"Star Trek Generations" Screening (SPOILER)

[J. Young]

STAR TREK GENERATIONS

Director: David Carson. Producer: Rick Berman.
Story: Rick Berman & Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga.
Screenplay: Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga.
Starring: Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Malcolm McDowell, Jonathan
Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates
McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Whoopi Goldberg, Walter Koenig,
James Doohan, Alan Ruck.
Director of Photography: John A. Alonzo. Editor: Peter E. Berger.
Music: Dennis McCarthy. Special Effects: Industrial Light & Magic.
A Paramount Pictures Release

Since a lot of people have been asking me about the recent "Star Trek
Generations" screening, I will post a detailed message here.

The screening was held on September 13, 1994 on the Paramount lot. It
was a research screening used to gauge audience reaction to the film
prior to its release.

Research screenings are common practice in Hollywood, and are used by
virtually all of the studios for all major films. The studio contracts
out to a market research firm, in Paramount's case National Research
Group (AKA: Movie View), to conduct the screening and compile data based
on the reaction cards filled out by the recruited audience. The studio
then uses this information to determine which scenes could use tightening
or re-editing, and which demographic groups they can best market the film
towards. And in some cases, they decide that certain scenes will require
changes that they have no footage for, requiring them to go back out for
additional filming. And believe it or not, this happens all the time.
A famous example is "Fatal Attraction." After the test screening they
decided to reshoot the ending, and the film went on to become a mega-hit.
(And more recently, they even went back and added the original "Fatal
Attraction" ending onto the video release.)

So about a week before the scheduled "Generations" screening, they
started sending out movie recruiters (usually aspiring actors or
screenwriters) to various movie theaters around Los Angeles to recruit
their audience. They approach a potential recruit and ask them if they
would like to attend the screening, and if so they take down certain
information (occupation, age, name, phone number). The recruit is then
given a colored pass (good for two) and told to be sure to arrive early as
more passes are given out than there are seats (also the recruiters are
paid on commission--so if you don't get in, they don't get paid for your
pass).

But this was a "Star Trek" screening and word soon got out to fans.
Everyone wanted to go and I even know of some that started photocopying
passes for friends (which is very easy since they're just printed on normal
colored paper). So by the time the screening came around, *MANY* more
passes were in the hands of fans than there were available seats.
Realizing the potential for a riot, my group arrived a little before
6:00pm, even though the screening wasn't scheduled until 7:30pm--but even
then, there were already about 70 people ahead of us in line. At about
6:30pm there were so many people that they started stopping cars at the gate
and turning them back (a mini traffic jam developed on Melrose).

While we waited in line, they came around and re-asked everyone their
occupation, age, name and phone number. Then someone else came around
and asked us how many "Star Trek" movies we'd seen (you had to have seen at
least three). Then yet another person came around looking for people (only
twenty) to stay afterwards for a focus group to talk with the execs about the
film. How they chose these people is a mystery to us. (They chose two
friends of ours, but none from our immediate group.)

At around 7:15pm, they started letting us into the Paramount Screening Theater
(about the size of a medium movie theater). The last three rows of seats were
taped off (reserved for the execs) but the rest of the theater was general
seating. So everyone rushed for the best seats they could grab.

After everyone was seated, the moderator (Andy Fielder) went to the front of
the theater and made some announcements. First, he told us that we were the
very first audience to see "Star Trek Generations" which garnered much
applause. Then he gave us the usual research screening speech: "This film is
a work-in-progress. You may see some scratches on the print. There aren't
any credits on the film yet. Some special effects are in a temporary state,
as is the musical score. Please stay seated after the screening to fill out
your reaction cards." Then the lights went down and the film began:

***SPOILER TIME***

A bottle flies through space, tumbling end over end. It finally crashes
against the hull of the Enterprise NCC-1701-B spilling out champagne.
They are launching the newest Enterprise, commanded by the "green" Captain
John Harriman (Alan Ruck of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off") and an "even
greener" crew. The news media is on board as are Kirk, Scotty and Chekov.
This is a very funny scene with Kirk continually eyeing the Captain's chair
while he is forced to sit off to the side.

As soon as they leave spacedock, they pick up a distress signal. And although
they are ill-equipped to handle emergencies, they are of course the only ship
in the quadrant. They find the distressed ship which is caught in some kind
of energy ribbon that's ripping it apart. The new Capt. chokes and Kirk takes
command. The Enterprise beams as many people over as it can and ends up
getting caught in the energy ribbon itself. Among the people beamed over is
Soran (Malcolm McDowell) and Guinan. They determine to escape from the
ribbon they will have to create some kind of blast, but of course this
ship has no photon torpedoes yet. So someone has to go below decks to
manually reconfigure the deflectors. It's Kirk that goes (all by himself)
and successfully manages to get the ship thrown free of the energy ribbon.
In the process though, part of the hull is ripped away, and Kirk is seemingly
killed (presumably sucked out into space, but we never see a body).

All of a sudden we're on an old sailing ship on the high seas (named
Enterprise) with the Next Generation crew. [This scene seemed a bit long,
and kind of "stiff" compared to the prior scene with the old crew.] It's a
Holodeck simulation, where they're performing a kind of ritualistic
initiation for Worf who's receiving a promotion. Worf is on a wooden
plank where he has to jump up and grab a hat without falling into the
water (apparently no one has been able to do this before). Surprisingly,
Worf does it though and is very proud of himself. Riker isn't happy with
this and says "Computer, remove plank." Worf is dropped overboard into
the water. Riker says "Oops, I meant retract plank." Everyone laughs,
while Worf flails around in the water. This prompts Data to ask "Is that
funny?" He is told that it is and so he pushes Crusher overboard. Data is
then told that that was NOT funny. Picard gets some kind of distressing
personal message and returns to the ship. Soon after, they are all asked
to return to the ship.

They have received a distress call from a distant Observatory and set
their course for it. Picard seems disturbed by the personal message he
received and retreats to his Ready Room. Riker questions Picard but is
rebuffed. Meanwhile, Data decides he needs to know what is and isn't funny
and that will require emotions. So Data has Geordi install his emotion chip.

They soon arrive at the Observatory and find dead bodies (some Romulan)
and a very alive Soran. They take Soran back who tells them that he has to
talk to the Captain.

Data and Geordi arrive in Ten Forward where Data tries one of Guinan's
new drinks. He experiences his first emotion--disgust. At a nearby
table sits Soran. Picard enters and they talk. Soran explains that he
has to continue his experiments immediately or years of valuable work
will be lost. Soran looks in Picard's eyes and seems to hypnotically
convince Picard to agree to "see what he can do" against his wishes.

They find trace elements of Trilithium (an explosive of mass destruction
associated with the Romulans) on board the Observatory. Geordi and Data
beam over to investigate. Data is laughing, getting the punch lines to
jokes told years ago. They find a secret chamber and start to investigate
further. While Geordi continues to work, Data keeps making dumb jokes
and laughing at them (like making a Tricorder "talk"). [This is actually
very funny. Brent Spiner is great!] This very quickly starts getting on
Geordi's nerves though and he tries to get Data to concentrate on what
they're doing. It's no use though as Data is laughing hysterically,
having seemingly lost all control. It's the emotion chip. Then in a kind
of eerie special effect, Data's whole face starts contorting and he collapses
to the ground. Just then, Soran appears asking what's going on. Geordi
fills him in, when Soran produces a weapon and stuns Geordi. Data cowers
on the ground in great fear, pleading with Soran not to kill him. [It was
actually very unnerving to see Data showing fear.] Soran turns to the
computer and types some commands, launching a missile towards the system's
star.

Meanwhile, Troi confronts Picard about his moody behavior. He tells her
that the message he received earlier was informing him that his brother and
nephew had died in a fire. Picard thought of his nephew as his surrogate
son, and someone who would carry on the Picard name. He looks at their
pictures in an old photo album.

The Enterprise picks up the missile launch from the Observatory and sends
Riker and Worf over to investigate. The missile hits the star, exploding
it and sending out an immense shockwave. Just then, a Klingon Bird of
Prey decloaks off the Observatory. Riker and Worf battle it out with
Soran but Data is too afraid to help. Soran grabs Geordi and beams out
to the Klingon ship.

Back on the Enterprise, they soon discover that piloting the Klingon Bird
of Prey are the Klingon sisters, Lursa and B'etor, and that Geordi is
their hostage. The ship cloaks and is gone. The Enterprise high tails
it out of there to escape the shockwave.

After his strange behavior, they decide to remove Data's emotion chip, but
find that it's become permanently fused to his systems. Meanwhile, they
investigate Soran's background and find the Guinan connection. Picard
goes to Guinan and asks for her help. She tells him about the energy
ribbon (called the Nexus) and explains that it's a place where all of
your greatest wishes come true. And once you've been there, you will do
anything to get back (because of some powerful, almost drug-like, pull).
She should know, she was once there with Soran. So Soran is trying to
return to the Nexus, but why did he blow up a star?

Picard goes to Stellar Cartography with Data. [This is a really great
new department we've never seen before, with nice special effects.] They
locate the energy ribbon's position. But Data is feeling guilty about
not saving Geordi, and nearly has an emotional breakdown. He asks to be
relieved from duty, but Picard refuses and basically tells him to deal
with it. Data manages to compose himself and they soon discover the
significance of the star's destruction. Soran is destroying stars to
gravitationally alter the course of the energy ribbon. The ribbon will
come very close to a planet in the Veridian system, and if Soran destroys
that star, the ribbon will actually touch the planet. This of course
will destroy every planet in that system, killing millions of Veridians.
They set course for the Veridian system.

On the Klingon ship, Soran has removed Geordi's visor, and is torturing
him while interrogating him about his knowledge of Trilithium. He
doesn't get much out of him. They arrive at Veridian III and soon after
so does the Enterprise. Picard hails them, even though the Bird of Prey
is cloaked and Picard doesn't really know if they're actually there.
Soran gets an idea and alters Geordi's visor. He then beams down to the
planet's surface. Picard asks the sisters to let him talk with Soran,
but they tell him he is already on the planet. In between cracking jokes,
Data tries to scan the planet, but there is too much distortion. Picard
asks the sisters to beam him down to the planet in trade for Geordi.
(Surprisingly, Riker doesn't object.) They agree, and Geordi is returned
to the Enterprise while Picard arrives on the planet (without his weapon
or communicator).

The location where Picard has materialized on the planet is a vast lifeless
desert. [Actually, the Valley of Fire, 80 miles north of Las Vegas.] Soran
is on a nearby mountaintop, amidst a huge construction of girders and
scaffolding housing a large missile. Separating Picard from Soran and the
missile is a massive force field. Picard tries to talk Soran out of his
plans of mass destruction in that calm, reasonable, Picard way--but it's no
use. Soran continues to ready his missile, while Picard searches for some
way around the force field. Eventually, Picard locates a small hole in the
rocks tunneling beneath the base of the force field. He starts digging to
enlarge the hole.

Meanwhile, the Klingon sisters have hooked up a monitor and are successfully
receiving the video signal from Geordi's visor on the Enterprise--what he
sees, they see. (Why the Enterprise wouldn't block unauthorized transmissions
from within the ship, I don't know.) They sit and wait, watching the monitor.
They soon become frustrated because Geordi seems to be going everywhere but
Engineering. Eventually he does, and the Klingons get what they've been
after--the security code for the Enterprise's shield modulation, conveniently
displayed right on the panel. (Some security.) They remodulate their
torpedoes and fire on the Enterprise. The torpedoes pass right through
the shields, and FURIOUSLY BLAST against the Enterprise's hull. There is
much destruction. The Enterprise tries to fight back, but can't penetrate
the Klingon shields. The Enterprise is hit again. More destruction.

Amidst all the buffeting, Riker questions Worf about possible weaknesses
in these particular Bird of Prey ships. They find one, which forces the
Bird of Prey to cloak, thereby temporarily dropping its shields. They
implement it and fire on the Bird of Prey--it's destroyed. The Klingon
sisters are presumably killed.

The Enterprise has experienced much damage throughout the ship. Geordi
is in Engineering trying to contain a coolant leak. He is unsuccessful,
and there will be a warp core breach in five minutes--nothing can be
done. Riker orders an immediate evacuation to the saucer section. Chaos
reigns throughout the ship as everyone rushes down corridors. Everybody
makes it in time. (They must have regular drills for this sort of thing.)
The Enterprise goes to saucer separation, but the warp core explodes too
close and sends the saucer section careening toward's the planet's
atmosphere. Data is at the helm, they can't pull out of it. The planet
rushes up at them on the viewscreen. Data sees this and exclaims "Oh shit!"
[Hands down, the best line in the whole movie. The audience went wild.]

Back on the planet, Picard is still uncovering the rocks from the hole
beneath the force field. Soran climbs up towards the top of the mountain.
Picard wriggles through the hole. He's almost through, but Soran sees
him and fires at the rocks. There is a cloud of smoke as the rocks come
crashing down. Picard isn't anywhere to be seen. (Is he dead? Of course
not. Only one Captain's death per film.) Soran continues to climb.

The saucer section is out of control and heading toward's the planet's
surface. They put power to the thrusters to try to glide in, instead of
crash. In the end, they kind of do both--taking out a whole forest in
the process. (This was one of the effects that wasn't done. There were
huge cables pulling the saucer along, so it looked kind of odd.)

Soran is almost at the top of the mountain. Suddenly, Picard appears and
they fight. Picard gets in some good ones, but Soran manages to knock him
down and launch the missile. The star explodes. Here comes the energy
ribbon. Picard and Soran are gone.

Picard is in the Nexus. It's Christmas, and Picard has a wife and a
family. (Presumably, this is Picard's greatest wish.) He seems
extremely content, almost glowing with joy. They exchange presents.
Picard receives an antique sextant. All of a sudden, the 23rd century
Guinan appears. She explains the Nexus and that she is an "echo."
(Apparently everyone who enters the Nexus, leaves an "echo" behind.) She
further explains that Picard can go anywhere he wants--to the past or the
future. (In this Christmas setting, you start to wonder if Patrick Stewart
is going to break into his one-man version of "A Christmas Carol".)
Picard decides that he wants to leave and stop Soran. Guinan tells him
that he could use some help and she knows just the person, "He just got
here, too."

Picard is now by a remote cabin in the woods. Kirk is there, chopping
wood. Picard recognizes him and tries to talk. But Kirk is preoccupied
with everything else, but Picard. Kirk runs inside the cabin to check on
his breakfast. Picard follows him, and tries to explain things again.
Just then, Kirk's old love, Antonia, calls to him from the bedroom. This
makes Kirk realize that this is his past, the last day that he spent
with Antonia before going back to Starfleet. (Presumably this is Kirk's
greatest memory. Not commanding the Enterprise, or being with his
friends, or with Carol Marcus, or with his son. Hmmm.) Kirk explains that
after the Enterprise B had the hull breach, he found himself here, chopping
wood. Picard tells him that history recorded that Kirk died that day,
saving the Enterprise B. Picard then tries to convince Kirk to go back
with him to stop Soran. Kirk doesn't want to go, he's decided that he
wants to stay here with Antonia.

Kirk takes the prepared breakfast and heads to the bedroom. Picard
follows him and all of a sudden they're both standing in a barn filled with
horses. Kirk recalls that this is another memory from his past and jumps
on a horse and rides off. Picard grabs another horse and follows him.
Kirk is riding fast and is seemingly exhilarated by all of this. Kirk
jumps a ravine and then comes to a stop. Picard catches up with him and
Kirk explains that he wasn't scared jumping that ravine for the first
time in his life. Kirk decides it's because none of this is real, and Kirk
can't truly be Kirk unless there's real danger involved. Antonia is in the
distance, beckoning to Kirk. But he decides she's not real either, and Kirk
can't truly be Kirk unless there's real sex involved. Eventually, Picard
convinces Kirk to go back with him.

Back on the planet, Soran is on the mountaintop again. He fires at Picard
wriggling through the hole again. The saucer section is crashing again.

Suddenly, Kirk appears next to Soran and they begin to fight. Picard
goes to the missile launching platform's control panel and tries to prevent
the launch. Soran pulls his weapon, but Kirk knocks him out and the
weapon falls to the ground. Picard accidentally makes the launching
platform become cloaked and he can't see what he's doing. Kirk finds
Soran's remote control and decloaks the platform. Unbeknownst to them,
Soran awakes and recovers his weapon. He aims and shoots Kirk in the back.

Soran runs to the top of the mountain, but Picard harmlessly launches the
missile into the desert. The star doesn't explode. Here comes the
energy ribbon. It misses the planet. Soran is obsessed and tries to
jump at it. Picard goes to the wounded Kirk, lying on the ground. Soran
freaks out and rushes at them. Picard grabs the weapon and fires at
Soran, killing him. Picard lies and tells Kirk that he's going to be
okay. Kirk seemingly dies in Picard's arms. (Note: In preventing Soran
and himself from ever entering the Nexus, Picard should now actually be
caught in an endless time paradox. Oh well.)

We see Picard placing rocks on a grave. (Is it Kirk's? Is it Soran's?)
Then Picard places Kirk's Insignia Badge on the grave. It must be Kirk's
grave, but we never actually see the body buried. Picard walks through
the desert. He is soon rescued by a shuttlecraft. (How they found him,
I don't know.)

Picard and crew are at the saucer section crash site, salvaging what they
can while shuttlecrafts evacuate crew members to an orbiting rescue
ship. The Enterprise and the saucer section are completely destroyed.
Data finds his cat Spot in the rubble of his quarters, shaken but alive.
Picard and Riker are in the Ready Room sifting through the mess. There
is a blackened hole where Picard's fish aquarium once was--apparently
they gave their lives. Picard finds his photo album and they exit to the
bridge. Riker looks at the Captain's chair and laments that he was
hoping to get a crack at it someday. Picard tells him that he still
might as he's sure there will be another ship called Enterprise.
(NCC-1701-E?) They beam off to the rescue ship.

THE END

When the screening ended, the lights came up and they promptly passed out
reaction cards and pencils to everyone. It asked questions like: How
would you rate the film? What would you tell your friends about the film?
Which scenes did you like the most? Which scenes did you like the least?
What did you think of the ending? etc. We filled them out, turned them in,
and were promptly ushered out of the theater. Unless you were one of the
twenty people that were chosen to stay afterwards for the focus group. They
were seated at the front of the theater, where their names were written on
small stickers to be worn on their chests. Then the moderator proceeded to
lead them in a discussion of various aspects of the film, while the execs
sat in back and listened. Additionally, the discussion was tape recorded
for future reference. The moderator asked leading questions, forcing the
discussion in specific directions. After they were done, they gave each
focus group member ten dollars and thanked them for their time.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie, and from the reaction of the audience, it
would seem they did too. It was a very "Star Trek" audience. I spoke
with people in line beforehand, and the majority of them seemed to be
"Star Trek" fans. Additionally, I saw a lot of the reaction cards people
were filling out around me, and they were pretty favorable.

Some things that I noticed people complaining about on their cards were that
Kirk was killed and additionally how he was killed (shot in the back). Also,
people were upset that they DESTROYED the Enterprise. Other than that, I
think most other quibbles were minor. As they explained at the beginning
of the screening, the special effects and score were temporary in-progress
versions. So everyone knew not to complain about them.

I wish some things were different in places, but a movie can't be everything
to everybody. For example, I felt that some of the best scenes were with
the original cast at the beginning of the film, and I wanted them to have
more than twelve minutes of screen time. But this was supposed to be a Next
Generation movie, so you have to accept that Picard, Riker and Data are
going to dominate the movie.

As for the current reshoots that we've all read about, I believe they're
probably just minor changes and/or pickup shots. I could be wrong, but I
think they probably want to make Kirk's death more heroic than in the
version that we saw. I base this on some friends of mine who were two of
the people chosen to stay after for the focus group. They told me that
the moderator's questions kept focusing on the ending. How did they feel
about it when Kirk was killed? What about the way he was killed? The
way they pose leading questions means they felt that these aspects of the
film were questionable before they even screened the film and definitely
before they read the reaction cards. They told me that the general
consensus of the group was that Kirk's death could have been more heroic,
especially considering the status Kirk has with the fans of the show.
Basically, it could have been better. But my gut feeling is they're not
going to reverse it and let Kirk live, there are already enough devices in
the film (e.g. the Nexus) to easily bring him back in future films if
they want to.

I guess we'll find out on November 18th what, if anything, gets changed.

______________________________________________________________________________

Johnnie J. Young
(818) 985-5752
ag...@lafn.org