Star Trek Nemesis

Infobox Film
name = Star Trek Nemesis


caption = Theatrical release poster
producer = Rick Berman
director = Stuart Baird
writer = John Logan (story and screenplay)
Rick Berman (story)
Brent Spiner (story)
Gene Roddenberry (creator)
starring = "See table"
music = Jerry Goldsmith
cinematography = Jeffrey L. Kimball
editing = Dallas Puett
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = December 13, 2002
runtime = 116 min.
country = USA
language = English
budget = $60,000,000 (estimated)
preceded_by = ""
followed_by = "Star Trek"
amg_id = 1:266560
imdb_id = 0253754

"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 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). [ [http://www.treknation.com/articles/from_trekx_to_nemesis.shtml From Trek X to Nemesis] ] [ [http://trekweb.com/articles/2002/08/30/1030716993.html First Look At New D'Deridex Class Romulan Warbird, The 'Valdore'] ]

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 are soon to be married on Betazed, an away team discovers the remnants of an android resembling Lieutenant Commander Data on a planet close to the Romulan Neutral Zone called . 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 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 the new leader is 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 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.

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 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

*Patrick Stewart ... Captain Jean-Luc Picard
*Jonathan Frakes ... Commander/Captain William T. Riker
*Tom Hardy ... Praetor Shinzon
*Brent Spiner ... Lt. Commander Data/B-4
*Levar Burton ... Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge
*Michael Dorn ... Lt. Commander Worf
*Gates McFadden ... Commander (Dr.) Beverly Crusher
*Marina Sirtis ... Commander (Counselor) Deanna Riker
*Ron Perlman ... Reman Viceroy
*Dina Meyer ... Romulan Commander Donatra
*Jude Ciccolella ... Romulan Commander Suran
*Kate Mulgrew ... Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway
*Whoopi Goldberg ... Guinan (uncredited)
*John Berg ... Romulan Senator
*Majel Barrett ... Computer voice

Deleted scenes

The film, as with "", 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 "" 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.

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 "" (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 September 2008. It opened at #2 in the US box office (behind "Maid in Manhattan") [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2002&wknd=50&p=.htm] and was the first Trek film not to open at #1. It earned $67,312,826 worldwide on a budget of $60,000,000. [Figures according to [http://boxofficemojo.com/franchises/chart/?id=startrek.htm Box Office Mojo] ] 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". Out of 148 professional reviews compiled by the Rotten Tomatoes movie review database, 53 (37%) are positive, giving the film a "rotten" rating. However, the film has earned a "fresh" rating from site users (out of 420 user reviews, 267 [63%] are positive). [rotten-tomatoes|id=star_trek_nemesis|title=Star Trek Nemesis] The film has earned a Metacritic score of 50 out of 100 (mixed or average) from 29 reviews. [metacritic film|id=startreknemesis|title=Star Trek Nemesis]

Rick Berman - executive producer of the movie - has suggested that "Nemesis"'s performance may have been negatively affected by "the competition of other films" [http://www.killermovies.com/s/startrek11/articles/2740.html] .

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 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. [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000A6T1KE Star Trek - Nemesis (Special Collector's Edition)] DVD at Amazon.com.] It has also been criticized for not reintegrating several deleted scenes into the film, à la "", to improve the narrative.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0253754|title=Star Trek Nemesis
*amg movie|id=1:266560|title=Star Trek Nemesis
*rotten-tomatoes|id=star_trek_nemesis|title=Star Trek Nemesis
*metacritic film|id=startreknemesis|title=Star Trek Nemesis
*mojo title|id=startrek10|title=Star Trek Nemesis
* [http://nemesis.startrek.com Official "Star Trek Nemesis" web site]
* [http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue322/screen3.html Review by "Science Fiction Weekly"]