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53 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Assimilate THIS!"....First Contact moves at Warp 9.9!, January 12, 2004
Even though Star Trek: Generations was a good first entry in The Next Generation era of feature films, it wasn't until Rick Berman, Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga wrote Star Trek: First Contact's story and screenplay that Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew proved that they could carry a Trek film without help from The Original Series' cast.It also helped that the film was more action-oriented than Star Trek VII. Sure, the last battle of the NCC-1701 D was impressive and the brief meeting of Captains James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Picard did provide Trek fans with some exciting and moving moments, but what fans really wanted was a muscular...action movie with a mission (and antagonists) worthy of the Next Generation crew and the new, top-of-the line Enterprise E. Star Trek: First Contact brings back the Borg, a race of half-organic, half cybernetic beings whose goal is to destroy other races by assimilating their technology and transforming the survivors by injecting microscopic nanoprobes that turn humans, Vulcans, El-Aurians -- anyone, really -- into unfeeling, relentless drones. As fans of the 1987-1994 syndicated series know, Capt. Picard was once captured by the Borg and transformed into Locutus, a Borg strategist/spokesdrone whose intimate knowledge of Starfleet technology,its tactics and its officers nearly spelled certain defeat for the Federation at the Battle of Wolf 359. Now, several years later, the Borg are back and meaner than ever. Having been thwarted more than once in the 24th Century by Picard and his crew, the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) leads a single-cubeship invasion force into Federation space, hoping to defeat the Federation by either conquering Earth in a battle against Starfleet...or tinkering with the timeline and going back to the 21st Century to prevent humanity's first contact with another spacefaring race. Actor Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr. Will Riker) makes his feature film directing debut in this eighth installment of the Star Trek movie series, and although he would only direct the weaker Star Trek: Insurrection, he does a great job at helming a very high-octane action flick that involves time travel, space battles, a strong Picard/Data storyline and elements from The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and the then-still new Voyager. Guest stars James Cromwell (The Sum of All Fears, Babe) and Alfre Woodward join the cast of TNG as warp-drive inventor Zefram Cochrane and his friend and assistant Lily, who add a certain mixture of edginess and wit to the film. Cromwell fares particularly well as Cochrane, a character first seen in The Original Series episode Metamorphosis. While Cromwell doesn't remotely look like the then-30 or 40-something Glen Corbett, he portrays the legendary "father of warp drive" as a very human and flawed genius -- he is cranky, cynical and drinks way too much -- who is bemused by the hero-worship he receives from the Enterprise crew. He also gets some of the best lines. (My favorite: "You're astronauts...on some kind of star trek?") Also contributing to the excitement is Jerry Goldsmith's score, a mixture of a lovely new main theme and such familiar touchstones as Alexander Courage's fanfare for the Original Series theme and Goldsmith's own "Main Theme" for Star Trek's first feature film (and later adapted as The Next Generation's main title). Although First Contact does require some familiarity with the Star Trek universe and its history, it's clearly among the best of the 10 in the series.
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DVD ~ Patrick Stewart
DVD ~ LeVar Burton
