Everything Wrong with Star Trek Nemesis

[Timby]

I personally thought Sisko's rate of promotion was generally just fine. And he still got to captain twice as fast as Picard.

Michael Piller, Rick Berman and Ira Steven Behr have all said they felt it was a mistake to have Sisko as a commander from the get-go. The show was already facing headwinds because it was a Star Trek show set on a space station that didn't move, and it was the first Trek show with a Black lead. Having that Black lead be of a lower rank than Kirk and Picard was a misfire in retrospect.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Michael Piller, Rick Berman and Ira Steven Behr have all said they felt it was a mistake to have Sisko as a commander from the get-go. The show was already facing headwinds because it was a Star Trek show set on a space station that didn't move, and it was the first Trek show with a Black lead. Having that Black lead be of a lower rank than Kirk and Picard was a misfire in retrospect.

Exactly. Sure, Sisko may have become a Captain more quickly than Picard, in universe, but Picard was a Captain at the start of the series. Like Kirk, Janeway and Archer. DS9 wasn't conceived to chronicle Sisko's journey to Captaincy. He was shortchanged for whatever reason. Either an honest mistake, shortsightness or maybe they felt since he didn't have a ship "Commander" was the same thing. And maybe in the real world, that would be accurate, but this is Star Trek. At that time, your lead was a Captain and Sisko was robbed of some strength by that decision. That and their insistence he have hair.

Sisko really came alive for me in season four after he was promited and Avery Brooks was allowed to look like himself.

 

[Tosk]

Michael Piller, Rick Berman and Ira Steven Behr have all said they felt it was a mistake to have Sisko as a commander from the get-go.

I'm glad they made that mistake then.

I also kind of like the idea (however offscreen it may be) that Ben had stagnated in the three years since Jennifer's death. THat he's just been doing the job required of him, with Jake as real focus. That he probably would have been commander earlier if it weren't for his reaction to Wolf 359.

I'm personally coming at this from a point of view of the story. I have no interest in the real world-ness of the decision, though I of course understand it.

 

[fireproof78]

I thought it reflected that station CO's seen on TNG had been commanders.

Consistent world building?

 

[Dukhat]

No.

Yes, I already know the answer is no. That wasn't my point.

Is there any rule stating the Wesley can’t do both simultaneously?

Nope. Would have been nice to have had an explanation as to why he was there, is all. But they gave no explanation.

Pretty sure it was a joke. Or at least an attempt at one.

There was nothing humorous about Janeway's lines. They sounded like they were written for any generic admiral, and Mulgrew just got the part later. I doubt that was the case, but that's certainly how the lines sounded.

They probably don’t have a succession plan for that. Especially if coups are routine on Romulus.

I find that hard to believe.

They likely learned it from Tasha Yar, when she was captured after returning with the Ent-C. But this is never explained, or called back to.

Exactly my point. The YE thing is only a theory. To my knowledge there has never been any evidence that the scriptwriter was thinking this.

Considering that its an empire with many second-class citizens living in it, yes.

That doesn't matter. The Enterprise crew were acting like they'd never even heard of the Remans before, much less what they looked like. This is the Romulan's second planet, not some backwater subjugated world.

Maybe said battleship was never intended to be for Shinzon and the Remans, but for the Romulan military. They just stole it, a la Kirk stealing the Enterprise.

Nope. Shinzon specifically states that the Scimitar was built by Remans at a secret base unbeknownst to the Romulans.

As for why the Romulans built it, maybe between the effects of the Dominion War and the threat of the Borg, they were radically rebuilding their military to be prepared for future threats.

Again, the Romulans didn't build it.

Maybe the Romulan military is too treacherous to trust a figurehead from their ranks to rule Romulus, so Shinzon is a solution that everyone in the military could agree upon.

Except they didn't really need him anymore once the Senate were killed. They could have easily killed him and all the other Remans by literally shining bright lights on them, then stolen the Scimitar for themselves.

If only there was a Star Trek tv show that concurrently aired alongside NEM that could have explained the origins as to why the Romulans hated Earth so much. A show that could have explained the long road getting from there to here in NEM. With the aims to last seven seasons, even in the face of Trek fatigue. You know, a prequel.

Except it wasn't said prequel's job to state why the Romulans of the year 2379 want to attack Earth for no real reason.

Romulan indoctrination?

Shinzon spends the entire film talking about how much he hates the Romulans. So any 'indoctrination' he might have had failed miserably.

Why did he need B4 at all to get Picard’s attention?

He didn't need B4 to get Picard's attention. He needed B4 to sabotage the Enterprise so that he could kidnap Picard. Even though he had Picard right in his room on Romulus no less than an hour before and could have just killed him then and stolen his blood. Add that to the list of more stuff that makes no sense.

Maybe he was bored and wanted a change in routine?

Except it was established way back in TOS that automobiles were outdated technology. That's like me all of a sudden wanting to use punch cards even though I had no previous interest in that at all.

From Geordi – he was captured all those years ago by the Romulans in the episode “The Mind’s Eye”, and they probably did more digging than realized. But this is never explained or called back to.

Complete supposition. Find me a quote from the scriptwriter where he brings this up and maybe I'll change my mind.

Maybe he had just learned about the regenerative properties of Khan’s blood and was at a crossroads?

No.

Its his attempt at extortion, to get Picard to move faster?

No. It's a 20-something idiot's way to get his jollies off at the expense of his own life.

Because Shinzon is trying to act like an arrogant Romulan i.e. their behaviour in “The Neutral Zone”. Oh look, another call back to TNG that is never referenced.

Not really. It's Shinzon acting like he has a chip on his shoulder for the cards he was dealt, while his twin got all the breaks.

Again, Shinzon is acting like a Romulan. And treating the Remans like the Romulans would.

No, it's Shinzon acting like the petulant child that he is.

Have you heard of the plan where Sela was going to occupy Vulcan, with its 1 billion inhabitants, with only 2000 troops? The Romulan military seems synonymous with illogical ideas.

I'll give you this one. Why? Because Sela was a 22 year old idiot who should never have been put in command of any Romulan forces whatsoever. Same with 20-something Shinzon.

I think Riker is just behaving as any Starfleet officer would.

I think Riker was grossly uninformed about what the Romulan military was really planning.

More like why were everyone's talents wasted in this film?

That was true since Generations, since they decided these movies were going to be the Stewart & Spiner show. Which carried over to Star Trek: Picard.