Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) uncharacteristically dismisses Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) in Star Trek: Nemesis, proving the film fundamentally misunderstood him as a character. Unfortunately, Star Trek: Nemesis was the final nail in the coffin for the Star Trek: The Next Generation films, bringing the saga to a rather lackluster conclusion (that has thankfully been rectified by Star Trek: Picard season 3). While Nemesis has its fair share of flaws, one of the film’s biggest sins is its mischaracterization of Jean-Luc Picard.
Star Trek: Nemesis follows Picard and his crew as they travel to Romulus on a diplomatic mission to meet the new Romulan Praetor Shinzon (Tom Hardy), picking up B-4 (Brent Spiner), the android brother of Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner), along the way. While the film has some positive elements (Patrick Stewart is as wonderful as ever), the characters make some odd choices and the story never really finds its central message. One scene, in particular, brings the entire film down, as its a rehash of one of the worst elements of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Captain Picard Dismisses Counselor Troi’s ᴀssault In Star Trek: Nemesis
The Picard Of TNG Would Never Have Said This To A Member Of His Crew
After Captain Picard and his crew arrive at Romulus and meet Shinzon, the Picard clone develops a fascination with Counselor Troi. Back on the Enterprise, Troi and Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) share a romantic kiss in their quarters. During the kiss, Shinzon invades Troi’s mind through a link created by his Viceroy (Ron Perlman), violating her telepathically. Troi was the victim of similar situations on TNG, and the Nemesis scene is completely unnecessary to the story. Plus, Picard’s reaction to Troi’s ᴀssault in Star Trek: Nemesis proves the movie never understood the Enterprise captain.
After Riker brings Troi back to herself, he immediately takes her to sickbay to be evaluated by Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), where they are joined by Captain Picard. Although Troi is physically fine, she asks to be relieved of duty, fearing that she has become a liability if Shinzon can infiltrate her mind. She is also very clearly (and understandably) shaken by the ᴀssault. Picard denies Troi’s request, saying: “If you can endure more of these ᴀssaults, I need you at my side now, more than ever.”
Troi does exploit her mental connection with the Viceroy later in Nemesis to find Shinzon’s ship, but the ᴀssault scene still feels gratuitous. Troi’s empathic abilities should have allowed her to locate Shinzon without any previous connection.
The Captain Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation would never knowingly put one of his crew member’s in harms way because he “needed her by his side.” I understand that Picard has changed since his time on TNG, but this cold response to his friend’s pain feels wildly out of character. Perhaps more than anything else in Star Trek: Nemesis, this scene completely pulled me out of the story. Picard always put the needs and safety of his crew members above his own — he even does it with Data later in the film, which makes this interaction more off-putting.
The TNG Movies Changed Picard (& Not Necessarily For The Better)
Did We Really Need Picard To Turn Into An Action Hero?
Throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation, Captain Picard was diplomatic, intelligent, and contemplative. While he retains some of these traits in the TNG movies, he becomes much more of an action hero than he ever was on the show. Picard’s love of adventure is not out of character, and he was described to be quite reckless as a Starfleet Academy cadet. Still, I found Picard’s need for vengeance and his often violent solutions to the problems in the films to be jarring.
Several TNG actors have spoken negatively about Star Trek: Nemesis, in particular, pointing out that director Stuart Baird had never seen an episode of TNG.
This action-hero version of Picard mostly works in Star Trek: First Contact, as the Enterprise captain is still working through the trauma he suffered at the hands of the Borg. But even in that film, I found myself wishing for the more thoughtful Picard of TNG. In Star Trek: Insurrection, Picard gathers weapons and goes rogue upon learning of the Federation’s plans for the Ba’ku. While it makes perfect sense that Picard would oppose the forced relocation of the Ba’ku, it feels odd that he didn’t try to come up with a more peaceful solution first.
Picard briefly attempts to talk Shinzon out of his plan to destroy Earth in Star Trek: Nemesis, and we get a glimpse of his more diplomatic side. But then he turns action hero again, ramming the Enterprise into Shinzon’s ship, the Schimitar, and beaming over alone to stop his clone from deploying the devastating thalaron weapon. Data offers to go, and with his android abilities, would likely have been the better choice. But Picard simply says that it’s something he has to do.
Star Trek: Nemesis missed something crucial about Captain Picard’s character, which is particularly evident in his treatment of Counselor Troi.
In the end, Data ends up being the one to save the day anyway, traveling over to the Schimitar, saving Picard, and sacrificing himself to disable the weapon. If Picard had let Data go in the first place, perhaps the android could have handled the situation more quickly and survived. Regardless, Star Trek: Nemesis missed something crucial about Captain Picard’s character, which is particularly evident in his treatment of Counselor Troi.
