TrekMovie continues our retrospective look at Star Trek: Nemesis. 10 years ago this weekend the Next Generation crew began their final journey. And as with all movies, they were accompanied by merchandise. Today TrekMovie Merchandise editor John Tenuto takes a look at the stuff from Nemesis.
The Merchandise of Star Trek Nemesis
When Star Trek: Nemesis premiered on December 13, 2002, it had been four years since a Star Trek film had been in theaters, and Star Trek: Enterprise, then still just Enterprise, was in its sophomore year on television. As with all the Next Generation films, there was a healthy supply of merchandise available for fans wishing to collect all things Nemesis. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the film that gave the franchise everything from Star Trek’s first feature film car chase to the death of a beloved character, TrekMovie’s John Tenuto travels back to a time when the world economy was still looking pretty good and Star Trek in theaters and television were thought to be a given to profile some of the most interesting collectibles offered by TNG’s last big screen adventure to date.
Action Figures/Toys:
Retailers like Toys R Us and Kay Bee sold four 7” action figures from Nemesis beginning during November of 2002. Produced by Art Asylum, these figures were among the first Trek toys based on modern scanning technology and offered impressive likenesses and detailing. Especially excellent was Reman Viceroy, who along with Shinzon, Captain Jean Luc Picard, and Data, formed the first wave of action figures from the film. Interesting, when Diamond Select Toys bought Art Asylum and started producing Star Trek action figures, the Nemesis line was eventually completed. It would take until 2009, but finally fans of Nemesis could add Worf, Geordi La Forge, Beverly Crusher, and a two pack of William Riker and Deanna Troi in movie versions.
Detail on Viceroy action figure
In 2006, Art Asylum/Diamond Select Toys finally produced a Nemesis version of the Enterprise E featuring lines from the film.
Patrick Stewart being scanned for his action figure
Print/Paper Collectibles:
Nemesis collectors were treated to many paper and print collectibles, also. There was the Young Adult novelization by John Vornholt and a traditional novelization by J.M. Dillard that included a bonus making of section. Back during 2002, there were two competing Star Trek magazines being published, the Star Trek Communicator, a publication of the Official Star Trek Fan Club, and Star Trek: The Official Magazine. Both gave extensive coverage to Nemesis. Additionally, Communicator editor Larry Nemecek released a new version of his Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion which sported a Nemesis cover and information about the making of the film.
Star Trek Companion
Rittenhouse, still the Star Trek trading card licensee, produced an excellent set of cards from Nemesis that had images from behind the scenes and the movie itself.
Rittenhouse Trading Card
And, as usual, there were posters to purchase that were produced to promote the film. Fans could obtain the posters through the fan club or retailers like Suncoast.
TV Guide had four different covers available featuring lenticular Nemesis images for the week of December 7, 2002.
TV Guide Cover with lenticular
Food Promotion:
While nowhere near extensive as either the Star Trek: The Motion Picture promotion, which was the first time a movie was offered in a McDonald’s Happy Meal line, or the 2009 Kellogg’s/Burger King tie ins for Star Trek 2009, Nemesis did get a restaurant promotion via the Del Taco franchises. There were fun cups decorated with Star Trek characters, a contest, and Star Trek themed gift certificates among the offerings. Del Taco would return to help promote Star Trek Online in 2010.
Del Taco promo poster
Online/Virtual Collectibles:
While Star Trek films as early as Generations were promoted by the Internet, the extensive Internet campaign for Nemesis took full advantage of the Internet capabilities available in 2002. Fans who went to nemesis.startrek.com regularly could unlock Internet trading cards featuring images and voices of the characters.
A company named Internet plc offered a state of the art SmartCard Nemesis reader shaped as a Romulan logo and various cards that were precursors to today’s flashdrives. These cards gave fans planet tours, making of information, video clips, and interviews. This is another example of Star Trek is often used to help promote new technologies because of its forwarding thinking speculative nature.
Collectibles from Internet
Scorpion Collectibles:
For Christmas 2003, Hallmark manufactured a Keepsake Ornament based on the Scorpion attack ship. The year before was also available as a model that included a miniature Picard and Data from Polar Lights.
CDs:
Jerry Goldsmith returned for his last Star Trek soundtrack with Nemesis which was available in regular CD and SACD versions. Fans continue to wait for an extended or complete version of the music of the film.
There was also a CD version of the novelization, read by Boyd Gaines.
Stamps
Star Trek: Nemesis serves as an important timeline marker for the Star Trek franchise. It is not unusual to hear the timeline for novels or comics as being describe as before or after Nemesis. Because of its important role as the last adventure of the TNG crew, there continue to be Nemesis themed products available, including a line of film cels recently available from Trend Setters Ltd and a set of stamps produced by the nation of Gambia.
Gambia collectible stamps
More on Nemesis Anniversary:
These are terrific products and their condition is amazing. Mint.
Thank you for sharing them with us, John.
Scorpion attack ship ornament is pretty sweet. Wonder if I can still find that somewhere …
Sadly, Australia didn’t get Nemesis into our cinemas until mid January 2003!
I remember there was also a Nemesis ‘game’ on the movie website where three people from across the net would come together in a battle on the bridge of the Enterprise. I think there was weapons, engineering and possibly a command/navigator position of some sort.
I hunted high and low to complete my Nemesis collector card set. Paying a pretty penny for the Brent Spiner as Data autograph card :)
#2
Hi George Kirk
I have bought from “Hooked on Ornaments” before. They have most Star Trek ornaments: http://www.hookedonhallmark.com/search.asp?keyword=Star+Trek&search=GO&sn=160462956
I still maintain that Art Asylum and Diamond Select offered the best Star Trek merchandise ever. Their attention to detail is second to none and all other Trek incarnations should have used them. Playmates are, for lack of a better word; $#!T. Plain and simple. They couldn’t POSSIBLY compete with AA/DST in a million years!
“Exclusive interview with the fan who wrote the movie!”
And thus John Logan gave Star Trek fans a bad name.
I winder if I still have that Neemsis plastic bag… or some kind of Nemesis data cartridge.. or a studio (not licensed product) promo calculator w the Nemesis “new” Romulan eagles logo. Lots of odd little things…
Thanks for the TNG Companion mention, John! I never think of it as “Nemesis-related,” but I guess by definition, it is! I only wish I could have had the entire long-form chapter in there, uncut for space.
Horrible film. I wish Nemesis wasn’t the last TNG movie. The Script is poorly written and it deserves a better send off to the TNG crew.
@ Larry Nemecek – What does “I only wish I could have had the entire long-form chapter in there, uncut for space.” mean? Did you have even more on Nemesis that didn’t make it into the Companion? Why didn’t it? It was a new revision of the book for movie after all…
I just recently got a new copy of the last revision of the Companion circa 2003.
Way back when, I wore out my original copy that only went through the 5th season.
Lots of cool stuff, but too bad the movie was so awful.
Oh man, remember when Art Asylum was making these!
they were the most accurate & well detailed Trek figures ever.
Once it went to Diamond Select, the faces stopped being so good & the costume detail was blended out.
I miss those days.
And those of you who continue to slag Nemesis, please get over it.
It had the best visual production of any of the TNG movies & was far better than Insurrection. That piece of Targ droppings is by far the worst Trek film of all time!
It makes the Final Frontier look good!
Gosh I hated those Remans & the whole idea they were a different race than the Romulans.
It would’ve been extremely difficult to sell merchandise related to this shitty movie. I can imagine it would’ve been easier to just ship the toys to Africa to bewildered owners who didn’t know what Star Trek even was. They could count themselves lucky for having never seen Nemesis, that’s a fact.
#11.
I think “First Contact” and “Generations” still have the best visual effects, pre “Star Trek” 09. A nice mix of cgi and models.
What I wonder is, why did they go with a more plain looking Romulan Bird of Prey logo?
I thought the TNG Romulan blue, black and green logo was outstanding.
The Scorpion was the last Star Trek ornament I ever got for Christmas…
It was actually a fairly good script. Shame Stuart Baird filmed something else in its place.
Larry? Loved your TNG Companion! Great book. It’s the only one of the above that I actually plunked down money for (and very much enjoyed, too).
Thanks! ;-)
15@
Saw a model kit somewhere back then.. It needed paint and glue. Too elaborate for me!
The Scorpion Hallmark orny is also available from Amazon,but a bit pricey. It’s a nice orny though. Also available at hookedonhallmark.com,but same price as Amazon.
Great article! I LOVE articels about the merchandise,since I collect a lot of it. Always nice to see what I missed out on and can try to look for.
That calculator Mr.Nemecek was talking about was a freebie at Comic Con,mangaed to get it,some temp tattoos and a teaser poster signed by Marina Sirtis. Nice to meet her then,great to meet her again this year!
Have fun y’all!
J-R!
IMO it was a bad movie with a bad villain. No wonder that it failed in the box office.
I still want that Nemesis-era Enterprise E toy. Looks better than the First Contact era one, in my opinion.
A good script? You mean the crew collect pieces of a Soong type android, assemble it and let it roam the ship free… Last time that happened the android attempted to kill the entire crew. He was called Lore. Logan neglected to put any reference to this in his movie. Lore’s very history should have ensured that B4 was under armed guard the whole time he was on the ship.
Romulans had no contact with humans for something like 50 years before the first season of TNG. Why would they have embarked on a plan to clone a random starfleet captain and have to wait 20 years for him to grow up?
Aside from these gripes the film was heavily padded. The omitted scenes would have made the movie unbearably slow (it was a good call) but they needed to trim another third of the movie. Endless talky scenes with no conflict in the ready room, around the ship, parked between 3 or 4 big action scenes. First Contact got it right. In the scenes between the big action, they had conflict, tension and drama.
It was a bad film and a bad script, and John Logan went on to write Skyfall. Very good movie. Awful Bond film.
@5: No question about that:
Playmates = toys for kids
Art Asylum / Diamond Select = merchandise for adult geeks
Patrick and Brent basically killed the franchise here. Their ego and self-aggrandizement become more important than telling a good story and making a good movie.
Most actors should act.
The only Trek movie I didn’t see in the theater. After watching in on cable I still think my time was wasted.
#24 What movie are you talking about?
#19
Thanks JRT for the kind words and information!
John
Poorly written, greatly played!!
I suppose my name reflects my thoughts pretty well.
The movie had so much promise. Then I saw it. I remember being so excited for seeing more of the Romulans and the introduction of the Remans. How ultimately disappoiting the movie was. Stuart Bard had way, way too much restraint…it was like he was fearing making a TMP. Instead he made the worst movie in the franchise.
I think I can express the feelings of a very large part of fandom when I encapsulate a review of Nemesis in three (non-scandalous) words:
“What a downer.”
I realize that some may be able to colorfully reduce such review by two-thirds, but we’re on a family website here….
That said, I say again: Nemesis at its worst is still better than most movies out there.
Hey #25, Mark L… Exactly the same for me… The only Trek movie I skipped at the theater… It was the first time it didn’t feel like an event…
Just rewatched it on cable the other night… As bad as Insurrection, but longer… It felt like a long made for TV movie. Even Tom Hardy couldn’t save it.
#11. Agreed that when Diamond took over from the fantastic Art Asylum line things got a bit iffy in terms of likenesses (at least w/ TNG era characters)
But for #5 and #23, I respectfully disagree, I happen to think that the Playmates (mid-90’s) line was fantastic. Yes they were toys, but I think there was alot more care involved than with alot of other toy lines. I think they were trying to strike a bit of a middle ground between toys and collectibles, and perhaps trying to be each they became neither, but come on, lots of variations on characters, costumes, role-playing, ships etc. The TNG bridge playset has to be one of the most accurate playsets that hit the market, it looked like what it said that it was! There’s alot of detail in those toys that didn’t have to be there but was. I think the likenesses were simple, but effective and it was always easy to identify a character from their likeness. Playmates’ Picard looks more like Patrick Stewart than Diamond’s does.
The toys from the new movie in ’09 that Playmates did were a little sub-par from the mid-90’s hayday, I won’t debate that.
To each their own, certainly…but I happen to believe that Playmates had a great line of toys/collectibles that had alot of attention to detail that went above and beyond what was required of a simple toy line.
@24, couldn’t agree with you more. The car chase was only in there ’cause Stewart is a petrol head. We had the same problem in Generations, when Shatner stopped playing Kirk and started playing himself. For example, Kirk likes dogs and horse riding all of a sudden…..just like the Shat. My Nemesis review is here:
http://ryesofthegeek.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/star-trek-nemesis-film-review/
I may still have the tv guide issues.
Well at least it didn’t kill Tom Hardy’s career like we though it did!.. Still only the second worst behind ST5 TFF….and how they made such a big deal out of that dune buggy sequence… and another DATA brother, and petrified Romulans!!!! …and oh yeah…a CLONE!!!! the E crashing into the Scimitar was prety cool though!
@30. “That said, I say again: Nemesis at its worst is still better than most movies out there.”
Oh my goodness, no. There’s no way to justify this statement.
@Star Trek Nemesis blows, is the point (36), I’m only speaking for myself. For example, I don’t particularly like Transformers: Dark of the Moon, even though it’s supposedly such a great actioner. I haven’t watched Dark Knight Rises, because ths subject matter isn’t something I want to see at the moment. I’ve watched none of the Adam Sandler movies that are supposed to be so funny. I’m not really all that interested in the Tolkien trilogy by Peter Jackson or The Hobbit. People may like these movies and they may be terrific, but I’m just not into them at this stage of my life. So, in that sense, I’d rather see Nemesis and in that sense, Nemesis is better for me than they are.
Now, don’t get me wrong — I like the Terminator movies, I like the Alien movies, I like Avatar, and these, among others, are certainly way better movies than Nemesis. And certainly 2001 is better and 2010 is more entertaining. As for chick flicks, I thought Sophie’s Choice was great and I dug Terms of Endearment. My comments was only in regard to my preference. The fact that Nemesis is in the Star Trek univese automatically piques my interest and makes it more interesting to me, and better in my opinion, than most of the junk that Hollywood produces right now.
What I pay at the box office tells its own tale. I wouldn’t give 12 cents for most of the movies Hollywood makes, let alone $12.00.
22–Awful Bond Film??? I thought it was a great Bond film. My wife didn’t like it though. I told her she was like the only one that didn’t, but I think she still hasn’t gotten over that Pierce Brosnan is done (he was her favorite Bond). She didn’t like Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace either.
Interesting enough, Stuart Baird edited Skyfall also. Better editor than director. I liked Nemesis, but I always wondered had they let Frakes take another crack at it, would it have had more success like First Contact (plus, had Paramount waited until there was a bit less competition, that may have helped too).