> Being something of a glutton for punishment, yesterday I made the perhaps
> unwise decision to watch Trek VII again. Ignoring the numerous plot
> wierdnesses (why have Riker tell Worf to prepare a *spread* of photon
> torpedoes because they'll only have a *2 second window* when the BoP starts
> cloaking, then show a single photorp taking several seconds to amble across,
> many many seconds after the BoP starts cloaking, and after Riker gets to say
> "Fire" (wouldn't they be timing it precisely from sensor readings anyway?))
> and enjoying what one has to say are some lovely sfx, I started wondering
> what I'd have done with the ending.
>
> We know the initial test audiences hated the ending and Bermaga were sent
> back with another 5 million bucks to reshoot it. We know they sat there
> fiddling with their little pencils trying to come up with something better,
> and what these towering giants of imagination came up with was doing what
> they'd already done, but slightly differently and no better (instead of
> shooting Kirk, they throw him off a bridge). We know they were desperate to
> kill off Kirk to ensure that TOS was dead and their thing (TNG) would reign
> supreme by definitely killing the one character without whom no more TOS
> could certainly be made. So tossing aside their petty unimaginative desires ...

> We now have "closure" on the Kirk character. We know he ended his days in
> his dotage happily with Carol. If he were later wanted for a guest spot in
> another story, there's no problem with that. We've...

> Jaxtraw wrote:

>> Well, keep the "Kirk and Picard go back and stop Soran" bit. We're
>> only reshooting the ending and reediting, after all. Don't kill
>> Kirk, which was unnecessary. Have our two captains triumph by
>> teamwork, which is very Trek. Now we're stuck with Kirk in the 24th
>> century, which we don't want. Hmm.

>>
>> Well, let's backtrack a bit. Get rid of this unknown "Antonia" bird
>> and have Kirk shacked up with Carol Marcus (having reconciled their
>> differences, and drawn together by the death of David). This was in
>> the original prologue for The Undiscovered Country, after all, but
>> cut out at the script stage. Fans will like this. We can keep the
>> kitchen scene (have Shatner dub in "Carol" instead of "Antonia") and
>> shoot a few extra lines discussing Carol. Keep "going back to
>> Starfleet" as the thing which broke them up, and which Kirk regrets.

> "Jaxtraw" knickersjaxtrawstudios.com> wrote...

> My alternate ending is less complicated. When Picard explains
> the situation to Kirk, Kirk says, "you can leave this place and go
> back in time and you want to go to a moment when there'll be
> only...

> Steven L. wrote:

>> Jaxtraw wrote:

>
>
>

>>> Well, keep the "Kirk and Picard go back and stop Soran" bit. We're
>>> only reshooting the ending and reediting, after all. Don't kill
>>> Kirk, which was unnecessary. Have our two captains triumph by
>>> teamwork, which is very Trek. Now we're stuck with Kirk in the 24th
>>> century, which we don't want. Hmm.

>
> Okay, with you so far.
>

>>> Well, let's backtrack a bit. Get rid of this unknown "Antonia" bird
>>> and have Kirk shacked up with Carol Marcus (having reconciled their
>>> differences, and drawn together by the death of David). This was in
>>> the original prologue for The Undiscovered Country, after all, but
>>> cut out at the script stage. Fans will like this. We can keep the
>>> kitchen scene (have Shatner dub in "Carol" instead of "Antonia") and ...

> Wouter Valentijn wrote:

>>> Since Merritt Butrick (who had played David) had passed away five
>>> years before the Generations movie was released, working around this
>>> would present problems.

>>
>> Not really.
>> Remember Picard's family? They replaced those actors too.

>
> Picard's family hadn't had co-starring roles in major Trek movies.
>
> Replacing Merritt Butrick, who had major speaking roles in two earlier
> Trek movies, with a nondescript actor for Generations would present
> problems. By then, Butrick had become too closely identified with the
> David role. He wasn't just some extra you could replace that easily.

>>> Not really.
>>> Remember Picard's family? They replaced those actors too.

>>>> Not really.
>>>> Remember Picard's family? They replaced those actors too.

>
> Not to mention Saavik's change from "Khan" to "Spock."
>

> We know they were desperate to kill off Kirk to ensure that
> TOS was dead and their thing (TNG) would reign supreme by definitely
> killing the one character without whom no more TOS could certainly be
> made.