THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 22, 1994 TAG: 9411220065
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Long : 138 lines
BLANDLY GOING where a half-dozen movies have gone before, it is clear that ``Star Trek's'' track record doesn't make it necessary for ``Star Trek: Generations'' to be particularly daring. No. 7 is going to get its audience.
The hook here - ranking up there with the search for Spock - is that Capt. James Tiberius Kirk (venerable William Shatner, with a bigger and better toupee) is going to pass on, but not before he passes the baton to the cast of the former TV series ``The Next Generation.''
It's more than enough for a Trekkie to hit warp speed and head to the nearest multiplex. If you're not, well, let's talk about it.
Only two of the ``Star Trek'' movies (``The Wrath of Khan'' and ``The Voyage Home'') achieved a real crossover audience. Whether ``Generations'' lives long and prospers after a big opening weekend is yet to be seen.
The odds are almost even. Although it is unduly obsessed with high-tech mumbo-jumbo, the movie is generic fun. The special effects are impressive, especially the crash-landing of the Enterprise. The filmmakers apparently liked it so much they repeat it twice, and in slow motion. This is not a cheap outing; The budget was reportedly $40 million.
The plot, though, shifts between being too simple and too convoluted. If you aren't fluent in Trekspeak, the technical chatter can get very thick. Ignore it though and the plot is pretty simple. It's all the subplots and a decision to give every character at least one line that complicates things.
Regretably, Spock and a number of the other originals decided not to be in the film, weakening the farewell angle. Kirk - as surely everyone knows by now - dies, not once but twice. Initially, he, Scotty and Chekhov are welcomed back as ``living legends'' to the New Enterprise. Disaster threatens while Kirk is on the bridge, and he's called on to help the youngsters as an alien ship approaches.
Flash forward 78 years and we meet Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), a more debonair Enterprise chief. He's aboard holodeck, a simulated version of one of those high-masted frigates of old. Are we to get an adventure on the high seas, with swords and wenches? No, it's just another silly detour. Finally, we get down to the plot: Soran, the resident mad scientist, wants to blow himself into the Nexus, a kind of superheaven where everything and everyone is joyful. You can't blame him, except he has to blow up a planet and 200 million innocent souls to get through the ``ribbon of energy'' that is the key to entrance. (Told you the jargon gets murky.) Picard finds it necessary to ask the dead Kirk for aid. Kirk does his duty and comes back. This leads, inevitably, to a rather limp fist fight involving Soran (played by Malcolm McDowell with white, spiked hair), Kirk and Picard. The tame finale resembles fight choreography from B-budget Westerns of the 1940s.
McDowell works hard and clearly would like to be more threatening, but he doesn't really have a lot to do. In fact, no one does. Duty is spread about, with only a nod to each of the too-numerous supporting cast. Whoopi Goldberg, tending bar as Guinan, has a solemn moment when she explains the whole premise. Jonathan Frakes, from the new show, and Walter Koenig, from the old, get about one line each. After each character gets his say, there isn't much time for the plot.
The only real breakthrough is Brent Spiner as Data, an android who wants to be human. He's had an emotion chip implanted and suddenly ``gets'' jokes he heard seven years ago. Data provides much-needed comic relief and will surely be the standout supporting character of ``Trek'' movies to come.
There are lots of colored lights, and it is always fun to share the Trekkies' enthusiasm for characters who are so well ingrained in pop culture. ``Star Trek: Generations,'' though, speaks clearest to the already converted.
B LANDLY GOING where a half-dozen movies have gone before, it is clear that ``Star Trek's'' track record doesn't make it necessary for ``Star Trek: Generations'' to be particularly daring. No. 7 is going to get its audience.
The hook here - ranking up there with the search for Spock - is that Capt. James Tiberius Kirk (venerable William Shatner, with a bigger and better toupee) is going to pass on, but not before he passes the baton to the cast of the former TV series ``The Next Generation.''
It's more than enough for a Trekkie to hit warp speed and head to the nearest multiplex. If you're not, well, let's talk about it.
Only two of the ``Star Trek'' movies (``The Wrath of Khan'' and ``The Voyage Home'') achieved a real crossover audience. Whether ``Generations'' lives long and prospers after a big opening weekend is yet to be seen.
The odds are almost even. Although it is unduly obsessed with high-tech mumbo jumbo, the movie is generic fun. The special effects are impressive, especially the crash-landing of the Enterprise. The filmmakers apparently liked it so much they repeat it twice, and in slow motion. This is not a cheap outing; The budget was reportedly $40 million.
The plot, though, shifts between being too simple and too convoluted. If you aren't fluent in Trekspeak, the technical chatter can get very thick. Ignore it, though, and the plot is pretty simple. It's all the subplots and a decision to give every character at least one line that complicates things.
Regretably, Spock and a number of the other originals decided not to be in the film, weakening the farewell angle. Kirk - as surely everyone knows by now - dies, not once but twice. Initially, he, Scotty and Chekhov are welcomed back as ``living legends'' to the New Enterprise. Disaster threatens while Kirk is on the bridge, and he's called on to help the youngsters as an alien ship approaches.
Flash forward 78 years, and we meet Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), a more debonair Enterprise chief. He's aboard a holodeck, a simulated version of one of those high-masted frigates of old. Are we to get an adventure on the high seas, with swords and wenches? No, it's just another silly detour.
Finally, we get to the plot: Soran, the resident mad scientist, wants to blow himself into the Nexus, a kind of superheaven where everything and everyone is joyful. You can't blame him, except he has to blow up a planet and 200 million innocent souls to get through the ``ribbon of energy'' that is the key to entrance. (Told you the jargon gets murky.)
Picard finds it necessary to ask the dead Kirk for aid. Kirk does his duty and comes back. This leads, inevitably, to a rather limp fistfight involving Soran (played by Malcolm McDowell with white, spiked hair), Kirk and Picard. The tame finale resembles fight choreography from B-budget Westerns of the 1940s.
McDowell works hard and clearly would like to be more threatening, but he doesn't really have a lot to do. In fact, no one does. Duty is spread about, with only a nod to each of the too-numerous supporting cast. Whoopi Goldberg, tending bar as Guinan, has a solemn moment when she explains the whole premise. Jonathan Frakes, from the new show, and Walter Koenig, from the old, get about one line each. After each character gets his say, there isn't much time for the plot.
The only real breakthrough is Brent Spiner as Data, an android who wants to be human. He's had an emotion chip implanted and suddenly ``gets'' jokes he heard seven years ago. Data provides much-needed comic relief and will surely be the standout supporting character of ``Trek'' movies to come.
There are lots of colored lights, and it is always fun to share the Trekkies' enthusiasm for characters who are so well ingrained in pop culture. ``Star Trek: Generations,'' though, speaks clearest to the already converted. MEMO: TREK ON THE 'NET: Computer users can find official ``Star Trek
Generations'' site on the Internet through the Extra! Extra! page of the
Pilot Online. See page A2 for details. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
"Star Trek Generations"
Cast:
Director:
Screenplay:
MPAA rating: PG
Mal's rating: 2 and one half stars
Locations
[for complete text, see microfilm.]
by CNB