Finally, the Star Trek movie odd/even number curse mostly came to an end with “Star Trek: Generations.” What do you mean you’re not aware of the curse? I’m not even a big Star Trek fan, and I’ve heard of it! Basically it goes like this… all of the odd-numbered films are considered bad by Trekkie (Trekker?) standards. Only the even numbered ones worth seeing. (Personally, I like them all okay but do notice that II, IV and VI all seem to be better overall films). One has to wonder if it had anything to do with the dropping of the number in the title altogether, or if it was just a really, really weird coincidence. Over the past couple of years, Paramount has been re-releasing all of the Star Trek feature films in new 2-disc Special Edition DVD sets. The last entry, “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” marked the return of director Nicholas Meyer to the Trek fold, and with him came the 2nd best of the ‘Original Crew’ features.

Meyer originally directed “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan”, which holds the distinction of actually being the best of the series. “STVI” also turned out to be the swan song of the entire original crew, as only Kirk, Scotty and Chekov would return in the next feature, “Generations”, which was meant to hand the big screen reins over to the crew of “The Next Generation.”

This week, we see the release of the 2-disc set for “Star Trek: Generations”, so the set is almost complete. There are only two more to go (“First Contact”, “Nemesis”) unless Paramount opts to do another big budget feature.

“Star Trek: Generations” did as it intended with the afore-mentioned ‘handing over of the rein’, as it opened with what was to be the final voyage of James Tiberius Kirk (William Shatner) as he boards the new and improved Enterprise for its maiden voyage. Unfortunately, the ship is woefully unprepared for the trip, and is not able to handle it’s collision with the space anomaly known as the Nexus. He heads down to help during the emergency, only to disappear (along with a huge chunk of the ship), never to be heard from again. (wink)

Fast forward a few years and we meet up with the crew of “The Next Generation” series in an unusual holodeck setting. To make a long story short, the Enterprise is called upon to help in an emergency involving… you guessed it… the Nexus. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away on the off-chance you actually haven’t seen it, but our intrepid Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) meets up with Kirk, and together they do their best to thwart the world destructive plans of Soren (Malcolm McDowell). Soren’s sole wish is to return to the Nexus, and he doesn’t care if billions of people have to die in order for him to do so.

(SPOILER ALERT)

Now, I wouldn’t say that it is anywhere near being the best of the series, as the story is full of plot holes you could fly a starship through, but it is a historic moment for fans of the series when these two Captains meet. Now, here is where I will throw in a few spoilers, so stop here if you’d rather not know too much about the film. Plot holes aside, I the only real problem I had with the film was the unceremonious way it handled the demise of the beloved Captain Kirk. Again, I won’t get into details, but if Kirk were ever to die, he should go out with a shout, not a whimper. Having him die quietly, with his final words being, “It was fun… oh my” just took all the sails out of the years of adventure the man had survived. Granted, in real life heroes don’t always die in big ways, but come on… this is Captain Kirk.

(Oh boy, I’m really starting to sound like a convention geek… stop me…)

(Oh what the heck, I’ll keep going…)

The one thing that saved me from being totally hacked off about Kirk’s demise came in the form of a series of Star Trek books that William Shatner wrote shortly after the film came out. In these books, Kirk is revived and though I won’t go into details, I found them to be quite satisfying. Of course, Shatner is well-known to supposedly be very full of himself, and I’ll admit that these books seem a bit self-serving. But they are a good read, nonetheless.

I will say that “Star Trek: Generations”, does have a scene that is definitely on my list of greatest moments in the movie series. Thinking back to the destruction of the Enterprise in “Star Trek III”, and how emotional it was, I am reminded of how elegantly it was filmed. It appeared as a mere smudge in the sky. (Oddly enough, it actually was a smudge that was used for the effect) We couldn’t see that it was the Enterprise, but we knew it was. This time around we see the destruction of the newer Enterprise in all its destructive glory. It comes down with the force of an Earthquake, tearing up the ground as it goes. It’s not as simple and elegant as the prior destruction, but it’s a special effects geek’s wet dream.

(END OF SPOILER)

If there is any reason to get this new DVD release (if you already own the movie) is simply has to be the extra features. Paramount has been going to town with these releases (just as they have with their full season sets of the series) and has made sure that the fans get their money’s worth. The first disc contains the movie, along with a commentary by Brannon Braga and Ron Moore. For the most part, the pair discuss the historical angle of the franchise while rarely touching on anything technical about the film. You also have the option to see some text commentary from authors Michael and Denise Okuda, the uber-geniuses behind the Star Trek Encyclopedia. Shown in a pop-up video format, the commentary shares all sorts of trivia.

The 2nd disc has several featurettes, including a tribute to Matt Jeffries, who is the guy that the starship’s ‘Jeffries Tubes’ are named after. There is also a look at famous ships in the real world that were named ‘Enterprise.’ Getting back into the film itself, there are a number of featurettes focusing on the production itself, including a look at the scene I mentioned in the spoiler above. All in all, there is about three hours worth of extra materials.

The most notable of them show up in the form of deleted scenes. Normally I’m not into deleted scenes, but here two in particular are of special interest to Trek fans. The first is a look at the ‘Orbital Skydiving’ sequence that was supposed to open the film, but was ultimately scrapped. The scene is shown in its rough cut format and it is a gem of an addition, in spite of the fact that it was easy to see why it didn’t work. The last scene, which is the one fans have been clamoring for, is the famed alternate ending. The end result is the same; just the way it happens is a little different. It didn’t play well with screener audiences, so the changes were made in the final cut. Admittedly, it holds a similar weakness to the ending that was finally used, but it was cool to see. All of the scenes have an introduction and includes comments from both cast and crew as to why they were cut.

The new 2-disc set of “Star Trek: Generations” is a great set and well worth owning if you’re at all a Star Trek fan.

Directed by: David Carson
Starring: Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Malcom McDowell, Brent Spiner, Jonathan Frakes, Levar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, James Doohan, Walter Koenig
Extras: Audio Commentary by Brannon Braga & Ron Moore, Text Commentary by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda, A Star Trek Universe - A Tribute To Matt Jeffries, The Enterprise Lineage, Captain Picard’s Family Album, Creating 24th Century Weapons, Production - Uniting Two Legends, Stellar Cartography: Creating The Illusion, Strange New Worlds: The Valley Of Fire, Visual Effects - Inside ILM: Models And Miniatures, Crashing The Enterprise, Scene Deconstruction - Main Title Sequence, The Nexus Ribbon, Saucer Crash Sequence, Deleted Scenes - Orbital Skydiving, Walking The Plank, Christmas With The Picards, Alternate Ending, Archives - Storyboards, Production Gallery
Specifications: Widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 9/7/2004
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG (For Sci Fi Action and Some Mild Language)
Website

We'll give Star Trek: Generations an B+.