|
|
|
Star Trek: Insurrection | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
n the eighth big-screen installment of the Star Trek saga, Capt. Picard (Stewart) and his crew confront the double-edged sword of the Prime Directive when they discover a colony of peaceful artisans who are scheduled for unceremonious relocation in the name of "the greater good." The colony, which possesses unusual revitalizing powers, becomes a precious commodity among the corrupt movers and shakers in the Starfleet Federation, but a more sinister motive is afoot, as Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham) reveals a shared past with the inhabitants of Ba'ku and vows to destroy their serene and supportive way of life.
Soon Picard must make a choice: follow orders according to Starfleet protocol, or use his best judgment, defy his superiors and defend the idyllic world of the Ba'ku. Before long, the crew of the Enterprise are locked into mortal combat between Starfleet forces, the rebel So'na soldiers and the peace-loving Ba'ku.
Following the demise of films featuring the original Star Trek cast, the big-screen travails of the series were released to diminishing returns, and Insurrection reflects this precipitous decline. Directed with trademark flair (that is, none) by first mate Frakes, Insurrection proves no more compelling or complex than an average episode of the television series that inspired it, but this two-disc collector's edition tries its best to justify the existence of continued silver-screen adventures of the Star Trek crew.
Extras justify existence
The best of the Star Trek DVD features—as always—is Michael and Denise Okuda's informative and occasionally irreverent text commentary; while the feature ought to become boilerplate bonus material for even the most threadbare DVDs, their observations are insightful and frequently funny. Unfortunately, they suffered from a dearth of compelling material on Insurrection and mostly discuss the film's location shooting in sunny Southern California. That said, it's the optimal way to watch this particular film, since there's frequently little to pay attention to on the screenwriters' road to a theatrical running time.
The second disc, however, is absurdly full of bonus materials, many, most or all of which appeared on previous Star Trek DVDs. The noteworthy observation made on this installment of the series is that it marked the show's full evolution to computer-generated effects work, including the usually reliable models used for the Enterprise; thankfully, the extra materials on disc two delve into this fact in exacting detail. Unfortunately, this type of CGI has become so commonplace that watching information on pre-visualization and rendering technique feels like a throwback to bygone DVD days rather than an incisive look at the technical and creative process.
Included on the second disc in exhaustive form are the following extras, collected under a section entitled "Production: It Takes a Village," where the crew discusses—at length—the number of sets required to bring Ba'ku to life; "Location, Location, Location," in which the cast sings the praises of location shooting; "The Art of Insurrection," which assembles a montage (scored with action-scene arpeggios) of concept drawings for the film; "Anatomy of a Stunt," which documents a stunt that never made the final film; "The Story," in which screenwriter Michael Piller reveals the origins of his fountain-of-youth tome; "Making Star Trek: Insurrection," which details the engineering, design and background of the film; and "Director's Notebook," Frakes' personal observations about directing the film and making another Star Trek movie.
Creating the Illusion similarly contains several parts: "Shuttle Chase" breaks down the design of the centerpiece shuttle chase, "Drones" describes the flying machines that attack the Ba'ku and "Duck Blind" reveals the hidden universe between the Federation observers and the Ba'ku villagers. "The Star Trek Universe" features "Westmore's Aliens" and "Star Trek's Beautiful Alien Women," both of which predictably delve into character design. "Archives" collects the film's storyboard and photo galleries. "Advertising" compiles promotional materials for the film, including trailers and promotional featurettes.
Like its predecessor First Contact, the film basically boils down to little more than a TV two-parter writ large on the silver screen, but this DVD makes a noble effort to suggest that it functions effectively as a feature film. Like few other discs I've picked up lately, this DVD features more extras than I could possibly ask for, much less get through over the course of a three-day marathon. As a DVD it's a great buy, but the movie itself exists only for the series' longtime supporters. —Todd
Also in this issue: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Root of All Evil
|
         |
|
| Home |
Copyright © 1998-2006, Science Fiction Weekly (TM). All rights reserved. Reproduction in any medium strictly prohibited. Maintained by scifiweekly@scifi.com. |
