User reviews

Star Trek VIII: First Contact - Stardate: 50893.5

Finally, after the dismal Generations outing, they got it right with this one! First Contact indeed is on par with the very best of the Star Trek films - The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country. Unfortunately, they won't get it right again to the present day (with the above average but still not as good Insurrection and awful Nemesis). The script is very solid, the acting above par (with kudos going to Alice Krige as the seductive Borg Queen and Alfre Woodard as the trusting Lily Sloane), and the score by Jerry Goldsmith again another hit. All of that combined with visual effects that service the story and not is the story makes this outing a spectacular success - a solid 9 out of 10!

The new crew takes on the great villain of the new era, the Borg. The Borg have sent one cube and the Federation is gathering a force. On the other hand, the Enterprise is told to patrol the neutral zone with the Romulans. Starfleet Command doesn't trust Captain Jean-Luc Picard. When the battle goes badly, Picard disobeys orders and returns to earth. The Borg cube is destroyed but a small ship escapes. The small ship travels back in time changing the present and the Enterprise follows them to repair the damage to the past. They travel to 2063 when Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) is about to make first contact.

A working knowledge of the Star Trek world is beneficial. It's a good thing that the filmmakers have figured out that a movie requires the greatest villains and the Borg is definitely one of the most compelling. It has a few laughs at the right time. It touches some profound literary concepts like Moby Dick. The space walk combat is cool. Jonathan Frakes takes the directing helm and he does a reasonable job. The story is the star here.

This is one of the two best Star Trek movies ever made (the other being "Wrath of Khan"). Everything about this film is superb.... acting, set design, special effects, plot, and action. The story progresses at a breathtaking pace, and from the first 10 minutes when the Enterprise is locked in a life-and-death struggle with one of the best villains in all of sci-fi history (the Borg), to a perfect ending; there isn't a wasted or redundant moment. This is a film that both trekkers and non-trekkers can enjoy because the film explains enough about the back-story to get non-fans up to speed, and does it in a way that will keep the fans interest (check out the excellent opening sequence that introduces Picard's first encounter with the Borg and explains much of his implacable and obsessive attitude towards them throughout the film).

In addition to fine performances from the crew (highlighted as always by Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard), the supporting cast is more than equal to the task. Its too bad that the crew didn't bring Alfre Woodward back home with them........ she's one of the very few actors/actresses in Star Trek history who have been able to match Patrick Stewart's personality, acting skills, and histrionics. Also, I thought I detected a touch of romance between the two that could have been further developed at another time.

James Cromwell makes a perfect Zefrem Cochrane. It was a humorous touch to portray him as somewhat of an anti-hero, in contrast to the god-like reverence with which the characters in the film viewed him from a distance of 300 years.

The protagonists in the film, the Borg, have never looked more dangerous. I'm glad that this film returned them to their "roots", unlike their last few appearances in the television series in which they were becoming a little too domesticated.

This is a film to savor for any science fiction fan. 9.5/10.0 !

Probably my favourite film of all time. The thing about First Contact is that it's not just about Star Trek. If you don't like Star Trek but can live through the first 20 minutes you'll find a gem of a movie which is as much about the future of humanity & an invention so wonderful as it is about Yet More Star Trek Plot.

Warp Speed - they've been saying that since Captain Kirk. But how did it happen? and why might it all not happen, our future could be in ruins and one flight of one makeshift spacecraft some time after world war III will make all the difference.

The on-screen relationship between Picard & Lily is totally magic, as is the relationship between the Enterprise crew members - you get a sense of team, of family.

First Contact is one film I enjoy watching again & again. The flight of the Phoenix is one scene I totally love, along with the end scenes.

The only sad thing about the movie is that you come away and deep down you know there is no Cochrain, no FTL engine around the corner. Well, not yet!

"I envy you, the world you're going to" "I envy you, taking these first steps"

Clearly one of the best Star Trek TNG films, this film minimizes typical TNG goody-two-shoes lameness in favor of action, and the result is quite good. There is no Wesley Crusher YA angst here; that character is thankfully absent. Patrick Stewart is excellent as usual, particularly in his "Captain Ahab" diatribe. Alfre Woodard was very good; I wish we could have seen her in more Star Trek productions. We even have a decent villain for a change, who has some pithy lines.

"I am the beginning, the end, the one who is many."

I like Star Trek, but the TNG/DS9/Voyager series are more about smarmy franchise-building than hardcore S/F. I give this film seven (7) stars.

'Star Trek: The Next Generation' may not be quite as influential or as ground-breaking as the original 'Star Trek' series (though it certainly has those elements), but quality-wise it is every bit as good with a few improvements.

The first "Next Generation" 'Star Trek' film, 'Generations', was to me not that bad but was frustratingly uneven (namely the treatment of Kirk and the emotion chip subplot). The next film, 'First Contact', was a significant improvement and highly deserves its reputation as the best film based of 'The Next Generation' series and one of the best 'Star Trek' films overall. Giving some of the supporting characters, like Worf and Crusher, more to do rather than giving them little screen time and not having them do much, was pretty much the only thing that 'First Contact' could have improved on.

'First Contact' is one of the best looking 'Star Trek' films, feeling more expansive and cinematic and benefiting from significant technology advances. The cinematography is intimate, colourful, brooding and immersive, while the sets rich in detail and the special effects are first rate with a real sense of awe. Bringing Jerry Goldsmith back was a good move, and he and his son Joel produce a score that's rousing, haunting, menacing, melancholic and sometimes even pastoral. Oh and the main theme tune is a classic.

Writing-wise, 'First Contact' is one of the best written and balanced of the films. The humour is genuinely funny and sometimes affectionate with the in-jokes, the emotional moments have real poignancy and a grandiose sweep and there is a real tension at times too. The story is perhaps the best paced, with no wasted or extraneous scenes and the one that gets to the point the most. The action is simply thrilling, and while some characters are underused there is still some interesting character development and interaction, namely a more conflicted Picard (in a way that's reminiscent of Captain Ahab), the scene between him and Lily and Data and the Borg Queen.

Patrick Stewart gives his most intense and moving performance of all the 'Next Generation' films, and still has the commanding presence and the dignified gravitas. Brent Spiner is strong too, and he is much more restrained here with Data significantly better written. Jonathan Frakes is compelling as Riker but does even better in the director's chair, he doesn't lose any of what makes the series so great in the first place or what makes it so influential while showing some freedom to show his own style and open things up.

Alice Krige is on seductive and deliciously slimy villainous form, while the Borgs are genuinely fearsome even now. James Cromwell and Afre Woodard excel in atypical roles to the work they're best known for, Cromwell in particular.

In conclusion, first rate and a high point of the 'Star Trek' franchise. 9/10 Bethany Cox

The next generation crew of the Enterprise star in their best movie. Picard and his crew hitch a ride back in time to save the Galaxy from being infested with Borg, by saving the drunkard who invented Warp Drive from being killed by the Borg. This Star Trek movie is nuanced enough for the 'trekkies' to get into, while still being very accessible to the rest of the cinema going public. Johnathon Frakes, for all of his smarmy, cocky demeanor, still I have to admit that he hits a home-run in this initial outing (now his "Insurection" is a whole nother story, one for a different day) This film is action-packed, features good performances, and is just plain fun. All those aforementioned traits easily puts it among the top echelon of Trek films.

My Grade: B+

DVD Extras: Disc 1) Commentary with director/actor Jonathan Frakes; Second commentary with writers Brannon Braga and Ronald Moore; Text Commentary with Michael and Denise Okuda Disc 2) 12 featurettes (Making 'First Contact', The Art Of 'First Contact', "The Story, The Missile Silo, The Deflector Dish,From 'A' to 'E', Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute, The Legacy Of Zefram Cochrane, 'First Contact': The Possibilities, Unimatrix One, The Queen, and Design Matrix); 3 Scene Deconstruction;Storyboards, Photo Gallery; Teaser & Theatrical Trailers; and Trailer for the Borg Invasion Hilton show in Vegas

3 Easter Eggs: In the Main Menu, click on the sun for a list of all the alternative titles considered; In the Star Trek Universe menu highlight a circle for an interview with Ethan Philips; In The Borg Collective menu highlight a circle for an interview with Alex Jaeger

Many people believe this is the best of the ten Trek films, probably because the special effects are the most advanced, and it has the most violence. It's definitely the best of the Next Gen movies, and not a bad action flick, but it doesn't really feel like Star Trek to me.

There are two parallel stories that play out in "First Contact," and sometimes it feels like two separate movies. In Movie A, Picard and the crew of the Enterprise, having traveled to the 21st century in pursuit of a Borg ship, must defend the Enterprise as it is assimilated from within by the evil Borg Queen. It's a lot like "Aliens," but without the cussing and acid blood. The corridors of the ship are dark and foreboding, the Borg are unemotional and quite scary, and fighting them seems hopeless. The Borg Queen, however, never really comes across clearly because it's obvious the writers just had no idea what she was supposed to be.

Movie A is dark and exciting. Movie B, on the other hand, is light and fluffy, and a little slack. The more comically-oriented members of the crew beam down to 21st century Earth to help Zefram Cochrane repair his groundbreaking warp ship in time for a historic rendezvous with the Vulcans, and have to convince him to become the heroic character he is in the history books. Cochrane is understandably skeptical, not to mention drunk on tequila.

The characters on the ground are oblivious to what's going on in space, so the two parallel plots are entirely separated by tone and content. One is dark and serious, the other light and funny. The writers tried too hard to make their movie appeal to everyone, and they end up with a bit of a mish-mash. The comic relief is forced and not very funny, and the action sequences on board ship lose some of their power once you realize how clean they are. After all, there's no blood in the future, and only extras get killed.

Picard and Data get the most attention, with a few scenes reserved for Worf and a cameo from "Voyager's" holographic doctor. The other characters don't contribute much more than background exposition. The show was based solidly on its ensemble cast, so it's a little jarring to have that ensemble reduced to a hero and his sidekick.

After watching this movie for lunch today with my Mum and Dad, here's my spoiler-free review of Star Trek: First Contact! As usual, I'll be talking about my thoughts, favourite moments from this flick & my conclusion/rating! The cast of Star Trek: TNG is back for another adventure! Patrick Stewart returns as Jean-Luc Picard he's so brilliant in this as well as; Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn and Brent Spiner as William T. Riker, Worf & Data! LeVar Burton, Marina Sirtis and Gates McFadden are fantastic as; Geordi La Forge, Deanna Troi & Dr Beverly Crusher! There are some new cast members including; James Cromwell and Alfre Woodard who deliver outstanding performances as Zefram Cochrane & Lily Sloane! The music is amazing, the special effects are cool and the production designs & sets are terrific! Overall this is the best Star Trek movie of the Next Gen cast members and it was fun to watch from the beginning, middle and end! That's why I'm giving this a 7/10! I look forward to boldly watching Star Trek: Insurrection! ;-)

Let's face it: Picard's generation aren't made for the action-smash movie set. They don't fit with it. Kirk and company were made for brash brawling and gunning down Khan and the Klingons, which made for great movies that were true to the original series; Picard's series dwelt on the more cerebral affairs of diplomacy, temporal paradoxes and altered realities. The higher-concept stuff of Star Trek: The Next Generation doesn't feel right squished into a movie setting, where flashy explosions and high energy levels are expected. "First Contact" is a good action/sci-fi flick - but it takes one of TNG's better sci-fi concepts and trashes it in the name of marketability.

Yes, "First Contact" has great action sequences - the zero-g fight, the weird radioactive gas thing in the end, even the delightfully kitchy holodek mobster fight. The plot on earth works wonders simply because of James Cromwell's portrayal of Zephram Cochrane - his character and his story are compelling. And Picard's "Ahab Syndrome" was pretty sweet too.

The problem in this movie is the Borg - and more specifically, with the introduction of a "Borg Queen." The reason why the Borg are so frightening in the Next Generation TV series was not merely because they were powerful, but because they were so incredibly alien: they were a race in which no individuals exist. The Borg are not a "hive of drones" who are ruled by a "queen"; they are a single mind spread throughout billions upon billions of bodies. A single Borg is not akin to a drone in a hive, which has an individual nature but which is oppressed in a rigid hierarchy; rather, it is akin to a cell in an organism - it has no free, meaningful, or distinct existence beyond the larger body. There is no head or "ruler" of the Borg, any more than there is a single cell in your body that governs what you do. What makes the Borg's outlook on the rest of the universe so disturbing is that they cannot comprehend individuality, and thus individual lives are utterly insignificant to them... they take life without compunction because to the Borg, they aren't really taking lives - killing a human is like scraping a cell off someone's skin, an inconsequential act. The Borg are a truly alien species with a completely alien mindset - a rare gem in mainstream sci-fi.

But "First Contact" gives them a Queen who struts around and acts for all the world like a nasty human in some expensive makeup. She exchanges quips with Picard. She drips sexual innuendo over Data. She acts more like a James Bond temptress than a member of an alien cybernetic overmind. It completely demystifies them, makes them more human, when what made them so compelling is that they are so completely inhuman.

Without the Borg Queen, this movie would have perhaps been less approachable to casual moviegoers - after all, most expect their villains to have a face they can react to, and the Borg are nothing if not faceless - but it would have kept the Borg at their chilling and pure best. Instead, "First Contact" waters down Next Generation's brilliance and replaces it with some smirking one-liners and a lot of stuff that gets blown up.

6/10

Many of the Star Trek Films have relied heavily on character interaction, dialogue, and suggested events to tell the story. Star Trek: First Contact breaks from this tradition by producing a sharp, fast paced action film that never relents from beginning to end. There are moments of reflection for the characters, but the movie has an inertia that makes the other entries in the franchise seem as if they plod along at five miles an hour. The result is one of the most satisfying films in the series.

Part of the appeal of Star Trek: First Contact, is that the central enemy is the Borg Collective, which has surpassed all other villainous races in the Star Trek universe in popularity. The central villain in this chapter is the Borg Queen, played by the chilly yet seductive Alice Krige. Krige is confident, convincing, and absolutely threatening in her performance, and seems to almost border on a character from a horror film. She lends an edge that is unique from other villains in the series, and is perfectly suited to the nature of the Borg. The design for both the Queen and the rest of the Borg is unsettling, and the story line and history of this race serves to illicit an emotional continuity between the events in the television show and the films.

Star Trek: First Contact probably has the widest appeal of all of the episodes, in much the same way as Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home did in 1986. It is action packed, filled with decent visual effects, clearly plotted, and supplies a threatening villain. This is definitely the best Next Generation film to date, and one of the strongest movies in the entire series.

STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT is the 8th movie in a series that has so far produced 11 movies.

This is my second favourite of the Star Trek movies, second only to STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN. Like STAR TREK: THE WRATH OF KHAN, this movie can also be enjoyed by both those familiar to the Star Trek franchise and those new to it. Reading through the comments, I have noted comments from people who enjoyed it as a sci-fi action movie in its own right.

I will sum up the plot with those unfamiliar with Star Trek in mind - an alien race known as the Borg apathetic to individuality go back more than 300 years in time to attack Earth, colonise it and absorb its inhabitants into its collective. Captain Picard of the USS Enterprise follows the Borg back to Earth to stop their plans.

This very simple plot line brings an energetic story filled with virtually non-stop shoot-em-up action. Unlike most action movies, however, the antagonist is far more menacing. The Borg have no concept of individuality. It cannot be reasoned with. Killing one Borg barely has the impact of, say, removing one blood cell from a human body. The Borg in this movie are far more menacing than they were in the TV series.

For those familiar with the Star Trek franchise, I can confirm that all the familiar faces from the crew in the THE NEXT GENERATION series all appear here - Picard, Riker, Data, Geordi, Worf, Dr Crusher and Troi.

The movie represents a massive transformation from its predecessor, STAR TREK: GENERATIONS. For the first time we witness many members of the TNG crew behave or tempted to behave out-of-character due to the scale of the situation they find themselves in. Without giving away spoilers, I can state that characters in this movie face the prospect of having to turn against one another.

The acting across the board is top-notch. The actors' performances are so captivating that they genuinely invite the audience to share the feelings of their characters.

Patrick Stewart deserves special mention because he faces the greatest acting challenge - reprising his role as a character he played for 7 years in the TV series and a prior movie - now having to play the said character, Captain Picard, in a very different manner. The Captain Picard of this movie is not the calm diplomat from the TV series, he is someone with anger-fuelled determination to get revenge on the Borg, who once altered his biology so that he became part of their collective for a short time. His performance has to be seen to be believed and is enough to silence critics who claim he is unable to play a hero.

Alice Krige gives what is perhaps the best performance of her career as the Borg Queen. Her performance provides a perfect distraction from the major plothole - the existence of a head of the Borg collective. The Borg collective communicates as one voice with each drone being the same. So it could not feasibly have a single leader. When you see Alice Krige in action, however, you will find it easy to suspend your disbelief.

James Cromwell has fun playing Zephram Cochrane, the inventor of the warp drive referenced all through the franchise. For those unfamiliar with Star Trek, the warp drive is a component able to make starship engines travel at hyper speeds. I found the Zephram Cochrane in this movie much more exciting to watch than the bland version played by Glenn Corbett in an episode of the original series.

The real drawback with regards to the acting is Alfre Woodard. She was not a convincing lover or protégé for Picard and I couldn't help but wonder if she was drafted in as a replacement for Whoopi Goldberg. For those unfamiliar with the franchise, Whoopi Goldberg played a character named Guinan in the TNG series. She acted as a protégé ready to give wise words of advice to many crew members on the ship, including Picard.

Jonathan Frakes shows that he is just as good behind the camera as he is in front of it. His direction brings a great science-fiction story to life that is genuinely thought-provoking, emotionally moving and highly entertaining. In my opinion, he should have been nominated for an Oscar for Best Direction for his work on this movie.

The new starship Enterprise-E seems very dark and claustrophobic compared to the seemingly vast, bright and colourful Enterprise-D from the TV series and the previous movie. However, the Enterprise-E provides a perfect backdrop for the action to take place since its feel fits the tone of the movie perfectly. A wise decision was made to keep the bulk of the action on the ship rather than on Earth. Having said that, the events depicted on Earth help to offset the tension and allowing the audience to take a quick breath before being thrust back in again. The mix of light and dark works like a charm.

To summarise, STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT is a first-rate entry into the Star Trek series of movies that can be enjoyed by Star Trek fans and newcomers to Star Trek alike. I highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys sci-fi action movies.

First Contact is not simply as a great Star Trek film. It's wonderfully smart and sophisticated science fiction period. Here's the hook that I like about it, which may or may not have been intentional (but given that Ronald Moore is the co-writer, the beautiful mind behind Battlestar Galactica, I'll say yes): we often think about being from other worlds coming to our own and how we see them and their technology, and that's the point of view, of US seeing the OTHER.

The power with this movie is that because it's Trek, we have a vehicle for characters who are from another time and place, though who are us (in some ways more than others, usually more), and in this story as the Enterprise has to go back in time to the year 2063 with on one side The Borg to grapple with again and to make sure that a one-day-important man Zephram Cochrane (James Cromwell), who is basically a drunk who loves to dance to old time rock and roll and has somehow created what will be the warp drive everyone uses in the future, the roles are reversed. In short, we get to have a pure science fiction story that is loaded with ideas that, because it's the Borg (again, not unlike the original series the movies do a good course correct with their sophomore outing), we get to see what attaining "perfection" really means on contrast with a character like Zephram on the other side. It's a terrific balancing act.

I'm sure that for Trek fans, and the ones for TNG I think are a *little* more fanatical than even the ones for the original series, could be wrong on that, there are great callbacks and just by making it the Borg, which was one of the highlights of that show and how intense and psychologically profound it got (what would happen if you were stripped of your personality and "assimilated" by an entire collective consciousness - an analogy for political persuasion I suppose but could be anything). But for general audiences, i.e. those who may not watch Trek or only do occasionally, it works on its own terms.

The writers and director Jonathan Frakes make this fast moving but loaded with character motivations and arcs and plot - even for Alfre Woodard, who at first appears to be a supporting player, is probably closest to an audience surrogate and all the better for it (she gets to play a lot of emotions here, the full spectrum for bad-ass to terrified to indignation and wonder and awe and so on). And I think the themes it's wrestling with are easy enough to grapple with, about how what it means when you're thrust with the reputation of being a MAJOR leader and figurehead in the future, or if there's a being that can turn on and off an 'emotion chip' ("Sometimes, I really envy you," Picard comments, rightfully so), but also has the goal to become more human and is given that chance... by the villain. I can go on and on.

It's also extremely funny - the great comedic lines are sharp and witty, or they play on character stuff like when Zephram gets Marian Sirtis' character drunk on "this thing called Tequila" - and has beats that combine humor and satire and suspense with seemingly great ease: when Picard has to buy a moment or two from the Borg, he "brings to life", literally, a chapter from a book that's set in a 1930's style nightclub (he in a fedora and suit, Woodard in period clothes, surrounded by extras and so on) until he realizes he's in the wrong chapter, pushes it ahead and is in a white tuxedo, gets a Tommy gun and blows away the Borg (much as he can do).

This is one of those moments that would be brilliant in any movie, that could pull it off well, and this does. And at the heard of it all is the villain of the "Leader" of the Borg, played with aplomb and delivish villainy by Alice Krige, who wants to turn Data as with all beings into this "perfect" consciousness that she's had for so long. But does she truly know what she is? Or care? Certainly to Data it matters for much of the run time.

Such rich conflict in this movie! And characters talking out their problems, like Picard's issue about whether he should or shouldn't destroy the Enterprise in order to save his crew from the Borg. And throughout the writers weave in clever ideas and concepts and give full SCI-FI moments like, I couldn't even believe it, Picard and Warf and that other guy going out with Zero-G space suits on to the ship to stop some thing-a-ma-bob from going off that the Borg's setting up, and that transported me to a direct place in science fiction cinema too - that slow-speed and all the more intense for it act of doing something in space where if you lose your grip on the ground you'll float away to death.

This may be the best Trek film of the modern day, on par if not superior(!) to 'Khan' as a blend of adventure, story, action, and deeper philosophical notions about how we see ourselves, our roles in shaping the future, the past, and being ourselves throughout it all.

I'm not a fan of JJ Abrams re-incarnation of Star Trek, not by a million miles. So if I want to have fun Trek time I have to look way back to previous generations (ironically this time the Next Generation) and to 1996's Star Trek: First Contact - the last truly great Trek movie.

Haunted by dreams of the techno-zombie Borg race calling to him Picard wastes no time (okay, maybe a little) in charging the Enterprise into a Borg battle with the Federation above the Earth. The cube is successfully destroyed, but the Borg manage to travel back to the mid-21st century, a time when Earth is fractured due from World War III, and try to prevent the first meeting between humans and aliens.

Zefram Cochrane is the man who makes that connection with his first ever warp drive flight, and he's not quite the squeaky clean hero that the Enterprise crew thought he would be. Meanwhile, with their escape pod destroyed, the remaining Borg slowly take over the Enterprise, with their as-yet-unseen Queen attempting to seduce security codes out of Data with promises of humanity (a clever reversal of Borg culture).

Naturalized Star Trek movies tend to fare better with audiences. Both First Contact and the Voyage Home are more accessible for non-Trek fans but still have a sense of adventure and a strong connection to the universe (pun intended). First Contact also receives a huge boost from Jerry Goldsmith's beautiful score, which is his best Trek effort and certainly one of his best scores overall. The action is a little bit clunky (endless generic Enterprise corridor scenes get a bit tiresome) but the character chemistry is pitch perfect and there is a good variety in the excitement.

This film honestly was the best of the four TNG films. It had an excellent story with beautiful performances by Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Alfre Woodard and Alice Krige. Th borg plot was handled well and action sequences were defiantly handled with gusto. The effects are also good, especially the upside down space fight between Picard, Worf and the borg. Alice Krige is great as the borg queen, enlisting both menace and mystery into her performance. Her scenes with Data really get your blood pumping with suspense and testosterone. If you ever wanna watch a TNG film, this is the one for you.

I have just watched First Contact again for the first time in many years, after watching the final episode of Picard. I decided a nostalgia ride was in order!

I'd forgotten what a great movie this is and is certainly the high point of the ST:TNG movies. It's right up there along side the best of the ST movies. I'd say it's my favourite, alongside ST4: The Voyage Home. There's something really enjoyable about the future space voyagers returning to Earth to try and straighten us early technological age humans out. Goodness knows, we could do with such help from some future evolved beings right now!

The cast do a great job, it's well written and the effects are good. The score, by Jerry Goldsmith, is outstanding.

Give it a watch if you're struggling to find something good to watch!

I am a Star Trek fan, and watched every episode of the original series, and many of the episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I did not like the movie much, but if you can't think of anything but Star Trek, you should check out this movie, although you probably already have =).

Now, onto the mini-review. This movie takes place six years after the two-part Next Generation episode "The Best of Both Worlds", which actually is similar in length to the movie. Make sure you see "The Best of Both Worlds" first, to get a primer on the Borg and to understand most of the things this movie refers to (including the certain assimilation).

I think this movie really took away from some of the best parts of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Two examples:

Data having an emotion chip. Data was interesting because he did not have emotions, and even though he turned it off part-way through, it still makes his role in the movie less special.

The Borg Queen = bad idea. The Borg are Borg because they are not individual, but rather a collective conciousness. Having one Borg that controls them just doesn't work. If you've seen both First Contact and Best of Both Worlds you know what I mean, because in Best of Both Worlds the Borg are just plain neat, and in First Contact they come across differently.

Overall, this movie made the Borg less special, Data less special, and even though it reveals a lot about Star Trek history I just don't recommend it. If you don't know much about Star Trek but just want to find out what all this Borg stuff is about, watch Best of Both Worlds instead. Don't bother with First Contact.

It is the 24th century ,it is the rebirth of a saga, the start of a new scenario when Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew (Brent Spiner as Data , LeVar Burton as Geordi , Michael Dorn as Worf , Gates McFadden as Beverly , Marina Sirtis as Troy) pursue the Borg (into the Borg Sphere, the Cube's smaller counterpart, makes its first on-screen appearance) , a race of part humanoid, part machine , beings face the Federation in what would be the biggest battle of all time , with domination their goal . Enterprise chases a group of Borgs and enters a time distortion created by the Borg . They end up in the mid-21st century in order to save the Earth of the future and from Borg . Their only chance of stopping the Borg from assimilating Earth is to help cockeyed scientific named Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) make his famous first faster-than-light travel to the stars and fulfills his role in history , as part of crew (Jonathan Frakes's movie direction debut , best known as Riker) land and carry out the plans . As Picard and his crew go back in time to stop them from preventing Earth from initiating first contact with alien life . Meanwhile , Captain Picard is transformed into a character "Moby Dick's Captain Ahab¨ for his obsession with destroying the Borg, as Ahab was obsessed with killing the white whale ; but also Picard even has a dalliance with one of the women (Alfre Woodward) there and facing a villain who is an evil She-Borg queen (Alice Krige) .

This epic story is concentrated on characters as well as thrill-packed action and special effects although there're numerous of those too . The movie has action , tension , comedy , emotion , suspense and sensational spacial scenarios like is customary development of the franchise whose series buffs will have no complains . Spectacular, exciting , fast-paced , thrilling this is the description of this new outing of Star Trek , following two concurrent threads . Film that reinvents the saga through a perfect pulse narrative that does not give a second of rest to the spectator who is trapped for two hours approx. in a genuine visual spectacle . Idealism , humor , humanity , several agreeable characters and trademark effects abound and will please the enthusiasts such as the neophyte . The top-notch acting convinces , especially the nasty but seductive Borg , Alice Krige , in a super-villain role , while other players also make a nice work as James Cromwell and Alfre Woodward . The stirring final amazing the spectator , in which the moving and spectacular scenes create a perfect union that terminates with an ending that leaves you stuck in the armchair facing the formidable spectacle as a privileged witness . Magnificent special effects by ILM (George Lucas' Indutrial Light Magic) whose animators created several new classes of Federation ships for the huge CGI animation sequence against the Borg . Exceptional soundtrack by Jerry Goldsmith , he composes an impressive musical accompaniment to the film and helped by his son , the recently deceased Joel Goldsmith . Furthermore a colorful and evocative cinematography by Matthew F Leonetti . Efficient direction by Jonathan Frakes, the notorious Star Trek's commandant Riker . At the end of filming, actor/director Jonathan Frakes got the nickname: "Two takes Frakes" because of the efficiency of his style .He's an expert filmmaker of Sci-Fi genre and TV episodes : ¨Star Trek¨, ¨Roswell¨ ,¨Masters of science fiction¨, ¨The Librarian¨ , ¨Twilight zone¨ , among them and occasionally for Cinema such as ¨Clockstoppers¨ , ¨ Thunderbirds¨ and ¨Star Trek Insurrection¨.

Suitable for family viewing , it's an entertaining adventure which young and old men will enjoy . Fans of the series will find very bemusing and fun . It is amusing to watch , reliably entertaining for fans and Trekkies are sure to love it , resulting to be one of the best science-fiction follow-up of all time . Rating : Better than average . Well worth watching , essential and indispensable seeing for Trekkies .

Star Trek: First Contact is beloved by all kinds of fans... this blows my mind. Here's what bothers me: They turned Picard into a gun-toting psycho who kills his own crew who are turning into the Borg when even he was saved from the Borg. He's not the enlightened captain we know from the series.

Another big problem is nothing makes sense. The Borg go back in time huh? Well why didn't they do that before? What's to stop them from doing it again? Why didn't they go back in time even further? The Borg Queen was a HUGE mistake. She is an antagonist who completely undermines the image and the menace behind the Borg. All the sex stuff between her and Data was just completely wrong and it makes me sick to my stomach to think about this. Why did they have to add so many disgusting sexual innuendos to this movie?! Yes, I'm asking YOU, people who condemn the Transformers movies for having innuendos that are subtle by comparison. I mean You do NOT say "Was it good for you too?" In a STAR TREK MOVIE!!! You do not have somebody say "That is because you haven't been properly stimulated(sexually)". That is wrong! It's disgusting! The Holodeck scene makes no sense(I guess Borg can't adapt to Machine gun fire now?!) Then Picard And Lily wander pointlessly about the ship for a long time, and Picard and all the crew violate the temporal prime directive by telling Cochrane and Lily everything about the future! The characters are wasted. Riker, Worf, Geordi, Crusher are simply along either for the ride or to provide the lamest possible comic relief in the history of sci-fi. They don't even have much of a dramatic purpose! That's another thing... Why did they get Troi drunk? Was THAT supposed to be funny? That's not funny, that's a parody of Star Trek! That's farce! I understand light-hearted humor, that's what The Voyage Home did so well, without overdoing it. This movie, and frankly all the Next Gen movies overdid it on the "humor", and I use that term VERY loosely.

Oh, and the action movie line, Worf actually says "Assimilate this!" and blows up the deflector dish. Okay, that may be okay for a Die Hard movie, but NOT for a Star Trek film! Stupid action movie clichés like dumb ass one-liners have NO business in a Star Trek movie! And here's the kicker... Data fires torpedoes at the Phoenix ship, WHY?! The Phoenix ship will go to warp and the Ahem "Aliens" will pick up their presence and that will cause First contact. Why did Data shoot at the Phoenix? The Phoenix could have been destroyed, easily. I don't care if Data has precision aiming, he still cannot account for all kinds of unforeseen variables! It's kind of sad, because First Contact had potential. Seriously, First contact is boring, it's not big enough for a movie. It's nowhere near as good as the Best of both worlds episodes. The characters are either wasted or completely violated. For more details, please consult the Youtube reviews from the likes of Red Letter Media and Confused Matthew.