MovieChat Forums > Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) Discussion > Did "Generations" ruin the ending of "Th...

Did "Generations" ruin the ending of "The Undiscovered Country"?

posted 10 years ago by TMC-4
22 replies | jump to latest

I mean, TUC seemed a well enough "series finale" for the Original Series crew. And it really isn't like they seriously needed Kirk to "pass the torch" to the Next Generation crew (only to be unceremoniously killed off by having a bridge literally be dropped on him) since his "Captain's Log" at the end subtly acknowledges Picard and company. Plus, having Kirk and whatever was left of his crew (in this case, Chekov and Scotty) show up in Generations seems rather redundant since TOS had crossed over to TNG numerous times prior to that. Hell, TUC had Michael Dorn show up as Worf's grandfather, so it isn't like the TNG connection/foreshadowing wasn't touched upon already.

[–] TMC-4 (20284) 6 years ago

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/if-star-trek-iv-the-voyage-home-had-been-the-last-classic-era-film.295531/#post-12585846

I don't really count Generations as anything more than a TNG film. I think the studio wanted it to be a mainstream crossover movie event (the absence of a colon in the title suggests as much), but they really just handed it to the TNG production crew, who mostly hired their in-family team of usual suspects. They got John Alonzo as cinematographer (NICE!!) and brought ILM back for I think the first time since 'Encounter at Farpoint', but then settled on their TV series team of screenwriters (with all respect to Ron Moore) plus composer Dennis McCarthy when they couldn't get Jerry Goldsmith (so the music would at least be recognizable as TNG's ponderously signature background noise).

Much was made about the "passing of the baton" (literally almost those exact words in every media publication), but really the baton had already been passed. The Undiscovered Country had already tipped its hat to TNG despite its lack of research, featured a more epic scope and a moodily operatic tone. Which made Generations seem weird and underwhelming as a follow-up. And I don't feel like Generations even watched TUC, whereas one can easily understand TUC being out of touch with 100 episodes of TNG.

[–] crc32 (2584) 5 years ago

I agree the undiscovered was the proper ending to the orignal series. But at the time I was cynical and didn't like William shatner so I saw the movie the moment I heard kirk was gonna die in it.