Twenty years
ago, November 18, 1994 was a Friday. Four films were released in theaters that
day as part of the holiday movie season. One of the films was a remake of the
Christmas classic, “Miracle on 34th Street”, the second film was the
animated movie “The Swan Princess” with the third film being called “The
Professional”. These three films, along with the fourth, were in the top ten of
films in release the weekend of November 18-20 that year however; the three
aforementioned films grossed just over $10.5 million combined for their first weekend of release. The fourth film
released on that Friday earned $23,116,394 during that weekend in the United
States, more than twice the other new films released and was the Number 1 film
that weekend. By the end of its run in theaters the film would earn $75,671,125,
domestically and an additional $42.4 million worldwide for a total gross of
$118.1 million. That film was Star Trek:
Generations, the seventh film of the Star
Trek franchise.
[The above image is copyrighted and/or trademarked by Paramount Pictures. No copyright infringement intended by this blogger.]
Generations was released by Paramount Pictures
as “A Rick Berman Production” with its’ story by Rick Berman, Ronald D. Moore
& Brannon Braga and its’ screenplay by Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga.
The cast of the film included Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Malcolm
McDowell, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates
McFadden, Marina Sirtis, James Doohan and Walter Koenig. The film served as a
bridge between the original Star Trek
television cast, who starred in the first six films, and the cast of its
successor, Star Trek: The Next Generation
which had ended six months earlier. At the time of the film’s release, it
received mixed reviews from critics. On the positive side, Michael Marriott of Newsweek said that the film was “A super
nova of unpredictable sci-fi thrills! …and big-bang special effects.” Avis Meyer of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reviewed the film as being “the big kahuna”
for Star Trek fans and “…’astronomically’
ambitious: a star-crossed cauldron’s brew of old and new…” Unfortunately, there
were some critics who were not as kind such as Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today, who wrote “Generations feels like a flimsy device
to ensure Trek’s earnings continue to
live long and prosper.” The famous/infamous movie critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote that the film
was “undone by its narcissism”.
Personally,
I enjoyed the film, then and now. Twenty years ago I watched the film on
opening day (I still have the ticket stub) at a theater that no longer exists
but the movie theater company it belonged to still does. Back then it cost
$3.25 for an Adult Matinee, today it costs over $7.00 for the same ticket. A few days ago I watched the film again for the umpteenth time but for the
first time in a number of years and still enjoyed it. But being the lifelong Star Trek fan that I am, I’m biased. In
her review at the time, critic Susan Wloszczyna also wrote that Generations was an “overblown TV episode”.
I disagree. On a budget of $35 million, the second highest budget for a Star Trek film at that time, this motion picture was well-produced and
well-acted; deserving praise, not reticule, then or now. As part of the Star Trek franchise and as motion
picture, I think that it has held up well over the past twenty years. We will
see how well it holds up over the next twenty years.
Happy
Anniversary, Star Trek: Generations. Continue
to “Live Long and Prosper.”
P.S. “Life forms.
You tiny little life forms, you precious little life forms… where are you?” :)
Sources: Box Office Mojo [Link 1, Link 2], Movie Web, rogerebert.com, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, USA Today,
