A softer, more episodic (99 minutes) offering from the cast and crew of Star Trek, Insurrection (The ninth film in the series) is a small disappointment at first glance. This tale about the peaceful race known as the Ba'ku and their planet of eternal youth, which is under threat, initially pails in comparison somewhat next to the excellent First Contact. However, part of the beauty of Star Trek has always been in the diversity of its stories and characters and although, in my opinion, this is one of the weaker entries in the series, it is nevertheless entertaining.

The basic plot involves the afore mentioned peaceful race: the Ba’ku, who are seemingly in their technological infancy, sort of pre-industrial humanoids, who live on a remote planet deep in a region of inhospitable space known as “The Briar patch”. The Federation have a hidden “duck blind” on the planet from which they are observing this race –purely for anthropological research (or so we are lead to initially believe). The mission is a joint venture lead by a Starfleet Admiral (Dougherty - played by Anthony Zerbe) and a race known as the Son’a. Assisting them is our old android friend Data (Brent Spiner) who, at the beginning of the film, suddenly appears to malfunction, disobey orders and expose the research team to the Ba’ku before going A.W.O.L. Obviously concerned, Admiral Dougherty requests Data’s schematics from the Enterprise and from here on the real story then begins to unravel.

The basis for the Federation’s set of moral values has always been “The Prime Directive” which is a general order number 1: dictating that no interference must occur with an alien race’s natural development. The planned relocation of the Ba’ku obviously goes against this coda and when Picard refuses to accept Admiral Dougherty’s orders and leave the planet the “Insurrection” begins. In this film we are back to a fundamental “Picard” performance from Stewart where the true nature of the character shines through (Unlike the vengeful Picard in First Contact) and you cannot help but feel a lot of what comes across on screen has as much to do with Stewart’s own sense of morality and sensitivity as it does Picard’s.

The Son’a are ageing, genetically manipulated (in order to sustain them) and vengeful and plan to strip the planet of its “Fountain of youth” properties (Via a “Collector” spacecraft) in order to regenerate them-selves quickly. Picard and crew take a stand and defy their own superiors in order to see that justice is done and this event is not allowed to occur.

The action in this film however, is somewhat sporadic (Strange, considering the film’s Producer Rick Berman was quoted as saying “…The movie definitely has more action than any film that we have made”) and is undeniably slowed down by the film’s gentler sub-plots. Having said this, this is a totally different film to “First Contact” and is “pure Star Trek”; and so should be judged on its own merits. It has to be said that it delivers well on this front (A credit to the writers it must be said who have not shyed away from what perhaps might be viewed by some as a less “commercial” script).

Yet again, Jerry Goldsmith has been given the opportunity to weave his magic with his fourth Trek film score and doesn’t disappoint. The Ba’ku theme is possibly as good as anything he has composed beyond the now legendary “Motion Picture” main theme (And in my opinion the main theme from First Contact).

It’s also a little unfair to quote the old Star Trek adage about the “curse of the odd numbered films”. True enough, the most critically successful films in the series have been even numbered (2,4,6 and 8 so far) but I think that any franchise enjoying such longevity would succumb to a balance of relative hits and misses (In my opinion the Star Wars films suffer from this –but that’s another story!).