Heartwarming / Star Trek: Generations

For one brief moment, Picard is reunited with his nephew.

• Data finding Spot after the crash.
  Data: (crying) Spot! I am very glad to see you.
  • He then realizes he's shedding tears despite feeling relief and comments that the emotion chip must be malfunctioning. Troi just smiles and says, "No, I think it's working perfectly."
  • Hell, Data in general throughout the whole damn movie. When he isn't annoying the heck out of you he's generally tugging the heartstrings.
  • Let's add him gently cradling Deanna during the crash, particularly considering his earlier freezing up when Geordi was in danger.
  • Speaking of which, after Lursa and B'Etor demand a hostage exchange in return for freeing Geordi, Data immediately volunteers before Picard says otherwise. And Geordi doesn't begrudge Data in the slightest, as shown later in Sickbay.
    Data: Geordi—
    Geordi: Data, it's okay.
    Data: I am sorry I let you down. I have not been behaving like myself lately.
    Geordi: No, Data, you haven't. You've been behaving like a human.
    (Data slowly smiles)
• Picard seeing René in the Nexus. Just the Nexus in general, really. Kirk got shortchanged with the constant shifting, but for one brief moment, Picard had everything he wanted. At the same time, he's willing to give it up, because his crew needed him.
  • And in some regard, reuniting with René might've helped give him a sense of closure. Even if he wasn't real, he got to see his nephew's face one last time.
• It's a kind of a cross between heartwarming and funny.
  Picard: Good luck Captain.
  Kirk: (offhand) Call me Jim.
• Kirk: "Who am I to argue with the captain of the Enterprise?" Cue the smile from Picard as he realizes that he's gotten through to one of the greatest captains the Federation has ever produced.
• Kirk faces his death gracefully, glad to have helped his successor and moving on to what comes next in awe, not fear.
  Kirk: It's the least I could do... for the captain of the Enterprise. It was... Fun... Oh my...
• The conversation at the end between Riker and Picard as they bid goodbye to the Enterprise-D.
  Picard: Somehow I doubt this will be the last ship to carry the name Enterprise.
• There is an "echo" of Soran in the Nexus, so at least a tiny bit of him is happy in the Nexus. And it's entirely possible he himself is still in there, the original him, unaffected by Picard and Kirk altering the timeline to stop him, given the nature of the Nexus.
• "It wouldn't be the Enterprise without a Sulu at the helm." Given the bad blood between Takei and Shatner, that line almost comes across as a peace offering.
  • One that Takei appears to have accepted as the two seem to be on semi-decent terms these days. Good enough, at least, that Takei was willing to appear on the Roast of Shatner on Comedy Central, and they both seemed to have a good time, indicating their friendship might well have been on the mend after this film.
• Picard and Kirk meeting in general. Sure this movie has it's ups and downs, but his meeting of the Captain causes so much awe in him that the first thing he ever does, is say Kirk's name in a disbelieving whisper. Extra heartwarming on Kirk's half though, as despite not knowing Picard save for the fact that he is a stranger in some futuristic Starfleet uniform, yet he is kind enough to offer him breakfast and invite him to his house. Even Picard is obliged enough to help him cook. Makes you wonder what meeting Kirk would be like in real life when he's on Shore Leave.
  • Of all the reasons Kirk could give to remain captain of the Enterprise (and indeed there are many), his true reason shines above them all.
    Don't let them promote you. Don't let them transfer you. Don't let them do anything that takes you off the bridge of that ship, because while you're there... you can make a difference.
• During the crash, Data is seen hugging Deanna, holding her in her seat so that she doesn't get injured by being thrown around after picking her up and returning her to her seat when she went flying on the first bump. When the ship finally comes to a halt and everyone gets thrown, we see that he had grabbed her and held her to him so as to take the brunt of the impact. Data knew that, as they're at the forward-most stations on the Bridge, that they'd most likely get flung through the main viewscreen at the final lurch when the slideout stops, and his android body could take the impact far better than his friend could.
  • Similarly, Beverly and her medical team are seen shielding their patients with their own bodies to protect them during the crash.
• Geordi and a female officer spot a group of children unattended and spend the rest of the evacuation procedure guiding the children and making sure they get to a safe place.
• The novelization states that while there were casualties during the battle, no one died during the saucer section's crash landing. Just like Bones said back in Encounter at Farpoint:
  Bones: "You treat her like a lady, and she'll always bring you home."
• Kirk's opinion of Capt. Harriman in the novelization evolves as the situation on board the Enterprise-B progresses; for a time, Kirk seems to not be too sure if Harriman is good enough for the job, although that might be due to Kirk being envious of the younger captain. When the only way to save the ship is to do a hardware reconfiguration deep within the ship that would put the individual doing the deed in harm's way, Harriman, without any hesitation, leaves the bridge to Kirk to go do the task. Kirk pauses for a moment and tells Harriman that he'll do it, and that Harriman's place is on the bridge. The younger captain's selflessness earns him the chair as far as Kirk is concerned.
• In the book, Kirk’s only thought when he dies (the first time) is being glad Spock and Bones are safe and can have decent lives without him.
• While Kirk's death may be sad, consider this; he always felt he would die alone, but when the time came, he didn't. Picard was with him at the end.

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