Nemesis or Nemesis Reborn, which do you prefer?

[Jb85]

No comparison

The original

I like Wickerman, smiler, TCAAM but anything they’ve replaced the original was better e.g towers street and nemesis

Repost. My thoughts totally

 

[Trooper Looper]

The new music can crawl under a rock and die.
"Generic Scary Ride Number Seven by IMAgit" is an outright insult to all of us.

"IMAgit" right, don't mind me, just saving that one for future occasions

But that being said, I largely agree. The original soundtrack felt more like an "area" soundtrack to me. Reborns sounds like if it was a film, that would be the credits soundtrack, if you get what I mean.

 

[Matt.GC]

The new music is just nothingness. Really dull, generic, and forgettable. Like the kind of trash in a B-movie. Not something you'll be humming in your head on the way home, it's just some noise that's there. So dull that I had to click on that video to try and jog my memory what it sounded like.

Saying that, the area now has a new B-movie theme. The old track wouldn't have suited it at all.

 

[Jb85]

The new music is just nothingness. Really dull, generic, and forgettable. Like the kind of trash in a B-movie. Not something you'll be humming in your head on the way home, it's just some noise that's there. So dull that I had to click on that video to try and jog my memory what it sounded like.

Saying that, the area now has a new B-movie theme. The old track wouldn't have suited it at all.

Say what you think my friend.

Somewhat to the contrary I think the new theme is probably more immersive, more coherent and the theme suits it.

But it doesn’t have the same charm as the original, same excitement. It’s just not as iconic.

And this is what gets me. If this was a brand new ride / experience and the original never existed, i genuinely could praise it enough. But it’s not - and because of that it just doesn’t click for me.

Tough one to explain as they’ve done a great job all round really…..

 

[Matt N]

For those who were there when the ride opened, could nostalgia possibly contribute to your love of the original?

They often say that love of music is associated with emotions and happy memories, and for many of the members on here, I dare say the 1994 Nemesis will have been a formative ride in the development of their theme park enthusiasm. So the original soundtrack could be associated with the nostalgia for that era and the excitement surrounding the ride’s opening. Whereas Nemesis Reborn naturally won’t have that same spark for you, by virtue of it not being such a “formative” ride for you.

 

[NuttySquirrel]

I've voted Nemesis based on how it rode, it felt so much more forceful and intense and obviously didn't have the irritating rattle of Reborn that they're clearly still having issues with.

However I do definitely prefer the theming of Reborn - inside the station and the Eye in particular. And I much prefer the new track colour to the "grubby bones" look of the original.

 

[sillyrooster]

Nostalgia gives it to original nemesis for me. I prefered the previous more subtle theme of entering forbidden valley and trying to work out what had happened, kind of like you where witnessing something after the terrible events, also the slightly more melancholic original score played better into that.

However it was clearly done in the 90s and the actual execution of reborn is much better. The area is much more immersive and looks fantastic. The new creature looks amazing and the eye is clearly a great focal point and photo op.

Ridewise I can't really tell. I do miss the ability to be able to queue for the front as I really think that adds a lot to the experience. That said the new station really looks the part!

 

[Matt.GC]

For those who were there when the ride opened, could nostalgia possibly contribute to your love of the original?

They often say that love of music is associated with emotions and happy memories, and for many of the members on here, I dare say the 1994 Nemesis will have been a formative ride in the development of their theme park enthusiasm. So the original soundtrack could be associated with the nostalgia for that era and the excitement surrounding the ride’s opening. Whereas Nemesis Reborn naturally won’t have that same spark for you, by virtue of it not being such a “formative” ride for you.

It absolutely will be playing a part, yes. It must be remembered for those of us older lot (I assume @Jb85 is just 3 years younger going by the profile name so of a similar age) that Thunder Valley at first wasn't there at all. Then it was just the Thunder Looper with tarmac on either side, The Beast, and a grassy knowl, the last of which spent most of 1993 being dug up.

To enter that area in 1994 and see this colossal rock pit with blood thundering around and a genuinely world class and unique coaster for the first time was absolutely stunning. There weren't coasters anywhere in the world dug into big rock pits like that and suddenly you have this glass smooth, 4-abreast invert, a brand new coaster innovation from this new exciting manufacturer, very unique.

If you're younger, it's likely just always been there. Inverts are now tenapenny. The park has built loads of other newer model coasters since, the industry and other parks have moved on massively. The times when Alton Towers was building new and innovative world class attractions is something for the Talbot Street pages, and now the cool stuff isn't there anymore, you look elsewhere for these new exciting and innovative attractions. So I can see why go faster stripes, less ear bashing, smoke machines, a new score, and new theming elements would be appealing to people who've just been used to it always being there in an area of the park way past it's prime.

Forgetting how great Nemesis and Forbidden Valley was for it's time, I also have the added personal preference for the old theme. That's just a personal preference really. It has nothing to do with what came before it. For the last third of Old Nemesis life it pretty much didn't have much of a theme left anyway.

So that's beyond the nostalgia bit for me. If they were side by side and opened on the same day, I would still prefer the original.

 

[Jb85]

@Matt.GC 1985 indeed

Your summary above is about right - we can just about remember a before - so the feelings are certainly swayed by nostalgia

 

[Matt N]

That’s really interesting to hear.

As someone who was born in 2003, first visited Alton Towers in 2009 and first rode Nemesis in 2013, I can’t say I’ve ever really known a “new and shiny” Nemesis. For most of my Towers-visiting life, Sub-Terra has been within Forbidden Valley in various states of operation, and Air/Galactica has been there in some form or another from the day I first visited, so I never really got to see the undiluted, “full fat” original Nemesis theme, so to speak. I do remember waterfalls on the ride, but they were always clear rather than blood red; if they ever were red during my visiting lifetime, I only remember it very vaguely.

For me personally, the new theme is a considerable improvement on the original in most aspects, based on my personal memories of the original. I think the area feels a lot more dynamic and immersive than it used to; there are lots of moving elements in the new area and lots of sounds and kinetic energy, which I really like. There are also lots more little objects and details scattered around to set the scene and lay the groundwork for some storytelling than there were on the original (perhaps controversially, I didn’t think original Nemesis had much in the way of theming or immersion beyond the monster station exterior). I much prefer the soundtrack to the old one, and I think it sounds a lot more dynamic and exciting. Fundamentally, I also think that Forbidden Valley as a whole feels a lot more cohesive and immersive than I can ever remember it feeling before. I feel like the work they did with the retrack really ties the area together and enhances the overall ambience and atmosphere a lot.