I always wanted kirk to meet worf. To know that the events of the previous movie had been worth it, to see that there is a klingon working FOR starfleet on the enterprise. I think it was a huge missed opportunity

A group of us skipped school to go see Generations. We got caught. But when we told the principal what we went to go see, he kinda smirked and let us go. I was incredibly surprised. :)

Leonard Nimoy was offered to direct, but insisted on rewriting parts to fix the problems with some of the script that you highlighted. Rick Berman, apparently satisfied with the finished product told the writer of The Voyage Home and The Undiscovered Country to go kick rocks. Thanks Rick. Bang up job as always.

I like the idea of Soren dying in any version. Having the villain be destroyed by his grief while the hero overcomes the same grief to survive feels poetic. It may be a bit of a trope, but using the hero/villain clash to explore two paths of the same struggle is (usually) a good story.

My wife's uncle was part of the crew of that historic sailing ship. They were docked in San Francisco so they all ended up in the movie. I laugh every time I see him in the background in the Worf walks the plank scene.

THANK YOU Steve for pointing out DS9's excellent second season. It usually is overlooked because outside of "Blood Oath" and "Crossover" has no real gimmick episodes to speak of and is almost all strictly substance. TNG's fifth season and and DS9's second season need to be case studies for the people running Trek now, IMHO.

1994 was also the year The Lion King came out, and it was the year in which Duckman, Gargoyles, the Aladdin series, and Aaahh!! Real Monsters aired, The Return of Jafar released directly to home video, and Dreamworks and Cartoon Network were both founded. ...Animation is kind of my thing.

Most unforgivable retcon--Picard throwing aside the gift from his archeology professor because he's more concerned with finding the family album.

As the people behind TNG have realized, Generations should've utilized the plot of Yesterday's Enterprise. But they only figured out after the episode had aired, that it would have been the perfect plot for a TOS & TNG crossover/handing of the baton. But we also wouldn't have gotten Yesterday's Enterprise, so 🤷.

I always thought a very simple change they coulda made to Generations that woulda made it sit better with me was somehow gettin' Kirk on the battle bridge of the stardrive section during the imminent breach and having him take out the Bird of Prey. Kirk on the bridge of the Enterprise goin' out fightin' Klingons? That, I'll buy.

I feel like it's pretty easy to resolve the plot hole regarding entering the Nexus in a ship. The Nexus as depicted looks pretty violent, twisting and sending out forks of itself. It would be pretty easy to technobabble that to be a shell or corona around the core of the Nexus and only getting into the core itself gets you the paradise, the corona just kills you before you can reach it. You can then establish that when Soren and Guinan were briefly in the Nexus before being rescued that there was some property about subspace in that region which stripped that corona away allowing the ships to reach the core. Then when a star goes supernova in that way it causes a similar effect in subspace before the shockwave reaches there in real space allowing a window to reach the core (faster than light in subspace eh). This could give options for a scene where Soren explains how because the Nexus' course can be predicted, he tried to find a window when the same thing would happen naturally, but it wouldn't happen until after his natural lifespan would be long up, and that is what pushed him to desperation knowing that it was possible but he would be dead before he got another chance. That could tie into your idea of Picard talking him down.

41:59 Data feels he can't adequately comfort and console Picard given his tragic news (Which Picard has only revealed to Data so far, and asked him to keep it private.) and so he uses the emotion chip so he can be a better friend to Picard in his time of need.

There's a great crossover novel published around the same time as Generations called 'Federation' - it was a great book, I often wish it had been adapted instead of making Generations

I would actually flip the revelation that history doesn't record the Ent-A going missing. One of the things I like about Generations is Kirk barrels in with his well-established air of anti-Kobyahsi-Maru, ie he will always find a way out of any supposed no-win situation, but he does in fact give his life to save Veridian III and it's population, an ultimately insignificant planet and a (at this point) insignificant people who we never see but know are a pre-industrial population. I liked it because it spoke volumes to Kirk's character; a reminder that Kirk was willing to risk his life for the sake of others and to preserve life. So in Steve's crossover reimagining, I would have Picard say that history DOES record the Ent-A being listed as lost and so would keep the tension of can the Ent-A and TOS crew in fact find a way to survive while keeping Kirk's willingness to risk everything to help Picard, and that leads us into scenario where Picard is forced/chooses to sacrifice the Ent-D to save Kirk's ship. It would also acknowledge the performance gap between the Ent-A and D which will absolutely exist. And for the viewer, a beloved hero ship that is hopelessly obsolete being attacked by a modern Klingon BoP commanded by Sorin would keep tension and create a scenario where the Ent-D has to protect the vulnerable A and put Kirk in a genuine Kobyashi-Maru no-win situation. It gives the Ent-D a more 'heroic' end, perhaps using the Picard Manoeuvre to jump in front of the BoP and cause it to ram the drive section, causing catastrophic damage and force the saucer evacuation and change history to record the Ent-A and the TOS crew having further involvement in history. As for the "why not just fly a ship into the Nexus" plot hole, there is a very easy (if convenient) way to do it; have someone talking to Sorin and literally ask that question, perhaps a bored Klingon warrior asking why they can't just yeet Sorin into it in a shuttle and Sorin angrily declare that there is a risk that the destruction of the ship simply kills the person, and that he tried this with some 'test subjects' and found some of their bodies in the wreckage and so is not prepared to take that risk. It might play into the weight of Picard's appeal to Sorin later when they discuss what they left in the Nexus. I'm one of the people who doesn't mind Generations. There are bits I like about it and as someone of the TNG generation, it felt like the well-earned big-screen tie off of the TNG era and (I thought) gave the Ent-D its final send off and so the TNG parts of the film I generally enjoy. I do agree the Kirk/Picard section in the Nexus is definitely the weak point. But I do give the producers some credit; they weren't given the budget or production value to credit a proper crossover and several TOS actors said 'no', leaving them in a pinch and so made the best of what they had to work with to fulfil the brief they had.

"Never half-ass two things. Whole-ass one thing" - Ron Swanson

For your second idea, how about this: echo-Guinan still tells Picard that if he chooses to leave the Nexus he can go to any place and time. And Picard realizes he can go back and SAVE Robert and René from dying. He is strongly tempted; but he remembers the millions of lives that will be lost when the exploding star destroys Veridian III, as it surely will, and he knows he has a difficult choice to make. He has dinner with Robert and René and, still unsure, he poses a philosophical question that we recognize as the Trolley Car problem. He adds that, in this case, the one person on the track is a family member. The two give him opposite “solutions” and advice. They don’t know he is thinking about them. Picard sees the value in both views. But then René says, “I don’t think I could live with myself, knowing I let 10 people die to save someone I love.” Picard asks, “Even it was, for example, your mother?” René pauses, looks at Robert, then nods solemnly to Jean Luc. As Picard is about to leave the Nexus he tells Guinan, “You know, there really isn’t a ‘good’ solution to the Trolley Car problem. I only hope I can live with my decision.”

32:00 I would also add an emotional scene with Sulu joining up with the Excelsior crew (that were still on the station as the ship is destroyed before they could do anything) checking on them and showing that he cares about his crew.

Best way to handle the Sorin ship/planet plothole is to establish that the nexus would destroy any ship before it got deep enough for anyone to properly make it in. The only other change needed to make this work would be to establish that the nexus has previously destroyed planets - which is how Guinan and Sorin got in the first time.

I love how they had Picard ask why they can't just have Soren fly a ship into the Nexus, only to have Data dismiss it out of hand while ignoring the obvious fact that we've seen a bunch of people enter the Nexus on starships. The only thing I can think of is if the Nexus was heading away from the Alpha Quadrant at such a speed that Soren was afraid he'd lose it, so he needed to change the gravitational signature of the Milky Way to redirect the Nexus towards neutral space just outside of the Federation so he could get to it on a star ship. It doesn't really "have to" make sense if he's zealous enough and the internal logic works, and Malcolm McDowell is talented enough to sell that.

I always wished Picard would have left the Nexus to stop the fire that killed his family only to find Soran there trying to kill his family due to being booted yet again from the Nexus.

Hey Shives not sure if you meant this on purpose but I like the idea of Soren trying to kill Kirk while on the Excelsior. Like having it be because he knew the ship was empty except he Kirk and Sulu and wanted to keep the loss of life as minimal as possible. Makes him a more nuanced character and not a complete monster.

In option 2, a way you could add Data's emotion chip to it would be to have Data, trying to console Picard on his lost of family, start to become overwhelmed thinking about the lost of his own father or, even more, his daughter. Data then would regret activating his emotion chip.

A few tweaks here or there that I think might make both versions a bit more interesting For Plot A: - Have the Excelsior be heavily damaged and not destroyed, say it was disabled or crashed into the space dock and can't be made operational in time. That way with the ending, the Excelsior's repairs is an uplifting moment. - Have the Excelsior BECOME the Enterprise-B. Since both ships use the exact same ship design, it saves on having a whole new ship be made. And having Sulu become not just the Captain of the Excelsior, but Captain of the Enterprise would be a nice touch. Also, have his daughter be the helmsmen, just like her father. - Having Soran's family be killed by the Borg feels very... Sisko. Lean into that. Have it be Wolf-359 and lean into that aspect of Picard. Have it be "You killed my family... Locutus" - Still keep the destruction of the Enterprise-D, but have the Saucer section remain to go back through the Nexus, just to crash land. That way you keep the recovery scenes. For Plot A and B: Since both Picard and Soran are in the Nexus. It would only be fair to have the finale IN THE NEXUS. That way, you can experience the events that lead Picard and Soran to this point and have that TALK For Plot B: - Have the death of Picard's family be because of Soran. Have him be the murderer of them and Picard doesn't know it until they meet at the finale.

Great video as always, Steve! The more I think about it, the more your second pitch for a movie sans Kirk makes more sense. Build up Picard’s and Soren’s tragic loss of family by actually SHOWING THEIR FAMILIES onscreen (see my other comment, lol). And your idea of Picard talking Soren down through relating with him about the pain of loss is damn near perfect in all its Picardiness!

Honestly the visor hack was the best idea in this movie. During the tng original run, my siblings and I used to wonder why the Romulans or Kardasians didn't do that. EDIT: My brother and I used to bond this way. Pick out the error in villans plans, shake our heads and talk about how they could do better. Kinda weird I know, but it was great logic and strategy practice.

I appreciate the plot improvements and think they're great, but when you got to the crossover character interactions that we missed out on, it hit me in the feels. The characters are what always made ST excellent, not the plots, as many ST creators would be surprised to learn.

Fellow KZfaqr Junkball Media pointed out in his review of Generations that all the emotional bonds and stuff that we (the audience) are supposed to care about are not shown on screen, and are instead mentioned in a line or two of dialog. Picard’s family, Soren’s family, Kirk’s love, etc. A lot of movies do this - you don’t have to depict every motivating factor for a character on screen - but at least depict SOME of them. Picard’s love of family could have been shown in a 15 second video call scene - “It was lovely seeing you, Robert and Renee. I’ll visit again during my next shore leave.” And the fact the Picards were not depicted in the Nexus is just ridiculous… That’s always bugged the shit outta me. Thank you for pointing that out, Steve!

What I really looked forward to with this film - and ultimately did not get - was contrasting these two captains. Each is capable of action and diplomacy, but we most frequently saw Kirk is the more brazen man of action and Picard as the diplomat. A scenario which put them at odds due to the differences in their characters would have been great to see. Especially if that scenario develops organically and we can sympathise with both. Perhaps Picard could have always seen talking Soren down as the viable option whereas Kirk was trying to outwit him or deliver a two-fisted punch.

I always assumed Chekhov got into medicine after the events of The Voyage Home, given his brush with death and near miss of 20th century medicine.

The whole thing with Kirk and the old crew actually not being able to lose or fail because of that epiphany is rad! I love it! A kind of retro-meta subtle reinforcement of Kirk's mantra -- I like it! I actually think Steve's version would be pretty spicy

Ten year-old me was deeply impacted by this movie. Fresh off the pages of "Sophie's World", I was blown away by the idea of the Nexus. Trying to form a world view and a personal philosophy, I came to realize that what is real matters more than what is pleasurable. Hedonism was not a good philosophy to live by. Sure, this might be a lousy Star Trek movie to some adults, but it helped shape my world view and will forever hold a special place in my heart.

Star Trek Generations has a special place in my heart. It originally came out close to my birthday, and it was the first Star Trek movie I took my soon-to-be wife to, knowing that she had never seen a Star Trek movie before. You see, this was a big test. I was dating a woman who admittedly did NOT like Star Trek, which made me question if she was really an appropriate match for me. She was familiar with Star Trek Next Generation because she had always been in my group of friends that would gather to watch the episodes in college. (She said she was there to be with all her friends but really had no interest in Star Trek. Sus, right?) We graduated in 1994 and moved in together, and for my birthday, she was graciously going to see her first Star Trek movie with me. Red flag maybe? In the movie theater, there were guys in front of us dressed as Klingons, weeping when Kirk dies, while my wife snickered at Kirk's final words. My biggest beef with the movie was that my hero (or rather fave anti-hero actor) Malcolm McDowell didn't get to outright kill Captain Kirk. I've heard him complain about it several times since, and he's right! Denied being the murderer of Kirk! Malcolm had become my hero the year before when I chose him as the subject of an 8-movie filmfest for my 22nd birthday, promising to watch a Malcolm movie every year on my birthday. So how fortuitous that Generations came out on my birthday the following year! So I have all that tied up in my memories of this movie. We got married the year Star Trek: First Contact was released, and my new brother-in-law talked up how much he liked it, despite he also not being a Star Trek fan, and my wife also seemed to enjoy First Contact, while I could continue my not-secret crush with Alice Krige, continuing through my thus-far 27 years of marriage, with our only big "fight" being when she turned off the Deep Space 9 Tribbles episode when it originally aired. That Christmas, she got me a VHS of the episode with a tribble, so all was well.

This was the first Star Trek movie I ever saw and looking for something works for me in this film is that I always liked Sorin as a villain. Sorin is actually my fav Star Trek movie villain, esp. his motivation for the things he does. Khan wants revenge, Sorin just wants happiness and he is willing to destroy anything and everything for that ersatz happiness, that blissful facade. Like being around an addict that is chasing after that one thing that they believe will numb the pain of their vulnerability, their consciousness, of being human. I've been around people seek that ultimate high. I've probably been that person to somebody else. It is a relatable motivation. Destructive but humanly relatable.

"I'm starting to think this unbalanced character played by Malcolm McDowell might not be one of the good guys." Sometimes, Steve, you strike gold with your commentary. This time you struck diamonds.

On the subject of Spock and Data, I think I agree with you on the allusion to the meeting without directly addressing it. Maybe Spock on the farewell suggests they may meet again, Data gives him a patented data look, and Spock seems like he might have noticed but brushes it off.

Generations certainly has its flaws, but I'm actually grateful for the introduction of the Enterprise-B and providing me a glimpse into the history between the TOS movies and TNG, which the Lost Era novels picked up on. 🖖😎👍

I love that you can make me laugh so easily by being so damn cruel about something that I really enjoy. I also kinda hate that you can make me laugh so easily by being so damn cruel about something that I really enjoy. So bless you/damn you Mr. Shives, you magical content-creating wizard.

It took me a long time to realize that saying Kirk died on the "BRIDGE" is the way he always wanted to go out. Of course he would have preferred that it was the "BRIDGE" of a starship rather than an actual metal "BRIDGE" between two rocks. But much like how Scotty and Checkov say Spock and McCoy's lines, as long as it sounds the same it's close enough.

My Dad took me to a special early screening of Generations under the Hyatt Regency in Memphis. It was the first time I met a Klingon in person! I guess some local radio or TV station managed to make a mini event. The crowd when Data cussed....man...what a fan moment.

Picards family dying always felt like a hangover from a different draft of the script. Like there was a version where Picard at yhe very least had to choose between saving them or the enterprise. My understanding with Soren's plan was that you couldn't guarantee surviving the ship being torn apart long enough to actually go into the nexus. He could have always sling shot himself in wearing a space suit though. I believe he was attempting to enter it in the safest way possible for himself to guarantee success.

Seeing the crew in their Napoleonic naval uniforms really made me wish that these were the new Star Fleet uniforms going forward.

Seeing the film as a teenager in the 90's, I thought it was amazing. Thinking back on it now (and having re-watched it about a year ago), it was just OK. Never could stop thinking about the issues with Soran's plan, namely that one: blowing up a star doesn't change the center of mass of its remnants, and two: as Steve mentioned he could have just used a ship to get to the nexus.

I'm marginally more forgiving of Generations, but liked both of your versions better! Your versions BOTH had me in tears. Thank you, as always, good sir.

In your option 2, when Data activates his emotion chip, he gets to experience emotions for every one of his perfectly recalled memories, both positive and negative. So when the subject of lost family comes up, Data experiences grief he couldn't feel when Tasha died, and then for when his daughter Lal died. So it wouldn't be fear for himself that would be his emotional breakdown but grief. Then the choice he faces whether to deactivate his chip or not would be more relevent to the movie plot.

Your first idea for how to make Generations a proper crossover sounds fantastic! Maybe in some alternate universe, something like it really was made. One option to make Soran work better could be making his family be actual characters that we get to know over the course of the movie, only to reveal who they are and that his meddling with time was what leads to their deaths in the first place, maybe work in a little stable time loop somehow. Far too many heroes and villains alike have what I call 'disposable motivations'--friends or family or love interests who only exist to give them reasons to do what they do. Basically, 'fridging', as it's called on TV Tropes. I also thought of a third option for the movie-- have it be a TNG and DS9 crossover, taking place after the end of both series, though what the plot would be, I haven't figured that out yet. 😅 As a side note, I'd vaguely known the plot of the movie for years, but I never knew the specifics of Kirk's death. Since I'd also known about Picard's Enterprise being destroyed, I'd just assumed that the bridge that killed Kirk was the Enterprise bridge landing on him during the crash or something, but to find out it was an actual random bridge is both hilarious and even more anticlimactic.

I always felt that the original plan - somewhat foreshadowed in the two-part Unification TNG episodes (Spock's dialogue re: bearing responsibility for the consequences that befell Kirk) - was for Kirk to die saving the Federation President in Undiscovered Country. I felt that would have been a solid Kirk sacrifice. The other option, once they decided NOT to kill him there, was to let the final scene of TUC be the final scene for the original cast. IT WAS FUCKING PERFECT AS IS. Whoever came up with the idea to shoehorn Kirk into the first TNG movie hopefully was fired soon after.

The first idea is definitely really cool; the only thing I would change is replacing the final scene with Picard and Riker with a time skip to the Enterprise crew at the inauguration of the Enterprise-E. It continues the “old and new” theme and the toast that you suggest would still work very beautifully.

If you could work the backstory in for the uninitiated, the most obvious way for Data to commiserate with Picard that makes use of his emotion chip is to talk about Lal, and how he now feels the grief that he couldn't at the time of her demise. Back on the other pitch, I'd like to see Worf and Chekov go from "I cannot accept a Klingon in a Starfleet uniform" to "Klingon? My friend here was made in Russia!"

Very creative, Sir. I totally love your first iteration, with the Nexus and the two ships and crews. That could have been epic, with the potential for many humorous moments with character interactions and the technology gap... like the Holodeck, for example, or how Picard can't get Tea Earl Gray Hot on the Enterprise A. I also enjoy the many good ideas I see in the comments. Live long, and prosper, Fellow Fans. 💫

In a way it seemed like what they wanted to do with The Nexus was similar to what they were doing with Sisko in Emissary w/the wormhole aliens trying to understand why his mind kept going back to Jennifer's death...however they just didn't understand how to execute that same concept of dealing with grief and finding a way to move forward in life.

I was 8 years old in 1994…. I don’t really remember any of these events except for Tanya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan - that was pretty hard to miss it was on the news 24/7, and Netscape Navigator coming out since I was a huge nerd even as a kid. I didn’t see Generations in theaters, but I was watching DS9 on TV, and I saw Generations when it was for rent (I think it was on DVD… maybe it was VHS though?)

Probably one of my favorite opening bits you have ever written. Nice job man! Great video.

On your remark that Sorin would be the cause of his own misery, picture this. On the mission the Excelsior was going to embark on, they receive a distress call from a transport ship carrying Elorion refugees being attacked by 'blank' and can only hold on for x minutes before their shields fail. The Excelsior swoops in and saves the transport that happens to have Sorin's family. The only reason his family died was because was because of the cause and effect of his own actions.

I’ve always wondered if Soran directly or indirectly had something to do with Robert and Rene’s death when he delivered the line to Picard in 10 Forward.

I always thought flying into the Nexus was too risky. It would destroy the ship and there was a 50/50 chance Soran would die with whatever ship he was on.

This should never have been a "passing the torch" movie. The perfect torch-passing movie had already been made. It was Star Trek VI.

One thing about Picard and Guinan's first conversation about The Nexus that I always felt was so heavy-handed with it's foreshadowing was Guinan saying to Picard: "If you go there, you won't care about us, this ship, or anything else, all you'll want is to stay in the Nexus." That was the flavor of the line, anyway. All I could think was: Why would she mention that? What possible course of action was Picard embarking on, or even considering, that would take him into the Nexus? Like I said, it was just all so on-the-nose.

Ah the Internet, thank you Al.

I remembered when I first watched the movie, I misheard Data saying "Please don't hurt me" as "Please don't anger me." That Data wasn't afraid of getting shot, but more he was afraid what he was going to do if he actually became mad in that state. I don't know how I misheard that, it's vey audible what he says, but that idea has always stuck with me since then.

In the prologue of Generations, when the Enterprise B is attempting their rescue attempt of the inhabitants of the two El-Aurian ships from the Nexus, Scotty says he's having a hard time locking onto their signatures with the transporter because they're phasing in and out of the time space continuum. Later on, when Picard asks Data why Soren doesn't just fly into the Nexus with a ship, Data mentions that any incident involving the nexus and a ship usually ended with the ship being seriously damaged or destroyed. My read on those two situations is that if you fly in, and your ship gets pulverized while your body is still halfway in THIS part of the time space continuum, you don't make it, you die here and never get to the nexus. That is why Soren wanted the nexus to fly over the planet while he was there. No worries about a ship disintegrating all around him, and he knew his body would be long gone before the planet was in any danger from the star's shock wave. As for why Kirk DOES make it into the nexus, the way he tells it to Picard when they finally meet is "The bulkhead in front of me disappeared and next thing I know I'm out here chopping wood." So that tells me he was not caught in an explosion, he didn't have any shrapnel to deal with, he was blown out into open space and snatched up by the ribbon before his body could freeze dry itself. That's just my interpretation, though.

Maybe 'Q' could help fill in some of those holes in option one. Maybe there's a scene where Captain's Kirk and Picard are working on some problem, 'Q' appears, does something "impressive" hoping to get praise from them, but gets ignored, especially Kirk. It seems odd that Q seemed important to the TV show, making multiple appearances, even in the bookending episodes of the Pilot and all good things, and yet is never brought up in the movies.

I loved this film when growing up. I don't think it's lousy. I enjoyed it, there's always room for improvement

I always got the impression that Generations is "half-assed" is because TPTB were working on DS9 and ramping up Voyager. (explains the TV sets and hence the *weird* lighting if nothing else)

Even as a kid I was always like, "But... why doesn't he just fly into the thing? It would have been a lot faster and nobody would try to stop him." Not a good movie.

My other issue with this film is why didn’t El-Aurians warn the Federation much earlier about the Borg. They had over 80 years to tell about it, but it was literally chance that a El-Aurians bartender happened to be one of the first ships to make contact with the Borg, and the make the Federation aware of their existence.

An unstated upside to option 1: Shatner has no reason to write his ego-fuelled "ha-ha, Kirk is actually alive!" fanfiction.

The biggest problem with the proper crossover version is it winds up being very similar to All Good Things. A space-time anomaly brings together different versions of the Enterprise from the past and future.

Hearing idea 1 actually make me choke up a bit. I would have loved to see something like that on screen.

Fun fact about 1994 - Kurt Cobain's death ruined my sister's birthday for years, once we found out that it was the day he actually died on. We were huge rockers at the time, (I still am) and this devastated her. Siblings being what they are, I didn't let her forget for decades.

Alternate meet ups that could be interesting Kirk meeting Worf - a Klingon officer in Starfleet embodying everything he learned and overcame himself, and achieved externally in Undiscovered Country. A Picard - Spock bit mirroring a Riker-Kirk bit, that plays off the inverted Captain/First Officer dynamics (who’s the diplomat and who’s the action hero) between the two crews, and then of course show that it isn’t as straight forward as it necessarily appears (Picard being the bad boy who got stabbed in the heart in a bar fight, and Kirk having been the stack of books with legs)

Thank you so much for your thoughts! I totally agree that both seem to be much more solid plots than the one we got to see on the big screen... Concerning your first alternative: I think that this would be a good basis for a big screen version... I would have loved to see it in cinema! The second plot seems to me much more as a TNG episode... Possibly a two-parter... Then you could get rid of the introduction... And have a good time of enjoying a high quality TNG episode...

God, I wish that one of these pitches of Steves's could have been the movie we got, instead of the grab bag of ideas that made up Generations. There is a silver lining to the Generations movie we got, though. Shatner reexamined his role as Capt. Kirk, after Kirk's "death" in 1994, and discovered, and embraced, the Star Trek fandom, and the love that the fans had for him, and the character he had portrayed for, at that point, 30 years. His book about those experiences, Get a Life, is one of his best books.

A wishlist of scenes in your first version of Generations: 1) Kirk independently invents the Picard Maneuver (a short warp jump) to get the Enterprise-A out of danger. Riker gives Picard a wry grin.

27:42 Can't you just imagine McDowell acting the hell out of this twist? He would definitely not be wasted with that inner turmoil to play out for us

1994 also marks the 30th anniversary of the first of the two English-speaking adaptations of the "Metal Hero Series": the "VR Troopers." "Trooper transform! We are VR!" The scores was among a few things I love best about "Star Trek: Generations," even though Dennis McCarthy did not used Jerry Goldsmith's themes from "The Motion Picture."

"What Should Star Trek Generations Actually Have Been?" Good. It should have been good. Instead of making me watch my second favorite Enterprise get destroyed in the stupidest way imaginable. That's what it should have been. EDIT: THANK YOU for calling out the plot hole that Sorin could just...fly a shuttlecraft or whatever into the Nexus. I've been saying that for 30 years. How the actual writers forgot a major plot point from their own movie I have no idea... EDIT EDIT: Okay I should stop commenting before I finish the video, but that last part about not compromising on your own stuff really got me. As someone who's spent the last 3 years making a graphic novel starring some of my own characters and telling the story of their first adventure, that spoke to me.

Here's an idea for explaining the Nexus plot hole: data and astrometrics could explain that the Nexus is actually two parts. An outer ring of intense electromagnetical energy, and the inner ribbon. The forces around the outer ring are of a monumental magnitude, on par with those of black holes. Anything approaching it would be instantly destroyed. When the star went supernova, solar forces of unfathomable energy were able to temporarily push the outer level away, like a tidal wave clearing a path on a beach. The only way to reenter the Nexus will be the duplicate it.

How you upgraded the actual functionality of the Nexus is genius However, no one ever addresses the fact that you could totally spend forever enjoying whatever you wanted with your family THEN go back and save the people on Veridian 3! However, both forms of Generations you propose are epic

There's an easy way to get around issues with how to get in and out of the Nexus and why Picard only went back to the start of the fight. 1: Establish that being taken into the Nexus is not a guarantee. Show some people actually killed the energy, rather than having vanished, and Soren has developed a field that can resist the energy, but it needs the gravity well of a planetary body to function. 2: if you enter the Nexus, you can only return to a point within a certain time frame of when you first entered, or when another person entered. That way Picard has to go back to face Soren and also means there's some extra stakes for Kirk, who believes he could go back to his own time.

Your version of this movie, is far superior 😉 Both crews serving together !!!!

I would do something a bit different, and Captain John Harriman would have a larger role in the film (no "Tuesday" stuff, making Harriman ineffectual) . Both Kirk and Harriman go to the future (still no one else). Kirk's journey in the film should be about accepting that someone else can do the job. He also has to work with Worf, and accept him as a valued member of Starfleet. Worf's promotion would come near the end of the film (we should see him earn it), and Kirk would be the one to apply his pips, in a more somber ceremony. Picard's story is still about his losses, but Data's emotion chip decision is about being unable to help his Captain in a time of grief. Data finally truly gets to grieve for Tasha Yar. Troi gets to prove her title is deserved. Riker is sidelined for most of the movie, on another ship far away. A little scene with him and Diana communicating as explanation, until she senses Picard's moment of grief. He shows up later, on the ship that responds to the Enterprise D's distress call, just in time to see her crash. A nice emotional shot of him saying "Diana." Soran's intent revolves around Harriman, and the future Captain gets some good action scenes. At one point Harriman repairs Gerodi's visor (broken by Soran, keeping some of his lines to Geordi). Replace Scotty with Uhura in the beginning scenes. She and Chekov talk about the new Captain's record. Some disappointment about absent friends. No reporters. Captain Sulu gets to be waiting for them, as the Excelsior is in spacedock for repairs, and introduces his daughter as "the next generation" of Starfleet. Uhura gets Scotty's line about making time, and the Chekov/Kirk exchange stays the same. Yes, Guinan and Uhura should have a scene early in the movie, that Guinan can reminisce about to Data in Ten Forward. She can talk about outliving so many, and Data can talk about his feelings on his own potential long life. Time, mortality, and learning to step aside for someone new to take up the work would be the themes.

My explanation for Soren not just flying in is pretty simple. Dense materials, such as those that Starships and Shuttlecraft are made of, can't enter the Nexus. To the point that is such high quantities in proximity to the Nexus Ribbon, they have odd destablising affects, which can lead to warp core and propulsion systems problems or even total failures. Those that have risked their ships near the Nexus ribbon were never seen again, or at least not it a way that would allow them to disclose what they know about its properties. Thus the assumption is they all died when their ships were destroyer or severly damaged.

Both TOS crew and TNG crew should have been on their own Ships , teaming up together to save humanity. Both crews have a planned meet-up via timetravel meeting up inbetween their 2 original timelines.

That bottle of Wine Sulu had should be a Chateau Picard. Can't believe you missed that. As for your first premise: I think, you should keep Kirk's death, but put him aboard the Enterprise D. It adds more intrigue if there is no official mention of the enterprise A time traveling, but that Kirk was reported missing with none of his long time friends and crew members knowing what happened. Eventually Kirk realizes he is destined to pilot the Enterprise D in the final battle where it's expected to be lost. And due to Starfleet having a time delayed ultra classified understanding of what actually happens, the cast of TOS all give Kirk a thank you send off for saving the day one last time and giving his life to do it. Data can say that all of the info relates to what actually happened to the enterprise A was also declassified and updated after the enterprise A returned through the Nexus. Perhaps the saucer section still survived as the lifeboat it's intended to end and they only took the drive section into the battle.

If you go fixed timeline, with Soren causing the very thing he was trying to prevent, and Kirk being guaranteed of his return home because history can’t change - that raises one big continuity problem. Even if we assume McCoy and Spock were just keeping their mouths shut because of the Temporal Prime Directive in their respective TNG cameos - Scotty’s awe at the future was such a huge part of his cameo on TNG it completely throws that out the window

Wouldn't it be so much more fun to have the future versions of Spock and Scotty? The Spock who's lived through all the years and is familiar with the 24th Century, and the Scotty who arrived recently. Those two versions of the characters are both available in the 24th century, and neither of them ever expected to see the rest of the TOS era crew again, so there'd be a lot of emotional impact from the reunion I'm not sure how you contrive a reason for their younger selves not to be involved, but it shouldn't be too hard. And it's easy to get the future selves involved: Maybe they both lost friends in the original massacre when the Enterprise disappeared, and so they're some sort of ll memorial event, related to the fact that this mysterious energy ribbon is returning

A way to fill the plot hole of Soran using a ship instead of redirecting the Nexus is that’s how his remaining family died. Not everyone on his previous ship was sent to the magical Nexus world. Most died. Soran and Guinan were among the ‘lucky’ minority. So just driving a ship comes with risks of not making it into the Nexus proper. By redirecting the Nexus he can maximize his chances of getting in.

The Chekov line from the prologue I can hear in my head in DeForest Kelley’s voice: “You and you just became orderlies”

So basically, scenario 1 is just a cinematic version of "Yesterday's Enterprise". Which would've been interesting since David Carson worked on both projects lol

So, for the 1st pitch - leaving the Nexus, you only have a strong but vague idea of what happened in there. When Soren is forced out by Kirk, all he really remembers is that he wanted to be there, and Kirk was responsible. This also helps fix any issues with why didn't Spock know Picard, or why Scotty didn't know Geordie et all. Because the specific memories were lost, and say, Data added a virus to the Ent-A's computer deleting information that would cause Prime Directive issues.

This is my first time hearing you but I must say that you have an extraordinarily good understanding of the subject matter I'm loving it thank you.

I'm personally on team TNG-only for this one. The TOS crew got such a perfect sendoff in Star Trek VI that bringing them back, even in full, feels trite RE: how to close the plot hole of Soran trying to fly a ship into the Nexus? Well if you excise the Enterprise-B bits, you don't have any proof of that actually working, so Data's line of "any ship that tries gets destroyed" would actually have some credence. All you'd have to do is come up with some other way Soran briefly experienced the Nexus in the first place

If the Excelsior deal s destroyed, then we HAVE to have a scene showing that the curiously human-looking Tuvok survives, or else the rewrite would make the landmark--no, the MASTERPIECE Voyager/Undiscovered Country crossover impossible! And I know that you, a famous proponent for strict adherence to continuity, would never want that.

Here's a character-centric thought for how to tie Data's emotion chip subplot into Picard's family tragedy: Picard visits DATA's QUARTERS for a change. Picard is just beginning his grieving process, and his emotional core is gutted, cold, and seemingly empty. He feels like a robot, and turns to Data for guidance - they're so close to emotions, intellectually aware that emotions are indeed called for at this time, yet unable to channel them. I don't know if Picard would cry in this scene like he does in the film with Troi, but the topic would indeed be heavy, the sort of stuff shared only between close confidants in a time of deep spiritual turmoil. The conversation would turn to Data's dilemma regarding his emotion chip, they'd talk about his antics on the holodeck as a component of this dilemma, and Picard would be in an interesting position to talk about the weight of emotions, both good and bad. But, ultimately, it's Picard who's hurting and in need. In this scene, it would be the android advising the human, the lieutenant guiding the captain - the friend being a friend to a friend. At the end of the scene, both characters would be an important step closer to their relative humanities.

Whatever else, it's painfully ironic that after all those adventures with Captain Kirk on the bridge, the final one ended with a bridge on Captain Kirk.

For Option 2: Without the ENT-B intro we no longer see ships inside the Nexus, so the film can say that the Nexus will destroy ships before they get inside the ribbon but not planets. Then just add some dialog where Guinan explains that she and Soran were refugees on the same colony planet when the Nexus passed through it and pulled everyone into the ribbon. Maybe you have a flashback showing (instead of telling) the ribbon destory ships in orbit as it approaches but not destorying the planet. This would explain why Soran wants to explode stars to alter the path of the Nexus to pass through a planet he will be on instead of just flying a ship into it. But without them being rescued from their ships, we have the new problem of explaining how Soran and Guinan got pulled out of the Nexus in the first place. Since one can voluntarily leave the Nexus, maybe Guinan and Soran chose to do that together--make them former good friends--to save his family. Like Picard, they were aware of the inauthenticity of the Nexus experience. They ultimately fail to save his family, which breaks Soran and leads him on his quest to get back into the Nexus, so he can try again to save his family (or just live with the fantasy family). Guninan's echo can tell this part of the story to Picard. Then Picard can still use their shared grief and fantasy family experience to talk Soran down as you pitched it (I like that change a lot).

36:34 To eliminate the plot hole: Establish a lot more clearly that after the Borg, most El-Aurians sought refuge in the Nexus. But don't have the Starship Lakul carrying refugees, have it carrying some ambassador or something. When the Ent-B beams over survivors it's accidentally beaming some El-Aurians (i.e. Soren and Guinan) OUT OF THE NEXUS. Like 47 people inexplicably beaming off a ship of 15. So Soren's goal to get BACK TO THE NEXUS. This is why Guinan's echo is there, she was in the Nexus but was beamed off. But she's accepted that she won't be going back...in fact this line is in the original script. This way it's a fluke that a starship got so close to the Nexus instead of an intentional course Soren was navigating.

Oh the cruel irony! Steve destroys a film I like (was the first Trek movie I saw in the theatres) and then gives me a shout-out. Compelling video as always, Steve! Thanks.

Steve, your version one alternate storyline has my vote. I would have loved to see that kind of crossover storyline. I absolutely hated killing off Kirk.

That introduction really makes it sounds like the Digimon Movie of Star Trek.