Star Trek: Nemesis is the tenth Star Trek film, and the fourth and final film to feature the cast of The Next Generation. It takes place in 2379, four years after the previous movie, Star Trek: Insurrection. It tells the story of a Romulan coup d'état orchestrated by Shinzon, a young clone of Jean-Luc Picard, and the Enterprise's desperate fight against Shinzon's weapon of mass destruction.

The movie premiered on December 13, 2002, and was mostly a box office flop. There had been plans for one more movie featuring the cast of The Next Generation that would have been a more proper send-off, but due to the failure of Nemesis in addition to the poor reception of Star Trek: Enterprise, the fifth film was scrapped and the franchise went dormant after Enterprise wrapped, with nothing in television or film until the soft reboot movie Star Trek [2009]. Because of this, Nemesis sort of leaves fans dangling off a cliff with a very unsatisfying final adventure for our heroes. Fortunately, over 20 years later, the gang would get their well-deserved send-off in Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard.

When I first saw this film in 2002, I thought it was actually pretty good. I wasn't a huge fan of Tom Hardy as a young Picard, but other than that, I was happy to see the gang again in a film that had more action than its predecessor. Looking back on it now, I do see the film as a bit of a disappointment. Even though it wasn't intended to be the final film for the TNG cast, it ended up being the final film, making it even more disappointing.

In an important exercise in “Don't believe everything you see on the internet,” there is a trivia element on IMDb for this film that says in part, “[Director Stuart] Baird expresses his frustration in the Blu-ray commentary at having to tell a story in an established universe with pre-existing design and character relationships, hated having to utilize recycled sets and props, and had trouble remembering the names of the main cast.” This interpretation of the commentary seems to be heavily colored by the author of this comment. Having watched the entire Blu-ray commentary myself, it seems to me that Baird speaks very matter-of-factly and unemotionally about how shooting differs between the smaller Enterprise sets versus the larger Scimitar sets, as well as his desire to make some changes and updates to existing props. I don't detect any frustration and certainly no “hatred” about these things in Baird's commentary.

I'm no Baird apologist, but I think the assessment found in IMDb is unfair. It is true that Baird was new to Star Trek and that he may not have been interested in delving into its history prior to directing the film, but I haven't found any evidence that he felt hatred toward the franchise. Now, it is also true that Baird did not accept any help from veteran Trek actor and director Jonathan Frakes (Will Riker), and I have found accounts of other actors criticizing Baird, perhaps the harshest of which came from Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi) who bluntly said, “The director was an idiot.”

Baird did work to make the film as accessible to non-Trek fans as possible, but he did this by cutting many of the references to previous art that the fans would have greatly appreciated, and in so doing, he created a more generic action flick that lacked some of the uniqueness of Trek. I also have a hard time really believing in Shinzon as a villain. First of all, he just... somehow built the most powerful ship the quadrant has ever seen at a secret base despite working in the mines, having no resources, and having just barely entered adulthood. And he has somehow harnessed and weaponized a type of radiation that had only been theoretical up to this point. Seems a bit unlikely, no? Also, the idea that Picard would have turned into a monster if he had had Shinzon's upbringing, just because they share the same DNA... I'm not buying it. Sure, it raises the larger question of nature versus nurture, but I don't feel like the movie really explores it enough. Besides, all I see is Tom Hardy, I can't really believe it's a clone of Picard. Now, if the villain had been played by Patrick Stewart – truly a mirror version – now THAT would have been something!

The movie also sort of squanders an opportunity to learn more about the Romulans, definitely one of the more secretive races in the Trek universe. Instead, we take time away from the main story just so that Shinzon can telepathically rape Deanna Troi... and Picard basically just says, “I need you to keep working so just deal with it.” If this whole part had been left out of the movie, literally nothing would have been lost. Overall, the film just doesn't live up to the Star Trek name.

👎 Director Stuart Baird — If accounts of the main cast are true, Stuart Baird didn't know much about the Star Trek universe and didn't accept any help from the veteran actors. Actor LeVar Burton said that Baird frequently called him “Laverne.” Although Baird put forth a sincere effort, it is clear that his involvement had a negative impact on morale and the film as a whole.

👍 Will & Deanna's wedding reception — It's about time that these two finally got together. For me, I'm just going to ignore that whole Troi and Worf fling. Oh, also, Data singing “Blue Skies” was delightful.

🤷‍♂️ The Argo — Did we need a dune buggy scene? Do we need dune buggies in the 24th century?

👎 Janeway cameo — I'm sure there are others who will disagree with me on this one, but I did not care for Janeway's cameo appearance. I just think that she either should have had a larger role or should have just been left out entirely. The way she holds up her hand to interrupt Picard also doesn't sit well with me.

👎 Troi is mind-raped again — I really, really wish they'd stop doing this to Troi. Come up with something original, for the love of God.

👎 Everyone forgets about the Bassen Rift — No one, including Data, seems to think about the danger of flying through the rift – where they won't be able to communicate with Starfleet – until they're already in the rift.