Review of Star Trek: Generations (1994) by Brian B — 26 Oct 2009

Paramount feared that fans of the original crew and fans of the 'Next Generation' television series may not have been entirely the same audience. They insisted that the film provide a crossover between both sets of characters, allowing the old crew to pass the torch to the new.

Captain Kirk and Captain Picard in the same movie â?? a little something for everyone â?? the fans'll love it! And so we have 'Star Trek: Generations', which drags the irrepressible William Shatner back to duty as Kirk, and awkwardly foists him into a new adventure that really has nothing to do with him.

The movie has a weak script loaded with hackneyed nonsense technobabble about temporal fluxes. The Nexus concept is poorly explained and logically inconsistent. We're told that it's a wondrous place overflowing with joy, and that once a person enters he'll never want to leave.

And yet, when he gets there, Picard's happy vision is so boring that he's ready to get the hell out within five minutes of arriving. Malcolm McDowell brings far more to the villian than is provided to him by the script.

He brings gravitas to even the worst dialogue and the film would have been in real trouble with a lesser actor in the role. With all that said, 'Generations' isn't the worst of the 'Trek' movies.

. It's a transitional movie that the cast needed to get out of the way to prove themselves capable of carrying a theatrical feature.