First Contact

[TrekToday]

Plot Summary: A gravely injured Riker is brought into a hospital on a planet where the doctors have never seen a being like him before. Though the doctors believe he must be an alien, Riker claims that his physiology is the result of birth defects and claims to be Malcorian, like all of them. While the doctors debate whether to tell the planetary security force, Picard and Troi beam into the offices of Mirasta Yale, the Minister of Science, who has been preparing for her planet's first warp drive test. They explain that her people are about to enter galactic society and admit that they have been monitoring her people as they developed the technology to enter space. Yale advises them not to tell Chancellor Durken that they have had researchers posing as Malcorians, citing the traditional belief among many of her people that they are the center of the universe. She promises to help them find Riker, but before she can do so, frightened doctors beat a still-weak Riker and summon the conservative Minister of Security, Krola, who begins an interrogation. A meeting with Durken convinces the chancellor that the arrival of the Enterprise does not represent the beginning of a conquest, but he is furious when he learns that Picard has failed to disclose that there were Starfleet officers in disguise on the planet. Fearful that Durken will "surrender" to the alien "invaders" without a fight, Krola shoots himself with Riker's phaser in an attempt to convince his people that the Enterprise officers have hostile intentions. Yale leads Crusher to Riker; she saves him and concludes that Krola is not badly injured since the phaser was set on stun. Though Durken accepts that the Enterprise has come in peace, he tells Picard that his people are not ready to join other spacefaring races, and asks the Federation to leave his planet alone.

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To read the full reviews, please click here.

[Unicron]

I'll have to rewatch this one sometime. I recall never really liking it that much when I was younger, but I've become better able to understand some of the deeper philosophical stories as I've grown older. I sometimes see good comments from others about this ep, so I'll have to find a copy and watch it again.

[Photoman15]

"The bimbo" gave the story a point of view of the people who read the Enquirer and The Globe. If this happened on Earth, there is no doubt in my mind that there would be some person who would declare the same thing, to the alien, to his captors or the media.

[JNG]

ROFL

M.E.G. calls Lanel "detestable" for wanting to bang Riker

Her reviews are always good for a laugh

[AntonyF]

Unicron wrote:

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I'll have to rewatch this one sometime. I recall never really liking it that much when I was younger, but I've become better able to understand some of the deeper philosophical stories as I've grown older.

I feel exactly the same. Some episodes I didn't get the nuances or the message of, and this is probably one of them. I didn't remember the story much at all until reading MEG's summary.

I love Carolyn Seymour though, I know that much. She's fab.

[The Borg Queen]

Why did they not just wait until AFTER their first warp flight before making the Federation's presence known?

What exactly were they trying to do that couldn't wait?

[Tiberius]

Riker had gone missing and they were pretty sure he was badly injured. They were trying to sav his life, that's what they were doing that couldn't wait.

[The Borg Queen]

I mean, why were they sneaking around on the planet in the first place?

[Evil_Kirkneivel]

The Borg Queen wrote:

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I mean, why were they sneaking around on the planet in the first place?

Spot on. This is the bigger question that bothers me about this episode and about the Federation's attitude toward pre-warp civilizations.

Why is it that if your civilization has achieved warp, the Federation will proceed through normal diplomatic channels (for example, contact the leaders and arrange a meeting) but if your civilization has not achieved warp, the Federation feels it has the right to virtually invade your planet and perform clandestine spying - then have the gall to emerge and try to to get the leaders to trust the Federation after such an underhanded start!

This is the bigger question that was not addressed in the episode and that proved to be a distraction to me - not some lighthearted sex romp between Riker and an alien groupie.

[Dane_Whitman]

I always liked this episode. The script is tight and I like the guest stars. The score is also top notch.

[Tiberius]

They were doing research. Not good to bump into the species out in space when they make it there with a warp ship, only to say hi and inadverdantly insult them. Find out what they are like before such an encounter can take place, and you'll be prepared.

[warriorsfan]

JNG wrote:

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ROFL

M.E.G. calls Lanel "detestable" for wanting to bang Riker

Her reviews are always good for a laugh

I've also found it useful to print them out and wipe my ass with them when I run out of TP.

[James Bond]

Which circles back to the bimbo who wants to make love with an alien. I suppose someone might have thought it was a realistic touch to throw in a character like that, because it's all too plausible that the writers might have met someone at a Star Trek convention who uttered such a sentiment. But this isn't some guy in Spock ears who's dreaming that Barbarella will drop into his lap. Lanel's supposed to be a medical professional. Her proposition to Riker would be extremely offensive if there were an iota of seriousness to the scene...if it had been Crusher down there and she'd stripped off for a man promising to help free her only if she performed sexual acts for him, is there anyone who wouldn't find it distasteful if not downright repulsive? (Yeah, this is Riker, not Crusher; but it's also Riker, not Kirk.) The scene skirts the specter of coercive sex by camping it up, putting Lanel in nerd glasses and having Riker promising afterward to look her up if he's ever back in her star system, but the fact that it's there diminishes the episode as a whole.

And there it is.

Yet another terrible, unprofessional, and biased pseudo-review.

[Nerys Ghemor]

Evil_Kirkneivel wrote:

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Spot on. This is the bigger question that bothers me about this episode and about the Federation's attitude toward pre-warp civilizations.

Why is it that if your civilization has achieved warp, the Federation will proceed through normal diplomatic channels (for example, contact the leaders and arrange a meeting) but if your civilization has not achieved warp, the Federation feels it has the right to virtually invade your planet and perform clandestine spying - then have the gall to emerge and try to to get the leaders to trust the Federation after such an underhanded start!

This is the bigger question that was not addressed in the episode and that proved to be a distraction to me - not some lighthearted sex romp between Riker and an alien groupie.

THANK YOU.

This is one of the things that has always bothered me about the Federation and Starfleet.

Want to find out what a species is like? If they're that far along, technologically, surely they've got the equivalent of radio, TV, and Internet, many of the signals just beaming out into space for anyone to see! Just watch their news, for crying out loud!!

[The Borg Queen]

Evil_Kirkneivel wrote:

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but if your civilization has not achieved warp, the Federation feels it has the right to virtually invade your planet and perform clandestine spying - then have the gall to emerge and try to to get the leaders to trust the Federation after such an underhanded start!

These people would be quite right in telling the Federation to FOAD.

And this isn't the first time they've done this kinda of behaviour. And on one occasion they only got out of it that time because of "The Picard".

Do these people never actually LEARN anything?