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Star Trek: Insurrection
Product Group: Video
ISBN: 6305365121
EAN: 9780792154914
UPC: 097363358831
Binding/Media: VHS Tape
Theatrical Release Date: 1998-12-11
SKU: 052609014
Condition: Used: Very Good
Comments: Comes in original slip-case. VHS tape in good condition. Case has some peel spots All items ship from a smoke-free home.
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Editorial Reviews
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Amazon.com
Star Trek fans were decidedly mixed in their reactions to this, the ninth big-screen feature in Paramount's lucrative Trek franchise, but die-hard loyalists will appreciate the way this Next Generation adventure rekindles the spirit of the original Trek TV series while combining a tolerable dose of New-Agey philosophy with a lighthearted plot for the TNG cast. This time out, Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his executive crew must transport to a Shangri-la-like planet to see why their android crewmate Data (Brent Spiner) has run amuck in a village full of peaceful Ba'ku artisans who--thanks to their planet's "metaphasic radiation"--haven't aged in 309 years. It turns out there's a conspiracy afoot, masterminded by the devious, gruesomely aged Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham, hamming it up under makeup resembling a cosmetic surgeon's worst nightmare), who's in cahoots with a renegade Starfleet admiral (Anthony Zerbe, in one of his final screen roles). They covet the fountain-of-youth power of the Ba'ku planet, but because their takeover plan violates Starfleet's Prime Directive of noninterference, it's up to Picard and crew to stop the scheme. Along the way, they all benefit from the metaphasic effect, which manifests itself as Worf's puberty (visible as a conspicuous case of Klingon acne), Picard's youthful romance with a Ba'ku woman (the lovely Donna Murphy), the touching though temporary return of Geordi's natural eyesight, and a moment when Troi asks Dr. Crusher if she's noticed that her "boobs are firming up." Some fans scoffed at these humorous asides, but they're what make this Trek film as entertaining as it is slightly disappointing. Without the laughs (including Data's rousing excerpt from Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore), this is a pretty routine entry in the franchise, with no real surprises, a number of plot holes, and the overall appearance of a big-budget TV episode. As costar and director, Jonathan Frakes proves a capable carrier of the Star Trek flame--and it's nice to see women in their 40s portrayed as smart and sexy--but while this is surely an adequate Trek adventure, it doesn't quite rank with the best in the series. --Jeff Shannon
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Customer Reviews
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A+++
Rating  (5)
Date: 2010-08-16
This is my favorite Star Trek TNG movie. It has everything--great special effects, great acting and a very good story line.
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FABULOUS
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-06-07
my video arrived much sooner that expected and the quality is perfect. Thanks so much!
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star trek insurrection
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-04-13
the movie was received in good condition and the packaging was also in good shape. received in a timely manner
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It was okay, but....
Rating  (3)
Date: 2010-02-04
....I don't know. Once again, it seemed less like a movie and more of a long episode of the television series. The plot in this movie just seems too small for a feature film. The film reminded me of two TNG episodes, Who Watches the Watchers and Journey's End. The movie's effects aren't really up to par either. I know this was right after First Contact, which had, in my opinion, the best special effects of all the Star Trek movies, but still, these effects were bad. Effects like these would have been okay for an episode, but not a movie. But let me go into greater detail.
The movie starts out with Data being part of a Federation science team observing the Ba'ku, a peaceful race of people on their homeworld. Data malfunctions, and reveals the team to the Ba'ku. Data is later captured and repaired by Picard and the Enterprise. He doesn't remember what happened to him or why he malfuncioned. Picard and his crew go to visit the Ba'ku people and find the Federation science team being treated very hospitably by the Ba'ku. Picard and the Ba'ku retrace Data's steps and find that the science team have hidden a holoship near the Ba'ku village. The holoship has a program of the Ba'ku village. It seems someone was planning on beaming the Ba'ku away while they were asleep. The next morning, they would wake up in the holoship and assume they are still in their village. Now that's the first big plot point I have a problem with. They thought they could trick the Ba'ku by putting them on a holodeck of their village, fine, but what if some of them wanted to leave the village? Like, say, the children going somewhere to play, or the adults gathering food and crops. Did they program the whole planet into the holodeck? Were they actually planning on keeping the Ba'ku on the holoship forever? The charade wouldn't have lasted long. Eventually the Ba'ku would have figured out what was going on. And the Federation would have had to forcefully keep them from returning to their planet. So why didn't they just go down to the planet and order them to evacuate the planet in the first place? And how did they know that all the Ba'ku would be asleep at the same time? What if someone wanted to stay up and read, or talk with someone, or maybe they were just having trouble sleeping?
Anyway, once Picard learns the Federation's plans, he contacts them. Now, it was established earlier that the Federation is working with the Son'a, a strange and as of this moment underexplained race of aliens. They have skin that has been stretched over their faces, and try to hide themselves underneath cloaks. They are mentioned in passing as being a violent and aggressive people, which makes you wonder why the Federation is involved with them at all. It is then explained that the region of space that the Ba'ku homeworld is located in, called the Briar Patch, contains metaphasic radiation particles which rejuvinate you and keep you from aging. The Federation and the Son'a are working together to collect the particles for the rest of the galaxy to use. Picard then discovers that the Ba'ku are not native to the planet they live on. They were a group of people who migrated to the planet several hundred years ago. The Prime Directive, which states that the Federation cannot interfere in other cultures, does not apply here. The Son'a and the Federation want to use a large harvester to collect the particles. But doing so would leave the Ba'ku's planet uninhabitable. If the particles were harvested while the Ba'ku were still on the planet, it would kill them all. That's why the Federation wants to move them. Picard objects that that goes against the Prime Directive, and the Admiral responds (correctly) that the Prime Directive doesn't apply here. He says that they are only moving six hundred people, and they will be able to halp billions of people. Picard responds with the following question:
"How many people does it take before it becomes wrong? One thousand? Fifty thousand? A million?"
Dude, were you paying attention? It's not their planet. No one said they could have it, and moving them would not be wrong. It is kind of selfish of the Ba'ku people to keep all the radiation for themselves. The rest of the galaxy should be able to benefit from it. But on the other hand, why couldn't they just ask the Ba'ku people to get up and move? The Ba'ku might refuse, but at least the Federation tried to be polite.
I want to bring up an episode from the series, called Journey's End. That episode had to do with the Federation and the Cardassians signing a treaty. The treaty sets a boundary between the two groups. A planet that had been given to some Native Americans was on the Cardassian side of the line, and so the inhabitants had to be moved. While sympathetic to the Indians plight, Picard agreed to go along with the Federation's decision. Not in this situation, though. Picard decides to try to stop the Federation from beaming the Ba'ku off the planet. The rest of the crew (who have also been experiencing the regenerative properties of the briar patch, but I don't want to go into it because all the scenes are just so stupid and corny, except maybe Geordi's) decide to help him. Here we get possibly the stupidest exchange I've ever heard in my life:
Data: I feel obliged to point out that the environmental anomalies may have stimulated certain rebellious instincts common to youth, which could affect everyone's judgment, except mine of course.
Crusher: Okay Data. What do you think we should do?
Data: Saddle up (cock's phaser rifle). Lock and load!
Picard sends Riker and Geordi along with the rest of the Enterprise crew to contact the Federation and explain the situation to them. Even though the Federation are the ones who ordered the evacuation, and obviously know what is going on. The Enterprise heads away from the Briar Patch, but are intercepted by two Son'a ships. A battle ensues in space. The Enterprise, being the Federation flagship, easily destroys the Son'a.....no, wait. Enterprise runs away, pursued by the Son'a. During this scene, we get so many stupid lines, like:
Riker: (after the Son'a fire on them) a photon torpedo. Isn't that the universal greeting when communications are down?
Geordi: I think it's the universal greeting when you don't like somebody.
Or:
Riker: let's get closer to that cloud. I want to collect some of it with the ramscoop.
Geordi: the purpose being?
Riker: the purpose being, I intend to shove it down the Son'a's throat.
These corny lines, combined with the silly scenes of the crew being affected by the Briar patch, have some people branding this as the worst Trek movie. These stupid scenes and exchanges make the crew look like total idiots.
Picard, Data, Troi, Crusher, and Worf set up transport inhibitors to prevent the Son'a from beaming the Bak'u off the planet. So the Son'a send isolinear tags to beam the people up. Just picture Darth Maul's probe droids, and they shoot darts which enable the transporters to get a lock on you. Most of the action scenes entailed the crew shooting the tags. It got so boring after a while. Eventually, Picard and Anij are tagged and transported to the Son'a ship. Picard then reveals that, due to a blood scan, he has deduced that the Son'a and the Ba'ku are the same race. Years ago, a group of Ba'ku children tried to take over the planet. They were unsuccessful, and were banished. Now, it seems that Ru'afo, the Son'a leader, wants to expel the Ba'ku from the planet in an act of revenge. When the admiral learns this, he tries to stop the mission, but Ru'afo kills him.
From this point on, I liked the movie. There is only about twenty minutes or so left, but I still like it. Picard breaks free, and he and Worf, along with one Son'a who has had a change of heart, attempt to stop the collector from collecting the particles. The res of the movie is just cheesy action scenes and catchphrases, but to me it's still entertaining. Picard destroys the collector, and Ru'afo is killed. Riker successfully contacts Starfleet and explains the situation to them. A full investigation is begun....which doesn't really guarantee that the Federation won't decide to do the same thing with the Briar Patch all over again.
Star Trek Insurrection is definitely one of the weakest Trek movies, bt it's still entertaining. Just like Generations, it suffers from a small plot that wasn't really up to film standards. It's basically just a long episode of the show. And just like Generations, it has some serious plot contrivances that almost, but not quite, make it a bad movie. Insurrection is a fairly entertaining movie, and I do re-watch it ocasionally.
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star trek insurection
Rating (5)
Date: 2010-01-07
always a fan of star trek this was the only one i was missing product was used and in almost new shape very good experiance with this. Only complaint amount of shipping time seemed to take forever but i also bought it over holiday season so that may be why.
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