Star Trek: First Contact (1996) brings the TNG crew its finest film entry with the threat of the Borg and time travel back to the beginnings of the Trek verse! It struck me after some time watching the movie that it is one of the few Trek films that do not require prior knowledge of the show or how Star Trek works. You can come in cold, not knowing about the Enterprise, Picard, warp drive or the Borg and feel comfortable. Every element is introduced to you without bombarding you with Trek data while still giving nods to the long time Trekkies of the show. This was the first outing for Jonathan Frakes as a film director, he previously directed episodes of the various Trek shows, and the second film for The Next Generation crew. The story was by producer Rickman and screenwriters Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore. The team worked on the previous film, Generations (1994), but really caught the cinematic scope here. Braga also worked on The Orville, Moore reimagined Battlestar Galactica and Outlander, and the duo wrote the screenplay for Mission: Impossible 2 (2000).
The film opens with the Alexander Courage Star Trek theme, the music is by Jerry Goldsmith, who was perfect in capturing the classic music, but also giving power into new scores. Goldsmith provides a gentle and soaring score for the credits and then we get the stunning pull back from the extreme close-up of the eye of Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) to the inside hull of a Borg cube. We get the assimilation of Picard into a Borg and then he wakes from the nightmare before finding he is in another horror movie like scene. Admiral Hayes reports about an attack and Picard knows that the Borg has returned. Then, we get a beautiful medium shot to show the movement of the Enterprise-E, one of the most elegant designs for a Starfleet ship. The Enterprise from the show, the Galaxy class-D, was destroyed in Star Trek: Generations (1994). He calls a meeting of the senior staff to note that they are ordered to patrol the Neutral Zone. Picard gets the objections of Number One, Commander Riker (Frakes), ship’s counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), Data (Brent Spiner), Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden), and engineer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton). Spiner, Sirtis, and Frakes have also appeared in the latest Star Trek: Picard series. There is a balance of giving character moments to the crew while maintaining the story.
We get the blaring music of Berlioz that Picard is listening to possibly blocking out distractions and thoughts as Number One enters to give a standard report. Picard confides that Starfleet does not have confidence in him after he was assimiliated by the Borg. They head to the to hear the engagement of Starfleet with the Borg cube. The Borg block out transmissions and the fight begins. Picard gives the order to return to Earth to Lt. Hawk (Neal McDonough). A new crewmember, McDonough is known for Minority Report (2002) and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). The Enterprise heads into warp. Then, we get a close-up of the technological wiring and mass of the Borg Cube as it heads for Earth! The Borg have near invinciblity adapting to weapons for its ships and in person. Starfleet ships fire on it including the Defiant manned by another familiar crewmember, Commander Worf (Michael Dorn), he moved from TNG to Deep Space Nine. This film adds him back to the crew and while he orders the ship to ram into the Borg, he is told that the Enterprise has entered the battle. It looms past the Defiant and Picard orders survivors to be beamed aboard.
Riker notes that admiral’s ship is destroyed and Picard gets a visual of the battle. He hears the distorted voice of the Borg. Picard takes command and has the entire fleet open fire on his coordinates. This destroys the Borg Cube, but we see a sphere ejected from it. Picard sends the Enterprise after it. Dr. Crusher arrives with Worf. Picard puts him back in charge of the Enterprise’s weapons. Riker jokes with Worf, Frakes was having the most fun with this film. The Borg Sphere opens a vortex to travel back in time and the Enterprise follows them. The crew sees an Earth corrupted by the Borg! Data explains that following the sphere has protected them from being changed by the Borg, nice time travel story point. Then, we get quiet, nighttime look at a forest camp. Leaving the bar is a drunk man, Zephram Cochrane (James Cromwell) and Lily (Alfre Woodard). She sees the sphere before it fires torpedoes on the camp! Cromwell has worked on many films from episodes of the Star Trek series and Professor Callaghan on Big Hero 6: The Series. Cochrane is important in Star Trek lore since he was the inventor of warp drive. He was introduced in the TOS episode, “Metamorphosis” (1967). Woodard is impressive in any project she is in which includes 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Luke Cage (2016-2018).
The Enterprise leaves the vortex, nice that the time travel is not by the heroes, but a strange plan to tie up Star Trek history. They see the sphere firing torpedoes and Picard orders quantum torpedoes to be fired on the sphere. It explodes and Riker notes that the Borg were firing on a missile complex in central Montana. Data checks and notes that it is April 4th, 2063, the day before First Contact, the crew realizes that the complex is where Cochrane launches the first warp capable ship. Picard heads down with Crusher, Data, and a group to check on survivors. He checks on the ship with Data and they are fired on by Lily who wields a machine gun. Data drops down and is shot by Lily, it is of course obvious that he is an android, and not weakened by the bullets. Lily faints and Crusher notes that she has radiation poisoning and needs to be taken to the ship. Picard calls LaForge to help work on the damaged ship. The Enterprise finds that the environmental temperature has risen and the mystery has to with the Borg. It is a very horror element which rises the threat of the cyborg villains. Not as invincible robots, but zombie-like corrupters. Picard hears the Borg voices and heads back to the ship with Data. This sets up the parallel problem taking on the Borg and trying to right history with Cochrane.
Picard arrives and has Data encrypt the bridge’s controls so the Borg can’t take over the ship. A team is assembled with Picard, Data, and Worf to take back engineering. Riker has his own problems with the reluctant Cochrane. The adoration of the Enterprise crew turns the legend of Zephram Cochrane, a great twist to the usual famous figure in time travel, but the hope of the future rests on him. There is a funny moment with Deanna Troi trying to deal with Cochrane. It is interesting to see this flawed Cochrane, brilliant work by Cromwell, the earlier appearance of Cochrane had him younger in the form of actor Glen Corbett.. His ship, the Phoenix, but for less than scientific reasons. It is housed in a nuclear missile which is out of necessity rather than irony. The Enterprise team fails to recapture engineering and Data is taken by the Borg. Data has always been the Pinocchio figure, longing to be human, and this film allows Spiner to confront the difficult choice in the form of the Borg Queen (Alice Krige). The actress has been in Thor: The Dark World (2013) and a reprise of the character in Star Trek: Voyager. The Borg Queen’s design has a H.R. Giger bio-mechanical sensuality one year after his own design in Species. Krige doesn’t shift out of that form and is able to be a threat to Picard and temptation to Data. Lastly, there is Woodard who is able to bring out the conflict of Picard driven by his post- tramautic disorder from Borg assimliation. A perfect counter part from someone from a conflicted time in contrast with Star Trek’s more advanced civilization, but still human. Star Trek: First Contact takes the very sci fi constructs to cover the very human theme of hope.
#StarTrekFirstContact, #JonathanFrakes, #PatrickStewart, #BrentSpiner, #AliceKrige
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