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Star Trek Generations is a 1994 American science fiction film and the seventh film in the Star Trek film series. Malcolm McDowell joins cast members from the 1960s television show Star Trek and the 1987 sequel series The Next Generation, including William Shatner and Patrick Stewart.
Star Trek: Generations: Directed by David Carson. With Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton. With the help of long presumed dead Captain Kirk, Captain Picard must stop a deranged scientist willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to enter a space matrix.
- (88K)
- Action, Adventure, Mystery
- David Carson
- 1994-11-18
- Overview
- Summary
- Log entries
- Memorable quotes
- Background information
- Awards and honors
- Links and references
In the late 23rd century, the USS Enterprise-B is on her maiden voyage, and Kirk is no longer in the captain's chair. The ship must rescue El-Aurian refugees from a mysterious energy ribbon, but the rescue seemingly costs Kirk his life. Seventy-eight years later, one of the El-Aurian survivors leads the crew of the Enterprise-D into a deadly confro...
PrologueAct OneAct TwoOn the bridge of the Klingon getaway ship, the Duras sisters, Lursa and B'Etor, are admonished by Soran for allowing the Romulans to attack the Observatory (it emerges that the trilithium was stolen from a Romulan outpost by the sisters), reminding them that their plans to use trilithium to conquer the Klingon Empire are dependent on him. The El-Aurian demands they set course at maximum warp for a planet in the Veridian system and the sisters grudgingly comply. In the bowels of the ship, Soran holds La Forge captive. Marveling at the engineer's VISOR, Soran interrogates La Forge to learn all he knows about trilithium. Back on the Enterprise, Dr. Crusher has done some research into Soran's background, telling Commander Riker that he was one of the survivors rescued by the Enterprise-B eighty years ago after the Borg destroyed their world and that Guinan was also listed on the passenger manifest. To learn more about the scientist, Captain Picard visits Guinan in her quarters. There she describes the energy ribbon as the "Nexus," a blissful realm where time has no meaning, and a place Soran must be desperately trying to get back to. The experience left such an impact on Guinan that she suspects it has turned Soran into a dangerous threat. As he is trying to get back to the Nexus, this raises the question: Why destroy a star? Picard leaves after thanking Guinan for her help, but she warns him that if he goes into the Nexus, he will not care about anything. Not his ship, Soran, nothing. All he'll want is to stay in the Nexus – and he will not want to come back. "Captain's log, stardate 48632.4. Dr. Crusher has informed me that Data's emotion chip has been fused into his neural net, and cannot be removed. However, she believes he is fit for duty so I have asked him to join me in stellar cartography." In the cavernous stellar cartography section of the Enterprise, Picard and Data work in front of a huge projection of space, and Picard asks for everything affected by the destruction of the Amargosa star. Data is clearly distracted and doesn't immediately respond, and when Picard asks the android if he's all right, Data admits that he is feeling intense guilt over his failure to save La Forge in the observatory. Composing himself, Data reports that one of the things affected was that the USS Bozeman had to make a minor course correction due to a change in the gravitational field. Picard asks Data to chart the ribbon's course. Data stands up and tells Picard that he cannot continue with the investigation, and asks to be deactivated until the emotion chip can be removed. Picard tells him that he is not willing to allow it and tells Data he must attempt to integrate the emotions into his life. Data tries to argue with this, but Picard matter-of-factly tells him that he will not be deactivated as he is a Starfleet officer on his ship and orders him to continue to perform his duties. Data agrees to try, and resumes his position at the console. Picard tells him that it takes courage to try and that courage can also be an emotion. Data is able to chart the ribbon's course, and Picard asks if the Amargosa star's destruction was taken into account when he charted the course. Data tells him that he didn't, and makes the adjustment. However, when this is done, it becomes clear that the gravitational change has altered the ribbon's course. Unable to fly into the ribbon with a ship, Soran is attempting to make the ribbon come to him, and they find that the ribbon comes close to Veridian III. Data then simulates the course if the Veridian star was destroyed, and this causes the ribbon to come into direct contact with the planet. Now they know where Soran is going. Data points out that if the Veridian star is destroyed, it will also produce a shock wave that will destroy the system, similar to the one produced by Soran at Amargosa. This will claim the lives of the 230,000,000 people living on Veridian IV. Knowing they have to stop Soran, Picard taps his combadge and orders Worf to take the Enterprise to the Veridian system at maximum warp. Finished with the interrogation, Soran returns to the bridge of the Klingon vessel as they enter orbit of Veridian III: he provides the Duras sisters with the information required to make a trilithium weapon, though as a guarantee against betrayal, informs them he will only provide the means to decrypt it once the Klingons have transported him to the planet's surface. The discussion is interrupted by the arrival of the Enterprise, transmitting a message to the cloaked ship demanding the return of La Forge and threatening to destroy any probes fired at the Veridian star. Irritated by the interruption, Soran orders the sisters to destroy the Enterprise but they remind him that their Bird-of-Prey would stand no chance in battle against a Galaxy-class starship. Soran cryptically has a solution in mind to give the sisters the edge, an idea which involves La Forge's VISOR… On the bridge of the Enterprise, the Klingon vessel decloaks on screen and Lursa and B'Etor greet the captain. Claiming they have merely had La Forge as a guest aboard their ship, they agree to a "prisoner exchange," taking Picard in his place. First, however, they agree to allow Picard to beam to Soran's present location, somewhere on the planet's surface. As the captain beams down, a stricken La Forge rematerializes on the Enterprise transporter pad and promptly collapses. Dr. Crusher and Nurse Alyssa Ogawa rush to his aid. Appearing on an arid desert mountain top, Picard finds Soran hard at work on a solar probe launcher. Attempting to reach the scientist, Picard is blocked by a huge force field. Keeping his distance, the captain appeals to Soran, but the El-Aurian is unconvinced. On the Enterprise, Data visits La Forge to apologize for being too frightened to help him on the observatory, but La Forge assures the android he understands and notes that Data is now acting a lot more like a Human. Full of happiness, Data reports to his station to aid in the search for Picard and is so jubilant he plays his console like a piano as he scans for lifeforms causing the whole bridge crew to stare at him. In space, the Duras sisters watch their viewscreen and see from the perspective of Geordi La Forge's modified VISOR. They watch impatiently as he moves from sickbay, to his quarters, then finally to engineering. As the engineer checks several readouts, the sisters discover what they have been looking for – the exact shield modulation of the Enterprise. With this new knowledge, they will be able to fire through the Enterprise's shields by adjusting their torpedo frequency. On the Enterprise bridge, the search for Captain Picard on the planet below is interrupted as the Bird-of-Prey opens fire with photon torpedoes, which pass straight through the shields to hit the secondary hull. Disruptor blasts likewise pass directly through, hitting the portside nacelle. The Enterprise returns fire, but the Klingons' shields hold up against phaser fire. The bridge is engulfed in explosions, injuring Jae, the conn officer. Riker orders Counselor Troi to take the helm and to get the ship out of orbit, but the Duras sisters' assault is relentless and they pursue the helpless Enterprise, firing non-stop. Riker asks Worf if their ship, an older model, has any exploitable weaknesses, and Worf states that their Bird-of-Prey is a class D12, retired because of defective plasma coils. He doesn't see how they could use that information, but the plasma coil is a part of the D12's cloaking device. Riker asks Data what effect an ionic pulse aimed at a defective plasma coil would have. Enthusiastically, Data realizes that a low-level pulse could reset the coil and trigger the ship's cloaking device, disabling its shields and weapons. As the Duras sisters continue their onslaught, Riker orders Worf to target their primary reactor with photon torpedoes; they will only be vulnerable for a few seconds at best and this is the Enterprise's only chance. Making a few quick modifications, Data triggers the pulse just as a direct hit from the Klingons causes an aft bridge terminal to explode, hurling the hapless crewmember manning it over the tactical station and down onto the command chairs. Aboard the Bird-of-Prey, Lursa and B'Etor triumphantly order the weapons targeted at the Enterprise's bridge to deal the death blow, when their bridge officer reports with alarm that their cloaking device is engaging and their shields are dropping. The sisters are allowed only a few seconds of horrified realization, before the Enterprise fires a single photon torpedo from the aft torpedo launcher, and their vessel is completely destroyed, killing Lursa and B'Etor in a fiery explosion. The Enterprise crew stares silently at the remains of the destroyed ship, as Data triumphantly exclaims "Yes!" Meanwhile, on Veridian III, Picard carefully walks around the force field's edge as Soran continues to work on his probe. Picard nonchalantly throws a small rock into the force field, prompting Soran to look up and ask if Picard hasn't got anything better to do. At that, Picard sits down and Soran resumes working. While Soran is distracted, Picard notices a small hole in the rocks and tosses another rock through it and sees the force field doesn't cover it, providing a way in. Picard waits for Soran to move away so he can try to get through that hole unnoticed. In engineering, La Forge finds a new problem: the magnetic interlocks have been ruptured, and while he's reporting this to Riker, plasma coolant begins violently leaking out of the warp core. Evacuating engineering, La Forge tells Riker that he can't shut it down and gives an estimate of five minutes until a warp core breach, rolling out of engineering as the last one out just in time before the isolation door comes down to the floor. On the bridge, Riker orders Troi to evacuate everyone to the saucer section and Data to prepare to separate the ship. The crew and their families hurry to evacuate their doomed stardrive section with Dr. Crusher leading her staff and patients out of sickbay and La Forge guiding the crew to safer locations. As the breach nears critical and with the crew cleared of the stardrive section, the ship separates and begins to move out of range. However, just as Troi begins engaging the impulse engines the core breaches prematurely, completely destroying the damaged stardrive section of the Enterprise and creating a ion shock wave that disables the entire saucer section including all helm controls and pushes the saucer into the atmosphere of Veridian III. On the bridge, the Enterprise crew watches in horror as they begin to plummet toward the surface of the planet. Data, for the first time, swears. As Picard climbs through the hole in Soran's force field, he jostles the rocks which sets off the field. Soran, spotting Picard caught in the hole, fires his weapon, sending rocks raining down on the captain. Careening out of control towards the planet, the bridge crew desperately attempts to regain control of what's left of their starship as the rest of the crew seeks safety as best they can on the lower decks. Data is able to route the remaining auxiliary power to the lateral thrusters in an attempt to stabilize the Enterprise's descent as Riker warns the crew to brace for impact. As the ground rushes towards them on the viewscreen, the saucer impacts off a slight rise in the terrain, briefly forcing it back in the air. As the crew fights to regain control, the saucer nosedives into a large hill, destroying all remaining ship functions and knocking the crew to the deck. Riker, arising from the destroyed bridge of the With their fate now left to chance, the bridge crew protects themselves any way they can as the Enterprise skids through a heavily forested area, cutting a large swath of destruction. Fires burn and structural supports rain down from the top of the bridge as the crew weathers the horrific ride, completely sensor blind and only lit by the fires and emergency lighting. With one final violent lurch forward, the momentum slows and the saucer finally comes to a stop. Data and Troi regain their senses first and survey the damage. What was once an immaculate nerve center for the flagship of the Federation is now largely destroyed; the large viewscreen has been shattered, consoles and displays are burnt out, chairs have been ripped out from the deck and the only light comes from the broken top of the bridge dome as the blue Veridian sky shines in from above. Miles away from the crash site, Dr. Soran looks out over the rugged terrain of Veridian's desert only to be surprised by Picard who attacks him outright. The two men struggle, and Picard manages to disarm Soran quickly, but is knocked back by Soran's blows and thrown down a hill, landing face down in rock and sand as the Nexus appears in the sky. Picard recovers, and tries again to get up to the launcher to stop the countdown… however he is too late as Soran's launcher engages and his solar probe streams into the sky. Watching from the surface, Picard is horrified as the probe finds its target and the star is destroyed, darkening the sun in seconds. Soran climbs to a high platform and throws his arms into the air as the Nexus changes its course. Sweeping down toward the ground, the ribbon envelops everything, taking Soran and Picard along with it. Gliding away from the planet and out into space, the Nexus departs the system just before the shock wave hits, which destroys the entire planet, taking the Enterprise saucer section, its crew, as well as the rest of the solar system, with it. Soran has succeeded.Act Three"What… where is this?! Where am I?" Captain Picard's voice echoes as he transitions from the real world to the Nexus. A hand reaches toward him from space and removes his blindfold to suddenly find himself in a Victorian-style house where his wife and children greet him on Christmas morning. Picard quickly allows himself to be absorbed into the fantasy, enjoying a perfect life with a wonderful family. René, also present, gives Picard a gift. Picard happily receives it, then remembering what happened gives his nephew a loving hug before sending him to help his aunt Later Picard strolls through his home, into a study and to large bay windows overlooking snow-covered trees, decorated with colorful lights and bulbs. Standing at the windows, Picard finds himself staring into a strange, surrealistic world, the bulbs on the trees containing small stars that flash brilliant bursts of light and begins to realize that something is wrong. Suddenly, he turns to find Guinan standing behind him in the study. The El-Aurian bartender tells the captain that she exists both here and in the real world, a part of herself she left behind so many years ago – an echo of her former self. Picard is unable to believe how perfect the fantasy is around him, knowing that although he never had a family, he knows the children are his own. Guinan tells him that in the Nexus time has no meaning, so he can travel to any point in his children's past or future as he wishes. With the appearance of Guinan, Picard is at first divided, tempted by the prospect of staying in the Nexus and living out this fantasy life. But he soon realizes that action must be taken to save the hundreds of millions of people who would be killed if Soran destroys the Veridian star and asks Guinan if he can leave the Nexus. Guinan tells him that the timeless nature of the Nexus would allow him to go any place, any time. Picard knows exactly where he wants to go: to the mountaintop on Veridian III to stop Soran from destroying the star, but he will need some help. As she already exists in the real world, Guinan tells the captain that she cannot go with him. But she says there is somebody who can help, who as far as they are concerned, just arrived in the Nexus themselves… Suddenly Picard finds himself standing outside a rustic cabin in the woods, daylight shining down through the trees. A few feet away, James T. Kirk stands, chopping wood with an ax. Seeing Picard, Kirk smiles, "Beautiful day." Picard agrees and helps Kirk chop wood. Kirk is then drawn inside the cabin, hurrying into the kitchen where eggs are burning on the stove. Kirk tells Picard to come on in, this is his house – at least, it used to be. He had sold it some years prior. Picard steps inside and into the kitchen, helping Kirk prepare a fresh set of scrambled Ktarian eggs on the stove. Picard hesitates momentarily, then introduces himself as captain of the Enterprise, from what Kirk would consider the future, the 24th century. Kirk is too distracted by the memories of the past to fully take in what Picard is telling him, excited to be in his old home, with his beloved dog Butler, who seemingly died seven years ago. A woman calls down to him and he instantly knows who it is: Antonia, a lost love. While Kirk is preparing breakfast, Picard asks "How long have you been here?" Kirk isn't quite sure; one second he was aboard the Enterprise-B, the next thing he knew, the bulkhead in front of him disappeared and he was here, chopping wood, right before Picard walked up. Picard then tells Kirk that history records him as dying while saving the Enterprise-B and that both of them are caught in some kind of temporal nexus. He then tries telling Kirk of the dire situation on Veridian III, but as Kirk tries to get his head around the situation, he realizes that he has gone back to the day he told Antonia he was leaving her to rejoin Starfleet… but this time he won't make the same mistake, now he intends to go upstairs and propose to her. The two argue, as Picard tells him that as a Starfleet officer he has a duty to help him, but Kirk argues that all duty ever got him in the end was an empty house and figures that after all he's done for the galaxy, it owes him a favor. Kirk then enters Antonia's bedroom, noting that this time, it is going to be different. Picard follows Kirk up the stairs and after a moment's hesitation, opens the bedroom door and walks into a barn on Earth. "This is not your bedroom," Picard half asks Kirk, who says that it is even better: his uncle's barn in Idaho. Noting this as a spring day eleven years prior – the day he met Antonia – Kirk grabs a saddle, jumps onto a horse, and gallops out into rolling hills. Picard, no stranger to horseback riding himself, grabs a saddle and rides after him. Ahead of Picard, Kirk and his horse come to a deep ravine. Without equivocation, Kirk jumps the ravine, then turns around and jumps it again, stopping to consider it. As Picard rides up, Kirk knows something is wrong: "I must have jumped that fifty times, scared the hell out of me each time. Except this time, because it isn't real. Nothing here is. Nothing here matters." He looks up and sees Antonia mounted on her own horse on the horizon, waiting. "She isn't real either." Kirk moves his horse next to Picard and gives the new Enterprise captain a once over. "Captain of the Enterprise, huh?" The two men sit on horseback and discuss the situation. Kirk admits that he does not miss the house or the family he never had, he misses his days on the USS Enterprise, and offers Picard some advice; to never retire, accept a transfer, or get promoted out of the command chair of the Enterprise, because it is only as the Captain of the Enterprise that they can truly make a difference. Picard appeals to Kirk, "Come back with me, help me stop Soran – make a difference again." Kirk considers it, then agrees, "Who am I to argue with the captain of the Enterprise?" "I take it the odds are against us and the situation is grim," Kirk says. Picard admits that it is. Kirk continues, "You know, if Spock were here, he'd say that I'm an irrational, illogical Human being for taking on a mission like that…" and then grinning, adds, "sounds like fun." Together, they ride off and a beam of light envelops them as they exit the Nexus. The immediate past replays; the Enterprise-D saucer section crash-lands and Picard crawls through the hole in the force field. Soran stands on the Veridian III mountaintop and checks his pocket watch when a lone figure steps toward him. Soran looks up at the man and scowls, "Just who the hell are you?" Behind him, Picard appears, "He's James T. Kirk. Don't you read history?" Soran knows he is in trouble and jumps away, down onto the rocks below and makes a quick retreat. Picard heads for the launcher as Kirk sets off in pursuit of the El-Aurian. Rounding a corner, Kirk is caught by Soran who shoves a phaser in his face. "Actually I am familiar with history," Soran growls, "and if I'm not too mistaken… you're dead!" Picard jumps down behind Soran, catching him off guard long enough for Kirk to get in several blows. Kirk and Soran fight, exchanging punches until Kirk is able to knock Soran off a cliff. Grabbing onto a dangling rope, Soran saves himself, entering a command into his PADD that cloaks his rocket launcher. Suddenly the rope snaps and Soran drops suddenly, then jolts to a stop, losing his control PADD which falls onto a metal bridge spanning a chasm. Realizing they must decloak the launcher in order to prevent it from launching, Kirk and Picard run onto the bridge toward the PADD. A volley of phaser fire flies through the air, narrowly missing the two Starfleet captains and slicing the bridge in half. Picard is thrown clear, but Kirk hangs on to what is left of the bridge. With all his might, Picard pulls Kirk to safety and the two collapse on the ground, noticing the PADD intact on the other half of the bridge, a deep chasm away. They then see the Nexus begin to appear in the sky. Kirk volunteers to go, telling Picard to get to the launcher and prepare to deactivate it once it is decloaked. Picard maintains Kirk will never make the jump himself and that they should work together to get the PADD. Kirk reminds Picard that they are working together and to trust him. He tells Picard to call him "Jim." Picard smiles at the Starfleet legend and heads for the launcher. Gingerly stepping out onto the broken bridge, Kirk stands at the edge, preparing to jump over the chasm to the other half. As the delicate bridge collapses under his weight, Kirk leaps, catching himself on the other half of the bridge and grabbing hold of the PADD. Entering in a command, Kirk decloaks the rocket launcher and begins to try to climb up. But it is too late. The bridge buckles and careens down the rock face, taking Kirk with it. Running up a platform and onto the launcher, Picard frantically works the controls, trying to prevent it from launching. Aiming his phaser at Picard, Soran demands the captain step away from the launcher. Picard jumps down and runs around a rock face and out of sight. Soran heaves himself onto the launcher, just in time to read the display screen: the locking clamps have been engaged. Soran only has time to recognize his doom as the launcher fires and explodes in an enormous fireball that covers the entire area in a thick cloud of smoke and dust. With the Veridian sun still intact, the Nexus passes the planet, never making contact. Emerging from the cloud, Picard makes his way down into the chasm where the bridge has collapsed. Digging through the twisted metal wreckage, Picard uncovers Kirk, laying broken among the debris. Kirk is bloody and faint, "Did we do it? Did we… make a difference?" Picard assures him they have and thanks the captain. "The least I could do," Kirk says, "for the captain of the Enterprise." He manages a weak smile, "It was… fun," then turns and faces his destiny, "Oh my." Burying Kirk beneath a cairn of large rocks on the mountaintop as the sun sets, Picard stands and keeps silent vigil. The following day, Picard begins trekking through the desert until a shuttlecraft locates the captain and picks him up. "Captain's log, stardate 48650.1. Three Starfleet vessels have arrived in orbit and have begun to beam up the Enterprise survivors. Our casualties were light, but unfortunately the Enterprise herself cannot be salvaged." At the saucer crash site, Starfleet rescue shuttles have begun a salvage effort. In the ship's destroyed cargo bay, crewmembers carry out salvageable equipment, belongings, and patients out while Deanna Troi and Data use tricorders to search for survivors. Data tells Troi that after experiencing 261 distinct emotional states, he believes that he will be able to control his feelings in the future so he has decided not to remove the emotion chip. As Troi wishes him luck, her tricorder detects a faint lifeform in the wreckage. Tearing through the debris, Data finds his cat, Spot, alive and well. As he cradles his pet in his arms, Data begins to break down in tears. When Troi asks if he's all right, Data tells her that he is unsure – he is happy to see Spot, yet is crying. Data thinks that perhaps the chip is malfunctioning but Troi kindly reassures him that she believes the chip is working perfectly. In what is left of Picard's ready room, Commander Riker and Captain Picard retrieve the Picard family album under broken pieces of the room's furniture and then move out onto the bridge, a burnt-out shell of its former glory. Riker laments that the Enterprise went before her time, and Picard relates to his first officer his thoughts, "Someone once said that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives, but I rather believe that time is a companion that goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again." They stand near the center seats and survey the damage. Picard holds his family album close and smiles, "What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived. After all, Number One, we're only mortal." Riker grins mischievously, "Speak for yourself, sir. I plan to live forever." Riker is disappointed that he will no longer have the chance to command this Enterprise and stands near the ruined captain's chair, but Picard assures his first officer that he very much doubts that this will be the last ship to bear the name. After nearly eight years of calling the Enterprise-D home, Picard and Riker take one last look around their destroyed starship and Picard signals the Nebula-class starship USS Farragut for two to beam up. The Farragut, along with a Miranda-class starship and an Oberth-class starship, goes to warp leaving Veridian III behind. While the Enterprise-D may be gone, her legacy, like the name, will live on."Captain's Log, Stardate 48632.4. Doctor Crusher has informed me that Data's emotion chip has been fused into his neural net and cannot be removed. However, she believes he is fit for duty, so I've asked him to join me in stellar cartography."
"Captain's Log, Stardate 48650.1. Three Starfleet vessels have arrived in orbit and have begun to beam up the Enterprise survivors. Our casualties were light, but unfortunately, the Enterprise herself cannot be salvaged."
"I remember reading about your missions when I was in grade school."
"Oh, really?"
- Harriman and Kirk
"It wouldn't be the Enterprise without a Sulu at the helm."
- Kirk, to Demora Sulu
"I was never that young."
Development
Executive Producer Rick Berman was approached by Paramount Pictures executives (first by Brandon Tartikoff, and subsequently by his immediate successor Sherry Lansing) in the fall of 1992 (during the series' sixth season) in regards to a seventh Star Trek film. While the studio intended Star Trek VII to be a TNG vehicle, Berman and Tartikoff felt the outing was an opportunity to "pass the baton." In February 1993, Berman and the studio commissioned two stories and three writers. A fourth, TNG writer and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine co-creator Michael Piller, passed, objecting to what he viewed as "competition" for the assignment. As written by former TNG writer/producer Maurice Hurley, the film had Captain Picard recreating Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) on the holodeck to help him solve a dilemma involving an interdimensional species wreaking havoc by crossing into our realm. Then-current TNG writing staffers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, whose script was ultimately greenlighted, chose to feature Kirk appearing in the flesh, as well as (initially) the entire Star Trek: The Original Series cast. Though Moore and Braga at first bandied about ideas which involved the two Enterprise crews battling each other, the pair of writers quickly abandoned this concept. Ron Moore explained, in 1994: "The best possible poster you could ever hope to have for this picture would show you the two Enterprises battling against each other. We all tried our best, but we were never able to come up with any scenario that made both crews look heroic. No matter how we played around with this thing, somebody was gonna come off looking like the bad guy. So then we returned, a little more solidly, to the 'mystery that spans two generations' idea that would allow Whoopi Goldberg, as Guinan, as the tie that binds the two." Braga and Moore nonetheless continued searching for a major "event" to anchor the film. Recalled Moore: "One of us just kinda threw out, 'What if we kill Kirk?' And we all kinda looked at each other and said, 'Wow. That would be amazing.' …From that point on, Kirk's death became part of the fabric of our story, and as a big surprise to us all, there was never a moment where it really came into question." As proposed by Moore and Braga, the film would feature Kirk and his Star Trek: The Original Series shipmates in a prologue, with Kirk later appearing at the film's climax. Berman later recalled the process: "In both scripts, the stories that we developed, were stories that entailed to different degrees members of The Original Series along with The Next Generation. First, we went through the story development on both, and both stories were submitted to the studio. We got a lot of notes from the studio, the stories were revised, and then we went to first draft on each. Eventually, it became quite obvious that the studio and I were leaning toward Ron's and Brannon's script. That's not to say Maury's script wasn't terrific, it just was far less advanced by the time we really had to make a decision." (; Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion (3rd ed., p. 308); Cinefantastique, Vol 26 #2, p. 16) Berman and the studio pursued the Moore/Braga story. Early drafts of the script took shape under the guidance of Rick Berman and with input by Shatner. The film's villain, "Moresh", was later changed to Dr. "Soran" to avoid recalling David Koresh, the infamous cultist. (Information from Larry Nemecek) A first draft script was completed during TNG's sixth season hiatus, dated 1 June 1993. As of 1 October of that year, the scripted prologue contained Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov. The script was in its third draft by 6 December 1993, and the third draft's first revised pages (colored blue) were added to the screenplay on that date. (Information from Larry Nemecek) The early scripts featured large action set pieces that were later removed. Among them was the Romulan attack on the Amargosa observatory, cut when TNG writer (and Star Trek: Voyager co-creator) Jeri Taylor suggested something more "charming". (citation needed • edit) Another major revision to the script revolved around the Duras sisters and their crew: surviving the destruction of their ship, they would have battled the Enterprise-D crew in the jungles of Veridian III. (AOL chat, 1998) The producers eventually chose to pare the appearances of the TOS cast down to two select cameos. This decision was made by 28 January 1994, when the fourth draft of the script was issued, with Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in the prologue. (Information from Larry Nemecek) The producers then sought their guest stars. While William Shatner agreed to appear pending script approval, Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley – the two preferred cameo appearances – were less eager to return. Stating that they had felt their characters made sufficient exits in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, both actors declined to appear in Star Trek VII. Leonard Nimoy – having been offered the director's chair – reportedly requested script changes, but was rebuffed. In his memoir Star Trek Movie Memories, William Shatner wrote: "Leonard, surprisingly, wasn't all that upset with this unusual turn of events. As you know, on Treks III, IV and VI, Leonard had been very involved very early on, nursing his projects through the story level and the scripting process, while simultaneously functioning as director and ultimately producer. However, this time around, that simply wouldn't have been his job. This story came from Rick Berman. It was written by his own handpicked writers, and essentially, Leonard was being asked to shoot their script as written, and he wasn't all that interested." In an interview with Trekmovie.com's Anthony Pascale in July 2007, Nimoy explained the issues he had with the Generations script and why he declined to appear. After proclaiming that "there was no Spock role in that script", he elaborated: "There were five or six lines attributed to Spock […] but it had nothing to do with Spock. They were not Spock-like in any way. I said to Rick Berman, 'You could distribute these lines to any one of the other characters and it wouldn't make any difference.' And that is exactly what he did. There was no Spock function in the script. I have always tried to make a contribution to these movies. There was no contribution to be made in that movie. It was just sort of 'let's get Nimoy in here too.' I said there is nothing here I can do so I said 'thanks, but I'll pass'." After DeForest Kelley and Leonard Nimoy declined to appear, the final draft of the film's script was submitted on 16 March 1994. Its prologue featured Scott and Chekov along with Kirk, as it stayed from then on. (Information from Larry Nemecek) Later drafts of Generations and the full TNG finale "All Good Things..." were written simultaneously. This often led the writers to mix the stories up. In their joint 2004 commentary for the Star Trek Generations (Special Edition) DVD, they admitted that they felt "All Good Things…" turned out to be the superior effort. During the scripting stages, however, the studio had few qualms and pre-production proceeded even as filming on Star Trek: The Next Generation was winding down and Deep Space Nine continued.
Preproduction
With the start of pre-production, Berman battled the studio over budget figures, the film cut in cost to an estimated US$35 million. Hopes for location shooting in Hawaii and Idaho were dropped in favor of more local shoots in Hollywood, Marina del Rey, Pasadena, Lone Pine, and the Valley of Fire State Park near Las Vegas, Nevada. By 16 March 1994, Moore and Braga's script reflected budget and cast changes. In place of first choice Leonard Nimoy, veteran TNG and DS9 director David Carson was hired, in turn recruiting veteran cinematographer John Alonzo of Chinatown and Scarface fame. Herman Zimmerman – who designed the initial TNG and DS9 sets – was called back into service on the film, working with Alonzo and illustrator John Eaves to refresh the aging TV sets. Budgetary constraints reined in some of the proposed sets; the new stellar cartography set reduced from three levels to two. As with most of the previous Trek movie installments, visual effects giant Industrial Light & Magic was hired to produce space and spaceship shots, while TNG mainstay CIS Hollywood was brought in for phaser shots, transporter effects, cloaking and decloaking transitions and the Picard family Christmas ornament. Last minute decisions included the hiring of actor Malcolm McDowell as the man who would (at least in the final draft script) gun down Captain Kirk, reportedly later receiving death threats from obsessed fans. The actor's nephew and DS9 star Alexander Siddig later said during an interview that McDowell thought the script was "shit". (X) McDowell had previously explained his reason for accepting the role: "When Rick asked me to be in this film, I was thrilled! I said, 'I'd LOVE to do it. I want to be THE man to kill Kirk.' And when I read the script I thought Soran was an interesting and wonderful character, and obviously he would ultimately be given the honor of pulling the trigger that kills the good Captain Kirk. I'd immediately become a trivia question at Star Trek conventions all over the globe."
Sets
Despite its reuse of sets built, in some cases as early as 1978 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, production designer Herman Zimmerman and his art department – namely John Eaves – began designing and redesigning as early as December 1993. One of the first and most elaborate sets generated from Paramount's motion picture art department was the two story stellar cartography room. Initially conceived of after a visit to Griffith Park's Laserium in Los Angeles, the room was imagined as a large sphere, eventually becoming a more budget-friendly cylinder. John Eaves described the process in his book, Star Trek: The Next Generation Sketchbook: The Movies: "[Illustrator] Clark Shaffer had just started on the film at this time, and he helped out with the immense load of drawings that had to be done. He took a rough console design I did for the cartography platform, and did a breakdown of the way the console should be put together. Again, I have to say that one of the exceptionally nice things about working on the Star Trek films is that everyone is so involved and helpful with design ideas. Mike [Okuda] and Herman [Zimmerman] contributed a number of wonderful ideas of how this room should look, and I have to say that the final set was an impressive thing to see (not only in the finished film, but in real life)." While a hoped-for floating platform proved to be too expensive and impractical, the set was realized with a combination of large, back-lit graphics and blue-screen projection created at ILM. The set was created in sections with wild walls that could be moved in and out. Lighting elements were integrated into the ceiling requiring little modification from shot to shot. A small section of Enterprise-D corridor was erected behind the upper level platform. Also conceived of in December, the Enterprise-B's deflector control room was designed to be a large, vertical area dominated by large machine elements, a second-level observation balcony and access panels built into the stage floor. Again, as the film's budget tightened, the design team returned to the drawing boards in February 1994 to design a smaller, vertical access shaft. David Carson recalled: "That gave us the most wonderfully interesting camera angles. Making the approach different, from horizontal to vertical, meant dealing with the budget in a creative way like that. Herman had a good time designing that; he ran through it about four times by himself just to make sure he had plenty of stuff for Shatner to do." Regarding the most visible section of the Enterprise-D, the main bridge, Zimmerman and Eaves took the opportunity to alter the set. Echoing modifications it received in the TNG episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", the bridge gained additional computer stations situated along the port and starboard bulkheads. John Eaves: "Herman wanted to make the bridge more functional. To accomplish that, we raised the captain's chair slightly (symbolically putting his authority higher than those sitting in the two chairs flanking him). For functionality, we also split the ramps on either side of the commander center. We still had a ramp going down, but added two elevated stations, one against either wall, where crew members could work. We also replaced an alcove filled with lockers and storage panels with a new graphics station (courtesy of Mike Okuda). At one point, we had added some new stand-up stations behind the captain's chair, where Worf works. It was a nice design, but it wound up being simply too much of a modification, so we dropped it." Worf, however, did finally receive a chair to sit on at his post. The set was also repainted and recarpeted with handrails added near the doors to the observation lounge and aft turbolift, working video monitors were incorporated into many of the ship's status displays. The captain's ready room, adjacent to the bridge, received a new, larger fish tank built into the wall and a larger window. Other sets aboard the Enterprise received only minor reworking. Engineering was connected to another corridor set by removing the "plugs" from the walls. The four red-alert lights in the hallway of the engineering set were also illuminated during the engineering scenes, even when the ship was not in battle, as well as some of the beige beams being painted a darker copper colour around the engineering pool-table. Overhead lighting was reduced in all of the sets, with display screens popping from the darkness. Of the modifications, Zimmerman said: "I hope the fans will say, 'Oh that's what I've been seeing on that little TV screen all these years'!" Following the end of production, the interior sets of the Enterprise were struck and replaced with those belonging to a new starship, the USS Voyager, for the upcoming series Star Trek: Voyager. Of the original sets, only small sections of the corridors, sickbay, transporter room and engineering were left standing, although the new sets were constructed directly over the basic framework and floor plan originally designed and built for the aborted Star Trek: Phase II. Of those remaining sets, only a small piece of the Enterprise-D sickbay (the ceiling) remained in use during Star Trek: Enterprise. However, the Enterprise-D observation lounge set (the only TNG set not used for the film) was spared the wrecking ball and saved against future need, eventually appearing (in modified form) as the observation lounge of the Enterprise-E in First Contact and Nemesis. The interior of the Amargosa observatory was a redress of the Enterprise-B main bridge, which was itself a redress of the USS Enterprise-A main bridge from Star Trek VI. Details built into the observatory set were meant to imply that it had been built around the time of TOS, with jeweled buttons and labels similar to those used on the original Enterprise. A half-globe map of the cosmos used in the Enterprise-D stellar cartography lab on the TV series appears in the wreckage of the observatory, along with an elevator from Data's lab.
received the following awards and honors.
CreditsUncreditedReferences1743; 21st century; 2265; 2281; 2282; 2284; 2286; 2293; 24th century; 2337; 2351; 2364; 2371; ability; acceleration; "all hands"; alternate timeline; Amargosa; Amargosa observatory; Amargosa system; Amargosa system sector; amusement; antimatter containment; Antonia; arterial damage; Badge of Office; barn; bat'leth; Bateson, Morgan; Battle of Trafalgar; Battle of Wolf 359; battle stations; bearing; Bolian; "Bones"; Borg; Bozeman, USS; brace; "brace for impact"; Breen; buckling; Butler; cabinet; cargo management unit (workbee); cat; champagne; Christmas; cloaking device; clown; communications station; course; crew quarters; cup; damage report; dedication plaque; deflector control; deflector dish; diaper; dill weed; disruptor; doll; Dom Pérignon; drydock; Du'cha; duotronics; Duras sisters' Bird-of-Prey; Earl Grey tea; Earth; ebs terranews; El-Auria; El-Aurian; El-Aurian homeworld; emotion chip; emotional response; energy ribbon; Enterprise, USS; Enterprise, USS; Enterprise, USS dedication plaque; Enterprise-A, USS; Enterprise-B, USS; Enterprise-B, USS dedication plaque; Enterprise-D, USS; Excelsior-class; Excelsior class decks; family history; family line; Farpoint Mission; Farpoint Station; Farragut, USS; fear; Federation; Ferengi; fly; Forcas III; force field; FPC; freedom; Galaxy-class; Galaxy class decks; Galileo-type shuttlecraft; gamma emission; gigawatt; GNN; God; gorilla suit; grade school; gravimetric distortion; gravimetric field; gravitational force; graviton field; Hawking; heart; Herbert, George; holodeck; horse; horseback riding; House of Duras; humor; Idaho; ionic pulse; joke; Kirk's uncle; Klingons; Klingon Bird-of-Prey; Klingon Empire; Klingonese; Ktarian eggs; Kurlan naiskos; Lakul, SS; Lakul crewmembers; Lakul refugees; Leandra; level 3 diagnostic; level 12 shock wave; listener; Livingston; locking clamp; madman; magnetic field; magnetic interlock; maiden voyage; main engineering; Martian colonies; mating ritual; maximum warp; McCoy, Leonard; MCH; medical staff; megahertz (MHz); Miranda-class (Miranda-class starship); mistress; mortality; myocardial degeneration; NAR-30974; NCC-7100; Nebula-class; Nexus; NFT; Nobel Prize; normal; number one; Oberth-class (Oberth-class starship); oregano; Papa; passenger manifest; phenomenon; photon torpedo; Picard family album; Picard, René; Picard, Robert; Picard's grandfather; plank; plasma coil; plasma coolant; plasma generator; Pluto; pocket watch; polarity; predator; pre-industrial society; prisoner; prisoner exchange; prosthesis; psychiatrist; quantum implosion; RADAR; refugee; retirement; Robert Fox, SS; Romulans; Romulan outpost; Romulan tricorder; royal; San Francisco; saucer section; saucer separation; Saurian brandy; science station; SD-103 type (1, 2, and 3); shelf; shield modulation; shit; sickbay; Sol system asteroid belt; solar probe; Soran's children; Space Marine Evac Fighter; speaker; Spock; Starfleet; Starfleet Academy; Starfleet Command; Starfleet uniform; Stellar cartography; stirring; stunsail; subspace scan; Sulu, Hikaru; System J-25; teeth; temporal energy; Ten Forward; t'garns'l; time; tractor beam; transport ship; transporter range; Transporter Room 3; tricorder; trilithium; trilithium weapon; Tuesday; type 3 disruptor; Type 6 shuttlecraft; Type 7 shuttlecraft; United Federation of Planets Press and Information; universe; universal constant; Veridian; Veridian system; Veridian I; Veridian I moon; Veridian II; Veridian II moons; Veridian III; Veridian III moons; Veridian IV; Veridian IV moons; Veridian IV natives; Veridian V; Veridian V moon; Veridian VI; Veridian VI moons; VISOR; "walk the plank"; warp core breach; warp drive system; warp plasma; water; YPS pulse fusionMedia•Star Trek Generations (Blu-ray) •Star Trek Generations (Special Edition DVD) •Star Trek Generations (DVD) •Star Trek Generations (soundtrack) •Star Trek Generations (novel) •Star Trek Generations (game)Star Trek Generations. In the 23rd century, the Starship Enterprise is dispatched to the scene of a giant energy field about to engulf two ships. Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) averts...
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- David Carson
- PG
- Patrick Stewart
Release info. Star Trek: Generations. Jump to Edit. Release Date. United States. November 17, 1994 (Hollywood, California, premiere) Canada. November 18, 1994. United States. November 18, 1994. Colombia. December 15, 1994. Cameroon. December 16, 1994. 29 more. Also Known As (AKA) (original title) Star Trek: Generations. Argentina.
Synopsis. 1994 • PG. Captains Kirk and Picard meet in a strange "Nexus" that defies time and unites forces to save a planet from destruction.
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Synopsis. In the year 2293, retired Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Montgomery Scott, and Pavel Chekov attend the maiden voyage of the Federation star ship USS Enterprise-B, under the command of the unseasoned Capt. John Harriman (Alan Ruck).
