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Star Trek persists with 10th film
Movie review
Aaron Shakra
Pulse Reporter
“Star Trek: The Next Generation”
has been a film series for as long as
its 178-episode television run. The
show, which ran from 1987 to 1994
on syndicated television, starred
Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean
Luc Picard and solidified “Star
Trek” popularity.
“Star Trek: Nemesis,” the fourth
film in the series — and the 10th
“Star Trek” film overall — will ar
rive in theaters Dec. 13.
The television series, which was
the last “Star Trek” production
that creator Gene Roddenberry
was intimately involved with, was
not an immediate success. Many
fans, critics, and producers had
their doubts about its viability.
However, as the series continued,
“The Next Generation” began set
ting, then breaking, the standards
of science fiction television.
So how have Picard, Riker, Data,
Worf, Geordi, Troi and Dr. Crusher
fared on the big screen? The first
film for the crew was “Star Trek:
Generations,” released in Novem
ber 1994. This was possibly the
pinnacle of “Star Trek” popularity.
“The Next Generation” had ended
its television run, and the series
had not yet been (but was on the
verge of being) diluted by the
plague of media, pop culture over
exposure and too many spin-offs.
In some ways, “Generations” suf
fered because it was a setup, de
signed to transition the movie series
away from the original “Star Trek”
crew, whose motion picture run
ended in 1991 with “Star Trek VI:
The Undiscovered Country.” The
result was a film featuring the un
satisfactory destruction of the En
terprise-D and an inorganic blend
ing of Captains Picard and Kirk, the
latter whose empty death scene
drew ire from fans.
“Star Trek: First Contact,” came
along in 1996, and finally estab
lished “P-Stew” and company as a
force of their own. Jonathan
Frakes, who plays Commander
Riker, directed the film and was
able to work unfettered by the
constraints and aesthetic of the
television series.
The crew had a brand new ship,
the Enterprise-E, and the story cen
tered around the Borg, the creepi
est, most effective enemies to come
from “Star Trek” yet.
“First Contact” was generally the
most successful “Star Trek” film ever.
This ensured another sequel, and the
result was “Star Trek: Insurrection,”
a trite jaunt in saccharine sensibility,
released in 1998. “Insurrection” —
again directed by Frakes — wasn’t
entirely bad, but the scale of its story
was unfit for the big screen. On the
Courtesy photo
whole, it plays like an extended
episode with big-budget production
values (including Patrick Stewart’s $9
million-plus paycheck).
Because “Star Trek” films are
costly endeavors driven by box of
fice revenues, their creation is de
pendent on success. And the lack
luster performance of
“Insurrection” created a question
of how financially viable “The
Next Generation” was. Specula
tion in regard to the content of the
next film ran rampant — ideas
ranged from replacing the crew to
mixing the cast from other series
for an “all star” Trek film — until
last year, when plans for “Neme
sis” solidified.
The new film is written by
“Gladiator” screenwriter John Lo
gan, a self-proclaimed fan, and di
rected by Stuart Baird. Both are
newcomers to the series, but ru
mor has it they’ve created an epic
character-driven film focused
around the Romulans.
The first cut of “Star Trek: Neme
sis” was roughly 170 minutes long..
About 40 minutes of this was lost in
editing, including a scene with for
mer series regular Wesley Crusher.
This is unfortunate, because on the
sheer basis of screen time alone, the
characters from “The Next Genera
tion” are more developed than in
any other Trek series.
The four-year window since the
release of “Insurrection” makes it
the longest lapse of time between
Trek films since they began in 1979
with “The Motion Picture.” There
fore, marketing for “Nemesis” has a
built-in fail-safe — the ambiguous
tagline “A Generation’s Final Jour
ney Begins.” From this, one can
conclude that the journey will in
deed, begin and end with “Nemesis”
— unless it can make bank.
Contact the Pulse reporter
at aaronshakra@dailyemerald.com.
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