The Star Trek movies have an interesting history. They tend to be great or awful, with little middle ground. The big question was whether or not the Next Generation crew would continue this trend or somehow manage to set a new precedence for excellence in Trek film franchise.

Sadly, the new crew doesn’t get a very good send-off with Star Trek: Generations. The story itself is interesting. The group of Next Generation actors are all highly talented. This is even the best looking of the Trek films, making use of some bold lighting that really creates a unique atmosphere. So what went wrong?

First, let me recap the story. The film opens with a retired
Captain Kirk (William Shatner) attending the christening of the new Starship Enterprise-B. The point is made that this will be the first Enterprise not commanded by Kirk and he eyes the Captain’s Chair longingly. When a crisis arises, Kirk is chomping at the bit to jump back into the fray and take charge. He does just that when the ship’s inexperienced captain proves unable to handle the situation.

Kirk manages to save nearly 50 people from a mysterious energy ribbon, but in the process the ribbon severely damages the Enterprise-B. Kirk was thought to have been killed in action.

The film then jumps forward almost 80 years. There is now an Enterprise-D, with Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) in charge. The Enterprise arrives at a space station to answer a distress call. There, they find a Dr. Soren (Malcolm McDowell), who happens to be one of the survivors of the crisis that killed Kirk nearly 80 years ago. He is also of the same race as Guinan (Whoopie Goldberg), who is also a survivor of the crisis.

Shortly after rescuing Soren, a nearby star inexplicably explodes. While searching for an explanation, Guinan confides in Picard, revealing details of the energy ribbon. It seems that this ribbon is some sort of gateway to an alternate reality, called the Nexus, where all of life’s joys are endlessly replayed. Guinan has learned to accept being torn away from the Nexus, but Soren is determined to return. The problem is that no starship can get close to it without
being destroyed. He has calculated that by destroying certain stars (and all of the planets orbiting them), the shift in gravity will alter the course of the ribbon to intercept a planet, where he can wait for it to take him.

One of the big problems with this film is that Soren simply isn’t developed enough as a villain. I can accept that he is motivated to return to the Nexus, but nothing in his actions seem to justify killing millions of people to do so. He’s evil simply because the story requires him to be. McDowell is a superb actor, but he is simply saddled with a character that lacks substance.

Then, the film shuts itself down about half way through with a
climactic and spectacular crash of the Enterprise, followed by the violent death of the entire crew. Well, we’re savvy film watchers and we know full well that it won’t end that way. It’s a great scene, but all suspense and drama is lost by the fact that we know Picard will somehow manage to reverse the catastrophe.

Following the destruction of the Enterprise, Picard finds himself in the Nexus, enjoying Christmas with a family that he never had in a scene that is far too quiet for this stretch
of the film. He also finds Captain Kirk, who we learn never died, but has been trapped in the Nexus all this time. Eventually, Picard convinces Kirk to come back to reality with him and help stop Soren.

Star Trek: Generations also gets itself bogged down by a lot of inside jokes and references. Fans of the television series will appreciate all of it, but the film is lacking in universal appeal. Many characters rely on development built over seven seasons of television, leaving their cinematic counterparts flat and under-realized.

It seems that all of the elements were there for a first-rate Star Trek story, but they were too hastily assembled. The result is an uneven film that completely fails to sustain interest through its second half.