Star Trek Generations’ Weirdest Scene Was Actually Brilliant

The weirdest scene in Star Trek Generations was actually brilliant. The last movie starring the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series opens with Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), and Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) touring the USS Enterprise-B, waxing nostalgic about time gone by. The Enterprise-B has been passed to its next commander, Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck). As expected, Star Trek Generations' prologue runs with themes already established in the TOS movies, and also introduces the Nexus as a timeless, wish-granting energy field that will unite two generations of Star Trek casts.

Following the opening prologue with the familiar TOS crew, Star Trek Generations passes the narrative baton to the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation.Instead of shifting to the USS Enterprise-D, the action takes place on a 19th-century British naval vessel. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the USS Enterprise-D's bridge crew are dressed in period-appropriate military garb to celebrate Worf's (Michael Dorn) promotion to Lieutenant Commander. At first, this weird scene seems entirely out of place in a Star Trek movie, but the cinematic debut of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast is actually quite clever.

Why Star Trek Generations’ Weird Holodeck Scene Was Actually Brilliant

Star Trek Generations' 19th Century Enterprise Introduces The TNG Cast To Movie Audiences

Star Trek Generations' weird holodeck scene was a brilliant way to introduce the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast to the wider movie-going audience. There's something intriguing about seeing the caption reading "78 years later", and then being introduced to a much older Enterprise before seeing the Enterprise-D right away. TNG fans already knew about the holodeck, but general audiences who might have only watched the Star Trek: The Original Series movies hadn't seen the holodeck in a movie before. The holodeck was a great way to show just how advanced 24th-century technology was compared to the 23rd century.

The holodeck scene in Star Trek Generations is an interesting way to meet the USS Enterprise-D crew and also sets up individual character arcs within the film. Each TNG character gets a moment to show who they are and what their role is. Explaining a joke to Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) sets up the importance of Data's emotion chip. Showing the TNG characters' comfortable interactions in an off-duty situation shows that the Enterprise-D bridge crew is a tight-knit family, which gives Picard a reason to resist the temptations of the Nexus later in the movie.

There's A Practical Reason To Use Dixon Hill Against The Borg

There was an even better holodeck scene in Star Trek: First Contact. While Captain Picard and Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard) are trying to outrun the Borg on a chase through the USS Enterprise-E, they take momentary refuge in the holodeck. Specifically, Jean-Luc and Lily enter a nightclub in Picard's Dixon Hill 1940s detective program. The Borg are essentially immune to energy weapons like Starfleet phasers, since they quickly adapt to the different phase variances. With the holodeck safety off, however, Dixon Hill's machine gun does real, physical damage that the Borg can't adapt to.

The Dixon Hill scene in Star Trek: First Contact was one of the last times the holodeck was significantly used in a Star Trek movie. Star Trek: Insurrection's extended away mission meant there was no need to escape to the holodeck. Star Trek: Nemesis downplayed being Star Trek at all, instead focusing on action-adventure elements. Obviously, correlation is not causation, but it's interesting to note that neither Star Trek: Insurrection nor Star Trek: Nemesis were particularly well-received. Could that have been different if they'd taken a page from Star Trek Generations and included more TNG staples like the holodeck?