Gumbloid, I totally get where you're coming from.

Now granted I did not see the second X-files movie…in fact, I never even saw the first film in its entirety, however, I do get where you're coming from with Star Trek Insurrection.

Indeed, the first three Trek (Next Generation) movies felt like overblown two-hour episodes to me.   They were written by small screen writers (although I loved Ronald D. Moore's work through much of TNG and DS9, and his work for the new Battlestar Galactica), and  First Contact and Insurrection were directed by a TV director (Jonathan Frakes)….and Generations was directed by a small screen (TV) director.     The results were completely obvious.   To the casual observer, the first three TNG films of TREK  were just "what episode is this?".

Nemesis, the fourth TNG Trek film, despite splitting the fanbase down the middle, was at least written partially by a big screen writer (John Logan, Gladiator) and directed by a big screen director (Stuart Baird, Executive Decision, and before all that…an excellent editor of many films).   For me, Nemesis was my favorite of the TNG films because it had a genuinely big-screen feel to it…and did not feel like an overblown episode the way Generations, First Contact, and Insurrection did.   It was certainly the least favored of all four TNG films, and with good reason, but I loved it….hell, the last half of the movie was one big space battle.

Now, that said, that's why I was also disappointed in "Serenity" as "Firefly"'s big screen outing.

Here's where I think part of the problem lies….   visual FX.    Let's face it…a lot of television visual effects are almost on par with a lot of big screen visual FX we see today, largely thanks to Computer Generated Imagery (CGI).   Shows like Firefly and the new Battlestar Galactica were too big for the small screen, and yet, a movie like Serenity, in my humble opinion, was just too small for the big screen.  The movie plays nice on Blu-Ray, but when I saw it on the big screen, I was severely disappointed.   The story was excellent, don't get me wrong, but I expect a big screen feel out of a sci-fi epic such as Serenity, and I just didn't get that.

So was my feelings for the first three Trek TNG films.   Appy-polly loggies for my repetitive nature….a few drinks I've had.  :)