Star Trek - Nemesis (2002)

Produced by long term Star Trek producer RIck Berman and directed by Stuart Baird, 'Nemesis' was the last move from the Star Trek franchise (and also the last to feature the cast from 'The Next Generation') before director J.J. Abrams rebooted the series in 2009.

Nemesis was the only Star Trek movie which was released in the 21st Century and saw the departure of Brent Spiner's character, Lt. Commander Data, who was killed off.

Star Trek - Nemesis in general received negative reviews and was panned by critics due to its lack-lustre action sequences and heavy editing (which included the deletion of all scenes featuring Will Wheaton's character,Wesley Crusher).

Nevertheless, the film has garnered a cult following among Star Trek fans and Tom Hardy who played the Reman warlord, Shinzon (the film's main antagonist) received praise for his work.

In the year 2379 on Romulus, the Romulan millitary command has allied itself with a new warlord named Shinzon (Tom Hardy) from the neighbouring planet Remus who has proposed the unification of Romulus and Remus under one government.

The millitary proposes to the Romulan senate that under Shinzon's leadership, they should prepare an invasion of the Federation (beginning with Earth) with the aim of establishing supremacy of the Romulan empire.

The Romulan senate, much to the millitary's angst, dissapproves of Shinzon's plan and orders the millitary to break all ties with Shinzon - Realizing that the senate won't allow an attack on the Federation, a female Romulan senator named To'ulara (who's a double agent reporting to Shinzon and the Romulan millitary), soon assasinates the Romulan senate by releasing a mist of Thalaron radiation, allowing Shinzon to assume the leadership of the Romulan empire as the new 'Praetor'.

Meanwhile, on Earth, the crew from USS Enterprise - NCC1701E is in a joyous and festive mood as after many instances of getting together then apart, Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and ship's counsellor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) are getting married.

During the wedding dinner, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) also announces that Riker has been promoted to the rank of 'Captain' and will be commanding a new ship named the 'Titan' while Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) will replace him as new first officer to the Enterprise.

Upon the crew's return to their ship, they pick up a homing signal from a distant planet named Kolarus-III (located within Federation space but close to the Neutral Zone) which appears to be positronic (android-signature).

The crew quickly set course for the planet to investigate further and Picard, Data and chief of security Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) beam down to the planet's surface to investigate the origins of the signal.

Within a short time, they discover broken body parts belonging to an android and when they eventually find its severed head buried in sand, they are shocked to discover the striking resemblance the face has to Data's. After fighting the planet's local militia, the trio make it back to the Enterprise with their find and chief of Engineering, Lt. Commander Geordi LaForge (Levar Burton) quickly gets to work to reassemble the disfigured Android.

The Android, upon reactivation speaks like a grown up child and reveals his name to be 'B4' - His underdeveloped social skills and speech patterns suggesting that Data's creator, Dr. Soong, created 'B4' as a prototype.

In order to help B4 acclimatize to the ship's environment and people, Geordi organizes a memory-transfer from Data to B4's neural-circuits but they realize that B4's processing speed is far too slow to make much sense of Data's vast experiences and memories.

As Geordi and the rest of the crew help B4 to settle in, Picard receives an urgent video communique from Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) (former Captain of the USS Voyager, now stationed at Starfleet headquarters) who briefs Picard on the recent events on Romulus.

She orders the Enterprise (since they were closest to the Neutral Zone at that moment) to travel to Romulus to meet the new Praetor Shinzon who apparently wishes to negotiate a new peace treaty with the Federation. Reluctantly, Picard agrees (as ordered) and the Enterprise sets course for Romulus to meet with Shinzon.

Upon arrival at Romulus, the Enterprise is subject to a prolonged period of waiting. After many hours, Shinzon's ship, the Scimitar, finally reveals itself from its cloak - tactical analysis of the ship reveals that it is far more superior to the Enterprise (and as such any Federation starship) and in the event of an attack, the Enterprise is not likely to survive.

Shinzon's viceroy (Ron Perlman) requests the Enterprise's bridge crew to beam on board the Scimitar where they can talk directly and face to face with Shinzon. As the crew make their way to the Scimitar, they come face to face with the new Reman Praetor who turns out to be human!

Shinzon proposes that the reason the Enterprise were invited for this 'diplomatic' trip was to discuss peace between the Federation and the Romulan Empire and then also indirectly reveals to Picard that he's his clone - confirmed later by Dr Beverley Crusher (Gates McFadden) after analyzing a sample of Shinzon's blood (which he provdes to the away team by slitting his own hand).

Shinzon then meets Picard for a one on one dinner to discuss his past and the reason for the coup - Shinzon reveals that he was created as a clone by the Romulans from Picard's DNA. The aim was to eventually replace Picard with Shinzon in the Federation as a Romulan double-agent. However, as Shinzon reveals further, due to the change in Romulan government (and its policies), the plan was abandoned and Shinzon was banished to Remus to die beneath its di-lithium mines. The only way Shinzon survived as a child was when his Reman viceroy took pity on him and helped him to not only evolve into a formidable warrior but also helped him build the Scimitar.

Shinzon assures Picard that his aim is to end generations of hostility between the Romulans and the Federation and to liberate the Remans from years of oppression.

As Picard returns to the Enterprise, the rest of the crew discover that the Scimitar has been emitting low levels of Thalaron radiation (the same mist which assassinated the Romulan Senate) which leads to suspicions that the whole Scimitar is a flying weapon which can be used to destroy the Enterprise at a whim. At the same time, B4 makes an unauthorized hack into the Enterprise's computer and uploads the entire Federation communications protocol into his circuits - confirming that B4 was programmed to act as a Reman spy.

While B4 performs the unauthorized tap into the Enterprise's computers, Shinzon mentally rapes counsellor Troi (using his viceroy has a medium) and then kidnaps Picard, beaming him back on board the Scimitar.

It is then that Shinzon reveals his true intentions and plans - B4 was planted on Kolarus-III as bait and that he has no intentions of peace with the Federation. Shinzon's primary aim in fact is to kill Picard and seek revenge on the Romulans and the Federation as he believes his life has no meaning until Picard is alive and that the Remans would never be liberated if its not for an all out war against the Romulan empire.

Unknown to Picard, Shinzon and the Remans, Data manages to use Geordi's emergency transport device to beam on board the Scimitar (despite its cloak) and sends B4 back to the Enterprise for immediate deactivation. Data then tricks Shinzon and his guards into leaving the room where Picard's held captive and then hijacks one of the Scimitar's shuttlecraft to escape back to the Enterprise (despite doding fierce gunfire from the Remans).

As they make it back to the Enterprise, Dr Crusher informs Picard that Shinzon is ageing a lot faster (fast-forwarding his life-cyle by almost 30 years so that he can resemble Picard's appearance as soon as possible) and that his DNA structure suggests that he's terminally ill unless he's transfused with Picard's blood and DNA.

Back on Romulus, Commander Denatra (the only female commander in the Romulan millitary allied with Shinzon) also learns that Shinzon is not only planning on defeating Earth (and the Federation) but in fact wants to to annihilate it and asks the millitary commander-in-chief Suran to really consider whether he wants to be a part of this bloodshed which will plunge the entire quadrant into generations of war.

The crew on the Enterprise make it their primary mission to stop Shinzon in his tracks, whatever the cost.

As the Enterprise learns that Shinzon's is now aware of the location of every vessel belonging to Starfleet, they begin devising ways to defeat and destroy the Reman aggression once and for all.

Shinzon launches an unprovoked attack on the Enterprise and inflicts severe damage to the ship's weapon systems and shields while the Enterprise is unable to inflict virtually any damage on the Scimitar. Shinzon then projects a holographic image of himself into Picard's ready-room and asks him to surrender - Picard flatly refuses but asks Shinzon to rethink his actions.

As Picard's pleas to Shinzon for a reasonable solution go in vain, the Enterprise is surprisingly aided by the presence of two Romulan warbirds (lead by Commander Denatra, who advises Picard that they have switched sides as Shinzon's actions are threatning the fabric of Romulan security). The Romulans and the Enterprise fight a fierce battle against the Scimitar, but neither ship prove any match against the Scimitar's artillery. Commander Denatra survives along with her ship, but the warbirds are as good as being incapacitated.

As the Enterprise crew realize that they cannot track the Scimitar while its cloaked, counselor Troi uses her telepathic powers to track the Scimitar by invading Shinzon's Viceroy the same same way he violated her when attempting to mentally rape her. Her attempts prove succesful and the Enterprise launches a retaliatory strike on the Scimitar as it loses its cloak.

As the Enterprise loses almost all its shields, Picard decides to steer his ship head-on into the Scimitar's hull for a face-off (hoping that this would at least prevent Shinzon from launching an attack on Earth and destroy it). Not expecting the Enterprise to collide with his own ship, Shinzon programs a countdown for a lethal discharge of Thalaron radiation to automatically destroy the Enterprise.

Knowing what this would mean for his ship (and Earth), Picard beams on board the Scimitar for a final face-off against Shinzon. As the Thalaron radiation continues counting down for a discharge, Picard manages to stab Shinzon and kill him but realizes that there may not be enough time left to prevent the Thalaron radiation from firing.

Right at the last moment and with the help of Geordi, Data manages to 'fly' off to the Scimitar's hull (taking advantage of his body-structure to travel through oxygen-less vacuum in space) and meets Picard. Just as the Thalaron radition's about to fire, Data beams Picard back on-board the Enterprise using the emergency transport device and destroys the Scimitar's warp-core (thereby destroying it before it can destroy the Enterprise and killing himself).

The Enterprise crew makes it back into Federation space, but mourns Data's loss, with the usually measured Captain Picard also appearing visibly shaken.

As the crew makes it back into Federation space to undergo extensive repairs on the Enterprise, they relive some fond memories of their fallen colleague.

As Riker takes charge of his new ship, the Titan as Capitain, he's summoned back into the Neutral Zone for further diplomatic talks with the Romulans, suggesting that they're keen on finally thawing their relationships with the Federation in the wake of Shinzon's defeat.

In the final moments of the film, Picard is shown speaking with 'B4' about his brother and how he always strived to be more human and better than anyone else. As Picard leaves, he hears B4 humming the tune to 'Blue Skies', suggesting that with proper mentoring, B4 may assume the role of Data in future.