More than three
decades ago, the television show Star
Trek first chronicled the voyages of the starship Enterprise as it ventured through distant galaxies and strange seas
of thought — “boldly going,” as the voice-over stated, “where no man had gone
before.” Those journeys almost always included a confrontation with an alien
species or civilization, which usually concluded in either violent combat,
meaningful communication, or something like an erotic encounter between the
virile Captain Kirk and some appropriately amorous galactic being. Meanwhile,
sadly, mankind still yearns for the stars. As any Trekker worth his dilithium
crystals knows, the show has spawned whole generations of television sequels
and spin-offs, along with what must be a dozen full-length motion pictures. The
Star Trek concept, like the James
Bond movies, has virtually created a genre unto itself.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Since much of the interest and
entertainment of any given genre derives from the small and large variations
and repetitions of familiar devices, each particular Trek film, including this one, consciously toys with the audience’s
knowledge of the past and its expectations for the present. The latest, Nemesis, reverses the usual patterns of
comedy, beginning with a wedding and ending in a death — with, however, the
promise of resurrection. That flip signals other reversals to come. For the
most part, the picture offers variations on the usual elements of the series
— the visit to a strange planet, the advanced civilization, the alien
encounter, the mysterious menace, the space battles, and so on.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย After an opening sequence in which
the Romulan Senate suffers a particularly horrible mass assassination at the hands
of the Remans (Romulus and Remus, twin planets, begin the picture’s occasional
references to ancient Rome), Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) appears
in tight close-up, delivering a long and laboriously facetious speech at the
wedding of Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi
(Marina Sirtis), the prettiest empath in the galaxy. The happy couple prepare
to travel to Troi’s home planet of Betazed, where they will marry again, this
time with the whole wedding party naked, in accordance with Betazedian custom.
That titillating prospect quickly vanishes, however, when the ship must make
the usual detours: first to pick up a dismantled android, the prototype for
Commander Data (Brent Spiner); then to investigate political conditions on
Romulus.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Two plot situations grow out of the
picture’s basic concept of the double: Data’s twin, an essentially immature
version of Ol’ Yellow Eyes, wittily named B4; and Captain Picard’s duplicate,
Shinzon (Tom Hardy), the Praetor of Romulus and Remus, who claims to be
Picard’s clone, a villainous younger version of himself. Despite its rich
possibilities, the film, oddly, fails to develop the concept as fully as it
deserves, especially in its rather perfunctory treatment of Picard’s predicament.
Although Picard acknowledges that his clone can anticipate his thoughts and
actions, and therefore makes a formidable foe, the alleged duplication never
really develops into the sort of confusion of identity and behaviors that it
promises.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Picard’s situation apparently
couldn’t sustain the script by itself, so the writers pad it with some quite
unacceptable back story — Shinzon relates a Dickensian recollection of a
childhood working in the dilithium mines, which accounts for his hatred of the
Romulans. The movie also depends heavily on an all-too-familiar series of
shootouts, hand-to-hand fights, pursuits through the corridors and tubing of
the starships, and, of course, a protracted battle between two vessels, with
phasers blazing away, photon torpedoes exploding all over the place, force
fields crumbling, and much of the Enterprise’s
interior scenery shattering and showering down on the cast.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Despite the opportunity to employ
the ensemble of beloved regulars, the movie makes little use of the numerous
important, secondary characters. Captain Picard and Data pretty much dominate
the action, with a little assistance from Riker. One scene does employ the
talents of the voluptuous empath, Counselor Troi, but she otherwise appears
only sporadically. The rest of the crew — Geordi (LeVar Burton), Worf
(Michael Dorn), Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) — unfortunately serve only minor
functions.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Nemesis
at least continues some of the grand themes of the original series,
particularly its concern for the definition of the human. Following in the
tradition of his predecessor, Captain Kirk, Picard attempts to instruct his
counterpart in some of the simple lessons of humanity, while the action and the
characters suggest an Emersonian concern for aspiration and transcendence, the
yearning for the stars which apparently only science fiction now fulfills. The
final gestures of Star Trek: Nemesis,
moreover, assert the ennobling and redemptive possibilities of sacrifice — no
negligible affirmation for a television show or even a series of motion
pictures.
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย
Star Trek: Nemesis,
starring Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael
Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Tom Hardy, Ron Perlman, Dina Meyer, Kate
Mulgrew; based on Star Trek, created
by Gene Roddenberry; story by John Logan, Rick Berman, and Brent Spiner;
screenplay by John Logan; directed by Stuart Baird. Cinemark Tinseltown; Hoyts
Greece Ridge; Loews Webster; Pittsford Plaza Cinema; Regal Culver Ridge; Regal
Henrietta.
You can hear George
and his movie reviews on WXXI-FM 91.5 Fridays at 7:15 a.m.; rerun on Saturdays
at 11:15 a.m.
This article appears in Dec 18-24, 2002.
