'Star Trek: Generations', The First Movie To Have A Website

28/10/1994

Star Trek: Generations is a 1994 American science fiction film directed by David Carson.

In the film that takes place between the 23rd and 24th century, Patrick Stewart as retired Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise-D joins forces with Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), to stop a villain from destroying a planet.

Star Trek: Generations is the seventh film in the Star Trek film series, and was the last on-screen appearance for newly-promoted Lt. Commander Worf as a regular member of the Enterprise crew. It's the first Star Trek film to be produced and filmed after the death of Gene Roddenberry, the first to star the cast of the series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the first feature film by Thomas Dekker, the first Star Trek movie that didn't feature Spock, Dr. Leonard McCoy, Nyota Uhura and Hikaru Sulu, and also the first and only William Shatner's Star Trek that appeared without Leonard Nimoy.

It was also the first movie to have a website, the first on the internet to officially publicize a motion picture.

After being approved by then-Paramount Motion Picture chairman Sherry Lansing, the site was created by a team at Paramount Media Kitchen in Palo Alto, California, using press kit materials, videotapes of the film's trailer, and two-dozen slides.

The site was launched at generations.viacom.com on October 28, 1994, or three weeks before the release of the film.

Two versions of the official site were available for view: a version which had graphical interface resembling the LCARS (acronym for Library Computer Access/Retrieval System, Star Trek's fictional computer operating system) display of the Enterprise, and a text-only version.

Upon entering either version, the viewer was taken to a brief synopsis of the film followed by a greeting and an explanation of the website.

From there, the viewer could watch the two movie trailers, view production stills, and listen to audio clips and music from the film. There was also a behind-the-scenes page included sections on the history of Star Trek, cast and crew biographies, production notes, film credits, and a downloadable interactive multimedia kit. There was also a Star Trek shop promoting Star Trek merchandise and a catalogue of Star Trek videos on VHS, and an input page where viewers could send comments via forms or email.

The website was a success, being viewed millions of times worldwide in the time when fewer than a million Americans had internet access. It was also mentioned on the NCSA "What's New" site. This quickly made the website as one of the most popular destinations on the young World Wide Web.