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Dom Robinson reviews
Paramount
- Cert:
- Cat.no: PHE 8011
- Running time: 113 minutes
- Year: 1994
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 16 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Languages: 4 languages available
- Subtitles: 10 languages available
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: None
Director:
- David Carson
Producer:
- Rick Berman
Screenplay:
- Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
Music:
- Jerry Goldsmith
Cast:
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Patrick Stewart
Captain James T. Kirk: William Shatner
Commander Riker: Jonathan Frakes
Data: Brent Spiner
Geordi: Levar Burton
Worf: Michael Dorn
Dr. Beverly Crusher: Gates McFadden
Deanna Troi: Marina Sirtis
Soran: Malcolm McDowell
Scott: James Doohan
Chekov: Walter Koenig
Captain John Harriman: Alan Ruck
Star Trek: Generations, or “The one where Kirk dies”,as it was labelled, was the first big screen adventure for the NextGeneration crew and it had a helping hand from old stalwarts Scott(James Doohan), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and, of course,Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), the latter of which appearsto snuff it while checking out a disturbance on the maiden voyage of thelatest Enterprise, piloted by Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck),where a strange energy ribbon rips through part of the shipjust after they save 47 passengers from a nearby vessel, including madmanscientist Soran (Malcolm McDowell).
Step forward 78 years later and the Next Generation crew are out helping others themselves.Amongst the wreckage of the Amargosa Station they find Soran, once again spouting delusionalnonsense, this time insisting he has just 12 hours to complete his destiny otherwise yearsof research will be lost. However, if he does succeed in breaking apart the energy ribbonhe’ll find a doorway to another place called the Nexus where dreams can come true andan individual’s paradise can be found for each who enter.
Whether he makes it or not is for you to find out, but it becomes one of the most accessibleTrek movies even for those who just enjoy a basic action adventure.
I waffled on about the individual positions of the main crew members on board in myStar Trek: First Contactreview, but here, Picard gets the most to do along with the inevitable appearance fromKirk later on, but of the rest only Data does anything memorable as he plugs in anemotion chip attempting to turn him more human, but his constant upbeat and playfulbehaviour gets on your nerves and jars with the rest of the film’s content.
There’s a cameo from Whoopi Goldberg as occasional-regular Guinan and a spectacularcrash sequence involving a section of the Enterprise in the Next Generation’s time-frame.
The picture is presented in the correct 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and isanamorphic – unlike the Region 1 edition, but while outdoor shots and space-bound fight sequences are pixel-perfect,there’s a slight level of grain during bright interior scenes which is quite obvious andmars the enjoyment a little, along with a few flecks on the print at times.The average bitrate is 6.97Mb/s, briefly peaking over 9Mb/s.
The sound is spot-on throughout whether it involves gunfire, the aforementioned Enterprisecrash scene, Jerry Goldsmith‘s score, or the hum of the ship in the background whileit’s still in one piece. Dolby Digital 5.1 is available in English and German,with Czech in surround and Hungarian in mono. This was the first time I’d heard this filmin its correct sound format as at the time Manchester’s Showcase Cinemas were showing it inplain Dolby Stereo, despite claiming it was DD5.1. 🙁
There’s a mediocre 16 chapters to the film, with subtitles in 10 languages:English (and hard of hearing), Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Icelandic,Norwegian, Swedish and Turkish. The menus are static and silent and aside from thatthere are no extras whatsoever.
How long until we get some proper Special Edition DVDs, similar to MGM’s James Bond series?
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.