Latest ‘Star Trek’ adventure doesn’t offer many new thrills

"Star Trek: Nemesis" won't win awards, won't woo new fans, won't break new ground.

But that's hardly the point.

The "Star Trek" film franchise exists to please and entertain devotees of the series, and this third film in the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" series seems just mildly interested in keeping fans intrigued.

It begins innocuously enough at the wedding of Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), where the regal Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) presides over the festivities as best man with some uncharacteristically stilted dialogue as we all wait for the story to get started.

The happy couple is being whisked off to their honeymoon aboard the Enterprise when Picard gets an order from Admiral Janeway (a fun, insider cameo by Kate Mulgrew, the former captain of the wayward "Voyager," the title of both a spacecraft and the third Star Trek television series.) Picard is told to head to the neutral zone near Romulan space, where strange signals are emanating from a planet supporting a pre-warp, early industrial society.

Even if you're not a "Star Trek" fan and the preceding explanation means nothing to you, you still can follow the storyline well enough to know that the Romulans are adversaries of the Federation, of which Picard and the Enterprise are part, and skirting their space might not make them very happy.

But not all is well on Romulus, where a coup has killed the government and a band of Remans from Romulus' sister planet are calling the shots.

They're led by Praetor Shinzon (Tom Hardy) who bears a remarkable resemblance to Picard - although he's much younger. And android Commander Data also finds a doppelganger - the signals coming from the planet Picard has been sent to check out are coming from a torn-apart android that looks exactly like Data.

It turns out this android, which the experts aboard the Enterprise promptly reassemble and implant with Data's memories, is an early model of Data, called B4.

How adorable.

When Picard and the crew find out the true nature of Shinzon - and that he what he really wants out of his existence is to destroy the hated planet Earth, and B4 was used as a sure-fire lure - the battle begins.

Further information might glaze the eyes of the uninitiated and annoy fans who don't want to know everything that's going to happen before they enter the movie theater.

On the positive side, Stewart as Picard is as engaging and interesting to watch, as always - occasional stilted dialogue aside. And Hardy as Shinzon is a savvy and formidable adversary with enough of a back story supplied to understand at least some of his motives. The disappointing part is that Lt. Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) - the formidable Klingon crew member who often gets some of the best dramatic and also deadpan comic lines - doesn't get enough screen time here.

But fans might want to know not to get their hopes up too high - this newest film in the series feels like an over-extended television episode, with just enough action and explosions and teary-eyed good-byes to string the plot together.

You'll probably enjoy it more if your expectations are lower.

Don't worry though. Despite an ending that seems to be sending all the Enterprise's crew in separate directions, there's still plenty of room left at the end of the "final mission" to finagle a few more movies, if the amiable and capable stars of the series agree.