Star Trek First Contact: A Retrospective

Not too long ago, I did an article about Galaxy Quest where I briefly discussed the wonders of being a Star Trek fan back in those days. We've completed a few side quests since then, but today, I find myself drawn back to that time when I was younger, the world seemed more full of wonder and possibility, and Star Trek ignited a passion within me that seemed unquenchable. I'm glad that over time, I have learned to temper my passions somewhat, and learned wisdom that has helped me to grow into a pretty decent specimen of the human race, but those days of unbridled enthusiasm will always be looked upon with fondness. It seems only fair that if I'm going to review Galaxy Quest, then I should also review Star Trek: First Contact. They came out around the same time, although Insurrection actually came out just one year prior to Galaxy Quest. I still lump First Contact in with that particular era of Trek history. Let's take a look at why, and see how it's held up over the years.

I have to admit, for as much as I love Star Trek, I did not get a chance to see many of the Prime Universe films when they originally debuted in theaters. Apocryphally, I may or may not have seen The Voyage Home while living in Alaska as the theater there showed it during some off time from the recent releases. However, other than that, I only got a chance to see First Contact on the big screen when it debuted. Throughout most of the original Trek movie run, I was too young to make the decision autonomously as to when and what I wanted to go see in theaters. By the time I was a teen, First Contact was coming out, and I saw it twice in theaters when it did. Insurrection got so little marketing that I had no idea that it had even come out until I got the VHS as a gift after the fact, and a church mission prohibited me from seeing Nemesis when it was released. It's pretty tragic, but for the first half of my life, my love of Star Trek was almost exclusively fueled by the shows.

The stage for the release of First Contact was really a sight to behold. This movie really represents both Star Trek, and Paramount at their symbiotic prime. There were very few facets of marketing that weren't utilized to promote the film in the lead up to release day, and the effects of the film would reach beyond the big screen realm of Star Trek's mythology somewhat as well. The year was 1996. I turned 13 that year, and my passion for Star Trek was running pretty high. I had watched Next Generation since age four on and off, and had gotten into the collectible market of Star Trek not too long before the release of First Contact. The year 1996 was also the year that I discovered Deeps Space Nine, although it would be a few more years before I really got a chance to dig into that one further, and Voyager was barely a blip on my radar because my fascist, oppressive parents still insisted on an 8 PM bed time, gosh! And yeah, hormones had officially become a thing too. Ah the wonders of puberty, or jak'tahla as we Trekkies would put it.

Fundamental changes were coming in my life that would affect my relationship with Star Trek in some pretty monumental ways. My father lost his job where we were living and it was decided that we were going to move to Utah to be closer to where my parent both grew up. What this meant in terms of KC's Trek fix was that I was to live under my Grandma Liz's roof, and she allowed me probably way more autonomy than I needed at age 13. She also put a TV in my room. Now I could tune in every night and watch the adventures of Sisko, and Janeway as one of the Salt Lake City affiliates showed DS9 and Voyager back-to-back every week night. My exposure to, and understanding of the Trek universe began to grow, and I got to see some fantastic adventures set in portions of the Trek universe that had previously been unexplored by me. Consequently, my Grandma Liz managed a 7-Eleven and through that connection, I learned of the officially licensed Star Trek magazines, which I began buying with my allowance in order to get more Star Trek in my life.

It was around September of that year that things really started to ramp up for First Contact, and for Star Trek in general. TV Guide ran an issue previewing the film, which I dutifully picked up, and of course, Paramount threw the 30th anniversary celebration that was broadcast for the world to see. My grandparents and my father had left me alone for the weekend, and I taped the whole thing, and then watched it at least three times over the weekend just to revel in the excitement of it all! Also, I had no life. Of course, there were a few behind the scenes previews as well as trailers that ran during commercial breaks for First Contact, and I remember being really excited for this new film. Everything looked updated for our hip, cool times. Not to say that TNG, DS9, or VOY didn't look really cool, but suddenly we had darker toned, more muted uniforms, and more darkly lit, moodier sets, and the Borg just looked awesome! It really seemed like Star Trek was about to begin a bold new chapter, and that it could do no wrong.

I had a couple of friends who lived down the street who were also Star Trek fans. I told them that my dad would totally take us to see it. I don't remember if that's how things worked out exactly, but I do know that I went with my dad to see it. Man was it glorious! Let's recap a bit for the uninitiated among you. The Borg were introduced in season 2 of TNG as the ultimate enigma plot device/nemesis. They represented the antithesis of everything for which the naive Federation stood. The Federation values individuality and autonomy, and a person's sovereign right to pursue their own path, and on flip side of that, the Borg forcefully cast aside individuality and autonomy in favor of a collective existence. The Borg decimate planets and assimilate billions in the pursuit of attaining perfection, and the control that they gain as a result is a fringe benefit. There had been a number of Borg episodes during the run of TNG that had explored those themes of the importance of individuality, and the dangers of social homogenization, in this case the forcing thereof upon a populace. In First Contact, we were going to be getting an updated, more menacing look into the Borg, and the way that they exist.

The Borg ultimately attempt to invade Earth and assimilate most of humanity in season 3 of TNG. However, the gallant crew of the Enterprise stop them. I guess they held a grudge though because after First Contact opens with one of the coolest long action shots in cinematic history, and one of the most fun fake out moments in Trek history, Picard gets into a conversation with one Admiral Hayes who informs him that the Borg are headed for Earth again. It's just one cube, and Hayes seems confident that Starfleet will be able to fend off the attack as they've now got some super cool and powerful starships which they built after the first Borg attack. There's a scene in the new observation lounge where our beloved crew discuss the goings on within Federation space, and how they're totally ready to go kick some Borg booty, only to be told by Picard that they wouldn't actually be going to help, but instead would be left to patrol the Romulan neutral zone lest those pesky Romulans decide to take advantage of the situation. Next, there's a scene between Picard and Riker where we find out that the reason that Enterprise is being sidelined is because of Picard having already been assimilated once before. Starfleet feels that putting Picard in a position where he could be assimilated again would put him, his crew, and his ship in a compromising situation.

Picard and Riker return to the bridge and tune into the action like it's the Friday night fight only to hear that things are going dreadfully bad for the fleet defending Earth. Picard begins hearing the whispers of the collective and orders the channel closed. He makes the obligatory declaration that he's going to disobey orders, and asks if there are any objections, and then when everyone agrees to break protocol, they warp off to Earth. When they arrive, they chaos and disarray of battle are tremendous, and this scene is extremely cool! There are new ships flying all over the place, but we get a beautiful close up of the Defiant as commanded by our favorite turtle head, Worf. She's badly damaged, and the Enterprise swoops in just as the killing blow would have been dealt, and beams all of the Defiant's surviving crew to Enterprise. There are a lot of really effective, fast moving close angle shots to keep the action tight and chaotic, and the Millennium Falcon gets blown up off screen. That's totally true by the way. Look it up. However, Picard is still tapped into the web of instant communication that the Borg use, and he learns of their weakness. He orders all of the ships in the fleet to target a specific area, and fire everything. They all do, and the Borg cube explodes in glorious conflagration! However, as the ship is dying, a smaller, spherical ship emerges.

Picard orders the Enterprise to pursue, and as they do, a wake of energy surrounds the sphere and the Enterprise. The two ships blink out of existence momentarily, and then reappear in orbit around Earth, but we're told that the Borg are attempting to go backwards in time and destroy Earth while it was still weak so we know that it's the past when the two ships reemerge from the time energy vortex. Having arrived just before, the sphere is firing on the planet. Picard orders Data to destroy that ship, which Data does with extreme prejudice. Crisis averted, Picard then asks Data to find out exactly when the Enterprise has emerged from a time energy vortex. Turns out it's April 2063. There's some exposition about World War 3, and how many people lost their lives in that war, and how that's a good time for the Borg to attack since Earth's governments are practically non-existent, and so there wouldn't really be any resistance. After figuring out where the Borg were shooting, our crew of walking encyclopedias realize that the Borg might have been trying to stop first contact between humans and the Vulcans. It's at this point that Picard decides that he, Data, and Crusher need to go down to the surface to make sure that the Borg haven't fatally crippled the ship that would change history.

On the surface, they find that the warp ship is leaking fuel and will require fairly extensive repairs. Also, Data bumps into a woman who needs medical attention. Picard orders the team beamed back to the ship. There's to be a swap as Riker, Troi, LaForge, and good old Broccoli beam down to repair the ship and find Zephram Cochrane, the man who would make history. Sidebar: We've already seen Zeke in the Trek mythos in the episode "Metamorphosis" of the Original Series. In this episode, he's a bit of a boy scout being tended to by a lonely energy being on a backwards, out of the way planet where he's been granted essential immortality. I guess you could say that Picard's impression of Cochrane was based on a log he ran across concerning Cochrane. This will be important in just a bit. Back on Enterprise, Picard asks for a quick brief of the situation and it would appear that certain systems have begun to go haywire, especially environmental controls, and when Picard hears the exact settings, he realizes that the Borg are not out of the fight just yet. Apparently, the beamed over to Enterprise just before their sphere was destroyed, and not they're converting the Enterprise for their own purposes. This point is driven home as Crusher is treating the primitive Earthling, and the Borg begin to beat the doors down. Everyone is moved in a hurry, and in the commotion, the woman from the 21st century, Lily, gets separated from the group.

Back on the surface, Riker finds Troi sitting at a bar looking morose. There's some banter and Riker accuses her of having had a snootful. It's at this point that we finally get to meet the fabled Zephram Cochrane. It's actually quite humorous, and the figure to which we're introduced is a far cry from the giant of a man that we're to have believed Cochrane to be. Turns out, he's a depressed, angry, raging alcoholic with an astronomical IQ, and an attitude to match.He loves classic rock, and hates people turning off his music. Riker is going to spend the bulk of the second act trying to convince Cochrane that he needs to take his trip as planned. To convince him to do so, Riker just lays out all of his cards. This culminates in LaForge showing Cochrane the Enterprise through a telescope. Marginally convinced, Cochrane at least agrees to assist in the repairs of the ship.Speaking of ships, when we cut back to the Enterprise, Picard and company have decided that they're going to nip their Borg problem in the bud by invading engineering. They take a team down, phasers are fired, Borg are indeed destroyed, people are assimilated, and Data gets kidnapped. Picard orders a retreat, and gets separated from the group, which as it turns out, is kind of prevalent theme in this movie. They apparently missed the suggestion that says, "Never split the party!"

But, in getting separated, Picard stumbles upon Lily, who steals his phaser. She understandably demands an explanation as to what's going on, and Picard promises her just that. Picard takes her to a place where a view port can be opened so that he can show her that they're orbiting the Earth. She's shaken by the revelation of her location and the technology that exists due to her efforts and those of Cochrane. Peace is made between the two of them, and Picard promises her that he'll get her back to Earth. They have to make a detour though. Picard needs information as well, and he knows just how to get it. We find the two not too long after in the holodeck. They're running Picard's Dixon Hill program, and the noir ambiance is a lot of fun. Picard has lured a couple of Borg into the holodeck with them, and once the opportunity presents itself, he uses a gun from the holonovel to strike the two Borg drones down! Why did he need to do this? Why to get the chip out of one of the drones that would tell him all of the orders that the drone had received. We're back to Earth and Cochrane is having a difficult time dealing with all of the attention that he's been receiving from the Enterprise crew. It's actually a really deep way to portray the character because we're given the impression that Cochrane, who is still trying to find his own identity, just doesn't feel worthy of the praise and adoration that he's been receiving from people who are three hundred years removed from when he lived, plain and simple. The whole situation just makes Cochrane extremely uncomfortable because he's not yet become this amazing giant of a man that everyone has come to love and adore. So he tries to run away... Riker shoots him with a phaser though so it's cool.

We're now back on the ship, and Picard and Lily have rejoined the rest of the main cast on the bridge. Picard finally tells us what was so danged important that he had to waste those Borg with a Tommy gun, and that is that the Borg are building a technobabble deus ex machina onto the deflector dish of the ship! Seriously though, they're attempting to build a device onto the dish that would let them contact their counterparts that are still trawling the Delta Quadrant in the 21st century. That's bad. Because that's bad, Picard, Worf, and the redshirt who is actually wearing a red shirt have to go out onto the hull of the ship in suits and stop the Borg from completing their plot device. They do so, and it's actually a pretty intense scene as the three of them have to jump through several plot hoops to do the thing. Hawk, our literal redshirt gets attacked and we lose track of him. Worf gets attacked, but by this time, the Borg have adapted to their phasers and so Worf just whips out a big stinking knife and slashes that Borg to bits, but his suit is damaged in the process and starts bleeding atmosphere. Picard is also attacked, but manages to do the thing before he is. He then shoots something that makes gas spew out, and demagnetizes his boots so that he can float over to where Hawk had previously not finished doing the thing. Picard does the thing and just as he's finishing, a Borg grabs him! It's okay though. Worf shoots the Borg. Oh yeah, Worf was in the opening roster, he's totally surviving this movie. Doing the things with the things makes part of the deflector dish rise up off the ship a ways, and Picard shoots the pole that extends out to separate that part of the dish from the rest of the ship. Worf says one of the cheesiest one liners in Star Trek history and then shoots the remnant of the dish, obliterating it!

It needs to be said that throughout this, we get a few scenes where we get to see what Data has been up to all this time. These scenes are monumentally pivotal as they fundamentally change the Borg mythology forever. We find out that contrary to popular belief, there is one mind guiding the Borg in the form of a queen. Yeah, we're totally going all in on the bee/ant analogy. The queen is trying to tempt Data into joining their cause because she needs the access codes to the main computer core that Data had previously encrypted in order to finish her take over of the Enterprise. It's pretty well played as she offers Data something that only the Borg could give him, and that he's longed for since day one of the show's premiere: the chance to seem fully human. Up to this point, Data had been a clumsy looking facsimile of a human being. He has golden hued, synthetic looking skin. He doesn't understand emotion, and all he longs for is to be more like the humans that he's come to admire. The emotion thing was solved in the previous film where he had LaForge install the emotion chip that Dr. Soong, Data's creator had made. However, the natural skin thing is a conundrum that I'm sure would have taken at least several more decades to solve. But here are the Borg grafting organic skin onto Data's chassis, and offering to bring him closer to being human than he could ever have imagined. It turns out the real reason behind this is that the queen wants a more human counterpart that can meet humans on their own level to 'prepare' them for assimilation a bit in order to make that process more manageable. We find out that this was the original intention behind Picard's assimilation as well.

Speaking of, we find out that the Borg are systematically overrunning the entire ship, and that the phaser rifles are doing jack and squat against the drones at this point. Crusher suggests that they order everyone to evacuate the ship, and then destruct it. Worf seems to think that's a pretty good idea as well. Picard gives him one of the best tongue lashings in all of Star Trek, and Worf comes back with one of the best retorts in all of Star Trek. Picard stalks off to his ready room to pout and see about modifying the phasers to make them effective again. Lily is confused by the exchange and forcibly inserts herself into Picard's pity party. She reads him as easily and as quickly as a cheap harlequin romance novel, and they swap insights as Picard grows to learn that not even he is above the banal instincts for retribution. He has a moment where he comes to his senses, and goes back to the bridge to apologize to Worf and start the auto-destruct sequence. The crew begin evacuating, but Picard has some unfinished business he needs to take care of. Meanwhile, Cochrane has begun to come to terms with the hero worship that awaits him. He and Riker have a discussion wherein Cochrane reveals his true motivations behind inventing warp drive, which was to get insanely rich because apparently no one wanted to miss out on the irony of the guy who ushers in peace on Earth, and a departure from money being motivated by greed, but whatever. It's cool. They begin their final launch preparations, and as we crescendo into the climax, they roar out of the silo where the ship was built and off into space.

Picard has headed to engineering to save Data. When he arrives, he's taken prisoner, and there's an exchange between Picard and the queen. Picard offers himself in exchange for Data. It's at this time that Picard realizes that one of the things that went wrong during his own assimilation was that the queen wanted a more autonomous partner, and Picard would never submit. He offers himself freely, and the queen agrees to let Data go, but Data doesn't wish to go. He takes his place at the queen's side momentarily where he does his obligatory trailer pose, then moves to a computer panel where he deactivates the auto-destruct, and unlocks the encryption codes on the main computer. Picard is devastated by the turn of events. The queen orders Data to destroy the warp ship, and Data begins the targeting sequence. The thing locks on and the torpedoes fire, but just at the last second, the ship goes to warp and the torpedoes miss! Data has managed to slink closer to the warp core where he hits a pipe and sends scalding hot coolant cascading everywhere. As we learned earlier in the film, the coolant liquefies organic matter so all of the Borg who come into contact with it find their organic parts liquefied, and the queen as well gets her parts all liquefied. This results in the rest of the Borg aboard the ship becoming useless. That opens up a potential segue into a completely different discussion about continuity within mythology, but we'll save that for later. Picard clears all of the coolant and finds Data chilling on the floor with some bulky prosthetic makeup on his face. They have a heartwarming moment together, and then we cut to Earth.

A ship is landing that looks alien in nature, and we're made to believe that it's the Vulcans. Riker encourages Cochrane to go and greet them as they'll want to meet the human who broke the warp barrier. Picard has to say goodbye to Lily, who he has formed a close both with during the events of the film. It's poignant and emotional. We get to see Cochrane finally take those pivotal steps into becoming an architect of positive change and an historical legend as he attempts in futility to return the Vulcan salute, and then introduces the Vulcans to Roy Orbison. He'd probably be the perfect person for an actual first contact scenario if we're going to be honest with ourselves. The crew return to the Enterprise where LaForge informs Picard that they can recreate the vortex that the Borg used to bring them back and that's how they fly off into the sunset and ring in the end credits.

Wow! This is getting to be a really long article. Can you tell that I'm passionate about this movie?! There's good reason for that. It's a phenomenal movie! It really was a turning point for Star Trek, albeit a short lived one. It's not that Star Trek had gotten stale per se. It's only that as we marched through the 90s, trends in Hollywood, and in music, and even in things like sports saw us getting a little edgier, and First Contact reflects some of the best of that trend. While there's certainly a lot about the 90s that I'd just as soon forget, First Contact introduced us to Trek that had a new, darker, moodier tone, but that still beautifully retained all of that optimism and hope for the future that had become a hallmark staple of the Trek philosophy. First Contact is also unique as a Trek film in the fact that it's a sci-fi horror film. Yep, it's totally got that horror vibe, and it definitely borrows cues from the horror genre. When we're on the Enterprise, and the Borg are involved, everything is dark, cramped and disorienting. Those are textbook horror moves right there. I also appreciate the growth we get from both Picard, and Cochrane. Picard has been resting on his laurels since his assimilation, and has been unwilling to admit that the experience left a festering wound in his psyche that could take him to a dark place. He gets his opportunity at resolution and ultimately ends up taking the high road in order to do so, but it's a brilliant continuation of his arc from the show. Cochrane on the other hand, has been built up by our Enterprise characters to be this larger than life paragon that had this incredible vision, and Cochrane is most definitely not that person when we meet him. It's refreshing to see him start coming to that point, but it's gratifying to see that he's uncertain about the path he's being thrust down at every step. Even more, it's not necessarily that he's unsure that he's up to the task intellectually, rather, he's unsure that he has possesses the maturity, and the moral fiber to become this person that these people from the future have been describing.

Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Data's growth here. He realizes that he can be content with who and what he is at that moment. We see a bit of an end to his arc in the sense that he reaches a point where he doesn't feel the need to push quite so hard to be more human anymore. He realizes that he's reached that point of being human, and now he can focus on becoming a better human. He learns just how much his family means to him, and learns the lengths to which he personally would go to protect that family. Beyond good character growth, I do enjoy the themes that this film has to offer. The type of poisonous effect that negative feelings like revenge can have in our lives if we allow ourselves to become consumed by those feelings is going to relevant and poignant no matter the year. Learning that there can be a price to getting everything we want out of our lives, and tempering what we want with what's prudent is sometimes a choice that needs to be made is also a lesson for the ages. And these themes are presented really well.

The cinematography is just great in this movie. I love the use of disorienting camera angles, and moody lighting with lots of contrast. I love the set designs. The new Enterprise sets are slick, and clean, but still warm. The tones of the color palette used in the set design really help to sell that futuristic style while lending an almost timeless quality to the sets. The Earth sets are ramshackle and nomadic in nature and convey a sense that things really hit the fan not too long ago. I love the costumes! The First Contact uniforms are some of the most pleasing looking uniforms ever to come out of Trek, even if they're still pretty impractical for space exploration purposes. They're clean and futuristic looking while still honoring the tenets that had driven costume design within the Star Trek universe previously. The 21st century costumes are vaguely reminiscent of the costumes worn by another Enterprise crew in Voyage Home. They're fun, and fitting to the setting. The new props designed for this film feel like an organic evolution of the equipment that we saw during the run of TNG. They've been updated for a world on the cusp of a revolutionary and innovative future, and they just look cool. The writing is mostly top notch here. There's a lot going on that's pretty heavy, but it's balanced with humor really well, and doesn't drag you down as an audience member. The story paces really well, so you don't really feel bogged down during the viewing. Of course, I have to talk about the music, and I have to say that Jerry Goldsmith really outdoes himself with this score. The title theme to First Contact is one of the most beautiful, regal, and majestic theme songs ever written for any movie ever. Goldsmith was uniquely suited to score this film as his style had always included adding synthetic, electronic sounding elements into his organically performed scores. He was doing it before it was a thing and his penchant towards that philosophy lends itself exceptionally well to portraying the cybernetic villains presented in the Borg. He captures the mystery, and feeling of peril, and his score really elevates the movie viewing experience. Lastly, let's talk about the ships! The ships designed for this film were amazing! I love the Akira class, and the Steamrunner class. But none of them stands out more than the new for the time design of the Enterprise. Like The Motion Picture before it, First Contact set out to help us fall in love with a new ship, and it succeeds tremendously. John Eaves was given a directive to design a ship that would look good at every conceivable angle, and he pulled it off brilliantly! Just take a look at that beauty! I know it's not for everyone, but it's one great starship design:

It's amazing to me that 22 years removed from the release of the film, First Contact has had such a profound impact on my life that I can vividly recall how I viewed it as a 13 year old kid. The passage of time has yet to degrade those rose colored lenses for me. This is a film that has a little offer just about anyone who watches it. It stands on an extremely well crafted foundation as a movie and that really shows. This film in particular really captures the phenomenon that Star Trek had built at the time where it could be flat out cool simply because it was was Star Trek. Trek was still setting trends back in these days, and First Contact makes that abundantly clear. It does have its flaws, but the film does such a great job overall that it's extremely easy to overlook those flaws. This is considered by most to rank among the best Trek films of all time and it's easy to see why. With a seasoned and talented cast, an enthusiastic and effective crew, and a fun and interesting premise, First Contact is a thoughtful and fun movie to watch. I certainly can't recommend it enough! If it's been a while, or heaven forbid, this one has slipped under your radar for whatever reason, then I suggest that you give this one a watch! You won't be disappointed! Stick around to see what I've got brewing for next week!