Chaos on the Bridge (2014)

Truly Dreadful Film

Pretty Good

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

William Shatner did a great job. I love that he was unafraid to puncture the myths that surround Gene Roddenberry, yet he wrapped up the movie with a defense of the man.I was aware that Roddenberry had a bad drug habit. But I was unaware that apparently Roddenberry's drug habit, even in his advanced age, was so severe that his wife Majel needed to "dump him" onto a train that took him to a detox center. She did it every weekend for months at a time during the first season of The Next Generation. Mind blowing. As the writers who are interviewed for this story pointed out, he was a large, robust figure who could have lived to age 90 if he had not poisoned himself. The launch of The Next Generation forced him to sober up. Ironically, although people pointed out that he just wanted to enjoy retirement and felt somewhat like the new series was being foisted on him, it's likely that he would have died during 1987 if he had not had it in his life.I will probably never forgive Next Gen writer Maurice Hurley for forcing out the loveable and sexy Gates McFadden for a season, but I must admit that he was an extraordinary and colorful character. I'm very appreciative that Shatner profiled him just a year before he died in 2015. RIP, you "wacky doodle" (yet intriguing) man.

To the Trek fan, I found this a fun story and interesting bit of history that was well worth watching. It feels rushed in parts, glossed over in others and one-sided, but overall, a fun retelling. I think everyone knows that the behind the scenes making of TV isn't always pretty. Some of the underbelly is shown and some grievances are aired, but there's enough Trek in this little film to keep the Trekie interested. An entertaining hour I thought. 8 stars, possibly 8.5

I found Mr. Shatner's work here very interesting, well developed, and it contained the real story behind the re-booting of Star Trek with Star Trek -- TNG. I can't imagine the series with any of the final three actors who read for Captain Picard and they were very lucky someone insisted Sir Patrick Stewart get a reading too. I always thought Gene Roddenberry was the driving force behind the franchise . . . and it turns out TNG happened, continued and flourished in spite of him more than because of him. But it's a great example of holding something too tightly -- he was getting older and trying to catch lightning in a bottle the second time. Nothing takes away from the Roddenberry legacy. The story of how Rick Berman became the driving force behind TNG was interesting to learn. I guess I best liked Patrick Stewart's behind-the-scenes recollections since, in many ways, he personifies TNG. There was more than enough new details and information to keep this life-long Trekkie involved.

I really enjoy having Shatner lead the documentaries for the development of star trek. My only wish is that they had delved into the writers issues developing TNG more... It just, maybe in hind sight, appears obvious to me that the creation of story conflict is easy between the federation values and of its characters against an antagonist. I think there is more to the story of the first two seasons of TNG than they could have dug into..I'm happy this documentary was made. The interviews with the contributing cast and etc were very I intriguing as both a trekkie and an outsider interested in TV or movie production.