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Star Trek The Movies The Next Generation

Star Trek: Generations

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate not given: Kirk, Scotty and Chekov are present for the christening of the newly constructed starship Enterprise NCC-1701-B, during which Kirk gives the first order to launch the ship. Shortly afterward, an emergency arises, and the new Enterprise is the only ship close enough to respond, despite the fact that it is untested and carries only a skeleton crew. The Enterprise is battered in an urgent mission to reach a smaller vessel and rescue her crew, and many of the doomed ship’s survivors are pleading to go back from where they came, though it is obvious that they are not referring to their destroyed vessel. One of the survivors, Soran, means to rediscover something amazing he found, something which caused the destruction of his ship. Another survivor, a mysterious woman named Guinan, will someday be aboard a ship called Enterprise again. As the Enterprise-B limps away from her first crisis, an energy remnant from the same phenomenon that destroyed the smaller ships strikes the Enterprise, and Kirk is killed – or at least it seems so to his colleagues…

Stardate 48650.1: A holodeck celebration of Worf’s promotion to lieutenant commander is cut short by a personal communique to Picard and a distress call from the Amargosa Solar Observatory. By the time the Enterprise reaches the observatory, attackers – apparently Romulans – have already left their mark. Back on the Enterprise, Data decides that the time has finally come for him to try Dr. Soong’s emotion chip for himself. Dr. Soran, a researcher from the observatory, insists on returning there so he can continue his work in spite of the recent attack. It is discovered that the Romulan attackers were searching for trilithium, a vital component in a new and highly destructive explosive device. Data and Geordi are scanning for trilithium on the observatory when Data is overcome with emotions; Dr. Soran appears and takes this opportunity to take them hostage. Aboard the Enterprise, Picard reveals to Troi that he received a message earlier informing him of the death of the only other living members of the Picard family, leaving him the sole survivor of his family line. When Soran launches a probe from the observatory into a nearby star, the star explodes, leaving only minutes before the stellar shock waves reach and destroy the Enterprise and the entire solar system. Worf and Riker beam to the observatory and rescue the fear-stricken Data, but Soran has captured Geordi and transports away to a Klingon Bird of Prey which, along with the Enterprise, barely escapes the star’s death throes in time. The Klingon ship is commanded by the Duras sisters.

On the Enterprise, the incident nearly 80 years ago involving the Enterprise-B is investigated when Soran and Guinan are both discovered to have been there. Guinan explains to Picard that Soran is trying to replicate the ribbon of immense energy that destroyed the ship they were on decades ago, since it was a doorway to an ethereal plane of eternal happiness, so he can return there. Picard and Data find out that Soran destroyed the star to divert the energy so he can once again reach the Nexus, but another star will have to be detonated before Soran can reach his goal – and that star’s solar system is heavily populated. The Enterprise tracks down the Duras sisters’ ship, and Picard agrees to exchange himself for Geordi as a hostage so he can try to stop Soran. Picard finds himself on one of the target star’s planets, where Soran is moments away from firing another probe that will finally allow him to reach the Nexus. Geordi is returned to the Enterprise with a nanite-like transmitter that sends his VISOR’s input to the Klingon sisters, who use information Geordi sees in engineering to launch a withering attack on the Enterprise. Worf discovers a weakness in the Bird of Prey’s defenses, and manages to destroy the Duras sisters at last, but the Enterprise has sustained more damage than can be contained, and the crew is evacuated to the saucer section so the warp drive section can be jettisoned before it goes critical.

Picard manages to attack Soran, but not before the scientist launches his probe into the star. The Enterprise’s drive section explodes, catapulting the saucer straight into the planet’s atmosphere, where it lands safely, though the Enterprise will never take to the stars again. When the Nexus opens up, Soran and Picard are sucked into it; moments later, the exploding star destroys the planet the Enterprise’s saucer has landed on.

In the Nexus, Picard encounters a fragment of Guinan that was left in the rift in the Enterprise-B incident. She informs him that he can go to whatever time he wishes, and Picard intends to use this ability to prevent Soran from launching the probe that destroys the star and its planets. Guinan also suggests that Picard seek the help of another starship captain who was captured in the Nexus when the Enteprise-B was struck by its energy discharge after rescuing Guinan. That individual happens to be James T. Kirk. Picard convinces Kirk to help him stop Soran, and they emerge at the point in time before Soran launched his final probe. The captains’ combined efforts thwart Soran’s plans and result in the mad scientist’s death at the hands of his own grounded probe, but Kirk has suffered mortal injuries in the course of the battle and dies just before a shuttle from the Enterprise arrives to retrieve Picard, while the Enterprise crew is evacuated to the starship Farragut, leaving the wreckage of Picard’s most legendary command on the planet surface.

Order this movie on DVDDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxscreenplay by Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
story by Rick Berman & Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
directed by David Carson
music by Dennis McCarthy

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Brent Spiner (Data), LeVar Burton (Geordi), Michael Dorn (Worf), Gates McFadden (Beverly), Marina Sirtis (Troi), Malcolm McDowall (Soran), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), James Doohan (Scotty), Walter Koenig (Chekov), William Shatner (Kirk), Barbara March (Lursa), Gwynyth Walsh (B’etor), Alan Ruck (Captain Harriman), Jacqueline Kim (Ensign Demora Sulu), Jenette Goldstein (Enterprise-B Science Officer), Glenn Morshower (Enterprise-B Helm), Tim Russ (Enterprise-B Lieutenant), Thomas Kopache (Enterprise-B Communications), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Ogawa), Christine Jansen (Journalist), John Putch (Journalist), Tommy Hinckley (Journalist), Michael Mack (Ensign Hayes), Dendrie Taylor (Lt. Farrell), Granville Ames (Transporter Chief), Henry Marshall (Security Officer), Brittany Parkyn (Girl with Teddy Bear), Rif Hutton (Klingon Guard), Brian Thompson (Klingon Helm), Marcy Goldman, Jim Krestaiuce, Judy Levitt, Kristopher Logan, Gwen van Dam (El-Aurian Survivors), Kim Braden (Picard’s Wife), Cristopher James Miller (Rene), Matthew Collins, Mimi Collins, Thomas Alexander Dekker, Madison P. Dinton, Olivia Hack (Picard’s Children), and Spot

LogBook entry by Earl Green

Categories
Star Trek The Movies The Next Generation

Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 50869.3: The Borg are invading. As Starfleet masses to fight one of the gigantic Borg ships, Captain Picard and the new Enterprise-E are ordered to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone. Picard, who believes this is because of his experience of being assimilated six years ago, disobeys orders and joins the battle. One of the other ships taking part is the Defiant, commanded by Worf, who is beamed off the badly damaged but salvageable ship. The Borg ship is destroyed, but not before launching a smaller spherical vessel which the Enterprise chases into a temporal distortion. A glance at a Borg-assimilated Earth tells the crew what the Borg plan – to sabotage the past. The Enterprise finds itself orbiting Earth in the year 2063, on the day before the flight of the first warp-driven ship, built by Zefram Cochrane. History records that Earth’s first contact with aliens (the Vulcans) occured when the Vulcans noticed the warp signature of Cochrane’s ship. The Enterprise crew must stop the Borg from disrupting history, and at the same time must fight against Borg who have boarded the Enterprise and begun assimilating the crew.

Meanwhile, Data is captured and faces the predatory Borg Queen, and Riker, Geordi and Troi must convince the alcoholic Cochrane to keep his date with history. Another random element is Cochrane’s assistant, Lily, who has been transported to the Enterprise’s sickbay and escaped. Picard finds her and is able to convince her of the situation, as the Borg Queen tempts Data with the promise of giving him flesh, in return for handing over control of the ship. Picard offers himself in exchange for Data, as the equal the Queen seeks. It appears as though Data has agreed to betray his crewmates – at the Queen’s orders, he fires on Cochrane’s ship during its test flight…but the shots miss, and Data floods Engineering with a deadly plasma backwash. Picard climbs free, and the Queen is killed, her cybernetic implants unable to function without an organic component. Earth and the Federation are safe once more.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxscreenplay by Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
story by Rick Berman & Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jerry Goldsmith & Joel Goldsmith

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Brent Spiner (Data), LeVar Burton (Geordi), Michael Dorn (Worf), Gates McFadden (Beverly), Marina Sirtis (Troi), Alfre Woodard (Lily Sloane), James Cromwell (Zefram Cochrane), Alice Krige (Borg Queen), Michael Horton (Security Officer), Neal McDonough (Lt. Hawk), Marnie McPhail (Eiger), Robert Picardo (Holographic Doctor), Dwight Schultz (Lt. Barclay), Adam Scott (Defiant Conn Officer), Jack Shearer (Admiral Hayes), Eric Steinberg (Porter), Scott Strozier (Security Officer), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Ogawa), Victor Bevine (Guard), David Cowgill (Guard), Scott Haven (Guard), Annette Helde (Guard), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice), C.J. Bau (Bartender), Hillary Hayes (Ruby), Julie Morgan (Singer in Nightclub), Ronald R. Rondell (Henchman), Don Stark (Nicky the Nose), Ethan Phillips (Holodeck Maitre’D), Cully Frederickson (Vulcan), Tamara Lee Krinsky (Townsperson), Don Fischer (Borg), J.R. Horsting (Borg), Heinrich James (Borg), Andrew Palmer (Borg), Jon David Weigand (Borg), Dan Koren (Borg), Robert L. Zachar (Borg)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

Categories
Star Trek The Movies The Next Generation

Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek: The Next GenerationOn the planet Ba’ku, a small ringed world tucked away into a dangerous expanse of gaseous clouds known as the Briar Patch, a team of Federation and Son’a scientists observe the seemingly simple Ba’ku people from the safety of a cloaked observation post. But Data, who has been assigned to the project, makes a discovery that changes his status from member of the research team to hunted fugitive. Data destroys the cloaking device, revealing the observers to the Ba’ku, and attacking the Son’a command ship. Starfleet Admiral Dougherty, at the urging of the Son’a leader Ru’afo, contacts the Enterprise and demands Data’s schematics. Captain Picard is alarmed by the news of Data’s behavior, and decides to set the Enterprise on a course for Ba’ku to investigate personally. Picard and Worf – visiting during a break in his duties aboard Deep Space Nine – manage to capture Data and bring him back to the Enterprise, but questioning him reveals more surprises. Hidden beneath a lake on Ba’ku, a Starfleet ship with a huge holodeck awaits to take the small populatuion of 600 Ba’ku away from their home, leaving the rings of their world to be mined by the Son’a for their unique restorative properties. The rings have made the Ba’ku nearly immortal, and they will die if removed from their planet. And, to Picard’s disgust, Ru’afo has the cooperation of Admiral Dougherty – and, the admiral claims, the entire Federation Council – in his venture to relocate the Ba’ku by force.

Having befriended the Ba’ku during his visits to the planet, Picard decides that it may be necessary to abandon his Starfleet career to save them. His crew joins him in his fight to preserve the Ba’ku, but Ru’afo has other ideas, and is quickly tiring of the Starfleet procedures that Admiral Dougherty insists upon following. Riker and Geordi take the Enterprise on a course out of the Briar Patch to contact the Federation without the interference of the nearby gases, with Son’a attack ships in hot pursuit with orders to shoot to kill. Meanwhile, Picard and the others try to lead the terrified Ba’ku to a safe haven, avoiding Ru’afo’s attempts to kidnap them via transporter. On the way, a critical discovery is made, revealing the real reason the Son’a are trying to conquer the Ba’ku – and revealing that Dougherty has gotten the Federation involved in a centuries-old struggle to the death…

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxscreenplay by Michael Piller
story by Rick Berman & Michael Piller
directed by Jonathan Frakes
music by Jerry Goldsmith

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Brent Spiner (Data), LeVar Burton (Geordi), Michael Dorn (Worf), Gates McFadden (Beverly), Marina Sirtis (Troi), F. Murray Abraham (Ru’afo), Donna Murphy (Anij), Anthony Zerbe (Admiral Dougherty), Gregg Henry (Gallatin), Daniel Hugh Kelly (Sojef), Michael Welch (Artim), Lorella Cuccarini (Ensign Perim), Mark Deakins (Tournel), Breon Gorman (Lt. Curtis), Max Grodenchik (Security Officer), Stephanie Niznik (Ops Officer), D. Elliot Woods (Starfleet Officer #1)

LogBook entry by Tracy Hemenover

Categories
Star Trek The Movies The Next Generation

Star Trek: Nemesis

Star Trek: The Next GenerationStardate 56844.9: On the eve of the wedding of Commander Riker and Counselor Troi (and their reassignment as Riker is scheduled to take command of the U.S.S. Titan), the Enterprise investigates sensor readings indicating positronic activity, and on a distant world the disassembled body of a Soong-type android is found. When Data assembles his newfound “brother,” it identifies itself as B-4, and it turns out to be very primitive indeed – perhaps even an original prototype constructed before Lore. Picard receives new orders from Starfleet Command: Admiral Janeway is sending the Enterprise to begin peace talks with what appears to be a new Romulan government. But when he arrives at Romulus, Picard finds a young human – almost a mirror image of himself – has installed himself as the Romulan Praetor after killing the entire Romulan Senate in a coup. Picard is given shocking proof that Shinzon, the new Praetor, is a young clone of himself. Shinzon claims to have been the remnant of an abandoned project to replace Picard and infiltrate the Federation, but now – with the same drive, ambition and charisma as Picard possesses – he claims to want peace. Picard is concerned by the blood spilled by Shinzon’s coup, especially when Shinzon commands a gigantic battleship called the Scimitar. Troi suffers a telepathic intrusion from Shinzon’s Reman Viceroy, and Dr. Crusher discovers something else – thalaron radiation, which, when used as a weapon, completely disrupts living matter at a submolecular level. B-4 also appears to be part of whatever plot Shinzon is hatching, though Geordi and Data discover this in time to prevent the android from passing any sensitive information along to Shinzon. Shinzon kidnaps Picard and beams B-4 aboard the Scimitar – though he doesn’t realize until later that he has brought Data aboard instead. Data helps Picard escape after the captain learns of Shinzon’s true agenda: to topple not just the Romulans, but the Federation as well. And unless someone makes a supreme sacrifice to destroy it, Shinzon has a weapon more than adequate to the task.

Order the DVDsDownload this episode via Amazon's Unboxscreenplay by John Logan
story by John Logan & Rick Berman & Brent Spiner
directed by Stuart Baird
music by Jerry Goldsmith

Cast: Patrick Stewart (Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Brent Spiner (Data / B-4), LeVar Burton (Geordi), Michael Dorn (Worf), Gates McFadden (Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Troi), Tom Hardy (Shinzon), Ron Perlman (Viceroy), Shannon Cochran (Senator Tal’aura), Dina Meyer (Commander Donatra), Jude Ciccolella (Commander Suran), Alan Dale (Praetor Hiren), John Berg (Senator), Michael Owen (Helm Officer Branson), Kate Mulgrew (Admiral Kathryn Janeway), Robertson Dean (Reman Officer), David Ralphe (Commander), J. Patrick McCormack (Commander), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher), Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan), Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Computer voice)

Notes: A scene introducing Commander Madden (played by Steven Culp), Riker’s replacement as the Enterprise’s first officer, was cut out of the film. Director Bryan Singer, Patrick Stewart’s boss in the X-Men films, plays an uncredited role as an Enterprise bridge officer. One of the Starfleet ships at sector 1045 is the U.S.S. Archer, according to the viewscreen display; this may or may not be a reference to Captain Archer of the 22nd century Enterprise. In a bit of a blooper, Picard looks at a photo of himself in a Kirk-era Starfleet cadet uniform, completely bald – though in the fifth season episode Violations, it was established that he had hair as recently as when he brought Jack Crusher’s body home.

LogBook entry by Earl Green