Star Trek Generations

In 2293, retired Starfleet officers James T. Kirk, Montgomery Scott, and Pavel Chekov attend the maiden voyage of the USS Enterprise-B. During the shakedown cruise, the starship is pressed into a rescue mission to save two El-Aurian refugee ships that a massive energy ribbon has snared. Enterprise saves some of the refugees before their ships are destroyed, but becomes trapped by the ribbon, and Kirk goes to a control room to help the ship escape. While Enterprise is freed, Kirk is presumed lost in space and dead after the trailing end of the ribbon tears open the ship's hull. In 2371, the crew of the USS Enterprise-D is in a holodeck computer simulation, celebrating the promotion of shipmate Worf to lieutenant commander. Captain Jean-Luc Picard learns his brother and nephew have been killed in a fire, and is distraught that the Picard family line will end with him. Enterprise receives a distress call from a stellar observatory, where an El-Aurian, Dr. Tolian Soran, launches a probe at the nearby star. The probe causes the star to implode, creating a shockwave that destroys its planetary system. Soran kidnaps Enterprise engineer Geordi La Forge and is transported off the station by a Klingon Bird of Prey belonging to the Duras sisters. Enterprise crewmember Guinan tells Picard that she and Soran were among the El-Aurians rescued in 2293. Soran—who lost his family when their homeworld was destroyed—is obsessed with returning to the energy ribbon to reach the "Nexus", an extra-dimensional realm of wish fulfillment outside normal space-time. Picard and Data determine that Soran, unable to safely fly a ship directly into the ribbon, is altering its path by removing the gravitational effects of nearby stars. Soran plans to destroy another star to bring the ribbon to the planet Veridian III, consequently killing millions on a nearby inhabited planet. Upon entering the Veridian system, Picard offers himself to the Duras sisters in exchange for La Forge but insists on being transported to Soran directly. La Forge is returned to Enterprise, but unwittingly exposes the ship's defense details through the transmitter installed in his VISOR device. The Duras sisters attack, and Enterprise sustains critical damage before destroying the Bird of Prey by triggering its cloaking device, and firing photon torpedoes when its shields drop. When La Forge reports that the starship is about to suffer a warp-core breach as a result of the attack, Commander William Riker evacuates everyone to the forward saucer section of the starship, which separates from the engineering section just before the breach occurs. The resulting shockwave sends the saucer-section crashing onto the surface of Veridian III. Picard fails to stop Soran from launching another probe. The Veridian star's resulting destruction alters the ribbon's course, and Picard and Soran enter the Nexus before the shockwave destroys Veridian III. Picard is surrounded by an idealized family, but realizes it is an illusion. He is met by an "echo" of Guinan left behind in the Nexus. Guinan sends him to meet James T. Kirk, who is safe in the Nexus. Though Kirk is initially entranced by the opportunity the Nexus offers to atone for past regrets, he realizes it lacks danger and excitement. Having learned that they can travel whenever and wherever desired through the Nexus, Picard convinces Kirk to return with him to Veridian III, shortly before Soran launches the probe. Working together, Kirk and Picard distract Soran long enough for Picard to lock the probe in place; it explodes on the launchpad and kills Soran. Kirk is fatally injured in the effort, and Picard buries him at the site. Three Federation starships arrive to retrieve the Enterprise survivors from Veridian III. Picard muses that, given the ship's legacy, the Enterprise-D will not be the last vessel to carry the name. ==Cast==

The main cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation reprise their roles in Generations: Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker, LeVar Burton as Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data, Gates McFadden as Chief Medical Officer Commander Beverly Crusher, Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Commander Worf, and Marina Sirtis as ship's counselor Commander Deanna Troi. Recurring characters from the series return, including Barbara March and Gwynyth Walsh as the villainous Klingon sisters Lursa and B'Etor Duras, Patti Yasutake as Enterprise nurse Lieutenant Alyssa Ogawa, and Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan. Malcolm McDowell plays Tolian Soran, the film's antagonist. Marlon Brando wanted to play the role and informed producer Rick Berman about it, but Shelley Lanberg turned him down due to his high price demands. McDowell had worked with Stewart on stage decades earlier, and relished the chance to kill Shatner's character. He liked his character's spiked hair and black ensemble, and requested that his character not have alien features to avoid lengthy makeup sessions. In the film's initial script, the entire principal cast of The Original Series was featured, but only three members appear in the film: William Shatner as Kirk, James Doohan as Scott, and Walter Koenig as Chekov. Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley declined to appear as their characters Spock and Leonard McCoy. Nimoy felt there were story problems with the script and that Spock's role was extraneous. Nimoy and Kelley's lines were subsequently modified for Doohan and Koenig. The news that not all of the Original Series cast was in the film was not passed to all of The Next Generation actors. When Goldberg arrived on set on her first day, she immediately asked to see Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Nyota Uhura in The Original Series. When told that Nichols was not in the film, she said to Koenig, "The fans have been waiting for years to see Nichelle and me and Uhura and Guinan on screen together." Patrick Stewart said that he had made an effort to ensure the original cast's involvement in the film: "I didn't want us to sail into the future just as The Next Generation cast." Alan Ruck plays Enterprise-B captain John Harriman. When approached for the role, Ruck assumed he would play an alien, saying, "Look, when I shave every day, I don't look in the mirror and say, 'Hey! There's a starship commander.'" Berman informed him that the character was from a wealthy and connected family, and was placed in command as a stepping stone to a political career. Jacqueline Kim plays Enterprise-B helmsman Demora Sulu. Kim consulted with art supervisor Michael Okuda to make sure her hand movements and manipulations of the ships' controls were consistent and accurate. Glenn Morshower played an Enterprise-B navigator; he apologized to the director for a poor first rehearsal, because as a Star Trek fan he was unused to performing along with actors he had idolized for years. Many of the minor characters throughout the film appeared in different roles in the television series. Tim Russ, who appears as an Enterprise-B bridge officer, played a terrorist in "Starship Mine" and a Klingon in "Invasive Procedures", and later joined the cast of Star Trek: Voyager as the Vulcan Tuvok. Various background roles were played by the main cast's stunt doubles. ==Production==

Development In 1992, months before the official announcement of a followup to Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Paramount Pictures executives approached Star Trek: The Next Generation producer Rick Berman about creating another feature film. Moore and Braga, convinced Berman had called them into his office to tell them The Next Generation was cancelled and they were out of a job, were instead given the task of writing the film. Berman also worked with former Next Generation producer Maurice Hurley to develop possible story ideas, intending to develop two film scripts simultaneously and prioritize whichever was most promising. Design Star Trek veteran Herman Zimmerman served as production designer, collaborating with illustrator John Eaves for many designs. Transitioning from television to film meant that sets and designs needed to be more detailed, with a higher level of polish to stand up on the big screen. Zimmerman felt obliged to improve the sets fans had watched for seven seasons, especially the bridge. Zimmerman repainted the set, added computer consoles, raised the captain's chair for a more commanding presence, and reworked the bridge's ceiling struts; he had always been unhappy with how the ceiling looked, but never had the time or money to rework it. Co-producer Peter Lauritson, illustrator John Eaves, and Zimmerman designed the Enterprise-B with additions to its hull, some of which were added so that they could depict damage to the ship without harming the underlying model's surface, and to improve the look of the ship when it was filmed from angles called for in the script. Like Zimmerman, George took the opportunity of the Enterprise-D's screen debut to touch up the model. Filming recreation of a sailing ship Enterprise.|alt=A white and gold antique wooden sailing ship sits in a body of water, with land behind it. Berman backed Carson's choice to hire John A. Alonzo, the director of photography for Chinatown and Scarface. After the filming of the series was complete, there were only six months remaining before the film's release date. so that Kirk sacrifices himself by leaping across a broken walkway to retrieve Soran's control pad and de-cloak the probe. Paramount allowed the film to go over budget to $35 million for the re-shoots. As the production crew had already spent weeks removing traces of their shoot from the Valley of Fire, the set had to be rebuilt under a very tight schedule, followed by effects work to remove wires and rigging in time for the footage to be included in the final cut. Critic Jeff Bond wrote that while McCarthy's score was "tasked with straddling the styles of both series", it offered the opportunity for the composer to produce stronger dramatic writing. The film's opening music is a choral piece that plays while a floating champagne bottle tumbles through space. For the action scenes with the Enterprise-B, McCarthy used low brass chords. Kirk was given a brass motif accented by snare drums (a sound not used on The Next Generation), while the scene ends with dissonant notes as Scott and Chekov discover Kirk has been blown into space. McCarthy expanded his brassy style for the film's action sequences, such as the battle over Veridian III and the crash-landing of the Enterprise-D. For Picard's trip to the Nexus, more choral music and synthesizers accompany Picard's discovery of his family. A broad fanfare—the film's only distinct theme—first plays when Picard and Kirk meet. This theme blends McCarthy's theme for Picard from The Next Generation first season, notes from the theme for Deep Space Nine, and Alexander Courage's Star Trek theme. For the final battle of Kirk and Picard against Soran, McCarthy used staccato music to accentuate the fistfight. For Kirk's death, McCarthy mated lyrical strings with another statement of the Courage theme, while a shot of Picard standing over Kirk's grave is scored with more pomp. The Courage theme plays again at the film's close. In 2013, GNP Crescendo Records rereleased the soundtrack as a two-disc, expanded collector's edition including previously unheard tracks. ==Release==

Marketing The marketing of Generations included a website, the first to officially publicize a motion picture. The site was a success, being viewed millions of times worldwide in the weeks leading to the film's release, at a time when fewer than a million Americans had internet access. Paramount also promoted the film on the Prodigy online service. Tie-in merchandise released to promote the film included collectible cups and calendars from Jack in the Box, promotional kiosks at Kmart stores, and action figures. Due to production timelines, these figures wore the Blackman-designed Starfleet uniforms that were ultimately unused in the film itself. and stamps and souvenir sheets produced by Guyana. A novelization of the film written by J. M. Dillard spent three weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. Paramount's licensing group estimated promotional partners could add up to $15 million in the film's support. Three years after the film, MicroProse produced Star Trek VII: Generations, which featured the film's cast as voice actors. The game roughly followed the plot of the film with most of the game played in a first-person perspective. Versions of the film's script leaked out in advance of the film. A bootleg script revealed the energy ribbon and Kirk's death; James Doohan confirmed the script's authenticity at a fan convention in March 1994, but his agent denied he had seen the finished script. As a result, news of Kirk's death was widespread. Box office Star Trek Generations was previewed in the United States and Canada on November 17, 1994, and grossed $3 million from 1,525 theaters. The film opened to a wide release in 2,659 theaters the following day and grossed $23.1 million during the opening weekend, averaging $8,694 per theatre. It was the highest-grossing film during the first week of its release in the United States, staying in the top ten for a further four weeks. The film went on to gross $75,671,125 in the United States and Canada and $42,400,000 internationally, making $118 million worldwide against a $35 million budget. In Japan, the film grossed $1.2 million its opening weekend, a large amount considering the franchise's usual poor performance in that market. Given its moderate budget, Generationss gross was considered a success. ==Reception==

Star Trek Generations earned mixed reviews from critics and fans. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore assigned the film an average grade of "B+" on its A+ to F scale. Writing about the film decades later, Den of Geek described the film as divisive, and Tor.com noted the film had been picked apart for years by fans and the film's own writers. In 2001, the BBC gave it 2 of 5 stars, summarizing, "Devotees may find it necessary (if depressing) viewing." Critics complained the film felt like an overly-long episode of the television series. The Orlando Sentinel Jay Boyar agreed, but said the film minimized the television series' tendency to "bog down" by moving to the next scene before boredom could set in. Kenneth Turan called the film safe, and said that it relied heavily on viewers' appreciation for the Star Trek television series. Jay Carr of The Boston Globe described the film as "reassuringly predictable", saying that it featured elements that would be recognizable by the fans of both series but that the lack of surprises was a benefit. Cinefantastique Steve Biodrowski praised some of the big-budget touches the film brought to the franchise, but wrote that most of the attempts such as John Alonzo's cinematography seemed to backfire. Elizabeth Renzetti from The Globe and Mail praised the film for its special effects, but felt they were not strong enough to cover the weak plotting. Opinions were divided on whether or not the film was accessible to non-Star Trek fans. Critics such as The New York Times Janet Maslin suggested that despite being "predictably flabby and impenetrable in places" and suffering from technobabble, there was enough action and spectacle to engage others. The meeting of Kirk and Picard prompted comparisons between the two respective actors; Stewart's performance was often considered superior. James Berardinelli and Ebert wrote that Kirk's lack of presence through much of the film was still keenly felt. Cinefantastique and others criticized the scenes between Kirk and Picard as lacking. McDowell's turn as Soran received differing opinions. Berardinelli and Rickey called Soran a weak and ill-defined villain, Novak wrote that Data's subplot of learning about emotions was a highlight and probably the most enjoyable part of the film for non-fans, while Ebert said that the premise "could have led to some funny scenes, but doesn't". Coates summed up the subplot as "dreary". ==Home media==

Generations was released on LaserDisc in the United States on July 18, 1995, followed by a September release in Japan. It was also released on the United Kingdom in 1995 in the PAL format. The film was released in the UK on VHS on 28 December 1998. It later received a British DVD release on October 2, 2000. The film was released on Blu-ray in 2009 as part of a box set of The Next Generation films, along with additional material. The four Next Generation feature films were released on Ultra HD Blu-ray on April 4, 2023, in standalone and collected formats. ==References==