I had several idea for Nemesis which I think would have improved the film's reception
1. What if, Nemesis was the film released in 1998, instead of INS. Star Trek still had clout during the mid to late 90s. INS is largely blamed for pouring cold water on the franchise and having nothing new to say. 1998: One year after Titanic broke every record and one year before Star Wars would return for the Prequel movies. Star Trek releasing another big, go-get'em action film, instead of a sleepy victory lap film. I think would have gone a long way to keep the franchise burning longer.
NEM was a mess, but I'm warming up to it more than INS as NEM feels like it's trying to do more than be a mishmash of ideas, something both movies are guilty of.
And because INS was quick to take a plot idea that was used as cheap joke fodder in FC, about their becoming insurrectionists.
And because NEM doesn't shift plot goalposts every 20 minutes between how many in Starfleet are behind some biiiiiiiiiig eeeeeeeeeeeeeepiiiiiiiiiccccccccccc ccccccccoooonnnnnnnnnspiracyyyyyyyyyy! (ugh)
2. Make NEM a Dominion War film. Shinzon is now a Changeling of Picard. Instead of a Romulan clone. That was created for an abandoned infiltration plot that never really made sense in the movie proper. The Remans are another genetically engineered race created by the Founders. Like the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar. The details of the movie would play out the same. Minus the blood transfusion and B-4 subplots. With Picard engaging in philosophy duels (about duty, ideals, exploration/expansion and war) with an shapeshifter who has both stolen his face and voice.
Too SUS - small universe syndrome., IMHO.
Why even have Remans? The Romulans wiped their cousin species out ages ago and both planets are ran by Romulans.
Nixing B4 (even the name is stupid) would have been a boon.
The blood transfusion idea was way too contrived. Having a clone requiring it -- maybe, but Shinzon too is contrived. (Tom Hardy does MUCH with what's given and for all the story's problems, it's clear the actor wasn't at fault.)
The shapeshifter idea isn't bad - it's shades of the two or three times Kirk had a doppelganger in TOS, but your implementation of it is a LOT better than the Romulan convoluted mess and could actually hold its own. An Evil Picard never hurts, either...
3. The ENT-E crew would get their big Dominion War contribution. Since they missed it on the small screen. A fleet of Starships in a battle. Like was originally planned in NEM. The plot to destroy Earth will make sense now.
Big-time!
The Shinzon Shapeshifter will still degrade and have his body breakdown, just like in the movie. The cause will be an unknown pathogen (the morphogenic virus from DS9 season 7). Data still gets his big sacrifice moment. You can end the film with the ENT-E at DS9. Have Picard and Sisko talk about the nature of war and how much potential is lost with every shot fired and every reported casualty. End the film with Sisko or an Admiral thanking the crew for their service but reminding them that the war isn't won.
Nice touch, I like that.
Now imagine if they had Sisko and crew for "First Contact" and not letting Defiant and all be the butt of reunion partytime thrill'n'chill jokes. I mean, the Defiant was built to let door to door salesmen sell encyclopedia sets on street corners easier... Oh wait, it was built specifically to
counter the Borg, yet in FC it's quickly all but destroyed and-- oh very well, it was a prototype given to Sisko because the thing almost fell apart in tests and was a danger so let's hand it to the itty bitty station under the rug waaaaaay over there, where it's the most awesome ship ever until one movie needs a bit of plot fodder... maybe it's for the best DS9 escaped the movie theater experience. DS9 has aged better and comes across far more robust and less cast reunion parties than the TNG Trek films often felt. (At least INS and especially NEM try to get back in the "serious" department...)
Just a few ideas to take a film that has some solid scenes but executing them in a different time and movie going climate.
NEM's 2002 release put it in the same arena as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Lord of the Rings The Two Towers for the winter months. During the summer, Spider-Man 1 and Star Wars Episode II ruled the box office. 1998 was Trek's last shot (at the time) for relevance and intrigue with the general audience.
Star Trek 1-3 seemed to be aimed mostly at sci-fi and Trek fans, hoping to use big visuals to capture general audiences in the way Star Wars had. 2 broke through the mold and brought back general audiences, with 3 continuing the ride. 4 is the first one that actively goes into "lowest common denominator" (for better and worse) to aim at
everyone. It's very good but it's also very 80s and is now very dated. Not sure where I'm going with all that, but by 2002, the franchise needed a new production team. Berman's era was excellent, but was also played out and the movies were proving it, as well as the latter spinoffs.
2002 did have a lot of strong movies. Spider-Man being one of the best IMHO...
