Usually unceremoniously relegated to the lower-gauged tiers of “Star Trek” characteristic movies, “Star Trek: Rebellion” deserves a respectful place on the desk this vacation season because the Jonathan Frakes-directed installment within the sci-fi franchise celebrates its milestone twenty fifth anniversary.
Launched by Paramount Photos on Dec. 11, 1998, “Rebellion” was the third movie to showcase “The Subsequent Technology” solid and got here simply two years after the unqualified essential and business success of “Star Trek: First Contact,” which continues to be thought of among the finest entries in Hollywood’s lengthy affiliation with Gene Roddenberry’s “Wagon Practice to the Stars.” Try our streaming information for Star Trek on the place to observe all of your favourite Trek reveals and movies.
Fortified with a lighter-toned “fountain of youth” screenplay written by Rick Berman and Michael Piller and starring the complete complement of crewmembers returning to the USS Enterprise-E together with Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton, and Gates McFadden, its story was considerably gentle on motion and as an alternative went for a cerebral story specializing in mortality, household, colonialism, compelled resettlement, and the ills of human self-importance.
Paramount’s funds allocation for Rebellion was $70 million and the film earned a decent $117 million worldwide throughout its theatrical run. That is not a staggering sum for at present’s stratospheric field workplace expectations however an honest return based mostly on 1998 {dollars}.
Regardless of stable path by Frakes, after chopping his enamel helming “First Contact,” its reliance on a extra old style storyline most likely makes it higher suited to the small display screen as an prolonged episode of “Star Trek: The Unique Sequence” or “The Subsequent Technology.” Nonetheless the plot does have its deserves in a sillier aspect that features a semi-cringey romantic subplot for Picard, pimple jokes, Will Riker having his beard shaved in a bubble bathtub with Deana Troi, and Picard, Worf, and Information singing a rousing Gilbert and Sullivan tune from the traditional “H.M.S. Pinafore” musical.
Story-wise, “Rebellion” employs a well-meaning script loaded with a distinguished social justice theme that begins to wear down its welcome after the primary hour. Inside a area of the Alpha Quadrant generally known as the Briar Patch, a humanoid race known as the Ba’ku lead a utopian existence devoid of superior know-how till a clandestine Federation-fronted statement workforce known as the “Duck Blind” mission intervenes for nefarious functions. Information, a member of the survey crew, goes haywire and finally ends up revealing himself and the observers to the peaceable agrarian society.
Picard and his crew arrive to attempt to disarm Information with out additional escalation and unwittingly uncover a controversial rip-off concocted by the Son’a alien race and authorized by Starfleet’s Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) to relocate 600 Ba’ku off-world to steal their planet’s life-extending substance.
Academy Award profitable actor F. Murray Abraham (“Amadeus,” “Scarface”) is completely solid as Ru’afo, the imposing chief of the Son’a, a rubbery, skin-stretched species whose grasp plan is to commandeer the planet’s metaphasic radiation for private salvation in addition to important future monetary features by exploiting the magical cosmic components. “Rebellion’s” a number of flesh-tightening periods and dental implants do demand a powerful abdomen and sci-fi aficionados will recall related scenes in director Terry Gilliam’s wild dystopian sci-fi flick from 1985, “Brazil.”
The subplot of Worf going by means of Jak’tahla, the Klingon equal of puberty, is performed to largely amusing impact, with Worf struggling a extreme pimples outbreak and uncontrolled greasy hair progress, however the minor narrative system stays a shallow diversion that by no means really hits its potential stride.
Different amusing but unintended penalties are sprinkled all through the movie’s runtime on account of Picard and Co. being uncovered to age-defying floor radiation and its libidinous, puberty-inducing, boob-firming side-effects supplied by these blessed metaphasic particles solid from the planet’s rings.
Picard’s Ba’ku love curiosity, Anij (Donna Murphy), stirs up a modicum of sexual chemistry that solely hints at carnal information however fortunately by no means strays down that prurient path. An onscreen kiss WAS filmed however finally deleted from last minimize.
Tempted by the promise of perpetual youth, the Son’a have developed a know-how to gather the valuable rejuvenating particles which might subsequently destroy the biosphere. The Federation has partnered with them to share the cosmic wealth and justifies the relocation plan as a result of Ba’ku not being naive to the planet, so the Prime Directive technically doesn’t apply. However Picard believes this to be in opposition to the rules from which the Federation was conceived and sadly recollects all of the cultures which were destroyed by way of that very same line of considering.
Ruminating over historical past’s dirty document of the compelled relocation of small teams to fulfill the calls for of a bigger, technologically superior aggressor, Picard disobeys Federation orders and aids the Ba’ku in a battle in opposition to the Son’a to protect their mystical dwelling and its Zen-like concord.
Picard and his posse lastly lead the Ba’ku by means of a cave system throughout floor bombardment to stop their extermination or being beamed off planet by the Son’a. Earlier than Ru’afo is killed after being tricked and transporting to the activated harvester ship, it is found that the Son’a are literally the identical species. They seem to be a faction that broke off from Ba’ku society a century in the past, leading to a touching reunion finale between a number of aged Son’a and their youthful immortal mother and father.
Following a placid, drama-drenched buildup, the ultimate quarter-hour do present some stimulating area dogfights presenting elegantly-designed Son’a battle cruisers amid the twisted purple haze of the Briar Patch nebulae to raise the flick additional.
Whereas definitely not precisely a low water mark within the “Star Trek” characteristic movie roster (that honor goes to “Star Trek: The Ultimate Frontier” with all due apologies to director William Shatner!), “Rebellion” is a light-footed rendezvous with “Subsequent Technology” heroes which may really feel considerably acquainted to longtime followers of “The Unique Sequence.”
Nevertheless, its playfully-paced spirit, targeted storytelling, humorous tone, and sensible solid chemistry make it a stable option to revisit in honor of its twenty fifth anniversary.
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