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Boldly going where “Star Trek-The Original Series” had gone before, “Generations” allows us to watch the passing of the torch. The Next Generation cast took the big screen but not center stage in the first feature of this television series. The real attraction here was the death of a beloved Trek icon—Captain James T. Kirk. As the film begins Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) along with former crewmates Scotty (James Doohan) and Checkov (Walter Koenig) are along on the ride for the launch of the newly commissioned Enterprise-B. When two ships signal that they need help, the Enterprise-B, despite the fact that it hasn’t been outfitted with the rudimentary defense mechanisms, is ordered to help the two troubled passenger ships. New Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck) reluctantly zooms to their aid. With news cameras from every network on Earth covering the launch of the ship, Kirk feels compelled to step in and help the inexperienced crew save the lives on the ships in distress. Unfortunately, Kirk appears to be killed in the process. ***

About 100 years later the crew of the USS Enterprise C is celebrating the promotion of Lt. Commander Worf on the holodeck, Captain Jean Luc-Picard receives some disturbing news during the celebration; his nephew, brother and sister-in-law have been killed in a fire. The celebration is cut short when the Enterprise is ordered to help a research station under fire from Romulans. As the ship arrives, they discover everyone on the research vessel dead except Dr. Tolian Soren (Malcolm McDowell). It turns out that he is the cause of the attack and he’s develop a dangerous new weapon that can cause a sun to go nova within minutes. He plans on using it to somehow harness the power of something called the Nexus ribbon. It appears that people that enter this ribbon that travels through space can relive the past and visit with loved ones long dead. Picard must stop Soren or millions of innocent lives will be sacrificed in the process. Unfortunately, he fails and both he and Soren are sucked into the Nexus. While in there Picard meets a most unexpected ally Captain James T. Kirk who it appears is very much alive. Picard must convince Kirk to help him stop Soren as he’s cut off from his ship and crew. ***

Although it was much maligned by the press when it was first released “Generations” has the stuff big screen space operas and good science fiction are made up; there’s an ethical dilemma, an action packed script and some solid character development. What it doesn’t have is the sense that it was designed for the big screen. Despite the bigger production values and epic scope of the initial action, the film feels like it could have been made during the TV shows seven year reign. There’s also the lack of a larger than life villain and a satisfactory ending. While McDowell is great in his role as the complex villain Soren, you get the feeling that Picard and Kirk could easily take him out. The ending haunted the film from the very beginning; the death scenes for Captain Kirk had to be reshot after the film was finished as it just didn’t have the mythic quality the producers and fans wanted. The final ending doesn’t either but it is more satisfying than the original ending (which is included on this special edition). “Generations” provides an entertaining two hour adventure and, while not the best Trek film from The Next Generation crew (“Star Trek: First Contact” holds that honor), it’s a satisfying if slight big screen adventure. ---

Yikes! I’ve not seen this much edge enhancement in some time. While the transfer captures the vivid colors of the Ocean at the beginning and the desolate beauty of the desert at the end, the over use of edge enhancement (in the form of a shimmering effect) cripples this disc. It’s not really noticeable on a small screen but on big screen TVs, the use of a Proxima Projector or on a HDTV, it’s noticeable to the point that it’s distracting. On the plus side, this “next generation” edition of the film is a marked improvement over the bare bones edition Paramount issued five years ago. The film receives a nice anamorphic transfer with a much crisper picture and better detail than on the previous DVD. The bright colors and solid blacks are rendered very nicely. ***

On the plus side as well we’re offered a terrific 5.1 channel Dolby Digital track as well as a DTS version of the soundtrack. There are also Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks available for both the English and French soundtracks as well. The sonic detail and a great dynamic range highlight the soundtrack. The clear dialogue, effects and music are distinct and have tremendous presence regardless of which version of the soundtrack you select. ---

With a second disc of extras, “Generations” is a marked improvement over the first edition. The first edition of the film didn’t even have the theatrical trailer. Here we get “The Star Trek Universe”, “Production”, “Visual effects” and other featurettes focusing on the production of the movie. The production quality of the featurettes is more than a cut above the standard releases as well. We get interviews on set with cast and crew as well as behind-the-scenes footage of the production of the movie nicely edited with some neat graphics. ***

“Star Trek Universe is divided into the following segments; Production is divided into three sections; “A Tribute to Matt Jeffries” which is one of the best and most touching featurettes here. Jeffries was the original art director for the original series and continued on in various roles throughout the movies as well. “The Enterprise Lineage” discusses all the ships from the series “Enterprise” to the Enterprise-D launched in “Star Trek: First Contact”. “Captain Picard’s Family Album” and “Creating 24th Century Weapons” round out this particular section. Production focuses on the following areas; ”Uniting Two Legends”, “Stellar Cartography: Creating the Illusion” and “Strange New Worlds: The Valley of Fire”. The first focuses on the brainstorming that went into uniting two different TV icons in the movie. The second featurette discusses the creation of the famous Stellar Cartography deck and is related to the challenges of creating believable optical effects for this sequence. The third and final featurette here focuses on the alien planet where the bulk of the second half of the film takes place. “Visual Effects” provides an inside look at the creation of the models and miniatures as well as the sequence where the Enterprise crashes into the surface of the alien planet. ***

Next we get “Scene Deconstruction” that allows us to glimpse the creation of the main title sequence. We see how the effect for the Nexus Ribbon is created and see how the illusion of the crash of the Enterprise was so convincingly portrayed. There’s a number of deleted scenes included (most of them unfinished which is why they weren’t integrated back into the film) including the “Orbital Skydiving” scene that was originally supposed to open the film. “Walking the Plank” provides a glimpse of a sequence that takes place during Worf’s promotion ceremony that was trimmed for time reasons. The last two will be of particular interest to fans of the film and series. We see a more involved sequence depicting Christmas with The Picards. This involves Captain Picard’s imaginary family and his experience in the Nexus and, for the grand finale, the alternate ending that only preview audiences saw. There’s also the inclusion of deleted scenes, a photo gallery and a selection of production storyboards to compare to the finished film.