It’s time to begin the procedure and say goodbye to the old era of Trek cinema as we come face-to-face with the last TNG film: “Star Trek: Nemesis”!
Writer, podcaster, and Batman expert Chris Sims joins the show this week to talk about the much maligned though possibly misunderstood final film of the TNG era. When a vicious new faction comes to power in the Romulan Empire, Picard and his crew are sent to make an overture of détente to the new regime. When the faction’s new leader is revealed to be a secret clone of Picard, Jen-Luc will be force to face a life that might have been…and one of his crew will be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice!
Conventional Trek wisdom has always held that the odd-numbered films are bad and the even-numbered ones are good, and for some Trekkies that pattern was shattered by TNG’s last film. It’s hard to know exactly why the Next Generation as a cinematic brand had such a relatively short shelf life, but it wasn’t for a lack of creativity on the part of the writers and directors of the series. Nemesis may have challenged audiences’ ideas of what a typical Trek blockbuster looks and feels like, but it introduced a surprising depth and poignancy to the series that would continue to echo through Trek’s 21st century revival. On this episode, we talk about the film’s rocky production and cold reception, the value of an “episode film”, Trek justifying itself in the current marketplace, choosing who you want to be, the standout casting in the Trek franchise, how a family gives a person strength and identity, and why Star Trek needs to have hope.
We also discuss solving space problems with allegory, mourning pulp novel episode titles, the blog-to-podcast pipeline, (not) ranking “Cow Tools”, Teeny Tom Hardy, Wars vs. Trek on TV, “units” of storytelling, Trek as the OG continuity nerd’s refuge, boiling down the captains, Batman fighting a lion, and letting your ship designs cook a little!
Hey, I didn’t ask to be cloned!
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Listen to “Season 7, Episode 10 “Star Trek: Nemesis” with Chris Sims” on Spreaker.