Star Trek movies DVDs, pt. 4
Fortunately, the DVD of ST:N has special features such as deleted scenes and commentaries. ST:N was said to be the first Star Trek movie to be produced in the age of DVD. This is not true, such special features should already be able to be included in the DVDs of previous Star Trek movies, but this was simply not done until the Director's Edition DVD of ST:TMP was released in 2001.
- Following the wedding ceremony, Picard and Data share a bottle of wine onboard the Enterprise-E and they have a conversation about the range of emotions Data observed at the wedding, from happiness at Riker and Troi getting married, to sadness at the news that Riker, Troi and Dr. Crusher are about to leave the Enterprise-E, with Riker assuming command of the USS Titan and Troi following him, and Crusher leaving for Starfleet Medical. Picard also expresses his regrets at never having a family of his own.
- In a deleted scene on Romulus, Commanders Donatra and Suran have a conversation in the hallway before they were interrupted by the Reman Viceroy. The three head towards the Romulan Senate, where Praetor Shinzon gives an address, saying that the time they had dreamed of has arrived, and vowing to destroy the Federation. This scene was originally placed after the wedding ceremony, and would have introduced Shinzon for the first time. However, the director (Stuart Baird) realised that this would have diminished the impact of the later scene where Shinzon emerges from the shadows to greet Picard. I believe that this scene could be incorporated back into the movie, by simply placing the scene after the first meeting between Picard and Shinzon.
- Picard and Troi have a dialog while walking down a corridor. Troi trys to reassure Picard that his anger at meeting his clone is appropriate, while Picard says that he feels violated.
- A dialog between Picard and Dr. Crusher takes place in the sickbay, while the sickbay personnel prepare for battle. Picard comments that Charles Darwin had embarked on his scientific journey without any weapons, while Crusher remarks that that was another time.
Several other deleted scenes were not included in the DVD. This is quite unfortunate, because the existence of these scenes will continue to remain in speculation until TPTB decides to eventually reveal them in a future DVD, which may take years to happen. An opportunity has been given, but TPTB has chosen not to maximise this opportunity. Clearly they had never realised that fans are intrigued by such materials of deleted scenes for they provide a rare insight to the alternate versions of the movies.
- The wedding sequence was supposed to be extended, featuring a dialog by Wesley Crusher. In the theatrical movie, Wesley only makes a cameo appearance siting at the table without any lines. Furthermore, Wesley wears a Starfleet dress uniform, even though he resigned from Starfleet Academy nine years ago (ST:N was set in 2379, and TNG season 7 was set in 2370) and we do not know what had happened to him during this time. The novelization of ST:N suggests that Wesley had returned to Starfleet, attained the rank of Lieutenant (the rank could not be clearly seen in the movie), and was recently assigned to the USS Titan, the same ship Riker and Troi were assigned to, with Riker assuming captaincy of the ship.
- A suspected deleted scene supposedly reveals that Worf had returned to Starfleet because he felt that he was not suitable for the life of a diplomat. Worf had previously accepted a diplomatic job as Ambassador to the Klingon Homeworld at the end of DS9.
- It is unknown whether Dr. Crusher has any line saying that she was considering accepting an offer from Starfleet Medical.
- It is unknown whether if there is a scene which shows Data and La Forge planning the mission to rescue Picard from the Scimitar, and this scene supposedly involved Data and B-4 swapping their places.
- It is not known whether if a scene of Riker and Troi arriving on the USS Titan was ever filmed.
- It is also not known if there is a scene where Picard bids farewell to Dr. Crusher as she accepts the offer from Starfleet Medical and leaves for San Francisco.
There is an inconsistency during the battle between the Enterprise-E and the Scimitar. The Enterprise-E gets boarded by the Remans, and Worf orders a security detail to go to deck 29. However, the Enterprise-E was said to have 24 decks in ST:FC. Perhaps the Enterprise-E had received an upgrade between the movies, with its number of decks increased to at least 29 decks.