Latest _Trek_ Boldly Goes Nowhere
STAR TREK: INSURRECTION
Review by Victory A. Marasigan http://www.gl.umbc.edu/~vmaras1/reviewsidx.html
It's hard to believe it's been nearly five years since "The Next Generation" crew gave up their top-rated syndicated TV series "to explore new worlds and new civilizations" on the big screen. What's not as difficult to believe is the ebb of rich characterizations and fresh storylines their infrequent adventures have necessitated. _Star Trek: Insurrection_, the crew's third feature, sadly rings more like a _Return to Mayberry_-type reunion than a thrilling further adventure.
This time around, the Enterprise and her crew must travel to a remote planet, where one of their own has apparently gone renegade and taken people hostage. Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and crew manage to subdue their comrade and beam down to investigate, only to find a small colony of youthful Ba'ku living in an eerily tranquil, unchanging paradise. The actual threat to these humanoid people is a group of stretchy-faced aliens called the Son'a (led by _Amadeus_' F. Murray Abraham) who, under the sanction of the Federation, have devised a sneaky plan to steal the planet -- and its rejuvenating resources -- right out from under the Ba'ku's wrinkle-free noses.
The planet's virtual Fountain of Youth is a thinly-veiled excuse to show Our Gang acting uncharacteristically giddy and energetic, a la the break-dancing old geezers in Cocoon. Counselor Troi and Commander Riker (Marina Sirtis and director Jonathan Frakes) rekindle their early TV series romance. Worf (Michael Dorn) goes through Klingon puberty all over again. Geordi LaForge (Levar Burton) gets to see for the first time. And Picard finds love with a sweet (and improbably unattached) Ba'ku (Donna Murphy). It's too bad the planet's powers can't work true miracles, like subtracting the pounds some of the crew have gained during their two-year hiatus (Is it just me, or is Commander Riker prematurely showing the famous Captain Kirk lovehandles?).
The temporary augmentations brought about by the planetary anomaly only highlight a failure of the new movie voyages so far. After three films, no major changes in the characters' lives have occurred, barring Picard's Ahab-Moby Dick awakening in _First Contact_. Beloved personalities like Troi and Worf have become mere caricatures of themselves. And the pasty-white android Commander Data (Brent Spiner) has had nothing to do but plod along and "discover" yet another strange facet of humanity -- in this case the concept of adolescent fun (Really, after almost a decade on the Enterprise, you'd think he'd have learned the meaning of "fun" long ago).
Much of Insurrection's self-aware script plays off the fact that these characters know each other so well, they can predict exactly what the other is going to do in any given situation. Their familiarity with each other is sort of a private joke, albeit one which seasoned viewers of the series will eat up. It's all too apparent that writers Rick Berman and Michael Piller were trying to duplicate the virtues of their last film, the enjoyable _First Contact_. But all the eye-winking humor and space-chase action they packed into this outing can't mask the fact that the story is silly, dull, and ultimately inconsequential to the _Star Trek_ mythos. Unless the Enterprise breaks free of the orbit into which it's currently locked, the hit-or-miss legacy of the franchise will likely continue.
GRADE: C+
Reviewed December 9, 1998 at RC Eastpoint, Baltimore, MD.
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