Star
Trek: Insurrection is a 1998 American science fiction film released
by Paramount Pictures. It is the ninth film in the Star Trek film
franchise and the second film to exclusively feature the cast of the
Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. In addition to that
cast, F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy and Anthony Zerbe also appeared
in main roles. The crew of the USS Enterprise-E rebel against
Starfleet after they discover a conspiracy with a species known as
the Son'a to steal the peaceful Ba'ku's planet for its rejuvenating properties.
Paramount Studios sought a
change in pace after the previous film, Star Trek: First Contact.
Michael Piller was asked to write the script, which was created from
story ideas by Piller and executive producer Rick Berman. The story's
first drafts featured the Romulans, and the Son'a and Ba'ku were
introduced in the third draft. After Ira Steven Behr reviewed the
script, Piller revised it and added a subplot involving a romantic
interest for Captain Picard. The ending was further revised after
test screenings.
The space-based special
effects were completely computer generated, a first for a Star Trek
film. The Ba'ku village was fully built on location at Lake Sherwood,
California, but suffered weather damage. Sets from the television
series Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were re-used
and re-dressed. Michael Westmore created the make-up for the new
alien races, and Robert Blackman revised the Starfleet dress uniform
designs. Sanja Milkovic Hayes created costumes for the Ba'ku from
cellulose fibers, which were baked and glued together. Jerry
Goldsmith produced the film's score; his fourth for the franchise.
Patrick Stewart as
Jean-Luc Picard
Patrick Stewart thought
that the first Next Generation film, Star Trek Generations, was too
much like a television episode but thought that his character,
Captain Jean-Luc Picard, was redefined as a "movie hero" in
Star Trek: First Contact. He was concerned that in the new film, the
character would return to that seen in the television series. Michael
Piller said that he felt that in order to be a hero, Picard
"should be acting out of a moral and ethical mindset, and stand
for principles that are important to mankind". Stewart was later
pleased with the film's romantic sub-plot, calling it
"charming" and saying that he was "feeling very good
about it." He thought that the film had a lighter tone than
previous films, saying, "It shows our crew having a little more
fun than we normally see them doing". Stewart was disappointed
that a scene in which Picard and Anij kiss was cut from the final
version of the film, saying that "It was a studio decision, but
still somewhat inexplicable to me as I feel the audience were waiting
for some kind of romantic culmination to the relationship, which did
happen and was extremely pleasant." Stewart received a
producer's credit on the film.
Jonathan Frakes as
William Riker
As with First Contact
Frakes also directed the project.
Brent Spiner as
the android Data
Spiner had asked for his
character to be killed off in Insurrection because he was concerned
that he was getting too old to play the role. His copy of the script
came with a note from the production team saying, "Sorry, kill
you later". The underwater scene required Spiner to wear more
make-up than usual because it needed to be waterproof.
LeVar Burton as
Geordi La Forge
LeVar Burton reprised his
role of Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge; a month before the
release of Insurrection he appeared in the role in a guest appearance
in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Timeless".[10]
Gates McFadden as
Beverly Crusher
Reprising her role as
Doctor Beverly Crusher, Gates McFadden said that "Shooting Star
Trek and getting paid to do it is great. But what's actually changed
my life the most is travelling around and ... being a tiny little
part of this huge mythology that has changed people's lives, in many
ways for the better."
Marina Sirtis as
Ship's
counselor Deanna Troi
Marina Sirtis appeared once
more as Counselor Deanna Troi. She was positive about the film,
saying "we've been involved with this for eleven years, we've
done 179 episodes, three movies, and there are still surprises. There
are more layers in this movie, it's not as black and white. It goes
back to a lot of what Gene Roddenberry felt about Star Trek, I think
he's going to be very happy up there when he sees this movie."
Michael Dorn as Worf
Michael Dorn returned as
Lieutenant Commander Worf; Dorn had portrayed that character in Deep
Space Nine since 1995.
F. Murray Abraham as
Ahdar Ru'afo
Prior to the casting
process, no actors had been considered for the roles of the Son'a
leader, the Ba'ku woman, and the Starfleet admiral. The Son'a leader,
Ahdar Ru'afo, was portrayed by F. Murray Abraham (above left), who
won an Academy Award for his performance in Amadeus. Abraham was
given the role without an audition. Abraham said of the franchise,
"I was around when the series was first introduced to television
and it was a hoot", He praised his make-up and prosthetics,
saying "The idea that you can be somebody else behind the mask
is an extraordinary feeling, it's very primitive and mysterious. A
gap opens somewhere in the brain and it encourages wildness. It had
me chewing at the scenery". He was particularly pleased to be
working with Patrick Stewart.
Donna Murphy as Anij
Donna Murphy (above middle)
played the Ba'ku woman Anij, who is Picard's love interest. Eighty
actresses auditioned for the role, which was awarded to Murphy who
had previously won two Tony Awards for her roles in the Broadway
musicals Passion and The King and I. Murphy was such a favorite of
Frakes and the producers that after auditioning, only a small number
of other actresses were seen. She said of the role, "I feel a
great honor and responsibility to be a part of this film, because I
know that the Star Trek audience has such a devotion to and affection
for these richly drawn characters."
Anthony Zerbe as Admiral
Matthew Dougherty
Anthony Zerbe (above right)
originally auditioned for the role of Ru'afo. However, the production
team decided instead to cast him in the role of Admiral Matthew
Dougherty. During Zerbe's audition, instead of reading the lines
provided, he recited Dante's Inferno before seamlessly moving into
the script. Frakes and the producers unanimously decided to award him
the part of Dougherty.
In the film's smaller
roles, Stephanie Niznik played Ensign Kell Perim and Daniel Hugh
Kelly appeared as Sojef. Gregg Henry appeared as Gallatin and child
actor Michael Welch as played the Ba'ku child Artim. Michael Horton
returned as the tactical officer he portrayed in First Contact; his
character was called Lieutenant Daniels in this film. Rage Against
the Machine and Audioslave guitarist Tom Morello played a Son'a
warrior. Morello's make-up regime began at 5 am, at which time he
said he would normally "be crawling back into my coffin".
Several of the film's
actors appeared in the Star Trek series. Bruce French, who portrayed
Son'a Officer Number 1, appeared as Sabin Genestra in the The Next
Generation episode "The Drumhead" and as the Ocampa doctor
in the Voyager pilot episode. Son'a Officer Number 3 was played by
Joseph Ruskin, who appeared in four episodes across the Star Trek
franchise: The Original Series episode "Gamesters of
Triskelion", and the Deep Space Nine episodes "Improbable
Cause" and "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong
Places" and the Voyager episode Gravity". McKenzie
Westmore, daughter of make-up supervisor Michael Westmore, played a
Ba'ku woman. She previously appeared as a child in The Next
Generation season one episode "When the Bough Breaks" and
as Ensign Jenkins in the Voyager episode "Warhead". Scenes
cut from the film would have featured two of the Deep Space Nine
Ferengi. Max Grodénchik, more familiar as Rom, was to have
appeared as a Trill in the library scene. Armin Shimerman reprised
his role as Quark in a scene in which he tries to set up timeshares
on the Ba'ku planet at the end of the film.
Untitled
AV
CLUB FEATURETTE DEPARTMENT
Untitled
Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the Enterprise travel 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. But, there's a conspiracy afoot, masterminded by a devious alien, Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham), and a renegade Starfleet admiral (Anthony Zerbe). Their plan violates Starfleet's Prime Directive of noninterference and it's up to Picard and crew to stop the scheme. Add
Star Trek Insurrection to your DVD collection.
Following
the success of First Contact, Paramount Pictures wanted a change in
pace to give the follow-up film a lighter tone. Since Star Trek IV:
The Voyage Home was light in tone, yet was the most successful of all
the Star Trek films at the box office, Paramount reasoned that this
success could be repeated with the new film. Michael Piller (left)
was asked to write the script, and accepted the position. Piller was
in development hell with another project which he wished to get out
of. He wanted to give the crew a feeling of family, with a story
featuring overtones of the Joseph Conrad novel Heart of Darkness.
Rick Berman wanted to see Picard undertake a rescue mission in a
similar manner to the 1937 film, The Prisoner of Zenda. Berman also
originated an idea to have Picard kidnapped, and replaced with a
surgically modified imposter. Piller was doubtful about Berman's
idea, reasoning that the audience would not want to see an entire
film in which Picard is not the lead star, the character would look
like Patrick Stewart but would be different. A further idea from
Berman would have seen the return of Lore, last seen in the episode
"Descent", in a film which was described as similar in tone
to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Piller initially thought to
write a fountain of youth type story, later saying, "Everybody's
consumed with images of youth. There's commercials, plastic surgery
– our culture seems obsessed with youth." He called the
initial treatment "Heart of Lightness". Eric A. Stillwell
was Piller's executive assistant and script coordinator. When Piller
agreed to write a book about the making of Insurrection, Pocket Books
hired Stillwell as Piller's typist and research assistant. The book
went unpublished, and it was alleged that Paramount Pictures
suppressed it. Following Piller's death in 2005, the book was
published on the internet.
Piller
created a first draft treatment for the film entitled Star Trek:
Stardust, with the title taken from the song by Hoagy Carmichael
after hearing Nat King Cole's version on the radio. The treatment
featured Picard resigning from Starfleet after he is sent to retrieve
a population and their youth giving power, and bring them to an alien
government, and included a betrayal by Picard's rogue colleague. The
draft went through several versions with only the crew's mission and
the Briar Patch, named after the area from the Br'er Rabbit stories,
remaining. Berman suggested that Data become the renegade crew member
that Picard must deal with. The plot was similar to The Next
Generation episode "Homeward" in that a people were being
relocated through use of a holodeck. The use of a duck blind to
observe cultures was previously used in the episode "Who Watches
the Watchers".
In one draft, Picard kills
Data early in the film, and the android is later resurrected to help
the Captain in the finale. The first two drafts featured the Romulans
as the protagonists, since they had never prominately appeared in a
Star Trek film. The second draft was seen by Jonathan Dolgen at the
studio; Dolgen was not pleased and Patrick Stewart thought that it
would have been only suitable for a television episode. In the third
draft, the Son'a were introduced as the children of the Ba'ku and the
alien race that wanted to plunder the planet. That version also
included the crew sub-plots, such as the Troi-Riker romance and the
regeneration of La Forge's eyes. Stewart, who was concerned that the
film was a step back in scope from First Contact, was consulted on
the treatments.
Piller drafted the first
version of the script and asked Ira Steven Behr, executive producer
of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, to review it. Behr was critical of the
script, describing the Son'a as "paper tigers". Piller said
that "I knew he was right. There's no question that first draft
was trying to tell two stories, and that's one too many for a
movie." Piller re-drafted the script, adding a romantic subplot
for Picard in the shape of Anij, a Ba'ku woman. He added gravitas to
the Son'a to make them more menacing and the ending was changed to
include a massive Son'a collector ship and a confrontation between
Picard and Ru'afo aboard the ship. A version of the script was
subsequently leaked onto the internet. At the same time, Piller and
Berman were exploring titles for the film, including Prime Directive,
The Directive, The Resignation, The Enemy Within, Breach of Promise,
Dereliction of Duty and Apostasy, because they reasoned that they
could not submit it to the studio under the title of Stardust. They
could not settle on a title so they submitted it as Star Trek IX.
The studio was pleased with
the post-Behr version of the script, which was the first version of
the script they saw, having previously only seen pre-script
treatments. In a memo to Piller, it was described as "easily the
funniest and sexiest Star Trek story to date". They gave Piller
a series of directions, including a request for a resolution to the
Troi and Riker romance and for the character of Reginald Barclay to
be replaced with expanded roles either for Beverley Crusher, Worf, or
a new character.
Patrick Stewart sought a
change to the script to have the crew defend the Ba'ku village in the
manner of the Battle of the Alamo instead of fleeing into the
mountains. Piller could not find a feasible way to include this in
the script, and the budget ruled out the creation of Alamo-like
structures in the mountains. Several titles were considered for the
film as shooting approached. Star Trek: Where Time Stands Still, Star
Trek: Forever and Star Trek: Beyond Paradise were all considered but
were rejected. Piller's favorite was Star Trek: Sacred Honor, but the
studio rejected this because they were concerned that it sounded too
religious. When shooting began, the film was still called Star Trek IX.
The final version of the
script was distributed to the cast, but Patrick Stewart did not
receive a copy. Berman was concerned that if anyone had a problem
with it, they would call Stewart to complain and it would appear as
though Stewart was being left out because he had criticized the
story. LeVar Burton called Stewart to praise the script. Stewart was
sent a copy and requested a meeting to discuss changes. Piller feared
the worst, but after a twenty-minute meeting with Stewart, who
requesting several dialogue changes, the script was finalized. During
pre-production, the marketing department wanted to decide on a title,
preferring Star Trek: Revolution. Alan Spencer, a friend of Piller,
suggested Insurrection, which was selected from a choice of
Insurrection, Rebellion, High Treason and Act of Treason.
After filming was complete,
test screenings were held, and the production team became aware of a
problem with the ending. In the original ending, Ru'afo is ejected
into space from the Son'a collector ship and de-ages rapidly as he
floats amongst the rings of the planet Ba'ku. The revised ending saw
the Enterprise swoop in at the last minute to save Picard and destroy
the collector ship with Ru'afo aboard. The studio liked the new
ending but wanted a bigger space battle. The production team agreed
to this providing they could postpone the release to allow enough
time for this. Because the studio wanted Insurrection to be released
in time for Christmas, no further revisions were made to the ending.
Insurrection was the first
Star Trek film with space based effects produced entirely using
computer-generated imagery (CGI). While CGI had been used for
specific effects since Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan; Insurrection
was the first Star Trek film to be made without using physical models
of spacecraft. Santa Barbara Studios produced the effects, which
included CGI starship models. The texture on the model of the
Enterprise-E was created from a series of close-up photographs of the
model Enterprise which had been used in First Contact. The
planet-based effects, such as phaser fire, transporter effects and
the Son'a drones were created by Blue Sky Studios. Peter Lauritson
was the co-producer for post-production.
Herman Zimmerman was the
production designer, and had three months to design and construct 55
full sets for the film, eighteen more than used in the previous film
in the series. Zimmerman said that it was "probably the most
scenery we've built for a Star Trek motion picture since the first
one, when everything was brand new". The Ba'ku village was built
in full scale on location at Lake Sherwood, California, with
architectural designs combining Thai, Balinese and Polynesian styles.
The village included a bakery, a farm with a full irrigation system,
a city hall, and a city square which was referred to as the
"rotunda". The location shoot lasted for six weeks. The
buildings included sections built with styrofoam, which were cut out
using computer aided design and computer-aided manufacturing
techniques. These were covered in hardcoat to make them look as
though they were made from stone, but they were not made waterproof.
The set suffered water damage following record levels of rainfall
during the spring of 1998. The foam warped as it dried out in the
sun, causing delays in shooting while repairs were made.
Sets built for use in Star
Trek: Voyager were re-dressed to appear as the Enterprise-E in
Insurrection; Captain Janeway's quarters became Picard's, the Voyager
briefing room became Riker's quarters, and part of the Voyager
engineering set became the Enterprise library. The interior of the
scoutship manned by Data was originally the cockpit of the Voyager's
shuttlecraft, while the interior of the Enterprise shuttlecraft used
the interior set from a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Runabout. Filming
began on March 31st, 1998 and concluded on July 2nd. According to
Frakes, half of the time shooting was spent on location. The scenes
in which the Enterprise crew and the Ba'ku take refuge in the
mountains were shot on location above Lake Sabrina in the Sierra
Nevada in locations which could only be reached by helicopter. The
location was around 10,000 feet above sea level, and a medic was on
standby with oxygen if the cast or crew required it.
After filming, parts of the
interior sets of the So'na ships were added using CGI. Stage 15 on
the Paramount lot was used for the climactic scene between Picard and
Ru'afo. Because of the dangers of the four story scaffolding like
set, the actors were attached by safety cables at all times.
Paramount's B tank, which was used to represent San Francisco Bay in
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, was used to shoot footage of Picard,
Data and Anij at the Ba'ku lake. For a scene in which Data walks
along a lake bed, the actor's tricorder prop was covered with plastic
to make it watertight.
Make-up supervisor Michael
Westmore aimed to create a look for the Son'a that was not
exaggerated. He consulted several sculptors; Dean Jones, who was on
the production staff for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, created the
look. The prosthetics for Ru'afo consisted of overlapping layers that
were stretched over Abraham's head. Westmore said Abraham's
prosthetics was "like a rubber band, F. Murray Abraham could
turn his head and the skin would look translucent. It was so thin,
and the layers were pulling on each other." The two other aliens
on the Son'a vessels also had specific prosthetic make-up designs
created. The Tarlac's look was based reptilian skin, while the Ellora
required only nose and forehead prosthetics.
The
film also gave costume designer Robert Blackman an opportunity to
address issues with the Starfleet dress uniforms, which Blackman had
changed on several occasions during The Next Generation. The uniforms
appeared for the first time in the episode "Lonely Among
Us", and were based on the 18th century designs for the Royal
Navy. For Insurrection, Blackman initially thought of creating a
uniform with short jackets in blue, red and gold, which he later said
was "not a good idea". His eventual design removed the
color palettes for specific divisions. Blackman said, "No matter
what, white over black has a formal look to it." Sanja Milkovic
Hayes created the remaining new costumes for the film. She avoided
making the Ba'ku look too cute, and used material made from cellulose
fiber specifically created for Insurrection. She said it was organic,
and was simply cooked and then glued together. The Son'a costumes
were made from layers of crushed velvet and metal strips. The female
bodysuits were made of latex; Hayes wanted them to appear "sexy,
but not vulgar" and described the outfits as "very conservative".
The score for Insurrection
was composed by Jerry Goldsmith; his fourth score for the franchise.
Goldsmith continued using the march and Klingon themes written for
Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979, adding new themes and
variations. Insurrection opens with Alexander Courage's Star Trek:
The Original Series fanfare, introducing a six-note motif used in
many of the film's action sequences. The Ba'ku are scored with a
pastoral theme with repeating harps, string sections and a woodwind
solo. The Ba'ku's ability to slow time was accompanied with a
variation of this music.
Goldsmith used quick bursts
of brass music to accompany the starship sequences. For scenes in
which observers are watching the Ba'ku unseen, Goldsmith used a
"spying theme" that resembles his conspiracy theme from
Capricorn One. Composed of a piano, timpani percussion, and brass,
the theme builds until it is interrupted by the action theme as Data
opens fire. Goldsmith did not write a motif for the Son'a, but scored
the action sequence without designating the Son'a as an antagonist,
suggesting the film's revelation that the Son'a and Ba'ku are
related. The film's climax is scored with the action theme, which is
balanced with "sense of wonder" music similar to cues from
The Motion Picture.
One
scene in the film shows Patrick Stewart and Brett Spiner conducting
a duet of A British Tar from the Gilbert and Sullivan comic-opera
H.M.S. Pinafore. This replaced the original idea of Picard and Data
reciting scenes from Shakespeare's play King Lear. Stewart had
suggested that they sing Three Little Maids from School are we from
The Mikado instead, but the producers described this as "too
vulgar". Stewart and Spiner had previously sung together on
Spiner's 1991 album Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back.
The world premiere of
Insurrection launched the 1998 CineVegas film festival. It went on
general release in North America on December 11th, 1998. The film
grossed $22.4 million over the opening weekend; the most of any film
during that period. It averaged a total of $8,417 per location across
2,620 theaters, but fell short of the opening weekend takings of both
First Contact and Generations, which were $30.7 million and $23.1
million respectively.
Insurrection was the
highest-grossing film during the first week of its release in the
United States, and stayed in the top ten for a further three weeks.
During its first week of release in the UK, it was the
highest-grossing film, exceeding the takings of the Will Smith film
Enemy of the State. It went on to gross $70,187,658 in the US and
$42,400,000 overseas for a total of $112,587,658 worldwide against a
$58 million budget. It was the first Star Trek film to be promoted
through the official website, which was called the "Star Trek
Continuum" at the time. Following the success of the film, Rick
Berman said that he wanted to release the next film in the series
three years after Insurrection. He said, "The notion of
releasing a science fiction film in the year 2001 is very seductive."
The critical response to
Insurrection was mixed. The Los Angeles Daily News said that the film
had the "bare bones of one of those pseudo-philosophical
political allegories Trek has always done so entertainingly. But the
movie blows it." It praised the directing of Jonathan Frakes and
the computer generated special effects and gave the film two and a
half stars overall. The Washington Times gave the film one and a half
stars, saying that it was "consistently flat-footed and slow on
the uptake", and that there was "ramshackle confusion
during the climactic scenes".
The Daily Mail praised the
moral point the film was attempting to raise as well as the acting
abilities of Patrick Stewart, giving the movie four stars. The
Scottish Daily Record praised F. Murray Abraham and described Anthony
Zerbe as "ever-dependable". It said the plot was good, but
that it was simply an extended episode of The Next Generation, and
gave it a score of six out of ten.
The Independent said that
Insurrection "never stops being familiarly jolly and
antiquated", and called the entire Star Trek film franchise
"old-fashioned". The Washington Post also called the film
old fashioned, but "in the best sense of the word", and
said that the film did what the "doctor – make that Dr.
'Bones' McCoy – ordered".
The film was nominated for
the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film at the 25th Saturn
Awards; the prize was shared by Armageddon and Dark City. In 1999, it
was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation,
which went to The Truman Show. It was nominated for Best Family
Feature Film: Drama at the 20th Youth in Film Awards and won the
individual award for Best Performance in a Feature Film: Supporting
Young Actor for Michael Welch.
Following
the success of First Contact, Paramount Pictures wanted a change in
pace to give the follow-up film a lighter tone. Since Star Trek IV:
The Voyage Home was light in tone, yet was the most successful of all
the Star Trek films at the box office, Paramount reasoned that this
success could be repeated with the new film. Michael Piller (left)
was asked to write the script, and accepted the position. Piller was
in development hell with another project which he wished to get out
of. He wanted to give the crew a feeling of family, with a story
featuring overtones of the Joseph Conrad novel Heart of Darkness.
Rick Berman wanted to see Picard undertake a rescue mission in a
similar manner to the 1937 film, The Prisoner of Zenda. Berman also
originated an idea to have Picard kidnapped, and replaced with a
surgically modified imposter. Piller was doubtful about Berman's
idea, reasoning that the audience would not want to see an entire
film in which Picard is not the lead star, the character would look
like Patrick Stewart but would be different. A further idea from
Berman would have seen the return of Lore, last seen in the episode
"Descent", in a film which was described as similar in tone
to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Piller
created a first draft treatment for the film entitled Star Trek:
Stardust, with the title taken from the song by Hoagy Carmichael
after hearing Nat King Cole's version on the radio. The treatment
featured Picard resigning from Starfleet after he is sent to retrieve
a population and their youth giving power, and bring them to an alien
government, and included a betrayal by Picard's rogue colleague. The
draft went through several versions with only the crew's mission and
the Briar Patch, named after the area from the Br'er Rabbit stories,
remaining. Berman suggested that Data become the renegade crew member
that Picard must deal with. The plot was similar to The Next
Generation episode "Homeward" in that a people were being
relocated through use of a holodeck. The use of a duck blind to
observe cultures was previously used in the episode "Who Watches
the Watchers".
The
film also gave costume designer Robert Blackman an opportunity to
address issues with the Starfleet dress uniforms, which Blackman had
changed on several occasions during The Next Generation. The uniforms
appeared for the first time in the episode "Lonely Among
Us", and were based on the 18th century designs for the Royal
Navy. For Insurrection, Blackman initially thought of creating a
uniform with short jackets in blue, red and gold, which he later said
was "not a good idea". His eventual design removed the
color palettes for specific divisions. Blackman said, "No matter
what, white over black has a formal look to it." Sanja Milkovic
Hayes created the remaining new costumes for the film. She avoided
making the Ba'ku look too cute, and used material made from cellulose
fiber specifically created for Insurrection. She said it was organic,
and was simply cooked and then glued together. The Son'a costumes
were made from layers of crushed velvet and metal strips. The female
bodysuits were made of latex; Hayes wanted them to appear "sexy,
but not vulgar" and described the outfits as "very conservative".
One
scene in the film shows Patrick Stewart and Brett Spiner conducting
a duet of A British Tar from the Gilbert and Sullivan comic-opera
H.M.S. Pinafore. This replaced the original idea of Picard and Data
reciting scenes from Shakespeare's play King Lear. Stewart had
suggested that they sing Three Little Maids from School are we from
The Mikado instead, but the producers described this as "too
vulgar". Stewart and Spiner had previously sung together on
Spiner's 1991 album Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back.
