But, when you start to really unpack a topsy-turvy hypothetical world in which these stories were released in the order they were written, suddenly, a slightly cooler version of the TNG film era emerges. Let’s pretend, just for fun, that Shatner agreed to do The Next Generation finale, and that finale was fairly close to the plot of Generations, but this time, it’s a big TV episode. In a way, this would have been history repeating itself. In 1991, Leonard Nimoy guest starred as Spock on The Next Generation in the episodes “Unification I & II,” which was partially done to promote Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country later that year. Shatner doing a TV spot in the TNG finale could have been the passing of the torch moment, which could have made the first TNG film feel like their own adventure.
Plus, if you crash the Enterprise-D for real in the TNG finale, then suddenly, you can have a version of “All Good Things…”—this time a movie with a different name—in which Picard and the crew have just started on a brand-new Enterprise. Yes, the time-spanning story of “All Good Things…” may not have been a mainstream kill-the-bad-guy movie like Generations, but it could have started the TNG film franchise out with an intellectual bang. For one thing, imagine Q on the big screen, and then ask yourself why Q was never on the big screen. Seriously. Why?
But it’s more than just the cool gee-whiz awesomeness of imagining a big-screen version of “All Good Things…” to consider here. The themes of “All Good Things…” feel more suited for a movie, at least in contrast with the themes of Generations. The film is about death. It’s about Picard losing his family in a fire. It’s about Kirk dying, twice. And it’s about Soren and Guinan having been part of something that reflects the nature of time and mortality. Generations also kills the main character of the original Star Trek TV series in addition to the TNG Enterprise herself, a starship that has appeared in more actual hours of Trek than any other version of the ship, ever. In short, Generations feels like the end of something.
By contrast, “All Good Things…” is a story about new beginnings. Crusher and Picard think about admitting their feelings to each other. Riker and Worf vow to make sure their friendship doesn’t become toxic, and famously, Picard ends the show by doing what he’d never done before, sit down and play poker with his crew. Arguably, these themes are too intimate for a film, at least a film that was designed to attract viewers who weren’t interested in The Next Generation. But in retrospect, I’d argue that leaning into worldwide love for TNG was worth the risk. At its peak, The Next Generation had 20 million households watching every week, a figure that so-called “successful” shows today would kill for. We were lucky to get a series finale as good as “All Good Things…” back then. But looking at it now, next to Generations, it feels much bigger and more momentous.
In 1996, with First Contact, the Trek film franchise totally embraced a film that was actually about the TNG crew—and only the TNG crew—and it worked. Before the J.J. Abrams’ reboots, First Contact made $92 million in 1996, making it, at that time, the second most financially successful Trek movie ever, right behind The Voyage Home. But in 1994, Generations only made $75 million, making it about as successful at the box office as The Undiscovered Country, but not nearly as well reviewed.
Nobody sold tickets to “All Good Things…” in 1994, because it aired on the small screen. But when you consider the strong viewing figures for TNG at that time, a Next Generation movie that seemed more like The Next Generation might have done wonders. Generations is by no means a bad Star Trek movie. But had it switched places with “All Good Things…,” the first Trek movie starring Picard and the crew might have gone down as not just one of the best Trek movies of all time, but maybe, one of the best sci-fi movies of the 1990s.
