Star Trek: Renegades is a movie rife with mysteries. Is it worth watching Dr. Lucien (Sean Young) and Dr. Zimmerman (Robert Picardo) make out? (That was not fun.) Why, in the 24th century, is Dr. Lucien wearing eyeglasses?! How did so many Trek alumni plus a host of C list actors sign on to a project with such an abominable script at its core? Was it just for love of the show? Because they didn't do the cinematic legacy of Star Trek any favors. It's difficult to give a low score to any Trek movie because as a die-hard fan, I'm always hungry for new stories, new perspectives, and new lore from at universe. But I can't in good conscience give this movie a higher rating.
With a reported budget of $375,000, we can't really fault Renegades for its amateurish production quality. What was so jarring were the mystifying swings, scene to scene, from fairly decent CGI to what looked like clip art from MS Word 95. Even the lighting was garish and weird in places. I have never before noticed the lighting in a movie. The filmmakers clearly spent money on makeup as there are almost a dozen different alien races on view, including a new reptilian species and a single Klingon with oily skin. They should have thrown some of that money at a couple of decent writers.
Sci-fi fans, trekkers in particular, will forgive most anything except a terrible storyline. I was confused and disoriented ten minutes into this movie. Tuvok now works for Section 31, a secret intelligence division of Star Fleet, he but interrupts a prison fight to recruit Lexxa Singh in the full view of dozens of inmates and guards? So much for covert ops. Once this black ops team is assembled, the movie devolves into a parade of sci-fi clichés and plot holes. The deepest mystery of Renegades is what exactly is going on and why? I gave up the attempt when the Betazoid member of the crew, a woman who establishes early on that she doesn't possess the telepathic abilities of the rest of her race, suddenly uses MIND CONTROL powers (which have never manifested in any member of her species in the history of the Star Trek universe) to escape captivity. Still, I have to give the filmmakers credit for the attempt. It's clear that they love Star Trek and, like me, will always want more. But the writing has got to improve if Renegades is going to survive.
With a reported budget of $375,000, we can't really fault Renegades for its amateurish production quality. What was so jarring were the mystifying swings, scene to scene, from fairly decent CGI to what looked like clip art from MS Word 95. Even the lighting was garish and weird in places. I have never before noticed the lighting in a movie. The filmmakers clearly spent money on makeup as there are almost a dozen different alien races on view, including a new reptilian species and a single Klingon with oily skin. They should have thrown some of that money at a couple of decent writers.
Sci-fi fans, trekkers in particular, will forgive most anything except a terrible storyline. I was confused and disoriented ten minutes into this movie. Tuvok now works for Section 31, a secret intelligence division of Star Fleet, he but interrupts a prison fight to recruit Lexxa Singh in the full view of dozens of inmates and guards? So much for covert ops. Once this black ops team is assembled, the movie devolves into a parade of sci-fi clichés and plot holes. The deepest mystery of Renegades is what exactly is going on and why? I gave up the attempt when the Betazoid member of the crew, a woman who establishes early on that she doesn't possess the telepathic abilities of the rest of her race, suddenly uses MIND CONTROL powers (which have never manifested in any member of her species in the history of the Star Trek universe) to escape captivity. Still, I have to give the filmmakers credit for the attempt. It's clear that they love Star Trek and, like me, will always want more. But the writing has got to improve if Renegades is going to survive.