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Star Trek X: Nemesis

Originally Aired: 2002-12-13

Synopsis:
A Romulan clone of Picard's seeks revenge and threatens the destruction of the Federation with a powerful weapon. [Blu-ray] [DVD]

My Rating - 8

Fan Rating Average - 5.06

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Problems
- Why did Picard blatantly break the Prime Directive when he retrieved B4?
- I'm not one to nitpick too much about looks, but we've seen photos of young Picard before. The one they show here (with Shinzon in the picture...) looks nothing like the ones we've seen in various TNG episodes.

Factoids
- Picard has represented the Federation in first contact with 27 alien species.
- Riker now commands the USS Titan.
- Worf seems to be back at his old job! I guess life as a diplomat didn't suit him. :)
- Remans are considered an undesirable caste in the hierarchy of the Romulan Empire.
- In the Dominion war, Reman troops were used as assault forces in the most violent encounters.
- Shinzon fought in twelve major engagements in the Dominion war, all successful.
- Some perhaps non canon things that were in the script but not the movie... Dr. Crusher was to leave the ship and go back to Starfleet Medical. Picard's new first officer was to be a Commander Madden. B4 was originally named B9. Wesley had lines which were cut.

Remarkable Scenes
- The gradual zoom from space into the Romulan senate. Great graphics and great music.
- The assassination of the Romulan senate.
- The wedding scene.
- Admiral Janeway. Wow, her return from the delta quadrant sure earned her some pips!
- The briefing on the Remans.
- The appearance of the Scimitar.
- Shinzon's appearance.
- Shinzon telling Picard about his origins.
- The revelation that Data was pretending to be B4 during Picard's capture.
- The Enterprise firing phasers randomly to try and locate the Scimitar.
- The Romulans joining the battle.
- The Scimitar playing dead, ambushing the Romulan ships.
- The hull breach on the bridge. Wow! Gotta love how that forcefield waited to activate until a redshirt was lost. ;)
- Shinzon when he realized the Enterprise was about to him his ship: "Hard to port!"
- Picard ramming the Enterprise into the Scimitar. Some damn nice graphics there.
- Data's jump across space.
- Picard's fight with Shinzon
- Data sacrificing himself.
- Riker recalling the first time he saw Data in TNG: Encounter At Farpoint.
- Picard chatting with B4, trying to make him understand Data.

My Review
This film was not at all timed correctly. But with the Dominion war over and the Borg Collective all but rendered impotent, the only major villain the writers had left was the Romulan Empire. In this respect, the right political players were picked. But the story of Shinzon vs. Picard was a poor choice, even if well executed. A better film would have shown us real progress between the Federation and the Romulan Empire instead of this comparative filler. Granted, it looks as though relations between the Federation and the Romulan Empire will improve after this film, but instead of showing us the likely progress, we're shown a lot of unnecessary fighting instead. And let's not forget that whole Argo scene. That's about as unnecessary as it gets, Prime Directive violation and all! Additionally, a better film would have been a film which did more to address the finales of DS9 and Voyager. I would have liked to have seen DS9 again as a cameo in this film. I would have liked to have known more about what happened to Sisko. I would have liked a current status report on the Dominion. I would have liked a current status report on the Borg Collective. And perhaps most importantly, I would have liked to have known exactly what happened to all that technology Janeway brought to the Federation from the future. Star Trek X: Nemesis features no use of the futuristic armor or transphasic torpedoes. I wonder if Janeway classified it all as soon as she became an admiral. ;) Due to all of these important omissions, I have to subtract points from the film. All of that being said, Star Trek X: Nemesis is really a solid film. It was every bit the action sequel to Star Trek VIII: First Contact the fans wanted. This film featured the longest starship battle sequence in history. It's about time we got to see the Enterprise E flex its muscles! The battle may not have the numbers DS9 had, but it is easily the most impressive one ever done. I'm getting the impression that Star Trek X: Nemesis was intended to wrap up TNG the same way Voy: Endgame was intended to wrap up Voyager and DS9: What You Leave Behind was intended to wrap up DS9. With Data dead, B4 being shown as unlikely to pull a Spock style Data resurrection (or at least, I hope not), and Riker and Troi leaving the Enterprise, it's just all too clear that this is the final TNG production. Besides, it's been hinted numerous times behind the scenes that this is the final TNG film. As a finale, Star Trek X: Nemesis is adequate in some ways, inadequate in others. I've already complained about the lack of closure we've seen with the other shows, an opportunity wasted here. But I'm reasonably pleased with the closure that Star Trek X: Nemesis offers TNG. Data's death was extremely touching. The wedding scene was fantastic. It's kind of annoying that we don't get to see Riker's new ship, but that's definitely not a show stopper. I may not have liked Star Trek X: Nemesis as much as DS9's finale, the last three TNG films, or TNG's TV finale but I liked it better than Voy: Endgame and I thought it was a fitting conclusion to the series. Just like the last four TNG productions, this one is open ended. Captain Picard will never retire as captain. No promotions. No stopping. He'll keep on exploring long past the end of the series until he dies of old age, because he's just as stubborn and stuffy as he was in TNG: Encounter At Farpoint. That's what makes him such a great captain.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From EKH on 2007-05-02 at 4:34pm:
    Why does this movie get so much flak? Sure, it is darker than most Trek, but it is still a good movie.
    And the final confrontation is any spacecraft lover's wet dream!
  • From JTL on 2008-01-15 at 2:18am:
    I believe the critics hit TNG:Nemesis too hard.

    Yes, the Romulans aren't as captivating as the terror-race of cyborgs that is the Borg, but the movie had a good deal of effort put into it; and a great execution to boot! It is a solid TNG finale.
  • From Al Rizan on 2008-05-17 at 3:29pm:
    This movie was horrible. I can't believe there are people actually saying it was good. The director was the same guy who directed U.S. Marshals! He made the movie into an action packed, explosive filled story that doesn't belong in star trek. The plot was okay but the characters and outlook were so dark in their natures it wasn't pleasant to watch.
  • From Nick on 2010-08-31 at 8:32pm:
    This movie is terrible, terrible, terrible. I was astounded that it got as high a rating as it did.

    -Shinzon's motives make no sense.
    -Shinzon's existence makes no sense.
    -B4's existence was retconned and handled far too lightly. It was the only potential for character development here.
    -The Troi mind rape scene was unnecessary and in poor taste.
    -The dune buggy chase was campier than anything in ST:V, and they went camping in that movie.
    -Overall it feels like an action movie with Star Trek terms and themes thrown in, not a Star Trek movie. The last 3 Star Trek films have had that problem.
    -At the end, we learn nothing.

    -This film killed the Next Generation film series. No other films will be made in the main continuity of Star Trek now. Only reimagings.
  • From tigertooth on 2010-12-13 at 11:22pm:
    I thought this was better than Insurrection, and generally good, though it certainly had flaws, as mentioned above. The mindrape thing seemed like it was originally intended to be a bigger subplot. Once they decided to cut it for time (I'm guessing), they just should have killed it altogether rather than give it short shrift as they did.

    Honestly, though, I'm mostly posting just to mention the huge missed opportunity:

    When Shinzon gets impaled through the chest at the end, I suddenly freaked out and got excited! I expected him to look down at the metal piercing through his heart, then throw his head back and laugh. That would have been a great reference to "Tapestry" (and Picard's history generally). And to those unfamiliar with that detail, it would have simply come across as Shinzon being creepy.

    It would have worked perfectly, and I can't believe nobody thought of it. Why on earth did they kill Shinzon via impaling if they weren't going to go that route?
  • From Axel on 2015-06-01 at 1:11am:
    I agree about the timing problems and storyline omissions in this movie. It could've actually been more than just another TNG film, incorporating DS9/VOY characters (other than Janeway) and building on those arcs a bit. Voyager especially leaves a lot of unanswered questions, mainly about whether the Borg survived that pathogen at all. Using the Romulans to set up the antagonist made sense. DS9: WYLB mentioned that they and the Federation would be the main powers in the Alpha Quadrant for a while. This movie could've focused more on that than Shinzon's own personal agenda. And, Worf's involvement in this one doesn't make any sense. In First Contact and Insurrection, reuniting him with the Enterprise crew was explained decently. But isn't he the Federation ambassador to the Klingon Empire now? Joining the Enterprise crew just because he was there for Riker and Troi's wedding seems like a real stretch.

    But this is honestly the only one of the TNG movies I didn't like. It had an exciting premise, but there were just so many parts of it that seemed very far removed from what made TNG a great TV series. Some scenes just seem like they were contrived action for the big screen, like the high-speed buggy. The fact that there was apparently a fifth movie in the works that was supposed to tie up all the loose TNG threads but which didn't get produced because of Nemesis "franchise fatigue" makes me even more dissatisfied with this one.
  • From Graham Bessellieu on 2019-09-08 at 12:05am:
    Honestly, the studio should be ashamed of this film.

    It starts out excellent. The wedding scene is a lovely reunion with just the right mixture of humor and camaraderie. Then it's all downhill from there.

    The performances and overall tone of the entire film are stilted, monochromatic, and with an air of graveness. There is almost no humor or levity (which First Contact as a fellow action film knew how to balance skillfully). There is no *heart* to the film, which is the essence of Trek.

    The rape scene (as Nick mentioned) is in *extreme* poor taste and unnecessary. Shinzon is well acted, but underdeveloped. And unlike Kethinov's reaction, I found Data's death (one of my favorite Trek characters of all time, I might add) to have not much emotional depth, or gravitas to it. Certainly nothing matching the performance of Spock in ST:II. I found it somewhat arbitrary.

    Data's sign-off would have been more appropriate in another context and if tied in closer to his ark with both Geordi and Picard.

    It doesn't even function well as an action film, in my opinion. I found the second-half drawn out and without the narrative foundation to keep the action justified. Overall, a very disappointing finale to TNG.

    Thankfully, with the news of the upcoming "Picard" the TNG narrative finale will have a chance to redeem itself! Crossing fingers.

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