Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: GENERATIONS

From: [email-masked] (J. Young)
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 15:45:46 GMT

[Note: this has spoilers.  If you don't want to read spoilers, don't read this.
Followups directed to rec.arts.sf.movies.  -Moderator]

			 STAR TREK: GENERATIONS
			 	[Spoilers]
		       A film review by J. Young
			Copyright 1994 J. Young

Director: David Carson.  Writers: Ronald D.  Moore & Brannon Braga.
Starring: Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Malcolm McDowell, Jonathan
          Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates 
          McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Whoopi Goldberg, Walter Koenig,
          James Doohan, Alan Ruck
A Paramount Pictures Release

     The screening was held on September 13, 1994, on the Paramount
lot.  It was a research screening used to gauge audience reaction to
the film prior to its release.

     Research screenings are common practice in Hollywood, and are used
by virtually all of the studios for all major films.  The studio
contracts out to a market research firm, in Paramount's case National
Research Group (AKA: Movie View), to conduct the screening and compile
data based on the reaction cards filled out by the recruited audience.
The studio then uses this information to determine which scenes could
use tightening or re-editing, and which demographic groups they can
best market the film towards.  And in some cases, they decide that
certain scenes will require changes that they have no footage for,
requiring them to go back out for additional filming.  And believe it
or not, this happens all the time.  A famous example is FATAL
ATTRACTION.  After the test screening they decided to reshoot the
ending, and the film went on to become a mega-hit.  (And more recently,
they even went back and added the original FATAL ATTRACTION ending
onto the video release.)

     So about a week before the scheduled GENERATIONS screening, they
started sending out movie recruiters (usually aspiring actors or
screenwriters) to various movie theaters around Los Angeles to recruit
their audience.  They approach a potential recruit and ask them if they
would like to attend the screening, and if so they take down certain
information (occupation, age, name, phone number).  The recruit is then
given a colored pass (good for two) and told to be sure to arrive early
as more passes are given out than there are seats (also the recruiters
are paid on commission--so if you don't get in, they don't get paid for
your pass).

     But this was a "Star Trek" screening and word soon got out to
fans.  Everyone wanted to go and I even know of some that started
photocopying passes for friends (which is very easy since they're just
printed on normal colored paper).  So by the time the screening came
around, *MANY* more passes were in the hands of fans than there were
available seats.  Realizing the potential for a riot, my group arrived
a little before 6:00 PM, even though the screening wasn't scheduled
until 7:30 PM--but even then, there were already about 70 people ahead
of us in line.  At about 6:30 PM there were so many people that they
started stopping cars at the gate and turning them back (a mini-traffic
jam developed on Melrose).

     While we waited in line, they came around and re-asked everyone
their occupation, age, name and phone number.  Then someone else came
around and asked us how many "Star Trek" movies we'd seen (you had to
have seen at least three).  Then yet another person came around looking
for people (only twenty) to stay afterwards for a focus group to talk
with the execs about the film.  How they chose these people is a
mystery to us.  (They chose two friends of ours, but none from our
immediate group.)

     At around 7:15 PM, they started letting us into the Paramount
Screening Theater (about the size of a medium movie theater).  The last
three rows of seats were taped off (reserved for the execs) but the
rest of the theater was general seating.  So everyone rushed for the
best seats they could grab.

     After everyone was seated, the moderator (Andy Fielder) went to
the front of the theater and made some announcements.  First, he told
us that we were the very first audience to see STAR TREK GENERATIONS
which garnered much applause.  Then he gave us the usual research
screening speech: "This film is a work-in-progress.  You may see some
scratches on the print.  There aren't any credits on the film yet.
Some special effects are in a temporary state, as is the musical
score.  Please stay seated after the screening to fill out your
reaction cards."  Then the lights went down and the film began:

***SPOILER TIME***

     A bottle flies through space, tumbling end over end.  It finally
crashes against the hull of the Enterprise NCC-1701-B spilling out
champagne.  They are launching the newest Enterprise, commanded by the
"green" Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off")
and an "even greener" crew.  The news media is on board as are Kirk,
Scotty and Chekov.  This is a very funny scene with Kirk continually
eyeing the Captain's chair while he is forced to sit off to the side.

     As soon as they leave spacedock, they pick up a distress signal.
And although they are ill-equipped to handle emergencies, they are of
course the only ship in the quadrant.  They find the distressed ship
which is caught in some kind of energy ribbon that's ripping it apart.
The new Capt. chokes and Kirk takes command.  The Enterprise beams as
many people over as it can and ends up getting caught in the energy
ribbon itself.  Among the people beamed over is Soran (Malcolm
McDowell) and Guinan.  They determine to escape from the ribbon they
will have to create some kind of blast, but of course this ship has no
photon torpedoes yet.  So someone has to go below decks to manually
reconfigure the deflectors.  It's Kirk that goes (all by himself) and
successfully manages to get the ship thrown free of the energy ribbon.
In the process though, part of the hull is ripped away, and Kirk is
seemingly killed (presumably sucked out into space, but we never see a
body).

     All of a sudden we're on an old sailing ship on the high seas
(named Enterprise) with the "Next Generation" crew.  [This scene seemed a
bit long, and kind of "stiff" compared to the prior scene with the old
crew.]  It's a Holodeck simulation, where they're performing a kind of
ritualistic initiation for Worf who's receiving a promotion.  Worf is
on a wooden plank where he has to jump up and grab a hat without
falling into the water (apparently no one has been able to do this
before).  Surprisingly, Worf does it though and is very proud of
himself.  Riker isn't happy with this and says "Computer, remove
plank."  Worf is dropped overboard into the water.  Riker says "Oops, I
meant retract plank."  Everyone laughs, while Worf flails around in the
water.  This prompts Data to ask "Is that funny?"  He is told that it
is and so he pushes Crusher overboard.  Data is then told that that was
NOT funny.  Picard gets some kind of distressing personal message and
returns to the ship.  Soon after, they are all asked to return to the
ship.

     They have received a distress call from a distant Observatory and
set their course for it.  Picard seems disturbed by the personal
message he received and retreats to his Ready Room.  Riker questions
Picard but is rebuffed.  Meanwhile, Data decides he needs to know what
is and isn't funny and that will require emotions.  So Data has Geordi
install his emotion chip.

     They soon arrive at the Observatory and find dead bodies (some
Romulan) and a very alive Soran.  They take Soran back who tells them
that he has to talk to the Captain.

     Data and Geordi arrive in Ten Forward where Data tries one of
Guinan's new drinks.  He experiences his first emotion--disgust.  At a
nearby table sits Soran.  Picard enters and they talk.  Soran explains
that he has to continue his experiments immediately or years of
valuable work will be lost.  Soran looks in Picard's eyes and seems to
hypnotically convince Picard to agree to "see what he can do" against
his wishes.

     They find trace elements of Trilithium (an explosive of mass
destruction associated with the Romulans) on board the Observatory.
Geordi and Data beam over to investigate.  Data is laughing, getting
the punch lines to jokes told years ago.  They find a secret chamber
and start to investigate further.  While Geordi continues to work, Data
keeps making dumb jokes and laughing at them (like making a Tricorder
"talk").  [This is actually very funny.  Brent Spiner is great!]  This
very quickly starts getting on Geordi's nerves though and he tries to
get Data to concentrate on what they're doing.  It's no use though as
Data is laughing hysterically, having seemingly lost all control.  It's
the emotion chip.  Then in a kind of eerie special effect, Data's whole
face starts contorting and he collapses to the ground.  Just then,
Soran appears asking what's going on.  Geordi fills him in, when Soran
produces a weapon and stuns Geordi.  Data cowers on the ground in great
fear, pleading with Soran not to kill him.  [It was actually very
unnerving to see Data showing fear.]  Soran turns to the computer and
types some commands, launching a missile towards the system's star.

     Meanwhile, Troi confronts Picard about his moody behavior.  He
tells her that the message he received earlier was informing him that
his brother and nephew had died in a fire.  Picard thought of his
nephew as his surrogate son, and someone who would carry on the Picard
name.  He looks at their pictures in an old photo album.

     The Enterprise picks up the missile launch from the Observatory
and sends Riker and Worf over to investigate.  The missile hits the
star, exploding it and sending out an immense shockwave.  Just then, a
Klingon Bird of Prey decloaks off the Observatory.  Riker and Worf
battle it out with Soran but Data is too afraid to help.  Soran grabs
Geordi and beams out to the Klingon ship.

     Back on the Enterprise, they soon discover that piloting the
Klingon Bird of Prey are the Klingon sisters, Lursa and B'etor, and
that Geordi is their hostage.  The ship cloaks and is gone.  The
Enterprise high tails it out of there to escape the shockwave.

     After his strange behavior, they decide to remove Data's emotion
chip, but find that it's become permanently fused to his systems.
Meanwhile, they investigate Soran's background and find the Guinan
connection.  Picard goes to Guinan and asks for her help.  She tells
him about the energy ribbon (called the Nexus) and explains that it's a
place where all of your greatest wishes come true.  And once you've
been there, you will do anything to get back (because of some powerful,
almost drug-like, pull).  She should know, she was once there with
Soran.  So Soran is trying to return to the Nexus, but why did he blow
up a star?

     Picard goes to Stellar Cartography with Data.  [This is a really
great new department we've never seen before, with nice special
effects.]  They locate the energy ribbon's position.  But Data is
feeling guilty about not saving Geordi, and nearly has an emotional
breakdown.  He asks to be relieved from duty, but Picard refuses and
basically tells him to deal with it.  Data manages to compose himself
and they soon discover the significance of the star's destruction.
Soran is destroying stars to gravitationally alter the course of the
energy ribbon.  The ribbon will come very close to a planet in the
Veridian system, and if Soran destroys that star, the ribbon will
actually touch the planet.  This of course will destroy every planet in
that system, killing millions of Veridians.  They set course for the
Veridian system.

     On the Klingon ship, Soran has removed Geordi's visor, and is
torturing him while interrogating him about his knowledge of
Trilithium.  He doesn't get much out of him.  They arrive at Veridian
III and soon after so does the Enterprise.  Picard hails them, even
though the Bird of Prey is cloaked and Picard doesn't really know if
they're actually there.  Soran gets an idea and alters Geordi's visor.
He then beams down to the planet's surface.  Picard asks the sisters to
let him talk with Soran, but they tell him he is already on the
planet.  In between cracking jokes, Data tries to scan the planet, but
there is too much distortion.  Picard asks the sisters to beam him down
to the planet in trade for Geordi.  (Surprisingly, Riker doesn't
object.)  They agree, and Geordi is returned to the Enterprise while
Picard arrives on the planet (without his weapon or communicator).

     The location where Picard has materialized on the planet is a vast
lifeless desert.  [Actually, the Valley of Fire, 80 miles north of Las
Vegas.]  Soran is on a nearby mountaintop, amidst a huge construction
of girders and scaffolding housing a large missile.  Separating Picard
from Soran and the missile is a massive force field.  Picard tries to
talk Soran out of his plans of mass destruction in that calm,
reasonable, Picard way--but it's no use.  Soran continues to ready his
missile, while Picard searches for some way around the force field.
Eventually, Picard locates a small hole in the rocks tunneling beneath
the base of the force field.  He starts digging to enlarge the hole.

     Meanwhile, the Klingon sisters have hooked up a monitor and are
successfully receiving the video signal from Geordi's visor on the
Enterprise--what he sees, they see.  (Why the Enterprise wouldn't block
unauthorized transmissions from within the ship, I don't know.)  They
sit and wait, watching the monitor.  They soon become frustrated
because Geordi seems to be going everywhere but Engineering.
Eventually he does, and the Klingons get what they've been after--the
security code for the Enterprise's shield modulation, conveniently
displayed right on the panel.  (Some security.)  They remodulate their
torpedoes and fire on the Enterprise.  The torpedoes pass right through
the shields, and FURIOUSLY BLAST against the Enterprise's hull.  There
is much destruction.  The Enterprise tries to fight back, but can't
penetrate the Klingon shields.  The Enterprise is hit again.  More
destruction.

     Amidst all the buffeting, Riker questions Worf about possible
weaknesses in these particular Bird of Prey ships.  They find one,
which forces the Bird of Prey to cloak, thereby temporarily dropping
its shields.  They implement it and fire on the Bird of Prey--it's
destroyed.  The Klingon sisters are presumably killed.

     The Enterprise has experienced much damage throughout the ship.
Geordi is in Engineering trying to contain a coolant leak.  He is
unsuccessful, and there will be a warp core breach in five
minutes--nothing can be done.  Riker orders an immediate evacuation to
the saucer section.  Chaos reigns throughout the ship as everyone
rushes down corridors.  Everybody makes it in time.  (They must have
regular drills for this sort of thing.) The Enterprise goes to saucer
separation, but the warp core explodes too close and sends the saucer
section careening toward's the planet's atmosphere.  Data is at the
helm, they can't pull out of it.  The planet rushes up at them on the
viewscreen.  Data sees this and exclaims "Oh shit!" [Hands down, the
best line in the whole movie.  The audience went wild.]

     Back on the planet, Picard is still uncovering the rocks from the
hole beneath the force field.  Soran climbs up towards the top of the
mountain.  Picard wriggles through the hole.  He's almost through, but
Soran sees him and fires at the rocks.  There is a cloud of smoke as
the rocks come crashing down.  Picard isn't anywhere to be seen.  (Is
he dead?  Of course not.  Only one Captain's death per film.) Soran
continues to climb.

     The saucer section is out of control and heading toward's the
planet's surface.  They put power to the thrusters to try to glide in,
instead of crash.  In the end, they kind of do both--taking out a whole
forest in the process.  (This was one of the effects that wasn't done.
There were huge cables pulling the saucer along, so it looked kind of
odd.)

     Soran is almost at the top of the mountain.  Suddenly, Picard
appears and they fight.  Picard gets in some good ones, but Soran
manages to knock him down and launch the missile.  The star explodes.
Here comes the energy ribbon.  Picard and Soran are gone.

     Picard is in the Nexus.  It's Christmas, and Picard has a wife and
a family.  (Presumably, this is Picard's greatest wish.)  He seems
extremely content, almost glowing with joy.  They exchange presents.
Picard receives an antique sextant.  All of a sudden, the 23rd century
Guinan appears.  She explains the Nexus and that she is an "echo."
(Apparently everyone who enters the Nexus, leaves an "echo" behind.)
She further explains that Picard can go anywhere he wants--to the past
or the future.  (In this Christmas setting, you start to wonder if
Patrick Stewart is going to break into his one-man version of "A
Christmas Carol".) Picard decides that he wants to leave and stop
Soran.  Guinan tells him that he could use some help and she knows just
the person, "He just got here, too."

     Picard is now by a remote cabin in the woods.  Kirk is there,
chopping wood.  Picard recognizes him and tries to talk.  But Kirk is
preoccupied with everything else, but Picard.  Kirk runs inside the
cabin to check on his breakfast.  Picard follows him, and tries to
explain things again.  Just then, Kirk's old love, Antonia, calls to
him from the bedroom.  This makes Kirk realize that this is his past,
the last day that he spent with Antonia before going back to
Starfleet.  (Presumably this is Kirk's greatest memory.  Not commanding
the Enterprise, or being with his friends, or with Carol Marcus, or
with his son.  Hmmm.)  Kirk explains that after the Enterprise B had
the hull breach, he found himself here, chopping wood.  Picard tells
him that history recorded that Kirk died that day, saving the
Enterprise B.  Picard then tries to convince Kirk to go back with him
to stop Soran.  Kirk doesn't want to go, he's decided that he wants to
stay here with Antonia.

     Kirk takes the prepared breakfast and heads to the bedroom.
Picard follows him and all of a sudden they're both standing in a barn
filled with horses.  Kirk recalls that this is another memory from his
past and jumps on a horse and rides off.  Picard grabs another horse
and follows him.  Kirk is riding fast and is seemingly exhilarated by
all of this.  Kirk jumps a ravine and then comes to a stop.  Picard
catches up with him and Kirk explains that he wasn't scared jumping
that ravine for the first time in his life.  Kirk decides it's because
none of this is real, and Kirk can't truly be Kirk unless there's real
danger involved.  Antonia is in the distance, beckoning to Kirk.  But
he decides she's not real either, and Kirk can't truly be Kirk unless
there's real sex involved.  Eventually, Picard convinces Kirk to go
back with him.

     Back on the planet, Soran is on the mountaintop again.  He fires
at Picard wriggling through the hole again.  The saucer section is
crashing again.

     Suddenly, Kirk appears next to Soran and they begin to fight.
Picard goes to the missile launching platform's control panel and tries
to prevent the launch.  Soran pulls his weapon, but Kirk knocks him out
and the weapon falls to the ground.  Picard accidentally makes the
launching platform become cloaked and he can't see what he's doing.
Kirk finds Soran's remote control and decloaks the platform.
Unbeknownst to them, Soran awakes and recovers his weapon.  He aims and
shoots Kirk in the back.

     Soran runs to the top of the mountain, but Picard harmlessly
launches the missile into the desert.  The star doesn't explode.  Here
comes the energy ribbon.  It misses the planet.  Soran is obsessed and
tries to jump at it.  Picard goes to the wounded Kirk, lying on the
ground.  Soran freaks out and rushes at them.  Picard grabs the weapon
and fires at Soran, killing him.  Picard lies and tells Kirk that he's
going to be okay.  Kirk seemingly dies in Picard's arms.  (Note: In
preventing Soran and himself from ever entering the Nexus, Picard
should now actually be caught in an endless time paradox.  Oh well.)

     We see Picard placing rocks on a grave.  (Is it Kirk's?  Is it
Soran's?) Then Picard places Kirk's Insignia Badge on the grave.  It
must be Kirk's grave, but we never actually see the body buried.
Picard walks through the desert.  He is soon rescued by a
shuttlecraft.  (How they found him, I don't know.)

     Picard and crew are at the saucer section crash site, salvaging
what they can while shuttlecrafts evacuate crew members to an orbiting
rescue ship.  The Enterprise and the saucer section are completely
destroyed.  Data finds his cat Spot in the rubble of his quarters,
shaken but alive.  Picard and Riker are in the Ready Room sifting
through the mess.  There is a blackened hole where Picard's fish
aquarium once was--apparently they gave their lives.  Picard finds his
photo album and they exit to the bridge.  Riker looks at the Captain's
chair and laments that he was hoping to get a crack at it someday.
Picard tells him that he still might as he's sure there will be another
ship called Enterprise.  (NCC-1701-E?)  They beam off to the rescue
ship.

                            THE END

     When the screening ended, the lights came up and they promptly
passed out reaction cards and pencils to everyone.  It asked questions
like: How would you rate the film?  What would you tell your friends
about the film?  Which scenes did you like the most?  Which scenes did
you like the least?  What did you think of the ending? etc.  We filled
them out, turned them in, and were promptly ushered out of the
theater.  Unless you were one of the twenty people that were chosen to
stay afterwards for the focus group.  They were seated at the front of
the theater, where their names were written on small stickers to be
worn on their chests.  Then the moderator proceeded to lead them in a
discussion of various aspects of the film, while the execs sat in back
and listened.  Additionally, the discussion was tape recorded for
future reference.  The moderator asked leading questions, forcing the
discussion in specific directions.  After they were done, they gave
each focus group member ten dollars and thanked them for their time.

     Overall, I enjoyed the movie, and from the reaction of the
audience, it would seem they did too.  It was a very "Star Trek"
audience.  I spoke with people in line beforehand, and the majority of
them seemed to be "Star Trek" fans.  Additionally, I saw a lot of the
reaction cards people were filling out around me, and they were pretty
favorable.

     Some things that I noticed people complaining about on their cards
were that Kirk was killed and additionally how he was killed (shot in
the back).  Also, people were upset that they DESTROYED the
Enterprise.  Other than that, I think most other quibbles were minor.
As they explained at the beginning of the screening, the special
effects and score were temporary in-progress versions.  So everyone
knew not to complain about them.

     I wish some things were different in places, but a movie can't be
everything to everybody.  For example, I felt that some of the best
scenes were with the original cast at the beginning of the film, and I
wanted them to have more than twelve minutes of screen time.  But this
was supposed to be a Next Generation movie, so you have to accept that
Picard, Riker and Data are going to dominate the movie.

     As for the current reshoots that we've all read about, I believe
they're probably just minor changes and/or pickup shots.  I could be
wrong, but I think they probably want to make Kirk's death more heroic
than in the version that we saw.  I base this on some friends of mine
who were two of the people chosen to stay after for the focus group.
They told me that the moderator's questions kept focusing on the
ending.  How did they feel about it when Kirk was killed?  What about
the way he was killed?  The way they pose leading questions means they
felt that these aspects of the film were questionable before they even
screened the film and definitely before they read the reaction cards.
They told me that the general consensus of the group was that Kirk's
death could have been more heroic, especially considering the status
Kirk has with the fans of the show.  Basically, it could have been
better.  But my gut feeling is they're not going to reverse it and let
Kirk live, there are already enough devices in the film (e.g. the
Nexus) to easily bring him back in future films if they want to.

     I guess we'll find out on November 18th what, if anything, gets
changed.

--
J.  Young
[email-masked]