Lower Decks Finally Delivers a Kirk/Picard Moment Star Trek Generations Missed!
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 5 – A Meeting 30 Years in the Making!
Star Trek: Lower Decks season 5 premieres on October 24th, and fans, this is HUGE! The animated comedy series, ending its run on Paramount+, is pulling out all the stops, giving us a truly memorable moment, something even the iconic Star Trek Generations never delivered! Get ready because we are diving deep into that promised climax. Prepare yourselves!
The premiere episode, “Dos Cerritos,” introduces this crazy event: The USS Cerritos (under Captain Carol Freeman – Dawnn Lewis) encounters a quantum rift, sending it into an alternate reality. That alternate reality brings forth an extremely cool moment, bringing a long-anticipated meeting that might not have otherwise been possible, an encounter between a previously imagined and planned yet unrealized storyline element, this becomes a truly remarkable scene.
This leads to a meeting with another USS Cerritos…but this one’s commanded by Captain Becky Freeman (Tawny Newsome)! The promised meeting between two different versions and the crews themselves are really, really, unexpectedly cool! It's an awesome callback and really brings forward an event not available earlier and adds layers of potential in those alternate realities never made possible in those various stories across several different shows!
Star Trek Generations: The Kirk/Picard Meeting That Almost Had a Crew Throwdown!
Star Trek Generations (November 1994) is largely remembered for bringing together Captain Kirk (William Shatner) and Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), creating this extremely awesome pairing! And let’s not forget Kirk’s death—a huge event! Those two Captains teamed up to face Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell). This really got audiences interested – and the posters emphasized the event. That poster; and its use of marketing that poster with that tagline (“Two Captains, One Destiny”), makes many still think of this movie fondly.
However, screenwriters Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga initially had something even grander. According to Braga's interview with TrekMovie, their original vision was two Enterprise crews fighting, joining forces against the villain. They had hoped to depict a pivotal event that involved the captains' respective crew members. A truly huge clash.
Sadly, this grand scheme totally went undone. Getting Kirk and Picard together was massive– sufficient to draw viewers– so it became that major event. Those other actors (like Doohan and Koenig) returned as cameos–yet the main Enterprise crews never meet. This very different decision is something that will impact various future shows and narratives which depend on some very unique details surrounding its lore!
Why Generations Missed the Multi-Crew Showdown
Moore and Braga really wanted that encounter, however that original vision of this movie’s ending collapsed due to two major factors: Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and DeForest Kelley (McCoy). These people refused. Both disliked the script and didn't want to return—this also happened around the same period that Star Trek VI is released. Both had believed they got better farewells and didn’t think a later continuation of this narrative would add much for their individual roles in future iterations.
So that huge event gets cancelled. Paramount couldn't easily change Generations’ core concept, so this storyline involving both teams remained cancelled. Focusing on TNG, those original TOS stars are relegated only as brief cameos which further illustrates exactly why their respective refusal remained important; having that original idea cut from the show creates unique story limitations for those newer shows and their development. The resulting finale missed this pivotal moment involving the various respective crews.
Lower Decks' Clever Twist: A Hilarious Mirror Image!
Lower Decks cleverly captures that spirit and brings this event to fruition: This new meeting is exceptionally hilarious and memorable, perfectly capturing exactly what made Generations only partially succeed. It created a satisfying team up–something previously done better with later and much more focused stories; using those core storyline elements with improved methods which are largely only achievable through later shows. Two different Cerritos crews meet (including that adorable mother-daughter Captain Freeman dynamic), showcasing differences between versions from different realities.
This entire aspect adds immense significance to future storyline developments that depend upon such details for showing how truly far those creative elements and capabilities of making storylines much more sophisticated, much deeper has improved! The writers completely avoided this significant limitation found earlier! It provides exactly the intended payoff! A totally unexpected, yet welcome meeting in the most unexpected ways. The creative genius completely lies within this surprisingly well-executed comedic encounter.
Conclusion: A Long-Awaited Convergence!
Lower Decks totally nails what Generations missed. A much later creative generation created this, highlighting exactly why some decisions might only be seen clearly later. While those famous captains had their meeting, the teams never got the moment to meet that Moore and Braga intended to include and those important, clever changes avoid those earlier issues! This shows how well Lower Decks knows its history; and how seriously creative these producers truly were! That finale promises greatness!
