There has been plenty of argument and non-sensical ranting that "Nemesis" was a "rip-off" of "The Wrath of Khan." Is it, really? Let's take a look-see.
1. "Shinzon's Thalaron weapon is a rip-off of the Genesis device." Hm. It seems each weapon has the power to kill every living thing on a planet. But then, planet-destroying weapons are no new idea for science-fiction or even "Star Trek" in particular. We had TOS's classic Planet Killer in "the Doomsday Machine," and TNG's Crystalline Entity that appeared several times, as well as various alien races capable of laying waste to entire planets. And didn't Sisko render an entire planet inhospitable to life himself? On top of all that, take the specifics of the Genesis device and the Thalaron weapon: One was not a weapon at all, but it's destructive aspects were merely a side-effect to the life-giving process it was designed for. It wasn't quite destroying a planet as writing over it, as though someone were saving a new file over an old one on a computer. Thalaron radiation, on the other hand, merely destroys organic matter. It IS a weapon.
2. "The Thalaron weapon is a rip-off of the Death Star from 'Star Wars'." Yes, it's true, I've seen this one. No, the Thalaron weapons is not a rip-off of the Death Star. The Death Star, if one recalls, is a gigantic moon-sized laser that could blow an entire planet to smithereens. The Thalaron weapon, on the other hand, was based on a ship that was large, yes, but not actually smaller than a number of ships we've seen on "Star Trek" over the years (including the afore-mentioned Planet Killer). And it didn't destroy a planet, but killed the organic matter on it (or within another starship).
3. "The Rift was a rip-off of the Mutara Nebula." Hardly, since firstly, it was green, and secondly, all it did was interfere with communications.
4. "The end battle between the Enterprise and the Scimitar was a rip-off of the Mutara battle between the Enterprise and the Reliant." Because the Enterprise and the Reliant were relentlessly pounding each other the entire time they were in the Mutara Nebula. No, they weren't. And the Scimitar knew where the Enterprise was the entire time. And, oh yeah, I must have forgotten the part where Khan's men boarded the Enterprise to try and kidnap Admiral Kirk. Maybe it was edited out of the TV version...
5. "The end battle between the Enterprise and the Scimitar was a rip-off of the Khitomer battle between the Enterprise and Chang's Bird of Prey." Or maybe it's a technology that's existed for nearly a century now that belongs to a race that's had more than one highly-placed spy in the last few years. Not a particularly long leap of imagination here. And I must have just had the volume turned down when Shinzon was broadcasting Shakespeare quotes to Picard throughout the battle. This is one of those points that people say just to add one more thing to bash about NEM without really thinking about it.
6. "Data transferring his memories into B-4 was a rip-off of Spock transferring his 'katra' into McCoy." Not really. Spock transferred his katra into McCoy as an effort to save himself from his impending doom, which he foresaw. He wanted to make sure that he wasn't totally lost forever. Data, on the other hand, wanted to give B-4 a "better" life, not quite realizing that B-4 wasn't designed for it. Data's reasoning was selfless and naive, while Spock's was wholly selfish, and didnt' show much regard for what would happen to McCoy. It's unlikely that he meant any harm, though, and may not have known what kind of effect such a transfer would have on a human. That doesn't make Data's memory transfer a rip-off, though.
7. "Data's death was a rip-off of Spock's." A selfless death to save the lives of your friends and family was hardly invented by Star Trek. Again, the details are totally different. Spock went down to the Enterprise's engineering bay to repair the warp engines, while Data boarded an enemy vessel to save the Captain and destroy a dangerous weapon. Spock got his goodbye to Captain Kirk in the engine room, with McCoy and Scotty looking on. Data got nothing of a sort.
8. "Star Trek just wanted to jump on Star Wars' clone bandwagon." You're kidding, right? The idea of clones has been around for a very, very long time. Star Trek itself has had its fair share of doubles and clones stories. Taking an idea that's been around for ages and using it again does not constitute a rip-off. On top of that, NEM's clone has absolutely NOTHING to do with SW's army of clones created in secret by a long-dead Jedi Master.
9. "The Scimitar was a rip-off of the Dominion battle-cruiser from DS9." Uh-huh, and the Excelsior was a rip-off of the Constitution-class. And the Sovereign, too. Any Federation starship with two nacelles is a rip-off of the Constitution! Yeah, hardly. Grow up, people.
10. (Note: this isn't a rip-off thing, but just one thing people say about NEM that just bugs me) "Worf had nothing to do." SO FUCKING WHAT? Big deal! Despite what some people WANT to believe, the TNG movies were NOT ensemble pieces. Picard and Data have ALWAYS been the central characters, everyone else has been minor. Worf did not HAVE to have a big part in the movie. Worf did exactly what he did in most episodes of TNG: he stood at the tactical station, read off reports and fired the phasers.
So, is NEM a rip-off of TWOK? Hardly. There are a couple of similar characteristics, but so do many movies. Saying that NEM ripped off TWOK is a surface comment without much thought behind it.
So why did NEM fail, then? Who knows. There probably isn't one particular reason, but rather a long list of inter-locking ones including (but not limited to) a bad release date, poor marketing, the publicity of the extensive cuts made to the movie, and who can forget the loveable George W. Recession? That's another argument entirely that'll never, ever get resolved, I bet.
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"Serenity" is the movie "Star Wars" prequels wish they could be.
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