December 13, 2002
Star Trek: Nemesis is a 2002 American science fiction film directed by Stuart Baird. It is the tenth film in the Star Trek franchise, and 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, the crew of the Starship Enterprise deal with the threat posed by a clone of Captain Jean-Luc 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.
Released in North America on December 13, 2002, by Paramount Pictures, the film received generally negative reviews, and has been cited as one of the worst films in the franchise. It was also a box office disappointment, earning $67 million worldwide against a $60 million budget. Plans for another film featuring The Next Generation cast were scrapped, and the film series was rebooted instead with Star Trek in 2009. 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.
Storyline
On Romulus, members of the Romulan Senate debate terms of peace and alliance with 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 oppose an alliance. After rejecting the motion, the Praetor and senators are disintegrated by a device left in the room.
Meanwhile, on Earth, the crew of the starship Enterprise prepare to bid farewell to newly married officers William Riker and Deanna Troi. The android officer Data serenades the couple with a rendition of "Blue Skies" at a reception. En route to a second ceremony on Troi's homeworld, they discover an energy reading on the planet Kolarus III near the Romulan Neutral Zone. Captain Jean-Luc Picard, security officer Worf, and Data land on the planet and discover the remnants of an android resembling Data, named B-4. The trio is attacked by the native population and leaves the planet with B-4, which they deduce to be an earlier prototype built by Data's creator.
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 the leader of the Remans and constructed a heavily armed flagship, Scimitar. The Enterprise crew discovers that Scimitar produces low levels of deadly thalaron radiation, the same radiation used to wipe out the Romulan Senate. There are also unexpected attempts to communicate with the Enterprise computers, and Shinzon invades Troi's mind through the telepathy of his Reman viceroy.
Medical officer Doctor Beverly Crusher discovers that Shinzon is dying 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 rescued Picard. They determine Shinzon plans to use Scimitar to invade the Federation, using its thalaron radiation generator to eradicate all life on Earth.
Enterprise races back to Federation space but is ambushed by Scimitar in the Bassen Rift, a region that prevents subspace communication. Despite the aid of two Romulan Warbirds, Enterprise is heavily damaged. Picard rams his ship into Scimitar, crippling both vessels. 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 down, Data leaps the distance between the two ships equipped with an emergency transporter, transports Picard off the ship, and sacrifices himself to destroy the thalaron generator and Scimitar with it. The crew mourns Data, and the surviving Romulan commander, Donatra, offers them her gratitude for saving the Empire.
Back on Earth, Picard bids farewell to Riker, who is leaving with Troi to command the USS Titan. Picard meets with B-4 and discovers that before he boarded the Scimitar, Data downloaded his memories into B-4, allowing him to live on. As B-4 starts singing "Blue Skies," Picard leaves B-4's quarters and smiles.
Also See
Movie Trailer
- Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) (Trailers)