Star Trek: Nemesis is a 2002 American science fiction film directed by Stuart Baird. It is the tenth film in the Star Trek franchise, as well as the fourth and final film to star the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was written by John Logan from a story developed by Logan, Brent Spiner, and producer Rick Berman. In the film, which is set in the 24th century, the crew of the USS Enterprise-E are forced to deal with a threat to the United Federation of Planets from a clone of Captain Picard named Shinzon, who has taken control of the Romulan Star Empire in a coup d'état.
Principal photography for the film took place from November 2001 to March 2002. Nemesis held its world premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles on December 9, 2002. The film was released in North America on December 13, 2002 by Paramount Pictures, and received generally mixed reviews, with publications criticizing it for being the least successful in the franchise. The film was a box office failure, earning $67 million worldwide against a $60 million budget. Plans for a final film featuring The Next Generation cast were scrapped, and the film series was rebooted instead with Star Trek in 2009, which was a box office success. The television series Star Trek: Picard, a continuation of The Next Generation and Nemesis set two decades after the latter at the end of the 24th century, premiered in 2020.
Plot[]
On Romulus, members of the Romulan Senate debate terms of peace and alliance from the Reman rebel leader Shinzon. The Remans are a slave race of the Romulan Empire from the neighboring planet Remus, used as miners and cannon fodder. While a faction of the military supports Shinzon, the Praetor and Senate are opposed to an alliance. After rejecting the motion, the Praetor and senators are disintegrated by a device left in the room.
Meanwhile, the crew of the Starship Enterprise prepare to bid farewell to newly married first officer Commander William Riker and Counselor Deanna Troi. The android operations officer Data serenades the couple with a rendition of "Blue Skies". En route to the ceremony, they discover an energy reading on the planet Kolarus III near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, security/tactical officer Worf, and Data land on the planet and discover the remnants of an android resembling Data named B-4. The crew deduce it to be an earlier version of Data. The trio then flee the planet, with B-4, as they are attacked by the native pre-industrial Kolarans.
Enterprise is ordered on a diplomatic mission to Romulus, where Shinzon has taken over the Empire and professes a desire for peace with the Federation. On arrival, they learn Shinzon is a clone of Picard, secretly created by the Romulans to plant a high-ranking spy into the Federation. The project was abandoned when Shinzon was still a child, and he was left on Remus to die as a slave. After many years, Shinzon became a leader of the Remans, and constructed a heavily armed flagship, Scimitar. The Enterprise crew discover that Scimitar is producing low levels of deadly thalaron radiation, the same radiation that killed the entire Romulan senate at the beginning of the film. There are also unexpected attempts to communicate with the Enterprise computers, and Shinzon violates Troi's mind through the telepathy of his Reman viceroy.
The medical officer, Dr Beverly Crusher, discovers that Shinzon is aging rapidly because of the process used to clone him, and the only possible treatment is a transfusion of Picard's blood. Shinzon kidnaps Picard and B-4, having planted the android on Kolarus as a lure. Data reveals he swapped places with B-4, and rescues Picard, by stealing a Reman attack vessel and breaking out of the hangar. They determine Shinzon plans to use the warship to invade the Federation, using its thalaron radiation generator to eradicate all life on Earth and any other planet he sees fit.
Enterprise races back to Federation space, but is ambushed by Scimitar in the Bassen Rift, which prevents subspace communication. Despite the aid of two Romulan Warbirds, Enterprise is heavily damaged. Picard rams Scimitar with Enterprise, crippling both ships. Shinzon activates the thalaron weapon in an act of mutually assured destruction. Picard boards Scimitar alone to face Shinzon, and kills him by impaling him on a metal strut. With Enterprise's transporters damaged, Data leaps the distance between the two ships equipped with an emergency transporter, beaming Picard off the ship, and then sacrifices himself to destroy the thalaron generator and Scimitar with it. The crew mourn Data, and the surviving Romulan commander, Donatra, offers them her gratitude for saving the Empire.
Back at Earth, Picard bids farewell to Riker, who is leaving to command the USS Titan. Picard meets with B-4, and discovers that, before he boarded the Scimitar, Data downloaded the engrams of his neural net into B-4, allowing him to live on. As B-4 starts singing "Blue Skies", Picard leaves B-4's quarters and smiles.
Cast[]
- Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard
- Jonathan Frakes as Commander / Captain William T. Riker
- Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data / B-4
- LeVar Burton as Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
- Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Commander Worf
- Gates McFadden as Doctor Beverly Crusher
- Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
- Sirtis was "ecstatic" about the role Troi plays in the movie. She was pleased with the wedding scene, saying that the dress she wore for Nemesis was nicer than the one she wore at her actual wedding. She was happy to work once again with Wil Wheaton and Whoopi Goldberg, but felt that the film would be the last one with the entire cast of The Next Generation. She remained certain that it would not be the last Star Trek film to be made, as she thought that Paramount would want to make a film involving a variety of characters from the different Star Trek series.
- Tom Hardy as Praetor Shinzon, the leader of the Reman people.
- Baird and Berman had been searching for someone who resembled Patrick Stewart but looked about 25 years younger; at one point they considered Jude Law. Baird specifically wanted an unknown actor, and Hardy auditioned by tape after Stewart asked Hardy's agent if he thought any of his clients were suitable for the role. Hardy was filming Simon: An English Legionnaire in Morocco at the time,: 37 and decided against using the requested text for the audition. Instead, he got possession of a full script for Nemesis, used a different part of the script, and filmed it partly nude.: 38 He was flown to Los Angeles to do a screen test with Stewart; Hardy later described his performance there as "appalling". However, he had recorded himself performing the same piece in a hotel room the night before, and gave that tape to Baird, resulting in his being cast as Shinzon a few days later.: 39
- Ron Perlman as the Reman Viceroy.
- Perlman and Hardy became friends on the set. Perlman said in an interview eight years after the release of the film, "I loved him when I first met him. I loved working with him. I found him to be really smart, really a great kid.": 43
- Dina Meyer as Romulan Commander Donatra
- John Berg as Romulan Senator
- Kate Mulgrew as Admiral Kathryn Janeway
- Shannon Cochran as Senator Tal'aura
- Jude Ciccolella as Commander Suran
- Alan Dale as Praetor Hiren
- Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher (non-speaking role, apart from a deleted scene)
- Majel Barrett voice of the Enterprise's computer
- Stuart Baird voice of the Scimitar's computer
- Bryan Singer as Kelly (uncredited)
- Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan (uncredited)
Production[]
Development and filming[]
Principal photography began in December 2001 in Southern California. The film was cut by about a third from a much longer running time. Many of the deleted scenes in the movie were "character moments", which served to further the characters' relationships with one another; the reason why they were cut was to put more emphasis on the battle between the Enterprise-E and the Scimitar. Rick Berman has stated that about 50 minutes' worth of scenes were filmed but cut (though not necessarily all of them were usable in a final form).
In promotional interviews for the film, Patrick Stewart stated that room for a sequel was left as B-4 begins singing "Blue Skies".
Direction and writing[]
Stuart Baird was brought in to direct Nemesis by executive producer Rick Berman. It was Baird's third film following U.S. Marshals and Executive Decision, although he had directed a variety of second units previously. Baird did not have a background in Star Trek; he was aware of the films and television series but did not consider himself an expert on the subject. Berman explained that Baird would bring "fresh blood" to the film and that Berman had enjoyed "the sense of fun and action that existed in Executive Decision." Baird said in a promotional interview that this resulted in a non-typical Baird film, saying that it was "perhaps a little different from the dynamics of the previous films." He wanted to add energy to the action scenes and added some set pieces, such as the car chase. He called that scene a "signature piece" for the film, which turns dark after the crew is put in danger by the inhabitants of the planet. He also found that the cast would discuss any issues they had with the direction he gave to their characters. Despite Frakes' being in the cast and having directed the previous two Star Trek films, Baird decided not to seek his opinion on the direction of the film. He said that there was no resentment on set, noting that Frakes was completing work on directing Clockstoppers at the time and so likely could not have taken on directing Nemesis even if Baird had not been given the job. Baird had hoped that Nemesis would be enough of a success that he could consider whether to take the lead on a future, eleventh Star Trek film.
Make-up[]
The make-up team sought to make Hardy look more similar to Stewart by creating latex prosthetics from moulds of the latter's face. These included numerous versions of noses and chins, and in order to reduce the visible size of Hardy's lips a fake scar was added.
Music[]
The music to Star Trek: Nemesis was composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith, who composed previous entries in the franchise, such as the Academy Award-nominated score for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek: First Contact, and Star Trek: Insurrection, as well as the themes to the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (arranged by Dennis McCarthy) and Star Trek: Voyager. One of the final works written before his death in 2004, Goldsmith had also previously collaborated with Baird on Executive Decision and U.S. Marshals.
The score opens with airy synthesizers under a trumpet performing an augmented triad before preceding into Alexander Courage's Star Trek: The Original Series fanfare. The score then quickly transitions into a much darker theme to accompany the conflict between the Reman and Romulan empires. Goldsmith also composed a new 5-note theme to accompany the character Shinzon and the Scimitar, which is manipulated throughout the score to reflect the multiple dimensions of the character. The score is book-ended with Goldsmith's theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture, following a brief excerpt from the song "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin and the original Star Trek fanfare.