Summary
Star Trek: Insurrectionalmost had more compelling villains than the Son’a, but they were turned down by Patrick Stewart. Released in 1998,Insurrectionwas conceived by Rick Berman and Michael Piller as a lighter movie, following the dark tone ofStar Trek: First Contact. However, the development of the thirdStar Trek: The Next Generationmovie was a somewhat tortured process.
Michael Piller’s posthumously published bookFade In: From Idea to Final Draftdetails the various treatments he wrote forStar Trek: Insurrection, many of which sound better than the finished film. Piller’s original idea was to do aStar Trekversion of Joseph Conrad’sHeart of Darkness, which would seeCaptain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart)sent to the wilderness. Picard’s mission was to track down an old Starfleet Academy colleague who had gone rogue to defend a planet from the Romulans. Unfortunately for Michael Piller, Patrick Stewart had other ideas for his thirdStar Trekmovie.
Every Star Trek TNG Movie Ranked (Including Picard Season 3)
The movies starring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation are notorious for their wildly varying quality, with plenty of highs and lows.
Patrick Stewart Didn’t Want The Romulans In Star Trek: Insurrection
“After the Borg - the Romulans? Oh, my”
After receiving a copy of the second treatment, Patrick Stewart wrote back with some harsh words about this early version ofStar Trek: Insurrection, delivering particularly negative criticism of the Romulans. Michael Piller’s bookFade In: From Idea to Final Draftreprints Stewart’s letters, which include his dismay about Romulan involvement inInsurrection:
“It has little fun. It is dull. I think what dismays me most about the story is the dredging up of the Romulans - a race already unexciting in TNG - as the bad guys. It is revisionist and backward looking in a most disappointing way. After the Borg - the Romulans? Oh, my. […] I am very sorry my reactions are so negative but they are so because my hopes to make this a superb film are so high.”
Disappointed by Patrick Stewart’s response, Michael Piller wrote to theStar Trek: The Next Generationstar to address his concerns. While Piller passionately defends many of the elements of the film - many of which would feature in the finished version - he does concede that the Romulans could be a problem. Towards the end of his letter to Patrick Stewart, Piller offers to swap out the Romulans:
“The Romulans. We have, from the start, intended to re-invent the Romulans because we agree with you. We’ve been talking about a complete overhaul of their look as well as their character. If it means a great deal to you, I’d personally be willing to change it to another race. Do you have any suggestions?”
Patrick Stewart did have suggestions, some of which would eventually make it into the finished version ofStar Trek: Insurrection. However, he was very insistent that the villains not be Romulans, especially not radically redesigned ones. Discussing this idea in his response to Michael Piller, Stewart says:
“Yes, the Romulan question does mean a lot to me. I think it is a deadly idea to have even an ‘overhauled’ Romulan villain. After the Borg Queen it will look as if we just couldn’t come up with any new bad guys. But we must. Could they be the Federation Executive Council? (Gene, stop spinning.) Or a cadre inside the Council? The bad guys are right there in the heart of the Federation. That is certainly contemporary and, God knows, depressingly relevant.”
Of course, Patrick Stewart’s concept of corruption at the heart of the Federation made it into the final version ofStar Trek: Insurrection. His anti-Romulan feeling also led to the creation of the Son’a as new bad guys. However, it’s fair to say thatInsurrection’s villainous aliens didn’t make anywhere near the kind of impression that the Romulans would have.
Star Trek: DS9 Writer “Begged, Insisted, Screamed, Pleaded” For A Big Romulan Change
DS9 brought Star Trek’s Romulans and the Federation closer than ever before as they united to fight the Dominion, but that wasn’t the only big change.
Would Insurrection Have Been Better With The Romulans In It?
It’s hard not to feel that Patrick Stewart’s Romulan veto madeStar Trek: Insurrectiona less interesting movie. One of Stewart’s criticisms of Michael Piller’s treatment was that it “lacks peril”, but what could have been more perilous than the breakdown of the fragile diplomatic relations between the Romulans and the Federation during thewar against the Dominion?Insurrection’s story would have been more compelling if Captain Picard’s morality jeopardized the Federation Alliance at a key stage in the Dominion War.
By taking out the Romulans as villains and not reckoning with what Picard’s insurrection meant for the wider galaxy, the thirdTNGmovie ended up as disposable fluff.
Although theTNGmovies couldn’t tread onStar Trek: Deep Space Nine’s toes, there were ways to reference the Dominion War. Michael Piller’s script could have sketched in some evocative dialog that tiedStar Trek: Insurrectioninto the larger story of the Dominion War, and added genuine stakes to the plight of the Ba’ku. Instead, there was a reference to the Son’a’s role in ketracel white production and that was about it. By taking out the Romulans as villains and not reckoning with what Picard’s insurrection meant for the wider galaxy, the thirdTNGmovie ended up as disposable fluff.
Where Was Picard’s Enterprise During DS9’s Dominion War?
Jean-Luc Picard’s Enterprise-E was notably absent from seemingly all the major battles of the Dominion War as depicted on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Patrick Stewart’s Hated Romulans Became A Major Part Of Picard’s Story
It’s ironic, given Patrick Stewart’s steadfast refusal to face the Romulans inStar Trek: Insurrection, that they became such a major part of Jean-Luc Picard’s story. The very next movie,Star Trek: Nemesis, was all about political intrigue involving the Romulans, the very thing that Patrick Stewart opposed inInsurrection. Whether Stewart looked more favorably onNemesisbecause it was co-written by his friend Brent Spiner is hard to say.
Rick Berman’s original idea forStar Trek: Insurrectionwas to introduce a double of Captain Picard, an idea carried over intoStar Trek: Nemesis.
When Patrick Stewart returned to the role of Jean-Luc forStar Trek: Picardin 2020, the character had led the efforts to evacuate Romulus and was living out his retirement in his château, staffed by two Romulans. All of that was before he was thrown back into action to expose a Romulan conspiracy at the heart of Starfleet, the exact same story that Stewart had opposed inStar Trek: Insurrection. Perhaps Patrick Stewart had learned his lesson with the Son’a, and was more willing to entertain a Romulan returninStar Trek: Picardseason 1.
