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Saddle Up, Lock and Load
by Spencer Ross

For all those Trekkies who enjoy a good sci-fi movie, and to those non-Trekkies who are willing to get past the fact that it is a Star Trek movie, Star Trek Insurrection is probably one of the best films to see this season. In the ninth installment of the Star Trek movies and the third with the crew of The Next Generation, Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his gang are back, battling perhaps one of the most vicious species of aliens yet.

The story begins with the android Data (Brent Spiner) going haywire during a survey expedition on Baku, a planet whose peaceful inhabitants had shunned technological advancement centuries before. Picard and the Enterprise are called to come retrieve the defective android, but while there, uncover a secret to the planet that is the key to the movie's plot. The rings around the planet allow the Baku to constantly regenerate; in other words, they're a fountain of youth.

But of course, with the fountain of youth comes greed for its possession, and a new race of aliens, the Son'a, forges an alliance with Starfleet to gain possession of the rings and their power. Picard finds this out and goes against the principles of Starfleet's Prime Directive of Non-Interference. He plans to save the Baku from being relocated from their homeworld by the Starfleet Admiral (Anthony Zerbe) and the Son'a, headed by the vicious, unscrupulous, and grotesque looking Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham).

As for the end result, good triumphs over evil, but not without the loss of a few lives. The cast is great and makes it perhaps the funniest Star Trek movie yet. Data provides some of the cleverest lines of the movie, as he tries to explore what childhood is really like. This is probably one of the finest Star Trek movies with a strong ethical debate: Would we or would we not exploit the fountain of youth for our own benefits? This was a great movie with great space shots and special effects by Blue Sky/VIFX. And for all the Rage Against Machine fans, guitarist Tom Morello has a guest extra part as one of the Son'a soldiers (although it's hard to spot him with the makeup on). Star Trek Insurrection is a great "make you think" movie, yet it contains the typical elements and fights that we've come to expect from a Star Trek movie. 3 stars out of 5.

4/20/00