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Star Trek: Generations (PG, 1994)

common sense media says

Old/new Starfleet heroes warpspeed a lukewarm plot.

parents & educators say
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What parents need to know

Parents need to know that a major Starfleet hero dies in this installment and adult fans have been known to be driven to tears by the scene (spoiler: in subsequent Star Trek novelizations he's brought back to life, for about the 100th time). There are ray-gun space battles, explosions, and ship crashes. The computerized Mr. Data utters a PG swear word in his struggle with simulated emotions and tries alcohol.

Positive messages: Starfleet is notably racially, gender, and species-integrated (with the addition of Mr. Data, even machine-integrated), and there is a strong sense of friendship, duty, and loyalty. Kirk and Picard both put the greater good ahead of their personal bliss, while Data learns to control and partially absorb unaccustomed, downloaded human emotions.
Violence: Spaceship explosions, ray-gun fire, dead bodies seen. Some hand-to-hand punch-outs and fatal falls.
Sex: Just some prominent female Klingon cleavage.
Language: "Hell" spoken by humans, the S-word uttered by the normally unflappable android Data.
Consumerism: Of course, Star Trek itself is a major commercial product, with video games, comics, action figures, hobby kits, theme-park rides...even a cookbook!
Drinking, drugs, & smoking: Drinking in the USS Enterprise bar, includes the android Data reacting comically to his first alcoholic binge.
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More on Star Trek: Generations

What to talk about

Talk to your kids
Families can talk about the appeal of Star Trek in its various spin-offs and incarnations. Compare-contrast (as Trekkies have done, for many hours, in many conventions) the personalities of James T. Kirk, a maverick who often went around the rules of Starfleet, and Jean-Luc Picard, an authoritarian stickler for regulations and decorum. Which TV crew members or movies are favorites?

What's the story?

What's the story?
STAR TREK: GENERATIONS came to theaters as a bridge between the Star Trek movies starring the classic TV cast and a set of new movie blockbusters continuing with the (younger) Next Generation cast. In the 23rd century, the retired Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is a guest at the ceremonial first voyage of a new starship Enterprise when a dangerous deep-space energy field shears off part of the hull, taking Kirk with it. Seven decades later the crew of a later Enterprise encounters an alien mad scientist (Malcolm McDowell) conspiring with renegade Klingons and blowing up whole star systems in a personal mission to conjure up that same energy field, which serves as a gateway to a timeless, dream-state of existence where wishes and yearnings can come true. Consequently, stalwart 24th-century Enterprise Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) comes face to face with the legendary, long-lost Kirk.

Is it any good?

Is it any good?
 
Trying to imagine a movie/TV nut without no Star Trek knowledge is so improbable it borders on sheer science fiction. If you are such a Trek-illiterate, you'll be lost here. If you're a follower you'll be delighted with the dense Treklore and references to TV-episode minutiae (two Klingon sisters as recurring villains, holodecks, Picard's brother). Yes, the plotline doesn't bear close scrutiny -- it's mainly a gimmicky time-warp deal to bring series icon William Shatner on board for a fond farewell.

But that's a minor complaint thanks to the good pacing, splendid special effects, and most of all the way the script cleverly applies generations of backstory and character-development to play with viewer expectations like a flute. It's clever and fun for devotees, young and old, who have invested in this saga so far.

Movie themes & details

Movie Details
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Director: David Carson
Cast: Jonathan Frakes, Whoopi Goldberg, William Shatner
Genre: Science Fiction
Run time: 118 minutes
Theatrical release: November 18, 1994
DVD release: September 28, 2004
MPAA Rating: PG
MPAA explanation: sci-fi action and some mild violence.
This review was written by Charles Cassady Jr.
 
 

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Most useful reviews by all members

Thinker96
teen, 16 years old
10
 
Hopless Trekkie
LUKEWARM PLOT?????????? ARE YOU INSANE???? This movie rocks!
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Ezio432
teen, 15 years old
11
 
OKAY FOR 11 AND UP
Great movie. I like how Kirk and Picard are united and team up against Dr Soran. Has some mild violence, (SPOILER ALERT, DONT READ THIS PART IF YOU DONT WANT A SPOILER) kirk dies at the end and his face is bloody. Kids may be sad when Kirk is dead when he is vacummed into space, and it is long into the movie until the find out he survived in the Nexus of Joy. Female Klingons show b**b cleavage, they are not shown completely but mostly through their scant tops. Language is mild, it is strongest when Data says his first swear, s***.
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Tsion
parent of 15 year old
10
 
Not Near As Good...
I love STAR TREK. The show's great acting, pervading sense of optimism, and suspenseful plots always engage me and make me smile. GENERATIONS is not as good as the rest. It's not awful (it's worth it just to see Kirk, Chekov, and Scotty on the bridge again), but it is not a very good movie. There is no real violence, only some brief shots of some bloody bodies. Language is one "s" word uttered by Mr. Data.
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Gilldel
teen, 16 years old
10
 
flawlessly blends two generations
Star trek Generations is my favorite Star trek film. It has excellent special effects, solid acting and plenty of humor. A touch of language and some sci-fi violence is the only thing objectionable in this film. If you are a star trek fan like me be sure to see this film.
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helped me decide (7) | had useful details (6) | read my mind (7)

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