Star Trek: First Contact
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
directed by Jonathan Frakes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
First Contact draws the line by Tom Julian
Taking place primarily in the wilderness of
the 21st century and on an Enterprise being rapidly
Borg-a-fied, First Contact takes us to an era never before shown in the Star
Trek universe. The plot revolves around a Borg foray into the past to
destroy the first human warp ship, essentially erasing the future of the Star
Trek Universe. After a ferocious 24th century battle between
Starfleet and a Borg cube above Earth, the Enterprise follows the
collective bad guys back through time to the day before we make first contact
with an alien race.
The crew finds Zefram Cochran (James Cromwell), the man scheduled to
take the first warp flight, reluctant to play the part history has
already carved out for him. Meanwhile, a few Borg managed to beam aboard the
brand new, sleek Enterprise-E and start to assimilate crew members and set up
a mini Borg collective in engineering. Picard, still haunted and
horrified from the time he spent a part of the Borg hive, struggles to take back
his ship deck by deck. Patrick Stewart brings an anger to Picard never
seen before. He draws the line against the invaders, claiming angry
vengeance from every Borg who falls.
Introduced is the Borg queen, played with cybernautic erotica by
Alice Krige. She tempts Data with real flesh (take that two ways) in exchange
for his loyalty and the Enterprise command codes. Beaming throughout the
entire escapade is Riker. Jonathan Frakes also directed First
Contact and has thrown in tons of jokes and highly amusing cameos by past
and present Star Trek actors including Voyager's Robert Picardo, playing the
holographic doctor, and Ethan Philips (Neelix sans the makeup) as a
maitre d' in a Dixon Hill hologram Borg trap. Also look for Dwight Schultz as good
old Reg Barclay.
With all the action and story going on, there isn't much room left for
Dr. Crusher, Geordi, Riker and most disappointedly, Worf. Hopefully, they'll
get their day next time out.
This is the most enjoyable Star Trek movie since The Voyage Home, but oddly
also the most disturbing. The Borg do their zombie-like dirty work, leading
newly assimilated un-dead to a surgical chop shop. But even in its darkest
moments, First Contact still cracks a smile. Even Marina Sirtis gets to play for
laughs. The most fun are Cochran and his feisty assistant Lily who get
to examine Star Trek from a unique perspective. Look for the best
one-liners from these two. "The Borg? Sounds Swedish."
Keep on Trekkin'.
Tom Julian is a teleplay and short story writer. He will be pitching to Paramount DS9 and Voyager in March 1997. Check out his web magazine, The Outpost |
If you find any errors, typos or other stuff worth mentioning,
please send it to editor@sfsite.com.
Copyright © 1996-2014 SF Site All Rights Reserved Worldwide