mandragora (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mandragora) wrote2003-01-10 11:07 pm
mandragora) wrote2003-01-10 11:07 pm
Star Trek Nemesis
Just got back from seeing the movie. Hmm, not bad. Not good, either, I think. What I expected, really, even given that I remained (mostly) unspoiled in advance.
Parts I liked - the opening. Watching the Romulan Council die was well-done, good special effects as they crumbled into nothingness.
Cut to the wedding, Riker & Troi, that is. I enjoyed that, the camaraderie, Data's song, Worf's reaction to said song. And was that Wesley Crusher I saw? Good to see Guinan again, and her line about 23 marriages being enough was a classic. Shades of Methos.
The 'other' Romulans, from Remus. Whoo, what a shock their appearance was. Shades of the Uruk-hai, I thought.
The cameo by Admiral Janeway was fun.
Bits I wasn't sure of. The Picard clone. Trouble was that the actor who played him really doesn't look all that much like a younger Patrick Stewart, which meant that the impact of his appearance was lessened. If we hadn't been told that he was a clone, then I wouldn't have known.
Things I disliked. Picard-clone's motivation was distinctly dodgy. He, a lowly human, banished to the Romulan dilithium mines to die has somehow managed to become top dog in the Romulan Empire. O--kaaay. I suppose. I noticed that he did appear to be extremely strong for a human, stronger than a Romulan female, for example, even though I thought it had been established that they're at least as strong as human males. Whatever.
But. He's got himself in a position of power, and yet, despite the fact that he should be pissed off at the Romulans who treated him like scum and condemned him to a lingering death, apparently he's not. No, what he really wants to do is wipe out Earth. Um, why?
What's his motivation here?
The Romulans have just fought a huge war against the Dominion on the side of the Federation, and presumably need some time to recover from that. But no, he's gonna wipe out Earth and therefore plunge the Romulan Empire straight into war with the Federation. Now, I could buy this from some crazed dictator types, but this man is meant to be a Picard clone, with all Picard's tactical and strategic abilities. Didn't strike me that these were greatly in evidence.
Although Picard also made some extremely dodgy command decision, such as choosing to have himself beamed over alone to Picard-clone's ship to try and stop him from releasing The Ultimate Weapon against the Enterprise. Way to go, Jean-Luc. 'Cos when your transporter's about to give out, stop Data (who as a very hard-to-kill android is far more likely to be of use on his own that you) from beaming over and go yourself. And if you must go yourself, why not take a security team with you? Wouldn't they have been useful in fighting their way to the enemy bridge by your side?
And if you have to go through an area where your communications won't work on your way to rendezvous with other Federation ships, knowing that a cloaked Romulan ship that can kick the Enterprise's arse is on your tail, why don't you ask some of the other Federation ships to meet you there as well, just in case?
I liked the fact that some of the Romulans thought it would be a Bad Thing to wipe put Earth and tried to stop Picard-clone. Given that the plan to wipe out Earth was stupid this showed some good sense on the part of some of the Romulans.
Also liked the shot of the Enterprise ramming the Picard-clone's ship. That was effective, I thought. Although I did have to explain to non-Trekker friends that the reason the ships didn't explode is because it's all about the shields, rather than the actual physical structure of the ships.
Data's death - well, I was spoiled for that and could understand the reason why an ageless android played by a human actor could not go on forever. Although I noted that they left the door open for 'Data' to return in the future, in the form of his 'brother', B4 (geddit?).
So, generally not mega impressed by the film overall. Could have been better, sums it up.
Friends I saw the film with (none of whom are actually slashers, or even fanfiction readers) suggested that maybe I'd want to write a slash story putting right the faults in the movie. Um, no. I think not.
Parts I liked - the opening. Watching the Romulan Council die was well-done, good special effects as they crumbled into nothingness.
Cut to the wedding, Riker & Troi, that is. I enjoyed that, the camaraderie, Data's song, Worf's reaction to said song. And was that Wesley Crusher I saw? Good to see Guinan again, and her line about 23 marriages being enough was a classic. Shades of Methos.
The 'other' Romulans, from Remus. Whoo, what a shock their appearance was. Shades of the Uruk-hai, I thought.
The cameo by Admiral Janeway was fun.
Bits I wasn't sure of. The Picard clone. Trouble was that the actor who played him really doesn't look all that much like a younger Patrick Stewart, which meant that the impact of his appearance was lessened. If we hadn't been told that he was a clone, then I wouldn't have known.
Things I disliked. Picard-clone's motivation was distinctly dodgy. He, a lowly human, banished to the Romulan dilithium mines to die has somehow managed to become top dog in the Romulan Empire. O--kaaay. I suppose. I noticed that he did appear to be extremely strong for a human, stronger than a Romulan female, for example, even though I thought it had been established that they're at least as strong as human males. Whatever.
But. He's got himself in a position of power, and yet, despite the fact that he should be pissed off at the Romulans who treated him like scum and condemned him to a lingering death, apparently he's not. No, what he really wants to do is wipe out Earth. Um, why?
What's his motivation here?
The Romulans have just fought a huge war against the Dominion on the side of the Federation, and presumably need some time to recover from that. But no, he's gonna wipe out Earth and therefore plunge the Romulan Empire straight into war with the Federation. Now, I could buy this from some crazed dictator types, but this man is meant to be a Picard clone, with all Picard's tactical and strategic abilities. Didn't strike me that these were greatly in evidence.
Although Picard also made some extremely dodgy command decision, such as choosing to have himself beamed over alone to Picard-clone's ship to try and stop him from releasing The Ultimate Weapon against the Enterprise. Way to go, Jean-Luc. 'Cos when your transporter's about to give out, stop Data (who as a very hard-to-kill android is far more likely to be of use on his own that you) from beaming over and go yourself. And if you must go yourself, why not take a security team with you? Wouldn't they have been useful in fighting their way to the enemy bridge by your side?
And if you have to go through an area where your communications won't work on your way to rendezvous with other Federation ships, knowing that a cloaked Romulan ship that can kick the Enterprise's arse is on your tail, why don't you ask some of the other Federation ships to meet you there as well, just in case?
I liked the fact that some of the Romulans thought it would be a Bad Thing to wipe put Earth and tried to stop Picard-clone. Given that the plan to wipe out Earth was stupid this showed some good sense on the part of some of the Romulans.
Also liked the shot of the Enterprise ramming the Picard-clone's ship. That was effective, I thought. Although I did have to explain to non-Trekker friends that the reason the ships didn't explode is because it's all about the shields, rather than the actual physical structure of the ships.
Data's death - well, I was spoiled for that and could understand the reason why an ageless android played by a human actor could not go on forever. Although I noted that they left the door open for 'Data' to return in the future, in the form of his 'brother', B4 (geddit?).
So, generally not mega impressed by the film overall. Could have been better, sums it up.
Friends I saw the film with (none of whom are actually slashers, or even fanfiction readers) suggested that maybe I'd want to write a slash story putting right the faults in the movie. Um, no. I think not.