"Star Trek: First Contact" is the last of the three Star Trek movies I own that I've rewatched to build my anticipation for the new Star Trek movie. The last time I watched all of them, I came to the conclusion that even though "Star Trek: First Contact" is and will always be my favourite, I think objectively "The Wrath of Khan" is better because it has a better beginning and more substance. "The Voyage Home" will probably always be my third favourite...I always enjoy it throughly, but it lacks the epic feel of the other two, which to me diminishes it in comparison to them.
After this latest viewing, I find myself leaning towards favouring "Star Trek: First Contact" most again. I was afraid that after all of the criticisms I've read about the movie since joining this forum, I might have them in mind when I watch the movie again and therefore not enjoy it as much, but most of them didn't phase me. There was one I agreed with, but it didn't taint my experience of the movie the way it seems to have with others (more on that later). The only thing that really bothered me which hasn't bothered me before (and I don't even recall this ever being mentioned in the forum) is that the first 20 minutes or so are pretty much all exposition.
As I said in other threads, I had the same issue with "The Wrath of Khan", "The Search for Spock" and "The Voyage Home". There's a difference between how I reacted to the exposition in each, though. In "The Wrath of Khan", I loved it. The movie starts slow with many scenes establishing where Kirk is mentally at the time and I didn't mind, because those scenes were so wonderfully written and acted. In contrast, all the stuff with the Klingons and the Genesis device in Star III and Spock's recovery and earth's dilemma in Star Trek IV bored me.
With "First Contact", I wasn't bored at the beginning, just a little flustered by how while the other ones move too slowly, it moves a little too quickly! The movie is really manic at the beginning, racing through Picard's backstory with the Borg, Starfleet's current crisis with the Borg, the Enterprise joining the fight against them, the Borg attacking earth, and the Enterprise following them back in time. All of this happens so quickly, it's a little exhausting. It's like they were trying to cram in as much as they can into the beginning to get the necessary set-up storytelling out of the way so that the movie could REALLY start.
Once the away team gets to earth and the Borg threat on the ship is realized, I think the movie finally gets into its groove and sets a solid pace. I think of all the movies I've mentioned "The Wrath of Khan" is the one with the most tightly written and well-paced 'set-up period', but what makes "First Contact" superior is that once it gets all of that extraneous stuff out of the way, it maintains a good pace from start to finish. All of the other Star Trek movies I like have entire periods that I feel drag the movie down a little bit. The nebula fight in Wrath of Khan, the Genesis planet events in The Search for Spock, the landing back on earth in The Voyage Home (until the very last scene with Spock and his father), and the prison scenes in The Undiscovered Country. Come to think of it, a lot of the Star Trek movies have two parallel stories happening at once, splitting the crew between simultaneous adventures, but I think First Contact is the only one in which I enjoy each story equally from start to finish.
Some critics have put down "Star Trek: First Contact" for its attempts at comedy. During my latest viewing of the movie, I found the comedy more effective than ever before, although not necessarily in the most blatantly comedic moments. I didn't think the Troi getting drunk stuff was so great this time. I guess it's supposed to be a treat for fans because it shows a lighter side of Troi (who was often so dead serious on the show), but I've always thought Marina Sirtis had a tendency to overact when trying to be dramatic and here she was just overacting in a different context. Instead of trying too hard to be dramatic and coming across as annoying, here she was just trying too hard to be funny, which is kinda lame.
What made the scene work for me was Riker's reactions to her. I love how he gets a kick out of being able to tell her she's drunk, and the biggest laugh of the scene for me was the quick shot of his reacting facial expression when she falls over. It actually made me appreciate Frakes as an actor more. Sirtis says on the DVD that she thinks the scene showed that Troi had good comedic timing, but I felt this way about Frakes/Riker instead. I also dug the humour in James Cromwell's character more than ever before too. Again, not in the most obvious way (the fact that he's actually a drunk and a skirt-chaser when he's revered as an idealistic hero), but just in his mocking dismissal of who the Enterprise crew say they are. I thought "Hot damn, you're heroic" and "I love a good peep show" were his funniest lines this time. Of course the "Star Trek" line cracked me up too, but in a 'so bad it's good' cheesy way.
Lily was a consistent source of laughs as well, even when she wasn't supposed to be. I just couldn't get over what a pleasure it was to see someone speak so profanely to Picard. Here we have this character who has always been treated with such respect and formality by other characters who look up to him as this almost mythic figure due to his powerful presence and status as a superemely gifted and dignified authority figure. Even Q, who spent most of his time in Picard's presence taunting the man maintained this perception of him as one of the most impressively eloquent and intelligent representatives of his species who therefore deserved some affectionate admiration (albeit reluctantally). So to see someone so highly regarded by both his (also gifted) crew and a being like Q be repeatedly sworn at, challenged, and debated with was absolutely exhilirating.
Lily's relationship with him was so fascinating and filled with moments of both high comedy and deep poignance. The first thing she ever says to him is "bullshit!", their first conversation involves her yelling at him and threatening to kill him, and then in the climax of their friendship that has been building for the whole movie, she yells at him again, but this time as someone who deeply understands him and is yelling at him for his own good. So much progress is made in their friendship within the period of the film's running time and I'm impressed at how naturally and belivably written and acted that development was.
Although it doesn't succeed as completely as "Star Trek IV" does, I think another one of this movie's triumphs is giving some members of the ensemble a chance to shine more than they sometimes did in the show (and certainly more than any of the other TNG movies did). Worf yelling at Picard was awesome, and their reconciliation shortly after made me so happy. Unfortunately, much like the show, the movie had a tendency to reduce Worf to being 'funny one-liner guy'. For example, "little?", "some?", and "assimilate this" are his most memorable lines. I didn't mind him being punching line guy like that back in his TNG days, but after seeing his character's expansion on DS9, it's a little disappointing to see him reverting back to such a basic character.
I wish Crusher had more to do also. I liked her panic as she yelled at the EMH (second best cameo after Barclay, even though I don't like Voyager), but she could've done more. I hate that when Picard insults Worf, you only hear her sternly say, "Jean-Luc" offscreen. I would have liked to see her closeness with Picard played up more in this movie and the others with a scene where it can actually be illuminated, instead of them only sharing scenes to dole out exposition.
Geordi fares a little better. I really enjoyed his scene where he tells Cochrane about how famous he will be in the future. Like Scotty's scene in the factory in "Star Trek IV", I like how it showed his passion for engineering through his enthusiasm as he talks indirectly about it. As Geordi explains that he admires Cochrane so much because he learned so much about the man's theories in his education about engineering, we're reminded of how (as a book about the history of the Star Trek shows once told me) Geordi's love for the ship and his job is like an extreme car enthusiast's love for automobiles - he knows all the parts and how everything works and enjoys applying that knowledge so much that he understands and feels more comfortable with his engineering work than he does with women (as he laments in the episode "Booby Trap"). His nerdy detailed description of Cocharane's statue was a hoot.
As I mentioned before, the humour of the Troi scene didn't totally work for me, but I appreciate it more as a nice piece of her history with Riker. It's cool to see him catching her in a moment of vulnerability and reacting to that first with amusement and then (hilarious) concern in the final shot of the scene. I think the funniest bit in the whole movie (at least this time) was Barclay's cameo. I always liked it since I'm a fan of the character, but this time one little detail made me love it more than I ever have before - the way that after he has embarassed Cochrane with all his gushing, he trips a little bit as he walks away. It was so realistic and so in character, but I wonder if it was unplanned. I don't know how somebody can possibly do such a perfect trip when it says in their script that they're supposed to trip! It looked so real that it had to be an accident!
The one major part of the movie I haven't addressed is the Data and Borg Queen scenes. I guess a lot of the movie's criticism comes from these, and I can't say I disagree strongly with it. I totally understand why people are unhappy with the very notion of the character, but even though I don't disagree with their objections to it, the character didn't hurt my enjoyment of the movie much because regardless of how ill-conceived the concept of the character may have been, I truly believe it was justified by an absolutely captivating performance. The Borg Queen definitely doesn't match Khan in terms of entertainment value as a villain, but I certainly like her more than any of the other movie villains, except perhaps General Chang. She lacks the fun over-the-top/scenery-chewing quality that made them such appealing antagonists, but I found her almost as interesting in a different way.
I like the cold, calculated confidence with which she counterpoints Data's insulting and discouraging remarks, and enjoyed the novelty of for once having a villain not simply concerned with gaining an advantage by overpowering the enemy, but also seducing it. I had completely forgotten the great moment where Data starts babbling and she calmly asks, "do you always talk this much?" and he answers, "not always...but often". Such a brilliant exchange. I don't think anyone has ever asked the question, "do you always talk this much?" (in movies or in real life) without yelling or at least sounding incredibly irritated. I appreciated the clever tweak to such a cliche. Her make-up was mesmerizing too. It so deserved the Oscar more than "The Nutty Professor".
I don't think Brent Spiner's work was so impressive. I think he and Alice Krige having to carry this whole subplot by themselves (until Patrick Stewart joins them at the end) exposed his weaknesses a little bit, especially something that's always bugged me about him on the show. There are too many instances of him seeming to break character by expressing way too much attitude in his voice and facial expressions. In this case I guess you could justify it by arguing that the Borg were messing with his emotion chip...but when he accuses the Borg Queen of having a "delusional mind" and yells "Resistance is few-till!", he just looks and sounds too...theatrical. It doesn't look natural for the behaviour of an android...even one with "artificial" emotions affecting him.
Sometimes it looks like Brent Spiner lets his theatrical training influence the character too much and as a result, when you look at Nimoy's work as Spock, you can see how many times he seemed to unintentionally "out android" Data. The more I watch "Star Trek", the more I realize how horribly difficult it must have been for Nimoy to play a character who is so convincingly stoic most of the time, and appreciate him more for pulling it off so magnificently. I think it's a testament to his talent that he got so buried in the role that (as revealed in his "Star Trek Memories" special), his performance would make him feel like he'd been repressing his emotions too much sometimes, as when he broke out into tears for no reason during a meeting. I don't think Spiner had as much devotion to his character...which is why he could allow a personality probably more consistent with his own (or at least his theatrical training) to slip through in scenes like his "seduction" in "First Contact" and stretch their credibility a little.
The other thing that I reacted negatively to in the Borg Queen/Data arc was Picard's involvement in it. When Picard showed up and the Borg Queen acted like she recognized him as the writers (bless them) valiantly tried to make it believable that they'd known each other and she was there even if we didn't see her "The Best of Both Worlds", I just wasn't buying it. I didn't think they had good chemistry, and recreating a scene from the episode with The Borg Queen inserted in there struck me as false in the same way as Hayden Christensen's ghost replacing Darth Vader's ghost in Star Wars. This is the one area where I'll agree with the people protesting the Borg Queen being forced into the Borg mythology.
I was too entertained to consider the other negative implications of it as I watched the movie, but this was the one instance where it bothered me. Picard and the Borg Queen both desperately trying to explain her motivation for wanting him specifically seemed really forced and unconvincing too. He says something like, "it was not enough for me to give myself up, I had to give myself up unconditionally". What the hell does that mean, anyway? I thought the Borg wanted an individual who could speak like a human to faciliate their enslaving of humanity. If they already had the Queen, they had no need for him. It seems some people find the whole movie offensive because of this lapse in logic. It only bugs me in this one scene, because the conversation between Picard and the Queen just rubs your face in it.
With "The Wrath of Khan", "The Voyage Home" and "First Contact", all three of the movies succeed in places where the others fail and vice versa, but I believe "First Contact" is the least flawed from a pure entertainment standpoint. I think its biggest flaws (as often pointed out on the forum) are on a more technical or superficial level. The plot is not as tightly written and the villain is not as natural and plausible as in "The Wrath of Khan", and the characters are not as sufficiently expanded upon or given as much reverence, wit, and attention as they are in "The Voyage Home", but I still consider this movie superior because it is just more consistently fun and exciting. It's also light years ahead of them in terms of the excellence of special effects, but you can't really blame them for that. It's not fair to compare movies that come up short due to limits of the time period they were made in.
What sets the movie apart the most for me is that I was never bored. From start to finish, I was laughing, feeling riveted by the action, and cherishing the interactions between the characters either because of how humourous they were, or because of the intensity or dramatic weight it gave to their relationships and the story. It never reaches the emotional highs of "The Wrath of Khan" or matches the comedic brilliance of "The Voyage Home", but I think it is more accessible, better paced, and entertaining for more of its running length than II or IV, and that's why I can consider it the best Star Trek movie at this moment in time.
Final stray observations and comments...
* Why go to all the trouble of dressing in contemporary clothing to blend in with their surroundings in the past and then leave Data's face unaltered? Obviously it's not as blatant a disregard for the Prime Directive as the car chase nonsense in "Nemesis", but still a pretty sloppy oversight. Compare this to when Data and Picard went undercover as Romulans in "Unification" and Data was surgically altered, or when Dax had her spots covered up in "Trials and Tribble-Ations" (and she wasn't even half as conspicious as a man with a white face! She could have just said they were tattoos if anyone asked!)
* I don't understand the uproar about Picard killing a crewman. It's pretty understandable to me. Having been assimiliated himself, he knows what a terrible experience it is, so in his mind, he was putting the crewman out of his misery. People say, "well the assimilation could have been reversed by surgery like Picard's", but with all the chaos of the ship being invaded, I doubt there would be enough time or resources.
* Geordi's artificial eyes were so cool. I wish he could have had them from the beginning instead of that goofy VISOR. I don't see why he couldn't. After all, way back in 1966 Gary Mitchell had quite believably futuristic contact lenses made to create the illusion of him being turned into an otherworldly creature. I'm sure something equally, if not more believable could have been whipped up by the make-up people in the 80s.
* Another underrated, often forgotten great moment of comedy - Barclay shyly walking towards Cochrane, who walks away from him all creeped out and shoos him away with his hands, moments before Barclay actually does shake his hand. Barclay rules!
* So what's the deal with Brent Spiner's pronunciation of "futile" as "few-till" anyway? Is this actually wrong, or are both "few-tile" and "few-till" correct?
Thanks so much to everyone who has read these threads and commented in them. A big thank you to Praetor especially. I wouldn't have written these last two if he hadn't been the only one who replied to the first one when it looked like it was going to drift into forum limbo without a single response. It's been fun writing these and the responses have definitely taught me a lot about the movies and fans' opinions about them, which helps me to appreciate and understand them more than before. If anyone's interested, I could make a similar thread when I finish watching DS9 for the first time.
After this latest viewing, I find myself leaning towards favouring "Star Trek: First Contact" most again. I was afraid that after all of the criticisms I've read about the movie since joining this forum, I might have them in mind when I watch the movie again and therefore not enjoy it as much, but most of them didn't phase me. There was one I agreed with, but it didn't taint my experience of the movie the way it seems to have with others (more on that later). The only thing that really bothered me which hasn't bothered me before (and I don't even recall this ever being mentioned in the forum) is that the first 20 minutes or so are pretty much all exposition.
As I said in other threads, I had the same issue with "The Wrath of Khan", "The Search for Spock" and "The Voyage Home". There's a difference between how I reacted to the exposition in each, though. In "The Wrath of Khan", I loved it. The movie starts slow with many scenes establishing where Kirk is mentally at the time and I didn't mind, because those scenes were so wonderfully written and acted. In contrast, all the stuff with the Klingons and the Genesis device in Star III and Spock's recovery and earth's dilemma in Star Trek IV bored me.
With "First Contact", I wasn't bored at the beginning, just a little flustered by how while the other ones move too slowly, it moves a little too quickly! The movie is really manic at the beginning, racing through Picard's backstory with the Borg, Starfleet's current crisis with the Borg, the Enterprise joining the fight against them, the Borg attacking earth, and the Enterprise following them back in time. All of this happens so quickly, it's a little exhausting. It's like they were trying to cram in as much as they can into the beginning to get the necessary set-up storytelling out of the way so that the movie could REALLY start.
Once the away team gets to earth and the Borg threat on the ship is realized, I think the movie finally gets into its groove and sets a solid pace. I think of all the movies I've mentioned "The Wrath of Khan" is the one with the most tightly written and well-paced 'set-up period', but what makes "First Contact" superior is that once it gets all of that extraneous stuff out of the way, it maintains a good pace from start to finish. All of the other Star Trek movies I like have entire periods that I feel drag the movie down a little bit. The nebula fight in Wrath of Khan, the Genesis planet events in The Search for Spock, the landing back on earth in The Voyage Home (until the very last scene with Spock and his father), and the prison scenes in The Undiscovered Country. Come to think of it, a lot of the Star Trek movies have two parallel stories happening at once, splitting the crew between simultaneous adventures, but I think First Contact is the only one in which I enjoy each story equally from start to finish.
Some critics have put down "Star Trek: First Contact" for its attempts at comedy. During my latest viewing of the movie, I found the comedy more effective than ever before, although not necessarily in the most blatantly comedic moments. I didn't think the Troi getting drunk stuff was so great this time. I guess it's supposed to be a treat for fans because it shows a lighter side of Troi (who was often so dead serious on the show), but I've always thought Marina Sirtis had a tendency to overact when trying to be dramatic and here she was just overacting in a different context. Instead of trying too hard to be dramatic and coming across as annoying, here she was just trying too hard to be funny, which is kinda lame.
What made the scene work for me was Riker's reactions to her. I love how he gets a kick out of being able to tell her she's drunk, and the biggest laugh of the scene for me was the quick shot of his reacting facial expression when she falls over. It actually made me appreciate Frakes as an actor more. Sirtis says on the DVD that she thinks the scene showed that Troi had good comedic timing, but I felt this way about Frakes/Riker instead. I also dug the humour in James Cromwell's character more than ever before too. Again, not in the most obvious way (the fact that he's actually a drunk and a skirt-chaser when he's revered as an idealistic hero), but just in his mocking dismissal of who the Enterprise crew say they are. I thought "Hot damn, you're heroic" and "I love a good peep show" were his funniest lines this time. Of course the "Star Trek" line cracked me up too, but in a 'so bad it's good' cheesy way.
Lily was a consistent source of laughs as well, even when she wasn't supposed to be. I just couldn't get over what a pleasure it was to see someone speak so profanely to Picard. Here we have this character who has always been treated with such respect and formality by other characters who look up to him as this almost mythic figure due to his powerful presence and status as a superemely gifted and dignified authority figure. Even Q, who spent most of his time in Picard's presence taunting the man maintained this perception of him as one of the most impressively eloquent and intelligent representatives of his species who therefore deserved some affectionate admiration (albeit reluctantally). So to see someone so highly regarded by both his (also gifted) crew and a being like Q be repeatedly sworn at, challenged, and debated with was absolutely exhilirating.
Lily's relationship with him was so fascinating and filled with moments of both high comedy and deep poignance. The first thing she ever says to him is "bullshit!", their first conversation involves her yelling at him and threatening to kill him, and then in the climax of their friendship that has been building for the whole movie, she yells at him again, but this time as someone who deeply understands him and is yelling at him for his own good. So much progress is made in their friendship within the period of the film's running time and I'm impressed at how naturally and belivably written and acted that development was.
Although it doesn't succeed as completely as "Star Trek IV" does, I think another one of this movie's triumphs is giving some members of the ensemble a chance to shine more than they sometimes did in the show (and certainly more than any of the other TNG movies did). Worf yelling at Picard was awesome, and their reconciliation shortly after made me so happy. Unfortunately, much like the show, the movie had a tendency to reduce Worf to being 'funny one-liner guy'. For example, "little?", "some?", and "assimilate this" are his most memorable lines. I didn't mind him being punching line guy like that back in his TNG days, but after seeing his character's expansion on DS9, it's a little disappointing to see him reverting back to such a basic character.
I wish Crusher had more to do also. I liked her panic as she yelled at the EMH (second best cameo after Barclay, even though I don't like Voyager), but she could've done more. I hate that when Picard insults Worf, you only hear her sternly say, "Jean-Luc" offscreen. I would have liked to see her closeness with Picard played up more in this movie and the others with a scene where it can actually be illuminated, instead of them only sharing scenes to dole out exposition.
Geordi fares a little better. I really enjoyed his scene where he tells Cochrane about how famous he will be in the future. Like Scotty's scene in the factory in "Star Trek IV", I like how it showed his passion for engineering through his enthusiasm as he talks indirectly about it. As Geordi explains that he admires Cochrane so much because he learned so much about the man's theories in his education about engineering, we're reminded of how (as a book about the history of the Star Trek shows once told me) Geordi's love for the ship and his job is like an extreme car enthusiast's love for automobiles - he knows all the parts and how everything works and enjoys applying that knowledge so much that he understands and feels more comfortable with his engineering work than he does with women (as he laments in the episode "Booby Trap"). His nerdy detailed description of Cocharane's statue was a hoot.
As I mentioned before, the humour of the Troi scene didn't totally work for me, but I appreciate it more as a nice piece of her history with Riker. It's cool to see him catching her in a moment of vulnerability and reacting to that first with amusement and then (hilarious) concern in the final shot of the scene. I think the funniest bit in the whole movie (at least this time) was Barclay's cameo. I always liked it since I'm a fan of the character, but this time one little detail made me love it more than I ever have before - the way that after he has embarassed Cochrane with all his gushing, he trips a little bit as he walks away. It was so realistic and so in character, but I wonder if it was unplanned. I don't know how somebody can possibly do such a perfect trip when it says in their script that they're supposed to trip! It looked so real that it had to be an accident!
The one major part of the movie I haven't addressed is the Data and Borg Queen scenes. I guess a lot of the movie's criticism comes from these, and I can't say I disagree strongly with it. I totally understand why people are unhappy with the very notion of the character, but even though I don't disagree with their objections to it, the character didn't hurt my enjoyment of the movie much because regardless of how ill-conceived the concept of the character may have been, I truly believe it was justified by an absolutely captivating performance. The Borg Queen definitely doesn't match Khan in terms of entertainment value as a villain, but I certainly like her more than any of the other movie villains, except perhaps General Chang. She lacks the fun over-the-top/scenery-chewing quality that made them such appealing antagonists, but I found her almost as interesting in a different way.
I like the cold, calculated confidence with which she counterpoints Data's insulting and discouraging remarks, and enjoyed the novelty of for once having a villain not simply concerned with gaining an advantage by overpowering the enemy, but also seducing it. I had completely forgotten the great moment where Data starts babbling and she calmly asks, "do you always talk this much?" and he answers, "not always...but often". Such a brilliant exchange. I don't think anyone has ever asked the question, "do you always talk this much?" (in movies or in real life) without yelling or at least sounding incredibly irritated. I appreciated the clever tweak to such a cliche. Her make-up was mesmerizing too. It so deserved the Oscar more than "The Nutty Professor".
I don't think Brent Spiner's work was so impressive. I think he and Alice Krige having to carry this whole subplot by themselves (until Patrick Stewart joins them at the end) exposed his weaknesses a little bit, especially something that's always bugged me about him on the show. There are too many instances of him seeming to break character by expressing way too much attitude in his voice and facial expressions. In this case I guess you could justify it by arguing that the Borg were messing with his emotion chip...but when he accuses the Borg Queen of having a "delusional mind" and yells "Resistance is few-till!", he just looks and sounds too...theatrical. It doesn't look natural for the behaviour of an android...even one with "artificial" emotions affecting him.
Sometimes it looks like Brent Spiner lets his theatrical training influence the character too much and as a result, when you look at Nimoy's work as Spock, you can see how many times he seemed to unintentionally "out android" Data. The more I watch "Star Trek", the more I realize how horribly difficult it must have been for Nimoy to play a character who is so convincingly stoic most of the time, and appreciate him more for pulling it off so magnificently. I think it's a testament to his talent that he got so buried in the role that (as revealed in his "Star Trek Memories" special), his performance would make him feel like he'd been repressing his emotions too much sometimes, as when he broke out into tears for no reason during a meeting. I don't think Spiner had as much devotion to his character...which is why he could allow a personality probably more consistent with his own (or at least his theatrical training) to slip through in scenes like his "seduction" in "First Contact" and stretch their credibility a little.
The other thing that I reacted negatively to in the Borg Queen/Data arc was Picard's involvement in it. When Picard showed up and the Borg Queen acted like she recognized him as the writers (bless them) valiantly tried to make it believable that they'd known each other and she was there even if we didn't see her "The Best of Both Worlds", I just wasn't buying it. I didn't think they had good chemistry, and recreating a scene from the episode with The Borg Queen inserted in there struck me as false in the same way as Hayden Christensen's ghost replacing Darth Vader's ghost in Star Wars. This is the one area where I'll agree with the people protesting the Borg Queen being forced into the Borg mythology.
I was too entertained to consider the other negative implications of it as I watched the movie, but this was the one instance where it bothered me. Picard and the Borg Queen both desperately trying to explain her motivation for wanting him specifically seemed really forced and unconvincing too. He says something like, "it was not enough for me to give myself up, I had to give myself up unconditionally". What the hell does that mean, anyway? I thought the Borg wanted an individual who could speak like a human to faciliate their enslaving of humanity. If they already had the Queen, they had no need for him. It seems some people find the whole movie offensive because of this lapse in logic. It only bugs me in this one scene, because the conversation between Picard and the Queen just rubs your face in it.
With "The Wrath of Khan", "The Voyage Home" and "First Contact", all three of the movies succeed in places where the others fail and vice versa, but I believe "First Contact" is the least flawed from a pure entertainment standpoint. I think its biggest flaws (as often pointed out on the forum) are on a more technical or superficial level. The plot is not as tightly written and the villain is not as natural and plausible as in "The Wrath of Khan", and the characters are not as sufficiently expanded upon or given as much reverence, wit, and attention as they are in "The Voyage Home", but I still consider this movie superior because it is just more consistently fun and exciting. It's also light years ahead of them in terms of the excellence of special effects, but you can't really blame them for that. It's not fair to compare movies that come up short due to limits of the time period they were made in.
What sets the movie apart the most for me is that I was never bored. From start to finish, I was laughing, feeling riveted by the action, and cherishing the interactions between the characters either because of how humourous they were, or because of the intensity or dramatic weight it gave to their relationships and the story. It never reaches the emotional highs of "The Wrath of Khan" or matches the comedic brilliance of "The Voyage Home", but I think it is more accessible, better paced, and entertaining for more of its running length than II or IV, and that's why I can consider it the best Star Trek movie at this moment in time.
Final stray observations and comments...
* Why go to all the trouble of dressing in contemporary clothing to blend in with their surroundings in the past and then leave Data's face unaltered? Obviously it's not as blatant a disregard for the Prime Directive as the car chase nonsense in "Nemesis", but still a pretty sloppy oversight. Compare this to when Data and Picard went undercover as Romulans in "Unification" and Data was surgically altered, or when Dax had her spots covered up in "Trials and Tribble-Ations" (and she wasn't even half as conspicious as a man with a white face! She could have just said they were tattoos if anyone asked!)
* I don't understand the uproar about Picard killing a crewman. It's pretty understandable to me. Having been assimiliated himself, he knows what a terrible experience it is, so in his mind, he was putting the crewman out of his misery. People say, "well the assimilation could have been reversed by surgery like Picard's", but with all the chaos of the ship being invaded, I doubt there would be enough time or resources.
* Geordi's artificial eyes were so cool. I wish he could have had them from the beginning instead of that goofy VISOR. I don't see why he couldn't. After all, way back in 1966 Gary Mitchell had quite believably futuristic contact lenses made to create the illusion of him being turned into an otherworldly creature. I'm sure something equally, if not more believable could have been whipped up by the make-up people in the 80s.
* Another underrated, often forgotten great moment of comedy - Barclay shyly walking towards Cochrane, who walks away from him all creeped out and shoos him away with his hands, moments before Barclay actually does shake his hand. Barclay rules!
* So what's the deal with Brent Spiner's pronunciation of "futile" as "few-till" anyway? Is this actually wrong, or are both "few-tile" and "few-till" correct?
Thanks so much to everyone who has read these threads and commented in them. A big thank you to Praetor especially. I wouldn't have written these last two if he hadn't been the only one who replied to the first one when it looked like it was going to drift into forum limbo without a single response. It's been fun writing these and the responses have definitely taught me a lot about the movies and fans' opinions about them, which helps me to appreciate and understand them more than before. If anyone's interested, I could make a similar thread when I finish watching DS9 for the first time.
That said, looking back on those movies it occurs to me that even First Contact had the same general shortcoming that the other Trek movies did: in the end they all looked and felt more like TV episodes writ large than like true feature films. This speaks to what really gets me excited about the new movie: Unlike TOS and TNG which were built for TV and had to be retrofitted for movies later, J.J. Abrams' interpretation of Star Trek was built for the silver screen from Day One.
