes hostages. Of course, his pals on the Enterprise rush to investigate. They discover that the planet's inhabitants-the Ba'ku-possess immortal youth thanks to the "metaphasic radiation" provided by the planet's rings and that a Federation admiral (Anthony Zerbe) is plotting with a dying race-the Son'a-to relocate the Ba'ku and steal the radiation. The inevitable clash between the admiral and Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart) concerns the Federation's Prime Directive, the rule of non-interference with other cultures. The Directive was invented back in the original 1960's TV series as a band-aid for Star Trek's dirty little secret, its roots in imperialist mythology. All that boldly-go-where-no-one-has-gone-before, basic-human-quest-to-explore stuff is the old cover story for European campaigns to conquer, colonize, and exploit everyone else in the world. The Prime Directive reassures viewers that the Federation has higher, selfless ideals. Occasionally, Star Trek explores its roots. In one of the last episodes of the "Next Generation" series, for example, the Federation ordered Picard to relocate a tribe of Native Americans because of a treaty the Federation made with the Cardassians. "Insurrection" is in the same mold, but seems artificial: the Ba'ku are peaceloving and kind; the Son'a are twisted and selfish. If the two groups were not so clearly a dichotomy of good and evil, the movie would be more engaging. "Insurrection" is the best of the "Next Generation" series thus far, and best captures the intelligence of the TV series. However, there are problems with bringing this crew from the small screen to the large. The major one is that the movie is crowded. While the "classic crew" had a subset (Kirk, Spock, and McCoy) that, convention dictated, would receive most of the attention, the six characters serving under Picard all have fan followings and seem to require equal screen time. Characters have to be developed on the fly, and little time is left to introduce each of them to a new audience. Michael Piller's script is peppered with jokes, probably in an attempt to give this film the appeal that "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986) had. The humor that comes out of the personality of the characters works well-for example, Data, an android long obsessed with understanding the human experience, befriends a child and learns to play-but other gags are just embarrassing. Grade: C+ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Feb 11 16:34:15 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!Sprint!news-east1.sprintlink.net!-program!news-chi-2.sprintlink.net!news-in-east1.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.axxsys.net!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: cbloom@iquest.net (Bob Bloom) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 4 Feb 1999 18:14:34 GMT Organization: None Lines: 78 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <79co2a$i6e$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer08.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 918152074 18638 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #16493 Keywords: author=bloom X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer08.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15686 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2251 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2631 Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Patrick Stewart, Donna Murphy, F. Murray Abraham, Brent Spiner. Directed by Jonathan Frakes Star Trek: Insurrection is an enjoyable movie, employing the basics that should endear it to most Trekkers. It lacks the weight of some of its predecessors, especially Star Trek: First Contact, but that's not necessarily a negative. Once in a while the Star Trek franchise offers a movie with a lighter tone, such as in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Insurrection, while in a more serious vein, falls within that category in the Star Trek canon. This time, the crew of the Enterprise is out to defy a renegade Starfleet admiral who is working with an alien race to take over a planet that has all the properties of a fountain of youth. Basically, these bad aliens, the Son'a, who supposedly are Federation members, are violating the Prime Directive, the code to which this interstellar organization strictly adheres. It's kind of a non-interference clause. Well, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard and his crew act to set things right, which, of course, they do. The heart of this Star Trek venture is, as always, the interplay between the principals. And Insurrection is no exception. Picard (Patrick Stewart) remains the voice of authority and reason. Yet he is willing to act when necessary. This film also shows Picard, the romantic, as he becomes infatuated with Anij (Broadway star Donna Murphy), the leader of the Ba'ku. One of the complaints Trekkers had about Picard and the Next Generation series was that this captain was too cerebral. He would rather talk his way out of a situation, unlike classic Trek's Capt. Kirk, who was willing to fire a phaser at the least provocation. But, as in First Contact, Picard demonstrates his military skills, though not in the same overwrought, vengeful manner he brought to the previous outing. Brent Spiner's Data provides, in a sense, the film's comic relief. This android's childlike fascination with humanity is ably demonstrated when Data befriends a young boy who teaches him about having fun. Both Spiner and Stewart also get the chance to demonstrate their vocal talents with a bit of Gilbert & Sullivan. You know the producers - and cast - are having fun when HMS Pinafore can be thrown into the mix without the audience groaning. Also rekindled is the romance between Cmdr. William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and ship's counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). Again, this all totals a more relaxed film, especially compared to the previous outing against the evil dronelike Borg. Insurrection also features Oscar-winner F. Murray Abraham, buried under much makeup, as the main villain, out to take over the Eden-like planet. The script is predictable, with one interesting surprise in the last act. The special effects, most of which are computer generated, are very well done, and Jerry Goldsmith contributes another fine score. Frakes, in his second stint behind the camera, shows his fine direction of First Contact was no fluke. He keeps the action moving and ably mixes the humor and adventure, creating a smooth-flowing audience pleaser. Insurrection is not a great movie, lacking the substance and depth of First Contact as well as Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. But it is a pleasurable excursion that should satisfy franchise fans, as well as hold the interest of sci-fi fans in general. Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or cbloom@iquest.net From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Mar 3 16:16:41 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!sunqbc.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: Jamahl Epsicokhan Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 23 Feb 1999 06:29:52 GMT Organization: None Lines: 376 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <7atht0$cue$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer36.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 919751392 13262 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #16816 Keywords: author=epsicokhan X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer36.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:16055 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2264 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2670 First, a moment of silence for the passing of Gene Siskel, a man who, along with Roger Ebert, helped bring film criticism to the mainstream of America... -- Hey, it's only two months late. Hey, the movie is no longer even playing in most areas. But I promised it; here it is. Warning: Spoilers follow for TNG's latest feature film, "Star Trek: Insurrection." If you--after all this time--still haven't seen the movie, then proceed only at your own risk of spoilage. Nutshell: Entertaining but thin. ----- Star Trek: Insurrection Theatrical release date: 12/11/1998 (USA) [PG] 103 minutes Screenplay by Michael Piller Story by Rick Berman & Michael Piller Produced by Rick Berman Directed by Jonathan Frakes Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan Rating out of 4: **1/2 ----- Two years ago, "First Contact" set a very respectable new standard for the Star Trek film franchise. It maintained the perfect balance of everything Trek cinema should, in my view, have: action, humor, neat sci-fi technical aspects, a story with imagination and wonder, and an overall sense of insight regarding what Star Trek is about. At the same time, it was approachable as good science fiction, so even a non-Trekker would probably find it well worth the time. "Insurrection," on the other hand, is more of a Hollywood comfort film. Omnipresent in the movie is the sense that everyone involved was so intent on having fun while making it that they could barely extend themselves far enough to tell a story bearing any consequence. Don't get me wrong; there's a lot that works in "Insurrection." But overall I couldn't escape the feeling that I was watching actors who were trying very hard to deliver lighthearted lines with the underlying attitude of, "Oh, but this is all just fluff and fun--feel good about it!" than a genuine attempt to say much new about their characters or the state of the Federation or Star Trek universe. The plot involves a science-fiction device that's older than science fiction itself: A Search for the Fountain of Youth. The fountain might lie within the planet of the Ba'ku, a peaceful non-technological people who, as the movie opens, are being watched by Starfleet. Is it a prelude to first contact, or something more insidious? Starfleet high-ups talk ominously. The plot thickens: Suddenly, Data comes bursting onto the scene wearing a suit that makes him invisible to the naked eye. (Pretty neat.) Having been damaged, he's malfunctioning and out of control. He turns his phaser on the hidden Starfleet watching post, making it visible to the nearby Ba'ku. The issue involving the Ba'ku is forced when Picard is brought to the planet to disable and retrieve Data, who is operating on "conscience" alone: Data knows there's something morally wrong with the Starfleet plan for the Ba'ku, but he has no mental process for addressing it. What's Starfleet's unusual interest in this planet--located in a turbulent and unstable area of space known as the "Briar Patch"--and what is the motivation behind the Son'a, the race with which Starfleet has allied itself while investigating this world? Who are the Son'a? Well, for one, they scream "BAD GUYS" in capital letters. They speak in gruff, stern voices and wear ominous-looking hoods. (How does a hood look ominous? I dunno; it just does.) And they look as if they've had skin grafts on their faces just a few hours ago--probably because they have; on more than one occasion in the movie, we see them receiving grafts while lying down under a device that literally stretches their faces to make the new skin fit better. Once the Enterprise arrives on the scene, Picard, along with Worf (whose presence on the Enterprise is so contrived this time around that we aren't even allowed to *hear* most of the throwaway lines explaining it), retrieve Data in an action scene combining music, singing, special effects, and goofy comedy in a somewhat unlikely yet effective way that sets the tone for the film: light, funny, relatively inconsequential, fairly diverting. With Data's memory restored, a quiet investigation of the Ba'ku village leads Picard to uncover the planet's mystery. A Ba'ku woman named Anij (Donna Murphy) gives Picard the brief tour and history of their people. As it happens, the Ba'ku are not as technologically primitive as they appear; they were warp-capable space travelers at one point, but a small subset of their civilization abandoned the problems of technology in favor of a simpler life in this village. Picard becomes more suspicious of the situation when he and Data discover a cloaked ship resting in a lake not far from the Ba'ku village. The ship is equipped with a massive holographic grid, purpose unknown. Eventually, Anij levels with Picard: The Ba'ku do not age on this planet. No one does. It's not long before the brass have to come clean with Picard: Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe), on orders from the Federation Council, has made a deal with the Son'a to relocate the Ba'ku to another planet, using a holographic simulation on the specially designed ship as a way of transporting them without their knowledge and therefore, as what would be the cause for objection, without their consent. The Federation wants to study the world because of its properties that slow or halt aging, and they've made a deal with the Son'a because only they have the technology that will allow Starfleet to harvest any permanent scientific advances from the planet's mysterious properties. Unfortunately, this will leave the planet uninhabitable. Starfleet has looked at other alternatives, Dougherty tells Picard, but this is the only option. Picard calls the action an outright theft of a world. He will have nothing to do with it and intends to argue the matter with the council. Problem is, doing so would render the issue moot; by the time the council hears what he has to say the Ba'ku will be relocated (which could potentially have serious consequences to their survival) and the planet will be all but destroyed. The morality question is the film's most interesting element: At what point do the ends justify the means? Is research of a phenomenon that could literally be a fountain of youth benefiting billions of people worth sacrificing one's principles? After all, Dougherty argues, it's only 600 people. But how many people, Picard responds, does it take before it becomes wrong? As interesting as the moral question is, the film doesn't develop it nearly as far as it could've and should've. The film's titular "insurrection" comes when Picard and crew decide to take up arms ("Lock and load," Data says, obviously unaware he's been reprogrammed as a sound bite for Paramount Studios) and defend the Ba'ku from being forcefully removed from the planet. Being inside the Briar Patch, with complications arising from the intervention of the Son'a and a host of other mitigating factors, the Enterprise crew's actions comprise not so much an insurrection as a minor resistance against an adversary that becomes completely severed from the rest of the Federation's knowledge and control (though I must admit that "Star Trek: Isolated Skirmish" probably wouldn't have been a very good movie title). Picard isn't taking a stand against the Federation; he's taking a stand against Dougherty, who's judgment and actions clearly become suspect as the film progresses, thanks to the presence of Son'a leader Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham) who's personal interest in the matter is neither selfless nor subtle. Particularly since Ru'afo changes the master plan whenever he damn well pleases--deciding to remove the Ba'ku from the planet by force once Picard intervenes--the moral ambiguity dissipates rather quickly, turning the conflict into an entertaining but routine example of the Enterprise crew versus the bad guys. Admiral Dougherty just gets stuck on the wrong team. That's a shame, because a real "insurrection" could've been very interesting--something that might've actually challenged the moral compass of the Federation. I liked the idea of Picard putting his career on the line to defend these people, but if two-thirds into the film it becomes clear that Picard's actions will ultimately be unquestionably heralded as the Right Thing by the Federation Council, it seems a little too much like the Easy Way Out. The risk to Picard's career isn't real because he was never in any real danger of facing any consequences. The "battle for paradise," as the taglines put it, works through a familiar two-tiered plot structure. On one level is Picard's planet-bound defiance, as he leads the Ba'ku from their village into the rocky area terrain where they can hide from flying Son'a "tagging" devices, which tag people with small transmitters that beam them into a Son'a ship's holding cell. On the other level is Riker in command of the Enterprise, which is pursued by Son'a ships, leading to the entertaining requisite battle sequences involving technobabble and gas particles that ignite and explode, thanks to the volatile properties of the Briar Patch. The space battles between the Enterprise and the Son'a ships (which look really cool, by the way) are fun in their cavalier sense, including a line where Riker actually says, "We aren't running from these bastards anymore!" and then uses a *joystick* to manually take control of the helm. Meanwhile, Geordi is ejecting the warp core as a necessary defensive measure, and when the Son'a regroup for another assault, Geordi gets the priceless opportunity to say, "We're fresh out of warp cores!" I liked the departure from the TNG battle standard (this turns back the clock to "Star Trek II" battle attitudes), although the cavalier sense also supports my argument that the film panders to a mass-market audience. Of course, if you want mass-market pandering attitudes, you don't have to look much further than the humor undercurrent. The tone of "Insurrection" is very different from "First Contact" (and very different from its own advertising campaign), and I have no problem whatsoever with that. Star Trek has always been diverse in story theme and approach. The problem with this approach, however, is that "Insurrection" has a tendency at times to beat the audience over the head with the sentiment. Natural humor is one thing; obligatory forays into humor are another. "Insurrection" has both, but it seems there's more of the latter than the former. Example: "Have you noticed your boobs starting to firm up?" Beverly asks Deanna in one scene, obviously amazed at the wonderful benefits of a Fountain of Youth. Data overhears. Then he walks a few feet away and repeats what he has overheard to an innocent bystander. Funny? Somewhat so, if for the wrong reason--the I'm-surprised-they-stooped-to-such-silliness reason. There's plenty of that sort of thing in "Insurrection." Worf is detoured into the film mostly so he can be on the receiving end of jokes involving pimples and the nature of Klingon puberty. (I suppose that's better than Gates McFadden's character, though; for the third movie in a row, Crusher is reduced to a cog in the wheel of the plot and given little to do.) I have nothing against Trek humor, but I enjoy it more when it comes naturally. "Star Trek IV's" humor was somewhat understated, and grew naturally from the characters as we knew them. "Insurrection," however, goes on fairly large detours of circumstance to arrive at goofy situational humor, and comes off as more forced as a result. But some of it is fun. And concerning matters of romance ... it's something of a mixed bag, too. The Riker/Troi thing is something that's obviously been in the character histories for a long time, and I particularly liked the amusing issue concerning Riker's beard. But this is the sort of thing that worked better in television series format, where one could get an update every few weeks. Coming in the third TNG film, it seems out of the blue, and I have to ask if it's worth the time given how rarely we see the cast these days. It's exactly the sort of thing that makes "Insurrection" more difficult for the non-Trekker to understand; they aren't in on the joke. In film format, I'd rather see a solid story than a bunch of detours into past elements left unresolved. Picard's gradual affections for Anij make more sense in story terms, and the chemistry between Patrick Stewart and Donna Murphy is always right there on the edge of being powerful ... yet it doesn't quite get there. Anij has an ability to slow down time, and she shares this experience with Picard, but in the flurry of the plot the romance almost feels like an afterthought. The other subplot involves Data's friendship with the young Ba'ku boy, Artim (Michael Welch). Artim initially fears Data as an artificial being, as he was raised without an understanding of technology, but a friendship begins to develop, especially after the boy's father, Sojef (Daniel Hugh-Kelly), is tagged and beamed away to the Son'a ship. This subplot is amiable, but not very useful in terms of Data's quest for humanity. We've been here, and done this, haven't we? There's also the whole issue of Data's emotion chip, which now apparently can be removed on a whim. My question to the producers of the TNG film series: Do you want Data to have emotions or not? Whatever the case, it's a waste to simply have Data in a state of non-growth. The dialog here between the android and the kid at times seems to regress Data back to mid-run of the television series--at the very least pre-"Generations." There are only so many opportunities for Data these days; wasting him like this is a shame. Overall, the guest cast is entertaining, but, again, thin. They certainly cast these roles perfectly, and the guest actors did a great job with what they were given. Unfortunately, they simply weren't supplied with much substance. Anthony Zerbe is perfect as Admiral Dougherty, a figure of bureaucracy that finds himself on the wrong side, comes to his senses too late, and pays the price for it. He gets the movie's best death scene when Ru'afo knocks him around and then shoves him into one of the face-stretching machines and face-stretches him to death. Fine and good, but there isn't much subtlety or depth to Dougherty concerning his motives and actions. His about-face once the situation runs out of control is nothing short of obvious, and the second he went into a room alone to confront Ru'afo, I said to myself, "Welp, he's gonna die." As a villain, Ru'afo is essentially a thug. He isn't coolly bitter like Malcolm McDowell in "Generations," and he isn't manipulative or mysterious like the Borg Queen in "First Contact." He's an intimidating brute short on patience and high on repressed rage, and he doesn't hesitate to throw an admiral around a room when he gets ticked off. It's almost as if a conscious decision were made in the pre-production stage that Ru'afo would be a return to the scenery-chewing comic-book villains like Khan or Kruge (which is not to slight Khan at all, because his style and dialog as such was unforgettable). The problem is, Michael Piller's script doesn't give Ru'afo much in terms of good dialog to flesh out the character. Lines like "If Picard or any of his people interfere, eliminate them" seem to emanate from the comic-book realm. But even if Ru'afo is a one-note thug, he's a *good* one-note thug. F. Murray Abraham, not surprisingly, brings a lot to a relatively underwritten villain, with an explosive anger and a directness that sells the intimidation well. Abraham has an urgency that transcends the part, making Ru'afo teeter on the edge of obsession and bitter fury. When Abraham says something like "eliminate them," it's still enjoyable on a sort of cheesy theatrical level. Ru'afo's motives aren't very nice. Perhaps that's an understatement. Turns out the Son'a and Ba'ku are really the same race. The Son'a had long ago been expelled from the planet following an attempt to revolt against the Ba'ku's non-technological ideology. Now the Son'a want the planet back (so they can harvest its life-rejuvenating properties), and Ru'afo will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. The Federation's interest in the Ba'ku planet had unwittingly found its way into the middle of a blood feud. I did appreciate that there's subtlety to be found in Ru'afo's number two, Gallatin (Gregg Henry). He was also part of the original revolt against the Ba'ku, but it becomes clear that all the killings Ru'afo is about to commit to take the planet back is something eating away at Gallatin's conscience. With time ticking down, Picard clues in on this, and, in a scene of extreme swiftness yet surprising urgency (a Patrick Stewart performance can bring urgency to about any situation) Picard talks Gallatin into listening to his conscience and doing the right thing. This leads to a series of events that nearly defies synopsis, as Picard somehow beams Ru'afo and his crew onto the holographic-illusion ship to trick Ru'afo into thinking he is on board his own ship. Thus, when he thinks he's activating the "metaphasic injector" (the device that will harvest the fountain of youth and poison the planet), he is actually only flipping a dummy switch, thereby buying Picard and his crew time to foil the plan. Jonathan Frakes, who brought great clarity to "First Contact," does his best in directing this confusion, but it somewhat strains credibility. It makes more sense than it probably should, but I still felt the symptoms of several double-takes. Ru'afo figures out what's going on and beams himself onto the injector to manually start it, leading Picard to beam over to stop him in The Final Showdown [TM]. Like most everything else in the movie, the special effects are entertaining and move the story along. But they're not breathtaking--certainly nothing that connects the visual with the visceral like, say, the opening shot of "First Contact." The invisible suits comprised a reasonably interesting action scene. And there's the "palm pet," which was cute but hardly essential. Then there are plenty of flying tag robots, which provide a series of watchable though not exactly riveting action scenes. And the decent holographic deceptions. Oh, yes, and Anij's ability to slow down time until we can see the wing flapping on a hummingbird--one of few visual effects that exists for its emotional content rather than spectacle. But most of the big special effects are about blowing things up. Case in point: this final showdown, which comes complete with a Movie Bomb, which naturally comes equipped with a digital readout that counts down while beeping, while Picard and Ru'afo shoot at each other inside the metaphasic injector--a huge device with awesome-looking space sails on the outside and plenty of open space (conducive for a shooting gallery) on the inside. Original villain death scenes are hard to come by these days, but Ru'afo's death is another one of those instances where we're supposed to cheer when Picard is beamed out of the exploding injector at the Last Possible Moment, while Ru'afo gets blowed up real good. This is Hollywood moviemaking all the way, lacking imagination and instead going with the safe bet. In a way, Ru'afo's explosive demise perfectly sums up my feelings of "Insurrection." Did I enjoy watching him blow up? Sure. Was there much thought or ironic insight required to come to the conclusion that Ru'afo must be blown up? Not a chance. Did I want something more? Yep. The movie is entertaining in a superficial way. I sort of liked "Insurrection." But I also felt kind of disappointed afterward. Considering TNG movies only happen once every two (or more, in the future) years, it seems to me that more should be done with a film than to make it a glorified episode where the ship glides in, solves the problem, and glides out--end of story. What's lacking are the lingering questions. A fountain of youth is something that would change the perception of the entire Federation. Isn't that worth examining? Having one admiral (who dies) as the sole Federation representative for eternal youth is simply not enough, and watching the Enterprise fly away from what could be the Greatest Discovery Ever seems a little simplistic. The bottom line is simple: The film is a good diversion. But you might want to be sure your brain is in the "off" position before, during, and after viewing. -- Upcoming: Assuming there will be another TNG feature, I'm of the opinion they should wait more than two years for the next one. As much as I like a Trek movie, I'd much rather see them as "event" movies, rather than getting in the habit of releasing them so frequently that the receiving attitude is one of "Another Trek movie ... *already*?" ----- Copyright (c) 1999 by Jamahl Epsicokhan, all rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this article is prohibited. Star Trek: Hypertext - http://www.epsico.com/st-hypertext Jamahl Epsicokhan - jammer@epsico.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Mar 9 14:43:57 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!news-peer-europe.sprintlink.net!Sprint!news-peer1.sprintlink.net!news.sprintlink.net!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: Marty Mapes ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1999) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 4 Mar 1999 05:51:47 GMT Organization: Posted via RemarQ, http://www.remarQ.com - Discussions start here! ~Lines: 97 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <7bl71j$iou$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer15.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 920526707 19230 (None) 140.142.17.40 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #17007 Keywords: author=mapes X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer15.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:16225 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2272 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2684 Star Trek: Insurrection A film review by Marty Mapes Copyright 1998 Marty Mapes **1/2 (out of 4) There is a rule of thumb that says odd-numbered Star Trek movies are bad, and even-numbered ones are good (INSURRECTION is Star Trek 9). I really hate that rule because at some point it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. People look for flaws in odd movies and OVERlook them in even movies. STAR TREK: INSURRECTION is, to some extent, a victim of this perception, particularly from that most ubiquitous critic, Roger Ebert. This time, the film opens on an idyllic little planet with kids frolicking in stacks of hay. Commander Data is part of an invisible crew that's monitoring the progress of this civilization. Without warning, Data apparently goes berserk, firing on the other anthropologists and exposing himself and the other scientists to the unsuspecting civilization. Concerned (but strangely, not shocked), Captain Picard ditches a boring diplomatic party and takes the Enterprise to the planet where Data was working. Picard heads out in a shuttlecraft to capture the rogue android. Sure enough, there was a perfectly logical explanation for his behavior. It turns out that a blow to his head (from one of the other anthropologists, no less) disabled Data's neocortex, leaving his base programming to kick in. Since his base programming says to protect the innocent, the crew of the Enterprise is left wondering what the anthropologists were doing. Why would Data's base, unreasoning altruism dictate that he blow their cover? Turns out the Ba'ku, the "anthropologists," were not merely studying the Son'a, the planet-dwellers -- they were trying to figure out how to steal their fountain of youth. The way to steal the rejuvenating "waters" would involve destroying both the local solar system AND the source of the fount. Ordinarily, this would be a space no-no. But since the Son'a, it is learned, are space-age settlers, and not a native, developing culture, the Federation considers them exempt from the protections of the Prime Directive. (For the uninitiated, the Prime Directive was conceived by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry during the Vietnam War. It says that the Federation cannot interfere with the affairs of developing civilizations). The crew of the Enterprise disagrees. They think this unique culture should be protected. Thus the film's title: insurrection. Although this film is actually a mediocre entry into the series, this moral question is worth talking about. Is it okay to move 600 people off their homeland so that billions of other people might benefit? The Federation says yes. More influentially, Roger Ebert says yes, and he even got the cast of the film to say yes, although he phrased the question in a way that slanted the responses. Ebert failed to take into account three key points. One, these billions of lives won't be SAVED, they will merely be IMPROVED. Two, extracting the youth-water destroys its natural source. Three, there is no guarantee that, once extracted, the stuff can be replicated. I'd like to propose a comparable, modern-day question. Would it be okay to destroy a rainforest (where some Quaker settlers have been living for hundreds of years), to build a road, to get to a small puddle of something like aspirin? Everyone on the planet can have a little taste, but there's no guarantee we can synthesize it in a laboratory once the supply is gone. Seems like a big waste of resources, a situation ripe for corruption, and a rash destruction of something that future generations may be able to better understand and use. Seems like the sane, sensible thing, would be to leave this fountain of youth intact for further study by future generations. At least, that's what I think Roddenberry would say. Aside from the moral dilemma, STAR TREK: INSURRECTION is alright. It wasn't my favorite, and in fact, Data's naďve antics were starting to get on my nerves. It will probably fade into obscurity, as many of the other odd-numbered movies have. It's just too bad that the Star Trek Rule of Thumb had to gain credibility, because it may doom 50% of all future Trek movies to failure. Check out more current movie reviews at http://www.moviehabit.com -- Marty Mapes mmapes@moviehabit.com Movie Habit http://www.moviehabit.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Sun May 30 17:20:37 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!feed1.news.rcn.net!rcn!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams ~From: p.agapow@ic.ac.uk (Paul-Michael Agapow) ~Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews ~Subject: Review: Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.current ~Date: 28 May 1999 17:15:18 GMT Organization: Dept. Biology, Imperial College at Silwood Park ~Lines: 134 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <7imiv6$b4c$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer24.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 927911718 11404 (None) 140.142.17.39 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #18558 Keywords: author=agapow X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer24.u.washington.edu ~Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:17769 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2354 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2793 # [film] "Star Trek: Insurrection" A Postview, copyright 1999, P-M Agapow Star Trek the Decaffeinated Generation are ask to clear a planet of its peace-nik native inhabitants, get self-righteous and engage in a few ludicrous fight scenes. Fin. Delayed that it is, and futile a task that it is (how many people's minds am I going to change on the subject of "Star Trek"?), a review of the latest Trek cinematic offering is in order. But more than review the film, I'd like to think out loud about Trek, science fiction and the cinema. And although it will be interpreted otherwise, this is not a Trekkie-bash. (Or Trekker-bash.) For those who came in late: it seems like the Federation have discovered a source of Plotdevicium on a distant planet, which acts as a fountain-of-youth. Recovery of the Plotdevicium requires the help of the Son'a, a race of aliens whose names sound like cough medicines. Naturally the Son'a insist on doing it the "Viking and coastal village way" (remember: ugly aliens are evil aliens), meaning the native Baku must be evacuated. Data goes haywire (again) and blows the cover of the undercover observers on the planet surface. (Later he is talked down by Picard singing Gilbert and Sullivan songs. Don't ask.) As the natives now have tumbled to the Federation's plan, there's nothing for it but for Picard to romance the immortal native with the highest "schwing!" factor. (And if you wanted to know, immortals look like 30-something white Californians. To contrast them with the ugly aliens, they have names like modular Swedish furniture.) Thus politicized and empowered, the Enterprise crew tells the Federation where they can stick their Plotdevicium and goes rogue to protect the natives and fight the evil and ugly Son'a. That's not exactly a promising start, but this need not matter if it leads to some decent action or drama. This happens to some degree. (There is a few nice jokes about Worf going through Klingon puberty.) Unfortunately there are some terribly cringeworthy moments in between, many involving the Federation's most dangerous piece of technology, the android Data. (Proof that getting a plausible skintone and eye colour for robots is too hard for even the top scientists of the 23rd century.) Data gets to deadpan lines like "lock and load" and be taught the value of play by a child. (Remember those agonizing scenes in "Terminator 2" where John Connor pals around with the T1? This is much worse.) Picard's romance is lukewarm at best, so his concern for his lust-mate and her fate seems forced. Indeed there's something oddly virginal and coy about the relationships in the movie. Even when Troi and Riker romp naked in a bubble-bath, you can't believe that they'll ever actually have sex. (Or that we have left the 1980s far behind.) It's relentlessly PG. A similar comment can be made about the violence within the film. The scowling Son'a villain (played by F Murray Abraham) seems more petulant than malevolent. Having said that, I have to give full credit to the scriptwriters for something that we should see more of but don't: a cast of mature women. A movie where you can have three significant female characters (Troi, Crusher, Anja), clearly not in their 20s anymore and not pretending to be, who are accomplished, active and sexually attractive is a rare thing. I wish this wasn't something so rare, but kudos to the filmmakers anyway. Going back to the character of Riker , it seems Frakes is unable to direct himself as an actor. At least this is my interpretation of the terrible mugging performance that he delivers when he appears as Riker. Looking more and more like a teddy-bear on steroids everyday, it becomes hard to believe that the Enterprise crew stands between the natives and genocide when Riker is grinning from ear to ear. Given the light tone that pervades the whole picture, someone else should direct the next film, preferably one of the creators on the meatier old Trek films. Don't misunderstand me - "Insurrection" isn't a bad film. Genial perhaps, not predictable but unsurprising, maybe lightweight. Even given the more ridiculous moments as listed above, about the worst you could say is to wish you'd waited for video. It is certainly not near the worst of the Trek series. (Number 5 has that category stitched up.) But as you watch the film, the fairyfloss texture lets your mind wander to other subjects. Is "Trek" science fiction? Is it even speculative fiction? Barely, by the evidence of this film. Characters sprout long strings of gobbledygook in order to get themselves in and out of situations. (Pick 4 words from the following list and shuffle them together: reverse, phase, flux, radiation, energy, particle, resonance.) It isn't so much that their words are meaningless but that they are just a way to create and solve dramatic situations. This would not be so bad - it's just a story - except that the point has long been passed where there was any sort of consistency. At least two items from "Insurrection" (immortality and defeating force shields by "matching resonances") should change the shape of the Trek universe forever. Want to bet they don't? In Trek, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Indeed, Trek has stopped trying to explain itself at all. What if you had never seen any Star Trek. Could you make head or tail of "Insurrection"? What if you had just seen Trek Classic? Would that help? To a large extent, Trek has become strange people doing unexplained things in implausible ways for unapparent reasons. It pitches itself solely at the (admittedly huge) fan market, those who know. (And for whom the series is familiar people doing the same things in any convenient way for the usual reasons.) The very definition of a movie franchise, it has become a commodity. Every two years, the market shall be given 90 minutes of film. File next to bread and milk. Is this a problem? If the Trek faithful are kept happy, what's the issue? Perhaps nothing. But I sense an opportunity wasted here, a chance for big screen SF, a chance for spectacle, a chance for Patrick Stewart to do some fine acting. As in a franchise there's a weakened drive for quality and novelty, this opportunity will probably go wanting. In 20 years time, Trek will be just like the James Bond series, pushing out more of the same, never being very bad but never being very good either. Hmm. For such a lightweight film, I've been (unintentionally) left with a lot of thought. [**/ok] and a mild cheese on the Sid and Nancy scale. "Star Trek: Insurrection" Released 1998. Directed by Jonathan Frakes. Starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy. -- Paul-Michael Agapow (p.agapow@ic.ac.uk), Biology, Imperial College "We were too young, we lived too fast and had too much technology ..."