TheStar Trekmovies employed a very similar strategy for both Kirk and Picard, but while it worked excellently for the former, it ultimately failed the latter. While theStar Trekfranchise will probably always be best remembered for its TV offerings, the movies are also some of Hollywood’s greatest sci-fi adventures.
Creator Gene Roddenberry’s utopian view of the future continues to be popular over half-a-century later, and that’s due in large part to the feature films which helped bringStar Trekto the movie-going masses. The originalEnterprisecrew appeared in six total films on their own, but had a crossover adventure with theNext Generationera inStar Trek Generations.
Captain Picard’sEnterpriseensemble would then go on three more feature-length adventures throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, buttheTNGeralost a lot of the magic of the original movie series. While some of the entries were bona fide box office successes, it was clear that the focus ofStar Trek’s movies had shifted somewhat.
TheTNGera of movies borrowed heavily from what had come before, sometimes to the detriment of the new cast. Many of the story beats were lifted directly from Kirk’s time and were reused when Picard took center stage. By trying to make the same stories work again, theTNGmovieera was held back by poor writing decisions.
Kirk’s Revenge Arc Is One Of The Best Parts Of The Star Trek Movies
The Space Cowboy Got A Compelling Arc In The Original Movies
Though Kirk’s reputation as a reckless leader is exaggerated, it isn’t wrong to say that he often acts emotionally, especially in the movies. The beauty of theTOSera movies is thatKirk and Spock both grow and change as characters, and they have compelling arcs that see them become different people than they were during the TV series.
Nestled neatly within the overarching Spock storyline that dominatesStar Trek IIthroughIV, Kirk gets a compelling arc that is subtle and effective. Though he’s clearly dealing with his own aging inThe Wrath of Khan,it takes a string of unfortunate events for the cocky bravado that is Kirk’s outward demeanor to be broken down.
He exits the first sequel a changed man, though his reckless streak comes through when he leads a starship heist inStar Trek III.Kirk’s real arc begins in the threequel, whenhis son David is killedby a Klingon. This turns the seasoned Starfleet officer bitter, and that hatred toward Klingons simmers under the surface untilStar Trek VI.
His emotional recklessness costs him, and he learns that forgiveness is more important than holding onto painful memories.
Kirk’s outright racism toward Klingons is used to frame him for murder, and Kirk again learns a valuable lesson. His emotional recklessness costs him, and he learns that forgiveness is more important than holding onto painful memories.It’s much subtler than his arc inStar Trek II, but the payoff is greater.
Picard’s Violent Streak Never Made Any Sense
The TNG Movies Gave Picard The Same Revenge Arc
Over a decade after the events ofStar Trek III, the first standaloneStar Trek: The Next Generationmovie was making not-so-subtle changes to Captain Picard’s character and copying Kirk’s arc too.First Contactpits theEnterprisecrew against The Borg in a desperate chase through time, andthere’s also a subplot about Picard’s wrath toward the cybernetic life forms.
Picard had been assimilated duringthe two-partTNGepisode, “The Best of Both Worlds”, and the series spent its final three seasons hinting at the emotional trauma that Picard suffered during his ordeal. However, all hints were thrown out the window inFirst Contact, wherePicard is suddenly an angry and violent man bent on getting revengeagainst The Borg.
Not only is it totally out of character for Picard to act so rashly, the movie doesn’t even do much to set up the change. Banking on his past with The Borg isn’t enough, especially since episodes like"I,Borg" showed that Picard could still be reasonable towards them even after his assimilation.
A violent and vengeful Captain Picard is the antithesis of who he is, and it’s a textbook example of writers copying and pasting an existing formula onto a character that doesn’t match. None of theEnterprisecrew have substantial overarching growth throughout theTNGera of movies, andPicard’s transformation is unlike Kirk’s because almost no time has passed.
Picard is only a few years removed from the events ofThe Next Generationby the time the movies roll around, so it’s not like he’s significantly older.Thrusting tragedy upon him in the movies just feels pointless, especially since Picard doesn’t learn anything from his sudden shift toward violence.
Borrowing Elements From Earlier Movies Was Why The TNG Era Didn’t Work
Wasted Potential Ultimately Squandered Picard’s Time On The Big Screen
TheStar Trek: The Next Generationmovies were an opportunity for the film franchise to enter a new era, but they sadly got stuck in the past.First Contactcopied Kirk’s arc by making Picard angry and jaded, butthe other two sequels mostly dropped that trend and returned the French captain to normal.
This copying doomed theTNGmovies to mediocrity, and very likely prevented them from going on for longer than four installments. By the timeStar Trek: Nemesisrolled around, the films had become a shell of their former selves, and so had theEnterprisecrew.Nemesisblatantly copied the formula fromThe Wrath of Khan, but it was blandly emotionless.
Star Trek: Nemesiswas a box office failure, earning only $67 million against a $60 million budget (viaBox Office Mojo).
The Next Generationironically kicked off a new era for the franchise on the small screen, but the originalStar Trekmovie franchise was halted by its films. A full-on reboot followed in 2009, and it’s hard not to think that the failures of theTNGera helped push Hollywood toward a new start after so many stale entries.
