Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek fans were decidedly mixed in their reactions to this, the ninth big-screen feature in Paramount's lucrative Trek franchise, but die-hard loyalists will appreciate the way this Next Generation adventure rekindles the spirit of the original Trek TV series while combining a tolerable dose of New-Agey philosophy with a lighthearted plot for the TNG cast. This time out, Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his executive crew must transport to a Shangri-la-like planet to see why their android crewmate Data (Brent Spiner) has run amuck in a village full of peaceful Ba'ku artisans who--thanks to their planet's "metaphasic radiation"--haven't aged in 309 years. It turns out there's a conspiracy afoot, masterminded by the devious, gruesomely aged Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham, hamming it up under makeup resembling a cosmetic surgeon's worst nightmare), who's in cahoots with a renegade Starfleet admiral (Anthony Zerbe, in one of his final screen roles). They covet the fountain-of-youth power of the Ba'ku planet, but because their takeover plan violates Starfleet's Prime Directive of noninterference, it's up to Picard and crew to stop the scheme. Along the way, they all benefit from the metaphasic effect, which manifests itself as Worf's puberty (visible as a conspicuous case of Klingon acne), Picard's youthful romance with a Ba'ku woman (the lovely Donna Murphy), the touching though temporary return of Geordi's natural eyesight, and a moment when Troi asks Dr. Crusher if she's noticed that her "boobs are firming up." Some fans scoffed at these humorous asides, but they're what make this Trek film as entertaining as it is slightly disappointing. Without the laughs (including Data's rousing excerpt from Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore), this is a pretty routine entry in the franchise, with no real surprises, a number of plot holes, and the overall appearance of a big-budget TV episode. As costar and director, Jonathan Frakes proves a capable carrier of the Star Trek flame--and it's nice to see women in their 40s portrayed as smart and sexy--but while this is surely an adequate Trek adventure, it doesn't quite rank with the best in the series. --Jeff Shannon

Production: Paramount Pictures
  3 wins & 8 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.4
Metacritic:
64
Rotten Tomatoes:
55%
PG
Year:
1998
103
Website
1,747 Views
The battle for paradise has begun
Eternity awaits beyond the final frontier
Eternity is closer than you think
Six hundred lives... one directive
Meet the new face of evil
The future of the galaxy, and the survival of a race, depend on an act of rebellion
Join the rebellion
Get warped
On December 11th, Stand in defiance, Hold your ground, and Join the rebellion.

Anij:
We've always known that to survive, we had to remain apart. Hasn't been easy. Many of the young people want to know more about the offland. They're attracted to stories of a faster pace of life.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Most of my people who live that fast a life, would sell their souls to slow it down.

Anij:
But not you?

Jean-Luc Picard:
There are days.

Anij:
You don't live up to your reputation as an offlander, Picard.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Well, in defense of offlanders, there are many more like me.

Anij:
Who wouldn't be tempted by the promise of perpetual youth? I don't think so.

Jean-Luc Picard:
You give me more credit than I deserve. Well, of course I'm tempted. Who wouldn't be? But some of the darkest chapters in the history of my world involve the forced relocation of a small group of people, to satisfy the demands of a large one. I'd hoped that we'd learn from our mistakes, but... it seems that some of us haven't. (Picard turns to a beautifully made blanket) This is extraordinary craftmanship.

Anij:
It's the work of students. They're almost ready to become apprentices. In 30 or 40 years, some of them will take their place among the artisans.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Apprenticing for 30 years. Did your people's mental discipline develop here?

Anij:
More questions. Always the explorer. If you stay long enough, that will change.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Will it?

Anij:
You stop reviewing what happened yesterday. Stop planning for tomorrow. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever experienced a perfect moment in time?

Jean-Luc Picard:
A perfect moment?

Anij:
When time seemed to stop, and you could almost live in that moment.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Seeing my home planet from space for the first time.

Anij:
Yes, exactly. Nothing more complicated than perception. You explore the universe. We've discovered that a single moment in time can be a universe in itself. Full of powerful forces. Most people aren't aware enough of the now to even notice.

Jean-Luc Picard:
I wish I could spare a few centuries to learn.

Anij:
It took us centuries to learn that it doesn't have to take centuries to learn.

Jean-Luc Picard:
There's one thing I don't understand. In 300 years, you never learned to swim?

Anij:
Ha ha ha! I just haven't got around to it yet. I wonder if you're aware of the trust you engender, Jean-Luc Picard. In my experience, it's unusual for -

Jean-Luc Picard:
For an offlander?

Anij:
For someone so young.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Come.

(Ru'afo and Dougherty enter)

Adhar Ru'afo:
Am I to understand that you are not releasing my men, captain?

Jean-Luc Picard:
We found the holoship.

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
Ru'afo, why don't you let the captain and me--

Adhar Ru'afo:
NO!!!

(The skin on Ru'afo's forehead breaks and begins to bleed)

Adhar Ru'afo:
This entire mission has been one Federation blunder after another. You will return my men... or this alliance will end with the destruction of your ship.

(Ru'afo turns and leaves)

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
You're looking well, Jean-Luc. Rested.

Jean-Luc Picard:
I won't let you move them, admiral. I will take this to the Federation Council.

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
I'm acting on orders from the Federation Council.

Jean-Luc Picard:
How can there be an order to abandon the Prime Directive?

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
The Prime Directive doesn't apply. These people are not indigenous to this planet. They were never meant to be immortal. We'll simply be restoring them to their natural evolution.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Who the hell are we to determine the next course of evolution for these people?

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
Jean-Luc, there are 600 people down there. We'll be able to use the regenerative properties of this radiation to help billions. The Son'a have developed a procedure to collect the metaphasic particles from the planets rings.

Jean-Luc Picard:
A planet in Federation space.

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
That's right. We have the planet. They have the technology. A technology we can't duplicate. You know what that makes us? Partners.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Our partners are nothing more than petty thugs.

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
On Earth, petroleum once turned petty thugs into world leaders. Warp drive once transformed a bunch of Romulan thugs into an empire. We can handle the Son'a. I'm not worried about that.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Someone probably said the same thing about the Romulans a century ago.

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
With metaphasics, life spans will be doubled. An entire new medical science will evolve. I understand your chief engineer has the use of his eyes for the first time in his life. Would you take that away from him?

Jean-Luc Picard:
There are metaphasic particles all over the Briar Patch. Why does it have to be this one planet?

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
It's the concentration in the rings that makes the whole damn thing work. Don't ask me to explain it. I only know they inject something into the rings that starts a thermolytic reaction. When it's over, the planet will be uninhabitable for generations.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Admiral, delay the procedure. Let my people look at the technology.

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
Our best scientific minds already have. We can't find any other way to do this.

Jean-Luc Picard:
Then the Son'a can establish a seperate colony on the planet until we do.

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
It would take ten years of normal exposure to begin to reverse their condition. Some of them won't survive that long. Besides, they don't want to live in the middle of the Briar Patch. Who would?

Jean-Luc Picard:
The Ba'ku. We are betraying the principles upon which the Federation was founded. It's an attack upon its very soul. And it will destroy the Ba'ku... just as cultures have been destroyed in every other forced relocation throughout history.

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
Jean-Luc, we're only moving 600 people.

Jean-Luc Picard:
How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong? A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How many people does it take, Admiral?

Admiral Matthew Dougherty:
I'm ordering you to the Goran system. I'm also ordering the release of the Son'a officers. File whatever protest you wish to, Captain. By the time you do, this will all be done.


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