Star Trek: Insurrection Review
by Ram Samudrala (me AT alanine DOT ram DOT org)January 1st, 1999
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Star Trek: Insurrection
http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies/generations.html#9
I have seen every episode of the original /Star Trek/ series and the various spin-offs (/The Next Generation/, /Deep Space Nine/, and /Voyager/). I even own a couple of /Star Trek/ pins. When I was eight or so, I snipped the ends of my eyebrows and extended them in an arched shape with a black marker and pretended to be Spock, which freaked my mom. That is about the extent of my obsession with Trek, which I don't think is excessive, but indicates I do enjoy the concept and the series. So going into the ninth film, /Star Trek: Insurrection/, I knew I'd enjoy it quite a bit.
The reason I like /Star Trek/ has little to do with the anthropomorphising that commonly occurs, but rather for the really cool sci-fi ideas. Though every so often, /Star Trek/ manages to make a bit of insightful social commentary; most of this occurred in the /The Next Generation/ series. I think the original series struck the right combination between humanising a story and bravely going where no one has gone before, and the spin-off series that come closest to achieving this balance is /Voyager/. From this perspective, /Insurrection/ isn't one of my favourite /Star Trek/ episodes: it involves concepts such as colonisation and how human history is replete with horrific incidents where the needs of the many have outweighed the needs of a few to serve "a greater good". Fortunately, however, these concepts are ones I take an active interest in and that made the movie enjoyable for me.
The other problem with most of the /Star Trek/ movies is that they're not long enough. In the TV series, an hour could be devoted to showcase each of the characters. In the /The Next Generation/, there are at least six prominent characters, and each of them are given some time here but their time on the screen is spread way too thin.
It doesn't help that /Insurrection/'s basic plot is lacking and appears to have gone through meat grinder to make it work: While on a First Contact mission, the Enterprise is alerted that Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) has gone wild while passively observing a idyllic and unrealistic race of people known as the Ba'ku. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) manage to disable and capture him before he faces termination at the hands of Federation Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) allied with another race of people known as the Son'a. Unknown to Picard and the Enterprise crew however, Data's actions were protecting the Ba'ku from the Son'a, who have other ulterior motives, including mining the planet for its "fountain of youth" properties. The Federation High Council is eager to please the Son'a because they produce large quantities of Tetracel White (which is the drug the Dominion use to control the Jem'Hadar soldiers), even if it means throwing aside the Prime Directive (which really is only a convenient plot device). As you may have guessed, Picard must live by his conscience and go against the Federation High Council, the Admiral and the Son'a in order to save the Ba'ku.
There are some nice shots of the new Enterprise and of the region in space known as the "Briar patch" where the space action takes place. The movie has a campy feel to it, which distracts from the weakness in the plot. The dialogue is forced at times. The age of the crew is starting to show, with the exception of Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Picard. The music by Jerry Goldstein is of the standard high calibre. The direction by Frakes is decent, but even he can't do much given the weak plot.
But as I say above, I enjoyed the movie; primarily for the visuals and cinematography, but also for invoking certain ethical dilemmas (best applied to events in our real world instead of a concocted one where they don't make sense), and for the chance to hear Picard, Data and Worf sing /A British Tar/.
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