MovieChat Forums > Star Trek: Generations (1994) Discussion > Guinan tells Picard he can go “anywhere,...

Guinan tells Picard he can go “anywhere, anytime”...

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (20179)
14 replies | jump to latest

And he immediately says he wants to go back to the planet right before Soren launched the sun-destroying rocket.

He can anywhere and anytime and change the timeline to stop the bad guy from destroying a star and killing a prewarp civilization. He could go back to when they first met Soren and keep him from destroying the Amargossa Observatory and kidnapping Geordi, or maybe even a few days earlier to save his family from dying in a fire first, but no. He decides to go back to when there’s like 10 minutes before the bad guy wins.

Then, he says he can’t stop Soren on his own and asks Nexus-Guinan to come too and help. Nexus-Guinan says she can’t actually leave, but if Picard needs someone to help him hold Soren down and shut off the rocket, who better than the most famous Starfleet captain of all time?

So now we have a massive plot hole about where and when Picard chooses to stop Soren and not a plot hole exactly about why Kirk comes back with him, but inexplicable. Kirk is a famous starship captain who’s famous for being a starship captain and Picard had him come be random hired muscle.

Then Kirk dies and rather than bringing his body back, Picard just buried him out in the open under a pile of rocks. Not a plot hole but an inexplicable moment.

[–] Connie93 (826) 4 years ago

Dude, its a movie. Don't over think it! But yes, I thought myself: why doesn't he just go back to arrest him when he was on his ship? But that wouldn't be a very interesting ending, now would it?

[–] TMC-4 (20179) 4 years ago

That's probably the dumbest response that you can ever give to somebody in regards to film criticism. So just because it's only a movie, there's little reason to comment about what is or isn't wrong with the plot or script!? Are you serious!? You aren't in any position what so ever to tell me how I should or shouldn't feel. You're pretty much telling audiences to not use their intelligence because all that it is at the end of the day is "entertainment".

[–] liscarkat (18541) a month ago

Yet that's true: all that it is, at the end of the day, is entertainment. "Star Trek" is not solemn literature.

[–] Volley (3433) 4 years ago

Picard should have returned to just a few days before the fire that occurred on earth that killed his family. Temporal Prime Directive or not, he would have saved his family.

[–] strntz (12454) 4 years ago

I agree. He's going back a few days to change the total history of, well, a few days. .He could have contacted his brother by subspace and told him about the fire. Since the future didn't happen yet, (three days) then violating the TPD would be a minor transgression, one a man who saved Earth from the Borg would deserve.

[–] FootOfDavros (8238) 3 years ago

...violating the TPD would be a minor transgression, one a man who saved Earth from the Borg would deserve.

By going back in time and interfering in the timeline.

[–] strntz (12454) 3 years ago

By going back in time and interfering in the timeline.

Yes, but while the morality of changing a timeline under any circumstance for any reason can be certainly debated, he's only changing the timeline of a few days, and only to save one family. He already changed one time line in a huge way by going back in time and preventing Sorin from destroying the star that provided life for billions of people, so going back to save one family just doesn't seem nearly as impactful in my opinion.

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

The fact of the matter is that time travel is a boring ploy for movies because of things like this. Apply the same kind of real world logic to things like The Terminator and you'll start to figure out that it's really a very boring premise that can get twisted and turned until it just becomes a mockery of itself. Which sadly is just about what all of them amount to in the end.

[–] PaladinNJ (21525) 3 years ago

just for the record, In the follow up novel Spock and McCoy lead an expedition to retrieve Kirk's body for a proper burial.

[–] Moonglum9 (11299) a month ago

The Temporal Prime Directive I don't believe was even thought of until on Voyager a few years after this movie. Also, if he's going back to stop Soren, then he already massively violated it, so he can go back a few more days and stop Soren when he isn't expecting it and save his dopey brother and stupid nephew Renee.

[–] strntz (12454) a month ago

I always figured that Picard could only go back to a time and place where the ribbon had been at some point in the past, the present, or maybe even where it might be in the future, not just any physical location in the universe. The question would be if he could go back in time earlier than he arrived and if it would necessarily be at a place where the ribbon physically was before Picard got caught up in it.

Kirk got scooped into the ribbon when he was blown into space where the ribbon was and got off the ribbon with Picard where Picard had been swept up.

[–] mikethemartian (6777) a month ago

Personally I would have chosen to go to the Playboy mansion in the 1960s.

[–] AndyKing1967 (38411) a month ago

I approve this 👍

[–] MillerJones (539) a month ago

It sums up what is wrong with the film.

When it comes to sci fi you do have to be open to things not always making sense but as pointed out it's just poor writing.

It's a different time line anyway other wise you could say by him going back to the point he did his other self should be in that location at the same time.

We dont know kirks body was buried it could have been a monument