First Contact; Best Star Trek Movie?

My local station aired First Contact the other night.

If I'd known, I'd have been ready for it.
Out of the blue, there it was.

First Contact is probably the best translation of television Trek to Movie Trek. It begins as a virtual episode of Star Trek; The Next Generation.

Picard is dreaming (or visioning) the past when he was Borged. An alert from Star Fleet that the Borg are moving towards Earth snaps him to now.

The Enterprise is ordered not to join the defense, but go into the neutral zone, for
Command is a bit unsure of how Picard, who had been turned into a member of the collective will react when re-exposed to the Borg.

Trekkies like the Borg.

The Borg is a mix of Zombie (who doesn't like zombies?) and Machine, (who doesn't hate machines which can defeat people?) The whole Yin/Yang thing is served in bite sized pieces.

Basically, one is incorporated into the gestalt; hundreds of people, their minds all linked to the 'Queen' and each other, live in a collective consciousness.

The idea was kind of new, the discussions about it were novel, and the Borg gave us lots of cool references and phrases; (who hasn't had, at least for a short time, that image of Bill Gates Borged for a screen saver?)

Who doesn't like Time Travel? Trekkies love Time Travel, have loved it from TOS. In fact, every Trek has a few Time Travel epis.

So we got the Borg, we got Time Travel, and then we toss in Worf. Who doesn't love Worf?

So we've got a movie with The Next Generation cast, going toe to box with the Borg, in a Time Travel epi, with everyone playing true to character...

ALMOST.

It is that Almost which ads the final cherry on top of the sauce over the whip cream on top of the ice cream.

For the dialogue in this Trek is exactly what we want to hear.

Data advocates "To Hell with Orders", and they go off to the Earth Sector where Worf's ship has been attacked and he guesses, "Today must be a good day to die."

Travelling back in time they arrive on the day before the ship Zefram Cochrane created goes at light speed, and attracts the attention of Vulcans in the area.

Hence, the 'First Contact.'

Zefram Cochrane was a great hero in Trek time. In his Real Life, he was one of those stand up guys who gets drunk and wants to opt out. This 'feet of clay' to the neck is a clever way of removing the pedestal many heroes are stood upon.

Among the 'throw away' other reference lines, is Riker stunning Cochrane saying, "I don't have time for this..." Worf blowing up some Borgs with; "Assimilate This", and Cochrane saying, "What are you on some kind of star trek?"

The Borg queen was creepy enough and gave a face to the hive mind. Data's interaction, his almost orgasmic response to the feel of 'real skin' on his arm was part of the constant events which would be epis in their own right.

There is Picard telling Worf he is a coward, then doing a 180o. There is Deanna Troi getting drunk with Cochrane. There is Riker, amazingly, being the most levelheaded. There is Geordie with artificial eyes. Here is a Holodeck sequence, giving a very real feeling extra vehicular spacewalk.

These are just some of the aspects which made this a 'must see' Trek.

The only discordance is the Third World War.

It is doubtful that such an event would occur, and occur in such a massive scale. If it did, it push backspace exploration a century or longer.

Considering the weapons, the interconnection of nations, a world war would cause so much destruction, take so much focus, so much resources to rebuild that exploring space would be shelved.

Other than that, it was the kind of Trek one has to enjoy. The portrayal of the characters, the plot, the dialogue, the action and humour... hallmarks of Star Trek, are central.

It is easy to recommend this movie.