Re-Examining Star Trek: Nemesis

It hardly seems possible, but as of this writing, Star Trek: Nemesis was released five years ago. It did abysmally with the fans, it did poorly in the theaters, and actually constitutes the only box office bomb in the Trek franchise. I am the first to admit that I was predisposed towards not liking it, given the fact that this was being touted as the final Star Trek: The Next Generation movie, and it was well known ahead of time that it would feature the death of Data, who is not only one of my favorite science fiction characters, but also a favorite within Trek fandome in general. I didn't bother spending my money to watch it in the theater, and I actually waited a while after it was out on DVD before finally watching it.

So it was a disappointment, other than the fact that there is a new Trek movie coming out in a year, why bother taking another look n0w? Well, this is TNG's 20th anniversary, there is a new line of TNG novels out right now that take place after Nemesis, and there is that movie coming out that's been getting a lot of press. In short, maybe it's time to finally deal with Next Gen's demise before moving on to a Trek reboot.

First off, let me get this out of the way right up front. Next Gen was my Generation's Star Trek. Yes, I enjoy the original, but there's nothing like being there for a historic TV series when it airs for the first time. I was a young teen when it premiered, and the series completed when I was nearly finished with college. I read the novels, I bought the Star Trek magazines, I gobbled up any media pertaining to Trek, because at that time, it was the best thing on TV. Right now, I can say that Next Gen and Babylon 5 remain my favorite television series. In other words, the characters have been around for so long, and I grew so attached to them that they're almost like real life friends or family. Kind of sad, I know, but I'm also not the only person who bears the Trekker mantle who feels that way.

So yes, I rejected Nemesis because it was about the end of a family I cared about and featured the death of a character I considered a friend. There are a lot of people who like to blame the director, Stuart Baird for the movie's failure, but the truth is that given the events that occur, there is nothing he could have done to win a lot of us over. Want to blame someone? Blame Rick Berman, or the writer John Logan; or even better yet, blame Brent Spiner for encouraging the death of his character.

Or better yet, don't blame anyone at all, because it's actually not the stinkfest that everyone loves to make it out to be. In fact, it's actually quite good, but you really have to look into the themes involved rather than simply expecting it to be a fun ride like most Trek movies. That's right, this one may be a science fiction action movie, but it's one with actual depth, and at the heart of it is the very thing that I profess to love about Next Gen: family.

There's a whole special feature about this on the DVD, so I'll provide the Cliff's Notes version. Picard and Data both meet their dopplegangers. Despite their high hopes, Picard hoping that Shinzon could be something of a son to him, and Data hoping that B4 would be a brother who was not a psychopath like Lore, ultimately they are both disappointed in them. In Picard's case, he is forced to kill Shinzon, at the cost of numerous crew members, his ship, and one of his most trusted friends. In Data's case, he isn't forced to take action against B4, but he knows that he will never be able to instill in him the drive to become more human that he possesses. In both cases, these individuals are unable to rise above their past and become something more, and in the end, they all realize that their real family is the one aboard the Enterprise, and like it or not, with Riker and Troi getting marries and going off to command the Titan, Crusher going back to Starfleet Command, and Data dying, that family is coming to an end.

So let's for a minute look at some of the other elements of the movie. The Romulan council chambers was a great set, and the sequence where they're all destroyed by thalaron radiation was well done. The Scimitar was an enormous and truly menacing ship, but even more important, is was actually plausible. The acting was top notch on the part of all the cast members. The action was good and steady throughout the film, and none of it was disappointing in any way. In fact, were it not for the simple fact that an important character dies, it was a good movie, at least according to this reviewer.

So why did it fail?

When the original cast called it quits, Star Trek VI ended on a happy note. Everyone survived, the Federation made peace with the Klingons, and they all had one last grand adventure together before the end. Roddenberry created Star Trek as an optimistic universe where humanity had worked out most of its problems, and I think that this is one truth that the fans understand. Star Trek: Then Next Generation is arguably a lighter, happier show than the original was, and it really embraces Roddenberry's optimism. The original cast got to go out on a high note, and I think that most people feel that it was wrong for the final Next Gen movie to be as dark as it was.

If you were to take this movie out of the Star Trek universe, I suspect that it would have been received much better. I'll repeat, this wasn't a bad movie, it just wasn't the movie that the fans wanted, and in the end, that is the reason it failed.

Yes, there were a few plot holes. How did the Enterprise detect positronic energy coming from a planet from light years away? Sure, that was just an excuse to introduce B4 and lure the Enterprise close to the Neutral Zone. Shinzon's plan required B4's involvement, so suppose they had not detected it. Suppose that even if they had, they'd decided that this wasn't important and could be investigated later. Suppose that a different ship would have been dispatched to Romulus. Had these things happened, Shinzon's plan to get a blood transfusion from Picard would have fallen apart.

Hey on that note, if Shinzon would have simply asked Picard nicely for a total blood transfusion, don't you think he would have done it out of kindness? He could have provided some to Crusher, who would then have rapid-cloned it, and that would be that. No need for anyone to die. These are issues that hinder the suspension of disbelief. There is no reason to look at the good without looking at the bad.

Now as for me, after five years, I've completed the grieving process, I've read all of the available reboot novels, which are actually quite good, and I'm able to approach this movie with an open mind. It was a dark movie. The final movie of the series should have been more like Undiscovered Country than Wrath of Khan. The truth of the matter is that it was a good movie, but it wasn't the right movie for Trekkers. The only way Trekkers would have been happy with Nemesis is if it would have involved them all living happily ever after.