McDowell: Kirk Deserved Better
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Malcolm McDowell, who played the obsessed Dr. Tolian Soran, did not like how Captain Kirk died in Star Trek: Generations.
According to McDowell, the death scene was filmed several times. “We shot it twice,” said McDowell. “It was feeble, I thought, because I thought [Kirk] deserved better.”
“Poor old Captain Kirk,” said McDowell. “It was sad, really. Honestly, the producers should have given him a much better sendoff than they did.”
Shatner had joked with McDowell, saying, “You shot me in the back!”
“The truth is, that’s what happened,” said McDowell. “They should have given him a glorious death. If they’re going to kill one of the icons of American television, then get rid of him in a beautiful way. I was very disappointed that they didn’t come up with something a little better.”
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Too right, If it had been me, I’d have contrived it so Kirk died in the Captain’s chair of the Enterprise D
Alone… as he always knew he would be at the end.
I don’t think it was necessary to kill him off at all. I’m really suprised Shatner went for it. His cameo scene written out of the 2009 Trek movie — now that would have been a fantastic send off!
I was always disappointed with Kirk’s death. An accident during a fight? Really?
Kirk needed to choose to die. It needed to be a no-win situation with a lot on the line. He realizes he can’t find a way around it, so “turns death into a fighting chance for life” for others. We needed to see that realization on his face, and then the determination to do what needed to be done.
Yep. Kirk died while fumbling for the remote on an unremarkable backwater planet. That is only slightly less humiliating than being shot in the back.
The Enterprise-D’s death was equally lame. Gunned down by an aging bird of prey because of shield frequency technobabble. I remember being really disappointed by both.
Spock’s death in Star Trek 2 was so well done, so emotional. The Enterprise’s death in Star Trek 3 was equally powerful. Generations combined both events – the death of an iconic character and destruction of a TV Enterprise – and yet both were so poorly handled and lame.
Malcolm McDowell made a serious point. Kirk’s death was, for lack of a better description, ‘less than graceful’. Even the the destruction of the Enterprise-D was not necessary.
The only good things about Generations were this:
1. The Enterprise-B segment.
2. Malcolm McDowell
3. The appearances of Whoopi Goldberg, John Putch, Jenette Goldstein, Tim Russ, Brian Thompson, Glenn Morshower, and Alan Ruck
4. The killing off of the Duras Sisters.
The rest of the movie just plain sucked!
Ronald Moore is definitely a lousy writer. His talents would be better suited to the likes of the dreck being churned out by Starship Farragut and the upcoming abomination from Farragut Films: Vic Mignogna’s Star Trek Continues.
Are you serious? Did you actually read the scene? It was some lame ass video christmas card to Spock. It would have been pathetic.
Yes, blasastter, I am serious and I know there are many others who agree with me that the scene would have been amazing. Hey, we disagree. It happens! Yes, I read the scene and obviously I loved it. Yes, it was a holographic Christmas card. But the cool part (to me) was that his dialogue ended up fitting so well with the visuals of the crew. Though the speech was meant to be a private note to his friend, the words which were very transparent and heart-felt seemed to fit so nicely with the images of this “new” young crew. And it also served to show the young Spock that he could not only learn to respect this Kirk guy, but he could grow a very deep friendship that would last decades. To me it was very touching and really would have passed the torch in a much more meaningful way for Kirk than the death scene in Generations, which I’m sure everyone can agree WAS “pathetic.”
Wow… obsessed much? If you folks hate that production so much, it’s odd that you’re constantly giving it more attention than it ever would otherwise get. Seems kind of fishy, not to mention really petty and immeasurably stupid.
I don’t mind the broader reasons surrounding Kirk’s death, I just really hate the way he died.
Maybe if he died in the explosion that killed Soran, trying to stop him from undoing Picard’s sabotage, or didn’t die at all, it would have been better.
Not as Petty and immeasurably stupid as yours and everyone’s else’s hateful remarks toward J.J. Abrams. It’s funny how some Star Trek fans…well purists I should say….have a nasty habit of throwing stones in glass houses. That kind of BS just tarnishes Star Trek’s name really bad.
I’m the same guy as BlueThunder, and I have been promised incentives to post attacks on Star Trek Continues all over the Internet.
I can’t help but agree. As hamhanded as those knuckleheads are with every other aspect of the script, they really had a good grasp on the characters and how they interacted. It would have been a much better farewell.
Blink. This is a surprising statement from the man who’s stated over and over that he only did ‘Generations’ because he got to kill Kirk.
However, it is true that Kirk died, as the Ferengi say, ‘like a bitch’. There is no honor for his killer in that.
Kirk’s presumed death on the Enterprise-B was far and away more heroic and more in character than waddling over the railing of a cost-effective bridge. They should have left it at that.
Except one big thing: This is an article about Kirk’s death in Generations. It has nothing to do with Star Trek Continues, Starship Farragut, or anything else of the sort. The only reason JJ Abrams was even mentioned was within the context of the actual article… namely about Kirk’s death. If you want to connect your obsession with the current article, then fine… otherwise, do everyone a favor and shut up. If you aren’t smart enough to link the story to your obsession, I think you should either find a new obsession, or be better at the one you have… right now, you just look stupid for bringing this up in every article, germane or not.
Have you ever listened to the commentary track by Moore and Braga (presumably recorded before their dissolute falling out)? They quite incisively dissect everything that is obviously wrong about the movie.
Indeed!!!
“Generations” was what it was: the TNG tv crew learning how to transition on to big screen movies. For all the flaws it had, there was a lot that was acceptable or really well done. For me, I was ok with Kirk dying off, but I do agree, I wish how they did it had been changed. However, one could also argue his real “death” was saving the Enterprise-B, or that he isn’t really dead, as part of him is still in the nexus. Part of me wished they brought him back in a future film, and in fact, I bet had JJ-Trek not happened and Brent Spiner’s “Justice League of Star Trek” film had happened, he would have come back. Stinking JJ-Trek! Now we’ll never know…
Stealing identities much? Well you have certainly proven how low a person can go. Whoever posted the aforementioned statement was not me. And just to be clear, Nobody has offered or promised me incentives for my statements.
While I do think the death of Kirk was badly handled, I think the bigger misstep in this film was having it suddenly be the Picard and Data show… TNG balanced its ensemble so much better on the small screen… In part, I think that’s why First Contact is easily their best outing, in that it gave everyone something important to do… they at least all had satisfactory beats within the story. I don’t think that’s true of any of the other 3… and even in FC it was way too Picard and Data -centric. I just wish they had used their ensemble better… and as bad as Kirk’s death was, it didn’t set the stage for continued mediocrity as much as the over-focus on Picard/Data… I mean, this wasn’t Voyager… there were more than 2 or 3 interesting characters.
Not as stupid as your hate spewing BS about J.J. Abrams. So why don’t you do everybody a favor and shut the hell up. If you can’t say anything constructive about Abrams(even in a negative way)then maybe you shouldn’t be saying BS about Abrams and his accomplishments at all. Ever think about that? Obviously not.
@BlueThunder
Mike is right. Abrams is irrelevant here. And your resentment of those who (justifiably) criticize his “acomplishments” is irrelevant as well.
Someone is stealing my other identity and posting as me! If this continues, I will be distracted from my compensated bashing of Star Trek Continues.
Ron: “It’s too optomistic and uplifting.”
Brannon: “There’s not enough tits.”
Blink blink… “Justice League of Star Trek”? I must have missed that, tell me more.
And if you could: If it was Brent’s project, does that mean that Data would have been wearing the Wonder Woman swimsuit?
If I recall correctly, Spiner wanted to have a new film that combined all TNG-era Trek… So, it would’ve feature Picard running Enterprise, I think with Worf as XO, if I’m remembering right. Riker and a few others were on the Titan. DS9 and the Defiant would be involved, as would certain characters from Voyager, and even TOS would’ve been fair game in terms of Spock and a few others…. but that’s what he means by Justice League… a team up.
Not sure if this production would’ve been better… but it was a better IDEA.
Why are you trying to steal my identity? Just to prove a point or just to act foolish? And what makes you think that someone is being compensated for their postings?
And I thought the hate spewing toward nuTrek was bad!
What you call justifiably criticizing Abrams has come off as nothing more than hate spewing BS. I would hardly call that as irrelevant. I would call that as crude and disgusting.
Yep, Ronald Moore and Brannon Braga certainly live up to their negative reputations. And I thought Fred Freiberger was just as bad!
Still, Kirk’s death could have been more graceful. It should have been like Spock’s death in TWOK. Heroic and emotionally powerful.
Maybe thay can revive him in the new Trek movie making it a mirror universe movie wich continues the story of the Mirror Darkly Enterprise series where all the captains of the Enterprise(Archer,young Kirk,old Kirk and Picard) join forces to stop Empress Hoshi..Would make a nice anniversary movie!