First 'Nemesis' DVD Reviews Online

The first Internet analyses of the Star Trek Nemesis DVD have unanimously praised the technical quality of the disc, but reviewers have delivered differing judgments on the film and the extra features.

• Tom Woodward at DVD Answers said Star Trek Nemesis was a letdown as the final voyage of the Next Generation crew, awarding the movie a score of 6 out of 10. He cited the desire to appeal to a general audience and the proliferation of action scenes at the expense of character development as reasons for the film's mediocrity.

  Audio and video quality fared much better, scoring respective ratings of 8 and 9 out of 10. "Paramount has done us proud," Woodward wrote. On the extras front, he said director Stuart Baird's commentary was "quite interesting listening", with "Red Alert! Shooting the Action of Nemesis" and "A Bold Vision of the Final Frontier" singled out for particular praise amongst the featurettes.

  Overall, Woodward said the DVD is "a pretty solid first release of Star Trek Nemesis with a great visual and audio presentation". The disc scored 7 out of 10 in the full review.

• "Nemesis, although not a complete success, is one of the better Trek pictures in recent years, and certainly an improvement over the last one, Insurrection," wrote Aaron Beierle at DVD Talk, adding he didn't understand the mostly negative reaction which greeted the film on its release.

  Technically, the DVD was rated highly, with the video quality described as "exceptional throughout", and the soundtrack said to be "wonderful, with strong low bass, crisp dialogue and crystal clear effects". Both video and audio scored 4.5 out of 5.

  In his complete analysis, Beierle gave the Nemesis DVD a recommendation.

• DVD File's Peter M. Bracke, called Nemesis a "spiffy little space adventure" that would appeal even to non-Trek fans. In particular, he praised Tom Hardy's portrayal of Shinzon as "one of the most overlooked performances in Trek history".

  Bracke didn't spare the kudos when it came to the DVD's technical aspects. "Everything I want to see in a great DVD transfer is here. Pristine print, rock solid blacks, excellent contrast and vivid, vibrant colors," he wrote. The soundtrack was said to be "just as groovy": "Surround use is highly aggressive, with noticeable discrete effects throughout, and near-transparent imaging across the entire 360-degree soundfield."

  On the other side of the coin, Bracke found the extra features a typical example of "stuido myopia", with no absolutely no critical analysis of why the film failed at the box office or any admission about the film's weaknesses. Baird's commentary track was "pretty slow going", but Bracke said he still "got a kick out of it".

  Overall, Nemesis was awarded a score of 4 out of 5 for value. Read more at this page.

• "In my opinion, Star Trek: Nemesis is the best Star Trek theatrical release to date--not because it's the most recent one and had technological advances at its disposal but because it's a lean 'n' mean fighting machine with spirit, emotions, and intelligence," wrote Yuan-da Eddie Feng at DVD Town.

  As in the other reviews, the audio and video quality were singled out for praise, with scores of 9 and 10 out of 10, respectively. The extra features merited 6 out of 10, with Feng pointing out the goodies weren't as good as those on the special editions of the original Trek films.

  The complete review, in which the DVD was given 7 out of 10 for entertainment value, can be found here at DVD Town.

Star Trek: Nemesis will be released in North American on May 20, in Germany on June 17 and in the UK on August 4. To pre-order the DVD and support TrekToday, please use the following links: Amazon.com (Widescreen) - Amazon.com (Full Screen) - Amazon.ca - Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.de. Thanks to TrekWeb and Chris Hanratty for some of this!

Discuss this news item at Trek BBS!
 Add TrekToday RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a CSI: Crime Scene Investigation fan? Then visit CSIFiles.com!