Star Trek: Insurrection

Star Trek: Insurrection
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jonathan Frakes
Produced by	Rick Berman
Screenplay by	Michael Piller
Story by	Rick Berman Michael Piller
Starring	See Cast
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography	Matthew F. Leonetti
Editing by	Peter E. Berger
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	December 11, 1998 (1998-12-11)
Running time	103 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$58,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue	$112,600,000
Preceded by	Star Trek: First Contact
Followed by	Star Trek Nemesis

Star Trek: Insurrection is a 1998 American science fiction film directed by Jonathan Frakes, written by Michael Piller (with the story developed by producer Rick Berman and Piller), and with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith. It is the ninth film in the Star Trek franchise, and the third to feature the cast from the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It revolves around the insurrection of the USS Enterprise-E as they discover that Starfleet has been conspiring with a species known as the Son'a to steal the planet of the peaceful Ba'ku for themselves.

Insurrection was also the first Star Trek film to feature completely digital visual effects. No physical models were used.

Plot

Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner) seemingly malfunctions while observing the peaceful Ba'ku people on their homeworld, revealing the hidden presence of the joint Federation and Son'a taskforce to the Ba'ku. Admiral Matthew Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) requests the help of the USS Enterprise-E to help them capture and repair Data. After completing the mission, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) becomes suspicious of Dougherty's insistence that the Enterprise is no longer needed, and has his crew investigate the cause for Data's malfunction. They discover that the Ba'ku are technologically advanced but have opted to simplify, living in harmony with nature. More fascinating, the Baku reveal they are essentially immortal, due to environmental anomalies. Picard asks Anij, the unofficial Ba'ku leader, "You have warp capability?" to which she replies mildly, "Capability, yes...but where can warp drive take us, except away from here?"

The Enterprise crew also begins to experience the rejuvenation effects of the planet; LaForge (Levar Burton) finds his eyes are cured, and no longer requires implants, Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis) rekindle their long-abandoned relationship, and Picard develops a romantic relationship with the Ba'ku woman Anij (Donna Murphy).

The Enterprise crew discovers that the Briar Patch, the celestial location of the Ba'ku homeworld, contains metaphasic radiation particles, which impart the rejuvenation effects to those exposed but also block communications to the rest of space. Picard and his team also discover a cloaked Federation ship containing a gigantic holodeck, recreating the Ba'ku village; Data's malfunction was apparently caused by an attack during his previous discovery of this ship. Picard surmises that corrupt Federation officers and the Son'a are attempting to collect the metaphasic particles with a large harvester. This would leave the planet uninhabitable, and Admiral Dougherty prepared the "holoship" to transport the Ba'ku off the planet without their knowledge. When confronted with these charges against the Prime Directive, Dougherty orders the Enterprise to leave.

Picard orders Riker to take the Enterprise out of the Briar Patch in order to communicate the situation with the Federation while he and others beam down to the planet to help the Ba'ku evacuate to nearby caves that will prevent them from being transported. The Son'a send out robotic probes to tag the fleeing Ba'ku, allowing them to be transported individually, while their leader Adhar Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham) convinces Dougherty to allow two Son'a ships to attack the Enterprise. Riker is able to stop their attack and continues to leave the Briar Patch.

With their plan exposed, Ru'afo insists that they must begin to harvest the metaphasic particles immediately, only to have Picard deliver a revelation: the Son'a and the Ba'ku are the same race. The Son'a are a breakaway Ba'ku faction who had previously tried to take over the colony, were exiled and have spent a century since trying (and failing) to preserve their lives. This accounts for their altered appearance and reckless attempt to harvest the metaphasic particles. Dougherty is killed when he refuses to allow Ru'afo's scheme to continue.

Picard, his crew, and the Ba'ku are transported onto the Son'a ship. After escaping, Picard masterminds a ruse to transport Ru'afo and the Son'a to the giant holoship, delaying the destructive metaphasic process. Ru'afo discovers the ruse and transports to the Harvester to start it manually. Picard follows him and manages to activate the self-destruct, destroying the Harvester as well as killing Ru'afo. The remaining Son'a are welcomed back by the Ba'ku who forgive their actions, this process beginning when Picard arranges a meeting between Gallatin and his mother. The Enterprise crew take one last moment to enjoy their rejuvenated selves before returning to their mission.

Cast

• Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker
• Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data
• LeVar Burton as Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge
• Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Commander Worf
• Gates McFadden as Commander (Doctor) Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Commander (Counselor) Deanna Troi
• F. Murray Abraham as Adhar Ru'afo
• Donna Murphy as Anij
• Anthony Zerbe as Admiral Matthew Dougherty
• Stephanie Niznik as Ensign Kell Perim
• Daniel Hugh Kelly as Sojef
• Gregg Henry as Gallatin
• Michael Welch as Artim
• Michael Horton as Lieutenant Daniels
• Majel Barrett as Computer voice

• Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello plays a Son'a warrior. Morello also appeared in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Good Shepherd", as Crewman Mitchell.

Production

Development

By the start of 1998, pre-production on Star Trek: Insurrection began with set and conceptual drawings generated by Herman Zimmerman and illustrator John Eaves as early as January. Director Jonathan Frakes returned to helm his second Trek film and co-star as Commander Riker, Patrick Stewart also did double duty as Captain Picard and associate producer. With Industrial Light & Magic busy with work on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Frakes and company turned to a new visual effects house for the first time since Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Splitting the workload, Blue Sky Studios and Santa Barbara Studios were hired to contribute almost entirely digital effects with model photography limited to the explosion of the Son'a collector ship.

Music

Insurrection was composer Jerry Goldsmith's fourth film score for the franchise.^[1] Goldsmith continued using the march and Klingon themes he crafted for Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979, with adding new themes and variations. Insurrection opens with Alexander Courage's Star Trek: The Original Series fanfare, also introducing a six-note motif used in many of the film's action sequences. The Ba'ku are scored with a pastoral theme, repeating harps, string sections and a woodwind solo. The Ba'ku's ability to slow time uses a variation of this music.^[2]

Goldsmith approached starship sequences with quick bursts of brass music. While observers are watching the Ba'ku unseen, Goldsmith employed a "spying theme" that bears resemblance to the composer's conspiracy theme from Capricorn One. Composed of a piano, timpani percussion, and brass, the theme builds until interrupted by the action theme as Data opens fire. Goldsmith did not write a motif for the Son'a, choosing to score the action sequence without designating the Son'a as an antagonist (suggesting the film's revelation that the Son'a and Ba'ku are related.) The film's climax is scored with the action material, balanced by "sense of wonder" music similar to cues from The Motion Picture.^[2]

Reception

The film received a mixed reception from critics, with a general consensus that it seemed to be little more than a "glorified episode of the television series".^[3]

Reviewers Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel were split in their response, one thumb down from Ebert, one thumb up from Siskel. Ebert wrote in his Chicago Sun Times review that he felt the movie's problem lay in its morality play, stating that he wasn't sure that 600 Ba'ku lives weren't worth sacrificing to help billions of Federation citizens. Siskel, however, felt differently, and though he died not long after screening the film, his wife later told Michael Piller that it was the only Star Trek movie Gene Siskel truly enjoyed.

Box office

Insurrection grossed $70,187,658 in the U.S. and $112,600,000 worldwide against a $58,000,000 budget.^[4] The previous Star Trek movie, First Contact, grossed $92,027,888 in the USA and $146,027,888 worldwide.

Video game

Though not a direct tie in to the film, the PC video game Star Trek: Hidden Evil (Activision, 2000) is a sequel both to this film and to "The Chase", a sixth-season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It revisits the Ba'ku homeworld, and features some of Insurrection's Ba'ku and Son'a characters in minor roles (and in most cases voiced by actors other than the ones in the movie), although most of the game's storyline takes place in an underground complex that turns out to have been constructed by the proto-humanoid race revealed in "The Chase."

Deleted scenes

Several scenes were cut before release of the movie:

• An extended library scene in which Riker and Troi throw small paper balls at each other. This scene also includes some lines by the librarian (Lee Arnone-Briggs) and a Trill officer (Max Grodénchik)
• A scene in which Picard and Anij kiss each other.
• A scene in which Picard spills cheese on a PADD displaying the Briar Patch.
• The actual ejection of the warp core.
• Data reporting the condition of the Captain's Yacht being "precarious" and then beaming out before it explodes, explaining why the yacht is ultimately absent in the end.
• Data punching some Son'a on the Ba'ku planet and nailing them with isolinear tags.
• The line "There will be no cover-up" on the Son'a ship.
• The original version of the fight between Picard and Ru'afo contained an additional scene. After Picard was beamed away by the Enterprise, Ru'afo fell into the rings of the Ba'ku planet and was regressed into a young child. This scene was cut from the final film, but a "Young Ru'afo" (played by Phillip Glasser) is still listed in the credits.
• Armin Shimerman was originally to appear at the end of the film as his Star Trek: Deep Space Nine character Quark; the scene was filmed, but Frakes felt it did not fit in with the rest of the film and cut it.^[5]

Many of these scenes were included as a supplement in the 2005 Special Collector's Edition release of the film.

Notes

References

• Bond, Jeff (1999). The Music of Star Trek. Lone Eagle Publishing Company. ISBN 1580650120. 

External links

• Official website
• Star Trek: Insurrection at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek: Insurrection at Allmovie
• Star Trek: Insurrection at Rotten Tomatoes
• Star Trek: Insurrection at Metacritic
• Star Trek: Insurrection at Box Office Mojo
• Star Trek: Insurrection at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)