Why is First Contact actually so beloved by the fandom?
- Thread starter Unimatrix Q
- Start date
Can you elaborate?
WoK is built around the Reliant crew failing to notice that an entire planet, the one they're meant to be studying, is missing. They don't beam out when they're in danger. Khan demands Genesis info from Kirk, notwithstanding that Terrell and Chekov are the ones actively working in connection to the project and are already under his control. Starfleet ships can be rendered helpless through a five-digit code. A tactic which was old hat in WWII is too advanced for Khan. It goes on and on - not to mention that the Genesis Device is sheer nonsense tech even by Trek standards.
The Wounded is built around Captain Maxwell murdering hundreds of Cardassians. He offers a weak and insufficient justification for doing so, yet Picard allows him the "dignity" of retaining his command without even sending over someone to monitor him - despite Maxwell's actions to date, despite his crew's apparent unquestioning loyalty and willingness to follow his orders, despite the prospect of further similar targets. Then, when the blindingly obvious happens, a confrontation arises. Despite being on the verge of a battle, Maxwell is sitting in his ready room, not the bridge. Picard and O'Brien beam onto the bridge and walk in and nobody does anything about it or asks Maxwell for orders - apparently the crew who were willing to murder for Maxwell moments ago don't care when people beam through their shields and stroll through their ship to confront their captain. TNG and Voyager are riddled with cheap contrivances like that (Voyager's writing in particular is so lazy), albeit often under the cover of technobabble.
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Wrath of Khan is also built upon a massive contrivance that it just so happens that Admiral Kirk, who is no longer a starship captain, just happens to be aboard the Enterprise and commanding it while it is full of cadets at the exact moment Khan springs his trap. Khan’s plan is worthless if Kirk is back on Earth stuck behind a desk.
FC had cool new uniforms, a cool new ship, more cool new ships, the Borg and their vessels, Zefram Cochrane, the first warp flight, the aftermath of World War III, the first contact with Vulcans, Picard yelling and breaking model ships, and all that written by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga without the Generations kind of checklist. What more could you have wanted in 1996?
Anything but the Borg and James Cromwell.
Everything's better with James Cromwell.
Debatable.
Even though I like Cromwell a lot, I have to agree. (Thinking of 24: Season 6).
Why I think First Contact is great is because:
- It finally gave us the Picard rematch with the Borg that TNG demurred on. FC was the best performance Sir Patrick gave in any of the Trek movies, and so far in PIC as well. The tense scenes where he lets loose on the Borg in the holodeck, insults Worf ("if you were any other man, I would kill you where you stand", great stuff), or flies off in a rage at the thought of giving up the Enterprise, it just hammered home how high the stakes were and the pressure and torment Picard was under.
-The writing was tight, and the direction crisp. Jonathan Frakes did a great job imbuing the film with foreboding and dread, and thickening tension.
-Production values/design: Though I thought GEN looked nice, it seemed like they got more money for the budget in FC and spent it wisely.
-Great new uniforms. Loved the darker, somber look, which was a nice foreshadowing of the Dominion War to come.
-The Enterprise-E looked cool. And it was neat seeing the Defiant against a Borg cube, finally getting a chance to do what it was created for.
-Alice Krige. I had issues with the Borg Queen conceptually, however, I think she worked for the film's big bad, and largely because of Krige's sensually sinister performance.
-Alfre Woodard: She brought a fire to her performance and Lily was the best of Picard's movie companions.
-James Cromwell was great in the role for the arc he was given. Some might gripe about him not fitting with the TOS Cochrane but his arc worked for the story, and it gave some of the crew something to do.
-Robert Picardo: It was a short cameo, but a fun scene, and a nice way to nod to VOY. FC brought all of live-action Trek, that existed at that time, together.
-Trek history. I liked how the film tied into Trek history and we got to see the first contact between Vulcan and Earth.
-The argument can be made that FC is where the defanging of the Borg began, but I could argue that happened on TNG with "Descent Part 2". Though I really put the blame on VOY for overusing the Borg and making it much easier to defeat them. VOY even trivialized assimilation. Janeway, Tuvok, and Torres were all assimilated, but didn't seem to be as traumatized by it as Picard was for years. Or Seven for that matter.
I did have gripes with the film, but not many. One I'll mention here is I wish they had kept Lt. Hawk alive. I thought he was cool. I wouldn't have minded if they had kept him and the Trill officer from INS. Been nice to see them both in NEM.
I like the movie for doing one very important thing. Taking Picard's "Evolved Sensibility" of Humanity and calling bull#&!@. Early seasons of TNG never presented us with a cast of characters who were worth caring about. Mainly because they had no cares to give at all. Picard openly hates children, berates Humans from the 20th Century as having the mentality of children and pompously declares that Humanity is so awesome that they could one day rival the godlike 'Q' continuum. This was a guy who needed some sense smacked into him. And what better way to do that than having Q play the long game in giving him that smack.
Of all the evolved humans from the 24th century serving under Picard on the Enterprise-E, it was a woman from a war torn 21st Century Earth who actually got him to see reason. The kind of person Picard was all too eager to dismiss for no other reason than being a Human from the 21st century.
I'd like to think that somewhere during all that, Q was watching and feeling ever so vindicated.
Of all the evolved humans from the 24th century serving under Picard on the Enterprise-E, it was a woman from a war torn 21st Century Earth who actually got him to see reason. The kind of person Picard was all too eager to dismiss for no other reason than being a Human from the 21st century.
I'd like to think that somewhere during all that, Q was watching and feeling ever so vindicated.
A good film.
Forgive the odd comparison, but I view First Contact a bit like the 09 Trek of its day; both certainly have their issues, the main villains in either are questionable, and neither necessarily play to the strengths of the TV series they're adapting, but they're exciting films in parts and had the appeal to a broader audience that big franchise releases often need.
I love SF Debris commentary on that scene. "And somewhere Q is laughing."
I love that many have jumped on to Star Trek and the evolved humanity aspect, and really showed that some parts still require growth and development.
I agree. I think TWOK is similar too.
It was a sort of okay film, but not a great Star Trek film. Then again, after the 50-car pile-up that was Generations, just about anything would appear to be "one of the best".
TNG's movie run was just there--never great Star Trek, and often misguided (Insurrection and The Wrath of Shinzon--I mean Nemesis were horrible films)
Pretty much this with the exception of a couple of FC moments.
First Contact was the perfect TNG film. New ship, new uniforms, great soundtrack, good dialogue along with some great and intense action sequences. And getting a glimpse at humans travelling at warp for the first time and making first contact.... Perfect. Couldn't have been any better IMO.
Picard's 'line must be drawn' speech was such a good scene. We never see Picard react in such a way and it really pulled together his trauma from his encounters with the Borg throughout the TNG series. There are many things that make it a great film but for me that's a stand out moment.
I like it so much, tbh, is because it is the only movie of the TNG crew worth a damn. 
Though Insurrection had some of my favorite Data bits, when he wasn't acting silly he seemed to grow. Like befriending that boy. Actual adult wisdom presented to a kid.
Though Insurrection had some of my favorite Data bits, when he wasn't acting silly he seemed to grow. Like befriending that boy. Actual adult wisdom presented to a kid.
My short opinion is that it's a straightforward plot lacking in a lot of the bizarre-ness of Generations and Insurrection.
"Borg go back to Earth's past, stop Borg."
No magic immortality fountains or the fact that apparently Heaven is a rip in time.
"Borg go back to Earth's past, stop Borg."
No magic immortality fountains or the fact that apparently Heaven is a rip in time.
Yeah: every one knows it's a place on Earth.
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I've said this on the forum before...
I enjoy FC, hell I think I might pop the bluray in right after this post. It's a superfun by the book action movie really. But that's just it. It's a by the book action movie with a Star Trek sauce over it. Insurrection, as flawed as it is in many ways, really had much more of a TNG vibe to it for me. So as much as I consider First Contact a much better put together end product, the Star Trek elements feel like there's just there to call it a Star Trek movie. Could be any generic scifi action flick really and still work.
Which, again, isn't a bad thing.
I enjoy FC, hell I think I might pop the bluray in right after this post. It's a superfun by the book action movie really. But that's just it. It's a by the book action movie with a Star Trek sauce over it. Insurrection, as flawed as it is in many ways, really had much more of a TNG vibe to it for me. So as much as I consider First Contact a much better put together end product, the Star Trek elements feel like there's just there to call it a Star Trek movie. Could be any generic scifi action flick really and still work.
Which, again, isn't a bad thing.
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