Twenty-five Years of “Two Captains. One Destiny.”

     Twenty-five 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 34^th Street”. The second film was the animated movie “The Swan Princess” with the third film being called “Léon: 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.

This image is copyrighted to Paramount Pictures

      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, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Malcolm McDowell, James Doohan, Walter Koenig and William Shatner. 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-five years ago, I watched the film on opening day (I still have the ticket stub) at a theater and a movie theater chain that no longer exists. Back then it cost $3.25 for an Adult Matinee, today it costs nearly $8.50 for the same ticket. Last night, 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 disdain, 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-five years. We will see how well it holds up over the next two and a half decades.

Happy 25^th 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?” 😁