If you are looking for a VHS or R0 DVD copy of the film contact me.
Two Captains. One Destiny.
Cast | Awards | Background for Soran | Cut Scenes | DVD | Foreign Titles | Formats | Interviews | My Reviews | Notes | Pictures | Press Release | Quotes | Script | William Shatner | Toys | Video Games

Cast

Directed by David Carson
Written by Rick Berman, Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga

Awards

1995 - Won ASCAP Award fir Top Box Office Films
1995 - Won Universe Reader's Choice Award for Best Writing for a Genre Motion Picture - Ronald D. Moore & Brannon Braga
1995 - Nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film & Best Supporting Actress - Whoopi Goldberg
1995 - Nominated for a Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentation
1995 - Nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor - William Shatner

Background for Soran

    In the movie novelization his history is more explained. The Borg attacked his planet nearly eliminating his race including his wife Leandra and his family. He returned home too late and he shot himself into space in an escape pod to die. Without her he didn't want to live. The fleeing El Aurian refugee ship, The Lekul, found him and beamed his pod aboard, cutting off his death. He dreamed of his wife making her promise she would never leave him, she said she never would. His plan for pulling the ship into the Nexxus was ruined by the Enterprise. 
    He worked for the next 78 years trying to get back to the Nexxus when the Romulans attacked and once again they Enterprise came to save him. He knew if he could win Picard over he would have an excellent chance at getting back. When he meets the captain he sees an image of people burning in pain inside Picard's brain and reads him well. He knows he has lost family as well. That is why he utters the famous "They say time is the fire in which we burn" line and about how they have so little time. 

Cut Scenes

A sequence was shot in which Soran tortured Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton) in an effort to learn what he knows about trilithium and Guinan's (Whoopi Goldberg) presence aboard the Enterprise. He inserts a nano probe into his blood stream that enables him to stop Geordi's heart. He questions him about trilithium and when he doesn't get the answer he wants he stops his heart for 5 seconds. The second time he plans on doing it for 30 seconds, but stops at 15. He cannot do it because he isn't really evil. The scene was dropped, and McDowell believes he knows why. "I think that's better for the character. Soran wouldn't waste time torturing somebody. He's not into that. It's more to do with his obsession with the Nexus than the cruelty of manipulating a human being. I think that [the torture scene] was always a little bit weird, but I enjoyed doing it." - Starlog 4/95

Kirk's death scene was re-shot after preview audiences reacted badly to the original version, wanting a more heroic death. Kirk originally died after being shot in the back by Soran.

DVD

The first DVD came out 11/17/98 (4 years to the day it premiered) and was a barebones waste. Besides being widescreen all it has was close captioning, Spanish subtitles, English (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround).

It was also released in Star Trek - The Next Generation Movie Collection 3 pack from 2002, Star Trek - The Motion Pictures DVD Collection 9 pack from 2001, tar Trek - The Motion Pictures DVD Collection 10 pack from 2003.

After 6 years they finally gave it a real release. The 2 disc release date was 9/7/04, but was recalled shortly after. The DVD was then rescheduled for 9/28/04. Due to a typographical error on the packaging that inadvertently notes a teaser and theatrical trailer that are not on the DVD, the product was recalled and fixed soon after.

It was also released in Star Trek - 40th Anniversary SE Movie Collection 20 pack from 2006.

Package Scan
Cover - Front with Stickers
Cover - Back

Disc 1

• Audio commentary from screenwriters Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore

• Text commentary from Mike Okuda and Denise Okuda.

• Widescreen version Enhanced for 16:9 TVs

• Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround

• English Dolby Surround

• French Dolby Surround

• English DTS Surround

• English Subtitles

• Motion Menus

• Scene Selection

Disc 2

• The Star Trek Universe

• A Tribute to Matt Jefferies

• The Enterprise Lineage

• Captain Picard's Family Album

• Creating 24th Century Weapons

• Production

• Uniting Two Legends

• Stellar Cartography: Creating the Illusion

• Strange New Worlds: The Valley of Fire

• Visual Effects

• Inside ILM: Models and Miniatures

• Crashing the Enterprise-D

• Scene Deconstruction

• Main Title Sequence

• The Nexus Ribbon

• Saucer Crash Sequence

• Deleted Scenes

• Orbital Skydiving

• Walking the Plank

• Christmas with the Picards

• Alternate Ending

• Archives

• Storyboards

• Production Gallery

• Trailers (Listed but not on the discs)

• Teaser Trailer

• Theatrical Trailer

Foreign Titles

Finland - Star Trek Sukupolvet
Germany - Star Trek: Treffen der Generationen
Italy - Generazioni
Spain - La Promixa Generacion

Formats

VHS - PAL + NTSC / LD / DVD 1 & 2 disc

Interviews

1994 - Starlog
1995 Interview
3/95 Premiere UK for the opening in Britain
4/95 Starlog
4/28/95 The Manilla Bulletin
1995 Retrovision

Notes

• The working title was Star Trek 7 or The Next Generation: The Movie.

• Spock was supposed to be in the film, but Leonard Nimoy declined and Scotty took his place.

• Kirk's death was filmed in the Valley of Fire State Park - Overton, Nevada.

• The sequence for the explosion of the Klingon bird of prey is the same footage used in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.

• William Shatner rides his own horse in the film and told Patrick to wear stockings so his legs wouldn't chafe.

• Playmates had already made an action figure line for the film with the Enterprise-D crew wearing the prototype uniforms.

• The bridge of the Enterprise-D was inspired by the one from the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise" from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

• Released 11/18/94, filmed in 35mm at 2.35:1

• There was a teaser trailer and a trailer A.

• The budget was $35 million it made $23.1 million on the opening weekend and went on to make $75.6 million.

• In Dark Angel: Borrowed Time (2002) - Alec asks if the Star Wars film is the one where Captain Kirk dies.

• In July of 2007 Mike Nelson of MST3K added a commentary track for this film to his site you could buy for $2.99 and download and play it to the movie just like it was MST3K, click here to order.

Pictures

For the make up test the crew made a life mask of his face. The mold was kept and repros were made. The ceramic mask is around 10 inches long, 5 1/2 inches wide and 3/2 inches high to the nose and it has a hook to hang it on a wall. It is pretty wild to have Malcolm's face hanging on your wall!

Life Mask
Life Mask Close-Up
Life Mask w/Alex Hat

Dr. Soran shape cut bookmark - front
Dr. Soran shape cut bookmark - back
Soran The Dark Side Card #7 - Front
Soran The Dark Side Card #7 - Back
Homemade Soran Pog

Press Release

From the official 1994 website and presskit.

From Paramount Pictures... The "Star Trek" generations converge in "Star Trek Generations" starring Patrick Stewart and William Shatner. In the futuristic adventure film, a mysterious astronomical phenomenon bridging different time frames brings the two famous captains of the Enterprise face-to-face: Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Stewart) and Captain James T. Kirk (Shatner).

To herald this unprecedented adventure, Paramount Pictures is proud to present this World Wide Web site. Featuring the official movie preview, exclusive sights and sounds from the motion picture, behind the scenes information, and more, this site brings the Final Frontier to the cyber frontier. Don't forget to give us your input on Star Trek and this Web site. Enjoy -- we'll see you at the movies for Star Trek Generations!

Star Trek Generations" producer Rick Berman, who has overseen the evolution of "Star Trek" television productions since 1987, comments that the new film made it possible to involve "Star Trek: The Next Generation" characters in a story larger in scope and more epic in design, offering action-adventure and the thought-provoking elements that have distinguished the "Star Trek films."
In 'Star Trek Generations,' a long-lived alien goes in search of the answer to a mystery that he, by accident, uncovered," comments director David Carson. "The alien is willing to destroy civilizations to attain his goal. Both captains of the Enterprise together attempt to stop him."
    Captain Kirk is an American icon and Captain Jean-Luc Picard embodies the same qualities, courage, farsightedness, moral values and a future offering great hope," says Carson. Making his motion picture directorial debut, Carson brings a wealth of international directing experience and an original creative vision to the helm of "Star Trek Generations." Carson has directed numerous noteworthy American television productions, including the acclaimed pilot of the "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" series. He also has achieved great success as a theatre director in England and has won myriad awards for his stage and television work.
    "Star Trek and James Tiberius Kirk have been a part of my life for 28 years," says William Shatner. "'Star Trek Generations' is an exciting new chapter. From the beginning, I saw the magic of the 'Star Trek' idea."

    Principal photography for "Star Trek Generations" commenced on March 28,1994. While many cast members of the television series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" were completing the final episode of the high-rated show, the filmmakers gathered on Stage 5, Paramount's largest soundstage, to shoot a scene where William Shatner as Captain Kirk maneuvers within a three story-tall shaft to risk his life in an effort to prevent the destruction of the Enterprise.
    The following day, Shatner was reunited with original series co-stars James Doohan and Walter Koenig for scenes on board the Enterprise B bridge. With Alan Ruck playing the new Enterprise captain, a retired Captain Kirk and his colleagues go for "a quick spin around the block" on the newest addition to Starfleet.
    As "Star Trek: The Next Generation" stars finished their work on the television series and began work the following week on "Star Trek Generations," LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge became the first to step before the motion picture cameras for scenes with Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Soran, a physicist of the El Aurian race.
    During the second week of April, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis and Michael Dorn donned regency attire and gathered around the gangplank of the Lady Washington, a replica of a famous 18th Century sailing vessel that was renamed The Enterprise and taken sailing off the coast of Santa Monica, California. In the film, the site is a holodeck creation setting the stage for the promotion of Worf (Michael Dorn) from lieutenant to lieutenant commander. The Lady Washington is the state of Washington's 'tall ship ambassador.' Launched in March, 1989, this historic replica was constructed to commemorate the pioneering voyages of Captains Gray and Kendrick.
    Skipper/educator Captain Bill Larson was in command of the Lady Washington throughout the five days of filming on the ship. His crew treated the film company to lively and historic sea shanties during the daily hour-long voyage to the offshore filming location. The crew composed their own shanty in honor of "Star Trek" entitled "When 'Star Trek' Came To The Lady." Meanwhile, at Paramount Studios, production designer Herman Zimmerman was supervising the refurbishing of television series sets and the construction of two new ones: a solar observatory and stellar cartography.
    As soon as production was completed on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Zimmerman began working with his TV series colleagues art director Sandy Veneziano and set decorator John Dwyer to redress and embellish existing sets for "Star Trek Generations," including the Enterprise bridge, Picard's ready room, engineering, sick bay and Ten Forward. Another major set designed by Zimmerman was the interior of a renegade Klingon ship. The craft's bridge and crew quarters sections were constructed in shades of rust during the creation of the Klingon Bird of Prey.
    Set decorator John M. Dwyer is a "Star Trek" veteran whose career encompasses the original television series. For "Star Trek Generations" Dwyer reintroduced some first season treasures - the GNDN tubes ('goes nowhere, does nothing'), expansive corridors similar to the Jeffries Tubes of the Enterprise D. Scenic art supervisor Michael H. Okuda and scenic artist Denise Okuda, who co-authored The Star Trek Encyclopedia, are responsible for the graphic displays seen in the film, including charts of the Enterprise for the engineering set.
    During principal photography, sets for "Star Trek Generations" filled four Paramount soundstages. For a scene in the elaborate new stellar cartography set housed on Stage 7, Captain Picard and Data are surrounded by star charts on a cantilevered computer platform as they scan maps of the galaxies in an effort to determine Dr. Soran's planned destination. Translite panels 20 feet long depicting portions of the universe surrounded the set, backlit by enormous banks of KinoFlo fluorescent lighting instruments.
    "Star Trek" history was made as the two famous captains of the Enterprise were brought together for the first time to film a scene in and around a cabin located above the Alabama Hills near the town of Lone Pine in California's Owens Valley. The sequence was completed at the Beery Ranch in a small town known as Hart Flat, an hour's car journey from Bakersfield. Horses figured into this portion of the sequence, with Shatner riding his own prized American Saddlebred.
    The splendor of these alpine locations was in vivid contrast to the appearance of the site selected for the film's climactic sequence. The surface of a planet in the Veridian system that becomes the site of Soran's outpost was filmed in Nevada's Valley of Fire, located an hour's drive northeast of Las Vegas. Named because of the fire-red rocks that compose this geological anomaly, the Valley of Fire also seemed an apt description of the area's sweltering summer temperatures which often reached 118 degrees.
    Eight days of desert filming concluded the 11 weeks of principal photography. What remained was post-production special effects photography and the completion of more than 100 visual effects shots. The visual effects work was overseen by co-producer Peter Lauritson and divided between visual effects supervisor Ronald B. Moore, who accomplished much of the effects work for "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and Industrial Light & Magic, under the supervision of visual effects supervisor John Knoll.
    Moore refined the digital technology developed during his past seven years of work on "Star Trek: The Next Generation," while at ILM Knoll utilized the latest techniques in computer generated effects and miniature work. The largest miniature measured 100' by 40' and implemented a 12' model of the Enterprise. "The requirements for a 'Star Trek' film were very different than those for 'Star Trek: The Next Generation,'" observes visual effects supervisor Ronald B. Moore. "We want to satisfy audiences that have never seen the television series as well as the show's fans who are expecting more and another level of drama from the characters in this film," says screenwriter Brannon Braga.

Quotes

"...it was a fun role. I mean there is no question about it, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed finding the character because it really wasn't on the page of the script." - Malcolm on Soran

Malcolm McDowell, who plays the evil Dr. Soran in Generations, was unimpressed when Shatner told him killing Kirk would make him a hated figure. "Half the people will cheer," he responded.   "I really think it's 50-50," McDowell told me. "Bill asked 'Who are those 50%?' I said, "Everybody who's sick of you after 30 years."   Maybe. The day of Kirk's "death scene" in the Arizona desert, Shatner ended up half-buried in rubble, looking up and seeing ultralight planes circling overhead like vultures, airborne Trekkers straining for a look.

"I couldn't understand the attraction of Star Trek. 'Boring old formula,' I said to my agent, but Generations was better than most and I had a ball doing it - and lots of giggles with William Shatner. You can be perfectly professional without taking it seriously and they can't take away your thoughts. I'm still baffled by the whole thing - it made $100 million - but I've never been a follower and never understood people who want to join clubs. I say to Trekkies, or whatever they call themselves, 'Get a life.' They have the same mentality as trainspotters." - Malcolm in Radio Times 2/96

Script

1993 Shooting Script

William Shatner

McDowell and I spent an enjoyable afternoon cheerfully beating the crap out of each other

From Pages 426-29 of 'Star Trek Movie Memories' PB by William Shatner:

    As the days went by, without any of my former castmates or crew guys to pal around with, I really began feeling like an outsider, like a guest star, like the new kid in school, and at that point I met the school bully. His name is Malcolm McDowell. Hired to play Soran, our villain, Malcolm would be phasering me into oblivion sometime in the fairly near future. At the same time, I'd also bee hearing rumors that he'd recently been heard quite gleefully bragging about the fact that after almost thirty years of foiled villainy, HE was gonna be the man who'd finally knock off Captain Kirk. Basically, he couldn't wait to kill me. When I grilled him about that, he got a bit of a twisted gleam in his eye, laughed, perhaps a little too heartily, and answered:
    I've absolutely been bragging about killing you! Because it's something I've wanted to do for a long time. Actually, whenever I'm asked what my character does in this film, I have to say basically, my function is to shoot Captain Kirk. But of course, having said that, I always have to add, "At least until he renegotiates his next contract." I mean, these Trekkies are going to be after my hide, aren't they? Half the world's gonna come after me with knives, and the other half's probably gonna applaud, saying, "Thank God they got rid of THAT old bugger at last!"
    I should break in to tell you that Malcolm is slightly less crazy then he sounds above, as well as a brilliant actor and a absolute joy to be with on the set. Throughout our days together on location, whenever time allowed, we talked. Here's what he said when I asked him how he got
involved in the film:
    When Rick (Rick Berman the film's producer - Alex) asked me to be in this film, I was thrilled! I said, "I'd LOVE to do it. I want to be THE man to kill Kirk." And when I read the script I thought Soran was an interesting and wonderful character, and obviously he would ultimately be given the honor of pulling the trigger that kills the good Captain Kirk. I'd immediately become a trivia question at 'Star Trek' conventions all over the globe. I had never really been a Trekkie, but I don't care whether you've memorized every single episode, we've ALL seen it, we ALL grew up with it, and I wanted to be a part of the series. I'd also worked with Patrick Stewart, your successor to the crown, back at Stratford-upon-Avon when he was a talented, hardworking actor, making all of four hundred dollars a week. And I have to admit I've had a tremendous amount of fun making this film. The 'Next Generation' people have been fabulous and they've made me feel like a part of the family right away. They were very, very sweet, and I've just had a ball doing this. Even when I was torturing poor Geordi for three days, I loved every minute of it.

Toys

Soran Prototype

This is the the  prototype for the 4 inch Dr. Soran figure. Notice a great likeness not present in the final figure. When I saw this picture for the first time I had dreams of buying an army of Sorans to customize into many Malcolm characters. My dreams were shattered when the final version appeared on the shelves with a 5 o' clock Homer Simpson shadow.

Dr. Soran Carded Figure - Front
Dr. Soran Carded Figure - Back (large)
Dr. Soran Carded Figure - Bubble View

And what a happened to the final version!? Not a pretty sight. What's that goofy stare and what's up with the Fred Flintstone facial hair?

The 3" Dr. Soran PVC figure was mostly available from stores like Suncoast. Interesting that they made it with a big red scar down the middle of his face.

Video Games

ST: Generations Video Game Page

My Reviews

The books

    You may be thinking that the books, 'Star Trek Movie Memories' and 'Star Trek: Generations' are something you should own. So I just wanted to take this opportunity to review them for you. First of all if you are a Trekkie then you already have them by now, so there's no need to talk to you. While 'Movie Memories' is a good read if you are interested in William Shatner's take on all the 'Star Trek' movies, it's not full of insight about Malcolm. Besides three little pictures and what I typed in above, that is it! I read the whole book and while is was worth it for that little bit of insight from Malcolm, there is little else to interest the Malcolm maniac. 
    If you don't have the script for 'Star Trek: Generations' then the only reason to pick up the book with the same name is for any of the scenes that were cut out from the film. Even though it contains 40 pages of behind the scenes info, there is only one picture where you can barely see Malcolm. In the center of the book is also one not so great picture of Soran fighting Kirk. The picture is much better in the hardcover since it is in color. You can definitely skip this one unless you are looking for some insight into to Soran. There are some scenes of him with his wife, but nothing that didn't come across in the movie. 

The character

    While we all loved Malcolm in his biggest budget role. I thought the character was an inappropriate villain. He wasn't the heavy villain type needed in this kind of film. He was more of a saddened, misguided man. He had lost everything and would do anything to get that back and he found a way how. We would all do the same thing to get back love ones we lost. Yes, he was going to kill a 230 million plus people to achieve his goal, but wouldn't they have also found the same happiness in the Nexus? I think he would have been much cooler if he was a totally crazed villain who found out that the Enterprise had caused the death of his family while fighting the Borg. Armed with this information he is bent on the destruction of Captain Kirk and crew. He takes control of the Klingon ship and after a big space battle torpedoes the Enterprise into oblivion, an eye for an eye. 

The movie

    I basically thought 'Generations' was a weak movie, the combining to the two Captains/Enterprises was an unnecessary touch, just trying to breath life and money into a fading movie series. A silly passing the torch type gesture is not a great basis for a film. It could have been two movies, the first ending with the Enterprise being destroyed. The second could go from there, a universal manhunt for Soran followed by a trial where Soran makes great arguments about vengeance against the Borg that many rally behind and gets off and then secretly is hunted down by Picard and company vigilante style. A film like that just can't have the main villain running around, not being a villain, but being someone you feel sorry for.

Rating: 4/10

This page © 1997-08 Alex D. Thrawn for www.MalcolmMcDowell.net