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BloodBoal

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As it is, it seems there’s only one fucking village on the planet, anyway (and a small one, at that)!

I hate when sci-fi films do that.

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I really need to see the film again. I'm generally fond of it, but I agree that it looks too much like it was made for TV. Its set design actually is very similar to that of DS9 and Voyager at that point.

The story is very much a patch work of old TNG ideas. From the observation platform in the start of the film to the holodeck idea (reused from one of season 7's worst episodes)

The film also continued the bad habbit of having Picard go mano-a-mano with the main baddie. Which is something he does in every film. Weird, since Picard was always the cerebral Captain compared to the gung-ho Kirk.

I liked the lighter tone, which resembles Star Trek 4. But it doesn't always mix very well with the actual story.

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This one ripped off at least three TNG episodes ("Who Watches the Watchers", the one with Paul Sorvino as Worf's brother where he's married to Sisko's wife and "Journey's End") and once again contradicted the show. As a kid, I figured that at this point, they were making spinoff movies inspired by the TV show that in no way maintained continuity. The TNG movies are all guilty pleasures for me, although I still don't know how I get any enjoyment from Nemesis. The old man and I waked out of opening night of that one fucking depressed. At least this one had some fun and the cast play off each other well, although I've always been bothered by Patrick Stewart's performance. The characterization of Picard was constantly wrong in the movies and I just find his action and romance schtick corny. It's like a Patrick Stewart/Picard vanity project. Eh, whatever.

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This one has aged pretty well for me, despite the goofy production values. (Worst effects shot of modern Trek: the explosion in the Briar Patch that sends the Enterprise flying like a toy)

I dunno...I like it more and more and more every time I watch it.

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No made-for-TV movie I've ever seen has had such obvious anamorphic distortion as Star Trek Insurrection. Maybe they used lower grade lenses on this one.

It was Matthew Leonetti, and he usually knows what he's doing.

I'm of course familiar with his work. But I haven't seen anamorphic mumps like this since the CinemaScope era.

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Just watched this on Netflix

The film represents a weird patchwork of not only story ideas, but also styles. The lighter tone was clearly an attempt to follow Star Trek 4, but it doesnt always mesh well with the the rest of the plot.

Reviewing this film in context of the Star Trek universe as it was at the time is problematic. The Dominion War was in full swing and it always struck me as odd that The Enterprise, the Federation's flagship was sent out into the sticks dealing with brush-fires rather then having an active involvement in the war. However I do understand that they needed to have a stand alone story that would have a more general appeal.

One problem is with the Ba'ku. Their plight isnt remotely interesting. Their way of life actually rather clashes with the "seek out new life" attitude that is such a big part of Star Trek. Picard and co are essentially on teh side of a bunch of beautifully looking couch potatoes.

This is the first real attempt of doing an "social issue" related story since they saved the whales. But the very real subject of forced relocation of indigenous people just isnt translated very well here.

Having pretty much all the Ba'ku as white, with American accents, no make-up etc doesnt help make them remotely alien.

The production design doesn't help in that part of the film. Yes compared to the average TNG village this looks a lot bigger. But it still looks too much like a TV set. The look and feel is far too reminiscent of....every TNG of DS9 episode taking place in a small village on a M class planet.

This is the first time since The Final frontier that ILM didnt do the special effects. (ILM was too busy with The Phantom Menace) And while they aren't nearly as bad as in that film, there is a noticable dip in quality compared to the still excellent looking First Contact.

The main problem is in the scenes where the effects are integrated with life action scenes. The drones for example. It's not that those are bad. They just arent quite as good as they could ahve been even in 1998. (Weirdly the DS9 episode One Little Ship had scenes of a runabout flying around the Defiant set and it looked almost flawless, and its from the same year.)

The new ship designs have a bit too much of that CGI sheen in certain scenes. Though the Briar Patch looks rather excellent.

Like Star Trek 4 a substantial amount of the film was shot on location, and it does have occasionally nice looking vista's to open the film up a bit. But it still looks more like an expensive TV production then a film.

And on that level I can actually enjoy the film.

The script is rather weak and the tone inconsistent. But there are plenty of moments that do work. And it's nice to see the crew working with some lighter stuff for a change. The comedy here isnt as forced as in Generations ("Remove plank" or Data going crazy because of his emotionchip) Patrick Stewart is once again in good form and shows his value by totally nailing long moralistic speeches which would have sounded hollow or pompous with most other actors.

The lovestory doesnt really work though. It's too cliche a love story. With everything from hummingbirds to slo-mo waterfalls. The attraction between Picard and Lily in the previous film seemed so much more real. (Star Trek never did do romance very well)

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Another thing for the continuity or inconsistencies that sorta bugged me was when Riker kissed Troi and she's all, "I've never kissed you with a beard before!". Which was complete bullshit because she did kiss him with the beard in the TV series. So the writers must have forgotten about that...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good review, BloodBoal. I think this one came out during the weakest period in Star Trek history. Weren't there something like three different trek TV shows on at that same time so they probably felt like they could do no wrong and completely phoned in a lazy storyline with a poor villain. Basically, if the film was just two hours of Picard eating breakfast cereal, the producers would have thought the fans would still eat it up. The lowest point in trek's history and lower than even trek 5.

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I never got into Enterprise that much during its original airing. A couple of years ago though I watched it from pilot to finale...and liked it a lot more. The series finale sucked ass but there definitely were a lot of good episodes. Season 4 was great since most of that season tied into stuff regarding The Original Series.

The Xindi arc for Enterprise was pretty damn good, despite all the non-sense time traveling they did.

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The last two episodes of Enterprise, with Peter Weller, that's the true finale. The last episode where they splice with TNG shouldn't exist and is a bittersweet coda.

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The last two episodes of Enterprise, with Peter Weller, that's the true finale. The last episode where they splice with TNG shouldn't exist and is a bittersweet coda.

I agree that the last two episodes with Peter Weller would have been better suited as as series finale than the turd-fest of the TNG episode.

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There were 2 shows in production. DS9 and Voyager.

Well Enterprise was around the corner and that one was weak. So 2.5 shows in production.

Insurrection came out in 1998. Enterprise started airing in 2001.

No way it was in production.

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I love the Enterprise finale, it was a nice tie in to Star Trek the Next Generation. it is not a turd.

Carbon Creek is as beautiful an episode as any one all things Star Trek.

In the Mirror Darkly is equally wonderful

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The Enterprise finale is a watered down turd. It says the show makers doubt the strength of Enterprise to stand on its own, so they need to show it through the eyes of a stronger, more popular Trek series.

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The Enterprise finale is a watered down turd. It says the show makers doubt the strength of Enterprise to stand on its own, so they need to show it through the eyes of a stronger, more popular Trek series.

Well they were right, werent they?

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They should have done it earlier in the series and it would have felt organic. The show didn't have enough connections to established Trek continuity, so it felt detached. The Xindi arc had little to no bearing on the rest of Trek history, just like the Temporal Cold War. The fourth season started to dabble more with intertwining.

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