Keeping in line with my remake of Star Trek: The Next Generation, how would I have handled the TNG's big screen debut?
We open in 2293. The Enterprise-B is about to undergo its maiden voyage to explore the Beta Quadrant. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is there mostly as PR. The ship starts when a strange energy wave appears.
When Captain Harriman (Alan Ruck) orders the crew to ride the wave out, Kirk notices a banged up Federation science ship being buffeted around. Slipping away, and considering himself expendable, Kirk beams over to the ship to find a scene out of hell.
The crew and passengers are dead, dying, or look like they're turned into metal zombies. Kirk finds a woman (Whoopi Goldberg) who gives him a rundown. Basically, their ship was attacked and their leader has barricaded himself in the engine room and he's gone nuts.
Kirk fights his way to the engine room and finds Dr. Soran (Malcolm McDowell). He's a bit surprised, as Soran vanished from the Alpha Quadrant when he was a cadet. Soran is ranting about how he can fix everything, if they can just leave him alone. Soran calms down enough to explain that he found paradise, but "They" came and killed his family. He can fix though; all he has to do drive the ship into Nexus and the energy will fix everything. Of course the resulting explosion will dissolve most of the surrounding areas in space but he's willing to make that sacrifice.
Kirk isn't though. He knocks Soran out, gives him to Guinan and orders her to take the ship's shuttle to the Enterprise (the transporter room was overrun with the metal zombies). Kirk stays behind and pilots the ship away from the Enterprise. Before Harriman can order him beamed aboard, the science ship explodes, dissipating the energy wave.
78 years later, the Enterprise-D crew is celebrating Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn)'s promotion to Lt. Commander. They receive a distress call from an observatory run by a Dr. Tolian (McDowell). He claims the Romulans attacked him and killed his crew. Data and La Forge investigate when they find a strange probe. Tolian curses and stuns Data before being teleported off by the Duras Sisters, La Forge in tow.
Data manages to escape before the observatory explodes, which starts the rift off again. Tolina explains to La Forge that he was trying to complete his work. The Klingons offered him more resources, so he threw in with them. He told them he's going to get the Enterprise shield frequency from La Forge by sabotaging his VISOR. No, he just wants someone to know. Tolian has been keeping himself alive with various bits of tech (more machine than man). He lets La Forge 'escape' but he tells him that the Enterprise must not interfere with his work.
That rift? Its growing and going to envelope a nearby planet. Picard orders the ship there. The Duras Sisters open fire using the info Tolina gave them, but all that does is explode the Bird of Prey and speed up the rift.
Guinan finds Picard and tells him what she knows of Tolian. Picard rushes to the planet and tries to talk Tolian out of it, but he refuses. Tolian launches another probe with opens the rift into a wave and it envelops the planet.
Picard wakes up on the Enterprise. Everything seems normal, but too perfect. Yar is alive, in fact all the crewmen who died are alive. There's no Borg and a confused Yar tells him they're on schedule to meet with the Romulans to discuss the final details of the peace treaty.
Naturally Picard thinks something is off. He finds Guinan, who tells him he's in the Nexus. Her people's version of Heaven, basically. They're storytellers, so naturally their version of the afterlife would be a place where you can interact with the stories. Picard despairs, when he recalls the only person who can help.
He finds Kirk chopping wood outside a cabin. Kirk is nonplused and after being brought up to speed agrees to help. They use the Nexus to travel back and confront Tolian before the wave destroys the planet.
Kirk fights Tolian while Picard sabotages the probe. The rift closes on its own, but during the fight Kirk is shot. Tolian tries to restart the probe, but all it does is explode on the platform, killing him.
Kirk dies, having saved the planet and the Enterprise.
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