LOWER ORBIT FOR 9TH `TREK' FILM.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Critic

``Star Trek: Insurrection'' is an odd one.

Odd in that it's the ninth film in the venerable sci-fi series, and it continues the dubious tradition of not being as good as any of the even-numbered entries.

But it's that other kind of odd as well. For reasons known only to producer/co-writer Rick Berman and director Jonathan Frakes, they've followed up the taut, gripping, visually splendiferous Borg adventure ``First Contact'' with something more like one of those throwaway warm-and-funny episodes from the '60s TV series. You know the kind, where Capt. Kirk beamed down to some backward but Eden-like planet, took up with a cute alien gal and tried to prevent the place from being ruined by some off-world threat.

This time, it's ``Next Generation'' leader Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) who falls in love on a place that's a virtual Fountain of Youth. The 600 or so Ba'ku who live lives of perfect, bucolic balance on their isolated little world are actually ancient refugees from a highly technological society. But they settled on this space rock because there is something in the planet's rings that keeps them pretty and blond for, presumably, ever.

The real reason the Starship Enterprise is there, however, is because the Federation has pacted up with an unappetizing space race called the Son'a, a bunch of plastic-surgery casualties led by the volatile Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham, having a ball behind intricate, stretched-skin makeup). They're supposedly conducting a joint observation mission, but what the Son'a really want is to displace the Ba'ku and steal the planet's atmosphere for their own immortality process.

The conflict here is whether Picard will rebel against Federation policy to save his 300-year-old girlfriend Anij (Donna Murphy) and her people, or follow orders that paradoxically countermand the Prime Directive of noninterference with indigenous cultures.

Doesn't sound bad, actually; it's got the bare bones of one of those pseudo-philosophical political allegories ``Trek'' has always done so entertainingly. But the movie blows it. Intriguing issues are brought up once - like why the declining Federation would ally with the creepy Son'a, or whether the Prime Directive really applies to the colonizing Ba'ku - then not mentioned again.

What we do get is a lot of questionable comedy relief. Riker (Frakes) and Troi (Marina Sirtis) suddenly start acting like goofy kids in love. Worf (Michael Dorn) gets a case of particularly grotesque Klingon acne. Data (Brent Spiner), the fascinating android who last time out was almost seduced by the icky/sexy Borg Queen, gets to play in haystacks and otherwise act childish. It's all pretty silly.

On the presentational front, Frakes continues to prove he has a true filmmaker's imagination. Though hardly the formal tour de force ``First Contact'' was, ``Insurrection'' does boast some striking outer-space footage (the starships are all computer generated for the first time). And Frakes uses the tricky Holodeck gimmick - that's the primarily recreational, virtual environment device - very cleverly here.

But despite that, there's a listless, shrugged-off quality to the whole, um, enterprise. Never fear, though; they're bound to get even with the next one.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Star Trek: Insurrection'' (PG; violence, language).

The stars: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, F. Murray Abraham, Donna Murphy, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Jonathan Frakes. Written by Michael Piller and Rick Berman. Produced by Berman. Released by Paramount Pictures.

Running time: One hour, 44 minutes.

Playing: Citywide.

Our rating: Two and one half stars.

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Photo

Photo: The evil, youth-seeking Ru'afo (F. Murray Abraham), right, cavorts with a Tarlac in ``Star Trek: Insurrection.''