Star Trek: Generations is almost a very good movie, but it lands firmly in realm of “just good enough,” where it couldn’t quite match the best of what the series was able to conjure. The larger theatrical budget may cover some of the script and concept weaknesses, but not completely. The original series crew struggled in its first outing on the big screen, too, before finding its footing with their second film. The same would be true for The Next Generation crew. Still, as with The Motion Picture, there’s enough to admire and enjoy in the inaugural excursion. Unlike 1979’s The Motion Picture, however, Generations lacks grandeur and ambition. Rushed to the big screen following the show’s end, the showrunners, Brannon Braga and Rick Berman, barely had time to catch a breath. They needed time to rejuvenate and refill their creative tanks. The fact that they couldn’t do so shows in the finished product. Still, despite all its flaws, Generations does entertain.
The Production: 3.5/5
“Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe than time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment because they’ll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important how we lived. After all, Number One, we’re only mortal.”
The crew of the USS Enterprise D, under the leadership of Captain Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) work to stop a villainous scientist, Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell), from causing unimaginable death and destruction. Soran desperately wants to find his way into something dubbed the Nexus, a euphoric state of being where time has no meaning, found in the trappings of an unusual ribbon floating through space. The Federation crew finds a deadly adventure as they face exploding stars and dangerous Klingons. And they’ll unexpectedly need the help of a legendary former captain of the Enterprise, Kirk, to save millions of lives.
Star Trek: The Next Generation had an extraordinary run as a syndicated television show. The series racked up over its 7-year run a stunning collection of science fiction story excellence, earning 18 Primetime Emmys along the way, and often building a potent sense of drama and action that exceeded the budgetary limitations of a TV series of the day. The series also ended with a finale, “All Good Things,” that featured not only some of the best episodes the series produced, but one of the best television finales period. Those factors meant the arrival on the big screen for the Next Generation crew had to be something pretty special to meet that moment. It almost succeeded.
Star Trek: Generations does have wonderful ingredients working in its favor. Director David Carson and cinematographer John Alonzo lean into the cinematic canvas to create an aesthetic that’s filled with brooder lighting, and strong color and light contrasts. While it may push that to extremes at times, it punctuated the visual aesthetic for this crew’s first big screen adventure. The visual and special effects work is strong. The Nexus ribbon is both beautiful and original, the saucer crash sequence is spectacular with old school practical effects enhanced with visual effects and all edited tightly. And the cast all naturally fit well on the big screen after their legendary 7-year history on the small screen.
Star Trek: Generations does suffer, however, from several limiting factors. Billed and talked up as an official passing of the torch from the original to the next generation, William Shatner’s Captain James T. Kirk features heavily in the opening and closing acts. It’s always a treat to see Kirk on the big screen, and we get nice moments with James Doohan’s Scotty and Walter Koenig’s Chekov in the opening prologue as well. But Picard and his crew had already taken that torch, the mantle had already been passed as we hear Kirk himself reference in his closing narration at the end of Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country – the original crew’s last cinematic hurrah. Yes, this was Enterprise D’s first big screen outing, but they were more than capable, and draw enough I’d argue, to deserve a big screen outing without needing to feature any of the original cast. As a lifelong adoring Star Trek fan that almost feels like heresy to write, but featuring old cast added to the challenges and criticism this film faced (Kirk’s fate, for example, was not well received, though many have since come to terms with what we got).
Another limiting factor is some of the effects work. While many of the special/visual effects are a strength, there are times where the model of the USS Enterprise D used for the television run doesn’t quite hold up on the big screen – perhaps that’s magnified in this 4K release, though. And the reuse of a memorable Klingon Bird of Prey explosion from The Undiscovered Country feels cheap.
The film also has a distracting factor from the unusual and inconsistent transition of crew uniform styles. While the film begins with the crew wearing the uniforms we’d seem them in since the start of the third season, the crew begin switching to new uniform designs found on the current Trek show, Deep Space Nine (and on Star Trek: Voyager the following year). It may seem like a small thing, but slowly migrating the uniform styles for different characters, but not all, looks bizarre, and since they all get brand new uniforms in their second film, a waste of time in retrospect.
One element that is never at issue is the cast.
Patrick Stewart is excellent as Picard and is given space to showcase a range of his skills, from fisticuffs to emotionally charged scenes (notably his conversation with Marina Sirtis’ Deanna Troi discussing the fate of his family). Jonathan Frakes has some good moments as Picard’s Number One, Riker, particularly in the exciting saucer crash sequence. Brent Spiner has perhaps the juiciest of roles as the Data character struggles and stumbles with emotions following the installation of the emotion chip. His work alongside Levar Burton’s Geordi La Forge brings us most of the film’s humor (the “I hate this” scene in 10 Forward has always been a blast). Marina Sirtis as Troi, Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher, and Michael Dorn’s Worf are given the least to do. They’ll get their chances in the sequels, but it’s still disappointing to see them largely sidelined. Malcom McDowell makes for an interesting villain. A bad guy with a British accent will never fail you, but I do wish we’d seen more from his character than evil plot defenses. Given his reasoning for wanting to return to the nexus, a better script would have provided some shades of grey in his villainy. William Shatner is effortlessly good as Captain Kirk, and particularly compelling in the scenes opposite Patrick Stewart. Stewart is by far the better actor, but Shatner inhabits the Kirk role in a way that’s utterly compelling and he owns their scenes together. Finally, we have Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan, one of the great supporting roles in all Trek, and one that Goldberg also effortlessly inhabits.
Director David Carson, director of four episodes of the series and the pilot for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, is a comfortable choice for the first cinematic adventure. Carson uses the larger frame (2.39:1) well and shoots interior sets and the handful of exterior locations (the Enterprise Tall ship where we first see Picard and crew, the desolate landscape of Veridian III) with energy and a fresh set of eyes.
I’ve always enjoyed Star Trek: Generations. I saw it during my second visit to the United States in the winter of 1994 at Tysons Corner in northern Virginia (I’d mistakenly thought I saw it during my first visit in the summer of ’94, but given the movie opened in November that year, I clearly misremembered!) I moved to American in the summer of 1995, so that whole period of my life is a bit of a blur now. Seeing the film filled me with joy to see the Next Gen cast, crew, and Enterprise that I adored on the big screen, but even then, I knew that it wasn’t the best of what this crew could realize theatrically. The pinnacle of potential for The Next Generations would thankfully arrive in the first sequel, First Contact.
Video: 4.5/5
3D Rating: NA
Framed at 2.39:1, the 4K scan of the original camera negative performed by Paramount for this release affords the film its best presentation on home video. Shot on 35mm (using Panavision cameras) this new release shows off this film in its best light. It’s a colorful film where the use of lights, yellows from the star shining on the Enterprise as it investigates the Amargosa Observatory, pinks, and blues from the damaged facility as Rikers’s away crew search for survivors, all look wonderful in 4K. Strong light contrasts are a signature element of the film’s look. Lensed by cinematographer John A. Alonso (Chinatown, and this film gets to use one of the two custom lenses Alonso created for that classic film), the visuals are darker than the brightly lit sets from the TV show. It all adds to the cinematic feel of the adventure. Exterior sequences look marvelous here. The desolate planet where Picard and Soren talk and fight is spectacular (the sound design for the planet also offers an interesting flavor for the film).
What’s missing here is the heavy digital hand Paramount used on all previous home theater releases of the film. The lack of notable digital sharpening and grain removal means we can enjoy a lovely filmic image, strong detail in faces, fabric, and sets. It’s what we’ve been waiting for. The HDR grading (Dolby Vision) supports the contrasts though some of the purposefully underlit scenes relying on in-frame light sources (the away team on the Amargosa Observatory and the hand-held lights is a good example) will appear very dark. I should also give special mention to the saturating blue of the Stellar Cartography sequence.
The saucer crash sequence, one of the best from the Next Gen crew’s big screen outings, begins with a good space battle against the Klingon Bird of Prey and the greens and explosion-oranges and yellows look superb (that space battle does have significant lapses in logic if you consider what Riker says must happen once the Klingon ship’s cloak is triggered, what Worf must fire, and how quickly it all must happen). Still, the model work is highlighted well in 4K and holds up well during this entire sequence.
Audio: 4.5/5
Paramount continues its policy of repurposing its original audio, though in this iteration we go from Dolby TrueHD 5.1 to 7.1. A Dolby Atmos mix would have been most welcome, especially for the prologue aboard the Enterprise B as they encounter the ribbon in space. Still, the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track is no slouch.
The surrounds are active, there’s good movement across the speakers as ships fly by, shockwaves destroy planets, and the Starship Enterprise D meets an unfortunate end. Dialogue is very clear in the center channel as well. Dennis McCarthy’s score is served well, especially the quieter opening as the Dom Pérignon bottle floats through space and the music crescendos as the bottle christens the launch of the Enterprise B. McCarthy’s score never reaches the greatness of Goldsmith or Horner, but he does well in the quieter moments. The scoring of Picard’s experience inside The Nexus with his ‘family’ is beautiful.
Special Features: 4/5
All the previously produced special features for Star Trek: Generations are here, but nothing new. With Picard doing exceptionally well for Paramount+, it seems a missed opportunity to have created something with the cast and crew reflecting on this film now nearly 30 years on.
The extras are a mix of standard and high-definition material showing just now old some of them are. The commentaries are entertaining and some good insight to be had, even if there are dry spells and side-street conversation lines that can be distracting at times.
4K Disc:
- Commentary by director David Carson and Manny Coto
- Commentary by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
- Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
Blu-ray disc:
- Commentary by director David Carson and Manny Coto
- Commentary by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
- Text Commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
- Library Computer
- Production
- Uniting Two Legends
- Stellar Cartography: Creating the Illusion
- Strange New Worlds: The Valley of Fire
- Scoring Trek
- Visual Effects
- Inside ILM: Models & Miniatures
- Crashing the Enterprise
- Scene Deconstruction
- Main Title Sequence
- The Nexus Ribbon
- Saucer Crash Sequence
- The Star Trek Universe
- A Tribute to Matt Jeffries
- The Enterprise Lineage
- Captain Picard’s Family Album
- Creating 24th Century Weapons
- Next Generation Designer Flashback Andrew Probert
- Stellar Cartography on Earth
- Brent Spiner – Data and Beyond Part 1
- Trek Roundtable: Generations
- Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 007: Trilithium
- Deleted Scenes
- Archives
- Trailers
- Blu-ray and Digital copy of the film
Overall: 4.5/5
Star Trek: Generations is almost a very good movie, but it lands firmly in realm of “just good enough,” where it couldn’t quite match the best of what the series was able to conjure. The larger theatrical budget may cover some of the script and concept weaknesses, but not completely. The original series crew struggled in its first outing on the big screen, too, before finding its footing with their second film. The same would be true for The Next Generation crew. Still, as with The Motion Picture, there’s enough to admire and enjoy in the inaugural excursion. Unlike 1979’s The Motion Picture, however, Generations lacks grandeur and ambition. Rushed to the big screen following the show’s end, the showrunners, Brannon Braga and Rick Berman, barely had time to catch a breath. They needed time to rejuvenate and refill their creative tanks. The fact that they couldn’t do so shows in the finished product. Still, despite the all its flaws, Generations does entertain.
Neil has been a member of the Home Theater Forum reviewing staff since 2007, approaching a thousand reviews and interviews with actors, directors, writers, stunt performers, producers and more in that time. A senior communications manager and podcast host with a Fortune 500 company by day, Neil lives in the Charlotte, NC area with his wife and son, serves on the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Charlotte Board of Directors, and has a passion for film scores, with a collection in the thousands.
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