Review of Star Trek: Generations (1994) by Tim H — 28 May 2008

This film was promoted as event where characters from the original series and the "Next Generation" would work together in an adventure so epic that it was warranted and plausible in spite of the two crews being of different eras of "Star Trek" history.

This would imply that at the end of the first act, our two generations would meet and join forces. Alas it turns out that Kirk and Picard are the only ones that meet and that doesn't happen until the start of the third act; this is the first structural disappointment of this film.

The second disappointment is that the entire film's plot is a contrivance to explain how Kirk and Picard can meet without time travel. And thusly, rather than get a real story we get lots of contradictory exposition and contradictory themes.

And it all boils down to Kirk being crushed by a steel bridge that wasn't present earlier in the movie (and if it had been it would have undermined other plot points) so Picard can learn that death is part of life.

And we are left wondering if we missed something because it all seems to not quite work for any of the characters (but especially for Kirk in his final curtain).