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Starring Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Jonathan
Frakes, Levar Burton, F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, Anthony Zerbe. Directed by Jonathan Frakes.
Data is part of a covert Federation operation viewing a peaceful race of people called the Ba'ku. who live in a kind of Shangri-La, where their bodies have ceased aging and their health is near perfect. They have abandoned all modern conveniences, preferring to avoid the "evils" of technology to live in fashionable peasant wear and dwell in cute little huts. Data is shot during the mission, causing him to snap, blowing the mission's cover. With their recent troubles with the Dominion and the Borg, the Federation is eager to accept the Son'a into membership. This surveillance is being done for the Son'a's benefit, a group of old men who maintain their falling-apart bodies by stretching their skin, and stapling it to their scalps. The Son'a have invented a harvesting method that can harness the life-giving properties from the planet's atmosphere, so that the Son'a can regenerate themselves. The problem is that the planet will die, and the Ba'ku will either die with it, or have to move. This violates the Prime Directive of non-interference in the lives of alien cultures , but the Federation council wants the Son'a's membership bad enough to overlook it. But not the crew of the Enterprise. They ride to the rescue of the Ba'ku, disobeying a direct order of the Admiral (Zerbe) in charge by leading them through the mountains. And the sheer folly of breaking the Prime Directive is demonstrated for all to see (sarcasm intended). The Next Generation crew has traditionally been humour-challenged, but Insurrection features a light tone with plenty of humour. Much of it centers around a topic not usually touched during the TV series - sex. The life giving properties of the planet also makes those who come into contact with it not only younger, but hornier. Riker (Frakes) and Troi (Sirtis) relive their past lustings. Picard (Stewart) meets a serene cutie pie (Murphy) of 300 years plus (but looking much younger), and he promises considerable shore-leave time to enjoy technology-free lives. And the humour is often juvenile - Crusher (McFadden) and Troi make boob jokes to mystify Data. The action is limited to the insurrection, and it is not that threatening. And far too often, Picard and others get way too holier than thou. For example, Picard compares the forced moving of 600 people with the Nazi holocaust. Oh, yeah, they're the same thing (sarcasm intended). The moral considerations are far too simplisticly laid out as black and white, and such obvious compromises as allowing the Son'a to live on another part of the huge planet seems not to have been considered. The original Star Trek (still the best show) treated the Prime Directive as the Prime Suggestion, and wasn't afraid to bend it if the situation warranted it. Star Trek: Next Generation has always been more proper and rigid about following the rules, and it is often to the detriment of the suspense of the show - if you always know the characters will act scrupulously honourably, there are no suprises left. You'd think with the previous description that I didn't think much of the movie. But the movie is better than the sums of its parts. It is entertaining, beautifully filmed and well-paced. And it's fun. It is not as good as last year's Final Conflict, and not nearly as good as Wrath of Khan and some other original Star Trek films. It's a film Star Trek fans might just enjoy, although others might not be so impressed.   
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