In Star Trek: Generations, Captain Kirk died. The producers would have certainly thought it to be a brilliant plot twist, but it blew up in their faces. Even today, fans have not forgiven Generations for that unfortunate scene. It is now revealed that the death of Kirk was never the original plan.
In the recent Star Trek Las Vegas convention, one of the biggest creative contributors to the franchise, Brannon Braga, was present. He mused about his (along with Ronald D. Moore) work on the finale of the series, Star Trek: The Next Generation and the movie, Star Trek: Generation. In his own words:
“It’s kind of a blur, it just worked,” Braga said. “We wrote ‘All Good Things,’ it was a pure piece of writing, it was beautifully made. Whereas Generations was a little more laborious and serving a lot of things and I think that shows.”
The conversation soon reached the infamous death of Captain James T. Kirk (played by William Shatner), who died under a bridge while saving the people of planet Veridian IV. According to Braga, this wasn’t the original plan of the creative duo.
“I think Ron and I envisioned the two Enterprises kinda locked in battle and somehow they would meet, but they would get together and fight the bad guy, and Kirk would go down on his bridge, instead of a bridge falling on him,” Braga explained.
As fans, we agree that the death of Kirk on the bridge while locked in a battle sounds much better than getting crushed by a bridge. However, what happened has happened, and we are stuck with the ending we got, not what we deserved. Here is the synopsis of the movie:
In Star Trek: Generations, in the 23rd century, the Starship Enterprise is dispatched to the scene of a giant energy field about to engulf two ships. Capt. Kirk (William Shatner) averts calamity, but is exposed to the field and presumed dead. Years later, the Enterprise’s new commander, Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart), learns that one of the disaster’s survivors, Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell), plans to enter the field by destroying a neighboring star. Picard now must collaborate with an unlikely ally in order to stop him.
