[[quoteright:292:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/292px-Star_Trek_Insurrection_DVD_cover.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:292:[[CoversAlwaysLie Sadly NOT]] a movie about the ''Enterprise'' fighting a [[FloatingHeadSyndrome giant ghost face in space]]. That would have been so much more awesome.[[note]][[http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Where_Silence_Has_Lease_%28episode%29 Anyway, they already have.]][[/note]] ]]

'''''Star Trek: Insurrection''''' is the ninth movie in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' film series, released in 1998.

Joining forces with some unsavory [[RubberForeheadAliens Rubber Forehead]]... and face... [[RubberForeheadAliens Aliens]] offering their friendship, TheFederation decides that the [[AlienNonInterferenceClause Prime Directive]] is optional so that they can relocate the new-agey SpaceAmish inhabitants of a paradise planet. After all, UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans, right? The ''Enterprise'' crew uncovers the plot and rebels against Starfleet (hence the title) to save the day.

With bigger guns, the rekindling of the Riker/Troi romance, and a (generally) in-character ''TNG'' cast, the movie is a far cry from ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'', clearly crafted to resemble the TV show. In this endeavor, they succeeded all too well -- The script is a [[RecycledScript retread]] of the TNG episode "Who Watches the Watchers?", and the "alien planet" leaves [[AllPlanetsAreEarthLike a lot to be desired]], despite the producers having $10 Million more to play with than in ''First Contact''. It is considered by some to be among the worst of the Trek films, though not without its merits.

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!!Tropes seen in ''Insurrection'' include:

* BadassBoast: "We're through running from these bastards."
* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Thanks to centuries of living with eternal youth, the Ba'ku look like catalog models
* BigBadDuumvirate: Between Ru'afo and Admiral Matthew Doughherty.
** [[spoiler: Then Dougherty turns out to have [[EvenEvilHasStandards standards]], so Ru'afo kills him and becomes sole BigBad.]]
* BigNo: Ru'afo has ''four'' different ones.
** For many fans, this is the only thing they remember about him as the villain.
* BlackAndWhiteMorality: Geordi uses this idea to describe the thought processes going through Data's head after having [[{{Technobabble}} his memory engrams damaged by a phaser blast]]. Which comes across as frightening when one considers that Data attacked Picard and Worf's shuttle, believing Starfleet personnel to be someone who would take advantage of his memory loss. It sets up a BlackAndGrayMorality theme for the whole movie (TheFederation attempting to advance medical technology through the harm of the Ba'ku vs. [[spoiler: the Son'a, mostly Ru'afo, seeking revenge on the parents who exiled them from home]]) with the crew of the ''Enterprise'' as the only people trying to settle things reasonably. [[CrowningMomentOfFunny It also sets up how easily music can distract Data after experiencing his equivalent to a concussion.]]
* BrokenAesop: The whole film's message is about the evils of relocation, which nobody denies has had horrible effects in RealLife, but in this movie it will save more lives than it ruins (assuming the people allied with the enemies of the Federation can really be trusted), and the aliens being relocated aren't native to the planet they're being forced off.
* ButtMonkey: The ''Sovereign''-class starship ''Enterprise-E'', a CoolStarship that almost returned the Borg's collective asses back to them in bite-size pieces single-handedly in its first major battle in ''First Contact'', is shown hardly able to defend itself against other ships. ''Nemesis'' doesn't do the ship much justice, either.
* CharacterShilling: The movie has the crew go on and on about how perfect and wonderful the Ba'ku and their society are, right down to the movie's tagline being "The battle for paradise has begun".
* ContinuityOverlap: The film was released during the final season of ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': and Season 5 of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. Only the former is acknowledged through nods to Worf's relocation to [=DS9=] and the then-ongoing Dominion War.
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: A native population is relocated so that their resources can be exploited. [[TheWildWest Hmm.]]
** It's also ''very'' similar to an episode of ''The Next Generation'' where Picard's stance on the exact same situation was the [[BrokenAesop exact opposite]], although one can argue the strategic and scientific value of Ba'ku is a sufficient difference to change his mind.
** Specifically, in that episode, the people were being relocated as part of the terms of a treaty that ended a long bloody war between two large spacefaring civilizations. Failure to do so risked an end to the peace.
*** Although that episode also bridges to the first version above, as the people the Federation is trying to move are descendant of Native Americans who moved far from Earth in hopes of avoiding more of this nonsense. [[spoiler: In Picard's best way, they eventually TakeAThirdOption and become Cardasian citizens. How that worked out for them is never explored.]]
* EurekaMoment: Picard salsas happily in his quarters until he catches sight of himself in the mirror, sporting quite the youthful sheen. The very next shot is him standing at the Ba'ku's front door: "How '''old''' are you?"
* EvenEvilHasStandards: [[spoiler: Dougherty is fine with forcibly relocating the Ba'ku, but draws the line at genocide. So Ru'afo kills him.]]
** Likewise, [[spoiler: Gallatin. Ru'Afo's second-in-command wants revenge on the Ba'ku just as much as his boss. He's even happy to see them relocated to a world without the rejuvenating metaphasic radiation. But when Ru'Afo's abandons that intended revenge in favor of parricide, even Gallatin's unnerved.]] Luckily for everyone, Picard picks up on this.
* EvilOverlooker
* FanSequel: The [[{{Longrunner}} sixty-episode series]] FanFic/HiddenFrontier takes place almost entirely in the Briar Patch and explores it extensively beyond Ba'ku, with an (obviously recast) older Artum joining Starfleet after developing a case of wanderlust from meeting Data. ''Many'' jokes can be made about it being superior to the actual movie, the show's shoestring-budget being the punchline.
* FanService: Troi and Riker taking a bath together.
** Troi and Dr. Crusher talk about how much firmer their boobs are, using that exact word. The fans weren't exactly happy.
* FictionalGenevaConventions: A brief mention to the Second Khitomer Accords, which ban Subspace Weapons. [[NegativeSpaceWedgie For good reasons]].
* {{Foreshadowing}}: Well, hinting, really.
** Picard's MachineEmpathy; in the scene where it comes up, he mentions that it was much more acute when he was younger.
** At one point Crusher notes that the Captain was quite a dancer, when he was '''younger'''.
** Once we get to the Ba'ku planet, there's the rekindling of the Riker/Troi romance and Worf's [[CallARabbitASmeerp Klingon Zit]].
* FountainOfYouth
* FreudianCouch
* GovernmentConspiracy
* HeelFaceTurn: Galatin. [[spoiler: Dougherty tries as well but Ru'afo kills him.]]
* HiddenElfVillage: The Ba'ku's planet.
* HumanAlien: The Ba'ku, they look exactly like humans.
* {{Hypocrite}}: The Ba'ku claim to reject technology, but still have an irrigation system, a stone dam, and don't protest in the slightest to Picard's crew using their advanced technology on their behalf. A simple throwaway line about not advancing beyond an agrarian society would at least solve the first issue.
* ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty: The magic radiation takes some time to have its full effect, allowing children to age to adulthood normally.
* InferredHolocaust: Even though they've been welcomed [[spoiler:back]] by the Ba'ku, the Son'a will likely die out in the next few years, as Dougherty pointed out it would take 10 years of normal exposure to the planet's rejuvenating radiation to help them, and many will not make it that long.
* InformedAttribute: Before they go off to defend the Ba'ku, Data tells the crew, and by extension, the audience, that since he is impervious to the metaphasic radiation's judgement-clouding effects, they should be assured that ''everything'' they do from this point on is indeed morally sound.
* InvisibilityCloak: In the opening scene Data runs around cloaked while being chased by several cloaked away team members. Then later they find a cloaked ship hidden in a lake.
* JerkassHasAPoint: In their argument, Admiral Dougherty actually makes a valid point that Picard seemingly ignores.
--> '''Dougherty''': They are not indigenous to this world, they were ''never'' meant to be ''immortal!''
* LighterAndSofter: After all the seriousness of ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''. Though some would argue that it's too light.
* LoveTranscendsSpacetime: Anij's ability to slow down time seems linked to how romantic it makes the moment.
* LuddWasRight: The Federation are portrayed as the villains, using their advanced technology to bully peaceful agrarian settlers. [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] stated that this was one of his least favorite Star Trek films because of this trope, as it was a blatant contradiction to Gene Roddenberry's original intent of embracing technology.
* TheMagnificentSevenSamurai: Complete with "Seven to beam up." Hmm....
* MachineEmpathy: Picard detects that the ship's torque sensors are ''slightly'' out of alignment just because "they don't sound right."
** [[spoiler:''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' indicates that Picard was born with a rare genetic condition that gives him supersensitive hearing. Although treated in his youth to ensure that even the slightest of sounds don't cause him pain, it's entirely possible that Picard would retain extremely acute hearing (by most human standards) into adulthood.]]
* MundaneUtility: Its implied that the Ba'ku have developed the ability to significantly slow the passage of time. Sure [[ForgotICouldFly would have been useful]] to use that ability to avoid being tagged by the seeker drones, eh?
* NightmareFace: The Son'a with that face-stretcher device. Okay, maybe that's not being fair to them; how about [[spoiler:''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath Admiral Dougherty with that face-stretcher device.]]'']]
* ObstructiveBureaucrat
* ObviouslyEvil
* OffStageVillainy: The library scene really goes out of its way to make the Son'a unlikeable, with records of conquering and enslaving worlds, drug dealing, and possessing illegal weapons. [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter It makes the Federation look really stupid to have ever turned to them.]]
** Especially since the drug they are mentioned to be dealing is often brought up in ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' - as the drug the Dominion uses to keep its Jem'Hadar stormtroopers in line. Which means that the Son'a are the allies of ''a nation which the Federation is at war with''. (Later confirmed on an episode of ''[=DS9=]'') This is lampshaded when Troi is clearly flabbergasted by the Federation's involvement with them, but the {{Phlebotinum}} is starting to affect her and she's too busy flirting with Riker to take the thought any further.
** In the [[StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch Deep Space Nine relaunch novel]] ''Section 31: Abyss'', Commander Vaughn says that the entire operation was organized by Section 31, and when it went bad, Admiral Dougherty was made the fall guy.
* OffTheShelfFX: Riker's "manual steering column" is an off-the-shelf computer game joystick.
** Made HilariousInHindsight since in ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' you can use a joystick to pilot your starship, and if you own the exact same model of joystick...
** On the other hand, this is exactly the job joysticks were created to do. We don't mock real-world fighter pilots for using them.
*** That's because fighter aircraft are designed with joysticks in mind. In Star Trek, this is the first time we've seen one used. It looks so narmishly out of place.
**** Yet, years later/earlier, the NX-01 would be piloted by a joystick. I'm not even kidding.
* PerfectPacifistPeople: The Ba'ku, whose leader even says "The moment we pick up a weapon, we become one of them."
** Which is actually a nice bit of foreshadowing; [[spoiler:the Son'a are just non-pacifist non-luddite Ba'ku]].
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Despite being the Enterprise's Chief Operations officer, Data doesn't do anything pertaining to Operations throughout the movie.
* PlotInducedStupidity: The mystery plot depends on the discovery of the Holoship in a nearby lake, which is something the Starfleet crew could have worked on on the other side of the planet or in space.
* ThePowerOfRock: Picard disabling Data by singing "[[Theatre/HMSPinafore A British Tar]]." Hey, it worked on Sideshow Bob.
* PrecisionFStrike: After [[spoiler:detonating]] the warp core to [[spoiler:neutralize the Son'a's sub-space weapon]]:
-->'''Commander Riker''': We're through running from these ''bastards''!
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: The Ba'ku.
** Which they subvert with the kid...who's twelve. The Ba'ku settle into age stasis [[ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty sometime in their mid-20s]].
* RecycledSet: As with ''First Contact'', most of the ''Enterprise''-E's sets (and the scout ship's cockpit)are actually modified versions of sets from ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''' The ''Enterprise''-E shuttle's cockpit is also a redress of [=DS9=]'s runabout cockpit.
** All of which can be explained with the FridgeLogic that they're using similar designs because the ships were built in different but close years, so the designs haven't changed much.
* RedSkiesCrossover: Ru'afo reminds Dougherty of the tough times the Federation has been through lately, what with the Borg, and Cardassians, and the Dominion. This is the only reference made to the Dominion War in the films, or really ''anywhere'' outside of [=DS9=].
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler: When Admiral Dougherty develops a sense of morality, Ru'afo kills him.]]
* ReedRichardsIsUseless: The Ba'ku have discovered a planet with amazing healing/rejuvenating powers, which would surely help billions more, but keep it to themselves because... they believe a life without technology is better?
* SeriesContinuityError: Troi saying she's never kissed Riker while he had a beard. Number of times this happened in the series: ''four''[[hottip:*:Yes, two of them involved doubles and mind control, but still...]]. You'd think at least Frakes (who was also directing, remember) or Sirtis would point this out.
* TheSimpleLifeIsSimple: Or at least the Ba'ku would have you think so...
* SlouchOfVillainy: Ru'afo actually has a small ''couch'' as his command chair to make this more comfortable.
-->'''SFDebris''': You gotta admire a guy who who says "screw it, I just wanna be comfortable."
* SpaceAmish: the Ba'ku.
* SpaceElves: The Ba'ku.
* StartXToStopX: Picard must prevent a forced relocation by... planning a forced relocation.
* ThemeTuneCameo
* TheNeedsOfTheMany: The last tropes you'd expect to be subverted in Star Trek. Picard choosing to help 600 Ba'ku when the technology studying the planet would bring could save literally billions.
** Especially since this was taking place at around the same time as [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine The Dominion War,]] where such advanced medical technology would have been especially useful in the war that the Federation ''was losing.''
* UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Not while [[PatrickStewartSpeech Picard yet breathes]], it doesn't!
** The tagline was ''The Battle For Paradise''.
* VillainsNeverLie: The admiral ([[RootingForTheEmpire and a lot of viewers]]) sided with the Son'a because he (they) felt that the medical benefits that could be gained from exploiting (and destroying) the Bak'u homeworld could be used to save billions of lives in a war the Federation was losing with the Dominion. This information came from people who were allies of the Dominion[[hottip:*: they do at least have the evidence that the planet grants youth to its inhabitants]].
** Though some critics argue that makes it feel like a ham-fisted attempt at making the Son'a unlikeable.
* VillainyFreeVillain: With the sole exception of [[spoiler:killing Admiral Dougherty]], Ru'afo really doesn't do ''anything'' but [[{{Wangst}} complain and moan]] throughout the movie.
* VindicatedByCable: Inverted. ''Insurrection'' opened positively, with many critics saying it broke the "odd numbered rule". However, since then, more analysis of the film has found it to be more forgettable and is now seen as one of the worst films. SFDebris summed up the film pretty well:
-->''It isn't loved like [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Two]], popular like [[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome Four]], prescient like [[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry Six]], exciting like [[Film/StarTrekFirstContact Eight]]. It doesn't have people rushing to defend it, saying it's cerebral like [[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture One]], significant like [[Film/StarTrekIIITheSearchForSpock Three]], ambitious like [[Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier Five]], landmark like [[Film/StarTrekGenerations Seven]], or theatrical like [[Film/StarTrekNemesis Ten]]. ''Insurrection'' stands alone: bad enough to be hated, but not bad enough to be loved.''
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