Star Trek: Generations

Wiz RECOMMENDS Star Trek: Generations Continuing a franchise with a brand new cast can be a risky gambit: people get comfortable with the standard players even though they may tire of them. What does Star Trek: Generations do? Create a bridge between the two. Starting the film with three of the original players was a nice touch which gets to showcase, one last time, how three of the crew members interacted and their natural charisma. But the point of a bridge is to connect from the current destination to the next...and while Generations is still a solid good time, it doesn't exactly show why people who are only familiar with the films (like myself) would want to continue with this cast of characters. If you are going into this film without previous experience with Star Trek: The Next Generation, Generations does not do much in easing you into the crew. In fact, only two characters have any sort of growth in the film: Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Data. In honesty, both characters arcs aren't that interesting but it's mainly due to a lack of depth to attach yourself to the character. But again, if you are already familiar with the series, this will likely not be an issue. But there are some highlights: First, there is a very clear visual upgrade to everything in the film in comparison to the last six. Everything has a very clean, vibrant look and the action in both space and on planets look well done. And Generations has one of the better villains of the films: Dr. Soran, played by Malcolm McDowell. The villain is directly tied to the gimmick of the film and McDowell's performance makes both the gimmick and his character entertaining. Star Trek: Generations is kind of a failure as a bridge from going to Kirk to Picard...but as just an entertaining piece of space sci-fi fun, it does enough to be entertaining. But what makes the last Star Trek films engaging and entertaining was it's characters...and they have to do a much better job the next time in order to keep the films compelling.