A Long Goodbye for Most of the TNG Crew in Star Trek: Nemesis
Palmer’s Trek, the unwatched frontier. These are the voyages of Agent Palmer. On his continuing mission: to explore Star Trek. To seek out its numerous series and movies. To boldly go where many fans have gone before!
This film is many things; a throwback like its direct theatrical predecessor, connective, and a goodbye.
Star Trek: Nemesis is a return to the original series when the Romulans were much more of a threat and plot device for the franchise. It’s similar to the previous film Insurrection in that it feels more like a two-part episode from the television series than a film and of, course, it’s got plenty of connective tissues to the Star Trek Universe that I’m still only partially aware of.
For example, I know that there are more than a few Deep Space Nine references, and I’m not sure why I know who Janeway is, but she does appear briefly in the film. On the whole, like all of the Next Generation films, you don’t need to have watched the series or even the previous film to enjoy what is on the screen, but it doesn’t hurt to know more.
What is Nemesis about? It’s about fighting ourselves, both literally and figuratively. The Enterprise is sent to Romulus, the Romulan homeworld, on a diplomatic mission of peace, but they find more than they bargained for in the process.
Spoilers ahead (if, like me, you still hadn’t seen this 2002 film).
They find two of their own in the process. They find a prototype of Data, his long lost brother B-4, and they discover Picard’s clone in the form of Shinzon of the Romulan Empire.
Personally, I think that the two Picards work, but the additional parallel with Data and his long lost “copy” or prototype seem a stretch too far. It’s the second parallel I don’t think is needed, despite it being intrinsically part of the plot.
I think the reason the parallel didn’t work for me is because we had already dealt with Data’s brother Lore throughout parts of the Next Generation series. It felt like an unnecessary rehash for something that was buttoned up. I didn’t dislike B-4, and I think the nature of him being around when Data is not will allow a “new” Data for the future, I’m guessing, but it didn’t have to be written as quite the cloning parallel. I think the script is a bit long for it.
On the other hand, the main event of Picard vs. Shinzon, his younger cloned self, is a very intriguing and worthwhile chess match. This is where the writers had the most fun. We all have inner battles with our younger selves, thinking that we can do things like we used to or feeling younger than we are, which are things that often get us into trouble. But to have to actually physically face your younger self is a tougher challenge, and the stakes are higher than just mano a clono.
Like Insurrection, this does feel like a two-part to-be-continued episode from the television series, but unlike Insurrection, this feels too long. I enjoyed bits and pieces of it as it is supposed to be a sendoff of our beloved Next Generation cast and crew, but it feels very much like they had too many ideas and too many chefs in the kitchen.
For every ending – like Riker and Troi finally tying the knot in their on-again, off-again relationship – there are characters like Worf or Geordi or Beverly who seem to get very little closure. It almost feels like stuff was there, either shot or written, and it just never made it to the final cut on the big screen.
This is supposed to be the big sendoff for the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it just falls a bit flat.
Something that was interesting, though not good or bad was the title screen. The mirrored Es and Rs in the Star Trek Nemesis title screen put me in a headspace close to the movie’s release in 2002. The text design choice called to mind Nine Inch Nails, which often used the backwards N, and the font is something out of Diablo or Quake franchises, also of the late 90s early 2000s timeframe.
I mention this title screen, because it is the only title screen with a design that made me realize just when this film was released. The other three films basically exist in a vacuum for me, sometime after the series ended. This one is dated, but not in a good or bad way.
All in all, this was a marvelous sendoff for Captain Jean Luc Picard, as well as Data, William Riker, and Deanna Troi, but the rest of The Next Generation characters just happened to be there. This is kind of a let down. The series, and the franchise to this point, is very much based on the whole of the ensemble. To have some characters left out in the farewell seems unfortunate.
And so my time on this particular series of Enterprises – they went through a few iterations, after all – with this crew and this Next Generation of the Star Trek franchise comes to a close. On to Deep Space Nine and a new dynamic and perspective for the franchise called Star Trek. I think the change from an exploring vessel to a static space station will be refreshing, but that’s all I can say for now, because it’s all that I know.
Live long and prosper.