Star Trek Generations

Sounds like fun,'' the happily retired Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) muses after being persuaded by his future replacement Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) to partake in yet another daring mission to save the universe. And fun, first and foremost, is what Star Trek Generations is about. For all the meditations on duty and mortality that the two captains trade throughout, the most compelling draw of Generations (the maiden entry in a movie series likely to be derived from TV's Star Trek: The Next Generation) is its assortment of cliff-hanging conflicts, both large and small-scale. From a tension-fraught standoff between the Enterprise and a renegade Klingon vessel to the spectacle of three older gentlemen — Stewart, Shatner, and a villainous scientist (Malcolm McDowell) — duking it out in the desert of a faraway planet, the movie offers a feast to anyone with a yen for cracklingly paced adventure.

For an appetizer, Star Trek lovers can reexperience the movie's engrossing story. For subsequent courses, die-hard fans can refer to Generations as an instant touchstone text. They can also seize the occasion to debate whether the Spacedock in the movie's opening sequence is equipped with an artificial atmosphere, which would allow you to hear the champagne bottle smashing against the hull of a newly christened Enterprise even in soundless outer space. Eagle-eyed Trek know-it-alls will spot Tim Russ — who plays the Vulcan Tuvok on the new Trek series, Voyager — on the bridge of that ship and freeze-frame to see whether he's got pointy ears (he doesn't). And so on.

Not every minute of Generations offers such minutiae-indexing opportunities. Regardless of how much time and effort you want to spend delving into it, though, Generations is a nearly ideal rental. It's a kick to watch the feisty, near-mythic Kirk (don't laugh, but Shatner gives his most, um, nuanced performance here) meet up with the steely but compassionate Picard. And the scenario constructed by TNG executive producer Rick Berman and screenwriters Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga to bring the two together continues in the tradition of some of the best old-school sci-fi literature. The creators of TNG have consistently delighted in mixing science fact with their far-flung fiction (physicist Stephen Hawking's cameo on one TV episode can be seen as a kind of brainiac's seal of approval). That grounding in reality makes the idea of the Nexus ''energy ribbon'' cutting through space, which fuels Generations' plot, seem almost plausible. McDowell's Soran, an El Aurian scientist with a mad desire to reach the Nexus even though he'll kill billions in the process, spurs Picard — and later, Kirk — to defeat him.

Even with special effects on a much grander scale than the TV series ever attempted, Generations is very much at home on the small screen. That is, after all, where we were introduced to the new Enterprise's personnel eight years ago. And just about every member of the crew gets a chance to shine in Generations. So whether you prefer Data to Worf or Troi to Crusher, you'll discover at least one scene you'll want to look at more than once. (And if this is your very first exposure to the TNG folks — not likely, but just in case — you'll enjoy meeting them.) If Berman and company keep up this kind of quality with subsequent TNG features, it's a cinch that Picard and crew will — forgive me — live long and prosper. A-

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