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Posted: |
Jul 18, 2015 - 12:55 PM
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By: |
Zooba
(Member)
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I was watching STAR TREK GENERATIONS last night on DVD. One of my least favorite of the Star Trek features, especially with the Next Gen crew. Totally enjoy the first 18 minutes of the film with Kirk and Chekov and Scotty and then after the big opening climax, we're on board the sailing ship with the Picard and Riker and the movie took a nose dive into boredom for me. I'll say though that the production qualities were top drawer all the way including John Alonzo's beautiful cinematography. Score mostly after the opening 18 minutes was pretty unmemorable for me too.
Anyway, getting to Shatner and Nimoy. By watching the film, I began to think...
Was Shatner always feeling like he was being outdone by Nimoy and somehow how to regain even ground or even try to outdo Nimoy in return? Here's what I mean, in a few points:
1. Nimoy doesn't really want to return to SEARCH FOR SPOCK unless he can direct. He gets his wish. And gets to direct THE VOYAGE HOME as well!
2. Nimoy as Spock has a great sacrifice death scene in WRATH OF KHAN.
and then
1. Kirk wants to direct STAR TREK V and his God Story. Don't know if there was a stipulation that he wouldn't come back unless he got to direct. Anyone know? Anyway, he gets the gig. He does not get the subsequent film to direct as Nimoy did.
2. In STAR TREK GENERATIONS. which NImoy was offered to be in and directed, but declined, Kirk has not only one, but two big death scenes. The sacrifice death at the beginning, which totally reminded me of Spock's Genesis Countdown sequence and then he gets to die again at the end in Picard's arms, so to speak. Also, it was said in the GENERATIONS commentary that Shatner wanted to ride horses in the film and thus a scene of him and Picard riding was added. The commentators also share that Shatner rented his own personal horses to the production. So in this one, he's getting a lot that he wanted.
I always noticed in the commentaries of a lot of the Original Cast Features, Shatner always awkwardly joking how he helped Nimoy out so much when he (Nimoy) was directing and such, always giving me a slight feeling that Shatner was a little jealous of how much more the studios were giving Nimoy and such. Perhaps I'm reading more into it all, but it did cross my mind. In the end, it all makes no difference one way or the other and I really think Nimoy and Shatner had to have a great deal of love and mutual respect for each other, but it's fun and interesting to think about. Well, at least for me. Thanks for indulging me.
One last thought. NEXT GEN never worked for me on the big screen. Except maybe FIRST CONTACT, which was probably the best of the 4 they did. I always liked Picard and crew on TV, but thought the jump for them to the big screen was ultimately wrong. Their stories fit perfectly on TV and the epic ones they did there were great, but to give them 2 hours on the big screen was really stretching it.
Please share your thoughts if you are so inclined.
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Posted: |
Jul 18, 2015 - 2:00 PM
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By: |
Ado
(Member)
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There was a contract clause that guaranteed Shatner a movie to direct.
I think I heard that from listening to Harve Bennet talk one time.
Personally I think that Generations, with flaws and all, is the most cinematic of all the Next Gen movies. The John Alonzo camera work is stunningly gorgeous througout the movie, and the direction is actually pretty good. Frakes was an enthusiastic director, but a little too much in a hurry, and his camera a little busy. Although you could argue that the most next gen of all the movies is Insurrection. For it's disappointments Nemesis has it's moments too, it is a bit bashed upon I think, otherwise it is a pretty handsome picture and a great score.
Trek movies are impossible, when they are small scale and like the show people insult them for being non-movie like, then they make them like big action movies, and people say - that is not what Star Trek is. The finest balance was the early TOS movies. But those kind of movies would never succeed nowadays.
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Posted: |
Jul 21, 2015 - 4:27 PM
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By: |
Lee S
(Member)
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As I understand it, Shatner's part in Generations didn't change when Nimoy declined the offer to participate. He was always the central character, and Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley pretty much had exactly the same parts that James Doohan and Walter Koenig played, which was why they refused them.
The "favored nations" contract didn't exist until the movies, but by ST IV, it was certainly in place, so Shatner used it to negotiate the right to direct ST V after Nimoy decided he didn't want to direct and act in the same film again.
I don't know what William Shatner's inner feelings were about his status in the movies versus Nimoy, but it does seem to be that 1980s period when their friendship became a lot stronger and more committed. The descriptions of their rivalry and disagreements on the series have surely been exaggerated, but they never spent time together privately in the 1960s or 1970s. By the 1980s, they spent personal time together and many observers, like Nicholas Meyer, noted their close friendship during that era. My personal theory (and it's no more than that) is that filming Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought them closer because they felt very similarly about the script and the process, and they were united as allies in pushing for the changes they wanted.
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