Star Trek The Next Generation Film Series Overview

Greetings, my fellow Starfleet officers. I'm

Mike the Birdman Dodd, and this is Future Imperfect,

brought to you by SFI .org. Starfleet, the world's

largest Star Trek online fan club, and I'm joined

by my very own executive officer, the guy who

usually has the bridge when I'm not around. Steve

Megatron Phillips? Ah, it's been a while since

we've been back at this, haven't we? oh yes yeah

sorry guys this show has been in dry dock for

a little while and we do sincerely apologize

for that though for good reason steve you have

a new member of your own crew yes i do uh my

son was born november 9th so uh that's why part

of the reason why we've been mia Yeah, so congratulations

to you, Steve, on your newest member of the family.

Yes, thank you. I've just been remarkably busy

in my professional life. I've picked up a number

of public relations consultations and I've been

doing a lot of client work and research work,

so a lot of the stuff you hear on Twig is just

because I'm finding time during the day and unfortunately

this show just got pushed to the bottom of the

queue. However though, that being said, I am

starting to get back into Trek again because

the holiday season is fast approaching, and that

usually means all the twig shows take a break,

usually from the middle of December right through

until about the first or second week of January,

just to give everyone a chance to recharge, and

this show is definitely no exception. I have

been watching the Star Trek Season 2 Blu -rays.

That's right. I've had mine in my possession

for just a little over a week. Yet another fantastic

job done on those. Actually, a guy that I know,

a guy I'd say I know fairly well, is actually

working on the special features for that. Roger

Lay Jr. He's doing all the behind the scenes

documentary -like stuff. Nice yeah, it's really

neat. He's actually working on the season 3 one

right now And I gotta say I'm really excited

for it so look for my full review of the season

2 blu -ray on Tuesday with me and my wife and

that'll be on the twig review show also with

the Dark Knight Rises will be on their Expendables

to the Ninja Turtles and a bunch of other stuff

Other than that though a lot's been going on

the world of Trek. There's officially a synopsis

for Star Trek into dark darkness, which comes

out I think next May, is it? Um, yes, yes. So

that'll be in the same month that we get Iron

Man 3 Man. It's going to be a It's gonna be a

good goddamn summer next year. Definitely gotta

say I'm looking forward to that. Other than that,

what else has been going on in the world of Trek?

There was a big convention in Las Vegas with

one of our friends, Scott Nicotta, went to a

little while ago. Obviously, he's the prop guy

who has supplied us with many cool things. Got

something else coming from him, which I'll talk

about in the new year. Star Trek Renegades actually

got its funding goal raised, I think. I think

it needed two hundred thousand dollars. It made

it with a couple of days to go So we should see

something from that. Hopefully in the next a

little bit I've got some people that are working

on that project. So hopefully I'll get a chance

to talk to them We'll get some interviews with

some of the stars. So I'll keep you guys updated

on that and Well, that's all the truck news I

can think of off the top of my head. Nobody's

died No, thankfully. Yeah, thankfully we still

have all the big guns really And yeah, so...

What we're going to do in this show, we're going

to be talking about the Star Trek The Next Generation

movies, just kind of an overview of our thoughts

about them. Nothing too really in -depth today,

because I kind of want this to be a very casual

show, and the fact that I'm bloody exhausted

also has something to do with it. But before

we do, as we often do every show, we normally

have a replicator, but like I said, that's going

to be in Tuesday's show, but until then we do

have a piece from the L. Carr's computer library,

and here is that from our very own Steve Megatron

Phillips. This computer terminal provides full

access to the Elcars computer net. It can be

operated both by voice and keypad commands. Initiating

update. Hello and welcome to another edition

of Elcars. On this edition of Elcars, I'm...

pretty much going to be focusing on the TNG films,

which is actually the subject of our episode.

The main point about this is, there's a trend

that has always followed the Trek franchise.

However, it somewhat kind of is where it deteriorates,

is in this area. You start out with the first

film, not so great. Second film, it was awesome.

Third film, kind of, so so. Fourth film, great.

Fifth film, terrible. Sixth film, awesome. This

is one where the seventh film kind of breaks

the mold. Seven is neither the greatest or the

worst. It is kind of in the middle, but I find

it to be a great film, and I'm talking about

Generations for those that don't know. I find

it a great film because it starts in the late

23rd century after Star Trek 6 with of course

Kirk Scott and Chekhov on the Enterprise B bridge

showing the passing of a torch and in doing so

it kind of sets off you get to see our you know

some history into the TNG verse Namely Soren

and Guinan and I really love that film because

it's the perfect it's the perfect film to bridge

the gap between six and eight it it not only

ties up the TNG series in this episode of course

all good things was great but I still find this

to be much much better because not only do you

get to see promotions but new enterprise editions

and you get to see the enterprise be finally

along with whatever happened to some of the crew

of the Enterprise a and I really love the fact

that Kirk comes back in it because he is my favorite

captain Next to Picard. I love both of the characters.

So you get to see Kirk kick -ass one more time

and For me that film I think is one of my favorite

out of the TNG but with the breaking of that

mold the eighth film Star Trek first contact

is where it again we have an awesome film it

kind of follows the two four six eight model

Whereas seven is the only odd number to actually

be good First contact very awesome enterprise

e new uniforms all kinds of great awesome additions

Then we get to nine insurrection that movie directed

by the same guy, Jonathan Frakes, aka Riker of

First Contact, directed Insurrection. That film

was like a run -on TNG episode that honestly

didn't need to be made. That episode was terrible.

They were trying to hark back to the original

TNG season 1 and 2 Riker in style, and then they...

It was too much of a TNG episode, but it was

a throwaway. There was nothing of pertinent information

in there then we get the nemesis the tenth film

and a Lot of critics find this film to be terrible.

I like it because it shows again another passing

of the torch, but you never get to see what happens

because unfortunately it bombed in the box office

and because of that Star Trek went off the air

permanently until 2009 when the JJ Abrams film

took over. So in essence, TNG, although it had

four films, technically one of them was still

an original series film, so it's kind of a toss

-up there. Two out of four films were great out

of the TNG -verse, and then you have, of course,

four out of the six films. I'm sorry, three!

But if you count Generations, it's four. So four

out of the original seven for the original series

that were good. So the films are kind of hit

or miss at best. But I think that it sums it

up that TNG needed the series. It bridged between

DS9 and Voyager. And, well, you'll get to hear

more about it in this episode. But I clearly

think that... Please confirm deactivation request

Deactivation complete and yes, we're back with

on the show now and Yeah, the the the L car segment

I feel Kind of sums up a little bit of what we're

going to talk about Yeah, I mean the Star Trek

the next generation films there aren't as many

as the original cast and although these are the

ones I feel I had the most in common with but

I felt like these ones Despite the fact that

it featured what I think is probably the crew

I like I said have those in common with I think

some of the weakest films in the franchise are

found here unfortunately Whereas in the kind

of like you said how there's that rule of every

other Star Trek movies awesome In my personal

opinion generations sucked first contact amazed

balls insurrection sucked Insurrection sucked

and the reboot was awesome Yeah, I with how I

kind of ranked it in in the L curse was seven

was a nice passing of the torch and it was a

nice I counted as a TOS and TNG, so it's kind

of a toss -up. It wasn't insanely good, but it

wasn't terrible either. I still find that one

to be a good one, so in that sense, I feel it

broke the 2468 mold, like I said, in Elcarce,

and 8 was insanely great, 9, terrible. It was

like a run -on TNG episode, and 10, there was

just no point to it. Yeah, I mean it was like

it was like, you know annihilate the TNG crew

and You know endgame. Yeah, it was basically

meant to say you know what we're not doing anymore

with this universe fuck you and that kind of

sucks in my opinion because I would love to have

seen a new Star Trek the next generation movie

actually in the special features for the next

generation season 2 When the moderator actually

asks them very bluntly, is there going to be

another TNG movie? And they're like, at this

point, no, we're too old for it. And, you know,

that makes a certain degree of sense. The fact

that me and think about this, Steve, it's been

10 years since Nemesis. I mean, put that in in

the perspective. Yeah, I I was in you're going

to laugh this. I was in. The 11th grade in high

school. Oh, shut the fuck up. I'm not that old.

No, but I remember being at a computer class

and I had a pirated copy and I was watching it

because it wasn't really worth going to the theater

for. Man, in 2002, I was starting my illustrious

career at AT &T. Wow. see it's and it's really

sad to see this is how the TNG cast went out

and they didn't start particularly strong either

and the thing that really pissed me off about

uh the first uh the first movie generations is

you never got a chance to see the enterprise

d shine on the big screen for very long i mean

the fact that it gets the shit kicked out of

it by a really old Klingon Bird of Prey while

awesome on one hand and completely crappy on

the other. Well, if you want to play that game,

on the other hand, the same thing happened in

Star Trek six. You had a cloak, you know, Klingon

Bird of Prey shooting through the ship, punching

holes in it. And then they eventually figured

out another way of destroying them. Whereas,

you know, you would have thought with how much

Riker likes Kirk. He would have figured it out.

Yeah, you know, maybe he would have seen this

coming sort of thing Yeah, and maybe he would

have you know taken care of it, but uh also at

the same time I I The the enterprise D Didn't

get like you said didn't get much time to shine

but on the other hand not really the enterprise

either. I mean if you think about it the eighth

film it spent most of the time you were running

around in it and You see it barely, you know

for a whole like five minutes. Yeah five minutes

through the whole film and then the Ninth film.

Yeah, you had a little battle, but it still wasn't

very prominent You were on the planet most the

time and then the tenth film the best part about

that was yeah You got into a big battle, but

they just ran the ship. Yeah I mean, there, you

know, when you look back upon the whole of Star

Trek, there haven't really been many space battles

when you really think about it. I mean, maybe

in individual episodes, but never on, say, the

scale of, say, Battlestar Galactica. or something

or even Star Wars yeah I mean there's never just

the big capital ship -to -ship battles that are

characterized of a lot of really big sci -fi

I never really thought of it like that I mean

my wife for example says oh all Star Trek is

is just ships I'm thinking well they spend a

lot of time on them but you never see them really

fight no you don't see them really do anything

which man we sound anti -trek right here but

we're not. But yeah, I mean, just kind of pointing

that out, and that kind of sucks though, because

I guess I always had in my mind that we see them

more often than we actually do. I mean, I guess

it's like that whenever you think of your favorite

movie, you tend to remember it a little bit better

than what it actually was. Now, not to say there

weren't good things to come out of these movies,

because I remember being first in line back in

Owen Sound, the small town that I'm from, seeing

generations on a little... I think at that time

there were maybe three screens or might have

been five. I think they may have been building

the other two when this came out. I remember

seeing that with my friend Wayne. I had my little

combats that made sounds on me. I think I was

in... Well, just let me see the year that Generations

came out. This came out in 94. I was in grade,

I guess maybe four, I don't know, maybe seven,

maybe eight, I don't know, something like that.

I'm not getting into what grade I was in, but

anyways, yeah, that was the first Trek film I

saw in theater. Yeah, and I mean it was still

really neat I mean being able to see Captain

Picard and Captain Kirk share the screen together

I just wish they'd done more so for those of

you that maybe haven't seen it to Well, I guess

we summed it up in like in like L cars um I Just

I wish the scale was a little bit bigger, but

then again at the same time. I guess they do

wipe out a planet using a supernova so I guess

I would call that a fairly big event all things

considered and that's something that I'm really

glad they actually did because I have this big

interest in astronomy as evidenced through past

shows and they actually say oh it's a type X

supernova or type you know X being I think it's

a type A and you get to see stellar cartography

for the first time and pretty much only time

yeah and they actually talk about how in stellar

cartography they can keep track of how that star

had changed the local gravity in that particular

sector which is true whenever a supernova goes

off it changes things and well it's it's a very

big cosmic event and supernovas don't happen

that often i mean at least in our particular

uh galaxy now i'm getting entirely too nerdy

and technical with this but I was very happy

to actually see them do it. Although I would

say, it's the second most memorable villain of

the next generation movies. I mean, the first

being The Bored Queen, because anything Malcolm

McDowell does is ridiculous. It's just epic.

Yeah, it's epic and ridiculous, because he takes

himself seriously. but not it's just it's the

way that i mean go back and watch some of his

other movies he's goofy but he takes it so seriously

well in this he's like let me go back let me

go back like just you know in that kind of crazy

acting and then and then he's like you know just

he he's maniacal he's playing the klingons he's

playing starfleet he's you know And at all ends,

he's like, screw you all, I'm going home. Yeah,

pretty much. And it just gets, I don't know.

I mean, I love the fact that he tries to give

this epic speech to Picard where he's like, time

is like a predator, but here it has no teeth.

I mean, it's supposed to sound badass, but it

just comes across as You're Malcolm McDowell,

um, I don't know. It's just it's never threatening

in any real manner although um, I did Think and

this is where I'm probably gonna get out of it

as a bit of a weirdo. Um, I did find the Klingon

sisters kind of hot Well, yeah But hey, hey,

did you know there's Klingon porn? No dead friggin

serious. I remember this I remember Okay, now

I sound really fucked up. But regardless, I remember

I was watching a television show, it would have

been about this time, 94, 95, and they talked

about Klingon porn. And I think it was called

Internet Freaks or something like that. It was

some website and it was about these two puppets

that surf the internet. And they actually looked

it up and they found Klingon porn. In fact, I'm

gonna use my Google search bar right now. And

we're gonna type that in and just see if it exists.

So Klingon, P, O. Oh, poster. I found Klingon

poop. We got porn. We're hitting enter. What

do we get? Sextrack horny Klingons, porno hub.

Well, I guess there is Klingon porno because

there are multiple Star Trek porn parodies and

one that is remarkably well done. The Star Trek

The Next Generation. How do I know that? Let's

not get into it. Anyway My wife is saying no

Mike. No. Um, but that's weird, too I mean, I

we can actually talk about parodies in another

show, but Anyway, I'm going to try and get out

of this hole that I'm obviously in. So let's

talk about the really good Star Trek movie. Star

Trek First Contact. I mean, I've been a big fan

of the Borg when I found out they were the bad

guy for this. I remember watching this little

postage stamp sized video for the trailer for

this. And it's actually cool because Star Trek

Generations was the first movie to have its own

website. So star trek is well pioneer that um

When I saw the preview for first contact and

saw the board coming out They're all standing

below the car. There's the board queen and data.

I'm like shit. Yes. My body is ready um And just

holy shit. I mean this movie made a hundred and

forty six million dollars worldwide made about

I think 92 million domestically I Was just over

the moon excited to see the Borg done right because

the last time we'd saw we'd seen them It was

wasn't it in where Laura was in the episode.

Yeah, I think it was in descent part two Which

would have been around 93 so Voyager hadn't got

to them yet in the Delta coins I don't think

they encountered them until 97 98 was scorpions

part one and two though They did discover a dead

Borg on a planet But this was this would be the

thing that would define the look of the Borg

pretty much from here on out because the costumes

were completely redesigned. They weren't just

guys in white makeup. Basically, they weren't

steampunk Borg. They were techno -organic afterward.

Yeah, I mean, they looked sickly because they

had that green tinge to their skin. They were

all blotchy and disgusting looking. Yeah, I mean,

they looked... intimidating they're actually

scary looking motherfuckers oh yeah they actually

took what the the series did with somewhat of

the style and the music and they mixed the music

with a whole new aesthetic which makes it even

more difficult to sit and watch them on screen

but you can't take your eyes off them either

yeah and then it's funny because then Star Trek

Enterprise, which happens a hundred years before

the original series, which is like I said the

uber prequel when they encountered them in That

episode they were first contact bored. They were

bored that had crashed during first contact and

were frozen in the Arctic Which is I think remarkably

kick -ass for it too. And the guy who did the

makeup for this, Michael Westmore, who does a

lot of the art, who did a lot of the makeup for

this thing, made them, like I said, look amazing.

Plus we also got a brand new Enterprise, the

new Sovereign Class Starship, which, well, we

don't see a whole hell of a lot. Like Steve said,

we see it for a grand total of two minutes. But

that's among one of my favorite Enterprise starships

it looks nice and it's much bigger than the galaxy

class starship i think yeah it's it's bigger

and longer but it's not meant for the general

public like the galaxy class this is not a family

ship this is a exploration slash heavy cruiser

yeah so basically you're not going out there

to make friends with this thing oh no And yeah,

I'm just looking over some of its kind of stats

right now. It's got upgraded phaser banks, torpedoes.

It actually had the quantum torpedoes so they

can actually damage the board cube. It's actually

one of the first and only... ships out of a certain

amount I think it's like five that have quantum

torpedoes yeah because they didn't want to issue

from from what I understand they didn't want

to issue a lot of Federation starships the quantum

torpedo because they didn't want the Borg to

adapt to it now if you follow the Star Trek expanded

universe fiction eventually the Borg do Adapt

to this stuff and well it doesn't end well for

us, but eventually you know what I can't even

talk about it because it gets so stupid Basically

the Borg get turned into nice people and they

lose all their implants And it's it's a very

fairy tale happy ending trust me if you read

it You're gonna be like what well unless you

read Star Trek the return Where the Borg are

taken like after they quote -unquote die they

go to a giant recycling plant where they rip

out all their implants and they still have the

hive mind yeah it's just no it's strange yeah

um but another thing that i think first contacted

is well they gave it they gave the directing

chops to jonathan franks the guy that that played

reicher and i don't think they could have picked

a better guy for it Because he understands what

made this movie and the thing is I think if you're

gonna show a Star Trek movie to somebody Even

out of even out of the original ones and the

reboot. I Think it's it's a tie between the reboot

and this one I I have to agree because it just

it has it has the right pacing It's a good action

movie and you only need to explain to someone

Like, sit down with them for a minute and just

say, oh, by the way, this happened at this point.

Here's a brief history of Star Trek, the next

generation. Here's all you need to know. And

that's it. And, like, there's not a lot I can

really say about First Contact that isn't, you

know, basically given this the best... Oral pleasure

I possibly can because that's how good it is

Like I said, there's never one moment where it's

boring having James Cromwell on there basically

the guy that plays babes handler from the from

The Babe movies, or Jack Bauer's Evil Dad, plays

Zefram Cochran, the guy who discovers warp travel,

and it's actually a meaningful event because

the Borg are there to stop first contact, which

would basically screw the human race right over.

Why the Borg wouldn't just come back to say just

before World War III, when the population is

at its highest, and assimilate us all then? Well,

it's a matter of plot convenience. And the Borg

are retarded. Yeah, and the Borg evidently are

retarded. They don't think ahead saying, hey,

wait a second. But then again, they say they

wanted to get us when we were at the point of

least resistance, because it's not like we had

a whole lot of weapons at that point. No. Then

again, I don't imagine 21st century weapons are

going to be much of use against them, but then

again, hey, you never know, evidently holographic

bullets do kill. So let's move on to the next

one in the franchise, and this one I freaking

hate. I saw this in theaters, and I remember

leaving pissed off. Insurrection. What do we

say about this one? I didn't see this one in

theater and it's because I just couldn't get

behind the concept. I didn't like the stretching

faces thing. I didn't like the fact that some

of the humor was just thrown in there, you know,

haphazardly. Then you've got all kinds of random

things going on. You've got data running around

damaged. doesn't explain really how I mean it

does but it doesn't and then you've got you know

Ryker for plot convenience shaves his face and

refers to it as a baby's butt and then Data you

know of course has to feel them up and then you

have Picard saying you know screw you to the

Federation and you know twisted admirals and

then you have you know all different kinds of

plot points it was like a long episode of TNG

and it's Just, it made me so sad that this one

sucked, which kind of just blew my mind because

you came out of such an amazing movie, like I

said, coming out of First Contact. Expectations

were really high for this, and I was expecting,

oh man, this is gonna be cool. And the guy that

wrote this, wrote episodes such as The Best of

Both Worlds, he wrote Reunification. Um, he's

wrote, you know, just a lot of really powerful

episodes during the course of the Star Trek The

Next Generation series and This is what we get

now. I can't say too much more about this guy

because he is dead So I don't want to speak ill

of him. He actually died of neck cancer head

and neck cancer back in 2005 so but This one,

it felt like a very long episode of the show.

I mean, it wasn't that it was terrible. It was

the fact that it just it didn't fit with the

movie first. Yeah. It felt like it was a Enterprise

D episode over an Enterprise E. Yeah. I mean,

it was very much a theatrical or it was basically

a small screen episode expanded to theatrical.

Now, it would have been fine had this been a

television movie. Or had this been, say, a season

finale to something. I mean, hell, this would

have been better than the Shades of Grey we got

for TNG Season 2, aka the Clip Show. See, I would

have been okay with this. I mean, give me an

hour and 15 minute episode and have it just be

this adapted. I would have been fine with that.

But this one, just everything they were trying

to cram in, they're like, oh, we're trying to

cheat death and, you know, take your life. precious

and beautiful and Picard getting laid and all

this shit it just no it just you're right it

felt more like an enterprise d episode this should

have been something else entirely what the hell

went wrong and the funny thing was they actually

used the next generation music for the intro

outro i'd never noticed that i that is the only

film that does it like every one of them has

altered this one actually uses pretty much the

same theme huh well now i know knowing is half

the battle um the other half is red laser and

blue laser i mean i really can't think of anything

memorable out of that okay i remember the final

battle sequence only because picard is running

around inside this giant Satellite like thing

or something I just see that see that's another

thing too. I don't remember shit about this movie

I actually rewatched it about six months ago

because I wanted to remember why I hated it and

it's not as ungodly terrible as I once thought

but that that watching it is also what put it

in delight that yes this is not good as a film

it's good as an episode yeah i mean it suffers

from terrible pacing i mean a theatrical film

should hold your attention consistently with

something that's adapted for television it knows

it only has to hold your attention for 42 minutes

the pacing is very it's very quick with insurrection

i felt that it dragged oh it dragged majorly

i was doing other things while i was watching

that movie it just it did not interest me and

i it's a film that honestly i'll probably never

watch again yeah it's one of those for Forgettable

Trek movies and that's something else to mention

to with look at some of the more Memorable Star

Trek movies think how well paced they are Star

Trek 2 really well done Star Trek 3 think of

it what you will But I think it's an okay movie

Star Trek 4 really well paced Star Trek 5 Terrible

terrible. It's all over the place 6. I love that

film. Yep. It's never once boring Nope, and yeah,

just it flows really really well. Um, but You

look at This one and that's where it falls flat.

I mean, it's almost as boring in some ways than

Star Trek 1 Though Star Trek 1 is arguably way

worse than this. Oh that one is That one I I

could never watch that film again. I dislike

it that much Wow, I sat through it once a couple

of years ago because I got the Blu -rays. But

yeah, it is hard to sit through. It's remarkably

hard to sit through this one. I could sit through

it, but I wouldn't want to. It's just unpleasant.

I mean, for lack of a better phrase. I mean,

that's it's really just kind of the way it is.

It just. Kinda sucks. It is what it is. It is

what it is. Which brings us to the final last

generation movie, Star Trek Nemesis. This one

I wanted to love. And actually, this is one I

never saw in theaters, actually. I did see this

one even though I had a bootleg copy. See, Insurrection

had made me so pissy towards the Star Trek movies.

I was like, man, fuck that. I'm not going back.

I've got my VHS's, I'm happy. And this one, you

could tell, I think, in my mind, Brent Spiner

wanted out. Oh yeah, you could definitely feel

it. Well, and also he helped, he was one of the

co -writers. Yeah, I'm not surprised with like,

hey, they find an older data, they want out of

this role. And it just, I mean, This one feels

like it belongs in the theatrical scope because

it is pretty great. I mean, talking about a coup

d 'etat that changes the status quo of the Romulan

Empire, Troy and Riker getting married, you know,

there's a big, I mean, this is a big film. Well,

you have Crusher leaving the Enterprise to go

back to Starfleet Medical. You have Data dying

and being replaced by his Android brother, Benign,

which that was the most... SNI name I've ever

heard on an Android. Do you mean B4? Yeah, it

was supposed to be B9 originally, in the original

script. That's why I called them that, but that's

because I did read the original script before

the film came out too. And then you've got, you

know, Geordi with, I think he has real eyes at

that point. Yeah, or they're like the enhanced

ones from the other one, but they're more advanced

now or some shit like that. They're more advanced,

but they actually look real. And then you've

got Worf joining the crew permanently. Yeah,

and it just... I don't know why this movie didn't

work, because I watched this probably about a

month ago. And I found myself running into the

same problem as Generations and Insurrection.

I wanted to care, but didn't. And that... Kind

of sucks because you know this movie originally

was gonna be longer than Star Trek 5 the final

frontier now I'm actually just reading this right

now It turns out Rick Berman had said they'd

filmed an additional 50 minutes worth of scenes,

but they were cut So I don't I don't know whether

they were finished or not But they did include

around 20 minutes of deleted scenes on the DVD

Which which I have seen like they show Picard's

new First Officer, which Riker informs him, oh,

he likes to be called Jean -Luc. And Picard's

like all by the book now, like since Riker's

not there. And then Picard, while the Enterprise

is in dry dock, is being repaired. I think war

for Geordi's on the bridge and Riker, you know,

gives us ill advice to the new First Officer

who's younger than all of them. And the rest

of them just look at Ryker and smile and he smiles

back as the turbo lift closes and then this guy

does that and He's supposed to be showing Picard

how to use the new command chair, which has seat

belts and he says it's about damn time and This

guy's like very good Sean Luke and then he just

looks at me. It's like I wasn't supposed to say

that was I? One of the things that I just read

about, and I kind of wish I'd seen this, it turns

out there's a scene between Wesley Crusher and

Picard how it turns out Crusher is now a lieutenant

in ops on Riker's new ship. That's kind of cool.

And I also just found out the guy that plays

Praetor Shinzon, the bad guy in this movie, is

Bane. Yeah, that's Bane. He's such a little guy.

I knew I knew who it was right as soon as like

they're like, oh, it's, you know, that guy. And

I'm like, oh, he's Shinzan and he plays a bald

guy again. But but yeah, I was I was very surprised

by how that that film turned out between all

the different people. I mean, and you have Wesley

Crusher at the wedding. Oh yeah, he's there.

Which is actually the only official part that

he's in the film. Oh yeah, that's right. He has

no lines, he sits at the table, but he's there.

Well, I'm really glad that, you know, he actually

got a chance to be a part of the film -verse,

because I think a lot of respect for Wesley's

character came after the series. Because... Will

Wheaton himself is a remarkably well -spoken

person. Oh, yeah. I've met him once. I wish he's

he's a very awesome awesome geek and Yeah, I

can't understand why people give him shit Which

I find it funny that in the show Big Bang Theory

you have Sheldon giving him shit Although it's

funny Steve Steve Snowball sailor on my other

on this week in geek used to worship Will Wheaton

I used to call Will Wheaton space nerd nice And

you know he used to worship him and then I went

then I went to PAX East the first year 2009 and

Will Wheaton gave the keynote It was like seriously

go look this up on on on like YouTube. It is

utterly fantastic And it would have been nice

to have him a little bit more in it now, looking

back. But, you know, it is what it is. One of

the things about Nemesis, it felt like they were

trying too much to wrap up the current universe.

Oh, yeah. And that kind of sucks because they're

like, oh, there's Vice Admiral Catherine Janeway.

I find it hard to believe that Janeway is more

qualified than Picard. I think it's because she

got out of the Delta Quadrant. Yeah, but look

at all the stuff Picard accomplished before that.

Honestly, I think Picard probably turned down

the promotions. Well, and if you remember Generations,

Kirk says, you know, don't let them promote you,

don't let them take you off the bridge of that

ship, because while you're there, you can make

a difference. Yeah, I mean, it just would have

been nice that, you know, she was around, but

whatever. Because Voyager really was the... Yeah,

I guess Nemesis would have been the true end

of that particular era of Trek, because Voyager

would have happened a few years prior to Nemesis.

In fact, I think probably within the last couple

of years. at least in terms of what year they

happened in the show versus the movie. So it

just felt like I think I think the writers and

all the people kind of knew the writing was on

the wall for Trek at that point, because Enterprise

was not doing well. And well, what are you going

to do? Because Enterprise came to an end in 2004.

And I think part of why that series died was

because of this this film, Nemesis, and also

because of the fact that, one, it didn't really

have Star Trek attached to it as the title, it

was just Enterprise. And it got overlooked because

people were kind of just like, I'm done with

this. They were trying to rewrite it too much

from retconning things. And it just kind of it

was like Quantum Leap mixed with trying to think

that other Rod and Mary show. Andromeda? Andromeda.

Wow, there's a show nobody talks about. It was

too much like Andromeda to be Star Trek. It was

too low tech. I mean, I understand that that

was the time period, but I think that that's

part of what shut people off is the time jumping

and then the retconning of everything. So I guess,

you know, we've talked about everything involving

the TNG things. Do you think these films will

be? How well do they stand up? I mean, out of

the four, I only think one's really worth watching.

It hurts me to say that it really does. I can

see that to some extent, but like I said, I still

think that elements of Nemesis are important

in a sense. but that one's still forgettable.

Insurrection, like I said, still forgettable.

First Contact, I will not argue with you, is

number one of the TNG -verse and it's one of

the greatest Trek films ever. Generations, though,

I think runs a close second to First Contact

only for the fact that you have Kirk fighting

along Picard and kicking ass. Yeah, I mean, it's

basically a transition movie. Whereas insurrection

is who gives a shit and Nemesis tries to wrap

up the universe, but it feels like it tries to

do it too quickly despite the fact It's supposed

it's supposed to run longer than any of the other

movies before it I mean, I would like to see

them go back and change it But what are you gonna

do? I guess I mean I would have liked to have

seen the TNG crew maybe go on for maybe another

season, but it seems to be par for the course

around seven seasons is when the steam starts

to run out. You've told all the stories you can.

I think a DS9 movie should have happened before

this. Maybe that would have maybe they would

have seen how people would have responded to

it. I mean, I do have to agree. I'm kind of.

Now that I have an appreciation for DS9 after

having rewatched the whole series on Netflix,

I can't understand why they wouldn't have at

least had crossover elements more so than just

having Worf be like, oh, I got to join the TNG

crew again. See you guys later. And you would

have thought that they would have integrated

more of that and at least would have had Films

for the other two series. Yeah, I mean I can

see why they didn't maybe do a Voyager one But

then again Voyager had television movies Whereas

none of the other series did or they had extended

episodes, but either way they were like an hour

and a half Which like I said, no other Trek series

had gotten that So, I don't know. I mean as a

whole I think I guess I'm glad Star Trek went

to bed for a little while and we did get a chance

to get the reboot which came out back in 2010

because people are starting to care 2009 sorry

to 2009 people are starting to care again About

Star Trek. I mean with the release of the blu

-rays people are watching them again Patrick

Stewart and the rest of the rest of the cast

are doing all these conventions around the country

and around the world right now I think they're

coming to Toronto in March definitely gonna try

and get down there get some kind of an interview

so I'm glad it ended when it did because I think

maybe Maybe that version of the Star Trek universe

Maybe it was time for it to end. I mean, put

it in perspective. Because Steve, that's our

trek. That's our generation's trek. Oh, yeah.

We need to hand it over to the new generation.

And I'm not saying that's necessarily a bad thing,

because I think the reboot did a lot of things

right. It's reset the universe. You don't need

to understand the eight not you know the the

all the other series before it to get the continuity

all you know is spot came from a different reality

block that's it yeah pretty much I mean it reset

the status quo and in doing so you don't need

to know anything else it's it's complete restart

none of the other series matter for the new generation

and I mean as much as it kills me but at least

it's still Keeping some similarities and some

commonalities with the original along with Keeping

something true to what we we would know Yeah,

I mean I think that's gonna have to be another

topic for future and perfect next year is Looking

back at some of the French looking back at some

of the series. What is their their kind of legacy?

You know years upon years later. I mean, I mean

going back and viewing it. I mean I started watching

DS9 Earlier this year. I didn't get a chance

to finish it though. I am gonna try to Hopefully

before March. That's the goal. I'm also gonna

go through the original series because it's only

three seasons and The animated series which nobody

ever talks about Which is actually what we're

gonna be talking about when the show comes back

in January We're gonna start our first feature

in perfect the 2013. We'll be taking a look at

the animated series. Where does it stand in?

Star Trek Canon, so I guess Steve any closing

thoughts anything's coming up for you in the

month of December that people should be aware

of um Over on GeekCast Radio, we're going to

be doing our year in review wrap -up, which will

encompass various news and network updates for

the end of, you know, all of 2012 through the

beginning of 2013. So that'll be coming up in

the end of December. Alright, definitely looking

forward to that. For me, well, there's going

to be a lot more, These Warriors Are Terrible,

which is Twig's new role -playing podcast. Twat!

Twat, I love that acronym. We've been in contact

with a lot of role -playing companies. We're

getting sent the Doctor Who RPG. We're getting

Pathfinder. Uh, we've got the Marvel role playing

stuff. We've got the DC adventure stuff. We've

got so much new role playing material. Actually,

I'm going to be game mastering some stuff. So

big Mike can actually be a player for a change.

It's going to be a really exciting time. So be

sure to check that out. Also the twig topic shows,

twig talk shows, all sorts of neat stuff. We're

going to be recording a few of those before we

take our hiatus in the middle of December. Give

ourselves a couple of weeks off to recharge the

battery, spend time with our families. You know,

that sort of junk. And also, be sure to check

us out at MAGFest, which is happening in DC or

Virginia. It's one or the other. It's magfest

.org. Me, Steve Saylor will be there. Scotty

Dew will be there. And maybe somebody else. We're

not too sure. We're still looking to fill that

fourth spot in our crew. So we will be there

promoting the show, having fun with you guys,

checking out the concerts. It'll be a great time.

Be sure to come and hang out with us. But I guess

that's pretty much going to be coming up. So

big thanks to our sponsors this year of Starfleet,

SFI .org. They're a wonderful organization. You

can, like I said, join Starfleet. You can become

an officer. I'm Sheila Cruman. In fact, you should

see the backlog of Starfleet homework I have.

I'm actually not kidding. I take courses through

there. I think I was taking board physiology

and astronomy. So so I can get more ranks on

my ship So I'm gonna have to get in contact with

my co because it has been a while But anyway,

that's pretty much gonna do it for us. So until

next time we have been Steve Megatron Phillips

I've been Mike the Birdman Dodd saying live long

and prosper and we'll see you in 2013