New fan, excuse my ignorance. Was Nemesis always expected to be the final TNG film or were they planning to do a fifth movie with the cast until they saw the box office numbers? What was fandom thinking/saying at the time?
For you long-time fans, did people know Nemesis would be the final TNG film pre-release?
- Thread starter Shalashaska
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The tagline 'A Generations final journey begins' suggested it was the last one..(but maybe not as it 'begins')... there was a wait and see the box office approach but without Googling/Memoryalphaing I believe there were rumours that a 5th could continue the Spiner/Logan Romulan stuff of Nemesis (unlikely) and a cross over movie involving various trek characters from all series
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NEMESIS was definitely the last TNG movie. Everyone put a good face on it, like something else could come after, but they knew it was over. In fact, they kind of wanted it to be over.
Brent Spiner's makeup did not allow Data to appear ageless. And the rest of the cast had aged, considerably. A fact which was not compensated for, with the cinematography. Something which Jonathan Frakes would've been very careful about, had he been directing, But he wasn't.
The open-door for Data's return in a sequel was simply to assure the loyal fanbase, so that NEMESIS didn't lose business. But TNG had its run and it was time for STAR TREK to move on. "All Good Things ..."
Brent Spiner's makeup did not allow Data to appear ageless. And the rest of the cast had aged, considerably. A fact which was not compensated for, with the cinematography. Something which Jonathan Frakes would've been very careful about, had he been directing, But he wasn't.
The open-door for Data's return in a sequel was simply to assure the loyal fanbase, so that NEMESIS didn't lose business. But TNG had its run and it was time for STAR TREK to move on. "All Good Things ..."
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I don't believe Nemesis was really intended to be the last TNG film. I think everyone involved knew there was a possibility this was going to be the last film which is why the decision was made to give the film some sense of closure e.g. Riker and Troi leaving the Enterprise, Data dying and Beverly going off to Starfleet Medical ( those scenes were cut from the movie though). I remember when the movie was coming out, some of the cast expressed their surprise at Paramount Marketing's slogan 'A Generation's Final Journey Begins.'
Long story short, if Nemesis had done good box office, they would have made another TNG movie, there's no question in my mind.
Long story short, if Nemesis had done good box office, they would have made another TNG movie, there's no question in my mind.
The cast was too old, the material wasn't exciting enough, frankly, and the competition was too intense. NEMESIS was not going to make a LOT of money, in the sense that another sequel was called for. Paramount only put the tagline of 'A Generation's Final Journey Begins' because they knew the movie wasn't good. It needed to milk nostalgia for all it was worth, to keep in the black. I don't believe Paramount ever had any illusions regarding future TNG movies. NEMESIS wrapped things up as far as they were concerned.
Plenty of good points above but I think that bottom line would always be movie makes money=another movie. At the time of release I was also 50/50 on whether to view it as the last one or not. Then once the rumours of a major character being killed off started to filter out I became more convinced that this was it. On watching the movie I thought it was a reasonable ending although I'm convinced Frakes would've handed in a more TNGy movie and who knows where that could've ended. But I recall seeing Stewart on a chat show over here in the UK promoting Nemesis and I'm sure, when asked about what a follow up movie could be about, he mentioned that the final scene with Data emerging through B-4 being would be where it should begin.
True, but Star Trek VI made money, and that was always seen as the conclusive ending for the original crew.
As I recall, we were aware that this was possibly the last TNG, but that nothing was written in stone. And I've learned from experience that you never say never. More often than not, if a movie bills itself as "The Final Chapter" or whatever, that practically guarantees "A New Beginning" somewhere down the road. 
It was but that was also very clearly defined as the end for that cast from the very start but with Nemesis, as the original question asks, did we know it would be the end for the TNG cast and I think it could've gone either way.
Anyway, the original cast nearly ended up in VII with the TNGers (Kelleys insurance issues aside).
Star Trek VI was always intended to be the last TOS film and was heavily promoted as such. By the time VI was in production, Paramount had already basically decided that the TNG cast would take over the movie franchise within a few years.
Yes that was just a rumor. ST VI as we know it almost didn't get made after the failure of Trek V. Paramount only reluctantly made VI knowing that they had to take advantage of the 25th anniversary.
Paramount would never have commissioned Nemesis if they felt it was going to bomb - that's not how studios work. What's funny looking back at it now is I vividly remember when Nemesis was in production it was being touted as fresh and going to revitalize the franchise. I really think Paramount chose to promote the movie as the last adventure to try and get butts in the seats.
Well if you're a fan under the age of 30, you either weren't born or were too young to really remember it well. It's scary to think but next month is the 20th anniversary of First Contact's release.
Totally. And if the last twenty five years since VI are anything to go by we'll be celebrating the 75th anniversary before we know it.
maybe there was some thinking about doing Trek VII with the original cast for 94 (Ashes of Eden written and directed by Shatner) and have TNG end the same year and then do a Generations movie for 96 (30th)? (then again maybe not)
After it was determined that TNG was a bona fide hit, the decision always was to replace the TOS crew with the TNG cast after ST VI. In fact in a very early story draft of VI, Paramount had asked that Kirk turn over the Enterprise to Picard at the end of the movie until they were reminded that TOS took place about 80 years before TNG.
"A Generation's final journey begins" in all the advertising said to me it was intended to be the last.
