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The Great Bird of the Galaxy is turning over in his grave as 'Nemesis' gets obliterated at the box-office. Granted, it doesn't help releasing the movie less then a week before 'The Two Towers', but still, OUCH. Personally, the movie wasn't really that bad. Not GREAT, mind you, but not as horrible as the numbers are reflecting. So what happened to take this franchise and hit it with a quantum torpedo? Well, here are a few thoughts, with a hope that this is not the final voyage of the Enterprise E on the Big Screen.
1. Um, where are the aliens? Sure, you get to see all kinds of things crawling around outside the ship... but where the heck are they ABOARD THE ENTERPRISE? Is Worf really reduced to the 'token alien' on the ship? Ok, ok, you do not need to have an extravaganza like Lucas does, and you certainly do NOT need Jar-Jar Binks type CGI characters wandering around, but how about some Andorians, Tellarites, and Vulcans? Hey, you paint a guy blue, stick a pair of antennae on him, and there you go. Having a larger presence just ads to the whole Federation of PLANETS feel, like you're really walking in to an alien environment with lots of funky possibilities.
2. Ease up on the in-jokes. Notice how only the die-hards laughed while Data sang Irving Berlin and everyone else went 'Um... why is that funny?' Is that in character for Data? YES. However, it also requires the person to be a SERIOUS Trekker and know this is natural. If not, frankly it just looks like a guy with yellow eyes singing... and why do we care? Keep the in-jokes down so EVERYBODY can laugh.
3. MORE ACTION! Why did I enjoy 'Nemesis?' The last few minutes, when you get to see some pretty cool, and LOGICAL ship-to-ship tactics; rolling your ship to get the weakened shields out of the way, Shinzon's cute stunt forcing the Romulan Commander to over-shoot the Scimitar. FINALLY, you have biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig ships and you use them. Too bad that happened at the VERY END. No, you don't need a giant body-count of ships, but come on folks, the Enterprise is a butt-kicking WARSHIP. Let's see it.
4. No more wimps for the enemy. Ok, so far we have Malcolm McDowell, F. Murray Abraham, and a skinny, bald guy with an ulcer as the opponents for Capt. Picard. What's up with this? This sounds like the guys Mike Tyson fought in the 80's and beat the snot out of in less then 2 rounds. Lesson One in ANY story; your hero is only as good as the villain. Fortunately Picard is very cool, but his opposition, aside from the Borg Queen, has been wretched. Hell, clone Khan if you have to, but give Picard someone REAL to fight.