Star Trek: First Contact

Star Trek: First Contact is the first feature film in

the Star Trek series that does not include any of the 

original cast.  The crew of Star Trek: The Next

 Generation has taken over.  While the original Star 

Trek characters were certainly popular, it was time for 

a change.  The new crew bring a completely different 

style and flavor to the legacy.  First Contact firmly 

establishes that the Next Generation has taken over.

The Plot

	The film begins with a spectacular effects shot. 

 The camera focuses in on Captain Jean-Luc Picard's eye 

and pans back to show an impossibly massive Borg ship.  

For those familiar with the Next Generation, the Borg 

need no introduction.  However for the non-informed, the 

Borg require a little explanation.  They are a group of 

cybernetic beings originally encountered by the 

Enterprise in a distant area of space.  Since their 

discovery of the Federation, the Borg made one attempt 

to invade and assimilate the Federation.  They operate 

as one mind, a collective.  By assimilating other beings 

into their collective, they erase that person's free 

will and individuality.  This occurred to Picard.  He 

was forced to help them destroy 40 starships.  In First 

Contact, Picard is out for revenge.

	The Borg send one ship, which is destroyed 

because Picard can still "hear" the Borg mind.  However 

the Borg are not stopped so easily.  They send a smaller 

ship back in time with the intent on stopping Earth's 

first contact with an alien race.  Picard and crew are 

hot on their heels, and the Enterprise manages to 

destroy this smaller ship.  However before it's 

destruction, the Borg transport to the Enterprise.  This 

is truly where the movie begins, as the Borg attempt to 

assimilate the Enterprise and the crew fights back.

The Effects

	The special effects in this movie are 

incredible.  The battle scene between the Borg ship and 

Starfleet is a masterpiece.  The effects for the 

starships were done by computer, which is a break from 

the rest of Star Trek.  Normally models are filmed for 

all the effects shots.  

	One scene in particular sticks out in my mind 

however, the deflector dish scene.  In this scene, 

Picard and Worf don spacesuits and travel outside the 

Enterprise to do battle with the Borg.  It is very 

tense, with the actors on screen moving slowly in 

zero-g.  The music underscore is also very nice, drawing 

out 2001 like themes.  

My Thoughts

	As a devoted Star Trek fan, I was thrilled with 

First Contact.  The last feature film, Generations, was 

filled with errors, confusion, and plot holes.  These 

are notabley absent in First Contact.  However there 
were still some confusing things:

* Where was the normal crew of the Defiant?  Don't Dax, 

O'Brien, and Bashir usually go on these trips?

* Why don't the doors open for the Borg?  In the sickbay 

scene, that is explained by the power outage, but what 

about when Picard and Lily go to the holodeck?  True, 

Picard hits a few keys, but that is it.  While he is 

enter keys, the Borg start pounding on the door.  Also, 

Picard manages to disable the safety protocol on the 

holodeck.  When did he do this?  At the same time he was 

calling up the program and locking the Borg out?

* The Borg's manner of assimilation certainly has 

changed since the "Best of Both Worlds".

* The autodestruct seems to be very easy to disable.  

Data only has to punch a few keys.  Does this seem 

right?  I thought that it would take several command 

authorization codes to disable the autodestruct.

	Despite these errors, First Contact is a great 

film.  It has everything a good Trek film should: great 

music, good villains, good subplots, cameos, and humor. 

 It is fun to watch.  Non Trekkers may be a little 

confused, but they should still be able to enjoy the 

film.