The new trailer for JJ Abrams Star Trek hits theaters tomorrow (and some will be catching it in the wee hours at midnight movies). So today we bring an end to our retrospective look at Trek’s past trailers, with the final film for the TNG crew, Star Trek Nemesis from 2002.
For every good…There is an evil
Theatrical trailer for Star Trek Nemesis
Commentary:
The film may have been a financial failure, but you can’t fault the trailer for Nemesis for hurting box office receipts. It is a fantastic tour de force of music and images, stylistically rendered. The trailer begins with cool edits of eyes morphing into various shapes and comments by Shinzon. The trailer is the first since The Motion Picture to not feature music from Star Trek itself (the music is from the promotion of Tim Burton’s Planet of Apes). The style is also based on what is known by some fans as "The Episode I" style which is to feature short, almost unconnected dialog and scenes from the film at first, with text instead of narration, followed by quicker edits of action scenes. There are brief moments which are in the trailer, yet not shown in the theatrical feature film. Like The Wrath of Khan, which obviously is riffed in Nemesis, the trailer is mostly about the relationship between hero and villain, with a bit more emphasis on Shinzon than Picard. The trailer essentially gives away the reveal that Shinzon is Picard’s clone and even reveals the Enterprise and Scimitar colliding which is the big action scene of the film.
But all in all this is a very good trailer.
Teaser: A Generations Final Journey
The teaser for Nemesis is also quite good and shows a surprising amount of the film, including a number of effects shots (rare for teasers). It has action, humor, and even a little sex. And with the tagline, it set up the expectation that this would be the last TNG film.
The new enterprise looks like The enterprise E.
oh it seems just like yesterday….
It would be funny if Nemesis outgrosses the new star trek movie
I watched it again after reading all the vitriol directed at it. Not as bad as I remembered, but not the most memorable installment either.
The script is solid, but perhaps its execution didn’t present it in its best light.
I still didn’t find it as heinous as most people say it is.
It’s sad, I can barely remember anything about what Ins and Nem were about. I have the DVDs, perhaps I should go watch them to see how bad they really were.
#3
No.
Teaser much better than trailer inho. I wish they hadn’t larded it with the Data/Lore thing. It was just one moving part too many.
And talk about cheapening the destruction on the Enterprise!
Data’s jump in to space is the coolest thing in the movie.
Also, the inherent nature trumping nurture argument of Picard’s clone being able to outsmart the Federation, despite different parenting, life experience and training is just a total head-scratcher. Too bad, because the writer cashed in his GLADIATOR chips to take this assignment and ended up getting flamed.
Despite failing with Insurrection, I think Frakes should have been given the director’s chair on Nemesis. It’s just a damn shame.
Absolutely abysmal movie, horrid pacing, character moments & story. I really really wish this movie never existed. Picard running around with his dune buggy was complete senseless moment, I could go on & on.
Perfect example of a cool trailer and a stinker movie. Let’s keep this in mind this weekend…
Teaser was pretty good…. gave a lot of hope.
Everyone seemed to be coasting along (acting wise)… Sirtis was the only one that I thought really earned her paycheck!
LOVE the battles. Enterprise E kicks ass.
I actually found Nemesis quite watchable. It felt like a movie rather than an extended TV episode at least, and it didn’t bore me. It was just one of those movies where afterwards it hits you that you just watched something kinda lame.
My big beef with the TNG movies was the overconcentration on Picard and Data, not least the need to give Data those noteworthy lines that Spiner always signposted with a pause (the cringeworthy Lock And Load line from Insurrection springs to mind here). I just never personally found Data that engaging a character; fine as part of the ensemble but I never understood why he was particularly a “star”. And of course the TNG movies always wrestled with what to do with Riker when they’d decided to give Picard action stuff to do.
The worst thing about it for me though was it completely destroyed the Picard character as being worthy of any admiration whatsoever. When he collapsed in a wreck at the end, leading to Data’s demise, then, with a devastated ship (presumably awash with casualties) he just stumped off the bridge for some being-with-himself time, it seemed that yes, this had to be the last movie because they’d destroyed their lead character. All I could wonder was when this useless captain was going to face a court martial for his ineptitude and derogation of duty.
Bad script.
Oh, it also had me wondering again at that perennial Trek problem; we know what the Bridge Crew are doing during this exciting crisis. What are the other hundreds of crew doing? Playing scrabble? Watching excitedly through the windows? What are they up to?
What about the horrible fight with Riker and the ‘henchman’ perfect example of how not to stage a fight and lose any sense of danger or excitement..one of many examples..
#9
I definitely agree. Whenever I see the deleted scenes from the film, I think that those were the types of character moments missing from the final cut of the film. They were there in the script and they were even filmed, but it was that bastard Stuart Baird who cut them out cause he wanted to make an action flick. The deleted scene with Picard and Data after the wedding was especially nice.
Hopefully the new film can find a could balance between action and character.
This is the first Star Trek trailer that really failed to get me excited for the movie itself.
The whole thing just looked dull and dreary and visually uninteresting, and looked less like an “event” than just another routine mission for the Enterprise crew– which, no surprise, is exactly what the movie itself felt like.
Thank god Abrams is finally bringing that “event” aspect back to Trek with his movie.
OH and the bad guys ship…OMG completely stupid design, like it was drawn by a kid?!? Waaaaaaay over powered it has a thousand photon launchers and a million lasers *Weeeeeeee* (in kids voice) STUPID STUPID STUPID
I always thought this movie might have been better if some of the deleted scenes were left in. IMO, would have added more congruity. But, oh well, the movie was long enough as it is……
#14
From what I heard, Picard was more stoic and, well, Picard-like about it in the script. It was apparently something Stuart Baird changed last minute and Patrick Stewart hated it.
Part of the reason people are so derisive about star trek, is there is too much expectation; people have a lot invested in the movies and shows. This zealot investment breeds disappointment. Most of the movies are at least as good as a decant episode—I mean it would be nice of them to ditch the time travel narrative, or just rename the franchise Time Trek. I remember hating Nemesis, then re-watching it and wondering why I hated it, so passionately. Even if Abrams move is good, Trek fans will not embrace it. Here is hoping that the general public watches and likes it. Though, maybe some things are better left dead. I hope this movie doesn’t become a symbol of the times, vein bailouts.
You know what I found was bad in this movie? The ENTERPRISE references! All the phasers in the movie have the same ammunition red power cell that the crew of the NX Enterprise use. What was wrong with just clicking a button and having it go ‘vroom’ like in First Contact?
Doesn’t help the fact that when Picard grabs his phaser rifle that they use a stock “cocking gun” sound as well.
It’s been stated by a lot of people involved in this film that poor choices were made in the direction and editing of this film. I also fault a part of the writing, specifically the “mandatory” Data sub-plot(in every TNG movie). The whole B4 thing is superfluous and seems a little contrived. At the time, I thought it would have been cool to use Lore instead…without all the dune buggy stuff. Also, if this was to be the “final voyage” of this crew, where’s the ensemble cast?
IMHO, not a great film, but not as bad as most people claim. I give it a “B-.”
I’ll alwaya remember being at convention here in Michigan and when Richard Arnold screened this trailer the crowd booed. Then they seemed more excoted to talk about Smallville of all things instead of Trek. And this was at a Trek convention. A sad sign of the state of fandom at that moment.
I still dug this movie. hell no its not perfect but I still like a LOT more then Generations or Insurrection. Went to the 1st show opening day and the woman sitting in front me cried and cried HARD when Data died. I’ll admit, I had a lump in my throat too….
What I didn’t like about the TNG movies is that they are all about Data. Generations’ plot hinges on Data’s emotion chip. Likewise First Contact. Insurrection kicks off with Data going haywire. And Nemesis is yet another chase for a Soong-type android, and Data’s swan song.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Data as a character. “Measure of a Man” is one of my top favorite episodes. It just seemed weak to me that each movie had to hinge a great amount on some aspect of his android-ness. One movie would have been fine, and they should have done more to develop the other characters in others.
You could argue that the TOS movies were all about Spock, but there was some serious development of the other characters as well. Scotty heads up engineering on Excelsior, Checkov first officer of Reliant, Sulu captain of Excelsior, Uhura and her transporter station post in STIII. They and others had vital roles to play in the development of the plots of those movies, but in the TNG movies, the other characters just sort of did their regular jobs, including Geordie’s regular job of getting captured so his visor could be used to spy on the Enterprise.
Don’t get me started on how they stopped even justifying Worf’s presence on the Enterprise, the one character who had actually moved on.
I sometimes wonder if Patrick Stewart had played his own clone as opposed to Tom Hardy. Would the film have worked better? Food for thought.
Things that make me go urggh…!
Data’s space jump
That SUV car
The crash (a starship capable of the stresses of warping space crumples up like paper at a few mph??!!)
The casting
The direction
etc…..
I had alot of fun working on this movie.
The TNG cast were a great group and it was a pleasure to have a front row seat with them.
But they wouldn’t let any of us go over to the Enterprise sets – that would have been neat.
I think the most horrid thing about Nemesis is that the crew didn’t get a proper send-off.
Riker’s move to the Titan was long expected, but Data’s death and replacement by B4, and Picard left in limbo sucked.
“All Good Things” reigns as the best TNG film.
Such a missed opportunity. I can’t even watch this when it comes on TV. If it weren’t for the effects being halfway decent, this would fall below Trek V for me.
Imagine how much better this would have been if B-4 had been Lore? If he had been deliberately working with the Remans and there was a *true* showdown between brothers? If Data had retained his emotion chip from FC and actually, I don’t know, EVOLVED as a character? If Riker had been promoted to the Titan B4 (har har) the encounter on Romulus, and then came to Picard’s rescue during the climactic battle with the Remans? If Crusher or LaForge had actually been given *something* to do? If Troi hadn’t merely been used as a galactic divining rod/Ouija board? If Worf hadn’t been shoehorned into the plot just because? If the Remans hadn’t looked like poor versions of Count Orlok? If there had been a real sense of closure? If they’d had some real guts and killed Data permanently instead of going for the poor man’s Katra trick? It’s like watching a succession of missed opportunities and calling it a movie.
I can watch this movie but the plot and the acting was definitely phoned in….
#26 Yes. Stewart would have been MUCH better in a dual role as Shinzon.
Of course, having Sela as his “sponsor” would also have made sense.
Having both of them the result of Romulan genetic engineering would have tied up a lot of loose ends.
Further, they could have found a way to have Nimoy in it…. and if only Vreenak had a brother!
Now if Shinzon played by Stewart and Sela had a son… and his name was Nero… then wouldn’t that have worked out well….
#26, YES, it would have worked better. I have been saying this since the movie was released. In fact, the first time through the story I was so confused that I didn’t really understand the whole clone thing at first. Even though they specifically say it in the film, LOL. However, if they didn’t edit it correctly, it would have been a total failur and a little corny, but the potential was there.
#30, You care completely right, this film totally ignored the Lore story line. I mean I know Lore is supposively “dead”, but there’s been worse storylines than bringing Lore back. I mean WTF is a B4.
Generations is still my fav TNG movie. This falls as my 2nd fav. Best part of the movie was the battle sequence at the end. 1st 15 min of First Contact is the only part worth watching. Insurrection was a total failure.
@29
I think that is the one thing that I really didn’t like about Nemesis: it didn’t feel like we got any closure. In Star Trek VI’s final moments, even though they took the Enterprise out for one more spin, you knew that you had just seen the last cinematic adventure of the original series crew. It tugged at the heartstrings, it was bittersweet, and it was a proper way to say goodbye to a group of legendary characters.
Nemesis didn’t have that. Data was dead, they said their goodbyes, Picard had a heart-to-cybernetic-heart talk with B4, and Riker went on to his new command. That’s it? That’s all we get for the Next Generation crew’s final adventure on the big screen? It’s not like they didn’t know Nemesis would be the last movie; that’s how the film was marketed.
A tragically lost opportunity, all in all.
BEST MOVIE EVER!
PERFECT ACTING
PERFECT SFX
PERFECT! PERFECT! PERFECT!
HOW A MOVIE SHOULD BE MADE!
THOUGHT PROVOKING
A MASTERPIECE!
WILL MAKE YOU THINK ABOUT THE WORLD DIFFERENTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#14 well said. well said.
#34
Not only that, they don’t even mention Lore. They almost act as though this is the first time they’ve found a replica of Data. At the very least, there should have been some anguish (or the android equivalent) from Data about not wanting B4 to turn out like Lore did. Again, just another missed opportunity to have made this movie really mean something to fans (since apparently they were the only ones in the theater anyway).
The Enterprise A and E were best hands down.
C sucked.
B was blah
NCC-1701 from TOS sucked cause of the shield on the engine
and Bizzaro NCC-1701 from Star Trek 90210 just looks like Rachel Ray dumped all the previous enterprise models into a bowl, stirred it and said YUMMO we have a starship…BTW why the heck does the new enterprise look like something from the 24th century? It suppose to look like a constitution class dang it!
I like Nemesis, except for that whole B-4 subplot that I never felt really fit in this movie. The whole planet dunebuggy ride was just ridiculous. They should have cut those out and put in the deleted scenes. If they needed another Soong android perhaps reviving Lore somehow would have indeed been better. Well it’s all behind us now but I think this was easily better than Generations or Insurrection.
Oh, and I wasn’t at all inspired by the teaser trailer. All the lines used in it sounded to be delivered while the actors were sleeping. I’ll never forget seeing that and wondering what I was supposed to be excited about if the characters were not.
I liked Nemesis…
…for me to poop on!
Kidding aside, it was a decent film except for most of the plot.
I was really hoping for the post-ending credits outtakes of the Betazed wedding ceremony scene.
b4=Corky from life goes on.
#39 well said. This was a cheap combo of TWOK & ST VI. Hmm…ship that can fire while cloaked + vendictive psycho with a ship in a nebula = NEMESIS. lol
One thing i never understood about Data – maybe someone can help…
In TOS ‘What are Little Girls Made Of?’ & ‘I, Mudd’ – android technology had advanced to the point that they were indistinguishable from real humans. Why then did Data look so… “androidish”???
(I am a much bigger TOS fan than anything else, so maybe there was some expalantion of Dr. Soong having a reason to make Data look less human that i just simpy missed.)
#30 – YES YES YES! Riker coming to the rescue in the Titan would have been excellent! But I guess they couldn’t afford another starship after they blew their wad on that crappy Simi-, Schimi-tard, or whatever.
I wondered when this trailer would show up.
Never could figure out this one. It felt wrong from beginning to end. Like Star Trek V, the idea was interesting but poorly executed.
If its any consolation to those already upset about Trek XI, bear in mind the series always manages to recover from these occasional misfires. There has to be the odd “Spock’s Brain” episode in any series.
As I recall, many Trek fans were (and continue to be) critical of TMP. I maintain that the series could not have rebounded as it did without TMP.
I like the idea of revisiting the theme of an imperfect Kirk. The fact that the story takes place in a universe that is both familiar yet markedly different than traditional Trek may serve to enhance the way in which we can better understand the depth of the characters and their relationships. We need to break through two dimensional perceptions to recognize and appreciate the history, personal strengths and flaws that define character.
In the end, writers, actors and producers have to take risks with characters for the story to engage its audience and the series to evolve. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Nemesis didn’t for me, but I still respect and appreciate the characters. Hopefully Trek XI will hit the mark, but I am encouraged to see that it has been approached courageously, rather than pandering to those that fear change.
#45
Soong did make at least one adroid that was indistinguisable from a human – Joanna Soong, his late wife. He essentially transferred her conciousness into an android body (similar to several TOS plotlines). It seemed Data was something of an intermediate design, and Soong wasn’t finished perfecting his designs before he died. Plus, his attempt at giving androids genuine ‘feelings’ went wrong with Lore, so Data was created without them to avoid the pitfalls of Lore. Then later, he developed the emotion chip that would presumably be stable in Data.
Of course, the real reason was that Rodenberry and others wanted Data to be easily recognized as ‘alien’ or ‘different’ from the standard crew. It was a big visual clue that effectively informed the audience without a lot of expository dialogue.
I’m one of few Trek fans that actually liked this film, but to this day it still bothers me that there was absolutely no mention of Lore or why Worf was all of a sudden no longer an ambassador.
A pale and inferior remake of The Wrath of Khan. Even ST5 is better.
…and the adventure continues….