Questionable Trek vol. 5

Even at their worst, Star Trek films are still worth watching and they have a lot of good things going for them.

Question From Andrew: “Scott, You ranked Star Trek: Nemesis as your least favorite Trek film. Give me five good things about it.”

Scott's Answer: Some of these are technical in nature (which is to be expected) but here we go...

1. The acting - while much of the supporting cast, as usual, has nearly nothing to do, Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner are excellent. While I found the idea of yet another Data-type android a little too convenient, Spiner plays B-4 with his usual childlike naïveté. Stewart has some great moments with the villain, played by Tom Hardy who, in turn, isn't bad. He's saddled with some less than stellar dialogue and a director not known being an actor's director but it's clear there's talent waiting to be unleashed. Thankfully, Chris Nolan has turned Hardy into a star on the rise. (We'll all see him later this year as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.)

2. The opening - this is the first Trek film to do away with an opening title sequence. Instead, we're plunged right into the story of political intrigue in the Romulan Senate. One senator excuses herself, leaving behind a deadly object which soon turns everyone else in the room to dust. Literally. It's actually pretty effective and kudos to the make-up and visual effects departments for starting this film off with a bang.

3. The music - Jerry Goldsmith returned for his fifth and final Star Trek film (and his third to last film before passing away in 2004). For this film, he reuses his Star Trek: The Motion Picture theme (better known as the theme for TNG), his four-note "quest motif" from Star Trek V, and even reprises some his TMP drydock music for a shot near the end in which Picard's Enterprise is seen in drydock. Sadly, we don't get to hear Goldsmith's melancholy theme for the film itself. There are no opening credits over which it can play and the end credits feature a jarring edit which disrupts the flow of the music. You can hear the full theme on the soundtrack album.

4. The visual effects - the Star Trek films always seemed to lag behind the various Lucas/Spielberg/Cameron films in this department. However, by the 21st century, Trek had managed to catch up to its more expensive peers. For this film, ILM was busy so the filmmakers instead turned to Digital Domain to produce the effects. The Enterprise has never looked better, the Data/B-4 duplicate effects are flawless, and the sequence in which the main viewer is destroyed and a crewman is blown out into space is a highlight (and something I'd always wanted to see).

5. The passage of time - sadly, many of these scenes were left on the cutting room floor but, in short, the filmmakers knew this would most likely be the last TNG film so they decided to "break up the family" so to speak. Dr. Crusher is off to Starfleet Medical, Riker and Troi finally tie the knot, and Riker is off to command a starship of his own. Meanwhile, Data doesn't quite understand the emotional impact of these events. There is an excellent deleted scene in which Picard tries to enlighten Data on the subject - how these events signify the passage of time. I only wish these scenes had remained in the film.


Andrew’s Response:

I can’t stand the whole B-4 subplot. I think it’s poorly thought out, doesn’t fit the story, takes the emotion out of Data’s death scene, and I really don’t like the way Spiner acts the character. I do like Tom Hardy a lot and he does an excellent job here, as does Ron Perlman (as always).

I absolutely agree about the effects. These effects are as good as anything out there.

The opening is very solid as well and helps set the tone of this film. Too many of the other films seemed to meander. This one starts like it’s shot out of a cannon.

The other thing I would add, and what I like best about this film, is that this was the first TNG film to feel like a genuine action film. The others tried, but never managed it because they spent too much time trying to give equal time to each of the regular characters and then wrote the plots around those scenes. This film cuts through the bull and spends its time on the plot. And that gives this one a much more intense and film-like feel than the others.

Scott's Reply:

I actually agree with about 90% of what you said. I didn't like the B-4 subplot either. Besides, Brent Spiner was interested in killing off Data because he felt too old to play the role, yet there was an episode in which we found out Data has an aging program, so it shouldn't have been a problem.

On the acting side, I disagree about Ron Perlman. I'm a fan but I felt he was wasted in this movie. However, a highlight for me was Dina Meyer, who I had only seen in Starship Troopers. I thought she was quite good.

I also agree that it's the first TNG film to feel like a "real movie." I attribute this to director Stuart Baird, a once and future editor who has directed a couple of action films (my guilty pleasure Executive Decision and the poorly-written but still kinda watchable U.S. Marshals). Unfortunately, he failed to do his homework and unlike other franchise newcomers like Nicholas Meyer, Baird is strictly a technical director, not a storyteller. He may have brought a sense of scope to the film but at the expense of its head and its heart.