TREKCORE > MOVIES > STAR TREK: GENERATIONS > Behind the Scenes Information
 

	Rick Berman was asked during the sixth season of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” to construct a movie featuring the characters from “The Next Generation.” Two scripts were commissioned, one written by Maurice Hurley and one written by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore. Eventually, the Braga/Moore script was chosen.
	According to Rick Berman, he wanted to incorporate cast members from “The Original Series” into this movie, to which the studio agreed.
	Originally, the entire cast of “The Original Series” were to be the guests of honour aboard the Enterprise-B, with each character retaking their old stations when the Nexus Ribbon threatens the ship.
	At one point, only Captain Kirk would have appeared in the opening scenes aboard the Enterprise-B.
	In an early draft, the transition from the Enterprise-B to "The Next Generation" was a cut to a Federation outpost in which two officers were looking out into space. Suddenly the Romulans attack and the Enterprise comes in and drives them off.
	Jeri Taylor did not like the transition above, and suggested the transition be something like Picard pushing an egg across Ten Forward with his nose; her point was to make the transition more interesting and to do something never seen.
	Eventually, the original cast members were scaled back to just the primary three of Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. McCoy. However, both Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelley declined to appear. Kelley felt he had made an appropriate farewell in “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” and Nimoy because he wasn’t happy with Spock’s role in the movie.
	In early drafts of the script, Lursa and B'Etor also crash on Veridian III as the Enterprise does.  They attack the Enterprise crew on the planet, but eventually they negotiate a truce and help each other off the planet.
	Leonard Nimoy was also offered the opportunity to direct by Rick Berman, but he also declined that as well. David Carson, director is TNG’s “Yesterday’s Enterprise” among others was eventually chosen.
	Originally, the TNG crew’s uniforms were to have been given a face-lift as well, mixing elements from their standard television uniforms, the TNG dress uniforms and elements from the original series uniforms combined with a new combadge (which would have already been introduced on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” starting with the third season.) Eventually, Rick Berman rejected the new uniforms after several days of shooting and had them eliminated from the movie, opting instead to reuse the television uniforms, coupled with the “Deep Space Nine” variant of uniform, which “looked more cinematic.” By the time the decision had been made to strike the new uniforms, Playmates had already made an action figure line of “The Next Generation” crew in the new uniforms. Unable to recall the line, the figures went to stores despite the conflicting uniforms as seen in the movie.
	Each cast member would have had a custom fit new uniform for this film, but since the new uniforms were abolished, the cast had to make do with whatever was available. Only Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner had custom “Deep Space Nine” uniforms made for use in the film. Jonathan Frakes’ uniform is actually Avery Brooks’ (Commander Sisko) uniform and LeVar Burton’s uniform is actually Colm Meaney’s (Chief O’Brien). Neither uniform fit the actors very well, as Frakes had to roll up the sleeves on his and Burton’s is obviously too big for him. No suitable “Deep Space Nine” uniform could be found for Michael Dorn, so he reused his television one. Marina Sirtis and Gates McFadden also opted to reuse their television uniforms after Terry Farrell’s uniform didn’t look too appealing on either of them.
	David Carson's wife, Kim Braden, played Picard's wife in the Nexus. Carson's children also played two of Picard's kids. Braden had previously played Ensign Janet Brooks in "The Loss" of "The Next Generation."
	Kirk's dog was originally named Jake after one of the writer’s dogs, who recently died.  Shatner renamed it Butler on the set because that was the name of his dog, who recently died.
	The horses in the movie were owned by William Shatner. The horseback riding scene was more or less written to make the role more appealing for him.
	Phasers and tricorders from the television series were reused in the film. . .the only time they would appear. A new set of props were introduced in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and were summarily used in “Star Trek: Voyager” as well as "Star Trek: First Contact”, and “Star Trek: Insurrection.”
	In one reconceived ending, they discovered Soran's underground lair, filled with explosives and Kirk sets out to blow it up.
	In another reconceived ending there were several shifting forcefields. Picard was in one, Kirk in another, and Soran in another and the forcefields were shifting and crushing things in their paths.
	Whoopi Goldberg reprises her role as Guinan in this film, although she goes uncredited. She made her final appearance on “The Next Generation” in the sixth season’s “Suspicions.”
	William Shatner found some of his lines of dialogue difficult to say. He recalls: “I refer to Picard as Captain of the Enterprise on a couple of occasions in the film, and as those words came out of my mouth, the reality was there. Patrick Stewart is now the Captain of the Enterprise. The irony, of course, was that the series was over for him, too, though he has the movies to come.”
	The man whom Counselor Troi says “take the wheel” aboard the holodeck Enterprise is actually the owner of the real boat.
	Jonathan Frakes was pleased to end the movie with Patrick Stewart on the set of the shattered Enterprise bridge. “The last scene is with Patrick and me, which I’m really looking forward to seeing. I was very happy.”
	A scene involving Geordi and Dr. Soran aboard the Klingon ship was unfortunately cut. In this scene (which you can view in the “Deleted Scenes” section), Dr. Soran tortures Geordi for information by using a Borg nanoprobe to stop his heart at will, causing him agony. Although the scene was cut, Dr. Crusher still references it in sick-bay later when she says to Geordi “I’ve removed the nanoprobe and I think you’re going to be fine.”
	Although Lursa was revealed to be pregnant in TNG’s “Firstborn”, we don’t learn the fate of the child in this movie.
	Michael Dorn expressed reservations about the final four episodes of “The Next Generation” flowing into this film: “I was real happy with the seventh season as a whole, but the one complaint that I had was that they didn’t take the last four episodes and make the stories more about us. The whole relationship with Troi and Worf, if it isn’t addressed in the next movie, is almost a wasted thing now. We may never know if they ever consummated their relationship.”
	Gates McFadden reveals some of the intricacies of the frigate-Enterprise-holodeck scene: “I can’t tell you that the boat was supposed to be pitching back and forth, so we all had to really pitch back and forth. For days. At times, it was very funny and we were all having a good laugh, and at other times, it wasn’t at all funny and it could be quite tiring. But it’s a terrific scene. I must say, we all look great in our period uniforms, standing aboard this old boat. It will look great, but, as I’m sure you know, any scene that looks great was probably very involved and tough to do. And this was one of those scenes.”
	McFadden also comments on her somewhat limited role in this movie: “Making ‘Generations’ was fun, even though I wasn’t very involved. Everyone got on well and was energized by the experience, and I think we all look forward to the next one. I think there will be at least one more after ‘Generations,’ but that each one after that will depend on how the previous film performed and on everyone’s willingness to stay with ‘Star Trek’...Speaking for myself, I would like there to be more Crusher in the next film, and I’m hopeful that will be the case.”
	Marina Sirtis comments on the big crash sequence: “That planet came out of nowhere! It was a fascinating sequence. What was funny was that my chair caught fire and burned my bottom. When we did the next take, I stopped in the middle of all the confusion and made sure there was nothing burning on my seat before I sat on it again. I think they had to cut that take out of the movie.”
	Brent Spiner also comments on filming the saucer crash scene: “Some of those pieces were really hitting us. We had worked for seven years on that set and it had never really blown up before. I mean, there was fire everywhere. It was a big-time special FX...It was fun, but it was kind of ironic that for seven seasons we had been able to get the Enterprise out of jeopardy, and in the feature, we don’t accomplish that. That was kind of refreshing, actually. The bridge set was a complete disaster area, utterly and completely destroyed. If we do another film, at the very least we know we’ll have a new bridge set.”
	Whoopi Goldberg speaks on appearing again as Guinan in the movie: “I’ve done it as a tribute to my love of the show. I liked the idea of being in space. I know I’m never going up [for real] in anybody’s rocket ship. I know this because I hate to fly. Gene Roddenberry’s vision always included a multiethnic group of people. I thought that was pretty amazing. Being on ‘Star Trek’ has been a great way to sort of expand on the universe and be a part of it.”
	James Doohan speaks on “The Next Generation”: “I must say I watched about four of the first year’s episodes and I didn’t really care for the shows at all. Maybe it’s because I just didn’t know the people. Maybe it was just because they seemed to be redoing the shows we had done. But I did start to appreciate the show and the actors a year or two before I did ‘Relics.’ My family had started to watch ‘The Next Generation’ quite religiously and they would tell me when the good ones were on. As long as I had the time, I watched them. I became very impressed with the entire cast. They were doing very good work and the show had improved a great deal.”
	Doohan also comments on returning one last time as Scotty: “I had my concerns about doing this, but I think we’re making a very good film here. It has something for everyone. I think the fans will be very pleased, and that’s all that matters.”
	Walter Koenig speaks on a short scene that was ultimately cut (which you can view in the “Deleted Scenes” section.): “Before it is a reality, we suspect that he [Kirk] has died. It’s a very poignant, emotional moment that I think was successful. Whether on not it’s in the film is...moot...Obviously, something is going to be sacrificed.”
	Koenig also quipped: “I think there’s something in it [‘Generations’] that’s reminiscent of “Star Trek V”. . .but not in a bad way.”
	Malcolm McDowell had this to say about his role as Dr. Soran: “I’ve done my work the best I could, and if you don’t like it, tough.”
	The infamous alternate ending of the movie was re-shot after test audiences and studio executives were displeased. The alternate ending had Soran shooting Kirk in the back with a small phaser. Eventually, the solar probe launches towards the sun, but veers off and explodes. Knowing that his work has been foiled, Soran rushes to attack Picard, but Picard picks up Soran’s small phaser and kills him. Kirk then dies in Picard’s arms without saying a word. Picard then buries Kirk on the mountain and he is picked up by Geordi and Worf in a shuttlecraft.
	The Christmas scene had to be reshot after the original scene failed to meet Rick Berman’s expectations. Patrick Stewart had to be called back to shoot the scene, and actually had to have a hair-piece applied to his head so his hair would match the rest of the movie. Stewart had to keep his hair longer for the filming of the movie “Jeffrey.”
	Patrick Stewart was preparing for two other movies during the filming of “Star Trek: Generations”-- “The Pagemaster” as well as the previously mentioned “Jeffrey.”
	Although Christopher Miller plays Rene Picard, Captain Picard's nephew, in this film, he had, months earlier, played William Shatner's son in the episode "Hide and Seek" on "seaQuest DSV." (Here's a picture of the two of them swimming with the seaQuest's dolphin, Darwin.)
	Tim Russ, who was soon after cast as Tuvok in “Star Trek: Voyager” portrays a Starfleet lieutenant aboard the Enterprise-B. Russ had previously portrayed terrorist Devore in “Starship Mine” as well as originally auditioning for the role of the Geordi La Forge in 1987.
	The filming model of the Enterprise-D was originally used for “Encounter at Farpoint” and had to be restored for use in this movie.
	The saucer-separation sequence re-appears here, having last been seen in “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II.”
	When the saucer module finally comes to a stop, Data and Troi are propped against a mysterious wall. That wall is actually the destroyed viewscreen.
	Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga originally had proposed the idea of the “saucer-crash” for the sixth season finale of the television series. In their proposed (and ultimately rejected) idea, the Enterprise would have been retired from active duty and turned into a “cruise ship” with the crew splitting up. En route to Earth for decommission, the ship responds to some threat in the area in which is was critically damaged and had to separate to escape a warp core breach. The saucer would have crash landed on a planet and would have set-up the cliff-hanger to be resolved in the seventh season.
	In Captain Kirk’s Nexus house, a Klingon bat’leth, a picture of the original Enterprise, the dedication plaque from the ship, a photograph of the original crew (actually a publicity still from “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country”), a phaser from “Star Trek III: The Search For Spock”, and a Jem’Hadar weapon from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” are among the items visible on his wall cabinet.
	Among the items in the destroyed ready room is the Kurlan naiskos that Picard had received in “The Chase.” He eventually leaves it behind for some reason.
	The red paint on the frigate-Enterprise was not dry when the scene was filmed. As a result, Michael Dorn’s knees are coated with it when he climbs back aboard the ship after being forced to “walk the plank.”
	Jenette Goldstien who plays the Enterprise-B science officer had played Vasquez in the movie “Aliens.” Vasquez was originally the inspiration for Tasha Yar.
	DeForest Kelley, who had denied to appear in the film, did attend the premiere in Hollywood.
	Although Data is the owner of Spot, Brent Spiner hates cats and objected to the scene where Data finds his beloved pet in the wreckage of the Enterprise. Ronald D. Moore eventually talked him into it by saying “Come on, Brent! There won’t be a dry eye in the house!”
	Although, “All Good Things. . .” was the final episode of the television series there was only a ten day break inbetween filming the final episode and this movie. As a result, many of the cast and crew consider this film as truly saying good-bye to “Star Trek: The Next Generation” since the ship was finally destroyed and all the sets that they had been working on for almost eight years were finally demolished at the end of filming. Components of the engineering set, the transporter room and the crew quarters were eventually incorporated into the sets for “Star Trek: Voyager.”