STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT
While not what you would call a Trekkie, I have been a big Star Trek fan since I was a little boy. I have watched the series and franchise grow into one huge monstrosity over the last 30 years and with the current direction the films are taking, I think it will last a lot longer. This is a series dedicated to the lovable space pioneers and the movies for which they starred. A lot of these caches are on a fairly busy road. I tried to place them where parking was good. Please watch children along this stretch and use good judgement. I hope you enjoy my latest entries.
Star Trek: First Contact is a 1996 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. It is the eighth feature film in the Star Trek science fiction franchise and the first film to feature no cast members from the original Star Trek television series of the 1960s. The primary cast for First Contact is from the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series, to which the film's producers added Alice Krige, Neal McDonough, James Cromwell and Alfre Woodard. In the film's plot, the crew of the USS Enterprise-E travel from the 24th to 21st century to save their future after the cybernetic Borg conquered Earth by changing the timeline.
After the release of the seventh film, Star Trek Generations, in 1994, Paramount tasked writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore with developing a sequel. Braga and Moore wanted to feature the Borg in the plot, while producer Rick Berman wanted a story involving time travel. The writers combined the two ideas; they initially set the film during the European Renaissance, but changed the time period the Borg corrupted to the mid-21st century after fearing the Renaissance idea would be too kitschy. After two better known directors turned down the job, cast member Jonathan Frakes was chosen to direct to make sure the task fell to someone who understood Star Trek. It was Frakes' first theatrical film.
The script required the creation of new starship designs, including a new USS Enterprise. Production designer Herman Zimmerman and illustrator John Eaves collaborated to make a sleeker ship than its predecessor. Principal photography began with weeks of location shooting in Arizona and California before production moved to new sets for the ship-based scenes. The Borg were redesigned to appear as though they were converted into machine beings from the inside-out; the new makeup sessions took four times as long as on the television series. Effects company Industrial Light & Magic rushed to complete the film's special effects in less than five months. Traditional optical effects techniques were supplemented with computer-generated imagery. Jerry Goldsmith and his son Joel collaborated to produce the film's score.
First Contact was the highest-grossing film on its opening weekend, making $30.7 million. The film made $92 million in the United States and an additional $54 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $146 million. Critical reception was mostly positive; critics including Roger Ebert considered it one of the best Star Trek films. The Borg and the special effects were lauded, while characterization was less evenly received. First Contact was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Makeup and won three Saturn Awards. The film has been released on videotape, LaserDisc, DVD, and Blu-ray home video formats. Scholarly analysis of the film has focused on Captain Jean Luc Picard's parallels to Herman Melville's Ahab and the nature of the Borg.
CAST:
First Contact is the first film in the Star Trek film series in which none of the Star Trek: The Original Series main characters appear, instead, the main cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation fill the main roles. Patrick Stewart plays Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of the USS Enterprise-E who is haunted by his time as a member of the Borg Collective. Stewart was one of the few cast members who had an important role in developing the script, offering suggestions and comments. Picard's character was changed from the "angst-ridden character [viewers have] seen before", to an action hero type. Stewart noted that Picard was more physically active in the film compared with his usual depiction.
Other Enterprise crewmembers include the ship's first officer William Riker, played by director Jonathan Frakes. Frakes said he did not have much difficulty directing and acting at the same time, having done so on the television series. Brent Spiner portrays the android Data; rumors before the film's release suggested that since Data's skin had been largely removed at the end of the story, it would allow another actor to assume the role. LeVar Burton plays Geordi La Forge, the ship's chief engineer. La Forge is a blind character, and for the television series and previous film had worn a special visor to see. Burton lobbied for many years to have his character's visor replaced so that people could see his eyes, since the "air filter" he wore prevented the audience from seeing his eyes and limited his acting ability. Moore finally agreed, giving the character ocular implants that were never explained in the film, beyond showing they were artificial. Gates McFadden plays Beverly Crusher, the ship's doctor. McFadden considered Star Trek women finally on par with the men: "We've come a long way since Majel Barrett was stuck in the sick bay as Nurse Chapel in the [1960s] and made to dye her hair blond." Crusher was instrumental in helping Picard set the auto-destruct sequence, to prevent the Borg from completely assimilating the Enterprise and Earth. Ship's counselor Deanna Troi is portrayed by Marina Sirtis. The actress missed working on the television show, and was acutely aware that expectations and stakes for First Contact were high; "we were scared that people thought we couldn't cut it without the original cast", she said. Other Starfleet members included former Enterprise chief of security, and commander of the USS Defiant, Worf (Michael Dorn). The Defiant is badly damaged in the battle with the Borg but is left salvageable. An early screenplay draft called for the Defiant to be destroyed, but Deep Space Nine executive producer Ira Steven Behr objected to the destruction of his show's ship and so the idea was dropped. Neal McDonough plays Sean Hawk, the Enterprise helmsman who aids in the defense of the ship until he is assimilated and killed. McDonough was cavalier about his role as an expendable "redshirt", saying that since one of the characters in the deflector dish battle had to die, "that would be me".
James Cromwell was cast as Zefram Cochrane, the pilot and creator of Earth's first warp capable vessel. The character of Zefram Cochrane had first appeared in the Original Series episode "Metamorphosis", played by Glenn Corbett. Cromwell's Cochrane is much older and has no real resemblance to Corbett's, which did not bother the writers. They wanted to portray Cochrane as a character going through a major transition; he starts out as a cynical, selfish drunk who is changed by the characters he meets over the course of the film. Although the character was written with Cromwell in mind, Tom Hanks, a big fan of Star Trek, was approached for the role by Paramount first, but he had already committed to the film That Thing You Do! and had to reject the part.[14] Frakes commented that it would have been a mistake to cast Hanks as Cochrane due to his being so well known. Cromwell had a long previous association with Star Trek, having played characters in The Next Generation episodes "The Hunted" and "Birthright", as well as a role in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. "[Cromwell] actually came in and read for the part", Frakes said. "He nailed it." Cromwell described his method of portraying Cochrane as always playing himself. Part of the actor's interest in the film was his involvement in Steven M. Greer's Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, which offers training for first contact scenarios.
Alfre Woodard plays Lily Sloane, Cochrane's assistant. When Frakes first moved to Los Angeles, Woodard was one of the very first people he met. During a conversation at a barbecue Woodard said she would become Frakes' godmother, as he did not have one. Through this relationship, Frakes was able to cast Woodard in the film; he considered it a coup to land an Academy Award-nominated actress. Woodard considered Lily to be the character most like herself out of all the roles she has played.
The Borg Queen is portrayed by Alice Krige. Casting for the part took time as the actress needed to be sexy, dangerous and mysterious. Frakes cast Krige after finding that she had all of the mentioned qualities, and being impressed by her performance in Ghost Story; the director considers her the sexiest Star Trek villain of all time. Krige suffered a large amount of discomfort filming her role; her costume was too tight, causing blisters, and the painful silver contact lenses she wore could only be kept in for four minutes at a time. Krige would later reprise her role as the Borg Queen in the Star Trek: Voyager series finale Endgame.
The film features minor roles for many of The Next Generation's recurring characters; Dwight Schultz reprised his role of Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, while Patti Yasutake briefly appeared as Nurse Alyssa Ogawa. Whoopi Goldberg was not asked to return as Guinan, a wise bartender whose homeworld was destroyed by the Borg. Goldberg only learned about the decision through the newspapers. "What can I say? I wanted to do it because I didn't think you could do anything about the Borg without [my character]", she said, "but apparently you can, so they don't need me." Michael Horton appears as a bloodied and stoic Starfleet defender; his character would be given the name of Daniels in the next Star Trek film.
The third draft of the script added cameos by two actors from the sister television series Star Trek: Voyager. Robert Picardo appears as the Enterprise's Emergency Medical Hologram; Picardo played the holographic Doctor in Voyager. His line "I'm a doctor, not a door stop", is an allusion to the Star Trek original series character Dr. Leonard McCoy. Picardo's fellow Voyager actor Ethan Phillips, who played Neelix, cameos as a nightclub Maitre d' in the holodeck scene. Phillips recalled that the producers wanted the fans to be left guessing whether he was the person who played Neelix or not, as he did not appear in the credits; "It was just kind of a goofy thing to do." During production there were incorrect rumors that Avery Brooks would reprise his role as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine captain Benjamin Sisko. As with many Star Trek productions, new, disposable redshirt characters are killed off over the course of the plot.