Which is why it frustrates me that, with the time and money available to produce a motion picture, the makers of Star Trek can’t come up with something a little more inspiring when it comes to the big screen outings. Of the four Next Generation films so far, only First Contact has truly stood out, with the rest degenerating into little more than a fist-fight between Picard and the bad guy for control of the Big Weapon.

Nemesis is no exception but, thankfully, there’s also a bit more to it than that and, if nothing else, at least it’s better than Insurrection. The plot is decent, if ultimately under-developed, involving a clone of Picard, old foes the Romulans, and various plans to do bad things to lots of people.

I’ve just realised that I’ve been blabbing on for 200 words about films, programmes and characters which some of you will have never encountered. That’s another slight weakness of Nemesis – if you’re not Trek minded, you’re going to be lost. Worse still, you’re going to miss out on the emotional pay offs and much of the humour because, along the way, we have a wedding, a few in-jokes and the death of a major character to digest.

Chances are though, that most of the audience will have some level of familiarity with the Trek universe, and they’ll find much to enjoy here. The action sequences are big and bold and the special effects, now that we’re in the digital age, are probably the best of any of the Star Trek films. The look of the film is very good too, all dark greens and shadows, and the music score is well used.

All this counts for nothing though if we don’t have characters to root for and believe in and this is where the Next Gen crew has always delivered. While all seven principals can’t hope to receive equal screen time (indeed, Geordi and Dr. Crusher barely register) when they do appear we’re genuinely interested in their fates, and this is down to the depth of the characters and the skills of the players.

Spiner, while starting to look a little old for his android make up, has fun with a dual role. Riker and Worf do some ass kicking and Troi gets to fly the ship. The biggest plus, as it always has been throughout the series, is Patrick Stewart. He is an actor of inestimable talent, able to rise above the sometimes hokey material, and sci-fi fans should be grateful that he’s given us fifteen good years.

More minus points? There are a couple of plot threads that are introduced then abandoned that could have been quite interesting and the Romulans are under-used. When the for and against columns are totted up, we’re left with a solid if not classic entry that may well be the last with this crew. If there is to be another one I won’t complain and it would be nice to see them go out with a bang.

Review copyright © Paul Greenwood, 2002.

DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.

PC games reviewed by the editor are on: