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Nemesis

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DewontheMountain
Dec 17 2002
01:02 am

Any sci-fi fans out there.

I was a little dissappointed over all with the latest Star Trek movie. The predictable “destroy the earth with the mighty death ray” theme is a little tired. However, I have stuck in my head the idea that what separated Shinzon (sp?) from Picard and B4 from Data was that the Picard and Data wanted to better themselves. They wanted to grow beyond where they were right now. All Shinzon could focus on was vengence for the past and silencing the voice (Picards) was in competition with his.
I think there may be a lesson there for those who desire spiritual growth and are working out their salvation. What sets us a part as mature followers of Christ is our desire to grow.

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Norbert
Dec 17 2002
02:03 am

I haven’t seen it yet, but plan on it. Neat way of looking at it. If mature Christians want to and actively work to grow in their faith, does that mean that communities of believers also need to be growing. Will a church die if it does not grow actively? I’m not sure how on-topic that is for a Film forum, but it’s the question that came to mind. Perhaps elsewhere.
I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews of Nemesis. Anybody else have any feedback? Jabird? Dave?

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DewontheMountain
Dec 17 2002
02:59 am

Norbert: Thanks for the reply. I definitely think your comments are appropriate for the film forum. I need the help redeeming/thinking through my all too apathetic approach to some of my entertainment.
I agree communities need to change as well. Not always sure how to move a community as one outside of individuals deciding to stand together in group. I guess to use Nememsis’ example leadership may be the key to moving the group to grow as a community.

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JabirdV
Dec 17 2002
05:02 am

I worked on Nemesis, and have to say that while it blows Insurrection away, it still has a “made for TV” look. The audio is dynamite, and the choice of picture angles and shots were great, but overalll I wasn’t that impressed. I liked the concept of digging into Romulan “culture” and getting to know Remus (one of the two planets held by the falcon on the Romulan emblem) which has not been explored up until now…but the dialogue was forced and tired. The story was too predictable. The Data B4 and Picard Shinzon thing was nice…but wasn’t there only one other prototype of Data according to early episodes, one that was already found and left behind. All of a sudden now there is ANOTHER? And, how did they get DNA from Picard. The whole premise is a bit shaky.

As usual, the CG was immaculate and the colors schemes were very post modern.

Wait for the DVD.

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Norbert
Dec 17 2002
05:35 am

May we ask what you do Jaybird? Are you a free lancer or do you work with one particular studio?

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JabirdV
Dec 17 2002
05:53 am

I work for DTS which provides 5.1 audio for cinema and special venue. (Dolby’s little enemy). I, personally, am a studio service engineer/transfer technician which means I end up working on a very large amount of the movies coming out of Hollywood. I hope I don’t sound like I am tooting my own horn. I am blessed to be doing what I love.

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Norbert
Dec 17 2002
06:01 am

Not at all. Thanks for the info. It’s fun to start getting to know some of the people behind the posts. Though it appears I’m deviating from the original intent. Sorry Dew.

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SamIam
Dec 17 2002
02:20 pm

I saw Nemesis last Saturday and I agree with your conclusions.

It definitely was not a great Star Trek movie, but it wasn’t the worst either. I originally was drawn to the movie because of the whole B-4 – Data, Shinzon – Picard thing.

Personally, I think that if they concentrated on the Shinzon B-4 thing a lot more and fleshed out B-4 a little more it would have been a whole lot more convincing.

The space battle was tired and the premise, big gun going to destroy earth is definitely used up.

Actually, the flaw that stood out the most to me was a simple continuity flaw. The was a line when Picard said something about him having the same body parts including the heart, when in fact Picard lost his heart in a brawl that was one of the determining factors that made him more responsible and kept him from turning into what Shinzon was. Picard has an artificial heart.

I guess that just show how much of a Sci-Fi geek and Trekkie I am… Shoot.

Oh yeah. I think that the question Norbert posed about growing that the movie brought up is a great one. But I think that it may have to do with more than just being a Christian. I think that if people or groups, stop actively growing they will die out. Thanks for the thoughts.

Nemesis Rating: 7 out of 10

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JasonBuursma
Jan 02 2003
02:22 am

I loved Nemesis. Maybe that’s because Insurrection was so bad that my expectations for Nemesis couldn’t have been lower.

Despite the plot holes you could drive a starship through, Nemesis is an entertaining Star Trek movie. Things I liked:

1) The cool Theteron (sp?) thing that killed the Romulan senators
2) Shinzon’s battleship- with new cloaking and weapons technology
3) Data’s superman outer space fly-through.

The Star Trek world view is a basic warmed over secular humanistic one. The belief is that human beings are basically good (as opposed to born with a sinful nature). So with good surroundings, human beings can eventually achieve a Star Trek-like utopia (because of the replicator in the future- no one on earth starves, and money is obsolete- all because of scientific progress).

In other words, if we just had more government programs run by really nice people, we’d be better off. And the only reason Shinzon turned out bad was because he had a rough childhood. Although the movie (through Data and Picard) seemed to say that Shinzon was still responsible for his actions, the whole “becoming better” theme was closely tied to the environment one is in. Even Data, an android, took on heroic qualities by hanging around humans.

The belief of the secular humanist is that the biggest struggle is with the world around you (ie. injustice, intolerance, racism, not enough places to get an abortion). I was taught that the biggest struggle is with my own sinful nature. I was not born basically good, but selfish. That’s why I stole the toys from the other 2-year olds in the nursery.

Any thoughts?

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GoDrama
Jan 04 2003
04:33 pm

Wow I’m a crazy Trekkie, what can I say, and Nemesis did kind of dissapoint me. I was seriously confused about the Data B4 thing, didn’t he just have one other brother, Lor, who was very much destroyed? But Data’s leap out of the starship was really cool.

Yes, there were holes you could drive a starship through (such a nice phrase, I think I’ll use it), but I don’t think it was a complete waste of time. I really enjoyed the thought of striving to be better than what you are, what threw me however, was the fact that Data did it to “be more human” when in fact, humans are inately sinful so why would they ever want to do that without the Holy Spirit’s leading?
As stated before, though, that is one of the humanistic ideals of Star Trek, (yet I still love it, sigh, go sci-fi).

I think that it brings up lots of ideas that we as Christians should consider;
1) such as the nature vs. nurture physcological debate of what makes up people…what exactly are we born with?
2) Can we actually make ourselves better? How much does God have to do with it
3) Is our biggest struggle with ourselves or with ornery alien species?
4) Does a falty worldview make for a crappy movie?
5) does being a loyal Star Trek lover, make you a bad Christian..

now some of the answers of these questions seem obvious to me, and some ridiculously hard to comprehend, but it brings up questions none the less which is something a good movie makes you do. Then again is it the movie forcing you to think or is it you forcing you to think or is it God forcing you to think or some mixture of the above?!

Okay, I have to go to bed now, it’s amazing how it sometimes gets to be 1:32 AM and you just don’t notice when the amount that you can see decreases because of the amount your eye-lids are drooping. Yes bye for now