Okay now, here we go… out with the old, in with the new, and so on. Now we head into the territory occupied by the Enterprise numbered NCC-​1701D and then shortly after meeting it get to say good-​bye to it as well. Meantime we get to have an entirely new crew thrown at us, presuming we haven’t already met them on TV in the series Star Trek: The Next Generation, thus the title, which cunningly informs us that we’re possibly going to get something a little extra.

Star Trek VII: Generations (1994)

We start with the launch of the NCC-​1701B, which is attended by a bunch of the now retired original crew (but not Spock, as Nimoy rightly said that his lines were so non-​specific to the character that they could be anyone’s, and – given they ended up being uttered by Scotty – he was right). Because Kirk is on board (honestly, do not invite this guy onto your ship, everything goes to Hell when he’s around), there’s a crisis and the squeaky-​clean Enterprise rescues as many of the passengers as it can who are on two vessels trapped inside “the Nexus”, which is a sort of energy beam /​ribbon thing.

ZAP!! We’re seventy-​eight years in the future and on the bridge of the NCC-​1701D Enterprise with Captain Jean-​Luc Picard at the helm, and the Nexus shows up again.

What this ends up being is a cross between Star Trek and James Bond, as Picard and company band together to defeat an obsessed crazy-​man who is determined to return to ‘the Nexus’ where he will ive forever: FOREVER, I TELL YOU! HA-​HA-​HAAAAAA!!!

There’s also a sub-​plot involving Data experimenting with an emotion-​inducing plug-​in, which is good for a few chuckles, but ultimately gets as wearisome as one would imagine the rest of the crew would find it in reality.

It’s okay, and I remember enjoying it in the theatre (possibly even on the opening night), but its best task is providing a bridge from one team to another.

Star Trek VII: Generations (1994)
Paramount Pictures

Directed by
David Carson

Writing credits
Gene Roddenberry (television series Star Trek)
story by Rick Berman & Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
and screenplay by Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga

This year, I’ve been watching DVDs from the library for a number of reasons, mostly to do with a combination of “filling in the gaps in my ‘pop culture’ knowledge”, as well as a concerted effort to better understand story editing by both watching a film and then re-​watching listening to people who have studied that particular movie for years in order to better appreciate the themes, plot construction, symbolism, and so on.

The process would be nothing without the secondary audio tracks. Sometimes it’s like having actually been through the film-​making process with the people involved.