Star Trek Nemesis is a 2002 science fiction film directed by Stuart Baird, written by John Logan (from a story developed by Logan and Rick Berman), and with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith. It is the tenth feature film in the Star Trek franchise, and the fourth and final film to star the cast from the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It follows the mission of the crew of the USS Enterprise-E as they are forced to deal with a threat to the United Federation of Planets from a Reman named Shinzon who has taken control of the Romulan Star Empire in a coup.
Nemesis acted as a swan song for The Next Generation cast, as could be seen from the film's tagline of "A generation's final journey begins". The film was the least commercially successful in the franchise, and was poorly received by the majority of critics.[1] Reviews also opined that the response to the film was evidence that the franchise had become stale.[1]
Plot
The film opens with a major political assassination — what appears to be the elimination of the leadership of the Romulan government.
As the crew of the USS Enterprise prepares to bid farewell to longtime first officer William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), who are soon to be married on Betazed, an away team discovers the remnants of an android resembling Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner) on a planet close to the Romulan Neutral Zone called Kolarus III. When the android is reassembled, it reveals its name as B-4, a predecessor to Data.
The ship is then ordered by Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) to conduct a diplomatic mission to the Romulan Star Empire, which has undergone a military coup and is now controlled by a mysterious young Reman named Praetor Shinzon (Tom Hardy). This is a surprising development, given that Remans are considered something of a "sub-race" to the Romulans, who generally use them as slave labor.
Upon their arrival at Romulus, the crew learns that Shinzon is actually a clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. While he claims to want peace and freedom for the Remans (which, as explained in the novelization, is entirely in keeping with the meaning of his name, which is Reman for "Liberator"), he also unveils his newest ship, a heavily armed warship named Scimitar.
Shinzon's plan soon becomes apparent. Picard has been lured to Romulus to be kidnapped so that a dying Shinzon can receive a genetic transfusion from the source of his DNA. His Scimitar has been designed to destroy Earth using a thalaron weapon and establish himself as the leader of a renewed Romulan Empire. Picard is rescued, with the Enterprise racing back to the Federation with the Scimitar in pursuit.
With the assistance of two Romulan war birds whose captains and crews now oppose Shinzon, a space battle ensues in which the war birds are severely damaged and forced to back off. The damaged Enterprise is eventually forced to ram the Scimitar to disable it from continuing on to Earth. Shinzon then activates the Scimitar's super weapon, bent on taking the Enterprise down with him. Picard boards the Scimitar to stop the weapon and ends up fighting Shinzon. The fight ends with Picard victorious, but unable to deactivate the weapon. Picard kills Shinzon by impaling him through the abdomen with a long piece of metal, which the murderously determined Shinzon then forces into his own body to get close enough to confront Picard.
Data arrives and has the captain beamed back to the Enterprise before ultimately sacrificing himself to shut down the weapon and destroy the ship.
While the severely damaged Enterprise is repaired in a space dock, Picard bids farewell to newly promoted Captain Riker who is off to command the USS Titan. Picard then meets with B-4, whereupon he learns that, much like when Spock's katra had been planted in Leonard McCoy's mind at the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Data had copied the seeds of his neural net into B-4's positronic matrix not long before his death, giving hope that B-4 may one day have the same capacity for growth that Data enjoyed and keeping Dr. Soong's legacy alive.
Cast
Production
Star Trek: First Contact and Insurrection director Jonathan Frakes was not offered to direct; if he had, he would have accepted it again.[2] Frakes has gone on record that if he had directed Nemesis, the box office business would have been better than it was. He has said that director Stuart Baird (who had no prior knowledge of the franchise) is one of the reasons why the film failed at the box office.
The film, as with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, was cut by about a third from a much longer running time. Many of the deleted scenes in the movie were "character moments", which served to further the characters' relationships with one another and the reason why they were cut was more emphasis on the battle between the Enterprise-E and the Scimitar. Rick Berman has stated that about 50 minutes worth of scenes were filmed, but cut (though not necessarily all of them were usable in a final form, some might be redundant with other scenes, etc.). Around 17 minutes of deleted scenes were included on the DVD, including:
- A private conversation between Picard and Data over a glass of wine ("Chateau Picard," which is also drunk in the toast to Data at the end of the film) in which they discuss the fact the crew of the Enterprise is starting to move on with their lives; Data examines the flute from "The Inner Light" at the start of the scene.
- Early introduction of Shinzon in the film (right after the wedding reception). This is the scene that includes the dialogue from the theatrical trailers, "But in darkness there is strength..." (Viceroy) and "The time we have dreamed of is at hand... the mighty Federation will fall before us..." (Shinzon).
- The second mental invasion scene of Counselor Troi in the Turbolift. It also includes Shinzon's line from the teaser, "Don't fear."
- A scene of Picard walking with Troi down a corridor and Troi explaining to him that he and Shinzon are two different people. This scene includes the line from the trailer, "it was like a part of me had been stolen..." (Picard)
- Sick-bay getting ready for battle, in which a short dialogue between Dr. Crusher and Picard is shown.
- An extended version of the scene in which Crusher visits Picard in his quarters. In this extended version Crusher tells Picard that Shinzon is a different person, not the man [Picard] she has known for over 30 years. Picard kisses Crusher on the cheek to thank her for her visit.
- Worf warning Picard about the Romulans just before they leave for Romulus. This scene includes the dialogue from the trailer, "I recommend extreme caution..." (Worf)
- Riker and Troi discussing their honeymoon plans with Worf.
- An extended version of Picard's first meeting with Shinzon.
Nemesis was to have been the first Star Trek film to feature the character of Wesley Crusher (played by actor Wil Wheaton). His scenes were almost entirely cut from the film, leaving only a brief, silent cameo during the wedding (which itself is only visible in widescreen presentations as he sits at the far end of the table). A deleted scene on the collector's-edition DVD features a brief conversation between Wesley and Picard: Wesley, now a lieutenant in operations-division gold, has returned to Starfleet and is a member of Captain Riker's engineering crew on the USS Titan.
Two "extended ending" clips were included on the two-disc edition. The first was Picard talking to Dr. Crusher about her return to Starfleet Medical and Crusher remarking how she works with a bunch of young doctors who are ready to cure the entire quadrant. The second was Geordi and Worf packing Data's possessions in his quarters. As they are cleaning up Data's cat Spot jumps into Worf's hands and Worf states he is not a cat person. Geordi sees how Spot has taken to Worf and replies, "You are now." Immediately following this scene is the introduction of Commander Madden, which is included in the deleted scenes of the DVD.
Nemesis was also the final Star Trek film to have a Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack, as the veteran composer died two years after its release.
Reception
Box office
Star Trek Nemesis was released on December 13, 2002, in direct competition with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (released November 15, 2002), the 20th James Bond film Die Another Day (released November 22, 2002), and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (released December 18, 2002).
The film's gross domestic income was the lowest of the franchise at $43,254,409 as of September 2008. It opened at #2 in the US box office (just $200,000 behind Maid in Manhattan)[3] and was the first (and thus far the only) Trek film not to debut at #1. It earned $67,312,826 worldwide on a budget of $60,000,000.[4]
Critics
Out of 148 professional reviews compiled by the Rotten Tomatoes film review database, 53 (37%) are positive, giving the film a "rotten" rating.[1] The film has earned a Metacritic score of 50 out of 100 (mixed or average) from 29 reviews.[5]
Some reviewers felt the response to Nemesis indicated that the Star Trek franchise had become worn. Roger Ebert stated in his review, "I'm smiling like a good sport and trying to get with the dialogue … and gradually it occurs to me that "Star Trek" is over for me. I've been looking at these stories for half a lifetime, and, let's face it, they're out of gas."[6] Rotten Tomatoes ratings consensus as of 16 March 2009 indicates “Nemesis has an interesting premise and some good action scenes, but the whole affair feels a bit tired.”[7] Rick Berman (executive producer of the film) has suggested that Nemesis's performance may have been negatively affected by "the competition of other films".[8]
In promotional interviews for the film, Patrick Stewart stated that room for a sequel was left as B4 begins singing, "Blue Skies."[9] The next Star Trek film to be made was instead a franchise reboot featuring new actors in the featured roles of the original series. Simply titled Star Trek, the film was released in May 2009 with Leonard Nimoy being the only original actor to reprise his role as a connection to the previous Star Trek canon, last explored in Nemesis.[10]
Home media
On May 20, 2003, Star Trek Nemesis was released on DVD in both anamorphic widescreen and full screen editions in Region 1 (it was also released on full screen VHS). This initial release contained an audio commentary by director Stuart Baird, four featurettes on the film's production, seven deleted scenes, a photo gallery, and a preview for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on DVD at Amazon.com. Also on October 4, 2005, Star Trek Nemesis was released on UMD in widescreen for Region 1 only; it's the only Star Trek ever released on UMD.
The initial release was followed up with a "Special Collector's Edition" in Region 1 on October 4, 2005. Although this two-disc set contained several additional features, it also duplicated some of the features found in the initial release.[11] It has also been criticized for not reintegrating several deleted scenes into the film, à la Star Trek: The Motion Picture, to improve the narrative.[citation needed]
References
External links
