What comes next…

This touching vignette is clearly a love letter to Leonard Nimoy, produced by his widow and William Shatner. The Rodenberry Archive created this short in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of Star Trek Generations, the movie that passed the cinematic baton from the original series to the next generation.

It’s lovely and incredibly stylized, with no dialog except for a very brief voiceover by Shatner. The score by Michael Giacchino is evocative and enchanting, and the visuals are beautiful.

The opening is a series of rapid-fire flashes, referencing everything from “The Cage” (the first Star Trek pilot) through to the TOS and TNG films. We see Kirk at a send-off of sorts, presumably meant to be his own wake or similar. Among the attendees, Saavik, who also had a deep connection to Spock. Kirk takes his wordless leave of them and accepts a combadge from an alien who looks like he’s acting as an officiate of sorts. He passes through a dark corridor, encounters his younger selves, then finds himself in Spock’s quarters (evidently on Vulcan) with Spock on his death bed. Spock looks first confused, then pleased, to see Kirk. The wall turns transparent to reveal a breathtaking vista. They turn to watch a stunning sunset before moving on to the next realm together.

It’s undoubtedly intended for long-time fans, which is both its strongest point as well as a weakness. Much like the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey, which left many who hadn’t read the book baffled, this film won’t make nearly as much sense to those who have not followed the franchise from its inception. Not that these groups are mutually exclusive by any means (I’m in all three), but Trek basically has three subsets of fans: those who’ve followed since TOS, those who jumped on board thanks to TNG-era shows, and those newest fans who came in thanks to Discovery and the newest series. The further back a person’s history goes with Star Trek, the more meaningful this film will be. Or rather, regardless of when one became a fan, the more they know of the history, the bigger the impact will be.

Verdict: Not so much a nod to the film as a masterful visual missive to the much-missed Leonard Nimoy. 9/10

Rigel Ailur

http://www.BluetrixBooks.com