Star Trek: Nemesis: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|'''[[Star Trek: Voyager|Janeway]]:''' Jean-Luc, how would you like a trip to Romulus?

 

The big-screen [[Grand Finale]] for the ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Next Generation]]'' crew. In fact, it ''nearly'' became a [[Franchise Killer]] for the ''Trek'' features (requiring a [[Continuity Reboot]] to survive).

Director Stuart Baird is an editor by trade; reportedly he had never seen a single episode of ''[[Star Trek]]'' in his life, and his only other directing credits were ''[[Executive Decision]]'' and ''[[U.S. Marshals]]''. This might explain why ''Nemesis'' places more emphasis on [[Stuff Blowing Up]] than [[Character Development]], and even includes a [[Car Chase]]. The addition of some serious [[Fridge Logic]] and [[Series Continuity Error|Series Continuity Errors]] turned off the fans, and the revelation that much material had been left on the cutting-room floor - including [[Cameo|Cameos]] from former TNG regulars and [[True Companions]]-building moments for the survivors - didn't help. The result was a genuine flop, and the first ''[[Star Trek]]'' film not to turn a profit.

 

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Anything But That]]:

** Or maybe when he was younger Picard tried the "shaved head" look for awhile, before growing his hair back.

* [[Bald of Evil]]: See above trope.

** {{spoiler|Subsequently subverted - they just don't build Warbirds like they used to. One Romulan vessel has a wing sheared off and the other is gutted, leaving the Enterprise no better off than before. [[The Worf Effect]], to show how badass Shinzon is, but its so easy it just makes the Romulans look bad.}}

*** {{spoiler|To be fair those were not proper Warbirds. They were faster lighter escort ships, presumably the only ones fast enough to arrive in time to actually be any help.}}

* [[Board to Death]]: Romulan senate not cooperating? Kill 'em all with an experimental thalaron radiation bomb!

* [[Body Horror]]: The effects of thalaron radiation: it turns you into powder from the inside-out. Quite painfully, it must be added.

* [[Bottomless Pit]]: Riker kicks the Viceroy into one of these; the Enterprise apparently has one starting at deck 29 (the bottom of the ship) and going down far enough to be fatal.

** This also becomes a case of [[Did Not Do the Research]] as the ship has been repeatedly identified as only having 26 decks in previous movies.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: The micro transporter Data attempts to use when rescuing Picard is used later on... to rescue Picard.

* [[Cloning Blues]]: Shinzon is so insecure about being a "copy" of Captain Picard that he wants to kill not just him, but the [[Omnicidal Maniac|entire Human race]] to prove his own uniqueness.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: There is one for every Trek series and crew:

** One of the ships waiting for the Enterprise is the [[Star Trek: Enterprise|USS Archer]].

*** That scene is most likely a callback to a deleted scene where Worf derides the Romulans as being "without honor". Though it can also work as described above, as an evolution of Worf's views.

** Another subtle reference is the planet Remus itself, which was first mentioned all the way back in "Balance of Terror" (and never mentioned again until now).

* [[Cool Starship]]: The ''Scimitar'' is a decidedly evil-looking vessel, with forward-swept wings, dark gray hull, and an overall design that just oozes menace. It can also use its weapons ''and'' its shields while cloaked, something that, except for the Klingon Bird-of-Prey in ''The Undiscovered Country'' (the weapons at least, it still couldn't use its shields), is normally impossible.

** It wasn't impossible to use the weapons systems, it was simply impractical, [[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country|as the ionized gas that all starships use at sub-light speeds has to be vented, and could thus be tracked]], so until a way was discovered to also use the shields while cloaked, the ship was ''extremely'' vulnerable while under cloak.

** Plus the ''Enterprise''-E remains as cool as ever.

* [[Demoted to Extra]]: Pretty much everyone except Picard and Data, but particularly egregious for Geordi, Dr. Crusher and Worf.

* [[Dream Spying]]

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: The Romulans start to side against Shinzon when they realized how genocidal he was. They want to conquer [[The Federation]], but not like that.

* [[Evil Twin]]

* [[Five Second Foreshadowing]]: The Enterprise is being stalked by Shinzon's cloaked ship, so it's hoping to rendezvous with the fleet for protection. On the way, they enter an area of space where long-range communications don't work. Data and Picard [[Oh Crap|realize]] that this would be a perfect place for Shinzon to attack them. After that thought, they get attacked.

* [[Grand Finale]] - For the Next Generation crew.

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|the Romulans.}}

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Data, homaging ''Wrath of Khan''.}}

* [[Idiot Ball]]: So to be clear: the series has established that quite a few members of the ''Enterprise'' are geniuses, and they know, by this point, that Shinzon is literally out for Captain Picard's blood. And yet, it doesn't occur to any of them that flying the ship into a gas cloud which prevents them from calling for help is a really, ''really'' bad idea.

** The last time they found a disassembled Soong-designed android, he turned out to be Data's [[Evil Twin]] and went on to nearly kill the crew on two separate occasions. Why not ONE of the senior staff, all of whom were present for both events, brings up even the vaguest mention of this...

** {{spoiler|So, Shinzon and the Remans discover B-4 somewhere, add programming to turn him into their spy, and plant his remains in the desert for the Enterprise to find. The goal here is to acquire military information that will allow the Scimitar to travel through Federation space to Earth and avoid all defending ships and outposts... which wouldn't be able to see through his "perfect" cloaking device anyway, even at point-blank range when they know the ship is right there in front of them.}}

*** {{spoiler|This not only doesn't work, but in fact allows for Data to masquerade as B-4 and free Picard, thus forcing Shinzon to attack the Enterprise to get him back rather than simply ignoring them entirely and going on to sterilize Earth}}.

*** Also Shinzon is visibly [[Clone Degeneration|degrading]] from the effects of {{spoiler|not having his rapid aging activated}} he could be making mistakes like putting the ''Scimitar'' anywhere it could possibly be rammed by the damaged ''Enterprise'' at all, because his mind is dissolving just like his body.

* [[Informed Flaw]]: Picard tells Shinzon that the years of torment left him without the potential to improve himself...even though in the span of just under ten years, Shinzon went from weakest slave in the dilithium mines to successful commander in the Dominion War to leader of the Romulan Empire ready to deliver a mortal blow to their greatest enemy. [[SF Debris|Kinda makes Shinzon the self-made man of the decade.]]

* [[Kicked Upstairs]]: This is a common [[Fanon]] rationale for why Janeway was promoted over Picard. They needed to get her as far away from the Captain's chair as possible.

** [[Fridge Brilliance|Explains how Starfleet came to have so many]] [[Insane Admiral|Insane Admirals]].

* [[King Arthur]]: Arthurian legend is referenced especially in the last scene between Picard and Shinzon. {{spoiler|Shinzon pulling himself down the beam to make his final verbal attack all the more poignant is a parallel to Mordred hauling himself down the spear to aim a final attack at his father Arthur.}}

* [[The Last Dance]]:

* [[Lock and Load Montage]]

* [[Looks Like Orlok]]: The Remans.

* [[Mind Rape]]: Troi, though she turns it back on them.

** Plus it's widely thought that it would have at least earned back its budget like ''Insurrection'' had, if not for the fact that [[Dueling Movies|it was released in the same week as]] ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Two Towers]]''.

* [[Misplaced Retribution]]: Shinzon directs his hatred of the Romulans towards Earth for reasons which only make sense to the screenwriter.

** Shinzon went form the weakest slave in the mine to the uncontested ruler of a major galactic power; how this fails to count as "bettering himself" is anyone's guess.

*** Picard meant that Shinzon should better himself as a person, and that is one thing Shinzon obviously failed to do, despite his social success.

* [[Punny Name]]: B4, Data's prototype. The name was planned to be B9 but got changed.

* [[Ramming Always Works]]: subverted. It accomplishes little and less, although presumably it would have slowed the ''Scimitar'' down and even damaged its ability to cloak meaning the rest of the fleet stood a better chance of detecting and engaging it.

* [[Real Life Writes the Plot]]/[[Reality Subtext]]: {{spoiler|Data's death came in large part because Brent Spiner, in his own words, is getting older and can't play an ageless [[Artificial Human]] so well anymore.}}

* [[Remember the New Guy?]]: The entire Reman species which, given its back story, should have shown up at least once or twice on the various series. Everyone just acts like they've always existed.

* [[Rule of Cool]]: An uncommon backfire. Between the [[Car Chase]], the Nosferatu-like Remans, the Data prototype, the space battles, the [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and [[Patrick Stewart Speech|Captain Picard's sermonizing on the nature of morality]], the writers tried to cram so much awesome stuff into one movie (at the expense of plot, continuity and character) that [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]] collapsed under its own weight and the whole thing imploded into something surprisingly...[[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|less than awesome]]. Rick Berman actually discussed this rather frankly and admitted neither he nor anyone else realized anything was going wrong during filming.

* [[Series Continuity Error]]: The Remans from the sister planet of Romulus as the thuggish foot soldiers of the Romulan Empire has never been mentioned before. B4 makes only some marginal sense (Dr. Soong mentioned he made plenty of prototypes before he created Data, although he didn't mention any that were still functional) but his appearance in the movie and how the Romulans got a hold of him is not explained.

** Also, Picard, who has consistently been depicted as being willing to lay down his life before violating the [[Alien Non-Interference Clause|Prime Directive]], happily takes part in a car chase on a pre-industrial world. He's also violated it just about as much as Kirk did, but not never so whimsically and randomly.

** Picard tells Shinzon that the two of them have (among other things) the same heart, even though it's been established that Picard has an an artificial heart.

*** He could have meant it in the figurative sense, mind.

* [[Soul Fragment]]: B4 sings "Blue Skies" at the end.

* [[Space Is an Ocean]]: Averted. The majority of the final battle takes place in mostly a flat plane but there is still plenty of swooping over and under each other. As well a major part of the combat involves the Enterprise rotating damaged sections away from the Scimitar's line of sight, which includes turning (relative to us) upside down.

* [[Status Quo Is God]]: Despite leaving Starfleet in the finale of ''Deep Space Nine'', Worf is back in his old position of tactical/security officer on the ''Enterprise'' without so much as a line of dialogue to explain it. This may actually have been an improvement on the excuse they offered for him being around in the [[Star Trek: Insurrection|previous film]].

* [[Stupid Sacrifice]]: Several (attempted) times in fact. {{spoiler|First Data tries to do this when saving Picard, but Picard tells him no. Then Picard attempts to do this when the ''Enterprise'' is disabled. Then Data comes to save Picard ''again'', before following through on his initial plan to kill himself in a semi-heroic fashion. The latter two are because no member of the crew seems to realize that the ''Enterprise'' has functioning shuttles with functioning transporters.}}

* [[This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself]]

* [[Timeshifted Actor]]: Technically, [[Tom Hardy]] as Shinzon, although they didn't bother to get an actor who actually looked anything like [[Patrick Stewart]].

* [[To Absent Friends]]: Borrowed from ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock|Star Trek III the Search For Spock]]''.

* [[Villain Opening Scene]]: But, y'know, who really liked the Romulan Senate anyway?

* [[Weapon of Mass Destruction]]

* [[Weld the Lock]]: Picard seals the door to the shuttlebay, but discovers that that door is the only way out.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Science Fiction Films]]

[[Category:Illusion Arts]]

[[Category:Films of the 2000s]]

[[Category:Film]]

[[Category:Star Trek]]