Star Trek 9 - Insurrection Details

Ethnic cleansing gets the Star Trek treatment in the ninth feature aimed squarely at fans of the long-running series and its feature-film spin-offs. But even they will have seen plenty of episodes of The Next Generation that are better, richer and deeper than this. Going comfortably where Star Trek had boldly gone before, this light-hearted tale concerns a Fountain of Youth planet and the two races who are struggling for the right to use it. There's nothing new in this proficient cocktail of predictable space heroics and Lost Horizon homages with its push-button script that allows each member of the crew a moment of glory. Visually impressive (marking the first use of computer digitals for the spaceship sequences), the film also features F Murray Abraham as a neat villain, while Broadway star Donna Murphy is affecting as Captain Picard's love interest.

A simple tale, of the sort that filled half an hour or less of television time, is here tricked out with special effects and rather more action; but it's still an example of more resulting in less.