THE FILM
FILM DIRECTOR: David Carson
SCREENWRITER: Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga
FILM STARS: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Malcolm McDowell, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, William Shatner
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: J.M. Dillard
TYPE: Novelisation
PUBLISHER: Pocket Books
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1994
COUNTRY: Australia
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1994a
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title
NOTES
GENRE: Sci Fi
WORDS: Is there still a ‘war’ between Trekkies and Star Wars fans for top dog in the sci-fi franchise?
Both are shades of what they once were even if their universes keep expanding. Yes, the universe is expanding though the expansion is not an explosion into something, but rather a stretching of space itself. Just like some of the Star Trek and most of the Star Wars spin offs … a stretch.
I have always been a solid Trekkie, though with limits. Star Wars for me was the first two films and the slight but entertaining Solo (2018) film. I don’t think Return of the Jedi (1983) cut it and the other films, especially after Lucas left, were utter shite. The TV shows are dire.
In any event I preferred Star Trek because it seemed like science, and occupied a world which I could see as occurring where Star Wars seemed more like a space fantasy, and I lean to the former though I’m not adverse to sci fi monster movies.
Having said that, my Star Trek universe is the fist series (1966-1969), the films with William Shatner, and the first two (especially Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)) in the reboot. The third, (co) scripted by Star Trek “fan” (and excellent co-star) Simon Pegg was horrible. They were looking for drama to top the previous two but no Trekkie would ever destroy the Enterprise, would they?
And that’s it.
I never got into Next Generation (1987-1994), and, yes, I know there are many who love it and many who think it superior to the 60s show. But I tried to watch it at the time and maybe I will watch it again one day but, even though it was watchable and sometimes entertaining, it didn’t send me into orbit (sic). My problem with it was it wa gimmicky. The only gimmick on the crew in the first series was the legend with deadpan smart arse comments and pointy ears, the Vulcan Mr Spock. By Next Gen amongst the crew we have blind (but with special devices) Geordi La Forge, the Klingon (wtf a Klingon in the Federation!) Lieutenant Worf, the half-human, half-Betazoid, Deanna Troi, and the android Data. And of course, Commander Picard was no James T. Kirk. If this was a real world Picard is probably the better all round commander but Kirk is more human, more egalitarian and more fun. That’s not to say Picard can’t be mischievous but if the shows represent their eras then he is British PM Tony Blair (who postdated the series) to Shatner’s John Fitzgerald Kennedy. I also thought Next Gen was also a little solemn at time. It didn’t have the palpable joy of the new frontier, and adventures to be had, like the original series.
The 60s series was gold for me. It was compulsory television over here in Australia in the 1970s. I think it was on at 11am on Sunday on Channel 9 and followed by Australian World Championship Wrestling (or maybe it was on at 12 with the wrestling at 11). I know one of those shows clashed with Combat on Channel O (as it then was) which was a drama in days before the VCR as they were all favourites. I even recall being in Croatia (then Yugoslavia) on holidays as a 7 year old kid in the 70s and watching it on television over there an thinking I was pretty good because I could understand the English and didn’t need the subtitles. It travelled well.
Further, when Next Gen came out I noticed how many of my friends loved it … though they, oddly, didn’t really watch the 60s series and that, rightly or wrongly, made me did in deeper in my devotion to the original.
The 60s cast films that followed were an odd bunch but were all attended on, by me, at the cinemas and then watched on television. After six films the torch was passed on to the next generation (sic). Star Trek Generations was the calculated pass …. it comprised the Next Gen cast with original crew members Montgomery Scott, Pavel Chekov and a time bending James T. Kirk making cameos.
The plot centering on Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D crew’s encounter with Dr. Tolian Soran, a scientist obsessed with entering the Nexus, a timeless energy ribbon, by destroying a star to trigger its effects. Picard must team up with the long-dead Captain Kirk, who was also pulled into the Nexus, to stop Soran. This is very Star Trek and quite serviceable.
Director David Carson and screenwriters Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga who also came up with the story with Rick Berman, all who worked on the Next Gen series. And you can tell but, the strength is, as it is with most Star Trek films, their this is just another adventure form of storytelling. They are expanded episodes of the TV show they came from. Perhaps a touch more cinematic but never with a need to top the last film in action or ideas. The films come off as side gigs rather than events. And that is a good thing.
Generations has enough action to keep it moving, enough references to the TV show to keep the fans happy and a villain played by the (always wonderful) Malcolm McDowell to steal the show. And, of course, there are the Scotty, Chekov and Kirk to keep us “first” geners happy though, apart from Kirk, they have little to do. Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley declined to appear as their characters Spock and Leonard McCoy for that very reason.
The novelization J.M. Dillard expands on the film, offering more in-depth character development and plot details, particularly regarding the Nexus (its nature and its effects) and Dr. Soran. While the film focuses on the main plot of stopping Soran and the Nexus, the novel goes deeper into the characters’ motivations especially Picard’s struggle with loss and Kirk’s desire to return to action.
J.M. Dillard (Jeanne M. Dillard a pseudonym for Jeanne Kalogridis) wrote much historical, science and horror fiction but also did a lot of the Star Trek film and TV show novelizations in the 1990s an d 200s (she also did the novelizations for The Fugitive (1993) and Bulletproof Monk (2003)).
There is not mush more to say. You want more go on line and google the film. The Trekkie obsessives (God bless them) have written much and paid attention to the devil in the detail
The film was a big hit.
Watch it. It’s good but not great. The novelization …. well if you live in the Star Trek world ….
LINKS
TRAILER
The later Star Trek films dragged somewhat. I never took to the Picard era tv show, it lacked the energy and humour of the original series. Shatner and Nimoy had a genuine chemistry, and the supporting cast were great. By contrast the next generation program was dull and took itself too seriously.
I think The Wrath of Khan is the best Star Trek film. Ricardo Montabaln is a great villain and makes a good counterpart to Kirk.
It is interesting that both Shatner and Stewart are classically trained stage actors, but they approached the role of a starship captain in different ways. I think Shatners acting made Star Trek the success it was. There’s an interesting counter factual as to whether Star Trek would have succeeded if another actor had been given the role. Jack Lord auditioned for the role, had he been cast, Kirk would’ve been a more serious character. Having said that Shatner would’ve have been awesome in the lead role of Hawaii Five O.
Malcolm MacDowall is a great actor who never quite received his proper recognition. I suspect his career was derailed to some extent by appearing in Caligula, a misbegotten dog of a film ( as were pretty much all of the movies Gore Vidal was connected with. The only exception to this is Visit to a Small Planet, where Jerry Lewis wrung a few laughs out of Vidal’s pompous dross. Vidal hated Lewis and the film)
Yes, JH was superb in the pilot for Star Trek. He played Pike as if he was suffering PTSD, a wholly believable performance but one which Roddenberry had to walk back to get ST produced. Shatner hit the right tone between serious and jokey.
Good call re Hunter as Pike ….he was tortured as the captain. I thought they were channeling Peck’s character in 12 O’Clock High.