Star Trek Nemesis: A Look Back

I miss Star Trek Generations, let's get that out of the way right off. When I watched Star Trek Nemesis for the first time years ago I came to the sad conclusion that it would be the last Star Trek film until they reinvented the franchise somehow.

When Enterprise fell on its face, I was sure we'd be without a new Trek series for at least 10 or 20 years. Right now there's a new Star Trek film by J.J. Abrams that will hopefully bring people back to Trek, and I'm looking forward to it.

Before we all go on to a new Trek, however, I thought it would be interesting to quickly review the last film we saw, Star Trek X: Nemesis, so here goes.

I enjoyed the more military feel to the ship's operations, the advancement in character story, the performances rendered by the main-stays and even some of the rivalry. One thing that had been missing from the franchise was a captain versus captain tale of any grand traditional scope, and I admit, this was a good try. Sadly, it didn't satisfy and was no where near comparable to the famous captain versus captain film from the Star Trek franchise: Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Kahn.

Another saving grace for this film was the special effects. I found they were perfectly convincing, did everything they had to. The dogfight in the end looked really good even though combat in space promises to be quite different and will most likely be fought with ships kilometers if not thousands of kilometers apart. It was still fun to watch, especially on the big screen.

Now that all the positives have been laid out, here comes what certainly contributed to this film being the last Generations Star Trek movie. First of all, the villain reminded a large portion of the US and Canadian audience of Doctor Evil. Yes, that over the top villain from the Austin Powers movies. The story was good, but highlighted a lot of problems with the Star Trek setting and there were some other massive issues. Here's a list:

Alien worlds are named after Earth mythology by the aliens that inhabit them (Romulus, Remus).
Dune buggies? Why?
A starfighter in a hallway? I remember going to get more Junior Mints when that started...
ANOTHER Data??? I thought he was a rare specimen, but it's starting to look like they just dump pieces of him all over the place like old McDonald's wrappers.
Where is the exploration in this film? If I were an explorer, I'd make sure to at least visit the Romulan gift shop! All Picard got this time out was some gaudy knife with someone else's blood on it.
Last but not least, the directing in this film was nothing beyond standard fare.

Now, don't get me wrong, this film does make a fair attempt at saying farewell to the fans, the whole cast and production staff knew this would be the last Generations film, but they could have at least gotten a director who had done action or science fiction before, and worked a little harder on some of the action sequences to make them more plausible. The dune buggy and starfighter sequences were a bad fit for the film and not "very Trekkie" as a good friend of mine put it years ago. The suspension of disbelief snapped for a lot of people.

I'm glad to have this DVD as a part of my collection, but because I'm a fan of the Generations era of Trek (and I'll admit, pretty much all other Trek except for the latter half of DS-9), not because this film is in any way a stand out from the pack like Star Trek First Contact or The Wrath of Kahn. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you rent it online or at your local vid store before the new Star Trek film hits theaters in May, it is worth seeing once at least if you're a Science Fiction or Star Trek fan, despite its many shortcomings.

As for the new film, well, J.J. Abrams has a lot to live up to. His new movie won't be compared to Star Trek Nemesis, but to the rest of the franchise as a whole. That's damned hard to face, considering there have been some real golden moments in all the Trek series'. I hope he manages to give us something that is entertaining, somewhat reflects Gene Roddenberry's vision and starts us on a new seven year mission. I miss seeing Trek on my television, and my ultimate hope is that this leads to a series and not to an eventual sequel like Star Trek: The Voyage Home. Don't get me started on that one...

RL

Status update on Spinward Fringe Frontline: 227 pages locked in, writing 4000+ words per day and loving it. When will I be finished? Hopefully before page 400. More on that later!

Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis: Bridging the Gap

I don't write spoilers. Not for my own projects and not for anything else. Now that I've gotten that out of the way and you know that this little article is spoiler safe, let's get on with it.

Like a few other million people around the globe I eagerly await each and every episode of this little series called Battlestar Galactica. Producer / Writer Ronald D Moore has a talent for keeping us glued to the screen. The first time he did it for me was when he was working on Star Trek: The Next Generation. The only time he lost me was when Star Trek DS9 when he got all religious. That was so terrible that I didn't see the series finale until years later.

Let's let the past reside right where it belongs; way the frack behind. I say that because the new Battlestar Galactica uses all the classic elements of the original series and introduces important new factors. With a female president and Starbuck with along with few other transformed and invented elements the show feels new and shiny. Well, not quite, since they do such a great job of making everything look so used and dirty. The work they've done has been enough to carry this new show much further than the original.

Over the years since this show first started airing it has become a staple to science fiction fans, as much as the various Star Trek series were, as much as Buffy or Angel were. There's a certain group of core fans that need science fiction content on television, they're discriminating, they demand quality, but that doesn't mean that they won't watch bad science fiction. They watch it, and they tear it to pieces on the Internet. Other science fiction fans read the posts and blogs. The same happens when a show like Battlestar Galactica goes wrong, those core fans are the first to scream. Funny thing, we're seasons in and I don't hear much screaming yet, that's a good thing. A welcome change if you ask me. Battlestar Galactica has not reduced in quality at all as far as I'm concerned, and as we watch the last few episodes for the next several months, I'm looking forward to finding out where this wild ride goes. If you haven't seen this show yet, you should know it's available on iTunes and DVD, I highly recommend it.

There's one other point that I feel is really important to mention. Battlestar Galactica came just in time. Star Trek Enterprise flopped and disappeared, Stargate SG-1 came to an end after 10 seasons (watch out for the straight to DVD movies!), Firefly was slapped down fast by Fox (need a big damn sequel!), and most of the other shows weren't that great. Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis has bridged the hungry, lonely gap for us Science Fiction lovers. It has been a dark few years where deep space futuristic science fiction is concerned.

In about 10-12 episodes Battlestar Galactica ends for good, forever. This is a decision that I'll back all the way. I say it's better to call an end to something well before it ceases to be at it's best. That way, when I pop the DVD collection into my player I don't sit there thinking; too bad the last season sucked. We are left with a classic that may stand the test of time. Now THAT is rare in this environment where the big networks don't trust their showrunners unless their show is an instant hit and can draw massive advertising revenue. Something inside me will still miss awaiting new BSG episodes on Friday nights. I think it's my inner child.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, however! This September Caprica, a prequel series in the same universe as Battlestar Galactica, begins. In July Stargate Atlantis comes back with a new season and I can't wait. This summer the animated series; Star Wars: The Clone Wars launches with a major motion picture release. The rest of the series will air on the Cartoon Network in half hour episodes every week. George Lucas has informed the world that the new live action Star Wars series was in the works as of fall 2008 and we should see it sometime in 2009 or 2010. In May of 2009 the new Star Trek movie, a franchise reboot under the direction of J.J. Abrams of Lost fame, will premiere. That's just the stuff that's set in outer space, there's a lot more science fiction that's set on or near earth, in current day or not long from now.

The future of science fiction is looking a little brighter again, and I'd be remiss if I forgot to thank Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis for keeping us all entertained while we waited for it to happen. Here's to you!

Cheers!

RL

Hey, if science fiction gets really popular, maybe I could get my own little First Light show on television?