Star Trek 7: Generations (4 Stars)

The first six Star Trek films featured the cast of the original 1960's television series. In 1994 the next big Star Trek series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation", came to an end after seven years. It made good sense to make the seventh film with the cast of the new series. Star Trek fans who missed Patrick Stewart and his colleagues were to be tempted into the cinemas. That's money in the bank. It's also understandable that some sort of link had to be made for film fans who weren't acquainted with one or both television series. It would have been too much of a jolt to have a sequel with an entirely different cast. Some sort of handover was needed, but how? Captain James Kirk and Captain Jean-Luc Picard lived about 100 years apart. The solution is artificially contrived, but it works. Create a parallel universe in which time doesn't exist and throw both captains into it.

The film begins with a rescue mission to save two El-Aurian ships that ends with James Kirk's death. The story continues 78 years later when the Starship Enterprise rescues an El-Aurian called Soran from a deep space observatory, a man that had been among those rescued by James Kirk 78 years earlier.

Both rescues have to do with a place called the Nexus. In the first rescue Soran was taken away from the Nexus. In the second rescue he was trying to return to the Nexus. It's a place where time doesn't exist, and those within it can have whatever they want. Think of it as a naturally existing holodeck where you can live forever. El-Aurians have a long life span, about 300 years, but that's not enough for Soran. He wants to live forever.

That's not a bad goal in itself. The problem is that Soran is destroying solar systems with millions of inhabitants in order to achieve his goal. Captain Picard is sucked into the Nexus, where he meets Captain Kirk, who isn't dead after all. Together they try to stop Soran's plans.

This is a very good film that raises some philosophical issues. It shows how dangerous the pursuit of happiness can be. The film also reveals how Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) first became acquainted with the Enterprise, after hints about her origins were scattered throughout the television series.

I never noticed before how beautiful Whoopi Goldberg's face is. She has enigmatic features that are almost hypnotic when I stare at her.

Talking about beauty, don't you think that the Duras sisters have a bizarre sex appeal?

"Star Trek: Generations" is competent in introducing the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" to the big screen. It was a big box office hit, like all the films that preceded it. The critics may have had mixed feelings, but the fans loved it, and that's all that matters.

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