1. The Wedding Reception - Star Trek: Nemesis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBT7nUxJpC4 There's a fine, fine line between sweet sentimentality and mawkish awfulness, and the scene of the wedding reception from Star Trek: Nemesis manages to bounce back and forth between the two like a damn ping pong ball. The moment it decides to finally settle down and suck, however, comes when Data decides to sing the Irving Berlin standard "Blue Skies" for Riker and Troi, causing a hung-over Worf to moan in distress. He's probably still suffering from the Gilbert and Sullivan scene in the last movie. Mind you, it could've been far worse - the original scene went on a lot longer and included a scene with Wesley Crusher, who in the final cut is reduced to sitting off to the side and looking like a doofus. Ah, the more things change. Problem is, the longer version also includes a scene between Data and Picard that foreshadows the movie's final scene and which might've made the whole thing just a tad less painful. The entire experience of watching Star Trek: Nemesis involves wishing you were watching another movie, though, so while there would've been less pain, there would still be pain. Of course, the real joke was on them, as Star Trek: Nemesis ended up being the lowest-grossing of all of the Star Trek films, and so there was never another Next Gen movie. Thus the Star Trek film series ended - temporarily, at least, until J.J. Abrams came along with a whole new universe of cringiness to enjoy...
Tony Whitt
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Tony Whitt has previously written TV, DVD, and comic reviews for CINESCAPE, NOW PLAYING, and iF MAGAZINE. His weekly COMICSCAPE columns from the early 2000s can still be found archived on Mania.com. He has also written a book of gay-themed short stories titled CRESCENT CITY CONNECTIONS, available on Amazon.com in both paperback and Kindle format. Whitt currently lives and works in Chicago, Illinois.
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