 If the rumours and the teaser poster are to be believed, Star Trek: Nemesis is to be the final big screen voyage for the Next Generation crew; with the seemingly eternal franchise being carried on only by the lacklustre Enterprise . . . and we're taking bets on how much longer that can last.
This final chapter needed to take the series out on a high note - y'know, a Wrath Of Khan or a First Contact - but Nemesis falls way short.
So where does Star Trek: Nemesis lose the plot so badly? To begin with, this outing's big bad doesn't draw on Star Trek's rich history - so no Borg, Dominion or Klingon renegades - but instead conjures an entirely new race from the ether. Enter the Remans; supposedly a lower caste of the Romulans that the pompous ones forgot to mention. Okay, we'll go with this. Suspension of disbelief is paramount (no pun intended) where Star Trek is concerned, and I'm willing to play along despite the Remans looking a lot more like Nosferatu than any Romulan.
It gets better though. Leading the Remans is none other than Jean Luc Picard's evil bald clone, who just happens to have an insanely complex weapon of mass destruction, and is intent on destroying the earth unless he gets one million dollars. Okay, I made that last part up, but unfortunately only the bit about the ransom.
As Star Trek: Nemesis unfolds, the unlikely makes way for the frankly stupid, and the spell of belief is broken. Romulans that act totally against their usually xenophobic nature; guns that do no damage one second, then blow man-sized holes in bulkhead doors the next . . . need I go on? Nemesis reaches its climax with Picard battling his evil clone as the doomsday weapon counts down in the background. To say this film is cliché-ridden doesn't cover the preposterous nature of these closing scenes. Hey, I was there for Star Trek: The Motion Picture all those years ago, and I even found Star Trek: Voyager enjoyable. No, really. I understand that the silliness is an essential element of Star Trek, I really do, but Nemesis is just too much for me. So no apologies then; Star Trek: Nemesis is without a doubt the worst Star Trek film ever made, at a time when it needed to be the best. :: Rowan Shaeffer |
