The nineteenth episode of the seventh season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Genesis, aired March 19, 1994. I enjoyed this episode, even though it seems not many other people did. Gates McFadden, who plays Dr. Beverly Crusher, directed the episode.
Capt. Picard (Sir Patrick Stewart) and Data (Brent Spiner) go chasing after a malfunctioning torpedo in an asteroid field. Upon their return to the Enterprise, they discover that the crew has inexplicably mutated into strange creatures.
The episode won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Drama Series. It was nominated for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Editing for a Series and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Makeup for a Series.
The Inaugural Screen Actors Guild was held February 25, 1995, awarding the new statuette The Actor. Tom Hanks won Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Leading Role for his work in Forrest Gump. Angela Lansbury was the presenter and handed him the award.
Martin Landau won Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood, a well-deserved recognition.
Lansbury was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for her work in Murder, She Wrote, but lost to Kathy Baker(?),
Patrick Stewart was nominated for his portrayal as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series, but lost to Dennis Franz (??).
The incomparable Glenn Close won her first Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Femal Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie, for her portrayal of Eleanor of Aquitaine in Showtime's presentation of The Lion in Winter, the annual ceremony held February 5, 2005. She had been nominated twice before. To date she was won two SAG awards out of ten nominations.
I've seen this version of The Lion in Winter and Close deserved every award for her work. I'm shocked that Patrick Stewart was not even nominated for his performance as Henry II. The movie didn't receive any other nominations. Tragic. This version is awesome with powerful performances from all cast and crew.
The latest installment of the Star Wars franchise, The Rise of Skywalker, won 5 Saturn Awards at the 46th ceremony of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films, October 26, 2021. It had been nominated for a total of 12 awards.
It won Best Science Fiction Film Release, Best Film Director for J. J. Abrams, Best Film Music for John Williams, Best Film Makeup, and Best Film Special/Visual Effects. It was nominated for Best Film Writing, Best Actress in a Film for Daisy Ridley, Best Supporting Actor in a Film for Adam Driver and Ian McDiarmid, Best Film Editing, Best Film Production Design, and Best Costume Design.
Knives Out, a much better movie to me, won four Saturns: Best Thriller Film Release, Best Supporting Actress in a Film for Ana de Armas, Best Film Editing, and Best 4K Film Release. It was nominated for Best Actor in a Film for Daniel Craig, Best Supporting Actor in a Film for Chris Evans, Best Supporting Actress for Jamie Lee Curtis, and Best Film Music.
Patrick Stewart won the Award for Best Actor on Television for his performance as Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: Picard. Picard was nominated for Best Science Fiction Television Series, Best Performance by a Younger Actor on a Television Series for Isa Briones, and Best Guest Performance on a Television Series for Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine.
Star Trek: Discovery won two Saturns: Best Science Fiction Television Series and Best Supporting Actor on Television for Doug Jones. Sonequa Martin-Green was nominated for Best Actress on Television.
Godzilla even won a Saturn for Best DVD/BD Collection: Godzilla: The Showa-Era Films, 1954-1975. Gamera: The Complete Collection was nominated for the award.
Famke Janssen, born November 5, 1964 in the Netherlands, is probably best known for her performance as Jean Grey in the X-Men movies. She began as a model in New York City and then later became an actress. She appeared in four of the movies.
She appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The Perfect Mate with Patrick Stewart, who plays Professor Xavier in the X-Men movies!
She won a Saturn Award (Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films) in 2007 for her performance in X-Men: The Last Stand. She wrote and directed Bringing Up Bobby, a comedy set and filmed in Oklahoma.
The final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, All Good Things..., won a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Visual Effects at the 46th ceremony, held September 11, 1994. It also won the Emmy forOutstanding Individual Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Drama Series.
It had been nominated for another eight: Outstanding Drama Series (Picket Fences? Seriously? Oh, well. Angela Lansbury and Helen Mirren got ripped off, too), Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Editing for a Single Camera Production, Best Makeup, Best Music Composition, Best Sound Editing, and Best Hairstyling.
A fitting end for one of the best television series ever!
Jane Lapotaire, born January 26, 1944 in Suffolk, England, is an actress who I first saw in the miniseries Marie Curie in 1977. More recently, she appeared in Downton Abbey as Princess Irina, appearing with Dame Maggie Smith. I found out she was in another favorite movie, One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing in 1975 with Helen Hayes. In 2006, she starred with Sir Patrick Stewart in the mini-series thriller Eleventh Hour. In 2020, she appeared in the remake of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca.
It's interesting to note that she was born on the anniversary of Marie Curie's discovery of radium in 1898.
Star Trek: Nemesis, the fourth and final movie to feature the Next Generation cast, debuted in US theaters December 13, 2002. The film was the first to feature the Romulans primarily. Unfortunately, it was not the box-office success as the previous Star Trek movies. It was the first film that did not open at #1 its first weekend. Due to its poorer than expected performance, subsequent movies featuring the Next Generation cast were cancelled.
The original crew of Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn and Marina Sirtis, appeared. Tom Hardy and Ron Perlman played antagonists. There were cameos by Kate Mulgrew as Admiral Kathryn Janeway, Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher, Majel Barrett as the computer's voice and Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan.
Tom Hardy was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Star Trek: Insurrection, released December 11, 1998, is the third in the Star Trek movies featuring the Next Generation cast.
The movie is about a planet with regenerative radiation, where the people never grow old. The radiation regenerates their bodies, making them immortal.
Jonathan Frakes, who plays Commander Riker, directed. The entire cast of the Next Generation appeared in the movie. Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, and Marina Sirtis. F. Murray Abraham played the main antagonist.
The movie that bridged the gap between the original Star Trek series and the Next Generation premiered November 18, 1994. In Star Trek Generations, Captain Picard must join up with Captain Kirk to stop a madman (Malcolm McDowell) from destroying planets to gain immortality.
Star Trek Generations got mixed reviews but it was a box-office success!
Spock, Bones, Uhura and Sulu did not appear in this movie.
Another of my favorite episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation series Disaster aired October 19, 1991. After the Enterprise hits a quantum filament, the ship is incapacitated, isolating the crew. Troi, Miles O'Brien and Ensign Ro are trapped on the bridge. Picard is trapped in a turbolift with three children and his child-skills are put to the test. Riker, Data, Worf and Keiko O'Brien are stuck in Ten Forward. In a hilarious break from the drama, Keiko goes into labor and Worf has to deliver the baby.
Written by Ronald D. Moore (inspired by Raise the Titanic) and directed by Levar Burton, episode 12 of season 7 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, The Pegasus, aired January 8, 1994.
I liked this one because of the concept that the United Federation of Planets could finally have cloaking technology. I always thought they got ripped off in the treaty with the Romulans, especially since the Klingons had access to the same technology.
I remember when Kirk and Spock stole a cloaking device from a Romulan vessel in The Enterprise Incident but it was in the final season of the original series, like The Pegasus was.
This episode also had a creepy feeling to it as Riker and Admiral Pressman discuss what happened to the crew who were inside the rock when the Pegasus materialized. Ick.
At the end, when Picard says they will be contacting the Romulans concerning this incident, I was kinda pissed at him. The Enterprise should have kept the cloaking device since it was clearly giving the Romulans a huge advantage.
June 12, 1993, Star Trek: The Next Generation aired the episode Timescape, one of my favorite episodes of the series. Captain Picard, Data, Geordi and Counselor Troi are returning to the USS Enterprise when they discover the ship and a Romulan vessel apparently attacking each other but frozen in time. It takes some Geordi ingenuity to help Picard, Data and Troi board the Enterprise and stop a warp breach in progress.
On May 23, 1994, the last episode of one of the best shows on television ever aired. Star Trek: The Next Generation, which had been on for seven seasons ended its run with "All Good Things". Fortunately, it was the start of the movie run for the cast, who made 4 movies together.
The final episode brought back Lt. Yar and Chief O'Brien who had left the series earlier for different reasons.
They don't make them like they used to. All good things...
One of the best shows ever to be broadcast, Star Trek: The Next Generation, premiered on September 26, 1987. It introduced all the major characters, including Mr. O'Brien (Colm Meaney) who would later play a major role on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) commanded the fifth starship to be named Enterprise. The cast didn't have much hope the series would last but it went for seven seasons and ended on a high note in 1994.
It won 34 awards including 18 Primetime Emmys, mostly for technical achievements such as sound editing, sound mixing, wardrobe and makeup.
Patrick Stewart and Harrison Ford share birthdays on July 13. Stewart, who plays Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men movies and Jean-Luc Piccard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was born in 1940 in Yorkshire, England. Harrison Ford, best known as Han Solo in the Star Wars movies and Indiana Jones, was born Chicago, Ill in 1942. Both in their 70's, they are still very handsome men!
Charles Dickens' timeless tale of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge being haunted by ghosts on Christmas Eve was published December 19, 1843. It's been adapted onto stage, movies, TV shows countless times. My favorites are the productions starring George C. Scott and Patrick Stewart.
