Ethnic cleansing gets the Star Trek treatment in this ninth feature that's aimed squarely at fans of the long-running series and its feature-film spin-offs. But even they will have seen plenty of episodes of The Next Generation that are better, richer and deeper than this. Going comfortably where Star Trek had boldly gone before, this light-hearted tale concerns a Fountain of Youth planet and the two alien races who are locked in a struggle for the right to use it. There's nothing new in this proficient cocktail of predictable space heroics and Lost Horizon homages with its push-button script that allows each member of the crew a moment of glory. Visually impressive (marking the first use of computer digitals for the spaceship sequences), the film also features F Murray Abraham as a neat villain, while Broadway star Donna Murphy is affecting as Captain Picard's love interest.

When an alien race and factions within Starfleet attempt to take over a planet that has "regenerative" properties, it falls upon Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise to defend the planet's people as well as the very ideals upon which the Federation itself was founded.