Star Trek Insurrection

Palmer’s Trek, the unwatched frontier. These are the voyages of Agent Palmer. On his continuing mission: to explore Star Trek. To seek out its numerous series and movies. To boldly go where many fans have gone before!

Insurrection is ideal mix of old and (then) new series

Star Trek: Insurrection is, at this moment, the pinnacle of Star Trek for me. It is perhaps best described as a brilliant two-part episode from Star Trek: The Next Generation that’s authentically more like Star Trek: The Original Series than almost anything since the 1960s.

This may be why it has outshone my enjoyment of Star Trek: First Contact. That mix of classic and modern Star Trek is something that is often either/or, but with Insurrection we get a wonderful crossroads that really speaks to my Star Trek fandom heart that’s arguably grown three sizes since this personal trek began.

First off, we’re talking about a variation on the time-travel idea. This time it’s with time dilations and the fountain of youth, so while it’s not actual time travel, we are dealing with the concept of manipulating time, or at least our characters’ relation to it.

Second, this may have been released for the big screen, but it feels like a two-part episode from the television series, which I don’t see as a bad thing. These are characters we’re used to seeing in a certain light. When we revisit that, good things can happen. I know there must be fans that expect something special when it comes to seeing television make the jump to cinema, but I want these characters to continue to be who they are, so I was not disappointed.

So what is Star Trek: Insurrection? IMDb’s short description actually does the film some justice. “When the crew of the Enterprise learn of a Federation conspiracy against the inhabitants of a unique planet, Captain Picard begins an open rebellion.”

The “unique planet” is due to very specific circumstances which have caused the planet to be a fountain of youth. Certain factions within the Federation want to steal from this planet that which makes it a fountain of youth, a process using new technology that could destroy the planet itself. The settlers, the Ba’ku, represent a restrained anti-technology sentiment. We’re not talking about luddites here; we’re talking about a group of individuals who were not happy with what technology turned them in to. The technology that was supposed to help them grow turned them into people they didn’t want to be and so they put it away, as one does when one grows up and puts “away childish things.”

Of course, Data is at the center of the plot, because why not? So we have the Ba’ku and their relationship with technology dealing with a full-fledged android who’s actively trying to help them and attempting to learn the concept of fun at the same time. 

Yet the messaging of this film is not just to put “away childish things” as Data is trying to learn, but to know when to be human and to understand what is human. As one of the Ba’ku says, “Our technological abilities are not apparent because we have chosen not to employ them in our daily lives. We believe when you create a machine to do the work of a man, you take something away from the man.”

Perhaps now, more than ever this sentiment should not just be repeated, but plastered across the digital and physical globes we inhabit. 

This is one of the many aspects of the film that leads to some comedic relief and is perhaps why this film feels more like a two-part episode. It’s so very light-hearted in its nature as far as the narrative and the script goes that it feels more like television. 

Meanwhile, the film feels more authentic to the original series of Star Trek because it’s not as reliant on digital effects and the practical feels more realistic than the practical effects that created the Borg in First Contact. When Stark Trek hearkens back to The Original Series and finds a way to do more with less, it makes my fandom sing.

The comedy, messaging, and effects are also accompanied by a magnificent score and perhaps the most colorful palette in the Star Trek cinematic universe, especially when compared to the other Next Generation movies I’ve seen thus far.

Interestingly, this movie seems to take a few of the other films, especially First Contact and its conflict resolution narratives, to task. At the beginning, Picard laments, “Oh, so they need us to put out one more brush fire. Can anyone remember when we used to be explorers?” Later, in a conversation with Anij of the Ba’ku, she comments, “More questions. Always the explorer…” 

As someone who, years later, is watching Star Trek in chronological order as best I can, it does feel like the narrative of conflict resolution or some other warmongering prevention does muddy the waters of the franchise as a whole. To the point of Insurrection’s release, we have had many movies based upon two television series that always start with the quote from a captain ending with, “To explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no one has gone before!”

So, yes, while I did enjoy Insurrection, I must say it does remind me that the exploration seems to be lost at this point in the franchise. When it comes to the movies, it especially seems like we enjoy exploding the Enterprise more than we like exploring with it. So while I don’t know anything about Nemesis, the title gives me more of an indication that this next film is more likely to explode the Enterprise than to explore with it.

To that end, I do know that soon I’ll be spending some time on Deep Space Nine, a space station, which will be a different aspect of the franchise for me. Until this movie pointed it out, however, you can easily overlook how important it was for the Enterprise and its crew to be explorers. 

Still, I did enjoy Insurrection, and maybe it’s just because it felt more like the television series. I can only surmise that’s the exact reason others many not have enjoyed it. Anyway, things are looking up, so let’s get moving.

On to Star Trek: Nemesis.