History YMMV / StarTrekInsurrection

** As another strike against the Baku's supposed perfection, they're not even indigenous to the planet, so they really have no right to claim rightful ownership of its radiation. And consider that a common tactic of imperialist colonialism throughout Earth's history involved getting the indigenous population hooked on some form of narcotic, which was then used as leverage for trade. Sounds a lot like the Son'a's addiction to the radiation, doesn't it? Not to mention how many online eyebrows have been raised over the fact that the Baku are very, ''very'', um, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything blonde, white and perfectly healthy.]] Taking this into account, especially when you consider [[spoiler:the Son'a were once Baku themselves]], it comes across a lot less like "evil alien drug lords preying on the space Amish" and more like "small group of ethnic purist colonists who got lucky on the right planet hoards control of its riches for themselves to maintain a position of power, leverages control of healthcare and addictive narcotics over an [[spoiler:exiled]] ghettoized population (who [[HeWhoFightsMonsters soon adopted those same tactics to build an empire]]), and then running to the Federation for help when the people [[spoiler:they exiled]] comes back to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard turn their own tactics against them.]]"

** It is not expected that all Sona will die before the normal exposure to the radiation can heal them. Dougherty only says that some won't. The rest will return to immortality as expected, and it's unclear exactly how self-serving the Sona's medical assessments actually are.

** It caused an additional problem for non-US viewers as well -- the UK, for instance, was only about halfway through the show's fifth season when the film came out, but the film made references to stuff that happened in the ''seventh'' season. (This, to the consternation of many viewers, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen left a reference regarding]] the [[spoiler: death of Jadzia Dax, Worf's wife, out]] - UK audiences would be spoiled, given that [[spoiler: her death]] happened at the conclusion of [=DS9's=] SIXTH season, while the US audiences were left seeing no one comment on Worf's development since joining Deep Space Nine, despite [[spoiler: Worf's marriage and windowing]] being something of a major life event.)

* DesignatedHero: The film highlights the idyllic nature of the Bak'u society, and we are supposed to draw parallels between them and native Americans that endured genocide from the US government. But it is easy to resent them for claiming a planet that grants immortality and not sharing the knowledge with the rest of the galaxy.

* EsotericHappyEnding: The movie ends with [[PerfectPacifistPeople the]] [[SpaceAmish Bak'u]] welcoming [[BigBad the Son'a]] [[spoiler:(who are banished Bak'u)]] into their society and allowing them to keep their planet and its fountain-of-youth powers. Except that it was pointed out that it will take ten years for the planet's rejuvenating effects to really affect the Son'a, and many will not make it that long. Plus, the Bak'u will maintain their monopoly on rejuvenating powers which would certainly benefit billions across the galaxy. Billions, mind you, that will almost ''certainly'' die without the medical technology, as the Federation is in the middle of a war with the Dominion and Cardassians, who outnumber and outgun the Federation, Romulans, and the Klingons ''combined.'' So, the thousands- if not millions- who die in the war who could have been saved after being shot by the Jem'Hadar by the medical techniques and technology developed by studying the healing energy? They can die easy, knowing that the thousand or so Ba'Ku/So'na are going to be all right.

** There is no evidence that the Baku would not be open to a compromise, such as setting up city-sized medical facilities on the other side of the planet for regenerative medicine, that could still have helped countless people throughout the Federation. And the Federation had already decided that the Prime Directive didn't apply, meaning there was no reason not to negotiate. But they clearly didn't even try.
* RootingForTheEmpire: The Federation are considered by many (including some members of ''the cast'') to have had very good reasons for trying to force the Bak'u off the planet to study the anomaly, and they were consistently willing to use non-lethal methods to do so. Of course, "nice" genocide is still genocide and regardless it would have effectively murdered a population of immortals.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: [[Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan Shouldn't the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few?]] While the Bak'u were supposed to come off as innocent victims of an under-the-table Federation plot to steal their planet's resources, viewers tend to interpret them as selfish pricks who won't share (or tolerate anyone of their own who wanted to share) their planet's amazing power of healing, leaving the rest of the galaxy to die of diseases they themselves easily overcame. Of course, the idea of a land grab from them greatly violates their rightful sovereignty, and is in itself wrong, even if it was meant for the greater good of the galaxy. But since the Bak'u are interpreted as such [[JerkAss Jerk Asses]] for not being willing to give up their homes to allow the radiation to be collected and distributed, it's hard for some to feel sympathy for them. Also, the Bak'u don't have a better claim than the Federation to the planet. They were just refugees who just happened to crash land on the planet and decided to eliminate all their technology, fooling the Federation into thinking that they were a pre-Warp civilization.
** Creator/PatrickStewart himself admitted that if he, [[IAmNotSpock not Picard]], were in that position, he would've made the Bak'u leave.

*** Though this ignores the point that a significant number of the Ba'ku ''were'' born on the planet... Though by that logic ''all'' of the Son'a were ''also'' born on the planet and were forced to leave by the Bak'u due to ideological differences.
** And there are only like 600 Bak'u on ''the entire planet''. Most small towns have more people than that.

** It caused an additional problem for non-US viewers as well -- the UK, for instance, was only about halfway through the show's fifth season when the film came out, but the film made references to stuff that happened in the ''seventh'' season. (This, to the consternation of many viewers, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen left a reference regarding the death of Jadzia Dax, Worf's wife, out]] - UK audiences would be spoiled, given that her death happened at the conclusion of [=DS9's=] SIXTH season, while the US audiences were left seeing no one comment on Worf's development since joining Deep Space Nine, despite Worf's marriage and widowing being something of a major life event.)

** The Ba'ku are often blamed for not sharing the knowledge of their planet with the rest of the galaxy. Given that as soon as the Federation - the most idealistic, utopian power in the quadrant - learned about the Planet of Youth they immediately planned to steal it and force them off this seems less selfishness and more justified caution. Especially considering the political state of the quadrant over the past three centuries when they would have been making these decisions. For most of that time it was an open question whether the Federation would be conquered by the Klingons or, more recently, the Dominion. Or wiped out by poking an OutsideContextProblem.

** The Ba'ku are often blamed for not sharing the knowledge of their planet with the rest of the galaxy. Given that as soon as the Federation - the most idealistic, utopian power in the quadrant - learned about the Planet of Youth they immediately planned to steal it and force them off this seems less selfishness and more justified caution. Especially considering the political state of the quadrant over the past three centuries when they would have been making these decisions.

*** At least one extended universe novel handwaves the Enterprise going in the opposite direction of the war for plot purposes by stating that it and the crew are just as high-profile in-universe as they are to the viewers, if not moreso, and thus they can't be deployed to the front lines for fear of inspiring the Dominion to throw a completely disproportionate response at whatever force its assigned to (unfortunately, why no one thinks to use this to bait the Dominion into an ambush or at least an unwise engagement is not covered.) Or just move the crew to another ship for their diplomatic work and put the flagship back in the fight.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: The Son'a. Despite being "villains," viewers tend to sympathize with them because they're dying and trying to cure themselves. They '''are''' Dominion Allies, but this mention is brief and easy to miss, and you'd think '''that''' would be more central to the plot if it's true. Additionally, the potential for the Ba'ku's source of immortality to be used as medicine was meant to be shown as the Son'a being [[ManipulativeBastard two faced]] and caring more about extending their own lifespans than cleaning up their behavior and rejoining the colony - their willingness to ally with the Dominion, conquer pre-warp cultures for slaves, etc gives a clear indication of why they were thrown out - but came off as making them seem reasonable instead. And while Star Trek regularlt [[NoTranshumanismAllowed takes the position that natural death from old age is unavoidable]] and that obsessive struggle against it leads to evil, this is a very controversial viewpoint both in the fandom and out.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: The Ba'ku, to the point where some viewers argue they deserve to die. The intention was to portray them as peaceful people who only exiled the Son'a because they were morally bankrupt, but the way it's presented, they instead come off as moralistic elitists. It's also kind of understandable that they don't want to lose their immortality, but the potential for its source to be used as medicine muddies this a bit.

** There's also the basic fact that the movie took place during the Dominion War, and the ''Enterprise'' is one of the most advanced and powerful starships in the Federation fleet. And instead of showing the ''Enterprise'' out on the front line... This.

** The Federation were currently operating in a time of war against the Dominion and they are ''losing''. More than one reviewer has noted that it wouldn't have been too hard to have the crew become divided over whether removing 600 people to potentially save ''billions'' is the morally right option.
** The Son'a and their ties to the Dominion. What should be a critical plot point, is instead briefly mentioned and treated as an afterthought. Sure, Dougherty would probably have wanted proof, but you have to wonder why no one thought to tell him or the Federation that they are basically about to screw over a neutral party and hand medical technology over to an enemy that they are losing a war with.

** Relatedly, the concept of the "flying holodeck" also reveals some of the behind-the-scenes thinking at work: the movie is ''meant'' to be something of a DarkReprise of the fairly well-regarded ''TNG'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E12Homeward Homeward]]", wherein a group of people were rescued from a dying world, in technical violation of the Prime Directive, but which Worf's human brother can't accept ethically (and a lot of viewers sided with him). The movie is meant to show exactly ''why'' the PD exists, especially in these circumstances, and show how, if Starfleet didn't have such a directive as a core part of their operational culture, all kinds of abuses of the less-advanced would be possible, even if one uses the ''very same'' "humane" technique Nikolai employed in "Homeward". Unfortunately, as noted, the rest of the setup for the plot badly undermines the message.
*** It's also pointed out that the Prime Directive doesn't apply to the Ba'ku, since they are not prewarp (though they choose to live that way) and not indigenous to the planet, and it is not a purely internal matter since the Son'a are involved. But that's textbook LoopholeAbuse, using the letter of the law to defeat the spirit of the law. The letter of the Prime Directive doesn't protect these specific people in this specific instance, but the whole purpose of the Prime Directive is to protect people exactly like this from exactly this sort of exploitation. Much could be raised and debated about when the Prime Directive does and does not apply as opposed to where it ''should'' and ''should not'' apply. It could have been an interesting inversion of the way the Prime Directive usually comes up in ''Star Trek'': instead of finding a reason to break the rule because it would be the morally correct choice, finding a way to apply it where it normally wouldn't because ''that'' is the morally correct choice. Instead, with the revelation that the Son'a are the Ba'ku, the loophole is closed as it is now a "purely internal matter."
* UnintentionallySympathetic: The Son'a. Despite being "villains," viewers tend to sympathize with them because they're dying and trying to cure themselves. They '''are''' Dominion Allies, but this mention is brief and easy to miss, and you'd think '''that''' would be more central to the plot if it's true. But instead, the Enterprise Crew whine about how Starfleet had no business getting involved. [[note]]Which is really dumb because with the Son'a being Dominion Allies, they damned well '''DID''', they just picked the wrong side.[[/note]] Additionally, the potential for the Ba'ku's source of immortality to be used as medicine was meant to be shown as the Son'a being [[ManipulativeBastard two faced]] and caring more about extending their own lifespans than cleaning up their behavior and rejoining the colony, but came off as making them seem reasonable instead.

* MisaimedFandom: While Dougherty's motives are ultimately sympathetic, it's rather disconcerting for some that so many fans of the franchise see his plans - i.e., invading an occupied planet, kidnapping the entire population and stealing its resources in a way that will make the planet uninhabitable, and possibly completely destroying whatever made the resource so valuable in the first place - as completely reasonable simply because he has a couple of legal loopholes on his side. Most likely because, other than the ethical issues around the relocation, ''nobody'' in the actual movie even questions his assertion that the plan will actually work.

** The Bolian scientist Hars Adislo approaching Picard on the topic of thermionic transconductance; Picard excuses himself to attend to other matters. It is never brought up again.

* CommonKnowledge: The blue panels used in the collector set have resulted in the misconception that they were supposed to be keyed out and replaced by starfield backgrounds, but for whatever reason were left in. As behind-the-scenes footage (including from [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHJ7opsQnQo the deleted ending]]) demonstrates, however, the film used ''green''screen rather than bluescreen, indicating that the blue panels were a deliberate design choice.

* DesignatedHero: The movie preaches how perfect the Bak'u are and we're supposed to draw parallels between them and native Americans that endured genocide from the US government, but they're hogging the planet's radiation that could save billions of lives just because they don't want to be inconvenienced.
** Picard even defends them by saying that "Forced Relocations have destroyed cultures whenever they have happened throughout history," which is rather seriously undermined when you remember he has taken part in at least ''two'' forced relocations in his own career, including one against a planet full of Native Americans. It's true that he might have had a change of heart, but not only is this not really cited (you'd think he'd bring it up), but it ignores that those other relocations were largely for political reasons, rather than, you know, the secret to immortality.
** On an individual level the film has Data with his "ethical subroutines" which are here treated like they somehow provide absolutely correct judgment in complex moral decisions.
* DesignatedVillain: Admiral Dougherty, who's intentions are to save billions. The Son'a are Dominion Allies who have '''ZERO''' intention of fulfilling their agreement with him, but he doesn't exactly know that, and the fact that the Enterprise Crew figures this out and ''doesn't bother to tell him'' raises some serious questions.

* 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 most will not make it that long.

* RootingForTheEmpire: The Federation are considered by many (including some members of ''the cast'') to have had very good reasons for trying to force the Bak'u off the planet to study the anomaly, and they were consistently willing to use non-lethal methods to do so.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: A lot of people consider the Ba'ku to be [[VillainProtagonist the true villains of the story]].

** Picard's monologues in which he speaks of forced relocation in human history, both with Anij and Admiral Dougherty.
** The Son'a, a race whose [[PlanetOfHats hat]] is being overly tanned, getting too many facelifts and dealing drugs, are an incredibly unsubtle satire of people from Los Angeles.

** Many arguments used against the Ba'ku (both in-universe and without) are identical to ones used against numerous Native American tribes who were forcibly relocated by the United States, such as the Ba'ku having a precious resource (de-aging radiation, gold, land etc) that a more powerful and advanced civilisation desires, the more advanced civilisation needing said resource due to an ongoing crisis (war, depression etc), the natives not being truly "native" as they only moved to this land centuries earlier[[note]]Many American tribes had only been on said land for decades, while the Ba'ku had 3 ''centuries''[[/note]], the natives been cast as villainous (moralistic elitists, violent savages etc) and this used to justify taking their resources etc.

* DesignatedHero: The movie perches how perfect the Bak'u are and we're supposed to draw parallels between them and native Americans that endured genocide from the US government, but they're hogging the planet's radiation that could save billions of lives just because they don't want to be inconvenienced.

* OneSceneWonder: The blue-skinned Bolian theorist Hans Adislo, whose brief exchange with Captain Picard over thermionic transconductance [[IncrediblyLamePun comes out of the blue]] and is then completely forgotten.