The sci-fi series Star Trek: The Next Century premiered in 1987. But it took until November 18, 1994, until the crew under Captain Picard was able to experience an adventure on the big screen with Star Trek VII – Meeting of the Generations.
This was the first Star Trek film produced after the death of franchise father Gene Roddenberry in 1991. And about the first Star Trek film that broke one of its rules for the sci-fi universe.
Star Trek VII broke Gene Roddenberry’s rule for the franchise with the meeting of Kirk and Picard
In Star Trek VII by director David Carson, part of the classic original series crew attends the maiden flight of the new Enterprise-B. When a mysterious anomaly causes complications, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) is seemingly blown into space and dies. 78 years later, the El-Aurian kidnaps Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell) meets Enterprise engineer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton). His goal is to solve the phenomenon called Nexus to redirect so that you can immerse yourself in it again.
When Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) confronts Soran, he himself is captured by the Nexus like his predecessor. However, he decides against the happy illusionary world within the anomaly and locates Kirk in it in order to recruit an ally for the showdown. Gene Roddenberry probably wouldn’t have agreed to this meeting of generations.
According to Screen Rant The Star Trek creator had many rules for his sci-fi creation. Especially when they started the spin-off series with the next generation. And one of those rules said that the crews of the different series should not meet each other. Mixing them up would run the risk of diminishing the success of the current incarnation, according to the logic at the time.
Why breaking the rules of Star Trek VII is still not a problem
After the commercial failure of Star Trek – The Movie, Gene Roddenberry was no longer significantly involved in the production of the cinema series. Instead, he cooked his own space soup with the follow-up series Star Trek: The Next Century and probably didn’t want to make it look smaller by a direct comparison with the more elaborate adventures of the original crew.
However, he already violated his crossover rule in the series pilot for The Next Century, when a very aging Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) comes aboard the Enterprise-D at the end of the episode and talks to Data. A month before Roddenberry’s death, the double episode Reunion was also released in November 1991, in which Picard goes in search of Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy).
Other rules set by Gene Roddenberry were constantly broken – not least from the Trek inventor himself. Among other things, the requirement not to show any personal conflicts between crew members was understandably difficult to maintain. Fortunately, other strange ideas from the sci-fi mastermind, such as gigantic genitals for Ferengi men or extra breasts for Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis), were not even implemented.
Where to stream Star Trek VII?
If you would like to watch Star Trek VII – Meeting of the Generations to celebrate the day, you will find the science fiction film at Paramount+ in the stream, or as a rental or purchase title on Amazon, Sky, Apple TV and Co.