The Wrath of Nemesis
What the worst Star Trek movie can teach you about making art that resonates
I’ve been thinking a lot about Star Trek: The Next Generation. No, wait! Don’t go! I promise this is going to be thematically relevant to the purpose of this newsletter. Even if you’re not a Trekkie, there’s an applicable lesson here.
The third and final season of Star Trek: Picard just began and its big hook is that it’s reuniting the cast of TNG for the first time in twenty years. More importantly, the showrunner is promising to give them the send-off they deserve.
Even though TNG had one of the most satisfying series finales in history, its characters immediately made the jump to the big screen. So the last time we saw them all together was in their fourth feature film, 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis. That turned out to be a massive critical and commercial disappointment and its failure kept Trek out of theaters until the J.J. Abrams reboot in 2009.
But originally, there had been tentative plans for a fifth and final Next Gen movie — an epic finale that would have roped in characters from Deep Space Nine and Voyager to wrap up that entire era of Star Trek. But when Nemesis underperformed, it meant that Picard & Co. went out with a whimper instead of a bang.
Now, there are a lot of reasons Nemesis doesn’t totally work, but one of the main sticking points for fans was that we’d already seen that movie before. And a much better version of it. The filmmakers had so transparently just reskinned Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan…
A captain wrestling with his own mortality faces off against a vengeful villain that forces him to confront his past. It all culminates in a climactic battle where their two ships enter into a nebula that blocks subspace communication. Trapped and outmatched, the Enterprise is heavily damaged and all hope seems lost until a fan-favorite character sacrifices himself to save the day.
It’s. The. Same. Movie.
Not if you squint. Not just a little bit here and there. Through and through. So why is one considered the greatest Star Trek film of all time while the other is regarded as one of the worst?
Look, I love the cast of TNG too much not to find some redeeming aspects of Nemesis, but there’s no question that almost everything in it feels a little dispassionate and obligatory. It might have the skeleton of The Wrath of Khan, but there’s no beating heart. And I think the single most significant difference between the two comes down to where the filmmakers were drawing their inspiration from.
Back in 1982, The Wrath of Khan completely reimagined the tone and aesthetic of the franchise. Especially in comparison to its immediate predecessor, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Instead of that film’s cerebral and contemplative approach, Khan was a rollicking adventure that writer/director Nicholas Meyer described as “Horatio Hornblower in outer space”. And the Hornblower series of novels about an officer in the British Royal Navy was definitely the touchstone for many of Meyer’s creative decisions and deviations.
Starfleet personnel no longer wore outfits that resembled pajamas, they had uniforms.
The interior of the Enterprise didn’t look like a Holiday Inn, it was claustrophobic and more evocative of submarines.
And unlike a lot of other contemporary sci-fi movies where the spaceship battles played out like aerial dogfights, the big showdown in Khan was closer to Naval warfare — an approach that provided a different level of tension, dramatic stakes, and storytelling opportunities. It was less Star Wars and more Master and Commander.
When it came to influences, Meyer and his department heads weren’t limiting themselves to the previous Trek movie, the original 1960s series, or even the genre of science fiction. By casting a much wider net, the end result was something that felt innovative and invigorating.
But Nemesis? That’s a Star Trek story that’s primarily just pulling from other Star Trek stories. Remember Lore? Data’s lookalike from several pivotal episodes of Next Gen?
Well, Nemesis sure hopes not because there’s an entire subplot about a new android named B-4 and no one on the crew experiences even a little bit of deja vu.
Everything about the movie has a real “been there, done that” quality to it. Khan innovates, Nemesis regurgitates.
I don’t think you need to be a Trek fan to appreciate the lesson here. The more varied your inspirations are, the more singular the work will feel.
Diversify your inspirations.
This is one of the most common traps artists fall into. And I get it, by the way. I love Crime/Thrillers and if I’m working on one, that’s the only genre I want to watch or read. I’m in that headspace and that’s where I want to live. But while that might be helpful for the initial burst of inspiration, getting stuck in that one particular gear is a great way to wind up with something that feels like a xerox of a xerox of a xerox.
Stepping outside the genre or medium you’re currently working in will help spark new ideas and perspectives. It will give you so many more colors to paint with (literally or figuratively).
And I’m not asking you to pressure yourself into completely reinventing the wheel here. We’re talking about the courage to bend, but the respect not to break. It doesn’t take that much. Let’s go back to those new uniforms they created for Star Trek II. Their starting point was the 1952 adaptation of The Prisoner of Zenda…
The “Monster Maroons” (as fans have affectionately dubbed them) were completely antithetical to previous design principles (the candy-coated look of the original series, each division having its own color, etc.), but they still felt appropriately Trek-esque. And they would go on to help define the look of the franchise on the big screen for the next decade.
Just a tiny dash of a new ingredient can change the flavor of the entire recipe.
The Enterprise’s mission was to explore strange new worlds. I challenge you to do the same with your art. Venture beyond the corners you’ve grown comfortable in. Look for interesting ways to combine what you discover with whatever you’re working on. Find the edges and start pushing against them.
Boldy go.
Sorry. I had to.
Take care, friends. Talk to you soon.
Still waiting on that call to do Space Walkabouts with you ;)
Seriously though it's tough to imagine the thought process behind just redoing wrath of Khan with two total unknown directors without an ounce of the same intelligence Meyers had with the Khan storyline, jumpcut to into darkness and they just do it again. I long to live in world where Star Trek Beyond made a shitzillion dollars and the franchise could continue from there.