Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

Movie Info

Who you callin’ baldy?

A breakdown has occurred within the Romulan Empire which has led to a coup d’état.  As Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) prepare to leave the U.S.S. Enterprise, the crew discovers pieces of another model of Data (Brent Spiner) and are called away by Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) on a mission to investigate the coup in the Romulan Empire.  There, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) discovers a Romulan clone of himself named Praetor Shinzon (Tom Hardy) intends to lead an attack on the Federation…and with all of Picard’s strengths and knowledge but none of his compassion, Shinzon might be unstoppable.

Worf is such a backseat driver….

Directed by Stuart Baird, Star Trek:  Nemesis was the tenth movie in the Star Trek film franchise and a follow-up to Star Trek:  Insurrection in 1998.  With slightly better reviews than Star Trek:  Insurrection, Star Trek:  Nemesis did not fare that well at the box office barely making back its budget, and some of the actors were critical of Baird for not being very familiar with the characters (he had admitted he didn’t watch Star Trek: The Next Generation).

After the disaster that was Star Trek:  Insurrection, I had real hope for Star Trek:  Nemesis.  The joke had always been that every other Star Trek was better and yes, this is better…unfortunately, it is only marginally better.

Boy, there’s a lot of people staring at people who look like them in this movie…

The story is way too convoluted.  The discovery of Data’s “brother” (and the dune buggy scene) feels out of place and random.  The clone, the coup, and everything surrounding Shinzon’s plan is bad.  The only stuff that does work in the story is the real Star Trek stuff.

There are lots of allusions to the original Star Trek:  The Next Generation first episode “Encounter at Farpoint”.  Having just watched it, I got these connections, but unless you are a real fan they might pass you by.  Data trying to whistle in the Holodeck (“Pop Goes the Weasel” to answer Riker’s question) and Picard’s earliest encounters with Riker do add some sentimentality to the script and help it…unfortunately, the whole Romulan plot gets in the way.

Hey there’s Wesley…apparently he’s only worthy of widescreen!

The acting is better in this film and the movie is less over the top.  There is another Data sing scene like in Star Trek:  Insurrection, but fortunately, it is appropriate to the story.  I felt Data’s character had become quite annoying in the films and was happy to see him eliminated and “reborn” as a simpler Data.  The film lost a number of scenes and one of the victims of the culling was Wil Wheaton who had a bigger role at the wedding scene (he can be seen in the widescreen version).  It was also interesting to see    go on the offensive as Troi and use her abilities to locate the Romulan ship.  There are a lot of characters with nothing to do in this film including La Forge (LeVar Burton), Doctor Crusher (Gates McFadden), and Worf (Michael Dorn) who keeps showing up despite having moved on from Enterprise life.

Star Trek:  Nemesis’ tepid reception essentially doomed both the original cast and the Star Trek:  The Next Generation cast.  With floundering Star Trek series on TV, there wasn’t much of a fall back, and Star Trek took a hiatus.  Star Trek appeared dead, but was resurrected in the parallel dimension Star Trek created by J.J. Abrams in 2009.

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Preceded By:

Star Trek:  Insurrection (1998)

Followed By:

Star Trek (2009)