Establishing a "respectable" villain is a reel problem which ST:X does not solve, neither by having him baby-faced nor waffling on his goal-in-terror between senselessly killing an innocent planet to senselessly killing an innocent gene-donor. Then consider Khan, what motivates him, and why he so obsessively wishes "to go on hurting you." It's not entirely the actor's fault - OK it is - but in my opinion Thomas Hardy plays his character as uncharismatically as Ricardo Montalban did otherwise. Just contrast that chest-gripping, glove-pulling introduction to the Shinzon's laughable, "Lights please?"

As for the B-clone story which consumed too much of the screenplay, well, at least Brent Spiner looks like Brent Spiner. Seems like some scenes were cut, like planning the secret bait-and-bait-and-switch and installing a functional "redundant memory port" (not to mention about more prototypes or how Shinzon acquired one in the first place). Let's face it - particularly so with the ageless android, but all the regular cast show a little length in the tooth, and are largely reduced to stereotype (only Troi fares well).

Must I ask the obvious? Wouldn't this whole story have worked better as an "actual" clone - as in, Patrick Stewart against his own self (digitally provided or not)? There's an acting challenge for you, Locutus with a libido, and it's certainly one that Shatner accomplished with no trouble - and no CGI - in "The Enemy Within."

Yet NCC-1701 even in her best days would be pressed to rival the breathtakingly beautiful NCC-1701-E; in fact the effects were impressive throughout - the battle and ramming of the Scimitar (complete with blown-out crewmen), and those awesome new warbirds. The nearly flawless production values (that crazy lighting!) combined with trivia from every corner of Trek (hello, USS Archer!) barely excuse plot holes like how Shinzon knew Picard would arrive in the closest ship, why Geordi can only make one beam-awayTM button at a time, or why NCC-1701-E needs a bottomless pit in the first place.

The unsurprisingly average runtime of 116 minutes never drags but it never soars either; "Nemesis" is more an extended episode and less a feature-length production. It surpassed my expectations however and therefore in this reviewer's estimation the odd/even tradition remains intact. Two impressions I hope remain with me: First, that goodbye scene between Stewart and Frakes was pure lump-in-the-throat. Finally, as "A Generation's Final Journey" ends a long and successful mission, fans are treated to the potential for peace - a better message (especially for the season) than those other clones.