Directed by
Stuart Baird
Story by John
Logan, Rick Berman, Brent Spiner
Screenplay by
John Logan
Premiered
December 13, 2002
Produced by:
Rick Berman
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
On Romulus,
the senate is locked in heated debate. Romulus and her sister world
Remus are divided, but the Reman leader, Shinzon, has a plan to unite
them. Shinzon's plan is rejected, and the senate moves on to other
matters. A mysterious device sits on one desk ... and suddenly opens, 
filling
the senate chamber with a strange, green energy. Suddenly, light
begins to fill the room and everyone inside groans with pain as their
flesh decays. Within seconds, the entire senate is dead.
Meanwhile,
Captain Jean-Luc Picard is presiding over a particularly joyous
event: a party celebrating the wedding of William Riker and Deanna
Troi. As best man, Picard offers up a toast, and complains that
everything around him is changing — Riker is leaving for his own
command, the Titan, and Troi is joining him. Data will be taking over
as first officer of the Enterprise. As everyone wishes the happy
couple well, Data serenades them with a rendition of "Blue
Skies." Afterwards, the Enterprise heads to Betazed, where the
crew will participate in a traditional Betazoid wedding 
(which
makes Worf very nervous). En route, Worf notices a positronic signal
emanating from the desert-like planet of Kolarus III. As only Dr.
Soong-constructed androids like Data emit a positronic signal, Picard
orders the ship to re-route for further investigation.
Data,
Worf and Picard head down to the planet with the Argo, a shuttle
with a special, dune buggy-like vehicle, in tow. They soon discover
various android-like body parts, one of which is a head that looks
remarkably like Data. Their mission is interrupted by the natives of
Kolarus III, who chase the landing party back to the shuttle. Back on
the ship, Geordi La Forge concludes that the android has similar
internal mechanics as Data, but is not as developed. La Forge deduces
that this one is a prototype. The head introduces himself as
"B-4." Hoping to aid B-4's development, Data downloads his
memory engrams into B-4's matrix. B-4 doesn't seem to be assimilating
all of this new information, but La Forge suggests that Data merely
give it some time.
Later
on, Admiral Janeway orders Picard on a mission to Romulus. The new
Praetor, a Reman named Shinzon, has requested a Federation envoy. On
the way to Romulus, Data briefs the crew on the Remans, noting that
due to high temperatures on one side of their home planet, they live
on the dark side and avoid the sun. It is also noted that the Remans
have a reputation as warriors — during the Dominion war, some of
their troops were used as cannon fodder.
Once
they arrive at the designated coordinates, the crew of the
Enterprise is kept waiting for 17 hours. Finally, a massive
battleship called the Scimitar uncloaks. Shinzon's Viceroy tersely
informs the crew of where they are to transport. Once inside the
dark, shadowy vessel, the crew meets Shinzon — and he's human.
He also seems particularly interested in Troi, as he has never seen a
human female before. Picard wants to know what this mysterious new
Praetor wants, but Shinzon will only reveal that he desires peace and
unity. Shinzon then raises the lights, and Picard is shocked to see a
familiar face staring back at him. Shinzon reveals that he has a rare
syndrome known as Shalaft's Syndrome, then draws a knife and cuts
himself. As he passes the knife to Data, Shinzon extends a dinner
invitation to Picard.
Back on Enterprise, Dr. Crusher uses the blood from the knife to confirm the captain's suspicious: Shinzon is a clone of Picard. The crew is mystified, however, as to why he exists.
Meanwhile,
on Romulus, Shinzon's Romulan supporters are growing impatient —
they don't understand what Picard and the Enterprise have to do with
his plan. Shinzon merely tells them to have patience, then
surreptitiously asks one of the Romulan commanders, Donatra, to keep
an eye out for any treacherous action. Later on, Shinzon dines with
Picard, and provides an explanation as to how he came to be.
Apparently, there was a Romulan plot to replace Picard with a clone,
but it was interrupted when Shinzon was only a child. The Romulans
then sent him to work in the dilithium mines on Remus. It was there
that Shinzon was taken in by one Reman in particular, the man who now
serves as his Viceroy. Now, Shinzon says he only wants freedom for
his Reman brothers. Picard doesn't quite trust Shinzon yet, but says
that he hopes to one day. Once Picard has left, the Viceroy reminds
Shinzon not to forget their mission.
Back on Enterprise, Picard receives disturbing news. La Forge informs him that unauthorized access to the main computer has been detected. Also, while reviewing the sensor logs, La Forge noticed that when the Scimitar decloaked, the presence of thalaron was detected. Thalaron is a deadly form of radiation that was banned by the Federation — a microscopic amount has the ability to kill all living matter. Disturbed, Picard orders the crew to find a way to stop this deadly threat.
That night,
newlyweds Troi and Riker are in bed together. Suddenly, Troi's
husband is no longer with her — he has been replaced by Shinzon!
Somehow, he and the Viceroy are inside her mind. She manages to
summon all of her strength and push him away, but remains shaken.
Aboard the Scimitar, the Viceroy tells Shinzon that the bond has been
broken. In Sickbay, Troi attempts to explain the attack to Picard and
Crusher. 
Suddenly,
Picard disappears and finds himself aboard the Scimitar, with
Shinzon. The Picard clone has also transported B-4 to his ship —
he was using the android to gain access to Starfleet information. As
Shinzon takes a sample of Picard's blood, he explains that his plan
is to conquer the Federation, so the Remans may rule the entire
galaxy. Shinzon informs Picard that the captain will not be alive to
witness this triumph. Once Shinzon leaves, B-4 returns saying that
the Praetor needs the prisoner. As they leave, it becomes clear that
B-4 is actually Data, who has been feeding the Remans false
information. They head for the shuttlebay. After a shoot-out with the
Reman crew, they manage to steal a small ship, and head back to
Enterprise via the only escape route — through the corridors of
the ship. Enterprise beams Picard and Data aboard and jumps to warp.
Meanwhile,
the Romulan senate is growing restless — Shinzon has taken no
action since coming to power as Praetor. Shinzon once again advises
patience. Donatra and the others, however, are beginning to have
doubts — they believe Shinzon's plan extends way beyond
defeating Earth.
On Enterprise, Dr. Crusher has managed to discover why Shinzon is after Picard. Because of the flawed cloning process used to create Shinzon, his cellular structure is now breaking down. Unless he receives a transfusion from Picard, he will die. Picard deduces that Shinzon will come for him. Meanwhile, Data must deactivate B-4 to prevent the latter from gathering any information for Shinzon.
Later on, La Forge briefs the crew on the Scimitar's thalaron radiation weapon. Given the size and scope of the weapon, Picard deduces that Shinzon must have a particular target in mind — Earth. And there's still no way to penetrate the ship's cloak. The crew prepares for battle, determined that Shinzon will not be allowed to use this weapon, and Enterprise sets off to join the Fleet in Federation space. Data reports that the ship will be "blind" as it passes through the Bassen Rift. Picard orders evasive maneuvers, but it's too late — Enterprise is fired on by the Scimitar, taking out the warp drive. In the midst of battle, Shinzon asks Picard to meet him in the captain's ready room. Picard arrives to find a holographic Shinzon, who orders him to surrender. The captain tries to reach Shinzon, saying that the Praetor has the untapped potential to be a better man. Shinzon, however, says that he cannot fight what he is.
As
the battle continues, Enterprise receives some surprise assistance
from a pair of Romulan warbirds commanded by Donatra. The Scimitar
engages the ships in battle, and Donatra's warbird is soon disabled.
At this point, Troi says that she may know of a way to locate the
cloaked Scimitar. Using her mental link with the Viceroy, Troi is
able to find the ship, and Enterprise manages to bring down the
cloak. The Scimitar fires back, and Enterprise loses its shields. A
furious Shinzon orders a Reman boarding party to bring him Picard. In
response, a security team led by Worf and Riker sets out to stop them.
At this point, only a force field is keeping the Bridge crew from being sucked into space. Determined to stop the Scimitar no matter what the cost, Picard uses all of Enterprise's remaining power to ram the ship. Meanwhile, Riker finds and kills the Reman Viceroy.
The
Scimitar begins to pull free, so Picard attempts to destroy
Enterprise in a final, desperate maneuver. Auto-destruct, however, is
off-line — and the thalaron weapon has begun to deploy. Grimly,
Picard decides that there's only one way to stop the weapon — he
will beam over to the Scimitar. As soon as he does so, Data orders
Troi to take command and heads for one of the damaged ends of
Enterprise. La Forge lowers the force field, and Data launches
himself out into space, towards the Scimitar.
On the Reman Bridge, Picard has managed to kill much of the crew and is locked in deadly hand-to-hand combat with Shinzon. Finally, he uses a spear-like piece of the ship to impale his clone. Shinzon forces himself along the spear until he is right next to Picard. With his dying breath, Shinzon tells Picard that their destiny is complete. Suddenly, Data appears. The android moves Shinzon's body off of Picard and slaps an emergency transport device on his captain. Before Picard can protest, he has dematerialized. Data fires on the thalaron activation matrix, and the weapon explodes. From the Bridge, Picard and the Enterprise crew watch the explosion in horror, realizing that Data has sacrificed himself.
Later, the
senior officers gather to remember their lost friend. 
Picard also wants to tell B-4 about his courageous brother, but the android still appears not to completely comprehend what has happened. As Picard is about to leave, B-4 softly sings to himself: "Never saw the sun... Never saw the sun..." In a moving moment, the captain realizes that B-4 is singing "Blue Skies," the same song that Data serenaded the crew with not so long ago. Perhaps Data's memory will live on after all.
Guinan
Admiral
Kathryn Janeway
Shinzon; A
clone of Jean-Luc Picard that was created by the Romulans. When the
Romulans cancelled their plans for the clone and decided not to force
the clone to maturity, they sent the boy to Remus to grow up in the
mines with the Remans. When he was still a young man, he cooked up a
scheme to destroy not only Picard and the Enterprise but also the
entire Federation. The main villian of the film. He is the result of
a plan by the Romulan Government to clone Captain Picard and to
replace him with Shinzon once the time has come in order to be able
to infiltrate a Romulan spy into Starfleet. But once a new government
gained power, it decided to discontinue the plan and banned Shinzon
into the dilithium mines where the Remans already worked for the
Romulans as a slave people. He was supposed to die 
in
the mines but a Reman, who would become Shinzon's Viceroy, helped
him survive. Shinzon, now leader of the Remans, is ready to kill
thousands of Romulans with his fleet in order to liberate the Remans
from their slave existence.
B-4;
Early
prototype of the Data android, identical in physical appearance.
Tal'Aura; Member
of the Romulan Senate. During a session of the Senate she leaves the
room on a pretext. Yet, she leaves a small, red box behind on her
desk which wraps the room in a glowing energy jacket a moment later.
Every kind of life in the room is erased, and the entire Romulan
Senate all die horriably. Senator Tal'Aura is in fact an ally of 
Shinzon.
Donatra; Commander of the warbird Valdore of Shinzon's fleet. The attractive Romulan Commander has a dry sense of humor and a cold, calculating intellect. She is a subordinate of Shinzon and shows strong interest in him, but he refuses her.
Praetor
Hiren; Leader
of the Romulan Senate. He is a qualified politician and he is
convinced to the very end that the military is not going to decide
the political course of Romulus. Hiren is not willing to make
compromises but rather wants to banish Shinzon and the Reman back
into the dilithium mines as quickly as possible. But before he gets
the possibility to do so, he painfully looses his life in the bomb
attack on the Senate.
Viceroy; Assistant
to Shinzon, the Viceroy is an elderly Reman officer who is respected
by his own people, but he is closer to Shinzon. But yet, both seldom
have the same opinion, which is why there are frequently minor
conflicts between the 
two.
Commander
#1; The
Romulan Commander is a member of the Romulan Senate. He is present
at the session of the Senate shortly before the bomb attack and
suggests that the Romulans unite with the Reman in order to be able
to fight the Federation. But Praetor Hiren refuses to hear about it.
Commander #2; Another Romulan Commander discusses the fusion of the Romulans and the Reman with, which is not supported by any of the other Senate members.
Helm
Officer Branson
Reman Officer
Picard
-- Patrick Stewart
Riker
-- Jonathan Frakes
Data
-- Brent Spiner
LaForge
-- LeVar Burton
Worf
-- Michael Dorn
Crusher
-- Gates McFadden
Troi
-- Marina Sirtis
Guinan
-- Whoopi Goldberg
Kathryn
Janeway --
Kate Mulgrew
Wesley
Crusher --
Wil Wheaton
Shinzon -- Tom Hardy
Reman Viceroy
-- Ron Perlman
Romulan
Commander Donatra -- Dina Meyer
Cmdr. Martin
Madden -- Steven Culp
Senator
Tal'Aura -- Shannon Cochran
Commander
Suran -- Jude Ciccolella
Praetor Hiren
-- Alan Dale
Senator --
John Berg
Helm Officer
Branson -- Michael Owen
Reman Officer
-- Robertson Dean
Commanders --
David Ralphe & J. Patrick McCormack
Computer voice
-- Majel Barrett Roddenberry