Star Trek: Insurrection - "Taking the Captain's Yacht Out for a Spin?"

The next-to-last in our lineup of pre-existing Star Trek films is up now:  Star Trek: Insurrection.  This movie was released in 1998, and was directed by Jonathan Frakes (after, of course, he directed ST: First Contact).  It stars the same Next Generation crew, with the notable additions of F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, and Anthony Zerbe.

The Enterprise crew discovers that the Federation is working in tandem with a race called the Son'a - a pleasure-loving race obsessed with youth - to attempt to harvest metaphasic radiation particles from the rings around a planet in the Briar Patch, a section of space difficult to navigate and impossible to communicate through.  These particles have youth-giving properties.  They basically stop the aging process, and revert those who are older to become young again, both emotionally and physically.  This, of course, would be an amazing resource for the Federation, as well as for the selfish Son'a, since the Federation could use it to cure diseases and afflictions, such as blindness.

The problem?  The planet is already inhabited by a technologically advanced, but simplistic people called the Ba'ku.  They prefer to live without the benefits and hazards of technology, and to live in the moment.  Although only a population of 600 or so, Picard and his crew still believe that it is wrong to take their resource away from them.  Not only were the Federation and the Son'a going to steal the particles, they were also going to relocate the Ba'ku onto a holographic ship.  The ship would have the same visual environmental setup as the planet.  In effect, it would seem to the Ba'ku that they had never been moved, except when they would start aging again.  This is something that the Enterprise crew can't abide, even though they have experienced some of the benefits - Riker and Troi have stuck up their long-languishing romance, Worf is suffering symptoms of jak'talah (Klingon puberty), and, most heartbreakingly, Geordi is no longer blind.  Despite that, Geordi and Riker take the Enterprise back to the edge of the Briar Patch, in an attempt to persuade the Federation Council that this is wrong.  Picard, Crusher, Worf, Troi, and Data beam down to the surface to help the Ba'ku keep from being transported onto the holoship, and off of their planet.

Picard, having struck up a friendship and budding romance with one of the heads of the Ba'ku, Anij (Murphy), easily persuades the Ba'ku to trust them.  Encouraging them to take only essential belongings, they hurry the Ba'ku into the mountains, towards caves where they can find shelter.  Meanwhile, the leader of the Son'a, Ru'afo (Abraham), working with Admiral Dougherty (Zerbe), send ships to intercept (and if necessary, destroy) the Enterprise, and also sends scout ships down to the surface equipped with drones carrying isolinear tags.  Those tags, if shot into the Ba'ku, would allow them to be transported individually onto the Son'a ship.  Picard and the others get most of the Ba'ku to safety, but Picard and Anij, along with perhaps fifty or a hundred others get transported to the Son'a ship.

On the Son'a ship, Ru'afo and Dougherty go to talk to Picard and the Ba'ku.  We discover that the Son'a are actually the same race as the Ba'ku - they had been young people who left the planet, embracing technology, but growing old.  They came to resent the Ba'ku for "hoarding" the fountain of youth, even though the Ba'ku never asked the Son'a to leave in the first place.  Dougherty, upon realizing that, and seeing Picard's utter devotion to the Ba'ku, realizes that the Federation has chosen the wrong path.  He confronts Ru'afo away from the prisoners, and Ru'afo kills him in an entirely gruesome manner.  Ru'afo then orders his people to deploy the collector for the particles.  This would destroy life in the sector, but Ru'afo no longer cares about relocating the Ba'ku, as that had been a Federation condition from the beginning.

Picard is then separated from the Ba'ku, so that he can be murdered to stop him from revealing to the Federation what was happening.  Ru'afo's second-in-command, Gallatin (played by Greg Henry), escorts Picard to a section of the ship that would not be protected from the metaphasic radiation.  En route, Picard persuades Gallatin that the Son'a should not be killing their own families and friends, and that Gallatin must oppose Ru'afo.  Gallatin reluctantly agrees, and helps Picard communicate with his people on the surface.  They transport the Son'a to the holoship, now made to look like the Son'a command ship - thus making it so that the Son'a are unable to control the collector.  Ru'afo quickly determines the situation, and transports himself off of the holoship and onto the collector, in an attempt to restart it manually. 

Picard also beams over to the collector, to stop him, and destroys the collector from the inside.  Picard believes that he is to die, since the Son'a beamed back to their real command ship, and had taken Gallatin and Worf hostage.  However, the Enterprise, back safely from a successful conversation with the Federation Council, swoops across the exploding collector, and beams Picard out  to safety.  Ru'afo, of course, is killed, exploding along with the collector.  Before rescuing Picard, the Enterprise also attacks the Son'a command ship, dealing it a lethal blow.  Worf and the Son'a are also beamed back to the Enterprise.

The away team still on the surface escorts the Ba'ku back to their village, and re-unites Gallatin with his mother, starting the healing process between the Ba'ku and Son'a.  Picard and Anij promise to see each other again.  Yet again, the Enterprise flies off for more missions and adventures.

This movie is definitely more light-hearted than the other two Next Generation films, but still adds in the moral element inherent in Star Trek, and also has a few fairly creepy bits.  I think it's awfully well put-together, but I believe that First Contact was superior.  With that, here are a few notes.

I think the costume work for this film is very good.  I love the new dress uniforms - ivory with blue accents, as opposed to the longer skirt-shirts from the series.  They look much more professional, much more uniform, and less cringe-inducing.  I also like the civilian clothes that the Enterprise crew wears when they are going onto the surface.  They are casual, but still ver chic, and each fits their character very well.

I have also come to appreciate the music more in the last few films, after watching a behind-the-scenes featurette on Jerry Goldsmith, a legendary composer who did the Star Trek films as well as films too numerous to count.  The opening music which plans over the pastoral scenes of the Ba'ku life is gentle and serene.  It's soothing, and fits the visuals perfectly.  Also, I love how, when they re-introduce Worf, a slow, quiet Klingon theme plays.  Fantastic.  Although not by Jerry Goldsmith, I also enjoy the scene with the music from H.M.S. Pinafore, which Picard and Worf sing to try to reach a malfunctioning Data.  The three of them have excellent voices, and it's fun to hear Gilbert and Sullivan in a context where you usually wouldn't.

When Geordi recovers his eyesight, it is one of the saddest and sweetest things.  He stands on a hill with strikingly brown eyes, filled with tears that don't fall.  He watches the sun rise and comments to Picard who comes upon him, "You know I've never seen a sunrise?"  It speaks to his character how, even given that gift, he does not want to take the Ba'ku away from their home.

Stepping away from gushing for a moment, I wanted to highlight things that I do not approve of.  When Worf suffers from symptoms of puberty, he is made the butt of jokes, and generally looks ridiculous.  Since Worf is generally a serious character, and one of my favorites, I dislike this comic use of him.  The character of Worf is complex and interesting enough that he doesn't need to be relegated to the role of comic relief.  In addition, I dislike the "perfect moment" segments, where the Ba'ku have so learned to appreciate time that they are able to slow down time, and make a moment into a universe.  It was campy and weird.  I like my Star Trek to make some sort of pseudo-scientific sense, and this just seems quite odd to me.  Finally, I am kind of embarrassed that Riker pulled out a joystick - a joystick - to pilot the Enterprise manually.  Talk about unrealistic!  Seems very ego-centric as well.

All in all, good movie.  You really do feel the camaraderie between the cast members, and the guest stars are excellent and match the regulars pace for pace.  The music is amazing, and the story is cool.  It's just not quite as good as First Contact.  What do you think?