Jess you're enjoying the scifi tech aspects of the story so much that you may be unconsciously ignoring the symbolism in the film. "Generations" is about the passage of time and the fact that we grow old and a new generation takes over, not only of Kirk to Picard but also ship D to ship E. Go watch the film again with your film critics glasses on and I know you will find a deeper enjoyment in it. This is the one Star Trek movie that really can be looked at metaphorically as having symbolic or deeper meanings. In this case it is the deeper meaning of life, death, mortality, etc.
I like the movie so much, I put a quote from Dr Soran at the bottom of my posts.