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List Price: $19.99 | | Label: Paramount
Salesrank: 15884
Released: May 20, 2003 |
| Our Price: $3.68 |
| Used Price: $0.79 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
After the wedding of Troi and Riker, Captain Picard sets off for Romulus to negotiate a truce, only to find that the Romulans current leader is a clone of himself bent on obtaining his genetic material and destroying Earth.
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 20-MAY-2003
Media Type: DVD
Description of Star Trek - Nemesis (Widescreen Edition):
The sacrifice of a beloved character is just one of many highlights in Nemesis, the 10th feature in the lucrative Star Trek franchise. Enigmatically billed as the beginning of "A Generation's Final Journey," this richly plotted Next Generation adventure maintains the "even number rule" regarding Trek's feature quality, and it's one of the best in the series. It hits its brisk stride when Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his Enterprise-E crew encounter Shinzon (Tom Hardy), a younger clone of Picard, rejected by the Romulans as the human weapon of an abandoned conspiracy. Raised on the nocturnal Romulan sister planet Remus, Shinzon now plots revenge against Romulus and Earth but needs Picard's blood to carry out his scheme. A wedding, a childlike "duplicate" Data named B-4 (Brent Spiner), spectacular space battles, and uncommon acts of valor make this a tautly-paced action thriller, poised to pass the franchise (but not quite yet) to a new generation of Starfleet personnel. Die-hard Trekkers will not be disappointed. --Jeff Shannon
Star Trek - Nemesis (Widescreen Edition) Reviews:
A Fitting Send Off for the Next Generation Crew 
2009-12-07 - Star Trek Nemesis isn't new by any means... In fact I vaguely recall checking it out back in 2003 when it first arrived on DVD and though it did nothing to offend, the prose hadn't really stuck out in memory either. As such I recently added the DVD to my collection in effort to complete my tour of the Star Trek motion pictures. It has the distinction of being the tenth major motion picture of the Star Trek franchise despite the fact that Roman Numerals in the titles used to identify the films fell out of favor at Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Based on the timeline, character development, and full continuity of the Next Generation television series, Nemesis also (unfortunately) has the distinction of being the fourth and final film based on this crew.
Released originally in 2002, Star Trek Nemesis was directed by Stuart Baird, written by John Logan from a story initially developed by Logan, Brent Spiner ("Data"), and producer Rick Berman. The music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, a man oft credited as being to Star Trek what John Williams is to Star Wars.
The story, though a bit complex for a couple-paragraph summary, goes something like this: Within the Romulan Imperial Senate, an argument is presented by the military that the time to strike the Federation is finally at hand. The Praetor (Romulus' version of a president) not only dismisses the aggressive proposal, he goes on to rebuke the military for their foolishness. In a very cool special effects filled sequence, a female senator arranges for the assassination of everyone in the chamber, including the Praetor himself.
In the mean time the crew of the USS Enterprise celebrates the wedding of first officer William T. Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), a ceremony that promises to conclude fully nude on Betazed.
On their way to complete the ceremony, the crew discovers a positronic energy signal on a planet in the Kolaran system (near the Romulan Neutral Zone) that warrants investigation. An away team consisting of Picard, Worf, and Data take a shuttlecraft down to the planet's surface then tool around in a really cool all-terrain-vehicle while discovering remnants of an android resembling Data.
Considering the ship's close proximity to the Romulan Neutral Zone, the Enterprise is then ordered by the Federation to conduct a diplomatic mission to the Romulus as apparently the Romulan government has undergone a military coup and is now controlled by a mysterious Reman named Shinzon.
Upon their arrival to Romulus, the crew learns that Shinzon is actually a clone of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, apparently built by the Romulans to replace the real Jean-Luc at the right moment. While he claims to want peace and freedom for the Remans (who raised him as a fellow slave), he also happens to occupy a most deadly warship called the Scimitar.
The film's greatest strength, were I to isolate a single trait, would have to perhaps be its ability to take the elements that made The Next Generation television series so successful and apply them directly to the realm of the motion picture medium. A seemingly simple task that somehow manages to become lost in translation with the three Next Generation-based films that preceded it. Possibly coincidental (as I do believe scripting has as much to do with it as does the directing), Nemesis represents the first in three Next Generation films where Jonathan Frakes did not serve as director. As such, Paramount decided to go with English film director Stuart Baird, who confessed to having no prior knowledge of the franchise before coming on board.
The decision pays off in my opinion as the film is rife with solid pacing, interesting visuals, and some really slick editing (Baird's primary area of expertise happens to be editing).
At this stage in the game, the cast and crew of The Next Generation had the show's formula rolling like a well-oiled machine and it shows. The character interaction is second to none and perhaps even more impressive is the actors' mastery of the tiny nuances of their character's personalities. There's a relaxed vibe to the acting that "grounds" the usual suspension of disbelief associated with enjoying science fiction.
The visuals are surprisingly low key for the genre but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The era of the film's production was rife with computer-generated overload (perhaps no greater an example than Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones which was done entirely digitally). Star Trek has traditionally been a franchise that prided itself on resisting falling into becoming a "digital showcase" by relying upon practical effects, even at painstaking time and difficulty. Nemesis carries on with this tradition and the making-of bonus features contained on the DVD are certainly worth a look.
In all there is a bit of a twist at the end of the program that is sure to upset longtime devotees of the mythos but in keeping in mind that this film represents the final voyage of the crew, some sense of finality is to be expected.
There have been criticisms to the film stating that the formula was simply too "long in tooth" to continue any further and perhaps there is a hint of truth to such complaints within the prose. However, as far as sendoffs go, Nemesis delivers with the right blend of believable technology, fiction, and drama to ensure that fans will think fondly of The Next Generation for generations to come.
Vulcan Nightmare 
2009-11-28 - The sheer face-palming stupidity of this movie is enough to make Insurrection seem even slightly reasonable. At the very least, Star Trek Insurrection has the benefit of the doubt as to whether the bad guys stance of relocating the hippie-liberal people for medical breakthroughs could even work, as the medical miracle of the planet's atmosphere might be impossible to replicate, or impossible to distribute, or the hippie-liberal people would be willing to share it if only the wrinkly-faced bad guys would go away.
"Star Trek Nemesis" has absolutely none of that.
Nemesis probably had a special place in my heart somehow for being the first Star Trek movie I fully and completely remember seeing in theaters when it first came out. I'm 70% sure I saw Insurrection in theaters, and 30% sure I saw First Contact in theaters.
So maybe it had to take this long, or rather it had to take my maturing into an adult, and becoming a real Star Trek fan to realize the movie wasn't just a bust at the box office and franchise-killing, but was a complete mess of sheer stupidity!
So the story is our guys pretty much have nothing to do but wait for another Borg attempt (unless Voyager ensured that wouldn't happen any time soon), and Commander Riker is about to go off with Deanna Troi on a honeymoon, then captain his own ship. But then suddenly comes Shin-Zon, who stages a coup on the Romulan Senate and takes control of the Empire with the military's backing.
For some reason, this is treated with a remarkable amount of hostility and uncertainty, despite the fact that the Federation and the Romulan Empire had been on hostile terms for many years, and that a sworn enemy of the Romulans had just taken over the Romulan Empire, and that this could lead to a great many new and interesting diplomatic developments between the two factions.
Ideally it SHOULD be treated this way, but that would probably take too long, and have too much "exploring" and "negotiation" and "diplomacy" and "logic", all the things a Star Trek movie SHOULDN'T have, right? Oh wait, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT STAR TREK IS ABOUT! At least you'd think that from the Original Series and the movies.
Instead, Shin-Zon is introduced and supposed to be someone to RIVAL KHAN NOONIEN SINGH in terms of sheer awe and power and evilness and such. I have no idea of this is true, but I had heard that Rick Berman said that Shin-Zon would rival Khan, or even equal him.
Rather than be a snotty pessimist, I will simply say that this is not possible because the writers did not even try to portray it this way, or else their attempts to do so ended up being edited out of the final script, or completely forgotten about.
Shin-Zon is an artificial human created from Jean-Luc Picard's DNA by the Romulans. They planned to have this clone created, rapidly aged, then inserted in Picard's place as captain of the Enterprise for some nefarious plan against the Federation. Early on, this plan ends up being abandoned, and Shin-Zon is thrown away like garbage onto Remus, among the enslaved Remans.
One of the Remans there takes Shin-Zon in, after seeing how he is horribly treated by the Romulan overseers. Shin-Zon grows up in an environment of hatred of Romulans, hard work and torture. Somehow he manages to gain ahold of much power and influence amongst the Remans, and stages a coup in which he assassinates the entire Romulan Senate, and gains power of the Empire with its military behind him.
The vast majority of his story is over! He can no longer be anywhere near Khan, because Khan's whole story was one that mirrored that of Captain Ahab in "Moby Dick"---a lust for revenge so overpowering, it destroyed him and everyone he held dear. Shin-Zon achieves his revenge without losing anything, it seems.
So here comes Jean-Luc Picard, his DNA twin, sent by the Federation to investigate, and even negotiate if possible! He can do what has never been done before for the Romulan Empire; make a peace treaty between the Federation and the Empire that can see them united, break down the Neutral Zone, and be a powerful and dominating force together in a strong alliance!
Instead, because arbitrary action and "Anyone who isn't a part of the Enterprise and has spooky evil music play whenever they come on-screen must be a bad guy", Shin-Zon for ABSOLUTELY NO REASON AT ALL decides he has to attack and destroy Earth and the Federation. Brbbrbrbrb, WHY?!?! WHY?!?!? WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY?!
There is NO REASONING OR JUSTIFICATION AT ALL for Shin-Zon to arbitrarily ATTACK THE FEDERATION just because he's a clone of Jean-Luc Picard! HE HATES THE ROMULANS! EVERY SINGLE MAJOR PLOT POINT AND KEY IN HIS BACKGROUND POINTS TO HIM HATING THE ROMULANS! AND SUDDENLY HE HATES THE FEDERATION, WHY?!
This would be as if Khan, after marooning Kirk and taking the Genesis Project, decides to go and attack the Klingon homeworld. WHY?!
So instead of making any sense and maybe, trying to hunt down the military elements of Romulus that DIDN'T support him, or preparing to put down attempted rebellions on Romulan colonies and territories that oppose him, or maybe trying to make sure the military is pleased with him and strongly backing him, instead of THREATENING THE ONLY GUY WHO COULD POSSIBLY QUASH YOUR NEFARIOUS PLOTS with random acts of violence for even DARING TO QUESTION HIM, Shin-Zon decides to threaten the only guy who could put an end to his life and reign, and go after Earth because Earth is good and good is dumb.
The rest is just fudge frosting on the cake of idiocy this movie takes. This is a true franchise-killer, and while J.J. Abrams did good in "reviving" the franchise with "Star Trek", after this mess of a movie, anyone short of Uwe Boll could have revived the franchise.
It has it's flaws, but hey, it's Trek, man! 
2009-11-11 - While I was tempted to get the new box set that that was coming out of all the TNG films leading up to the new film's release on DVD, when you're on a budget you go with what you can afford. Besides I already had the first 7 films in the same style packaging so I didn't wanna mess that up. So I went the bargain route and got the original Special Editions of the TNG films to round out my collection and I couldn't be happier to finally have the full collection. Granted, the box for my copy of "Nemesis" is a little beat up, but the content plays okay, so I can't complain since it only cost me like 3 bucks plus shipping.
If you're a trek fan like me and on a budget and just can't dive into Blu-Ray yet, check out Amazon and try to get your hands on these special edition 2 disc dvds. The bonus features are great and even make re-watching Star Trek V worth it. :-)
-Eli
another gem 
2009-10-20 - Well, pleasantly surprised. Arrived the way the shipper said it would. Excellent quality.
The Best of the "Next Gen" Movies!
2009-10-02 - When this film came out, I bagged seeing it. At the time I was disappointed with the direction of the Star Trek franchise and, ultimately, got burned out.
My claim to Star Trek is that I saw the animated series during Saturday morning cartoons when I was a kid, saw all of The Original Series (ST: TOS) and most of the Next Gen movies, TOS re-runs and all of the Next Generation (ST: TNG) episodes along with the first 2 or 3 seasons of Voyager and Deep Space Nine.
While ST: TNG was (and still is) an excellent addition to the Star Trek universe, what was the last straw with Star Trek was finding out about Paramount and, possibly, Ric Berman's alleged decision to steal J. Michael Straszynski's idea for Babylon 5 and use it for the Deep Space Nine (ST: DS9) series.
However, despite this controversy, I think both DS9 and Babylon 5 are great despite the stark similarities between the two.
I was (and in many ways) still am disappointed with Ric Berman and company's decision to occasionally use time travel too. In my view, a story line becomes marginalized if the ability to go back in time and correct mistakes made in the present, past or even attempt to alter the future.
Also, the science of the series under Berman's watch at times seems more like science fantasy than fiction.
I have to give credit where credit is due. When Rick Berman took the helm of the Star Trek franchise, his team helped it grow up. For example, Next Generation went from being a campy, b-movie oriented show in its first season to a sophisticated show with excellent story lines and development of the show's characters such as Picard, Data and Worf.
As to this movie, I saw it last night and think it is the best of the Next Generation films. In this film, Captain Picard finds out he is a father (sort of) and has to act to stop not only the instagation of an intergalactic war, but also to check his clone's miserable upbringing.
This film is definitely true to Star Trek's philosophy since with Picard's clone and Data's prototype you see the underlying humanist belief that self-improvement can correct the behavior of anyone. Including those who commit evil deeds or lack knowledge.
The action, acting and special effects are great! I was glad to see Will Riker not only get a promotion but also marry Deanna Troi. However, I was disappointed with what happened to Data. Yet it looks like he can make a comeback but in a different way.
We see the result of Picard's development with his excellent, skillful command abilities as well as his perceptive take on his adversary. We also see Data's full development come to fruition by being a father figure to his prototype and, in the tradition of Spock, his heroic decision to save the Captain and crew of the Enterprise.
It is unfortunate that this movie did not do as well as it did at the box office and is jeered many by Trekkies or Trekkers as being the single movie that contributed to the "Star Trek" franchise's demise. My favorite Star Trek movies are III and VI. Yet I give "Nemesis" high marks not just because of it staying true to what "Star Trek" is about, but also for what it does not have.
