Plays like a TV episode
Added 10/5/2009
This installment plays exactly like a longer TV episode--so-so plot added to TV like editing and sadly, TV like special effects;
Now I remember how ripped off I felt when I paid theatrical version money to see this in theaters years back;
That said, the Blu-Ray transfer looks just great--very sharp with good contrast;
At the time of this writing the individual Blu Ray was not out just yet but this episode was included in the boxed Blu Ray set...
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Captain Picard, your story is illogical
Added 10/2/2009
Behind and before the plot, all the setpieces in place make for a gorgeous tale of gray-scope morality, moral dilemmas, and ethical concerns.
Instead, the writers make the crew stick logic up our asses and go the hippie-liberal "Screw you, coherency!" route, while proceeding to arbitrarily make the "bad guys" seem irredeemably evil... about midway through the film.
The story set up is one with some very faint racist undertones, involving a group of "perfect" people living in a pre-industrial "utopia", and their planet happens to have some sort of natural thing which heals people of all their ailments, and keeps them from growing old and dying. Consider that a complete ripoff of the Star Trek episode "This Side of Paradise".
These people, the Ba'ku, despite supposedly being in "utopia" and the sweet, pure, innocent, don't-say-Aryan innocents, show themselves to almost immediately be prejudiced, as when the crew confronts them, they point out Data, and say they don't want his kind among them, androids.
The supposed "bad" guys, the Son'a, are not like that at all. In fact, a pull-away shot from the don't-say-Aryan Ba'ku village shows a cloaked Federation observation post, featuring all the sorts of people the Ba'ku don't have---blacks! Non-humans! Minorities galore! All working with the Son'a.
But that undertone is one that is very subtle and subjective.
The REAL problem with the film that completely cripples it involves the conflict at hand between these two.
The Son'a are old as hell and dying, because of a reason revealed later in the film. So they want to forcibly relocate the Ba'ku from their planet, so as to harvest the magic healy-stuff. The Ba'ku refuse this, basically wanting no one to acquire this magic healy-stuff.
All possible logic blows apart like so many Enterprise-D ass-portions.
So Captain Picard and his crew decide to defend these don't-say-Aryan backwardass backwater arrogant arseholes because they don't want to share this incredibly revolution in medical technology with the galaxy?
Here are some facts that only serve to drive a huge nail of frustration into your head as you bang your head on a wall at the sheer stupidity of the plot:
- The Son'a are a FEDERATION MEMBER.
- The Son'a need this stuff to survive. And since they are Federation members, they might be willing to, or be coerced into giving some of the healy-stuff to the scientists of the Federation to study and/or replicate in some way
- There are millions of Son'a and only SIX HUNDRED Ba'ku
- The Ba'ku will NOT let ANYONE harvest their magic healy-stuff, while they happily indulge in it and live for hundreds of years.
The wall-banging stupidity reaches infrastructure-destroying proportions when Jean-Luc Picard DARES! DARES! DAAAARES! to compare the attempted relocation of the Ba'ku to "past relocation events" in Earth history, undoubtedly making reference to the Native Americans.
Native Americans: Millions of them, forcibly removed from their homelands and murdered wholesale, to sate the greed of the white men for natural resources and expansion of their land. They suffered disease, starvation, freezing, and such events as genocide, the Trail of Tears, and exploitation and racism. They now survive in a handful of thousands, with lots of land granted to tribes.
Ba'ku: Only six hundred of them, forcibly removed from their homelands, and treated well by a benevolent and peaceful Federation, likely settled on a similar planet, where they would likely receive Federation membership and representation and supplies given to them if they so need them. If the Son'a/Federation is successful in replicating this magic healy-stuff, the entire conflict will be for nothing, as the Ba'ku can continue living their lives of perfect utopia.
Spock would be dead now, from slamming his head into a wall from the sheer stupidity of this.
At some point in the middle of the film, the screenwriters seem to remember, "Hay, wait a minute! Teh Son'a are supposed to be the BAD GUYS!" and so out of butt-crack nowhere, the Son'a suddenly start screaming and wailing and behaving like irredeemable monsters, saying things like they don't care about Federation regulations, and would slaughter the entire Ba'ku race, and even having their leader murder a Federation Admiral who was previously helping them, just to make sure you're on the side of the hippie-liberal good guys like Picard and company.
Out of NOWHERE does this sudden SWERVE take place, causing the inevitable "sidekick with a conscious" heel-face turn as he helps Picard to thwart the Son'a plot.
On the plus side, character interactions are slightly better than in "Nemesis", and the political drama, when ignoring the sheer stupidity of the Enterprise's crew, seems tangible and full of potential. But Captain Picard, your decisions and your views are not logical. At all.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Worst Star Trek Movie
Added 5/15/2009
This is by far the worst Star Trek movie ever made. TNG made plenty of bad movies and this one is no exception. First off, this does not even feel like a movie. Instead, it feels like a two-part TNG episode. So instead of watching this disgrace, watch any two-part TNG episode because it will be better. Many minor characters were given lame lines just to give them screen time.
1 out of 5 people found this helpful.
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Would've made a better tv episode
Added 5/10/2009
The special effects are acceptable. The acting top notch. The story line is good though the plot somewhat weak. This would have made a much better tv episode or made for tv movie than a theatrical release. I feel this movie doesn't know what it wants to be--a love story, an action/adventure, a drama, a comedy. It tries its hand on all the elements yet comes up short. It's a good effort that just doesn't pay off at the end. It's one of the weaker movies in the series, but still enjoyable enough to watch on a Saturday night with the family.
0 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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This film is boring, boring please don't watch
Added 3/20/2009
This film is really terrible, almost a self-parody, the humor is crass and silly. I was so bored during the action sequences, I had to force myself to watch them shoot at tinny flying robots. In the movie theater I couldn't belief this was Star Trek, it's just plain bad. Please skip it.
1 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Plays like a TV episode
Added 10/5/2009
This installment plays exactly like a longer TV episode--so-so plot added to TV like editing and sadly, TV like special effects;
Now I remember how ripped off I felt when I paid theatrical version money to see this in theaters years back;
That said, the Blu-Ray transfer looks just great--very sharp with good contrast;
At the time of this writing the individual Blu Ray was not out just yet but this episode was included in the boxed Blu Ray set...
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Captain Picard, your story is illogical
Added 10/2/2009
Behind and before the plot, all the setpieces in place make for a gorgeous tale of gray-scope morality, moral dilemmas, and ethical concerns.
Instead, the writers make the crew stick logic up our asses and go the hippie-liberal "Screw you, coherency!" route, while proceeding to arbitrarily make the "bad guys" seem irredeemably evil... about midway through the film.
The story set up is one with some very faint racist undertones, involving a group of "perfect" people living in a pre-industrial "utopia", and their planet happens to have some sort of natural thing which heals people of all their ailments, and keeps them from growing old and dying. Consider that a complete ripoff of the Star Trek episode "This Side of Paradise".
These people, the Ba'ku, despite supposedly being in "utopia" and the sweet, pure, innocent, don't-say-Aryan innocents, show themselves to almost immediately be prejudiced, as when the crew confronts them, they point out Data, and say they don't want his kind among them, androids.
The supposed "bad" guys, the Son'a, are not like that at all. In fact, a pull-away shot from the don't-say-Aryan Ba'ku village shows a cloaked Federation observation post, featuring all the sorts of people the Ba'ku don't have---blacks! Non-humans! Minorities galore! All working with the Son'a.
But that undertone is one that is very subtle and subjective.
The REAL problem with the film that completely cripples it involves the conflict at hand between these two.
The Son'a are old as hell and dying, because of a reason revealed later in the film. So they want to forcibly relocate the Ba'ku from their planet, so as to harvest the magic healy-stuff. The Ba'ku refuse this, basically wanting no one to acquire this magic healy-stuff.
All possible logic blows apart like so many Enterprise-D ass-portions.
So Captain Picard and his crew decide to defend these don't-say-Aryan backwardass backwater arrogant arseholes because they don't want to share this incredibly revolution in medical technology with the galaxy?
Here are some facts that only serve to drive a huge nail of frustration into your head as you bang your head on a wall at the sheer stupidity of the plot:
- The Son'a are a FEDERATION MEMBER.
- The Son'a need this stuff to survive. And since they are Federation members, they might be willing to, or be coerced into giving some of the healy-stuff to the scientists of the Federation to study and/or replicate in some way
- There are millions of Son'a and only SIX HUNDRED Ba'ku
- The Ba'ku will NOT let ANYONE harvest their magic healy-stuff, while they happily indulge in it and live for hundreds of years.
The wall-banging stupidity reaches infrastructure-destroying proportions when Jean-Luc Picard DARES! DARES! DAAAARES! to compare the attempted relocation of the Ba'ku to "past relocation events" in Earth history, undoubtedly making reference to the Native Americans.
Native Americans: Millions of them, forcibly removed from their homelands and murdered wholesale, to sate the greed of the white men for natural resources and expansion of their land. They suffered disease, starvation, freezing, and such events as genocide, the Trail of Tears, and exploitation and racism. They now survive in a handful of thousands, with lots of land granted to tribes.
Ba'ku: Only six hundred of them, forcibly removed from their homelands, and treated well by a benevolent and peaceful Federation, likely settled on a similar planet, where they would likely receive Federation membership and representation and supplies given to them if they so need them. If the Son'a/Federation is successful in replicating this magic healy-stuff, the entire conflict will be for nothing, as the Ba'ku can continue living their lives of perfect utopia.
Spock would be dead now, from slamming his head into a wall from the sheer stupidity of this.
At some point in the middle of the film, the screenwriters seem to remember, "Hay, wait a minute! Teh Son'a are supposed to be the BAD GUYS!" and so out of butt-crack nowhere, the Son'a suddenly start screaming and wailing and behaving like irredeemable monsters, saying things like they don't care about Federation regulations, and would slaughter the entire Ba'ku race, and even having their leader murder a Federation Admiral who was previously helping them, just to make sure you're on the side of the hippie-liberal good guys like Picard and company.
Out of NOWHERE does this sudden SWERVE take place, causing the inevitable "sidekick with a conscious" heel-face turn as he helps Picard to thwart the Son'a plot.
On the plus side, character interactions are slightly better than in "Nemesis", and the political drama, when ignoring the sheer stupidity of the Enterprise's crew, seems tangible and full of potential. But Captain Picard, your decisions and your views are not logical. At all.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Worst Star Trek Movie
Added 5/15/2009
This is by far the worst Star Trek movie ever made. TNG made plenty of bad movies and this one is no exception. First off, this does not even feel like a movie. Instead, it feels like a two-part TNG episode. So instead of watching this disgrace, watch any two-part TNG episode because it will be better. Many minor characters were given lame lines just to give them screen time.
1 out of 5 people found this helpful.
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