A Good Romulan Movie, is it possible?

[Vulcanian]

Even though I am a Vulcan fan first and foremost, I think the Rommies need a big screen treatment.

Nemesis was a mixed bag for me. Some stuff I liked and other stuff I didn't like. It didn't quite live up to its promise

The Romulans, IMHO, deserve to be more on in the movies than the Klingons. It seems quite ideal to me. Do you think it's possible to have a good Romulan movie? What would it be about and when?

 

[cardinal biggles]

Moving to Future of Trek...

 

[seigezunt]

I'm not sure yet if it's possible to have a good Trek movie at all. But I have high hopes for this production.

I do agree, the romulans got a shitty deal over the years. I'm basing that on TNG and the movies, as I never saw the later years of Enterprise.

I love the Romulans of the novels, particularly the Rhihannsu series. Pity that wasn't done more in the movies, and instead we got that abomination Nemesis.

It would be nice if they did something with an alien race of villains that we know, instead of making up something new entirely.

Great avatar, btw, Vulcanian...

 

[Kegek]

To paraphrase and misquote G.K. Chesterton, a Romulan movie hasn't been tried and found wanting. It hasn't been tried.

Let's see, Romulans in the movies:

Star Trek: The Motion Picture - No Romulans.
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan - Romulan ale. No Romulans. I think the Klingon Neutral Zone in the movie was originally going to be Romulan, but the name was changed to be more recognisable, a bit like when in -
Star Trek: The Search for Spock - the Bird of Prey complete with cloaking device was going to be a Romulan ship and our pointy eared friends the bad guy of the movie, but Nimoy wanted Klingons. The Klingons were to have stolen the ship, but that plot detail wound up on the cutting room floor, so no Romulans in this movie either. Klingons 1, Romulans 0.
Star Trek: The Voyage Home - drives home how Klingon the Bird of Prey is. No Romulans.
Star Trek: The Final Frontier - Romulans! Or rather Caithlin Dar, a single Romulan. No head-ridges like TNG et al, but she does have TOS era pointy ears. When she, the Klingon and the Federation Ambassador are taken hostage, the Federation and the Klingons send ships to the rescue... but nobody even considers the possibility the Romulans might. Nobody takes our villanous elf-Romans seriously, it seems, and the first Romulan in the movies turns out to be a really, really minor character with no plot importance. Klingons 2, Romulans 0.
Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country - More Federation and Klingon angst as a conspiracy of some hardliners on both sides try to keep the cold war going. Plus a Romulan, Nanclus, a figure even more minor than Dar but who also wants to keep the Feds and the Klingons hostile for obvious reasons. A nice additional touch, but arguably even more ancilliary than Caithlin Dar. Nanclus, incidentally, is the last Romulan seen without those TNG ridges. Klingons 3, Romulans 0.
Star Trek: Generations - The ridges debut. On a corpse. The Romulans are briefly mentioned as a possible enemy, but it soon turns out they're a largely unseen injured party and the real enemy is... the Klingons. Again. Klingons 4, Romulans 0.
Star Trek: First Contact - No Romulans.
Star Trek: Insurrection - No Romulans.
Star Trek: Nemesis - It's a film where the Romulans are the bad guys! Only, actually the main bad guy is a human, a clone of Picard. And most of his henchmen are the never-heard-of before Remans. So where does that leave the Romulans? Why, some of them get to become corpses, and Dina Meyer's Donatra gets to join the heroes! Romulans and Romulan politics more important here than in any Trek movie, but ultimately it's more about the new things thrown into the Empire - a Picard clone and a gothic nosferatu race of vampires - then our elf-Roman friends. The one movie that has Romulans in any significant way and they're shafted to a role as minor as the Klingons in The Final Frontier... and this movie is a lot worse.

What does this all add up to? At the very most, the Romulans have been relatively inconsequential supporting players on the big screen, despite having to their credit being the bad guys of some of the best episodes in the franchise - including TOS's 'The Balance of Terror' and 'The Enterprise Incident'. The biggest they've ever been, in Nemesis, they're victims, briefly the duped allies of the big bad guy, and then the rather useless defectors to the hero's cause. I really doubt this upcoming movie will have Romulans, but I'm hoping one of the sequels might...

 

[Tactical Drone]

yeah, I'd love to see a Romulan Warbird on the big screen. I agree that Klingons were far overused in the movies.

 

[Mysterion]

Sure. Just let Diane Duane do a Rihannsu-based screenplay.

 

[Vulcanian]

I am not sure which era I would like it to be in...

A Romulan War movie in post-ENT to me would be really cool. However, this would limit to the hardcore fans. I also wrote fan-fic on it here if you didn't know.

Though I think a Romulan movie in the 25th century is probably the way to go. It would likely start off a new show and tie in the events of NEM and Spock's efforts seen in "Unification" Part II

 

[Kegek]

Well, I'd be content with the most realistic alternative: A movie with Romulans as antagonists which is a sequel to Trek XI. Assuming the film is a success, and that's a big if, subsequent movies with the same recast TOS crew might be made.

 

[DeafPoet]

Kegek said:
Well, I'd be content with the most realistic alternative: A movie with Romulans as antagonists which is a sequel to Trek XI. Assuming the film is a success, and that's a big if, subsequent movies with the same recast TOS crew might be made.

Not only is this idea the most likely, I like it the best! :thumbsup:

 

[Joisey]

Vulcanian said:
Even though I am a Vulcan fan first and foremost, I think the Rommies need a big screen treatment.

Nemesis was a mixed bag for me. Some stuff I liked and other stuff I didn't like. It didn't quite live up to its promise

The Romulans, IMHO, deserve to be more on in the movies than the Klingons. It seems quite ideal to me. Do you think it's possible to have a good Romulan movie? What would it be about and when?

Only if the abomination of the "Remans" from STX are ignored.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Kegek said:
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan - Romulan ale. No Romulans. I think the Klingon Neutral Zone in the movie was originally going to be Romulan, but the name was changed to be more recognisable, a bit like when in -

The Romulans became Klingons because they were under a tight budget, and they could reuse footage of the Klingon ships from The Motion Picture.

 

[Kegek]

^
But the Romulans also used Klingon ships of a very similar design for budgetary reasons in 'The Enterprise Incident' (this to get compensation for building the model, that is). I would've been happy with the TMP stock footage and the words 'Romulan', but I guess that'd confuse people, like having a cloaking Bird of Prey as a Klingon ship might confuse people... oh, wait...

 

[RookieBatman]

Kegek said:
Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan - I think the Klingon Neutral Zone in the movie was originally going to be Romulan, but the name was changed to be more recognisable, a bit like when in -
Star Trek: The Search for Spock - the Bird of Prey complete with cloaking device was going to be a Romulan ship and our pointy eared friends the bad guy of the movie, but Nimoy wanted Klingons.

I remembering hearing a long time ago, that one of the times the Romulans were changed to Klingons (can't remember which) it was because somebody (don't know who, maybe Bennett) thought that new moviegoers might be confused with the villains' resemblance to the Vulcans. Anybody else hear that one?

 

[duranduran]

Do you remember a very good Romulan episode in DS9?
I think Bashir and section 31 were involved.

Always wanted to see a tight dramatic film like the Troi as the Tal Shier episode.With a complex non linear plot.

The D'deridrex's Slugging it out with the federation and even Klingon d7 ships as the vorchek was too ugly and negh vagh too advanced and not pretty enough and should be shown in extreme close up like a hard core porn film.

Big screen battles are few and far in big screen Trek,the one in ST:FC was pathetic and lasted 40 seconds

A film showing Romulan politics and society with a complex plot as above would be a success.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

An Earth-Romulan War movie, or series of movies, would rock.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Nemesis should've been our good Romulan movie, but we all know how that turned out. Personally I would've re-written the film to focus solely on the Romulans and feature a returned Sela as the main villian. No Shinzon, but having Sela and the Romulans involved makes the title Nemesis even more potent. Sela is a indivual nemesis for both Picard and Data (personal for Data because she claims to be Tasha's daughter, we could confirm that in this movie) while the Romulans as a whole are a nemesis to the Federation on a scale never before scene. Perhaps we could use Donatra as the puppet Sela uses to lure the Enterprise to Romulas under the false pretenses of peace before all the shit goes down.

Otherwise I will have to say probably not...unless Star Trek XI is a big hit and JJ decides to use Romulans in the next movie during the TOS era this time. Perhaps a modernized movie version of "Balance of Terror" combined with the "The Enterprise Incident" would be interesting.

Admiral Young

 

[Kegek]

I remembering hearing a long time ago, that one of the times the Romulans were changed to Klingons (can't remember which) it was because somebody (don't know who, maybe Bennett) thought that new moviegoers might be confused with the villains' resemblance to the Vulcans. Anybody else hear that one?

I haven't, but it makes sense. It's presumably a reference to The Search for Spock, the only TOS movie where Romulans were seriously entertained as being the major villains, and also a movie which makes considerable use of Vulcans - including, ironically enough, Mark 'Romulan Commander' Lenard. I can certainly see how that could be confusing, though I think the strength of the two TOS appearances of this species was making their physical similarity to the Vulcans - and Spock specifically - a major plot point. Presumably that could be done again in a feature film.

Do you remember a very good Romulan episode in DS9?
I think Bashir and section 31 were involved.

I believe you're thinking of 'Inter Enim Arma Silent Leges', a season seven episode. The title more or less translates as 'In war, the laws are silent', and is a Cicero quotation. Yes, that's a pretty good episode.

Nemesis should've been our good Romulan movie, but we all know how that turned out. Personally I would've re-written the film to focus solely on the Romulans and feature a returned Sela as the main villian. No Shinzon, but having Sela and the Romulans involved makes the title Nemesis even more potent. Sela is a indivual nemesis for both Picard and Data (personal for Data because she claims to be Tasha's daughter, we could confirm that in this movie) while the Romulans as a whole are a nemesis to the Federation on a scale never before scene.

Sela? Bah. Denise Crosby wasn't particularly good as a villain. If Nemesis was to have a Romulan from the TNG TV series, then Andreas Katsulas' Tomalak is, IMHO, the best choice. While I don't think the film had to have a character form the show, Tomalak certainly would have been a lot better than what we got. Sadly, Katsulas passed away last year.

 

[sbk1234]

Unfortunately, I don't have high hopes for seeing the Romulans again on the big screen. Nemesis wasn't successful. The studio execs will reason that it was the only Trek film to feature the Romulans. It was not successful. Therefore, the Romulans won't equal a successful film.

However, my personal feelings are I'd love to see the Romulans in a flick - I had felt that way ever since TSFS, when I felt the Klingons were already getting over-used.
If used correctly, they could be great.
But, alas, the studio people never ask me...

 

[cardinal biggles]

We still don't know who the bad guy in Abrams' film will be... I'm sure if he wanted to involve the Romulans, Paramount wouldn't stand in his way. Honestly, anyone with half a brain would realize that the presence of Romulans in NEM had nothing to do with its infinite levels of suckitude. For starters, the Romulans took a back seat to the half-assed Picard clone and his merry band of rubber-suited Count Orlock wannabes.

But to blame the bad guys for the film's failure when it was the horrible story... did GEN suck because it was the goddamned Klingons yet again, or because of the horrendous story contrivances and Kirk's controversial death?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

To paraphrase and misquote G.K. Chesterton, a Romulan movie hasn't been tried and found wanting. It hasn't been tried.

Exactly.