Star Trek: Nemesis

Star Trek: Nemesis
Directed by	Stuart Baird
Written by	John Logan Rick Berman Brent Spiner
Produced by	Rick Berman
Starring	See table
Cinematography	Jeffrey L. Kimball
Edited by	Dallas Puett
Music by	Jerry Goldsmith
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	December 13, 2002
Running time	116 min.
Language	English
Budget	$60,000,000

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) is the tenth Star Trek feature film, and the fourth based on the popular television series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Cast

Actor	Role
Patrick Stewart	Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Brent Spiner	Lt. Commander Data/B-4
Jonathan Frakes	Commander/Captain William T. Riker
LeVar Burton	Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn	Lt. Commander Worf
Gates McFadden	Dr. (Cmdr.) Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis	Counselor (Cmdr.) Deanna Troi
Ron Perlman	Reman Viceroy
Tom Hardy	Praetor Shinzon
Dina Meyer	Romulan Commander Donatra
Jude Ciccolella	Romulan Commander Suran
Kate Mulgrew	Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway
Whoopi Goldberg	Guinan (uncredited)
Wil Wheaton	Lt. Wesley Crusher

Plot summary

While the crew of the USS Enterprise prepares to bid farewell to longtime first officer, now Captain, William T. Riker and Counselor Deanna Troi, who have just married each other in Alaska, find 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 ship is then ordered by Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway to a diplomatic mission to Romulus, the slave homeworld of the Romulan Star Empire, which has undergone a military coup and is now controlled by a mysterious young Reman named Shinzon. The Romulan Praetor Shinzon proves to be a clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who appears to want peace but has some nasty plans for both the Romulans and the Federation.

File:USS Enterprise faces of with the Reman warbird Scimitar.jpg

The Enterprise faces off with the Scimitar

The Enterprise crew detects a break-in on the ship's computer systems, and Picard is captured by the Remans because Shinzon needs him as his only matching supplier of genetic material needed to repair his body, which will otherwise rapidly degenerate as a result of the process used to artificially age his clone body. The crew finds out that B-4 is a spy who helped transfer information from the Enterprise to Shinzon, and is able to replace him with Data to rescue Picard. Picard and the crew subsequently find themselves battling Shinzon's completely cloaked Warbird, the Scimitar, which is Shinzon's custom-built weapon designed for one purpose: the complete destruction of Earth.

With the assistance of two Romulan warbirds whose captains and crews are not loyal to Shinzon, a space battle ensues in which the Scimitar is eventually crippled at great cost: the warbirds are severely damaged and forced to back off, and the Enterprise rams the Scimitar, sustaining heavy damage to the forward half of the saucer section. Shinzon then activates the Scimitar's superweapon, bent on taking the Enterprise down with him. Picard and Data board it to stop the weapon, and Data ultimately sacrifices himself to save Picard and the Enterprise.

At the end, while the Enterprise undergoes repairs at a drydock in Earth orbit, Picard says goodbye to Captain Riker and wishes him luck on the Titan. B-4, into whom Data had copied the seeds of his neural net, starts haltingly singing parts of a song Data was practicing for the wedding at the start of the film, in the same manner that, as noted by Riker, Data would often try to whistle a tune but fail when he first signed on at the Enterprise.

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' relationship with one another. A frequent criticism of Nemesis is that many of these deleted scenes contain the best acting, emotional, and thematic content in the story, but all were deleted for time in favor of keeping special effects or action sequences. Rick Berman has admitted 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.
• 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 "mind-rape" 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 only grins at Madden and Madden notices that Riker has pulled 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, because it is a place "where no one has gone before".

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, 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.

In early 2007 an "extended ending" clip appeared on YouTube. This clip featured two scenes not included in the DVD. 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. This clip can no longer be found on YouTube, as it was taken down in spring 2007.

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 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 US box office. It earned $67,312,826 worldwide on a budget of $60,000,000. 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, and a Metacritic score of 50 out of 100 (mixed or average) from 29 reviews.

Future films

Main article: Star Trek (film)

DVD 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.

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. It has also been criticized for not reintegrating several deleted scenes into the film, a la Star Trek: The Motion Picture, to improve the narrative.

External links

• Star Trek: Nemesis at IMDb
• Star Trek: Nemesis at Rotten Tomatoes
• Star Trek: Nemesis at Metacritic
• Star Trek: Nemesis at Box Office Mojo
• Official Star Trek: Nemesis web site
• Star Trek: Nemesis at Memory Alpha
• Review by Science Fiction Weekly