Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Nemesis (1997) User Reviews

Chakotay VS Predator

[Ar_Pharazon_the_golden · 6/10 · 15 April 2019]

Chakotay crushes into a dense forest, where a bunch of Americ...aliens who don't even have funny noses are fighting a war against some village-burning enemy.

At first he doesn't want to take sides, but witnessing atrocities, he starts fighting along his new friends against a race that looks EXACTLY like the Predator. Considering the forest setting, the marines and the magineguns, I can only assume this was a tribute, even if the aliens' design had apparently also been used for some other trek race. I only wish someone had had the guts to shout "get to da shuttle!".

There is of course a twist in the story, which is, in one way or another, expected from the start.

All in all, this is an episode that would probably seem incredible if it was used in the Original Series, or the original Twilight Zone, but by the late 90s a bit more than a potent message (it's easier to learn to hate than to forget it) was necessary for it to be memorable. I, for one, would have gone full Schwarzenegger.

Try to get past the goofy style of speech and you'll find a good episode.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 20 February 2015]

When the show begins, you see that Chakotay was shot down in his shuttle and he's rescued by some soldiers who talk really, really strangely. It's so strange that it's distracting and I could see someone being turned off by this. Well, don't...the show will get better.

Soon you learn that these people are at war with a race they call 'nemesis' and according to them nemesis is simply awful and evil. Over time, Chakotay gets to see himself just how ugly and nasty the brutish nemesis can be.

All during this time, Voyager and their crew are looking for Chakotay--with the help of these supposedly ugly, nasty and brutish folks. Oddly, however, they are very different from the folks Chakotay has come to know. So what REALLY is happening here?!

The answer to all this is terrific--and it makes this an excellent episode. See it...and ignore the goofy language.

Suffers from annoying locals

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 15 January 2010]

I think this story had a good premise; Commander Chakotay has been shot down while flying over a planet in a shuttle and has found himself stranded in the middle of a war zone where he grows to sympathise with the side he finds himself with. The problem is they all talk a bit like the children in "Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome" which gets irritating after a while. The people he is with look human but their enemy, which they refer to as the Nemesis, look like the creature in the film "Predator". At first Chakotay tries to stay out of their war but as he sees just how bad the enemy is he enthusiastically joins the fight. Meanwhile the crew on the Voyager seek local help to find him and with total predictability the help they seek is from the people Chakotay is fighting against and they make similar accusations of atrocities. There was a second twist at the end which thankfully I hadn't spotted and I won't spoil it here.

Over all it was an Okay episode which was really let down by language used by the people Chakotay meets, this I found really grating, if this doesn't bother you I suspect you may like it more than me.

Another Brain Invasion

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 29 August 2018]

Chakotay has his shuttlecraft shot down (these things seem to be about as disposable as Kleenex) and finds himself in the middle of war between two factions on a planet. The group that finds him seem to be guerrilla fighters, handsome human soldiers, and the enemy are an ugly (to us) looking reptilian group. I won't go into detail because it would ruin it for some. Chakotay is taken in by a syrupy group of survivors, particularly a cute little girl, and given basic supplies to fight "Nemesis." There are some twists and turns that make this entertaining enough, but, once again, try not to think too much.

A VERY well-written, clever episode

[UNOhwen · 14 August 2020]

I promise, no spoilers

Suffice it to say, this episode cleverly pays with one's ability to separate 'good' from 'bad'.

I watched this episode from beginning, and try not to read the abysmally, amateurish 'synopsis' one finds (a note to all people who want to write a synopsis; such as that idiot, who's all over IMdB, 'h-gg-' - all a synopsis is is a BRIEF description of the MAIN plot, so fit this episode, that's nothing more than CmdrChakotay's shuttle is shot down in the crossfire if a planet's war zone.

That's ALL. I'd one wants to write more, that's A PLOT OUTLINE.

The synopsis SHOULDN'T tell one the intricacies of a plot. That's what a viewer wants - should - find out in their own, and with am episode like this, the less said, the better.

I must hands it to the terrific wiring, which was able 'alienise' simple English, in such a way that even without makeup and appliances, the group who Chakotay spends most of his time with have a terrific speech cadence.

The old saying, don't judge a book by it's cover, is very true, here.

I world make this episode must-see viewing for ALL children, so they could better understand t this simple idea.

I know I didn't say a lot about this episode - I don't like to spoil things for others, but, I HIGHLY recommend it be seen.

The two-minute hate (Star Trek style)

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 17 March 2023]

Chakotay finds himself in the middle of a conflict.

This is a good episode with an important message.

The themes addressed by the writers about propaganda are very worthwhile and they take a commendable swipe at those who stir up hatred and conflict. It is also one of the strongest arcs for Chakotay.

As a screenplay there are some problems that reduce it's impact. I think certain twists are quite predictable and the alien dialect used to highlight Chakotay's decent into hatred (as good an idea as it probably sounded on paper) is quite distracting and I find some of it unintentionally humorous.

Performances are a mixed bag for me. Robert Beltran gives one of his best of the series, but I think some of the guest stars are a bit weak. Saying that the dialogue does not help as I find it difficult to take them seriously when they use various catchphrases.

Visually there are some very good intense action sequences. It is quite reminiscent of 'Predator' at times with its jungle warfare and alien masks.

Nemesis: A Matter of Perspective

[classicstormd · 9/10 · 17 April 2016]

*Contains Spoilers* I think this episode is really cool and brings up issues like propaganda, perspective, and brainwashing in times of war. I actually like the different speech. It is part of being able to hear how Chakotay is brought into this different world. The more he uses the language the more is on the side of the Vori.(sp?) In the trek universe this could be explained as maybe the universal translators don't always get it 100% how the Federation would speak. Ever try direct translators?

There are always wars in modern society and this points out how muddled the picture can get if a complete outsider looks at the scenario.

The last several minutes are the best and shows this episode isn't about Chakotay being stranded on a planet. It shows how someone can be influenced and dare I say radicalized. I love that the Cretan ambassador uses the same word for the Vori enemy they have used about them: Nemesis. Both sides (Vori and Cretan) make the same accusations about each other. There is probably some truth to both sides. My favorite quote from Chakotay, "I wish it were as easy to stop hating as it was to start."

Glimpse again at this one ;)

Even more relevant 25 years later

[Hughmanity · 9/10 · 22 December 2020]

Amazing that this episode was written before the advent of today's propaganda and outrage-filled social media. Today we can't trust anything we read or see, other than to trust that it's designed to provoke an emotional response against some political enemy.

"I wish it was as easy to stop hating, as it was to start" should be the slogan of our times. Great episode!

Glimpse at this soon-after and fathom those nullified

[tomsly-40015 · 5/10 · 26 December 2023]

First of all: This is the third shuttle destroyed in the last three episodes...

Second, instead of adding a wrinkled nose ridge to the aliens they gave them a dumb language with overused silly words: Glimpse, fathom, soon-after, nullify, trunks... it gets annoying very quickly. The other alien race though borrowed a lot of their facial traits from Predator.

This episode is about war propaganda and how to make your own people hate the enemy and paint the enemy into the most violent colors imaginable, reducing him to beasts instead of sentient beings. It has been done and is done in wars in our own history. Chakotay learns to hate the enemy of one of the war factions on an alien planet. Although he is not part of this conflict, he soon feels like the people around him. He starts to hate their enemies which become his enemies. He sees them as mindless beasts, killing innocents and desecrating their dead bodies. And he wants to kill them all.

In the end though it all just is a propaganda mind play, tricking Chakotay to hate and fight a war that is not his own. A brain wash. Yet, we also see that the other faction ultimately seems to be not much better than the one, Chakotay fought with. They also hate their enemies and call them their Nemesis. Both factions are driven by hatred and the wish to eliminate their enemies. In war often both sides lose perspective and after a long time fighting, the enemy has become the devil which makes it easier to fight him instead of humans with feelings, fears and beliefs - just like your own kind.

Hatred.

[thevacinstaller · 9/10 · 7 August 2021]

I found the use of language by the Vori to be wonderful. I appreciate the foreign use of the language and it required me to pay close attention to what was being said and thereby elevated my level of immersion in the story and characters in this episode.

This is very well executed commentary on programming and manipulating through exploiting emotional trauma. Diplomacy and rationality become impossible (or at least extremely difficult) once you have felt the pain of losing those close to you. How do you reprogram yourself to stop hating is the overall message of the episode and it is a timeless message that is worthy of some personal soul searching.

There's so much being said in this episode but for me it's meta message is about understanding the seeds of personal hatred you carry around with you.

This is certainly the best Chakotay episode up to this point.

This episode should be nullified. Fathom?

[deadasjuliuscaesar · 3/10 · 18 July 2016]

This is typical preachy Trek, which isn't necessarily bad, depending on how it's done. This episode is NOT how it should be done.

This is my first review of any Star Trek series episode. Couldn't help it after being bombarded by no-personality guest 'stars' repeatedly uttering the words 'nullify', 'fathom', 'wayafter' and 'soonafter'. As long as IMDb trivia was tallying the uses of 'nemesis', why didn't they count the other ones? ;-) It's like watching 'Deadwood' and hearing the insanely frequent use of 'c--------r'.

Yet another 'new' alien race (looking very human; guess they ran out of brow-ridge/nose- ridge/cheekbone variations) with their own 'unique' expressions and/or cultural references and personal issues, which we will promptly forget afterwards, because they're too dull to re-use or even care about in the first place. Been there, been bored with that already.

Messages about the use of one-sided propaganda in a conflict has been done many times, and this is one of those episodes where the writers are fresh out of anything, well, 'fresh'. 10 straight minutes of boring, slow and dark to begin the story doesn't help get the viewer especially involved, either. Maybe I've seen too many Trek episodes, I don't know. How many 'it's been a holo-illusion all along' scripts can one Trekker take?

(And on top of all this, it's a shameless rip-off of Predator visuals.)

The intent is clear, and the second half gets better, but it's a painful journey. This definitely belongs on the non-essentials list of Trek viewing, in an otherwise good season that shows the noticeable improvement (finally) of this series of mismatched actors. The Borg stuff helped immensely.

Interesting episode

[kiddokidd · 9/10 · 11 May 2020]

I wasn't a big fan throughout this episode, but the ending brought it together nicely. This was a pleasant surprise.

WAR IS HELL

[awbusa · 10/10 · 16 November 2020]

Any MILITARY VETERAN can sympathize with CHAKOTAY after he says :

" I WISH IT WERE AS EASY TO STOP HATING AS IT WAS TO START "

we were trained to KILL THE ENEMY , but it's hard not to HATE MURDERERS of WOMEN & CHILDREN and worse that we end up HATING OURSELVES

RAMBO : FIRST BLOOD part 2 1985 JOHN J RAMBO : " I WANT WHAT THEY WANT , FOR OUR COUNTRY TO LOVE US AS MUCH AS WE LOVE IT "

Do Yourself a Favor, Skip This One and Move On

[kcrisenphoenix · 1/10 · 5 November 2022]

NOT a fan of this episode. It feels like something written by a barely pubescent boy. It is corny, corny, corny. The author/s made up these words for the "alien" characters, and you could see they thought it was really clever, but it was just annoying. Words like "trunks" instead of trees, and "glimpse" instead of see/saw, "nullified" instead of dead/kill, "new light" instead of morning, "trembling" instead of afraid/scared, "soon after" instead of simply soon, "fast walk" instead of run, etc. The problem is they created far too little words and use these words over and over and OVER and OVER and it quickly becomes so irritating you just want to stop watching the episode and go onto the next one, not caring one bit what happens to any of the characters. The acting of almost every guest star was absolutely terrible and I can only attribute that to the simply terrible dialogue. What were they supposed to do with it? Meryl Streep and Anthony Hopkins couldn't have done anything with the script, let alone all the unknown actors. The slang simply makes no sense. Why would you say "soon after" instead of soon for instance? The big reveal was incredibly disappointing. They fact that it was going to be a twist was broadcast minutes after the theme song. SO boring and this is my second time in seeing it in 25 or more years and it will probably be 25 years before I subject myself to seeing it again.

Thinly Veiled Propaganda . . . against propaganda

[wishonweinstein · 4/10 · 9 December 2017]

All in all, this episode was a painful one and so far the only episode of Voyager I've come to review/write about due to my experience. There are some fantastic episodes in all the seasons and I was looking forward to this season's episodes after the stellar beginnings however this one left me with a sour taste in my mouth.

It effectively uses pseudoscience and leaps of faith on the audience's part in order to skip many unanswered questions. The episode's moral is simple: Hate is taught, not something you're born with.

However, the way that it is taught to the characters in this episode are vague and confusing. They attempt to tell you with simple, very idiotic explanations as to how this is achieved however what you EXPERIENCE and what they said happen don't seem to match.

In the end, I understand what they were driving at here however just because it's science FICTION doesn't mean you can have swiss-cheese plot lines and holes in your concept wide enough to drive trucks through.

outstanding

[bdwilneralex · 9/10 · 10 June 2017]

This is a phenomenal episode with a tight, engaging story. If any less-than-stellar reviews are posted, I suspect they reflect the limited intellect of the reviewers which made it difficult for them to understand the Vori language that was deliberately stilted to emphasize the cultural and psychological differences between them and Starfleet.

Outstanding episode.

[adlvcolt · 10/10 · 22 March 2023]

I enjoyed this episode in many ways. Chakotay gets shot down in a planet with war going on. An engaging story about war and construction of an enemy that feels very contemporary. Robert Beltran does a great performance as a conflicted Chakotay that once inmerse into war began to change his thoughs about his involment in it that clearly was not him´s. Of course, you see ordinary people under vicous attacked by horrible creatures, even vengeance is a must. On the other side Captain Janeway get help from planet´s authorities to rescue Chakotay. The twisted ending with Chakotay last words to the Captain makes it to consider this episode among the best.