Nemesis

[Phantom]

Sparticus was a slave trianed as a gladiator, that was the extent of his Roman military training. But, that is niether-here-nor-there.

It seemed, just about, every time someone tried to smuggle a weapon onboard (the other series) the transporter picked it up right away. Also, given that the Romulans are a paranoid race, I would think that the Praetorians would scan anyone (Senators included) who is to be in proximity of the Praetor. Now, true maybe the device didn't have a signature recognized as a weapon, but it still should've sent a flag up somewhere along the road.

[Rayaru]

That was ANI22002 "The Infinite Vulcan." (link was also provided)

Theyleron (sp?) radiation was not something even the advanced sensors of the Enterprise were calibrated to detect... I think it's plausible that they were able to smuggle in the weapon. We don't know much about the Romulans.... maybe it looked like a PDA to them, who knows.

I'm not saying the story was done spectacularly, but I am saying it was done decently.

[strict31]

My problem wasn't so much with the smuggling of weapons or the ability of a slave to lead an uprising. Or even putting a madman on the throne. We see lots of examples of that today.

My problem came from a Trek context. Shinzon said that the only thing the Romulans hated more than a reman was a human. So, the believability, for me, is hamstrung by the fact that Romulans conspired to put a human who acted like a Reman on the throne.

I mean, are we even concerned about having any sort of dedicated claim to the office? Could any human just waltz in, promise dreams of galactic bloodshed and be placed on the throne by some bunch of power mongering half-wits? It was almost like the plotline of "Head of State." I half expected the Reman Viceroy to be played by Bernie Mac.

Maybe just a little bit of explanation as to why the Romulans would do this might have helped. basically, it was just, "hey, we're Romulans. We plot. That's what we do."

Then there's the whole telepathic rape thing. I don't know about you guys, but if I was Shizon, the only reason I would have been contacting Deanna would be to ask if she could give me the phone number to call up Ezri Dax.

"Oh, I'm going to conquer the galaxy. But first, I want to tap this betazoid chick for a while. And then, I want to do a gene transplant on this human guy. And then I want to insult Dina Meyer and threaten the very people who helped put me in power. And then I'll get around to destroying the galaxy. Oh, of course I mean 'conquer'! That's what I meant! What was I saying, again? Oh, you've made me lose my place! Perhaps later you and I will have a proper discussion about distracting me, filthy romulan!"


Strictly Speaking

[Rayaru]

I think that was a bit of the adolescent in Shinzon (he wasn't that old) coming out.

If the military is disillusioned with the government, and this guy with a devastating weapon and kick-ass ship tells them he can bring Earth to its knees, they might be sufficiently motivated to overthrow that government (which they certainly have the power to do).

[strict31]

Originally posted by Rayaru
I think that was a bit of the adolescent in Shinzon (he wasn't that old) coming out.

If the military is disillusioned with the government, and this guy with a devastating weapon and kick-ass ship tells them he can bring Earth to its knees, they might be sufficiently motivated to overthrow that government (which they certainly have the power to do).

But the problem was that after a bit of speculation, any romulan fool would have pointed out, "it won't take long for them to adapt the patrol courses of their system picket vessels and defense nets. And after Shinzon admittedly destroys four or five vessels/stations, someone will notice that those ships and stations are no longer responding to hails." Additionally, while you may cripple the leadership of the Fed by alpha-striking earth, the Federation and Starfleet are not solely limited to Earth. Simply put, there would be a counter-attack. They might miss Shinzon's cloaked vessel, but it would lead immediately to a war with the Fed and any allies the Fed possesses.

It should be noted that this is probably the primary reason why the Romulans haven't sent a fleet of cloaked vessels across the N Zone to destroy Earth. They've probably thought about it, and probably, at various points, have made plans to do just that. But it would be hard to hide who was responsible for the strike. hard to blame it on the Dominion, too, since they've taken a hands off policy with the A Quadrant, and not even a cloaked ship can pass through the wormhole without being noticed.

Okay, they established that governments rise and fall on Romulus. And that some of these governments have had plans and plots to start the war to end all wars. But there's a reason why these plots never came to light. Somebody decided to choke down their thirst for conquest and point out, "Hey guys, while we probably could blow up earth real good, the Vulcans and Klingons and Andorians and Tellarites and Betazoids and, hell...everybody else...would come and blow us up in relatively short order...ya know?"

I don't discount the Romulans doing something stupid and deadly like this, but I'd like to see at least a lip service explanation as to why they were so willing to hang their latest hopes of galactic conquest on such a short-sighted (and hated alien) dolt as Shinzon. Something other than, "Duh! We're the bad guys, remember?"

Anyways, i still would've gone for Ezri...


Strictly Speaking

[Capt. Anderson]

B4 should have been Lore. At least the Death scene would have had some Juice.