Star Trek Insurrection (www.the-usher.com)

"How many people does it take Admiral?"

Captain Jean Luc Picard

After hearing that Data (Spiner) had malfunctioned and taken hostages during a survey mission on a unique planet, Captain Picard (Stewart) and the crew of the Enterprise E have to investigate. After capturing Data, Picard discovers that the inhabits of the planet, a race know as the Ba'ku, have been blessed with extremely long lives and the Federation and a new ally called the So'na plan mine the metagenic compound from the planet, rendering the world uninhabitable. Concluding that this goes against everything the Federation's Prime Directive stands for, Picard and his crew take on the So'na and Admiral Dougherty (Zerbe) to protect the planet and its people.

Every Star Trek fan knows that only the even numbered films in the franchise are any good but can the ninth movie change that assumption?

After the bringing adventure and action back to the franchise with 'First Contact', executive producer and co-writer Rick Berman made the brilliant decision of moving away from epic confrontation between old enemies to bring us a film about environmental protection and not interfering with small cultures. All the momentum gained from that grand battle with the Borg has been instantly slapped out of the franchise to produce a movie that feels more life a TV episode than a motion picture.

While the premise itself isn't that bad, it just doesn't have the scope you'd expect in a movie and feels very lacklustre compared to the previous film. The story about the inhabitants of a world with metagenic, regenerative properties, making them forever young, having their way of life threatened by the Federation and So'na who what to steal this most valuable resource has potential, especially when you throw in Picard and his crew's rebellion against their order, but it just doesn't have what it takes to be a feature film script. The story is far too slight, the villains are not evil enough and the action is a big let down, compared to the previous films in the franchise and that even includes Star Trek V.

Brent Spiner and Patrick Stewart again have the most developed parts in the movie. Both Data and Captain Picard have the most lines and development and the actors bring their best work to the roles. In fact if wasn't for their inclusion, the film would be not as watchable. Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton and Marina Sirtis get more screen time than usual but not enough to make the fans happy. Michael Dorn is completely wasted and there is no reason for him to have been there. Gates McFadden is her usual waste of space however, playing one of the worst main characters in any of the series. The guest stars fair abit better however, with a scene stealing performance from an underused F. Murray Abraham, Anthony Zerbe playing the easily manipulated Admiral Dougherty and the beautiful Donna Murphy supplying Picard's love interest.

'Star Trek: Insurrection' isn't the worst film in the franchise and it certainly isn't the best but it is watchable and enjoyable for fans. Feeling more like an episode of the series than a feature film, 'Insurrection' drains all of the momentum out of the series that 'First Contact' thrust upon us, meaning that this isn't the movie that breaks the odd numbered film curse.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Widescreen 2.35:1 Anamorphic with Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts soundtracks, the transfer is extremely good.

BONUS FEATURES

Disc 1

Text Commentary by Michael Okuda and Dennis Okuda
Throughout the movie fascinating facts about the production of the movie and how it relates to the TV series are displayed in screen. These facts are every interesting and really enhance your watching of the film if you are a Trekker.

Disc 2

Production

It takes a Village (16.41 mins)
Director Jonathan Frakes, producer Rick Berman, production designer Herman Zimmerman, illustrator John Eaves, set decorator John Dwyer and stars Gates McFadden and Michael Welch talk about the look of 'Star Trek Insurrection'. From the Ba'ku village to the bridge of the So'na ship, the production team take you through the designs and building of the elaborate sets and the visual effects involved in bringing the ninth Star Trek movie to the silver screen.

Location, Location, Location (20.00 mins)
Director Jonathan Frakes, producer Rick Berman, production designer Herman Zimmerman and stars Patrick Stewart, Donna Murphy, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden and Brent Spiner take you behind the scenes of the location shoot at Mammoth Lake in Northern California. The featurette shows you the construction of the Ba'ku village and cave sets as well as the filming of the lake sequences featuring Data's swim.

The Art of Insurrection (14.53 mins)
Illustrator John Eaves talks about the new and updated ship designs for the ninth film in the franchise. The first Star Trek feature film to have all CG created ships, Eaves takes you through the design of the So'na ships, the new Federation shuttles and scout ships and the Captain's yacht.

Anatomy of a stunt (6.33 mins)
Stunt coordinator Rick Avery takes you behind the scenes of a stunt that actually never made the final cut of the movie. Here we see how the actors and stunt people prepared for a high fall.

The Story (17.19 mins)
Writer/Producer Michael Piller talks about the influences behind the ninth film in the Star Trek franchise. He reveals how the studio wanted a lighter film, in the vain of 'Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home' after the high drama of 'First Contact'. The evolution of the story and the 'fountain of youth' are talked about, as well as how the moving of a race or people was meant to reflect the contempory issues of modern time, like Gene Roddenberry's original vision for the series.

Making Star Trek Insurrection (25.07 mins)
Director/star Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, Brent Spider, Gates McFadden, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Donna Murphy and F. Murray Abraham talk about making the ninth Star Trek movie. The Next Generation cast take you behind the scenes of the production, talking about the story, ethics and themes of the film. We also follow them on location, discovering information about the Ba'ku and So'na races, as well as the continued evolution of Data.

Director's Notebook (18.54 mins)
Director Jonathan Frakes talks about directing his second Star Trek movie. He discusses how hard it was to follow the success of 'First Contact' and how he had to continue to appeal to the established fan base and a new audience, the bane of all Star Trek feature films. The strong sense of family amongst the ensemble cast is revealed and he also talks about many of the secrets behind the production such as the guest stars, the CG and Data in the lake.

The Star Trek Universe

Westmore's Aliens (17.43 mins)
Makeup designer and supervisor Michael Westmore takes you on a tour of the many creations he has invented for the Star Trek universe. He reveals how animals are a huge influence on his designs and how they were incorporated into the look of the So'na and the other alien races on 'Star Trek Insurrection'.

Star Trek's Beautiful Alien Women (12.40 mins)
Writer/producer Michael Sussman and Star Trek stars Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Connor Trinneer, Robert Picardo, Terry Ferrell, Patrick Stewart, Chase Masterson, Alice Krige and Donna Murphy talk about the many beautiful alien women that have been encountered in the Star Trek Universe. The many conquests of Kirk, Picard, Riker, Trip and the Doctor are discussed as well as the powerful and completely sexy aliens that have graced the series and movies such as Dax, Leeta, Troi, Seven of Nine and the Borg Queen.

Creating the Illusion

Shuttle Chase (9.36 mins)
Co-Producer/2nd Unit director Peter Lauritson takes you behind the scenes of the shuttle chase involving Data, Picard and Worf. From model designs to 3D models and from storyboards to final sequence, we see how the sequence was constructed for the big screen.

Drones (4.43 mins)
Co-Producer/2nd Unit director Peter Lauritson and Blue Sky visual effects model designer Patrick Denver show you how the drones were created for the movie.

Duck Blind (4.37 mins)
Co-Producer/2nd Unit director Peter Lauritson reveals how the visual effects for the opening sequence in the Ba'ku village were created.

Deleted Scenes (12.34 mins)
Entitled 'Ru'afo's face lift', 'Working lunch', 'Flirting', 'The Kiss', 'Status: Precarious', 'Disabling the injector' and 'Alternative ending', these deleted or extended scenes are introduced by Co-Producer/2nd Unit director Peter Lauritson.

Archives

Storyboards: Secondary Protocols View the storyboards for the opening sequence in the Ba'ku village where Data's malfunction makes him initiate his secondary protocols.

Photo Gallery
A collection of behind the scenes and publicity images from 'Star Trek Insurrection', including an interesting shot of Quark from Deep Space Nine.

Advertising

Teaser and Theatrical Trailer (4.06 mins)
Watch the previews for Star Trek Insurrection that promoted the movie in cinemas.

Original Promotional Featurette (5.02 mins)
Director Jonathan Frakes, producer Rick Berman and stars Patrick Stewart, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and F. Murray Abraham talk about the story, visual effects and location for the ninth film in the franchise.

Borg Invasion Trailer (0.31 mins)
A preview of the new Star Trek attraction in Las Vegas

OVERALL

Again, Paramount has done an excellent job producing another Star Trek movie special edition DVD. Packed to the brim with excellent bonus features, the two-disc set is only missing a feature commentary track to make it an outstanding collection. 'Star Trek Insurrection' fans and Trekkers will love this package however, making it a must buy for their collection.

DVD

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