STAR TREK -- THE NEXT GENERATION Movies: A Missed Opportunity

To me, the NEXT GEN. movies represent a missed opportunity, with STAR TREK: INSURRECTION the only real winner in the bunch. GENERATIONS might have had potential had it not been rushed into production so soon after the series left the air. The real problem with the movie lies in its failed attempt to tie the old with the new; the opening scene when Kirk, Soctty, and Chekov arrive to celebrate the launch of a new Enterprise is rather impressive, and here at least, the classic TREK characters ring true. By the time Kirk reappears with a half-hour to go however, he's unrecognizable; now he's living out his days chopping wood and playing house with the love of his life, the heretofore unmentioned Montoya (that's right, Edith Keelor and Carol Marcus have nothing on this offscreen firecracker!). Worst of all, unlike Mr. Spock's demise in STAR TREK II, Kirk's death in GENERATIONS plays like an afterthought, completely devoid of the power and pathos of the Vulcan's dying moments. Whereas STAR TREK II builds to the loss of a beloved character, Kirk's demise feels perfunctory, a necessary occurrence to be dispensed with so the NEXT GENERATION crew can go about their business in a follow-up film unburdened by the history of the original series. A shame!

I've already noted my appreciation for STAR TREK: INSURRECTION. For me, this third NEXT GENERATION movie is the one that best encapsulates creator Gene Roddenberry's vision of a bright and promising future, and the film that plays most like a NEXT GEN. episode. Ironic then, that that comforting familiarity would result in a picture that was roundly criticized for being little more than a two-part episode blown up to feature dimensions, when such criticism is doubly true of the critically lauded FIRST CONTACT, which is little more than the episode BEST OF BOTH WORLDS scaled up for movie screens. While many fans remember that episode as the high point of the NEXT GEN. series, fact is, The Borg were never more menacing than in their first appearance in the thrilling "Q Who?" That episode marked the first and only time we see the Federation lose, and with each successive appearance The Borg became a little less interesting and a little more neutered. They quickly became the "go-to" villain whenever the show seemed to need a boost in the ratings, and without Jeri Ryan's sexy Seven of Nine it's unlikely STAR TREK: VOYAGER would have enjoyed a seven-year run. FIRST CONTACT was also guilty of repeating GENERATIONS' gaffe of taking a character from classic TREK (Zefram Cochran) and rendering him virtually unrecognizable, both physically and behaviorally. This allowed the writers to indulge in an unfortunate hallmark of NEXT GENERATION'S television run: off-setting a dramatically intense "A" story (The Borg), with a lesser "B" story (Cochran's), played largely for laughs. Because of this, FIRST CONTACT has a very inconsistent tone, swinging wildly from dark, foreboding drama one minute to broad comedy the next. Conversely, INSURRECTION is far less problematic in maintaining a consistent sense of drama once the real action starts.

The less said about STAR TREK: NEMESIS the better...

Indeed. The Star Trek movies were all disappointing, overall, including the old ones. Only Wrath of Khan lives up to the greatness of the original and Next Generation TV series.

Also, Star Trek insurrection is not a very good Star Trek movie either.

I think that Star Trek First Contact is the best Trek movie since Wrath of Khan. It is more action oriented the the original TV series but it still has that Trekkie idealism that characterizes the franchise, as opposed to the new Trek movies which are CGI explosion fests dressed up in the Star Trek franchise.

Insurrection was not a great film...

Also, I call horse **** on Voyager, as it is one of my favorite Trek experiences. Stating nonsense that basically amounts to "Well, if the show wasn't what it actually was, then blah blah blah" is just a bunch of hot air. The show is what it is.

You want to talk about which Trek is the most "Trekkie" of them all? That is most certainly Voyager.

Let's face it: In this day and age Star Trek is a bit outmoded and has kind of worn out its welcome (classic Trek conceits anyway), but let's put ourselves back in the year 2000 shall we?

To Go Where No Man Has Gone Before.

We all know (and love) the mantra. Alas, Voyager is the epitome of the Star Trek ideal it its trappings (Stranded in unknown space) AND characterization (See: Janeway). Voyager actually went were no one had gone before, got stuck there, and then set up a series-long (unheard of for Trek at the time) story arc about getting home.

Like any of the series, season one is a mixed bag. Some of the actors were not, as Picard would say, engaged in their roles to the extent that we bought their situations. Neelix and Kes are especially wooden in season one, and Power-Bun Janeway is two-dimensional and stilted. Still, there are flashes of greatness, and hints of what will come with this brilliant set of characters. Right off the bat, B'lanna Torres is just gold. She is one of my favorite Trek characters, and she has a few episodes in the series where she knocks it out of the park. The season one episode "Faces" digs right into the one of the essences of Star Trek: What makes us who we are. Great performance by Ms/ Dawson here in two different roles. This episode shatters anything in TnG season one, IMO. It's mature, thoughtful, and balances light and dark elements in an interesting way - kind of like B'lanna. The bright spots in season one are few, but many shows (Buffy, TnG, Ds9) have a weak season 1 and were able to build into something special.

Eventually, the show finds its legs, rotates some characters out for some new ones, and becomes one of the best Star Trek shows. Here are a few reasons why:

Janeway: The ultimate Star Trek idea become flesh. In more traditional shows and films, the heroic alpha male character would be front and center. At the time it aired, Creating an adventure show and casting a middle-aged woman that looked and sounded like a librarian as the captain of the ship was a RIDICULOUS idea that would just never work. Further more, writing the character as if she WAS an aplha male, was absurd, And yet, they did it. They go as far as to have Janeway slip off to the holo-deck for a fling with a holo-deck character that she just casts aside after using him for sex. This is the conduct of one James T. Kirk, not this prim and proper lady. They completely subvert convention to the extreme here and just nail it, making seem like that was just how it was supposed to be all along.... Now THAT is Star Trek.

Distant Origin: One of the Top 3 best Star Trek episodes of any series, ever. Watch this episode. No really, go watch it. What a brilliant examination of evolution and intelligent design, as well as the institutions that uphold these ideals. They never cop out here. They never hit the rest button or magically save the day at the last minute. Too many Star Trek episodes fall into traps like these, with Spock/Data saves the day, or the random plot device (You know, Triolic Wave Suppressors or some such nonsense) techno-babble device that just happens to be what they need, when they need it.

Distant Origin is what all Science Fiction TV should strive for: Mature, thought provoking fiction that presents multiple sides of an argument and then lets the viewer mull it over. There are only a couple of other episodes that rival this IMO. It's right up there with TnG's Inner Light or ToS City of the Edge of Forever.

Like all the Trek series, Voyager has its share of duds, and Voyager also has the distinction of featuring the WORST episode of...anything....ever, in the abysmal episode Threshold. This is the worst hour of Star Trek, period. Watch it sometime to see how bad Trek can be.

That said, Voyager has many strong entries. Caretaker, Timeless, Distant Origins, Living Witness, Scorpion, Drone, Blink of an Eye, Meld, Dreadnaught, Deadlock, Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy, Time and Time Again, and the amazing Year of Hell. Of course, there are too many to list, but those are some of my favorites.

The Doctor: Come on man! Need I say anything about how awesome this character is? Picardo just nails this role. Pretty much any episode that centers around the doctor is gold, period. Message in a Bottle with friggin ANDY DICK is brilliant!

Seven of Nine: Yeah, yeah...I know all the jokes...all about her Borg implants and yadda-yadda. Luckily, I am not 17 anymore, so I can see past a pair of breasts and get into the character. Seven is a great character in multiple ways, some more direct than others: Oddly, Janeway didn't grow into a great character until Seven came along. I don't know if Seven's stories opened up more angles for Mulgrew to work with, or if (more likely), Mulgrew felt challenged in the spotlight as she worked with Jerry Ryan.

As Janeway teaches Seven about being human, Seven ends up teaching Janeway a thing or two, and the relationship expands in a real and interesting way as the seasons wear on. Seven is the quintessential early abuse victim, a subject that can go off the rails in a number of ways. Voyager avoids these pitfalls (for the most part), and her character is interesting and has a real arc.

Species 8472: Awesome enemy. Finally, an alien that is like, alien and stuff. Trek just beat the idea of human-like aliens into oblivion, and we rarely got any truly alien species. Usually, there was some whinging and chuntering about at the end of each episode and a human and alien "worked things out" and started getting along. Star Trek is kind of about this, so that is just fine, but what about the aliens just can't negotiate with? Aliens that live in fluidic space and that make the "evil" Borg look like a bunch of 6-year-olds with broken erector sets. The two-part episode Scorpion gives us one of the best enemies in the Star Trek canon, as well as a great character, all at once. One of the show's high points for sure, and it starts season 4 off on the right foot. Voyager dials in a few string seasons after this episode, a period that represents some of the best Trek has to offer, IMO.

Damn, this is getting WAY too long Slow at work today!

I think I've prattled on long enough. In summary: I do like the other series, and TnG has some stellar stuff, but I think Voyager is shot better, for one, being darker and more operatic when compared to the glossy sort of space lounge look of TnG. Voyager never phoned it in, jumping the shark in the final couple of seasons with some of the worst Star Trek content ever (Sub-Rosa), and a couple of TERRIBLE characters (Troi's Mother and Alexander). TnG was close to un-watchable at the end, sorry to say.

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I find that all Star Trek series/films follow a similar layout.

There's the leader who occasionally has doubts, a varying team of differing species and races backing them up, all with differing powers or mentalities who occasionally get it on from time to time... Kirk and Uhura in TOS... Troy and Riker, I think Troy went with Worf for w while as well and Data and Tasha all in TNG... Dax and Worf and Dax and Dr Bashir in DS9... Torres and Paris in Voyager... to an extent Seven Of Nine with Chakotay...

But the key thing here is that they are all interspecies relationships.

... and all series and films have one character that isn't human yet struggles with what it means to be what they are. TOS had Spock... TNG had Data... Voyager had Seven... DS9 had Odo.

DS9 was the weakest of the lot for me... it was just too talky.

Agree though that Species 8472 was badass... definitely the best Trek villains since Khan showed up...

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Hi, I am new and have to say this is by far the best examination of Star Trek and its series I have seen, agree with everything you say and am going to look up year of hell now

I thought all the Star Trek movies were okay, even the slower muddled ones. I enjoyed seeing the characters doing their thing within big set pieces, but the stories holding it all together were too often underwhelming. I can pick out lots of favorite moments and scenes from the films as a whole but none of them were especially great films, which is a shame.

The two I've found most consistently enjoyable are First Contact (for its fast pace, action and humor) and Voyage Home (for making the most of a fish-out-of-water time travel tale).

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#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!

On the contrary, I would argue that INSURRECTION has that "Trekkie idealism" in spades, whereas FIRST CONTACT is really just "The Best of Both Worlds" scaled up to feature dimensions. And as I outlined earlier, FIRST CONTACT is a very schizophrenic movie, unable to decide if it's a dark and dreary cyberpunk adventure or a laugh out-loud comedy. Certainly this summer's INTO DARKNESS qualifies as a CGI explosion fest, but 2009's reboot was a return to strong, character-driven storytelling and a very pleasant surprise.

Er, First Contact is a sci-fi action-adventure with some humor. That's not schizophrenic unless you strangely demand your genres to be monotone.

Humor is one thing, jarring shifts in tone (from cyberpunk chilliness one second to a heretofore unrecognizable Zefram Cochran taking a leak in the woods the next) is quite another.

KHAN is a great movie, but even in the lesser classic cast movies (III, V) it's such a pleasure to watch these actors work.

You jar too easily.

I think I'll call you Jar Jar...

Let's be civil about this.

Those star trek films are some of the worst movies ever..

This review just about sums it up (and it's funny at the same time)
http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-trek/