Brent Spiner, who found fame in Star Trek: The Next Generation, might’ve brought one of the best Star Trek characters to life, but we aren’t sure about his views on the best movies in the franchise.
Like us, Spiner has no doubt watched all the Star Trek movies in order, but his favorite film of the bunch, Star Trek: Nemesis, is likely to ruffle a lot of Trekkies’s feathers.
We should, of course, bear in mind that the Star Trek The Next Generation cast member was literally in Nemesis. As with the three preceding TNG films and series, he reprised his role as the Soong-type android Data. And why wouldn’t he like a movie he was literally involved in? But Nemesis is widely considered by fans and critics alike to be the worst movie of Star Trek, with some arguing that the film was responsible for the franchise’s general decline in the early ‘2000s.
However, in an IGN interview back in 2002, Spiner was a lot more optimistic about the science fiction movie.
According to Spiner, not only is Nemesis better than Star Trek: Insurrection, but it’s also better than all of the other films. “It’s better than any you’ve seen,” he enthused. “It’s the first Star Trek movie that I’ve seen that I turned to Rick Berman [TNG’s executive producer] afterwards and said, ‘I want to see this again’.”
He continued, “I think it’s the best action movie that’s come out this year […] Oh, it is. It really is. And Shinzon is a fabulous villain, as good as we’ve ever had. The kid’s terrific in the part. The scenes with Patrick [Stewart] and Tom Hardy are wonderful. What’s good about this movie is not only is it a huge action ride – because the last hour is hold onto your seats, because it never stops, it just keeps going, and it’s exhausting, and it’s action – but at the same time, it’s also a really emotional film.”
With a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, we have a feeling Spiner might have eaten his words since then — or maybe we are all wrong about Nemesis? Here’s our explainer on the overall Star Trek timeline to see how the film fits into the grand scheme of things.
Or, if you want to focus on the good parts of Star Trek, here are some of our listicles breaking down the best Star Trek starships, the best Star Trek captains, and all the Star Trek series ranked. Alternatively, if you want some more sci-fi but are all Star Trek’d out, here’s what we know about the new movie Avatar 3.