Star Trek Nemesis

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Star Trek Nemesis

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Stuart Baird
Produced by Rick Berman
Written by John Logan (story and screenplay)
Rick Berman (story)
Brent Spiner (story)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)
Starring See table
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography Jeffrey L. Kimball
Editing by Dallas Puett
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) December 13, 2002
Running time 116 min.
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Budget $80,000,000 (estimated)
Preceded by Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
Followed by Star Trek (2009)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Star Trek Nemesis (2002) is the tenth feature film based on the Star Trek television series. It is the fourth and last film to star the cast from The Next Generation. The film's tagline was "A generation's final journey begins".

The film was directed by Stuart Baird, from a script by John Logan, with music composed by Jerry Goldsmith. Although most of the Star Trek films contain a colon in their title, the official title of this film is Star Trek Nemesis (with no colon).[1][2]

Contents

[edit] 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 and Counselor Deanna Troi, who have just married each other in Alaska, an away team discovers the remnants of an android resembling Lieutenant Commander Data 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 Enterprise faces off with the Scimitar
The Enterprise faces off with the Scimitar

The ship is then ordered by Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway 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. 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 of two more surprises: the new leader proves to be a clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. While he claims to want peace, 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 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 warbirds whose captains and crews now oppose Shinzon, a space battle ensues in which the warbirds 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 superweapon, 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. 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 spacedock, Picard bids farewell to Riker, while dealing with B-4. In a meeting with B-4, Picard learns that Data had copied the seeds of his neural net, giving hope that B-4 may have the same capacity for growth that Data did.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Deleted scenes

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. 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 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.
  • Original extended ending - A new First Officer (Commander Martin Madden), is introduced on board the Enterprise and two funny moments are shown afterward. Riker tells Madden to call Captain Picard "Jean-Luc". Later in a conversation with Picard he does so and Picard gives the commander a withering stare, with Madden realizing that Riker was pulling his leg. This scene is where the Enterprise finally gets seat belts. At the end Picard tells the crew that their next assignment is to survey a planet, which Picard thinks the crew will find "interesting", noting it is a place "where no one has gone before". In actuality, the planet, Deneb IV was the first planet visited by the crew of the Next Generation Enterprise in the first episode, "Encounter At Farpoint" and Picard apparently knows this as he makes eye contact with the original crew, La Forge and Worf, and smiles at each.

Nemesis was to have been the first Star Trek film to feature the character of Wesley Crusher (played by actor Wil Wheaton). However, his scenes were almost entirely cut from the film, leaving only a brief cameo during the wedding scene (he is visible at the far end of the head table, with gold trim of operations branch on his dress uniform), in which he has no dialogue; as a result, he has none in the final theatrical print of the film at all. A deleted scene on the collector's edition DVD features a brief conversation between Wesley and Picard that explains that Wesley 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.

[edit] References

  • During the conversation with Picard and Vice-Admiral Kathryn Janeway, she quotes, "You seem to get all the easy assignments; the Son'a, the Borg, the Romulans." This refers to the villains of the previous two films (the Borg in First Contact and the Son'a warrior Ru'afo in Insurrection).
  • Picard's line, "To absent friends." at the toast after the death of Data was spoken by Kirk about the death of Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
  • Nemesis mentions names or characters of all five live-action Star Trek TV series. The TNG crew, Worf represents DS9, Vice Admiral Janeway represents Voyager; there is mentioned of a tactical plan "Kirk Epsilon 9" which refers to Captain James T. Kirk (Star Trek: The Original Series) and there is mention of a ship called the USS Archer named after Captain Jonathan Archer (the captain on Star Trek: Enterprise).

[edit] Reaction

The movie was released on December 13, 2002, in direct competition against Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (released November 15, 2002), the 20th James Bond movie Die Another Day (released November 22, 2002) and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (released December 18, 2002).

The movie's gross domestic income (not adjusted for inflation) was the lowest of the series at $43,254,409 as of December 2004. It was also the first Trek film not to open at #1 at the U.S. box office. It earned $67,312,826 worldwide on a budget of $60,000,000.[3] Unlike Insurrection, Nemesis could not even boast solid international numbers, as it sold fewer tickets internationally than any Star Trek film other than The Search for Spock. While Star Trek's ratings had been in gradual decline since the release of Star Trek: First Contact, the film garners a 37% "rotten" rating from critics according to Rotten Tomatoes, but a 64% "fresh" rating among users,[4] and a Metacritic score of 50 out of 100 (mixed or average) from 29 reviews.[5]

[edit] Home releases

On May 20, 2003, Star Trek Nemesis was released on DVD in both anamorphic widescreen and full screen editions in Region 1. 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.[6] 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.

[edit] References

  1. ^ From Trek X to Nemesis
  2. ^ First Look At New D'Deridex Class Romulan Warbird, The 'Valdore'
  3. ^ Figures according to Box Office Mojo
  4. ^ Star Trek Nemesis at Rotten Tomatoes
  5. ^ Star Trek Nemesis at Metacritic
  6. ^ Star Trek - Nemesis (Special Collector's Edition) DVD at Amazon.com.

[edit] External links

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