Star Trek: Generations (1994)

With the help of long presumed dead Captain Kirk, Captain Picard must stop a renegade scientist willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to enter a space matrix.

Director:

David Carson

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (television series Star Trek), Rick Berman (story)

Stars:

Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Malcolm McDowell

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Patrick Stewart	...	Picard
Jonathan Frakes	...	Riker
Brent Spiner	...	Data
LeVar Burton	...	Geordi
Michael Dorn	...	Worf
Gates McFadden	...	Beverly
Marina Sirtis	...	Troi
Malcolm McDowell	...	Soran
James Doohan	...	Scotty
Walter Koenig	...	Chekov
William Shatner	...	Kirk
Alan Ruck	...	Capt. Harriman
Jacqueline Kim	...	Demora
Jenette Goldstein	...	Science Officer
Thomas Kopache	...	Com Officer

Storyline

In the late twenty-third century, the gala maiden voyage of the newly-christened U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-B boasts such luminaries as Pavel Chekov, Montgomery Scott, and the legendary Captain James T. Kirk as guests. But her maiden voyage turns into a disaster as the unprepared starship is forced to rescue two transport ships from a mysterious energy ribbon. The Enterprise manages to save a handful of the ships' passengers and barely succeeds out intact, but at the cost of Captain Kirk's life. Seventy-eight years later, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D crew find themselves at odds with renegade scientist Dr. Tolian Soran, who is destroying entire star systems. Only one man can help Picard stop Soran's scheme, and he has been dead for seventy-eight years.

---

Plot Keywords:

female empath | half human half alien | empath | human alien hybrid | captain | 

---

Taglines:

Boldly Go

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for sci-fi action and some mild language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Klingon

Release Date:

18 November 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Star Trek VII

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$75,668,868

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$120,000,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the first movie to have a Website created to promote it. The site was launched at generations.viacom.com on October 28, 1994, three weeks before the release of the movie. The site featured a graphical interface resembling the LCARS display of the Enterprise. Site content included: video of both versions of the movie trailer. audio clips and photos. cast and crew biographies. shopping from a catalogue of Star Trek videos on VHS (and a 1-800-number to call to order) a downloadable "interactive kit" with images and videos and a simple game. a fan survey on Star Trek favorites and on-line access. The website was mentioned on the NCSA "What's New" site, and quickly became one of the most popular destinations on the fledgling World Wide Web. This website no longer works.

---

Goofs

The characters of Dr. Soran and Guinan are both from a "race of listeners" called the El-Aurians. However, when narrating Soran's file in Sickbay, Dr. Crusher incorrectly refers to him as an "En-Laurian".

---

Quotes

[first lines]
[the journalists are all talking at the same time, trying to get their questions in]
Journalist #3: How does it feel to be back on the Enterprise bridge?
Journalist #1: Captain Chekov, what are the most significant changes...
Journalist #3: Captain Kirk, can I ask you a few questions?
Journalist #1: Did you participate in the redesign?
Journalist #3: We'd like to know how you feel about being...
Kirk: I appreciate the...
Harriman: Excuse me. Excuse me. Excuse me. There will be plenty of time for questions later. I'm Captain John Harriman and I'd like to welcome you all ...
[...]

---

Alternate Versions

Fox-TV version removes some footage: During the crisis on the Enterprise B, Kirk starts to stand a number of times to offer a suggestion and then thinks better of it, sitting back down. Scotty leans over after this happens a few times and asks if there's something wrong with his chair. Scotty's remark is deleted. After Riker orders the computer to remove the plank, causing Worf to be dumped in the water, his follow-up exchange with Picard is missing - Picard: "Number One, that's 'retract' the plank, not 'remove' the plank." Riker: "Of course, sir. [shouting over the rail] Sorry!"

---

Connections

Referenced in Blackcatloner: How I Spent My YouTube Vacation/Star Trek Beyond Review (2016)

---

Soundtracks

Two Captains
(uncredited)
Composed, Conducted and Produced by Dennis McCarthy

User Reviews

A horrible, trashy and disrespectful mess of a film!

Star Trek: Generations promised everything and delivered absolutely nothing. Marketed as the meeting point between TOS and TNG it should have been a rip-roaring space epic with classic characters aplenty.

Unfortunately the reality is far from that vision. ST: Generation is absolutely nothing more than an extended episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and a very bad one at that. The whole thing feels like a television episode from it's cheap look to it's awful storyline.

Trekkies are usually quite smart when it comes to science and engineering and can spot a plot hole or a physics mistake at a glance. TNG built it's reputation by including much more accurate tech talk which was praised by scientists. The plot here is absolutely absurd and so many things just stick out as "that wouldn't work!" Add to this that half the cast of TNG only have a few lines in the film and you can start to see how it is unbalanced character wise. Malcolm McDowell as Soron is about as TV episode bad guy as you can get. Even though he did command a rather sinister performance his physicality just wasn't there to make him stand out and is easily forgotten amongst the bland script.

But the biggest blow must come from the absolute waste of William Shatner in this film, and the horribly tacky manner of the death of such an Iconic character. Shatner is on screen for barely 20 minutes and his death in some remote cheap looking hilltop somewhere in a desert is just insulting.

Undoubtedly he best part of the film was at the start where we see Kirk take command of the new Enterprise during a crisis, again a horrible waste of James Doohan and Walter Koenig.

In conclusion, the film is nothing more than a great idea with a terrible story and sloppy execution. Had this film been made a couple of years earlier with a better plot and could have included Leonard Nimoy and the Wonderful DeForest Kelly before his decline in health and had equal screen time for the characters then it could have been a winner. As it stands, it is a two hour advert for Rick Bermans Star Trek franchise that shamelessly exploits classic characters to excite interest and does not deliver.

A deceptive and tacky mess.