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December 14, 2002

Via CNN:
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Like most sci-fi, fantasy and action franchises, "Star Trek" often lives and dies on the strength of its villains. "Star Trek: Nemesis," the 10th big-screen adventure for the crew of the starship Enterprise, opens Friday and has one of the series' most intriguing premises for an archenemy: a young Picard clone whose harsh upbringing has made him a hateful, murderous monster.

The Picard duplicate Shinzon, played by British actor Tom Hardy, gets to rage and bully in a manner that Stewart's noble character never would dream of.

"There always seems to be a much wider range of opportunities for actors when playing a bad guy," Stewart said. "Occasionally, you get these ambivalent good guys, and they're interesting. But to be evil brings more complexity than playing a clear-cut hero. Most actors always have a lot of fun investigating the worst side of human nature."

[...]

"Star Trek" offered up one of sci-fi's great villains in the second movie, "The Wrath of Khan." As genetic superman Khan, a role he created in an episode of the original "Star Trek" TV show, Ricardo Montalban took William Shatner's James Kirk and the Enterprise on an explosive deep-space dogfight, all the while snarling paraphrased snatches of Capt. Ahab's vengeful rants from "Moby Dick."

[...]

Along with Montalban, "Star Trek" has drawn an impressive lineup of actors as villains, among them Christopher Plummer ("Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country"), Malcolm McDowell ("Star Trek: Generations"), Christopher Lloyd ("Star Trek III: The Search for Spock"), and Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham ("Star Trek: Insurrection").

Generally, the more menacing the foe, the better the movie clicks with audiences. "Wrath of Khan" was a big hit, Plummer's turn as a Shakespeare-spouting Klingon miscreant gave "The Undiscovered Country" a boost, and Alice Krige's creepy Borg Queen, a cybernetic seductress, helped make "Star Trek: First Contact" the most successful of the franchise's recent films.

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