Magazine: Dreamwatch Issue: February 1995 Title: Generations FROM DREAMWATCH ISSUE 6 (FEBRUARY 1995) The Next Generation arrives on the big screen with a highly contrived bang that is more than a bit unsatisfying to fans of the long-running television series, who hope that the next film will be exclusively a Next Gen affair that will play more to the strengths of that cast instead of forcing them into a slam-bang action plot out of sync with the more thoughtful nature of the Trek spin-off series. Ballyhooed as a meeting of the two different Captains of the Starship Enterprise, the plot requires some knowledge of the Trek phenomenon and a willing suspension of disbelief. Plotholes are kept at bay by a frantic pace that leaps from one scene to the next alegacy in part of the short post-production schedule and late reshooting of the concluding 15 minutes that finally brings Captains Picard and Kirk together to save a solar system from a menace spawned in Kirk's century. The redo was so late that the published novelisation could not be changed and still incorporates the original ending, wherein Kirk's death is not quite as noble. Television promos for the film also included dialogue cut from the final version. William Shatner plays Captain Kirk for what is presumably the last time, and he is joined in an opening sequence set in the 23rd century by James Doohan and Walter Koenig. Scotty and Chekov are on hand to accompany a reluctant Kirk to the official christening of the Enterprise B. Before they can proceed very far on a little spin around the solar system, a crisis situation involving a shipful of refugees sends the unprepared ship and its green Captain off to a dangerous rescue. Inevitably, the seasoned professionals take over to save as many people as possible from the cluthes of a strange energy ribbon, but a section of the Enterprise is lost and Kirk disappears with it. Leaping forward some eighty years to Picard's (Patrick Stewart) Enterprise, the Next Generation crew are called to the rescue when a scientific research station comes under attack. The only survivor seems to be a Doctor Soran (Malcolm McDowell, top right), who was one of the refugees plucked from the doomed ship years before. While there are a number of unanswered questions about the reason for the attack, the crew of the Enterprise is a bit preoccupied. The normally stoic Captain has just experienced a profoundly upsetting personal crisis upon learning of the tragic deaths of his brother and nephew. The android officer, Data (Brent Spiner), has chosen this moment to experiment with a chip designed to give him emotions and he is having difficulty controlling himself. When Soran begins acting like a mad scientist with an agenda of his own, Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) explains to Picard that they were both brushed by the Nexus years ago and Soran will do anything to return there. The Nexus is a place where time is meaningless and you can live in your happiest moments forever. To be there is to experience a kind of joy and neither she nor Soran willingly left it. He has spent 80 years figuring out how to get back, but the means requires turning a couple of suns into novas and Soran is not concerned that this will incinerate millions of people. He has acquired allies in the form of the Klingon renegades, Lursa and B'Etor (Barbara March and Gwynth Walsh), by promising them a new weapons technology. When Soran escapes by kidnapping LaForge (LeVar Burton) - while Data cowers in a corner experiencing terror for the first time - the stage is set for a battle between the Enterprise and the Klingons in space while Picard must battle Soran alone on a desolate planet as he tries to launch his sun-killer probe. Picard knows he has failed when he ends up in the Nexus, but Guinan says there is someone there who can help him if he can just talk Captain Kirk into leaving... Although one major review said Patrick Stewart's RSC style made William Shatner look like a graduate of the Klingon Academy of Dramatic Arts, Shatner is in fact quite restrained and gives a creditable performance, rising to hammy excess only on a line about being out saving the universe "when your grand- father was in diapers." His death scene was understated by choice and his chief regret is that some ad-libbed lines were cut. Patrick Stewart gets to be a bit more emotional than usual and makes the most of the opportunity while being content to let Captain Kirk perform the ultimate heroics. The only other roles of note are Malcolm McDowell as Soran and Brent Spiner as Data. McDowell, reuniting with Stewart for the first time since they were both at the RSC in 1966, looks like Billy Idol and never quite succeeds in giving much depth to Soran, which is a thinly written part. It doesn't help that one major scene was cut. Spiner has the task of serving as comedy relief, always a perilous task. To balance the heavy theme of death stalking us all their was a built in tendency to allow Data to go overboard in the rush of new emotions. Most of the audience enjoyed it but he threatens to turn in to Jerry Lewis more than once. The music is quite unlike most past Trek films, and more's the pity. Dennis McCarthy decided to dispense with the signature fanfares of both Trek incarnations in favour of a low-key score more in the style of Deep Space Nine. The technical aspects are all good except for some colour mismatching due to the rushed editing, but this is one of the few films where the lighting is highly noticeable and controversial. The interior of the Enterprise is transformed into a mass of shadows in many scenes. The Ready Room fits Picard's sombre mood to the point that it seems lit only by starlight and a candle. Some find it appropriately cinematic, others think it is ridiculous. Be prepared to endure a high level of technobabble and think happy thoughts about better prospects for the future now that the mantle seems securely passed. BACKGROUND NOTES Although the front office decided to play for attention by going with the gimmick of bringing together the two Captains of the Enterprise, it is testimony to the popularity of The Next Generation that the film sold as many tickets as it did despite mixed reviews and fan complaints. There was frequent, and valid, grumbles that the television series had spawned many episodes that had a better script than the film, and that there were many continuity and science gaffs that surely should not happen when the film was largely in the hands of Trek insiders. Most of all, it seemed that the Next Gen characters were either ignored or arbitrarily changed to create dramatic moments in an otherwise confusing storyline. Of course, there was also a persistent background rumble from die-hard original series fans who were outraged with the demise of their hero and the apparent permanent changing of the film responsibilities for the future. The press delighted in rounding these folks up but, in truth, most of the audience merely thought the Kirk death was a transparent plot device which, when all was said and done (and redone), did not have nearly the dramatic impact of Spock's death in Star Trek II. True to the intense focus of Star Trek fandom and the powerful addition of high- tech communications, the Internet quickly circulated a lengthy list of plot flaws and the scriptwriters have been dissected not only on-line but in a university course at UCLA, which is devoted to the fine art of writing for Star Trek. How did they land themselves in such straits? They, and the entire production, were impacted by the logic which dictates that films are a whole different ballgame from television, despite the fact that the two forms are moving closer and closer together. When Moore and Braga found themselves unexpectedly offered the chance to write their first film script, they were told that the original series crew might be involved. As they thought about bringing both crews into a cinematic treatment, what that seemed to mean to them was mostly how many explosions they could get into the script. Whereas space battles and warp core meltdowns have not been the weekly stuff of The Next Generation, the assumption from the start was that TNG in the movies would have to be BIG, and that meant action scenes. They first became fascinated with the image of finding a way to get the two Enterprises into a situation where they would be firing on each other. "If you could have a situation where you had the two ships coming to blows, that would be really cool," says Moore. Alas, however cool the idea was, they could not figure out a way to make it work given the nagging problem that the Enterprise A and the Enterprise D inhabit different centuries. It was tough enough figuring out how to get Kirk and Picard together without having to age Kirk to the point of decrepitude, so they came up with a way for them to meet outside of time. Their idea of a cool scene that could be milked for action became the notion of crashing the saucer section of the Enterprise into a planet. Oddly enough it was Moore who, unlike Braga, had been a fan of the original series, who casually came up with the idea of having Kirk die to give the ending a wallop. It was only after congratulating themselves on the idea that he suddenly realised what he had done and got tears in his eyes. "I thought, 'Wow, I've really done it, I've killed my childhood hero'," he says. The more surprising reaction was William Shatner's. Perhaps sensing that the time had really come for the original cast's last hurrah, fears that he would refuse to participate or demand that Kirk survive the final confrontation did not materialize, although he did ask for other changes. Instead, the major script problems ended up being that the first draft was too long and too costly to film. In it, all of the original series cast appeared in the opening sequence set in the 23rd century aboard the new Enterprise B and have a moment to express their sorrow over the presumed death of their Captain. In the 24th century sequences, the Duras sisters survive the space battle to fight a land battle around the crashed saucer section with the Enterprise crew - creating an added comedic opportunity for Data when he volunteers to distract them by appealing to their Klingon libidos. Then the production team discovered that while Shatner might be willing to climb aboard with his featured role, the rest of the original cast was not so pleased with their limited involvement. In particular, Leonard Nimoy was not amused at being offered the chance to get involved only after the script was already pretty much set. Publicly, Nimoy would only say that he had "misgivings" about a script that was "fully written, fully developed," and had only about 12 lines of dialogue for Spock at the point he was asked to direct and appear in it. What mattered most to Nimoy was not so much the number of lines but the degree of control he could have. Having ultimately, if quietly, battled Harve Bennett for control of the Trek films after Star Trek III and won, he was not at all comfortable with the prospect of being merely a hired hand on the set of Generations. When DeForest Kelly was also dismayed at the size of the part he was being asked to do, all the lines written for the original cast were collapsed into just two characters who were willing to appear. And so it is that Montgomery Scott starts sounding like Spock and Pavel Chekov volunteers himself to go and organise sickbay. Had the rumours about the prospects for the film that circulated after the September test screening proven true, Nimoy would have been the likely beneficiary. As it is, Rick Berman has learned a few lessons about how lonely it can be when everyone on the lot feels entitled to tell you what you should be doing, something he had not experienced with the television production. He also may wonder how much money he will get for the next film. The original script for Generations was estimated by the studio to require a budget of $45 million dollars, although the production team did not believe that figure. They were told that they could have not a penny more than $30 million to get the job done, and Bernie Williams came on as the bean counter to ensure that bottom line was observed, creating a friction between Williams and fellow British transplant David Carson. As a veteran television director with both the BBC and in Los Angeles, Carson felt he knew how to get the most out of a small budget and resented what he regarded as silly penny pinching. The entire shoot was dictated by a ruthless economy. He was given a 50- day shooting schedule when something over 60 days would be typical for a film of this complexity. New costumes were designed (and appear on the action figures released to toy stores) but made so cheaply that they were deemed unusable. His cast was in low spirits after being promised 10 days off between wrapping the television series and starting the film, and actually getting less than 48 hours. Location filming scheduled for places like Hawaii and Montana was axed by Williams in favour of spots within 300 miles of the studio to save money and a few minor effects sequences may have been recycled, although this is officially denied. If the television veterans grumbled about this, the comments of cinematographer John Alonzo, a veteran of many big budget projects taking his first excursion into Trek, are largely unprintable. Within the limits left to them ALonzo tried to give the film a distinct look which jettisoned the normal television lighting for a much more dark and moody feel. Ironically, the site chosen for the final sequence was the Valley of Fire in Nevada instead of alush jungle in Hawaii, and this proved costly in that all the people and equipment had to be ferried to an inaccessible mountain top in 100-degree-plus temperatures each day. Yet the crew felt they were getting something really distinctive by using this wild spot, but most fans thought it was uncomfortably similar to the final moments of Star Trek V, except for one panoramic shot of Picard at Kirk's grave. THE FUTURE IS NOW Rick Berman already has the go ahead to start planning the next film, with a release date some time in 1996 in mind. He claims that no script is in hand despite rumours that either Q or the Borg or both will feature in it. Whether he wants it or not, he is going to get lots of advice from his cast this time. The women, who barely got on screen in Generations, are encouraging fans to demand better parts for them next time. Jonathan Frakes is working hard to establish his directorial credentials this season on the Trek television series, no doubt hoping that he can one day follow Carson to the big screen. LeVar Burton has let it be known that he wants Geordi to lose the visor for the next film and he has a directorial career underway as well. Brent Spiner is supposedly unsigned as yet for the next feature and seems to be stung by criticism of his comic turn in Generations. He had been rather unhappy with the transition to film in the first place and now is saying that he thinks he is getting too old to be Data and that it may be time to bring in a younger android - all of which is being interpreted by cynical observers as the opening round of contract negotiations. Patrick Stewart seems prepared to bask in the glow of the good box office and positive reviews for his performance. He had doubts about the wisdom of taking The Next Generation into films too, and these have now been resolved, despite the fact that he thinks his nose looks far too large on screen. But he acknowledges that he too is unsigned as yet and he is not going to make it easy on the studio. "I feel much more warmly inclined towards the idea of doing another one," he says, "But each one can only be taken on its merits and that always comes back to a script and a director. Stewart says he was "wondrously happy" with David Carson, but "in terms of script we can do better, MUCH better." And he says that to get his attention any idea will have to have something new for Star Trek. The one thing he does know for certain, he says, is that "the next movie will have to be a true Next Generation movie. That is, one "in which all 7 or maybe 8 of us work to be as active as possible. CAST INSIGHT William Shatner's disappointments with the film all have to do with scenes that were cut. He had asked that Kirk be shown to be more active and was directly involved in getting a sequence added to the beginning which shows Kirk coming into land after orbital sky- diving. He spent a very uncomfortable day filming on a big hill wearing a rubber wet suit covered with square ceramic tiles as his re-entry suit and running down the hill dragging a parachute - no easy task for a 63-year-old. The scene appears in the trading card set for the movie but was dropped from the final cut. More annoyingly, he was convinced that the first death scene he had done included some of the best acting he had ever done, as he lay on the ground looking up at Picard/Stewart "way up in the air, so high that you could not hear a sound - I could see a soaring jet plane leaving a vapour trail and it just seemed like a fitting moment to say goodbye." When the studio called to ask him to do reshoots his first reaction was, "What did I do wrong?" He later learned that Stewart and McDowell had reacted the same way. In fact, the reason had nothing to do with anyone's performance. The test audience just did not think the final showdown was dramatic enough, especially the way Kirk was shot in the back. So it was off to the sizzling heat of Nevada to ensure that this time Captain Kirk would see death coming and choose to make the sacrifice. To make that work, most of the action takes place around and on a metal bridge connecting two rocky peaks. Shatner made two ad-libs that he says he and Patrick Stewart thought were great. At one point he had to grab Picard and pull him up to safety, and he quipped "Captain on the bridge." When Kirk plunges into a ravine when the bridge collapses later, his first words when Picard reached him were "bridge on the Captain." He thought this added an element of Kirk's style and humour which worked very well, and he was very disappointed that Carson removed the lines from the final cut of the film. Malcolm McDowell (above) ended his Trek involvement on a sour note despite a happy time shooting in the desert with Shatner and Stewart, swapping theatrical war stories and recalling old times in Stratford. He became incensed when Paramount would not pay for a quick Concorde flight to and from the UK to attend a memorial for Lindsey Anderson in order to keep him on the round of promotional appearances he had agreed to do for the film. Thereafter he only made it to one talk show and pointedly refused to mention the film when the host asked. The Duras Sisters may be going down in flames, but Barbara March (right) and Gwynth Walsh have had a great time playing them. For the film their exotic costumes got larger, as did the amount of Klingon cleavage they displayed. Malcolm McDowell could not understand in early rehearsals why everyone in the script was afraid of them - then he saw them in costume for the first time and he understood right away! The worst part of being a Klingon femme fatale is that they cannot go to the bathroom and have to resist eating all day. They say it is true that Gene Roddenberry used to personally come by their trailer to verify that their most distinctive feature was for real, but don't believe Patrick Stewart if he says he did the same thing! REPORT BY KATHLEEN TOTH