Star Trek: Nemesis is one of the least-favored Star Trek films.
Star Trek: Nemesis debuted in December 9, 2002, and no one really needs to talk about the lukewarm reception it received. There were a lot of issues with the movie, including scenes that should never have taken place. (No one can forget the Shinzon/Troi scene that many of us refuse to rewatch.) Overall, the movie just didn’t have the same connection with fans as Star Trek: First Contact did. And, according to Rick Berman’s comments on the Nemesis DVD, over fifty minutes of footage was shot then cut from the movie, and these scenes could have made a very big difference in how fans reacted to it.
Though the DVD allows us to see seventeen minutes of the removed footage, that leaves at least thirty minutes that we will never see. And, according to Whatculture, these scenes were all character-centric, which would have given us more on the relationships between the characters. But the studio wanted the focus kept on the battle between the Enterprise and the Scimitar.
Star Trek: Nemesis could have been a very different film with the inclusion of these scenes.
Sometimes, one scene can change the tone of an episode of television. Imagine what keeping all fifty minutes of that footage might have done for Nemesis.
What was cut included a longer wedding sequence which allowed Picard and Data to have a wonderful, heartwarming conversation about Will, Deanna, and Beverly (Crusher) leaving the ship, the reminder of choices Captain Picard had made, including devoting his life to Starfleet, and a beautiful moment where Data says in his way that were he to ever leave Enterprise, he would miss Captain Picard. You can see this conversation in the video below.
Also missing was a deeper subplot that would have explained Shinzon’s obsession with Deanna and more scenes with Data and B-4, which would have added to the ending discussion Captain Picard has with B-4. Worf and Dr. Crusher also had larger roles in the film, and the epilogue was longer than what was shown on the movie.
These little glimpses into the characters thoughts and hopes for the future as well as their interactions with one another could have had a great impact on the movie. We would have gotten more time with the crew we loved, and these conversations and moments could very well have been enough to sway the reception of the film into a more positive direction. Unfortunately, we’ll never know as thirty minutes of those scenes are gone, most likely, lost forever.