DVD Review: Star Trek Insurrection Special Edition

'Star Trek : Insurrection' is not bad movie in this particular franchise, in fact it is rather good in places, but you must wonder is if this would have made a cracking two-parter for the TV show instead of what seems to be a little on the lacklustre movie side of things. Perhaps too that this is because it pales in comparison with the previous instalment of the actioner 'Star Trek : First Contact' . What we have is a war allegory and a fountain of youth story with the Enterprise thrown into the deep of things. Picard (the ever reliable Patrick Stewart) and crew get a message that Data (Brent Spiner) is running amok, and worried for their crewmate's safety head off in pursuit. Enterprise comes into contact with Vice Admiral Dougherty (Anthony Zerbe) who is heading a surveillance of the Ba'kul people with the help of Starfleet's newly joined allies, the Sona, led by Ad’har Ru'afo (F Murray Abraham). It is on this planet that Data has seemingly taken hostages.

Data has indeed had a little head trauma, but there are more nefarious plots at hand. As the story unfolds so too do the plans for the forced relocation of the 600 Ba'kul souls that inhabit the planet. Picard is ordered to assist, but this goes against everything that was decreed in the Prime Directive and everything in his nature. He cannot possibly take part in such a hideous act, but then if he does not comply and disobeys a direct order, he risks the wrath of both Starfleet and the Sona on his career, his life and his crew.

To save Paradise, Picard goes against his beloved Starfleet and leads the insurrection that follows. His crew loyally follow him into battle in a Star Trek equivalent to ‘The Magnificent Seven’. While on the planet, its unique properties start working on the crew themselves; Worf (Michael Dorn) is flung into an enraged Klingon puberty, Geordi's (LeVar Burton) eyes start working of their own accord and Riker (Jonathan Frakes, again on director's duties) gets more than the hots for Deana (Marina Sirtis).... and is that hair growth on Picard's head ? Well, perhaps not but he does have a love interest in someone old enough to be his grandmother, and Data learns what it is like to be a child. The Sona deploy a collector which will rob the planet of it's fountain of youth properties to save their own race at the cost of every living person on the surface, so it's a fight against time for the Enterprise crew to preserve humanity and a peaceful way of life. But what you really want to know dear reader is why you should buy this instead of holding onto your older version, well apart from the addition of a pop up fact file in the guise of a text commentary from the Okudas on Disc 1, the meat is in Disc 2, and there's lots of it. This disc is split into sections detailing the different parts of the production but sadly there is not a 'play all' function (apart from the deleted scenes). The first part, aptly titled ‘Production’, includes behind the scenes and short comments from the cast and crew, they all spout about how this has been the biggest production of a 'Star Trek' movie, with lots of external sets (some of which were filmed in the lovely High Sierras) and such, but sadly you just don't get that feeling of 'big' when you watch it. The deleted scenes are worthy of your time, including an alternative ending, each of which comes with an introduction too stating why they were dropped. Two of the highlights of this section are the 'Story of Insurrection' which takes a writer’s inside look of his creation to the finished work and 'The Anatomy of a Stunt', which sadly was a sequence not used in the finished movie, but worthy of it’s inclusion here. ‘Star Trek Universe’ is next and has a look at the all of the series through Michael Westmore’s creature make-up and all of the beautiful women that have filled the fantasies of many a young lad, or lassie.

'Creating the Illusion' is quite tech heavy on the special effects sides of things and looks at a few key sequences and how they were made. There are lots of deleted scenes which all have intro’s and a ‘play all’ function. There’s a good selection here of dropped ideas, extensions to present sequences and an alternative ending. Lastly there are 'Archives', looking at some storyboards and a photo gallery, and then 'Advertising', with the ever-present Borg Invasion trailer, the movie trailer and a making of that appeared in the previous release of this movie. Overall a great presentation of a not so great movie, but I bet you can’t help laughing when Riker asks for manual control of the Enterprise in the heat of battle and a Gravis Thunderbird PC joystick pops up ! 'Star Trek : Insurrection SE' is out to own now and available via Amazon and AmazonUK. You can read more about the DVD in our database.