Jonathan Frakes nails reason for Star Trek: Nemesis box office failure

Many things have been said about Star Trek: Nemesis, the final movie in Star Trek: The Next Generations list of movies, and very few of them are complimentary. The film was a box office flop, and none of the actors were happy with the way it turned out.

The movie was directed by Stuart Baird who wasn't familiar with Star Trek, and for some reason, the director didn't take actor/director Jonathan Frakes up on his offer to help. In The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, Frakes gave his take on why the movie failed. [via Geektyrant]

""With 'Nemesis' it was as if the Fates stepped in. We had John Logan, who's an A-list writer. We had what was a great company back together again. Tom Hardy was a brilliant guest star. My take on it, though, was that there was not enough of the family. It was a little too much of Shinzon and not enough of Picard and Data. The first weekend people came to see Bones, Kirk, and Spock, or Picard and Data, you know what I mean? The story of 'Nemesis' was very much a story about the obsession of Shinzon, Tom Hardy's character. The front end of the movie with the wedding of Riker and Troi, and which was so charming, just got cut to bits. We originally had [returning actors] Whoopi [Goldberg] and Wil Wheaton and all of these Easter eggs in there, and Brent [Spiner] sang. It was a big deal that got cut up to nothing.""

- Jonathan Frakes

The fans would agree with Frakes as they'd gone to the theater to see the crew of the Enterprise take on yet another adventurous mission. They were hoping for something like Star Trek: First Contact. Instead, they got Shinzon and his issues with very little focus on the cast. In fact, most of the film was spent focused on the battle with Shinzon and his obsession as Frakes commented.

For many years, Nemesis was the last time we got to see the Next Generation crew all together, but thankfully, Star Trek: Picard righted this wrong, bringing them back in an epic ten-episode movie in season three. Picard did what Nemesis should have done; made the story about the characters not about a guest star and previously unknown enemy of Picard's. And, with any luck, we'll get one more adventure with the crew. Maybe, one day, we can all pretend Nemesis didn't happen, with the exception of Riker and Troi's wedding, that is.