About Shinzon

Raxmei · Post by **Raxmei** » 2002-12-26 06:28am

Am I crazy or does this guy look absolutely nothing like Picard? He's supposed to be a clone, so he should look something like Picard. All through the movie, I kept wondering why the two characters looked nothing alike, when there should be a definite family resemblance at least. Now that I'm watching more tv I see Nemesis commercials where they practically rub it in my face by showing Picard and then morphing the picture into Shinzon. They don't look like each other, or even kin. Is anyone else bothered by this?

Baron Mordo · Post by **Baron Mordo** » 2002-12-26 08:04pm

Oh yes. That Szechuan guy has huge lips. His nose is all wrong too.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2002-12-27 12:57pm

Didn't you hear? The clone of Patrick Stewart wasn't ready...

Seriously, I agree with you. I thought the scene where Picard pulled out a picture of himself was a little bit too much. It's almost as if they were saying "Look, that is what he REALLY looked like back then!"

Post by **Kuja** » 2002-12-27 04:42pm

Kamakazie Sith wrote:"Look, that is what he REALLY looked like back then!"

My first thought: "Didn't that guy EVER have hair?!"

Raxmei · Post by **Raxmei** » 2002-12-27 08:35pm

Picard did have hair once. See the TNG episode "Rascals." Young Picard in that episode also looks nothing like Shinzon.

Joe Momma · Post by **Joe Momma** » 2002-12-27 11:34pm

Raxmei wrote:Picard did have hair once. See the TNG episode "Rascals." Young Picard in that episode also looks nothing like Shinzon.

Even worse, see episodes "Tapestry", which shows recently-graduated Picard with a full head of hair, and "Violations", which shows balding-but-still-has-plenty-of-hair Stargazer-captain Picard.

It should be noted that Shinzon did mention several injuries that changed his profile somewhat. He may also be shaving his head rather than being bald, particularly since Captain Picard still has a fringe of hair rather than being completely bald. Similarly, Picard's cadet photo in the movie might have been taken right after he entered the academy, if the academy shaves its cadets heads like some military academies do today.

That's an awful lot of hoops to jump through, though. Given the previous continuity from the series, they could have just left Shinzon with hair (as they originally planned to, though he was going to be blond, I think, which is still wrong IIRC).

It was also stupid because it didn't make Shinzon look enough like Picard to make the "revelation" when they first met mean anything. Picard could have looked at an old cadet photo while he was reminiscing during or after the wedding party and established his cadet look there, which would have made Shinzon's first appearance more significant to the audience.

As it was played out, though, even what little suspense there might have been with Picard's reaction not being understood by the audience was also handled in a ham-fisted manner that robbed it of any feeling. If they wanted to go that route, they could have left Shinzon's origin a mystery to everyone until the understandably-curious Picard met him for their private dinner, which would have built a little more suspense at least....Aw, fuck it. Compared to the complete waste of the movie as a whole, worrying a bit about fixing this minor point is like slapping a band-aid on a sucking chest wound.

-- Joe Momma