ST: Nemesis And Data's Demise

[Saxman1]

I had no idea that Meyer was asked...and I would have had no problem letting re-writing the script although considering that Stewart and Spiner worked on the story maybe that wouldn't have happened lol.

One of the reasons Stewart and Spiner did Nemesis was because they had script input. Meyer would have likely rewritten a good 2/3 of it and it would have been much better. However, S & S would not have appeared in it, LOL!

For example, Spiner had the studio hire his best friend as main screenwriter with plenty of input from Himself.

Stewart suggested the dune buggy sequence as he is a grand prix racing enthusiast.

Insurrection was supposed to be the final TNG film, one reason Riker was clean shaven: a subtle nod that he ended as he began. The TNG crew was originally signed to do a trilogy of films and Spiner originally wanted Data killed off in that third film, but the studio decided to go with a lighter tone for Insurrection, nixing that idea.

Nemesis was one more trip to the well to see if people would turn out in droves to see the crew that thrilled them in First Contact (the studio's thinking, I'm not a great fan of that film).

 

[GalaxyX]

Nemesis had none of the natural TNG comedy that First Contact had, and it didn't have that upbeat feeling at the end of the movie, where the Enterprise Crew happily warps back home after a deed well done.

In fact, Nemesis felt like it was slowly destroying everything that TNG stood for, and the final card that brought the house down was the death of Data.

Spiner is an idiot. Other movie stars go to great lengths to play their characters. Just look at Christian Bale. The guy goes from playing a 100lb weakling to a 220lb force. Why couldn't he just do the same? 3 months of hitting a gym with a personal trainer would have done it. That would have been enough to decently play the role.

Besides, I believe that those that love the character could never care what the actor looks like. Just look at James Doohan, a completely different man in the last movies compared to the TV series. But I loved his character, and the fact that he still as an actor wanted to be there was good enough for me to enjoy his presence.

 

[Saxman1]

Nemesis had none of the natural TNG comedy that First Contact had, and it didn't have that upbeat feeling at the end of the movie, where the Enterprise Crew happily warps back home after a deed well done.

In fact, Nemesis felt like it was slowly destroying everything that TNG stood for, and the final card that brought the house down was the death of Data.

Spiner is an idiot. Other movie stars go to great lengths to play their characters. Just look at Christian Bale. The guy goes from playing a 100lb weakling to a 220lb force. Why couldn't he just do the same? 3 months of hitting a gym with a personal trainer would have done it. That would have been enough to decently play the role.

Besides, I believe that those that love the character could never care what the actor looks like. Just look at James Doohan, a completely different man in the last movies compared to the TV series. But I loved his character, and the fact that he still as an actor wanted to be there was good enough for me to enjoy his presence.

I think that was the goal: to finish (or kill off if you are so inclined) TNG. Mission accomplished. Spiner obviously has no interest in staying in shape, he's too busy counting his millions. Nemesis is what happens when you let your "stars" run amuck. Maybe they let them have their way so TNG was killed and people would focus on the new kid on the block, Enterprise. That was quite successful, wasn't it?

James Doohan was a different case as he had to take steroids for the rest of his life from around TWOK forward for his heart condition and they blew him up. I have a friend who knew him well and said that he was not a big eater at all, in fact he drank most of his meals, LOL!

 

[RandyS]

Why Data needed to die if they already knew it was the last movie is beyond me.

Why Data needed to die at all is beyond me. If they wanted to make a character death "meaningful", it should have been one of the ones who actually could die. You know, one of those who didn't just have his mind downloaded into a back-up body?

 

[Timo]

...Hell, having Picard die and Shinzon take his place after a change of heart would have been a more dramatic (and perhaps a more plausible) twist of events!

That would have been the sort of Logan writing we hoped for when hearing he had been hired and glancing at his track record. In Gladiator, the surprise twist was that his hero triumphed not through surviving but through dying; in ST:NEM, the twist might have been that the Romulan intent to replace Picard with Shinzon was turned into a victory for Picard in the end...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Admiral_Young]

Data's death had emotional impact but probably didn't make the most sense. After thinking about it a little bit I think outside of Data, Riker would be even more of an emotional death having just married Deanna and really not supposed to be there in the first place. You could have him killed in his fight against the Viceroy then maybe have Data kill the Viceroy in response to having killed his friend. Deanna would have been devastated. Picard devastated at having to lose "the best damn first officer in the fleet" and then would assume his post under emotional turmoil. Or maybe Data would decline the promotion at the end of the film and resign his commission devastated himself and maybe taking a position at the Daystrom Institute.

 

[Tosk]

^Wouldn't a 'revenge killing' be a little (scratch that, a lot) out of character for Data?

 

[Trekker4747]

Maybe.

But look at the episode "The Most Toys" where a pre-emotions Data "rationalizes" the attempted murder of Fajo and then lies about it when he's beamed aboard mid-firing. So Data even before emotions was certainly capable of the most extreme examples of human emotion. A "revenge killing" post E'Chip certainly doesn't seem to much of a stretch.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

^And when Armus killed Tasha, too. Data said, "You are an evil being and must be destroyed," or words to that effect.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I don't think a revenge killing would be out of character for Data. It would be part of his emotional growth as a character wanting to experience what it is to be human. Revenge is an emotional trait humans experience. Especially with the loss of those closest to us in extreme or unjust circumstances. The viceroy murdering a close friend like Riker I think would justify in Data's mind killing him in turn. I'm not saying it would be a gratuitous killing or anything like that, simple and clean.