‘Insurrection’ is absolutely pure ‘Star Trek’. No, really, it is. It’s a film that uses an action-adventure story to discuss, with a light but assured touch, broad themes affecting all of us afflicted with what (well, er, Shunpei actually) called ‘the human condition’.

It’s disconcerting to realise that this film, made a whole ten years ago now, is the last time that the cast of the most successful ‘Star Trek’ television series assembled under a director who was in sympathy with them. (This was a result, of course, of his being one of their number).

That director, TNG stalwart Jonathan Frakes does an outstanding job here – and that’s not just in terms of allowing actors who have played these parts nearly two hundred times to find new perspectives on them. He also shoots genuinely exciting action sequences, gets the most out of a stunning real world location and beautifully times numerous moments of both physical and verbal comedy.

‘Insurrection’ is a really solid adventure story too: one with some strong performances by high-powered guest actors, a terrific chase in the first act and a stonking space battle in the last. It eschews straightforward, angsty, adolescent ‘darkness’ in favour of optimism in the face of the human failings its ‘black hat’ demonstrates and it gives every single member of the ‘regular cast’ more than one great moment in the sun. It also goes out of its way to present its heroes as decent, selfless, disinterested people, determined to do what is right simply because it is right. That might sound simplistic. It isn’t, it’s brave.

Screenwriter Michael Piller, who gave more to this franchise than anyone who wasn’t called Gene, said he thought this was a movie that the creator of ‘Star Trek’ would have been proud of. I agree; and I find it difficult to imagine how anyone with any affection for ‘Star Trek’ couldn’t find much in it to like, enjoy and even admire.

And it’s also really, really funny.