There are several small issues with this production and there is the big one – Will Shatner himself. The documentary is driven in the end by the writer/director obsession with his own mortality – a legendary fact that goes beyond any Star Trek cultural movement boundaries. What this movie is about is Shatner's quest to find meaning and reassurance about the legacy of his work. A desperate cry for an epiphany that in the end comes across as fake and sad at the same time.
The production seems amateurish and uninspired. The music is obtrusive and there is neither pacing nor great method. There is minimal structure, the interviews being chopped up and arranged depending on the subject in question. There is also a major flaw in the concept. Being a documentary about Star Trek captains it HAD to feature Chris Pine, the youngest of the bunch, with only a feature film in the Trek series under his belt, and not much of a career to boast on either. Subsequently his small segment is absolutely out of place and feels like a complete waste of time.
Except for the Christopher Plummer bit – an absolute gem of a few minutes in this production - the rest of the "interviews" all seem a little bit strange. I don't think that Shatner resonates on the same wavelength with any of the coleagues he interviews. I may even go so far as to say that there isn't much show of mutual respect either. Except for a lot of mandatory and empty exchange of praises, of course. In contrast when you have these two old friends, Shatner and Plummer on the same room it just clicks, naturally and beautifully, but the moment comes and goes very fast.
I'm also terribly disappointed with the amount of time this film wastes on the interview with Avery Brooks, that seemed smoked out of his mind. And by interview I mean Shatner and Brooks exchanging a lot of metaphysical mumbo-jumbo and singing along around the piano like schoolgirls. I just don't have the stomach for this amount of naiveté.
This was even more disturbing considering that at the same time Jonathan Frakes and Robert Picardo appear in the film with one liners basically. OK they were not "captains" but Kate Mulgrew was. And she really seems to have a thing or two to say about Star Trek, career, family and loss, and she is dismissed very quickly. Furthermore the little screen time she had is lost on stupid dialogues like "is it possible to be a female captain on the bridge of Star Trek?", "I was, so it's possible", "so it's impossible but you did it"... what?!
That being said there are good things about this film. At least Bakula, Mulgrew and Stewart have something to say when questioned, about any topic, more or less related to Star Trek or acting and life. Patrick Stewart especially has a few surprising moments of openness. At a point I think he was even a little bit choked up remembering things. And you don't even need to be a trekkie to appreciate what these people have to offer.
Unfortunately this was a "feature length" film and that is just not enough to even attempt to poke at their minds and life/career experience. I really hope Will Shatner has some 9 hours of footage on his editing room floor with these people, and he will came back with another version of this film, somewhere in the future. Otherwise these actors were disturbed for far too little.
The production seems amateurish and uninspired. The music is obtrusive and there is neither pacing nor great method. There is minimal structure, the interviews being chopped up and arranged depending on the subject in question. There is also a major flaw in the concept. Being a documentary about Star Trek captains it HAD to feature Chris Pine, the youngest of the bunch, with only a feature film in the Trek series under his belt, and not much of a career to boast on either. Subsequently his small segment is absolutely out of place and feels like a complete waste of time.
Except for the Christopher Plummer bit – an absolute gem of a few minutes in this production - the rest of the "interviews" all seem a little bit strange. I don't think that Shatner resonates on the same wavelength with any of the coleagues he interviews. I may even go so far as to say that there isn't much show of mutual respect either. Except for a lot of mandatory and empty exchange of praises, of course. In contrast when you have these two old friends, Shatner and Plummer on the same room it just clicks, naturally and beautifully, but the moment comes and goes very fast.
I'm also terribly disappointed with the amount of time this film wastes on the interview with Avery Brooks, that seemed smoked out of his mind. And by interview I mean Shatner and Brooks exchanging a lot of metaphysical mumbo-jumbo and singing along around the piano like schoolgirls. I just don't have the stomach for this amount of naiveté.
This was even more disturbing considering that at the same time Jonathan Frakes and Robert Picardo appear in the film with one liners basically. OK they were not "captains" but Kate Mulgrew was. And she really seems to have a thing or two to say about Star Trek, career, family and loss, and she is dismissed very quickly. Furthermore the little screen time she had is lost on stupid dialogues like "is it possible to be a female captain on the bridge of Star Trek?", "I was, so it's possible", "so it's impossible but you did it"... what?!
That being said there are good things about this film. At least Bakula, Mulgrew and Stewart have something to say when questioned, about any topic, more or less related to Star Trek or acting and life. Patrick Stewart especially has a few surprising moments of openness. At a point I think he was even a little bit choked up remembering things. And you don't even need to be a trekkie to appreciate what these people have to offer.
Unfortunately this was a "feature length" film and that is just not enough to even attempt to poke at their minds and life/career experience. I really hope Will Shatner has some 9 hours of footage on his editing room floor with these people, and he will came back with another version of this film, somewhere in the future. Otherwise these actors were disturbed for far too little.