Summary

• Captain Kirk reveals his regret about giving up romantic relationships and his empty house as a result of dedicating his life to Starfleet.
• Captain Picard focuses on his mission to stop Soran and save lives, disregarding Kirk's pain and regret.
• Picard takes Kirk's advice to heart and remains Captain of the Enterprise, making a difference until he becomes an Admiral in the future.

Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) surprisingly told Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) his secret pain soon after they met in Star Trek Generations, the first film starring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Picard found Kirk in the Nexus, an other-dimensional energy ribbon beyond time and space, and the Captain of the USS Enterprise-D recruited his predecessor to help him stop Dr. Tolian Soran (Malcolm McDowell), a madman willing to destroy a solar system so that he could return to the Nexus himself. Kirk and Picard defeated Soran, but Jim was mortally injured and died on the planet Veridian III.
Star Trek Generations' centerpiece and big draw was the historic meeting of Captain Kirk from Star Trek: The Original Series and Captain Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Although Picard and Kirk's climactic struggle to stop Soran on Veridian III wasn't everything Star Trek fans hoped for, nor was Captain Kirk's death, much more involving and satisfying were their scenes together in the Nexus. Picard found Kirk in a simulation of his former home, as the Nexus recreated the day Jim broke the news to his lost love, Antonia, that he was going to end his retirement and return to Starfleet. The interactions between Kirk and Picard in the Nexus revealed the basic similarities between the otherwise different Captains of the Enterprise, as Kirk bared his own truth and inner torment.

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