It is one of the most loathed films of the TNG film era, indeed , one might say from any ST film era. So, why does it have a special place for me? Patrick Stewart was keen to have a buggy scene in the movie. The studio contracted with a friend of mine, legendary off road racer Ivan Stewart, to create the buggies. At the time, Ivan was supporting a spec off road series using standard chassis and powertrains. He simply gave the dimensions to the production designers and a space age buggy was made off the chassis ivan was on set, of course, and had many pleasant things to say about Patrick Stewart. Ivan remarked that he asked that the Star Trek buggy components be left on his chassis , but paramount poo pooed the idea However, for me, this was a special event because Ivan gave me an original drawing of the buggy from the production team (framed and signed ) and was kind enough to invite me and my wife to the premiere in Hollywood. wow, a premier. Never did that before (or again). The stars, the gala, the free booze….amazing. When the lights came up, Ivan looked at me and asked “is that what a typical Star Trek movie is like ?” er…… how does one answer that? so, anyway, THATS why nemesis holds a special place in my heart…
I liked Nemesis quite a bit when I saw it on opening night. I didn’t realize until later that I was supposed to hate it.
No Star Trek film is all bad. Nemesis had many lovely moments in it. I'm glad you had such a positive experience with the production
Just my two cents, but I have reason to hate Nemesis. Maybe it's because I chose this as my Star Trek film to show to my high school english class as an introduction to Star Trek, for the only reason that there is a big space battle at the end and the high stakes, which I thought they might appreciate. EVERY person in that room despised the movie, and made me feel terrible about making them watch it. Granted, I was told later by one of the people in the room years later that another class he had been in had been forced to watch all 10 Star Trek films and all 10 SOMEHOW got hated on just as badly. It wasn't until the 2009 reboot that anyone in my high school class liked Star Trek at all . This could be because Star Wars was the big thing for kids in my generation (in spite of the prequels' reputation, Star Wars managed to be VERY well regarded). I'm not sure why there no TNG fans given how popular it was supposed to be just ten years earlier, but as an example of how poorly Star Trek was known much less received, there was a group project where everyone had to say something nice about everyone else, and this girl chose me and drew a picture of a bunch of random shapes in a weird configuration, and when I asked her what it was supposed to be, she said "It's supposed to be the spaceship from Star Trek, but I don't know what it's supposed to look like." In hindsight, Nemesis is probably not entirely at fault. Though it was also the first time I saw Star Trek at the movie theaters, and possibly my first time coming out of the theater so angry at what I had just seen. So there's that too.
One of my favourites. Has the best battle out of all of them with proper use of the shields. They actually felt important there
I like Nemesis and the extended cut should have been released long ago. The Zack Snyder cut of Justice League shows that extended cuts can be well received by the viewing public if given a chance. If all ten films got hated, then maybe they just did not like classic Trek. Do you know if any of them liked Into Darkness or Beyond?
Lots of movies have gotten extended cuts on home video. That seemed to be an even bigger thing in the 2000s than it is now, so it would have been the perfect time for an extended version of NEM on DVD. But Paramount didn't seem to do much with alternate versions of its movies at the time. TMP-DE was more of an exception. Kor
So I guess I "like" all the Star Trek MOVIES enough that I've let them into my collection, I'm willing to watch them and let them take up physical space. But I consider at least a third of them to be objectively bad movies, Nemesis included. In fact First Contact is the only TNG film I think is even good. And it's probably a lot better than my Berman Trek fatigue will allow. What I "like" or appreciate about Nemesis is it's Berman Trek's only director's movie. Beggars can't be choosers. Rick believed ST should remain in the hands of producers (so to speak) rather than directors (so to speak). And that mentality transferred to the big screen when TNG did. The hungry Hollywood director who might push back was to be feared and hated; now most 2nd generation fans fear and hate him to. When they finally got a "real" director it was somebody that was forced on them. By a studio who was as done entertaining the notion said individual had a directing career as they were done with "movie" Star Trek. I don't think they made a good movie together, but they made one that the Berman Trek machine couldn't contain. It's a dark, lifeless, stilted, green-and-purple toneless experience of a movie, but it's still the least like the other three. I think they would have done so for Trek, if only because they already started out with TMP. Meyer had the clout to get a director's cut on both of his movies, I don't think anybody else but Shatner was probably interested. And Shatner... whether or not he had the clout, he may also not have been able to communicate a strong enough vision for a DC that could by broken down into estimated dollars and workflow. Assuming he also didn't wait too long before deciding maybe something could be done after all (when previously asked, he simply said I don't think you're going to find a lot that we didn't already use in the film).
I'm just taking a moment to digest that the December '02 Star Trek movie even had its day on VHS. I know director's cut TMP did, a year earlier. Please don't tell me there was also a laserdisc of it.
No idea about Into Darkness or Beyond, but it's certainly possible they loved both. To be fair, I adore the 2009 film and Into Darkness, so I can actually agree with them on that. For several years those were my top two Trek films ever. And I STRONGLY agree that the extended cut of Nemesis is superior than the cut we ended up with. Maybe Data's death wasn't what ruined it for me, maybe it was the lack of finality for the Next Generation crew. We deserve the ending where Picard is on the bridge in his shiny new chair talking to Worf and Geordi about going "Where no one has gone before." It would be a nice nod back to Star Trek VI, and that combined with Goldsmith's score would feel very much like a proper conclusion to the cinematic story began in TMP. As it is, the film is just lacking way too much to properly feel like "A Generation's Final Journey".
Well, erm...it's never been fully edited together, much less released. Long story short, there are a TON of AMAZING deleted scenes (In my opinion, the best scenes were left on the cutting room floor). Why weren't they included in the final cut of the film? I haven't the faintest idea. Ask Stuart Baird, or anyone else lacking common sense or competence.
My mostly suppositional theory, they built the film to be the end of the TNG but chickened out. All the deleted scenes bear that out. But then someone upstairs probably threw a hypothetical question out there: What if it is a big hit? We'll have closed the door on continuation. So the theatrical release was cut together in a, have it both ways kinda way. A ending but not so hard an ending they couldn't get the band back together again if it succeeded. But, whatever. That ship has sailed, I would check out a directors cut with those scenes included.
I think Nemesis with a different director could have been better. From watching the deleted scenes, it seems a lot of character moments were edited out. The ship battles are cool though.
I liked Nemesis too. I think it losing the opening weekend spot to Maid in Manhatten was proof that the franchise needed a rest.