Zefram Cochrane

[Disco]

I was watching Metamorphosis last night and it struck me how the events in First Contact added more weight to the story. In the original series episode Cochrane is disgusted that he has been violated by an alien creature and later initially disgusted by an alien creature violating and taking over Nancy Hedford. It's obviously just a bonus and not planned but it seems like Cochrane was affected by hearing about the Borg from the Enterprise - E crew.

 

[Neopeius]

I was watching Metamorphosis last night and it struck me how the events in First Contact added more weight to the story. In the original series episode Cochrane is disgusted that he has been violated by an alien creature and later initially disgusted by an alien creature violating and taking over Nancy Hedford. It's obviously just a bonus and not planned but it seems like Cochrane was affected by hearing about the Borg from the Enterprise - E crew.

That's fun mind-canon. I liked First Contact a lot, the most of the Trek films, but that Zefrem and the one we meet in TOS seem entirely different.

I prefer the canon of the 70s, when Zefrem was a native of Alpha Centauri. That's certainly where they went in the Star Trek Chronology of 1980.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Agreed. They were entirely different in character and appearances. In TOS, the character was intelligent and meaningful, while the other in First Contact is an idiotic, bumbling, drunken, old man who I doubt would know what to do with a spaceship than build one.

 

[Kemaiku]

The man in TOS was also put back together by an energy being that had no idea what a human was, invading his mind to the point he even admits himself he had no idea what it was doing in there or how it felt about him.

"She" likely rejuvinated him as some idealised version of both or their inner expectations and rose tinted notions that resulted in a man that was not really the Cochrane that crashed.

 

[Poltargyst]

I like First Contact, one of my favorite Trek movies, but I'm not giving any sort of benefit of the doubt about Cochrane. This is one of those breaking of continuity things that annoy me.

 

[Push The Button]

Hm, but had the Cochrane that we see in Metamorphosis experienced the altered "Borg attack the earth in 2063" timeline yet? That actually happens as a result of a last desperate strategy by the Borg to assimilate 21st century earth, as they realize they're going to lose their battle with Starfleet and Enterprise-E in the 24th century. So perhaps the Cochrane that we see in TOS had only lived the first version of history, where the Phoenix successfully launches with no Borg attack.

I agree that Corbett's thoughtful, sensitive version of Cochrane in TOS is absolutely nothing like Cromwell's later drunken hooligan version, one of my biggest peeves with FC.

 

[Old Trek Guy]

"Hm, but had the Cochrane that we see in Metamorphosis experienced the altered "Borg attack the earth in 2063" timeline yet? That actually happens as a result of a last desperate strategy by the Borg to assimilate 21st century earth, as they realize they're going to lose their battle with Starfleet and Enterprise-E in the 24th century. So perhaps the Cochrane that we see in TOS had only lived the first version of history, where the Phoenix successfully launches with no Borg attack.

I agree that Corbett's thoughtful, sensitive version of Cochrane in TOS is absolutely nothing like Cromwell's later drunken hooligan version, one of my biggest peeves with FC."

WWIII probably changed him for the worse.

 

[Kor]

Once in a blue moon I turn off my brain for a while and sit back and enjoy First Contact as a zombie/monster/action popcorn flick. But to me, it isn't Star Trek.

I find the difference in Cochrane's characterization to be just a piece of minutiae, though. It's really nothing to get hung up over. People can change a lot in real life as the years go by. In a fantastical universe as depicted in Trek, they can change even more.

Kor

 

[Anduril]

But to me, it isn't Star Trek.

Why not?

 

[Tim Thomason]

The whole point of Star Trek: First Contact was to portray Zefram Cochrane as a "drunken hooligan" to offset the expectations of the TNG crew, who expected a utopian ideal like Glenn Corbett's portrayal. Cochrane (as espoused by Cromwell) represents humanity, fumbling itself into the cosmos following a catastrophic event, and becoming a better version of itself.

Cochrane, like the Earth itself, bettered himself in perhaps only ten years due to the benefits brought by interstellar cooperation. It's a common trope (also seen in 2009's Star Trek) to say our heroes don't start out that way. Having Cochrane evolve was a pretty cool idea from the writers, in my view.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I always wondered how Tom Hanks (who is a HUGE Trekkie and really wanted to do ST:FC but he was busy with That Thing You Do! so he couldn't) would have portrayed Cochrane.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I prefer the canon of the 70s, when Zefrem was a native of Alpha Centauri. That's certainly where they went in the Star Trek Chronology of 1980.

Not really borne out by the episode itself though, since practically the first thing out of Cochrane's mouth is asking if Kirk & co. are human. If he was a native of A.C., you'd think he'd ask if they were from there.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Hm, but had the Cochrane that we see in Metamorphosis experienced the altered "Borg attack the earth in 2063" timeline yet?

ST:FC is not an altered timeline. It was part of what was supposed to happen all along. You can't prove it wasn't, at any rate.

(You'll notice that the Enterprise returned to the same timeline it left...)

 

[johnnybear]

Would have been great to have cast Corbett as Cochrane again but I think Glenn Corbett had died by 1998 hadn't he?
JB

 

[Timo]

Would have been fun seeing some Corbett lookalike portray the character. Would have been no fun seeing him portray the character the same way it was done by Corbett in "Metamorphosis". That was simply dull, and the principal character of a movie can't afford to be dull, even when the guest character of an episode can be but window dressing for the main heroes.

I'm fine with the idea that the Companion made Cochrane dull; indeed, that's what I always thought, that the guy had to be doped somehow into accepting his eternal imprisonment. But Disco's observation about Cochrane's disgust with the concept of possession was an eye-opener!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Maurice]

Not really borne out by the episode itself though, since practically the first thing out of Cochrane's mouth is asking if Kirk & co. are human. If he was a native of A.C., you'd think he'd ask if they were from there.

Not borne out in the relevant primary source documents, either, as the answer about Cochrane and Alpha Centauri are in Coon's original episode outline.

 

[Disco]

The whole point of Star Trek: First Contact was to portray Zefram Cochrane as a "drunken hooligan" to offset the expectations of the TNG crew, who expected a utopian ideal like Glenn Corbett's portrayal. Cochrane (as espoused by Cromwell) represents humanity, fumbling itself into the cosmos following a catastrophic event, and becoming a better version of itself.

Cochrane, like the Earth itself, bettered himself in perhaps only ten years due to the benefits brought by interstellar cooperation. It's a common trope (also seen in 2009's Star Trek) to say our heroes don't start out that way. Having Cochrane evolve was a pretty cool idea from the writers, in my view.

I agree with this. I think we see him at two points in his lift. Firstly bitter and disturbed after the World War. Drinking his pain away. Then healed by the efforts of humanity following the discovery of warp drive and by the companion but still a little broken inside.

 

[Scotchy]

If you want a Cochrane that's hard on aliens, the best example is from the Enterprise episode In A Mirror Darkly. The shotgun-wielding Cochrane is my favorite version (also Darkly is some of the best Enterprise they made.)

 

[RAMA]

So this is called character growth. We knew the records from the time after the 3rd world were were unreliable, and in STFC we find out that history was in fact idealized. Cochrane was not who he appeared to be...at first. He may have had a bad experience in the war and like many people today, feels there is little hope for humanity. Obviously he had 2 life changing experiences...warp 1 travel and first contact. By Enterprise, we see him lauded, any or most character flaws forgotten. He makes an erratic mention of his experiences or two but recants them. He is an honored man, makes it to Alpha Centauri, then disappears...

Years later we see him in TOS, affected by being lost in space, but alive, comfortable, but also lonely for real human contact.

I don't see any discrepancies in how he is portrayed. It seems to fit quite nicely into trek history.

 

[Ronald Held]

I still believe Corbett's version of Cochrane in TOS is more reasonable than Cromwell's drunken version. This also taken into account his regeneration by the Companion. ZC snippet in Broken Bow does not seems like the FC version