What if the STAR TREK film franchise had gone differently?

[Jordacar]

I started a thread like this about the Alien franchise a while ago, and since then I've been thinking about another once great franchise that lost it's way.

First off, if you haven't seen RedLetterMedia and Confused Matthew's critiques, I suggest checking them out, cuz they're a riot.

It should be said that the Star Trek series is a lot more unwieldy than the Alien series, so I suppose this discussion should focus (to start with) on the TNG movies (Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis). The TV series was a great sci-fi show, with intelligent stories and great characters. Although all films have certain merits, most of them technical, I feel that starting with Generations, the Star Trek film series began a downward spiral into action schlock.

With so much time gone by since the franchise died off with Nemesis, and with JJ's revamp giving the series a nice jolt back into relevance, it got me thinking what things might've been like if the Star Trek TNG films could be something sci-fi fans could really look back on and be proud of.

 

[DarkKnight88]

I think Star Trek: First Contact was a step in the right direction. It's almost as good as Star Trek II. The problem with The Next Generation films was their lack of continuity with one another. There should've been a trilogy ala. II, III, IV. Something really epic with a connecting story.

 

[DarKush]

I think Insurrection should've been a Dominion War movie. Seeing the Changelings, Cardassians, and Jem'Hadar on the big screen would've been awesome; also perhaps showing some big battle scenes. A novelization of the Trek novel Battle of Betazed would've been a nice entry.

I also wished that Nemesis had used the Undiscovered Country for inspiration instead of Wrath of Khan.

As for the TNG movie franchise itself, I think it made a mistake by not fully acknowledging the passage of time for the characters in a consistent way. They stayed pretty static, and the changes made weren't necessarily good ones, i.e. Picard.

I wish there had been more of an idea of how these characters would change over the course of the films. With Data, in GEN he had the emotion chip, by FC he could turn it off, and then in INS and NEM, it was like he didn't have it at all. Geordi and Crusher got little character development and almost zero facetime especially in the last two films. Worf got more screentime, but not much in the way of character development, and in NEM he got an unexplained demotion from ambassador on DS9 back to security chief. The resurrection of the Riker-Troi relationship saved them to some extent. At least a major event in their lives, which changed their characters, happened. With Picard, he went into action star mode in FC-NEM and at times it just felt uncharacteristic. Particularly in NEM. It felt like I was watching Patrick Stewart and not Jean-Luc Picard.

For the TOS films, the cancellation of that show, and the long period from that until TMP provided a more natural gulf for the writers to exploit and to some extent they did so very well, particularly with Kirk. Even though the non-Big Three characters didn't get a lot of character development, or it was fitful, we did see Sulu promoted to captain, Chekhov on the Grissom, Uhura's job at the Academy was referenced, etc. They had other things going on with their lives, much of it off screen, but at least it was mentioned. These weren't static characters. And they were only brought back together for big events, which helped raise the importance of the issue/crisis of each film in my eyes.

As for the Abrams Trek films, I initially had my doubts about returning to Kirk-Spock-McCoy. I didn't think other actors could really inhabit those characters like the originals, but Abrams and crew did a terrific job. My chief concerns about the new franchise that are still unresolved are will this franchise be nothing more than popcorn entertainment. Trek had great battles and derring do, but it also explored the human condition and at times took on controversial subjects. I don't think a blockbuster movie format really is going to allow too much of that, or even the science-based stories. I think we will get three good-hopefully good-action packed films, but I wonder what will happen after this run?

Trek needs to return to TV. But also CBS-Paramount need to put more Trek content out there, in terms of popular video games, more toys in stores like Target and Wal-Mart, and a cartoon or two to bring in more young fans. The novels and comics seem to be going strong so that part of the expanded universe is fine.

 

[Jordacar]

5 changes I'd make to each movie (off the top of my head):

GENERATIONS
-In order to get Kirk and Picard in the same room, create a plot device that A) makes sense and B) doesn't overpower the story.
-Kirk should come into the story to put his years of captain experience to work, not just to assist Picard in punching the bad guy.
-Data's emotion chip should be used for something more poingient and not just comic relief.
-Give Kirk a proper Star Fleet burial. It would be a great reason for Spock to cameo, paying his last respects to his greatest friend in the universe.

FIRST CONTACT
-I like the idea of going back to Zephram's first flight, but I would like to have seen the Enterprise crew making a greater effort to preserve the timeline by not telling Cochrane too much about his future.
-The time travel also enhances the Borg taking over the ship, because in this setting, the crew can't call for backup or leave the ship. However, The Borg soon devolve into nothing but horror movie monsters. The conflict should be more of a continuation of the Borg storyline from the series rather than an excuse for a zombie movie on the Enterprise.
-If we're gonna have the Defiant, it would make sense to have some DS9 people on the ship. It might crowd the proceedings, but it would make the world of the film feel bigger if it's not just the TNG crew and the Defiant's B-team.
-The time travel would make more sense if it was an accident (similar to the explanation on "Yesterday's Enterprise." Can't go wrong with the classics.)
-Picard's Captain Ahab complex works okay on it's own, but it's way out of character when taking the series into account. If you're gonna have it in there, have something more substantial to set Picard off into the crazed lunatic we see in the film. But in the end, Picard regains his senses and becomes the enlightened intellectual from the show, and saves the day that way, not as "Jean-Luc: Action Star".

INSURRECTION
-Scrap the whole thing and pick a different story. That is all.

NEMESIS
-Have some referance to the Dominion war, specific enough to set the timeline but vague enough to not alienate people who missed DS9 (like me).
-Actually bother to explain why Worf is there. Plus, instead of going himself, Picard sends Worf to take out the Remens and shut down the bad guy's deathray. Can you imagine the fate of the Enterprise and Earth hinging on a Klingon's berserker rage?
-If you're gonna have B4 in there, imply that it's Lore, or rather made from Lore's shell. Plus write the discovery of B4 so that it makes sense.
-Streamline the action scenes, make them feel more like Star Trek and not action schlock. And scrap the dune buggy chase.
-Try to make it more of an ensemble. I know it's harder to do that in a movie, but I think they knew going in that this could be the last one, so try to give everyone something more substantial to do rather than just making the whole affair about Picard and Data.

That's all I can think of right now.