- December 14, 2002
Star Trek Nemesis-
REVIEW
By Kevin
Knight
Special thanks to Paul Pytlik for the screencaps.
Note: The following contains SPOILERS! Proceed at your own risk!
The Story
We open with a scene of the Romulan Senate. The Senate is discussing relations with the Federation. Once the discussions are over, Senator Tal'Aura leaves the session to meet with the Tholian Ambassador. She leaves a device on the table, which opens up and ejects a dust like substance which almost instantly destroys the organic matter of the Romulan Senate. We then move to Alaska, Earth at the wedding of Deanna Troi and Will Riker. Picard is serving as best man, and makes a toast to the new couple. The Enterprise then sets off to Betazed for the Betazoid wedding ceremony. On the way, the Enterprise's sensors indicate positronic signatures from Kolarus III.
After discovering another Soong-type android on Kolarus III, the Enterprise-E is ordered to Romulus to meet with the new Praetor of the Romulan Senate, a Reman named Shinzon.
Soon after meeting with Shinzon, it is revealed that he is a clone of Picard. Apparently he was created to replace Picard as a Romulan operative, but that plan was scrapped when the Romulan government collapsed and Shinzon was sent to the dilthium mines on Remus. Shinzon has dinner with Picard. The two talk about each other, and peaceful relations between the Federation and Romulan Empire. After Picard returns to the Enterprise, it is discovered that Shinzon has a weapon that will destroy all life on Earth.
As the Enterprise prepares to leave for Federation space, Shinzon has Picard beamed onboard his ship. Shinzon needs Picard's blood because he's dying. A process of the cloning made him age rapidly, and it's causing his cellular structure to break down. Before Shinzon can perform a procedure on Picard, Data rescues him and the two return to the Enterprise.
The Enterprise heads to rendezvous with a Federation fleet, but is disabled by Shinzon before they can arrive. The two ships duel each other, and at one point Romulan Commander Donatra, formerly in league with Shinzon, betrays him and assists the Enterprise. Shinzon's ship, the Scimitar, destroys one of Donatra's ships and disables her ship. After severely damaging the Enterprise, Shinzon asks for Picard's surrender. Picard refuses, and orders the Enterprise to ram the Scimitar After the ships collide, Picard transports onboard to destroy Shinzon's weapon. The Enterprise's transporters go off-line, and Data jumps from the Enterprise to the Scimitar Data rescues Picard, transports him back to the Enterprise, and sacrifices himself to destroy the Scimitar and Shinzon's weapon.
The Enterprise crew mourn the loss of Data, and Riker and Troi disembark for the USS Titan, Riker's first command.
Review
The wedding reception was wonderful. I'm glad they at least left Wheaton in enough to be sitting next to Beverly. Picard's toast speech was wonderful..
The Argo scenes were done well. You can actually tell that Stewart was really enjoying himself when driving the Argo. That remote controlled shuttle was cool.
As much as I was not looking forward to B4, I actually enjoyed that subplot. I would like to know more about him, learn when Soong built him, how the Remans found him, and if he'll become a lot like Data.
The Enterprise-E/Scimitar battle was WONDERFUL. This battle sequence is, at this time, my second favorite out of all the Trek movies (TWoK Mutara Nebula being my fav). The direct hit on the bridge was extremely cool, and the ramming of Shinzon's ship was wonderfully done. I thought it was kinda ironic that Troi was the one to ram the Enterprise into the Scimitar
Rikers' fight with the Viceroy was pretty cool. Although I wonder if the rumored line by Riker "Don't worry, hell is dark.." was actually shot but cut from the final cut? That would have been cool to see him say.
The Enterprise-E looks absolutely beautiful in Nemesis. The Soveriegn Class has now replaced the Galaxy Class as my second favorite Federation ship. The exterior shots were done extremely well, and I loved the way it twisted and moved when shown. The inside sets look really good as we get a more detailed look of the Enterprise-E's inside, lots more than FC and INS.
Shinzon was written, acted and executed almost flawlessly. In a way, you can tell that this is Picard, but twisted because of his experiences. I love the scene in the Ready Room where Picard tries to convince him to change. Stewart and Hardy just seemed to work well together, similar to Montablan and Shatner.
The last scene with Data and Geordi was well done. I like the look they gave each other, and that nod Geordi made to Data. Emotions, not words, ruled that scene and it was well done.
I liked the reuse of the TMP spacedock music at the end when the Enterprise-E was undergoing repairs.
Nemesis is the only TNG movie, that, IMO, feels like a movie, not a 2 hour episode.
Nemesis also manages to be great without women walking around in catsuits and engineneers in their underwear.
Things I wish were seen
The cutscenes. They left Guinan's handful of lines, but I would have liked to see what Wesley had to say. Also I wanted to see more of Data's singing.
Also, has anyone noticed that like half of the first Nemesis teaser contains the cutscenes? The part where Shinzon says "The moment we have dreamed of has arrived.." and "The mighty Federation will fall before us.." or something to that effect. Troi's reflection scene where she grabs her head was cut, and the scene with Commander Madden was cut.
The Titan. Why couldn't they have showed something about the Titan? A simple Okudagram on a PADD somewhere could have worked.
More background of Shinzon. I would have liked to see how he and his forces took control after the assassination of the Senate.
Lingering questions
The Romulan Star Empire. Now that the Senate is gone, and it looks like a new pro-Federation government may come into being, how will this effect the Alpha Quadrant? Will there be a new Romulan/Federation/Klingon Alliance?
Unification. With a pro-Federation government in power, Spock's Unification efforts should be a lot easier to accomplish.
Why did they keep calling Deanna Troi instead of Riker?
Grade: 9/10 (A)
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