"A Generation's Final Journey Begins" was the somber, yet promising, tagline for the theatrical release of "Star Trek Nemesis." Three years after its release, that journey finally comes to a satisfying end with the new two-disc, special edition DVD.

Content-wise, this set blows away its predecessors, knocking the "First Contact" special-edition treatment just below the bar it raised.

Now, we all have our criticisms regarding the last voyage of the Next Gen. crew — less Shinzon, more Picard and Co., too many of screenwriter John Logan's fanboy-indulgences (ventral phasers, anyone?), where's the resonance with Data's "sacrifice" — but what the film may have lacked as a cinematic experience it more than makes up for with special features.

Spread across two-discs, the first bolsters new menus and a new commentary by Rick Berman, which is more engaging than director Stuart Baird's (which also carries over from the single-disc release). And a new, robust DTS 5.1 soundtrack puts the Scimitar vs. Enterprise-E collision as a must when testing the sound system.

Disc 2 contains all of the single-disc's previous features, while adding some extras completists must own: a "Nemesis Revisited" retrospective featurette, an exploration of the Enterprise-E in "The Star Trek Universe" section, extensive content regarding "The Romulan Empire," and the addition of five new deleted scenes.

The deleted scenes alone make this DVD worth its weight in gold-pressed latinum. We finally get to see the rumored Wesley Crusher scene at Riker and Troi's wedding; we get a glimpse of Dr. Beverly Crusher at Starfleet Medical, and a heartfelt moment cleaning out Data's quarters that the theatrical cut should have kept in, if nothing else than to provide us and our characters with a beat, a pause of reflection, at the loss of both their friend and a part of themselves. (Granted, it's not on the level of Kirk and Spock's farewell in "Wrath of Khan," but it leaves a better taste than a truncated toast and B-4 singing!)

"Nemesis" will infamously be remembered as the only even-numbered film that succumbed to the odd-numbered "curse." But this Special Collector's Edition alleviates some of that infamy, by including the most content-laden special features and care since the two-disc Director's Edition of "The Motion Picture." Our opinions of the film aside, there is no doubt that this DVD gives the Next Generation crew the final send-off they deserve.

[Phil]