Where were you 30 years ago? For me, I was just a preteen who was absolutely in love with Star Trek. This film would be the first Star Trek film that I got to see in theaters. In November of 1994, Star Trek: Generations premiered in theaters across America as the film that bridged the gap between the classic crew and the next generation.
The plot of the movie involves the Nexus, a strange energy ribbon that brings a euphoric state to all who are caught in its presence. In this film Captain Kirk is involved in one final mission aboard the Enterprise B, where he both saves the ship and those lives caught in the ribbon’s effect. Unfortunately, Kirk is taken away into the ribbon after his valiant effort. Years later, the crew of the Enterprise D learn that a Doctor Soran has derived a means of returning to the ribbon which involves the destruction of the planet Veridian 3. Through deception and use of the Klingon sisters Duras, Soran builds a weapon on the planet’s surface capable of bringing the Nexus to him. In his first attempt the ribbon makes its way to the planet and brings him along with all the members of the Enterprise crew to the Nexus. This is where Captain Picard meets James T. Kirk and asked him for one final time to save the Galaxy as he’s done before. With the aid of Kirk, they return from the Nexus and prevent Soran from launching his weapon and save the galaxy. However this would come at the cost of Captain Kirk’s and one of the most tragic incidents of the entire franchise.
Fast forward to the year 2024 and we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of this film. With the valiant effort of the Roddenberry Archive along with production partner OTOY, fans have been given an opportunity to close the chapter on something that has been controversial in the entire franchise.
One year ago, a video entitled Regeneration was released by the Archive. In this video we saw Spock return to the planet of Veridian 3 at the grave site of Captain Kirk. He picks up the combadge of the Captain, and reflects on the time that they had together. This would be the catalyst that would bring about this year’s video Unification.
In Unification we are greeted by something that I never thought that I would see again, the return of William Shatner as captain Kirk. Through the use of practical makeup, prosthetics in digital compositions we’re able to see the captain as he would have appeared 30 years ago. This video serves to possibly correct a problem that happened and brings the captain into the Kelvin universe to say goodbye to his beloved friend.
There’s so much inside of this video that I could go on and on about its inclusion. Some of the most notable things include seeing Saavik, portrayed by Robin Curtis, and Spock’s son. A story which was only hinted at in the script for Star Trek 4. The deleted portion of the script would reveal that Saavik would stay on Vulcan to raise their son. As the video continues, we’re greeted by not one but two more instances of Captain Kirk, the iconic Original Series Captain, and the experienced Admiral from Star Trek 2. I was absolutely amazed and taken aback by how good this looked on screen. Although some of the mannerisms might be wrong, we are dealing with a character that we have not seen in person for far too long.
With the tools and technology that are available now, one could only hope that this could mean the return of William Shatner for one last hurrah as Captain Kirk. Shatner himself has not been opposed to the idea, but does not want it to just be a cameo. He would like for his return of the character to be more of an organic reason. There’s some speculation that this Kelvin universe existence might mean that we could see him in another Star Trek film, hey Paramount please hurry up and do this. While only speculation, I would love for the idea of seeing him one more time. It would be reminiscent of the scene in Star Trek 6 where Sulu states: “It was good to see you in action one more time Captain Kirk”
I know from reading that many people shared my same sentiment about this story and how it left many of us in tears with just how well it was illustrated. As it stated: “There are always possibilities Spock said… and if Genesis is indeed life from death, I must return to this place again.”
Read the OTOY blog about the creation of Unification here; and visit the Roddenberry Archive for further information.
