In Star Trek Generations, the decision to introduce a new love interest for Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) resulted in a no-win scenario for the producers and, ultimately, the fans. Star Trek Generations was the final appearance of William Shatner as Captain Kirk and the big draw of the sequel was seeing the hero of The Original Series team up with his fellow Captain, Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) from Star Trek: The Next Generation. The film also awkwardly introduced new aspects of Kirk's history, including a heretofore unheard-of ex-girlfriend named Antonia.
Captain Kirk developed a reputation as an intergalactic lothario but the Enterprise Captain only truly cared for a few of the many women he's met in his voyages. Kirk's first great and most tragic love was Sister Edith Keeler (Joan Collins) who Jim met in the classic TOS episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever." In the Star Trek movies, Kirk's primary love interest was Dr. Carol Marcus (Bibi Besch), the co-creator of the Genesis Device. By the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Kirk's relationship with Carol was long over and he was estranged from their adult son, David (Merritt Butrick). Still, Marcus was strongly identifiable as Jim Kirk's love interest that she was introduced in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness. In the Kelvin timeline, Carol (Alice Eve) had a flirtatious relationship with the younger Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) that was still a very long way from the two having a child together.
1994 sequel Star Trek Generations marked a new beginning for the movie series as The Next Generation crew took over. For the scenes in the Nexus, where Kirk and Picard met, the writers and producers decided Jim should have a woman he loved and left behind when he returned to Starfleet. However, Paramount, the studio vetoed bringing back either Marcus or Keeler, the two most obvious choices as Kirk's great love. Instead, Star Trek Generations no-win scenario solution saw the movie introduce Antonia (played by stuntwoman Lynn Salvatori). Antonia is only heard and seen at a distance so neither Picard nor the audience ever gets to meet this all-important woman in Kirk's life. In Star Trek oral history The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, Generations' co-writer Ronald D. Moore explained Antonia was created because Paramount was "worried about continuity" and they inexplicably feared that the audience "would be lost" if either Keeler from the best Star Trek: TOS episode or Marcus from Star Trek II returned.
Moore bluntly clarified Paramount's baffling decision-making: "They didn't want [Star Trek Generations] to be a "fan movie," whatever that meant... The studio [believed] that the audience is just kind of dumb." Moore also explained that in the early 1990s, there was "a great fear of serialization... and continuity," which no longer exists today since serialization is widespread in movies and TV. Further, Paramount believed that Star Trek's movie audience was larger and less knowledgeable than the core fanbase who watched the TV shows. Therefore, the studio resisted bringing back a famous love interest of Kirk's from TOS or the Star Trek movies in favor of creating Antonia, a brand new character who fans had no investment in.
Paramount's short-sightedness amounted to a no-win scenario since Star Trek Generations Antonia ended up not even really being a character. Instead, she was a woman Kirk spoke about in vague terms and it wasn't clear how much the Captain ultimately cared for her since his pivotal memory of Antonia in the Nexus is leaving her to return to Starfleet. The studio also had no grasp of how fans revel in continuity to the point where jaws likely would have dropped had Joan Collins reprised her role as the long-deceased Keeler. Bibi Besch returning as Marcus would have also made sense considering Kirk's history with Carol and their son. Ultimately, Antonia ended up as an underwhelming aspect of Captain Kirk's story and death in Star Trek Generations instead of the movie bringing back someone viewers would instantly believe is Jim Kirk's greatest love.