Theatrical Release Date:November 21, 1996 Release Date:June 18, 2008 Availability:Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Synopsis:
Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his able crew travel back in time to Earth in the year 2063, where they hope to ensure that the inventor of warp drive, Zefram Cochran (played by James Cromwell), will successfully carry out his pioneering warp-drive flight and precipitate Earth's "first contact" with the Vulcans. A seductive Borg queen (Alice Krige) holds Lt. Data (Brent Spiner) hostage in an effort to sabotage the Federation's preservation of history, and the captive android finds himself tempted by the queen's tantalizing sins of the flesh! Sharply conceived to fit snugly into the burgeoning Star Trek chronology, First Contact leads to a surprise revelation that marks an important historical chapter in the ongoing mission "to boldly go where no one has gone before”.
The Beginning is a Means to the EndAugust 4, 2008 AMP(Somewhere on Earth) The Good Things *Excellent action and special effects. The opening battle scene is probably the best of the series. *Filming style is good. *The storyline is good. Includes a great deal of excitement, comedy, and drama. *Incorporates a good deal of stuff from the Star Trek universe. The Borg make for the best bad guys of the series. They are quite menacing (and it's about time they stopped bringing up the Klingons!). Also an original and refreshing look at the history of the saga, involving the guy who invented Warp Drive. *Characters are good. Picard shows a great deal of pain and compassion. *Writing is good. *Music is good.
The Bad Things *Ummm...
To start with, this film has some of the best action and battle scenes in the series. It also boasts some immersive drama, comedy, and suspense. And it ties in a lot of aspects from the TV shows to create a coherent plot. It's probably the best film done by the Next Generation crew, and is certainly worthwhile watching.
The one-disc version had good video and sound quality. The two-disc version still has good quality, and has a number of featurettes and trailers.
And now .. the beginning of the storyJuly 17, 2008 Samuel Buzzelli(Bridgeville, PA) After all the previous Star Trek movies, this came out to fill in the story. As a prequel it's a little lackluster. It's not the swashbuckling space opera,with great visual effects and great story telling. What sells this is the first meeting between Vulcan and human and the struggle to escape earth into space. Since I'm a completist, I just had to have this -- and no true trekkie would be without it either, no matter how lame it may be.
Fight For Humanity Or A Madman's Revenge?June 27, 2008 K. Fontenot(The Bayou State) That's the key question one should ask himself when viewing "Star Trek: First Contact." In this first solo outing for the TNG crew, Picard and the gang find themselves facing off against the highly popular villains called the Borg. Having been defeated every time they've battled the Enterprise, the Borg devise a plan to travel back in time to stop a key event in Earth's history and then (big shocker) assimilate everybody. In a heated and action-packed space battle, the Borg jump through time with the Enterprise E hot on their tale. The Borg cube is destroyed almost immediately, but this is only the beginning of a fast-paced and highly enjoyable action/dramatic yarn that goes so far as to question a particular crewmember's sanity.
While he isn't at the helm of the Enterprise in this film, Jonathan Frakes does call the shots behind the camera. He takes the screenplay crafted by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore and blends just enough action into the script to keep the story moving at a good clip. As much as I enjoy TNG, I do have to say that the series was often weighed down by long and drawn out moments of dialogue. Frakes puts the brakes on these sequences at just the right time.
Patrick Stewart delivers a solid performance as Picard. Matching him scene-for-scene is Alfre Woodard in an excellent performance as a fish-out-of-water aboard the Enterprise. James Cromwell proves once again that he deserves bigger roles than the ones he usually gets. Brent Spiner is sufficient as always as Data and the rest of the crew do an excellent job as well.
The music and special effects are also very good. As stated before, the space battle sequence is amazing. There's also some zero-gravity action as well.
This two-disc set is an excellent addition to any Trek fan's collection (or, in this case, collective). The special features are a nice treat, and I personally enjoyed the audio commentary from Frakes. I highly recommend this action-packed space yarn to Trek fans as well as fans of excellent science fiction.
A Return To ActionJune 10, 2008 Zachary Koenig(Fergus Falls, MN) After chasing God in Star Trek V, reenacting the Cold War in IV, and being offered an ultimate "fantasy life" in Generations (all very philosophically-themed films), Star Trek: First Contact shifted its focus to action/adventure, and was better served for it. Plus, not only was the film a rousing adventure, but also containted the emotions to back it up.
In this film, the Next Generation crew is reunited with the Borg (whom, perhaps with the exception of Klingons, are the most compelling villain race in the Star Trek cannon). This reunion touches an extremely raw nerve in Captain Jean-Luc Picard, who once was captured and tortured by the Borg, setting up the emotional drama of the film. The "Picard meltdown" scene is one of the best in the entire Star Trek series as far as emotional conflict is concerned. While trying to stop the Borg from changing the entire course of human space travel (the main plot of the film), Picard must balance his intense hatred of the one-eyed automatrons with the safety and well-being of himself, his crew, and the entire human race.
Besides that strong emotion, though, the other aspect of the film that succeeds is its ability (much like the II-IV movies) to give all the Enterprise crew something important (and interesting) to do. Worf tries to secure the ship from the Borg, Data is heavily drawn into the Borg's plan (being a cybernetic being himself), while Riker, Geordi, and Troi must help Zefram Cochrane gain the confidence to lift off on the most important of all manned space flights. Each story is just as compelling as the other, with Worf providing the bulk of the action, Data adding more emotional conflict, and Riker/Geordi/Troi pushing the main plot forward as well as adding doses of humor.
To conclude, Star Trek: First Contact is easily the best Star Trek film featuring the Next Generation cast, and I would argue rivals movies II and IV as the best in the entire series. With its combination of action, emotional drama, time-travel plot (those always keep you thinking!), and sly humor, this film combines all the positive aspects of the Star Trek cannon and tops things off with a great script and spot-on acting. If you have never seen a Star Trek movie and could care less about the "old guys" (The Original Series cast), this is the movie to start with. If you were introduced (albeit rather poorly) to the Next Generation crew in Star Trek: Generations, this movie will properly aquaint you to the show.
Lots of fun, but not for the uninitiatedJune 8, 2008 Tammany Hall(Boston, MA) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Enjoyable, action-filled, but if you haven't watched the series, you might be a bit at sea.
So let's see: um, Picard once got bitten by a cyborg race called the Borg and developed Space Lime Disease, and oh yeah, Warf is on that spin-off show Deep Space Nine, so that's why he's on that little ship (with nobody else from that show, apparently). Oh, and there's this guy named Zephram Cochrane from the ORIGINAL series who created warp drive, and later became immortal, sort of.
But if you can chew through that or ignore it, there's the nasty Borg queen, played by Alice Krige with scene-stealing glee, nifty space battles, fun with the holodeck, mercy killing, and the always effective Alfre Woodard. And don't forget James Cromwell, just a few years after that little piggy movie got him a much better agent.
Jonathan Frakes, (Commander Riker) directed, quite capably. The film moves along at a nice pace, rarely stalling (usually only when Patrick Stewart is having a "SERIOUS ACTING!" moment). There's the story on the ship, battling the Borg, and the story on the planet, where half the crew is trying to get the reluctant Cochrane up in the air in his rickety warp ship, on schedule. Balancing the two stories is really quite a feat.
Compare the editing and cutting between the two stories with Lucas's dismal Episode One: I would have gladly killed little Anikin, Jar-jar, Amidala and her bully-boys myself just so we could get back to the climactic light saber duel.
This Trek movie is enjoyable, but if the second paragraph above make you go "huh?", better get a trekkie on the couch to ask questions when you watch this.
