Biggest Flaw in Frst Contact

[Nebusj]

Also, after the flight of the Phoenix how did the crew get back? I didn't see any landing gear (although I accept it could've been secreted somewhere). But if the capsule parachuted back to Earth Apollo 13-style how did they recover the Phoenix for it to end up in the Smithsonian for Picard to visit as a boy. Also, the jettisoned rocket section, there was no way that could've been recovered to be put on display either.

Why suppose the jettisoned booster stages were recovered and put on display? I mean, I talk about having seen Apollo 11 in the Smithsonian (not much, I admit, but the subject doesn't come up often) but I wouldn't, if transported back to 1969, refuse to touch its Saturn V's first stage because it wasn't any piece on display.

 

[The Wormhole]

Such low-tech wouldn't interest the Borg, if they found a race that solely utilised projectile or melee weapons they would be deemed inferior and therefore not worthy of assimilation,

And yet, the traveled through time to specifically to assimilate Earth when they still utilised projectile weapons as their primary means of defense.

Hey, wait, that's a good point. How did they assimilate 21st century Earth in the alternate timeline? Didn't anyone try shooting them?

 

[OtherGene]

Why suppose the jettisoned booster stages were recovered and put on display? I mean, I talk about having seen Apollo 11 in the Smithsonian (not much, I admit, but the subject doesn't come up often) but I wouldn't, if transported back to 1969, refuse to touch its Saturn V's first stage because it wasn't any piece on display.

Picard gently caressed the bodywork that was jettisoned and then waxed lyrical about not being able to do so earlier in his life.

 

[OtherGene]

I have to point out that I love First Contact and that there really isn't much Star Trek I don't like (TNG season 1, perhaps) but, as with most things, little things now stand out and amuse me slightly.

Let's take The Borgs entire raison d'etre; to improve and achieve perfection by incorporating the synthetic etc etc. And the manifestation of this ends up being clunky fiddly bits that buzz and whirr on the end of their arms. The upshot of all that is that when they want to enter Sickbay this culmination of all these conquered worlds and their technological distinctiveness is that they decide to......bash the door in. Brilliant. That's all they had after all that effort, all those species assimilated and when faced with a standard issue starship door where most everyone else just presses a button to enter and they have to start making like the drug squad.

 

[Six of Twelve]

I always wondered about Lily and Cochrane left with a fair amount of knowledge about the 24th century and the the Borg. Lily in particular, having seen a good bit of Enterprise E, the force field window, the holodeck, phasers, Worf, escape pods, Borg drones, having the economics of the 24th century explained to her, seeing Picard and the others beam away at the end, etc.

Yet Picard seems unconcerned that they were left with this knowledge, and there were no attempts to erase their memories.

I imagine both Cochrane and Lily had the sense to keep this knowledge between the two of them, but still...

We have some ideas of what happened with Cochrane after this point, but I always wondered how Lily ended up spending the rest of her life.

 

[OtherGene]

I always wondered how Lily ended up spending the rest of her life.

Yeah, me too. Woodard really stood out when I rewatched the movie recently, she was no mere Gal-pal for Stewart (Hello Donna Murphy!). she probably could've taken down a few Borg herself.

EDIT - Actually, I plan to rewatch Insurrection again properly soon and after that maybe my opinion of Donna Murphy will change but I just remember Anij being a bit feeble after Lily Sloane. Anij would never call Jean-Luc a "son of a bitch" for example.

 

[Tenacity]

But if the capsule parachuted back to Earth Apollo 13-style how did they recover the Phoenix for it to end up in the Smithsonian for Picard to visit as a boy

You need to consider also that the Vulcans landed near Cochrane's silo, Earth's a big planet, why there?

The only way I can explain it is the Phoenix landed back at it's launch point (nearby), and the Vulcans detected it and landed near it.

 

[OtherGene]

You need to consider also that the Vulcans landed near Cochrane's silo, Earth's a big planet, why there?

The only way I can explain it is the Phoenix landed back at it's launch point (nearby), and the Vulcans detected it and landed near it.

That might be explainable as they were able to predict the point of origin based on the vessels trajectory but I think I'm going to have to assume it landed, or some part of it landed nearby as you say.

I wonder how long Lt Hawks Borgified remains were left floating in orbit....

 

[Timo]

And yet, the traveled through time to specifically to assimilate Earth when they still utilised projectile weapons as their primary means of defense.

Hey, wait, that's a good point. How did they assimilate 21st century Earth in the alternate timeline? Didn't anyone try shooting them?

There's no need for them to assimilate Earth with the resources of the pitiful remains of one Sphere. It suffices for the castaways from that Sphere to stop Cochrane from flying in 2063; Earth will then be defenseless when 64 Cubes arrive in 2197, or 126 in 2230, and assimilate Earth.

Although of course assimilation of Earth and Earth alone isn't likely to have been the Borg goal, because

a) where's the fun in that from the Borg POV? They want the Federation's technology, not Earth's.
b) that state of affairs did not remain at the conclusion of the adventure, yet the Borg wouldn't let it conclude in a Borg defeat. They had the ultimate retry tool, after all.

You need to consider also that the Vulcans landed near Cochrane's silo, Earth's a big planet, why there?

The only way I can explain it is the Phoenix landed back at it's launch point (nearby), and the Vulcans detected it and landed near it.

The Vulcans might also have been specifically spying on Cochrane's project, as their "passing by" cover story is implausible to the extreme.

Yet could Cochrane and his hillbillies convincingly fake being surprised by the Vulcan arrival? It might have been simpler for them to make (radio) contact out in space already, establishing the coordinates for the eventual handshake. I mean, it should probably take Cochrane a few hours to get his capsule landed in Montana, regardless of the availability of super-rockets and pinpoint-accurate parafoils and whatnot - a Vulcan warpship should have been able to reach Cochrane sooner than that, and its radio signals sooner still.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Swarm Emperor]

Why did the Borg wait until Picard had come to Engineering to deactivate the self-destruct? I imagine that it was hubris, but it still strikes me as a very risky thing to do.

 

[CommanderTrip]

The absolute BIGGEST flaw in First Contact? The size of the Enterprise of course!

Picard: (to Lily)"There are 24 decks..."

Random Security Guard who totally got demoted when Worf showed up: It looks like the Borg control Decks 26 up to 11....


Then in Nemesis, The Viceroy and his team beam aboard the ship....onto Deck 29.....

As I've said before, it is my belief that the Enterprise E gets fatter as the TNG movie saga unfolds.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

Despite the Borg's hubris (resistance is futile), they were shown to be lacking on several occasions. Finding the holes in Borg "perfection" is something that apparently only Starfleet officers have ever been able to do.

Borg are scary, but they suck at smarts.

You know, that's a really interesting way to look at it that I never considered before. It's almost like, being cyborgs, their reputation precedes them. I think we (and the characters in Trek) assume they are these computational and strategic behemoths, like an army of Datas. Perhaps the "message" of the Borg is that their individuality-squashing totalitarianism and imperialism-first directive is massively inefficient and bound to fail.

 

[2takesfrakes]

Cochrane was annoying with his personality peccadillos, his collection of eccentricities and whatnot. As a boyfriend for Lwaxana Troi, he'd be a perfect match. But in First Contact, he is not fun to watch. If he broke his jaw, when he fell into the stream, I would've been all like, "... good! I'm glad!" He really needed to tone it down and that Jonathan Frakes did not have him do so was a misstep. It's hard to tell the forest from the trees, sometimes ... I know. It might not have even registered just how annoying Cochrane was. To my surprise ... and chagrin.