Star Trek: TNG Reviews - From Start to Finish!

It would have happened decades before TNG, actually. The Romulans most likely found out about Picard while they were interrogating the Tasha Yar from Yesterdays Enterprise. The plan then gets dropped after the Stargazer incident, with the Romulans assuming Yars information was faulty because she came from an alternate timeline.

Then by the time Picard takes command of the Enterprise, no one remembers the clone they abandoned on Remus.

I just think PicardClone's motivations came off pretty well undefined.

Being a Trek Fan I know that PicardClone needed Picard's body to help with some kind of fault in the unstable cloning process. But that whole thing didn't really come across on screen. In fact I'm not even sure its really stated in the movie. It just seems to go from random Picard-napping to action back to random Picard-napping.

And why the hell did PicardClone care about Earth ?

It was the Romulans who had screwed him over time and time again. Shouldn't he be conquering Romulus and setting up his Re-men empire. I know he offed the Romulan Senate but still... I'd think he still had important business at home.

And what was the point of B4 ? No, really. What was the point ? If Spiner thought he was too old to play Data then why introduce ANOTHER Data character? What was the logic in that?

It was something to do with the cloned DNA being designed for a rapid aging process that was never activated.

Yes, I own a Nemesis DVD.

Shes in my version! After Data dies, and Shinzon's ship is blown up, Picard is trying to deal with the Thalaron radation but caught between angry Remans and Sela's angry Roms, he forced to depart with a departing shot of "a plague on both your houses"

I need a time machine, some competency at scriptwriting and some good luck and I'll make NEM viewable!

*yes, I'm pissed*

And he had the wrong font.

It's pretty bad when a TNG movie makes Voyager look decent in comparison.

Star Trek: Nemesis (How It Should Have Been Done!)

Begin with a teaser. Zoom in on the planet Romulus and into the chambers of the Romulan Senate.

A fierce debate has broken out among the gathered politicians. One belligerent senator starts the debate by suggesting that the time has come to strike against the Federation. He points out the growing discontent in the Romulan military and the alarm about the growing technological and political expansion of the Federation since the end of the Dominion War. He also mentions the once secret Section 31 as a reminder that Starfleet cannot be trusted. Another senator then speaks up and tells the assembled crowd that the time has come for a permanent alliance with the Federation. The senator mentions the recent alliance with the Federation and the Klingons during the Dominion War and also the gaining momentum of Ambassador Spock's Unification movement, now too big to stop or stamp down. The people are tired of the Empire's militaristic bent are starting to embrace more peaceful philosophies. Praetor Neral sits in his chair, watching all this silently. Suddenly, an oddly familiar voice calls from the shadows... one that Neral seems to recognize! It says, "you should have listened to me Neral! We should have stopped Ambassador Spock when we had the chance! But, don't worry, I intend to correct the matter right now!"

A slow ticking sound is heard. The centurions guarding the chambers of the Senate suddenly file out and lock the doors behind them. Praetor Neral and the assembled senators stand up in alarm. The ticking sounds grows faster and suddenly Neral notices a bomb lying on the floor of the Romulan chamber. A massive explosion rips through the Senate, destroying the building and everyone in it.

Opening credits. Picard gives the traditional opening monologue. Leonard Nimoy is directing this flick.

Zoom in on another planet. The crew is assembled on Betazed for a special occasion. The wedding of Will Riker and Deanna Troi. No one is naked. Picard gives a speech about friendship and family mentions some old friends who are no longer with them, like Tasha Yar. We get to see some old friends at the reception including Lwaxana, Guinan, Barclay, Wesley, Pulaski, and whoever else they can get to cameo in this movie. (Why the heck wouldn't Lwaxana be there? It would have been nice to have Majel in the movie) Wes is in his Native American garb and briefly mentions that he has been learning a lot on his travels, but it is good to visit with his family. Beverly is returning to Starfleet Medical soon. Worf is in full ambassadorial attire and has Alexander with him. He is not a silly drunk. Riker and Troi will soon be leaving for the USS Titan. We get lots of good character moments and lots of characters recalling old times and what is currently going on in their lives. Leave in the part with Data singing. That was actually kind of nice. Riker recalls that when he first met Data, the android could barely whistle. Data promptly whistles out 'Pop Goes the Weasel'.

Picard is notified of a urgent communique from Starfleet Command and returns to the orbiting Enterprise. He is informed by Admiral Bill Ross that the entire Romulan Senate has been assassinated. Ambassador Spock has gone into hiding and political turmoil is erupting throughout the Romulan Empire. USS Enterprise and USS Titan are immediately ordered to The Neutral Zone to join with a gathering fleet of Federation vessels. The Klingon Empire has also been put on alert. Ross also mentions another strange incident that occurred recently. A Federation artificial research station run by Dr. Bruce Maddox had been raided a few weeks ago, and some technology had been stolen. The attackers were unknown.

Picard sits in stunned silence for a few minutes after Ross signs off. Worf, Beverly, Geordi, and Data arrive on a the Bridge. Worf has also been notified by Chancellor Martok about what has happened on Romulus and request permission to accompany Picard to the Neutral Zone. Riker and Troi will return to Earth to rejoin their new crew before meeting up with the Enterprise again.

Picard and his senior staff discuss the Romulan situation, and Ambassador Worf sits in to provide his input on what information he has. Worf notes that the Romulans have no good reason to trust the Federation right now, especially with the revelation that Section 31 tried to assassinate a Romulan senator some years back. Worf notes that he has come to respect some Romulans and no longer feels the same hatred for the race that he once felt but still recommends caution. Data comments on how effective Spock's movement has been on Romulus and believes that the time is right for a permanent peace between the Federation and the Romulans, especially with the successful conclusion of the Dominion War. He notes that the Romulan people may be ready for a change and notes that the Unification movement has also begun speaking out on the rights of the poorly treated slave underclass living on the Romulan sister planet, Remus. He provides a bit of background on the initial colonization of Romulus and Remus and comments on how much the Remans have suffered as the neglected and unseen underclass in Romulan society.

Ensign on the Bridge pipes in to inform the command crew that they have arrived at the Neutral Zone. Picard takes Data aside and relays the message about the attack on Maddox's facility. Data returns to his post, clearly distracted by the news. (BTW, his emotion chip is on and running the whole movie). The mood on the Bridge is tense. Ensign at helm begins detecting a spatial distoration moving towards them. A cloaked ship...? Suddenly, the Enterprise is surrounded by an upgraded Warbird and a new Romulan command ship. Before even a hail can be sent, the Enterprise hammered from all sides by quantum torpedo fire and the shields are battered. The nearest Starfleet vessels are still a few hours away. Enterprise manages to disable the Warbird and gets a few hits on the command ship but shields drop and Remans soldiers beam directly onto the Bridge. Worf and Data struggle against some of the Reman warriors and Picard is captured and beamed off the Bridge. Worf takes the tactical station after the death of the stationed officer and is chagrined when Data orders a retreat. Worf believes they should stay and retrieve the Captain but Data is in command and must insure the safety of the ship first. Geordi gets shields back up, Worf gets another few hits on the Warbird and disables the vessel and the Enterprise warps away...

Picard is brought in shackles to the Romulan Bridge and hears an officer say that the Enterprise has warped away. A familiar female voice responds and tells them to let the Enterprise go... they have what they wanted. Picard sees the commander of the Romulan ship more clearly and it is revealed to be Sela. Picard wonders how this could be. Last he heard, Sela was disgraced and sentenced hard labor on planet Remus for her failures against the Federation. We learn that Sela was successful in convincing the Remans that they must fight for liberation against their Romulan masters and engineered the coup with their help. She is still conflicted by her dual heritage and hates humanity and everything the Federation stands for. She could not stand by and watch the Romulan Empire form a peace with the Federation and many of the Romulan commanders whom she once served with agreed with her. And she was defeated twice by Picard's pet android, Data... but now she has evened the playing field. Reveal Lore... smirking and with a maniacal look on his face. His parts were not atomized but had been sent to Bruce Maddox for study. Sela learned of Lore's whereabouts and had the android reassembled. She recognized the potential of having Lore as her partner, but Picard suggests that she may have gotten more than she bargained for. Lore does not look so amused anymore. The Sela/Lore relationship is like a twisted inverse of the Data/Tasha relationship.

(Yes, Data should have had Lore atomized but I can't think of any other way to get him into the movie, and it is certainly better than stupid B4)

Meanwhile, Data is troubled by the fact that he left Picard to be captured and Worf's words are stinging. He speaks privately with his friend Geordi and notes that his emotions have made his decisions less clear cut and more painful. Geordi tells Data that he has become everything Dr. Soong wanted and is about as close to human now as he is ever going to get. And dealing with these conflicts is a part of that. And he is also captain of the Enterprise now. Data promises that they will get Picard back. Enterprise meets up with Titan, with Riker heading up a Starfleet task force. A state of war now exists between the Federation and the Romulan Empire and the entire fleet is being mobilized. A Romulan fleet is also moving towards the Neutral Zone and they need to get back there as soon as the Enterprise gets back to operating condition. One of the ships will be returning Ambassador Worf to the Klingon Empire, before he leaves he apologizes to Data for his outburst and Data tells him not to worry about it. Worf bids them farewell and departs.

Back on the Romulan vessel, Sela speaks with Picard and Picard makes an impassioned plea to Sela to remember that part of her is still human and it would be a grave mistake if she destroyed Earth. The Romulan command ship is equipped with some sort of super-weapon which could annihilate Earth, theorized by a dead Romulan scientist and perfected by Lore. Sela notes that it is Picard's fault that her life turned out this way and again lashes out at her weak, human mother. Picard tells her about Tasha's tough upbringing and about how she managed to overcome all of that and embrace the noblest parts of humanity. Picard also asks why she would risk the destruction of the Romulan Empire she loves so much with a war with the Federation? Is she doing all this for her own self-interest or does she really have the best interests of the Empire in my mind? Sela seems conflicted. Meanwhile, Lore has been speaking with some of the Remans. He notes that they are still taking orders from a Romulan and questions whether Sela has their best interests at heart.

A couple more Romulan warbirds have joined with the command ship. On board one ship is Commander Dontra, who is also conflicted about these new developments. Her first officer agrees with Sela that the time is right for a decisive blow against the Federation but Donatra is not so sure. The Romulan armada crosses into Federation space and is intercepted by the Starfleet force. All hell breaks loose and we get a space battle that trumps First Contact, Sacrifice Of Angels, Tears Of The Prophets and What You Leave Behind... it kicks ass...

The Romulan vessels seem to gain the upper hand, but as Sela and Lore command their fleet, Sela becomes more and more conflicted about her role in this. Worf arrives with a few Klingon ships (reminiscent of The Defector) and they begin to even the score. Commander Donatra on her Warbird decides that enough is enough and turns her weapons on the Romulan command ship. Sela is ready to give up the game too and tells Picard she is sorry. She still doesn't care about Earth, but she won't let the Empire suffer for her mistakes. Just as she makes this confession, she is stabbed or blasted away by Lore. Lore initiates some sort of shockwave with the supeweapon that cripples every ship in the area, except the Enterprise. Data managed to detect the shockwave before hand, was familiar with the weapon design and set up the appropriate countermeasure. The Romulan command ship, under command of Lore, sets course for... Romulus. The Remans plan to take their revenge against the Romulans and are willing to follow Lore to this goal. Data takes the Enterprise in pursuit.

Lore hails Data and he quips that Data has finally become his equal. They have an exchange which brings up their past history. Data, with the new knowledge coming from his emotions, finally understands his evil brother and will not allow him to continue what he is doing. Lore responds that they shall soon determine once and for all who is the greatest son of Soong. The two ships engage in a ship-to-ship battle with advanced tactics being used by both android commanders. The two ships eventually reach the Romulan system and and nearly cripple each other. Lore initiates the shockwave that will destroy Romulus, and with weapons gone Data decides on the unusual tactic of ramming into the other vessel so that they are nearly interlocked. He tells Geordi that he is the only one that can stop Lore now, and does the leap across space thing and enters the Romulan vessel. He busts a few heads and finds Picard. Data tells Picard that he must be the one to stop Lore, and that the Enterprise needs its captain back. Picard protests, but Data simply says farewell, takes off his comm badge and slaps it on Picard and the Captain is beamed away. Picard, back on the Bridge, tells the Enterprise to back away from the Romulan ship and to try and get a lock on Data... but Data is now in the room with the superweapon and the energies there have made a beam out impossible. Lore commends Data on his unusual tactics and tells Data that he is impressed. He again tells Data that they could join together and rule the universe and says it is their birthright. Data does not agree, and the two brothers battle it out... the superweapon is close to firing its wave against the planet Romulus but Data tackles Lore and hurls the both of them into the path of the energy beam, disrupting the weapon's build up and destroying the Romulan vessel. Enterprise manages to get away from the explosion just in time and the crew looks on in shock.

In the next scene, we see a bunch of Stafleet, Klingon, and Romulan vessels orbiting Romulus. A conference is being held which will shortly change the future of the quadrant. The remnants of the Romulan political structure are finally willing to talk peace with their former adversaries and Ambassador Spock is present as chief negotiator. He thanks Picard again for saving the universe and notes again how similar he is to another captain of the Enterprise. The Romulans, represented by Commander Donatra agree that the Remans must not be treated as slaves any longer and Ambassador Worf, representing the Klingons tells the assembled crowd that it is time to put old hatreds aside. Ambassador Spock speaks to Worf and tells him that his grandfather, who was also instrumental in peace between the Federation and the Klingons, would be proud of him. BTW, this all leads up quite nicely to Star Trek 2009... Picard is silent through most of these proceedings, still thinking about their lost friend.

The command crew gather again and mourn the loss of Data and comment on how human he was. Yes, much of this rewrite is extremely similar to both STII and STVI... Picard bids farewell to Worf, Riker and Troi. Beverly asks Picard if he is ready to leave orbit too, but Picard says that he has one final thing left to do. We see Picard walking freely on the streets of Romulus, a huge change from his last time here back in Unification. He visits the home of the long deceased Admiral Jarok and finally delivers the letter to his family that he hoped would one day reach them when peace had been obtained. (The Defector). Picard tells Jarok's wife that her husband foresaw this day and died trying to make it happen. Jarok's wife and son thank Picard and note that he is nothing like what the Romulan propaganda has been telling them about humans all this time. Picard returns to the Enterprise, and it warps away...

End credits played to the classic TNG theme!

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Yes, this is a total fanwank movie but let's face it... only ST4 and the new Trek movie ever managed to appeal to the casual audience. And Nemesis didn't appeal to anyone. At least if this movie had gone over well with the fanbase, they could have dragged their friends and family to see it multiple times and the word of mouth from Trekkies would have helped the movie a lot (like First Contact) This TNG movie would have brought things full circle with Wil Wheaton and Denise Crosby included and of course it would hearken to the greatest TOS movies like STVI and STII. It would also play in well with the events of the new Trek movie which takes place many years later... it would have added to the tragedy to know that all of Spock's hard work would be in vain when Romulus is eventually destroyed by that supernova. Hopefully, there would have been some warning and most of the Romulans would have escaped, perhaps even to their sister planet? I would assume most of the Empire still remained intact. And by giving Nimoy the director's credit, we could also have had him participate in the movie as a cameo, since we know Nimoy is very particular about what roles he chooses to participate him. Giving him the director's chair would have ensured that this movie stayed close to the spirit of Trek.

Appearances by Nimoy and Majel would also have sort of cemented this as the final, final Trek to deal with this original universe before the franchise gets rebooted. And note also that Admiral Janeway has been completely excised from this movie!


So, what do you think? This will be the last post from me in this thread! Thanks again for following along!! Whoo hoo... 12,000+ views!

No Tom Riker?

I'm guessing he and Ro both died when the Dominion wiped out the Maquis...

Does Beverly actually do anything this time? I don't see it if so. There's also a decided lack of Troi and Riker after the wedding. Sure, Sulu wasn't on the Enterprise for STVI, but he was still in plenty of scenes throughout the movie.

Also the last scene is a little obscure. At least a reference to the events of "The Defector" early in the movie would be nice.

And is Proconsul->Praetor a typical career path? If anything I'd think it would be the opposite. Senator->Praetor seems more likely. Pardek, perhaps. Neral also just strikes me as far too cunning and conniving to ever consider peace with the Federation - Sela woudn't have had him killed.

There's a couple other potential nitpicks in terms of character selection. Tomalak would have been better than Donatra (and that goes for the original movie too). Substitute Admiral Necheyev for Admiral Ross. And since we're fanwanking here, get Chief O'Brien in the movie somehow.

O'Brien's teaching at the academy and living in Japan.

And does Picard do anything in this movie except get captured?

I thought Tom Riker was languishing in a Cardassian prison for life.

The subtraction of Admiral Janeway and the addition of the Titan in action make this one a

Another nice follow on from that episode to DS9 was a tiny reference to 'The Minstrel Boy' which O'Brien and Maxwell sang in The Wounded.
From What You Leave Behind, listen to the start of the melody as O'Brien picks up the toy soldier...
[YT="WYLB"]CXYyXJa8rA4[/YT]

Edit: and here's the scene I'm referring to from this episode.

[YT="From TNG's The Wounded"]RJudJ9S579A[/YT]

Every captain has their Archer moments.

He was? :confused: I thought they deleted that scene from the movie.

That aside, that's one hell of a continuity fuck-up. Not to mention Worf... It wasn't until I watched DS9 before I could fully appreciate what an insult that was.

Honestly, I can't remember a damn thing about this movie after the Dune Buggy scene or before Data's death. I continually spaced out the last time I tried to watch it, and the plot was so confusing. Or maybe I just didn't care.

Anyway. Thanks for reviewing this whole series!

IIRC, they cut all of Wheaton's dialogue from the movie.

I read somewhere that they had a hard time getting him to be in the movie at all and then, when it's released, his "appearance" is reduced to a reaction/cutaway shot.

Yup. Wheaton supposedly wrote a moving blog post about the whole thing.

Yup, they got him to come back, and then "for time" they cut his scenes out.

There was also supposed to be a scene between Data and Picard, where they talk about their lives. The scene was meant to be a way to hint at Data's impending doom. But that was cut out "for time." <.<

Wheaton still appeared, but only at the edges of a couple shots. In the fullscreen cut of the film released on DVD, he doesn't appear at all.

I just watched Relics and I have two issues with it.

1) A Dyson's sphere is beyond belief, where would you even get the materials to build it? We're talking about enough raw material to surround Earth's orbit from the sun. How many planets would you have to destroy to do that? A million or so? More? The only other way to do it would be to have the ability to transform space itself on a molecular level into the metals and atmosphere (which we saw inside the sphere) that are necessary. I suppose any civilization that advanced may have developed that technology. So if a civilization is that advanced, why would they build their Dyson's sphere around a star that was in any danger of being unstable over the next billion years?

2) The Enterprise got pulled inside the sphere and their engines were basically down so they were trapped in low orbit around the sun. That problem was never resolved, when Geordi and Scotty propped open the door suddenly they were able to just fly right out of there. So they went from having to sit so close to the star they were taking direct hits from solar flares to suddenly being able to fly back to the door with no explanation given. If they had fixed the engine problem then shouldn't they have been over by the door trying to reactivate the doors by hailing them again?

I still liked the episode, just think they could have easily fixed those little things.

^Using TrekTech, you could replicate a Dyson sphere.

You'd need to build an energy capturing net around the host star, that would absorb 100% of the solar output, this net would then use the absorbed energy to replicate more sections, thus expanding the net to the required diameter, and then start replicating material on the outside of itself.

If you have the capacity to absorb energy, and replicate material, building anything becomes nothing more than the equivalent of rendering an object - it's all down to computing power and time.

Of course, if you haven't done the architecture and math right, then it may be a rather short-lived Dyson sphere...

Kirk never met Picard.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I think you'll find Kirk went and nailed all of Picard's few conquests, then his non-conquests, and finally tracked Picard down in a bar.

There he played back tricorder recordings where the women commented how much manlier Kirk was, lasted longer in bed, and really knew how to pound so hard that his balls slapping into their thighs made a great samba beat.

At that point Kirk lit a cigar, blew a smoke ring, grinned and said; "You're just a limp-wristed frenchmen, I'm the intergalactic king of cock action, bitch!"

His coolness was only slightly ruined when he got up for karaoke.

Someone once said that if you have the technology to build a Dyson sphere, you won't need to build a Dyson sphere.

A ring world would be far more feasible.

^Is that the Niven ringworld, or Tre'ar Helionis (or is the latter based on the former)?

Niven's was unstable, dammit!

Watching Time's Arrow (TNG 526), I got quite giddy when I noticed Marc Alaimo (Gul Dukat) in a minor supporting role.