First Contact: Riker Appears from Nowhere

[Gorn Captain]

In First Contact, when the Enterprise first arrives in the 21st century, Picard beams down with an away team, telling Riker he has the bridge.

Then, five minutes later, Picard is rolling down a hallway @ Cochrane's place, having sensed the Borg presence on the Enterprise and announcing his intent to return to the Enterprise, and lo and behold, trailing behind him with Data, etc is...Riker.

Of course, for purposes of the story, Riker will lead the away team while Picard battles the Borg aboard ship. But still, where the hell did he come from? He just up and beamed down on his own?

 

[Candlelight]

Probably came down with Geordi's team, and felt Worf had the 'minor' task of repairing the Enterprise.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

One of the drafts of the script had Riker fighting the Borg up on the Enterprise, with Picard down on Earth with Lily and Big Z.

Probably an oversight.

Or they figured people would conclude he came down with Geordi. Tis' not a huge leap in reasoning.

 

[od0_ital]

That's what I figured...when the call went up for repair crew, Riker turned command over to Worf, who had nothin' better to do, and went down with Geordi, Reg & the other engineers.

I'd say the goal was to limit alien contact, and since Riker had a history in operations (as established in TNG 'Second Chances'), it was a humans only away mission (aside from Data, for a limited time, & Troi, who is half human & passes well enough for human). So, away he went...

 

[Too Much Fun]

with Lily and Big Z.

Nice nickname.

 

[Iamnotspock]

No, Picard orders Crusher to tell him to join the Away Team when she beams back up with Lilly.

CRUSHER: Severe theta radiation poisoning.
DATA: Radiation is coming from the damaged throttle assembly.
CRUSHER: We're all gonna have to be inoculated, ...and I have to get her to sickbay.
PICARD: Doctor...
CRUSHER: Please, no lectures about the Prime Directive. I will keep her unconscious.
PICARD: Very well. Tell Commander Riker to beam down with a search party. We need to find Cochrane.
CRUSHER: Crusher to Enterprise. Two to beam directly to sickbay.

 

[Gorn Captain]

No, Picard orders Crusher to tell him to join the Away Team when she beams back up with Lilly.

CRUSHER: Severe theta radiation poisoning.
DATA: Radiation is coming from the damaged throttle assembly.
CRUSHER: We're all gonna have to be inoculated, ...and I have to get her to sickbay.
PICARD: Doctor...
CRUSHER: Please, no lectures about the Prime Directive. I will keep her unconscious.
PICARD: Very well. Tell Commander Riker to beam down with a search party. We need to find Cochrane.
CRUSHER: Crusher to Enterprise. Two to beam directly to sickbay.

Hey, you're right! How did I miss that?

Er...um.../endthread

 

[Iamnotspock]

Hey, you're right! How did I miss that?

Er...um.../endthread

It's easily missed.

 

[Too Much Fun]

"Star Trek: First Contact" is a pretty fast-paced movie. Lots of dialog being delivered quite quickly at the beginning. I like it more than "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" overall, but one advantage I think that one has over it is a more leisurely pace that makes the movie feel more intimate and relaxing during its first half. You just don't have lovely scenes like when McCoy gives Kirk glasses for his birthday in the more action-oriented TNG movies.

 

[Iamnotspock]

"Star Trek: First Contact" is a pretty fast-paced movie. Lots of dialog being delivered quite quickly at the beginning. I like it more than "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" overall, but one advantage I think that one has over it is a more leisurely pace that makes the movie feel more intimate and relaxing during its first half. You just don't have lovely scenes like when McCoy gives Kirk glasses for his birthday in the more action-oriented TNG movies.

We would have had an equivalent scene in Nemesis with Picard and Data discussing the passage of time over a glass of Château Picard. So of course it was deemed unimportant and cut...

 

[Too Much Fun]

Yeah, I saw that scene and thought, "wow, this is weird, a scene that actually feels like a scene from the TV series. In "Star Trek: Nemesis!". Seems really out of place. And that's part of the problem. Instead of a scene like that being out of place, the whole movie should have been more like it!

 

[Gaith]

We would have had an equivalent scene in Nemesis with Picard and Data discussing the passage of time over a glass of Château Picard. So of course it was deemed unimportant and cut...

I hated that scene - after years with the emotion chip, not to mention his observations of humanity, Picard is still giving Data People 101 lectures?! Oh, hell no! More quiet and personal scenes would have been great, but with better writing and more character development, please.

 

[CaptainStoner]

One thing that bugs me in FC: Worf comes aboard the Ent-E, after nearly losing his ship. You know he's lost some crew, probably a lot of crew, as there's a slumped over ensign on his bridge, which is nearly trashed. He comes out of that, bloodied, from sickbay, to man his post on the bridge and Riker cuts in with his cute little "you do still know how to fire phasers, don't you?"
I'm all for humorous moments, but this wasn't the time for one. This ties in with what people were saying above about character development in the films. Riker has served with Worf and lost people with Worf. It's a cute line but is way out of character. Picard isn't the only one that is miswritten in this movie IMO.

 

[Iamnotspock]

One thing that bugs me in FC: Worf comes aboard the Ent-E, after nearly losing his ship. You know he's lost some crew, probably a lot of crew, as there's a slumped over ensign on his bridge, which is nearly trashed. He comes out of that, bloodied, from sickbay, to man his post on the bridge and Riker cuts in with his cute little "you do still know how to fire phasers, don't you?"
I'm all for humorous moments, but this wasn't the time for one. This ties in with what people were saying above about character development in the films. Riker has served with Worf and lost people with Worf. It's a cute line but is way out of character. Picard isn't the only one that is miswritten in this movie IMO.

Agreed. In-universe, I think it can be seen as an ill-judged attempt on Riker's part to lighten the situation, while Worf's look can be read as him thinking; "This is not the time for jokes!"

 

[Gorn Captain]

One thing that bugs me in FC: Worf comes aboard the Ent-E, after nearly losing his ship. You know he's lost some crew, probably a lot of crew, as there's a slumped over ensign on his bridge, which is nearly trashed. He comes out of that, bloodied, from sickbay, to man his post on the bridge and Riker cuts in with his cute little "you do still know how to fire phasers, don't you?"
I'm all for humorous moments, but this wasn't the time for one. This ties in with what people were saying above about character development in the films. Riker has served with Worf and lost people with Worf. It's a cute line but is way out of character. Picard isn't the only one that is miswritten in this movie IMO.

Agreed. In-universe, I think it can be seen as an ill-judged attempt on Riker's part to lighten the situation, while Worf's look can be read as him thinking; "This is not the time for jokes!"

You're going to get out of character moments like that when you have scenes that are so hastily constructed filmed and edited that way. The whole early part of the movie is so rushed. I think I recall they are traveling back in time about fourteen minutes into the movie. Way too fast.

 

[CaptainStoner]

One thing that bugs me in FC: Worf comes aboard the Ent-E, after nearly losing his ship. You know he's lost some crew, probably a lot of crew, as there's a slumped over ensign on his bridge, which is nearly trashed. He comes out of that, bloodied, from sickbay, to man his post on the bridge and Riker cuts in with his cute little "you do still know how to fire phasers, don't you?"
I'm all for humorous moments, but this wasn't the time for one. This ties in with what people were saying above about character development in the films. Riker has served with Worf and lost people with Worf. It's a cute line but is way out of character. Picard isn't the only one that is miswritten in this movie IMO.

Agreed. In-universe, I think it can be seen as an ill-judged attempt on Riker's part to lighten the situation, while Worf's look can be read as him thinking; "This is not the time for jokes!"

You're going to get out of character moments like that when you have scenes that are so hastily constructed filmed and edited that way. The whole early part of the movie is so rushed. I think I recall they are traveling back in time about fourteen minutes into the movie. Way too fast.

That's true. That scene is particularly glaring because Worf is coming onto the bridge, against Crusher's advice, still bloodied from battle. Another gripe I have is Picard's backstory is never explained. If you didn't watch BoBW and Family Picard makes no sense. FC was a good crossover movie due to the zombie-like Borg, but for a casual viewer I don't think the dream-within-a-dream sequence is quite adequate.
Like when he says "I can hear them". Why can he hear them ? How?

 

[Andymator]

That's true. That scene is particularly glaring because Worf is coming onto the bridge, against Crusher's advice, still bloodied from battle. Another gripe I have is Picard's backstory is never explained. If you didn't watch BoBW and Family Picard makes no sense. FC was a good crossover movie due to the zombie-like Borg, but for a casual viewer I don't think the dream-within-a-dream sequence is quite adequate.
Like when he says "I can hear them". Why can he hear them ? How?

Picard does explain the whole thing later in the movie for people who hadn't watched that episode. His abridged version of the backstory worked fine for a lot of people I know.

 

[CaptainStoner]

That's true. That scene is particularly glaring because Worf is coming onto the bridge, against Crusher's advice, still bloodied from battle. Another gripe I have is Picard's backstory is never explained. If you didn't watch BoBW and Family Picard makes no sense. FC was a good crossover movie due to the zombie-like Borg, but for a casual viewer I don't think the dream-within-a-dream sequence is quite adequate.
Like when he says "I can hear them". Why can he hear them ? How?

Picard does explain the whole thing later in the movie for people who hadn't watched that episode. His abridged version of the backstory worked fine for a lot of people I know.

Oh yeah, and there's also that bit with Riker when they give a few lines about Starfleet not wanting Picard there for the invasion. I guess it's enough to go on, my bad.

 

[David cgc]

In fact, it's almost structured so it's deliberately ambiguous for new viewers, so they'll be trying to figure out exactly what Picard's deal is with the Borg until he lays it all out for Lily.

 

[WillsBabe]

I hated that scene - after years with the emotion chip, not to mention his observations of humanity, Picard is still giving Data People 101 lectures?! Oh, hell no! More quiet and personal scenes would have been great, but with better writing and more character development, please.

Would have been cool to have this scene with Data leading the conversation. Maybe Picard was sad and Data was consoling him with his observations and experiences of life and death and the passing of time. The fact that Data was the one consoling Picard, assuming the "mentor" role it would have demonstrated to Picard how good things (Data's development) come from the passage of time. Still, we had to have Picard in the father figure mentor role. I guess in the flims we have to have the characters in a snapshot of their archetype in case casual cinema goers get confused. A pity.