Cheap Star Trek - First Contact (DVD) (Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige) (Jonathan Frakes) Price

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Customer Reviews of Star Trek - First Contact

The Best "Star Trek" Film With "The Next Generation" Crew
Although "Star Trek: First Contact" is replete with flaws, it is the best film featuring the cast from "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Jonathan Frakes, in his feature film directing debut, did a fine job getting great performances from Patrick Stewart, Alfre Woodward, and Alice Krige, among others. Patrick Stewart's recitation of "Moby Dick" when Alfre Woodward's character urges Captain Picard to abandon the new USS Enterprise is undoubtedly one of the film's finest dramatic moments. And there are others as well, such as fighting the Borg over the Enterprise's deflector screen array. Indeed, much of the film's mood is almost as dark and foreboding as "Alien" or "Aliens". Yet there are occasional moments of humor. A star-struck Lieutenant Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) following Zefrem Cochrane (James Cromwell) is a welcome sight, along with cameo appearances by "Star Trek Voyager" cast members Robert Picardo (An Emergency Medical Hologram trying to fend off Borg soldiers, while Dr. Crusher and her medical team flees Sickbay.) and Ethan Phillips (A holographic Maitre D' who welcomes his Borg guests to a Prohibition Era lounge.). Not to be missed either is Counselor Troi (Martina Sirtis) refusing to admit to Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) that she is drunk.

Devout "Star Trek" fans will be highly critical of the plot. Although Alice Krige's performance as the Borg Queen is a first rate display of malice mixed with contempt towards humanity, her character is a radical departure from the television series. Surely, the Borg don't need a queen to direct their heinous crimes against other sentient life in the galaxy. Although I'm not a devout "Star Trek" fan, I was appalled by James Cromwell's portrayal of Zefrem Cochrane, the inventor of warp drive. It's preposterous to think that Cromwell's Cochrane was sufficiently sober to invent it. And how humanity makes first contact with an alien civilization at the film's end is also played strictly for laughs. Poor Gene Roddenberry must be tossing over in his grave, wondering what producer Rick Berman has wrought.

Jerry Goldsmith's fine score is another of the film's artistic triumphs. His Klingon march from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" becomes a stirring anthem for Lieutenant Commander Worf. He also offers memorable themes for the Borg and their Queen. And of course, his memorable "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" main title is heard again in this installment of the "Star Trek" series.

Inspite of its flaws, "Star Trek: First Contact" is a fine action adventure film. I strongly recommend it to those who aren't "Star Trek" fans. And "Star Trek" fans will enjoy it, regardless of its flaws.

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My favorite Trek film.
First Contact is the "event" motion picture highlight of the Star Trek series. After so many films and so many years, the series finally achieves the lauded standards that could rival and even surpass other big-screen sci-fi adventures. What we have here is a mostly terrific and exciting adventure, filled with superior special effects and an engaging, complex plot to boot.

First Contact wastes no time getting into the thick of action. A borg ship (shaped like a cube and incredibly massive in size) is heading toward Earth and an all-out space battle ensues, with the Enterprise-E at the helm. With Captain Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) intimate knowledge of this cyborg race, the fleet destroys the ship, but a small pod is jettisoned, which then travels back in time and alters the course of human history, where Earth in the future will be completely inhabited by the Borg. Determined to prevent this nightmarish future from taking place, the Enterprise-E enters the time rip and must battle the Borg in the year 2063, the dawn of interstellar space travel.

The question for non Trek-fans is whether they'll like the movie. My advice is to watch a few of the Borg episodes and catch up on the previous film to get a feel for all the characters. Otherwise, they'll probably be baffled by the large cast and all the in-house references. But for everyone else, First Contact will play as first-rate escapist entertainment, a sci-fi thrill ride packed with action, suspense, humor, and even genuinely touching drama.

First and foremost, part of what makes the suspense so palpable is because the crew is facing the Borg, undeniably the best villains of the entire Star Trek canon. For those who know next to nothing about this alien race, they exist by assimilating other species into a collective whole, a hive if you will. They show and feel no fear, and that lack of expression can be quite creepy. As far as their appearances go, it's basically organic flesh with lots of cybernetic and machine parts grafted on. I'm not sure how the assimilation process works, but I'd suspect it's not too dissimilar from a virulent attack.

It's arguable that First Contact is the most consistently exciting Trek film to date. This one works as a pure thriller, with several standout action setpieces. Getting things off to a rollicking start is the fast-paced and tense opening space battle, complete with dozens of Starfleet ships attacking the giant Borg cube. Later encounters with the Borg on board the Enterprise (they're assimilating the ship deck-by-deck) are exciting and even a little frightening. You even get to see Data (the android) crushing the Borg with his bare hands, a physical display that he doesn't show too often. The film's best and most suspenseful sequence is the zero-g battle set on the hull of the ship.

First Contact is not without its problems. Easily the most significant flaw of the film are the scenes set on Earth. While vital plot-wise, these moments serve to interrupt the tense action on board the Enterprise. Thankfully, these parts only represent a minor portion of the film. Another problem, for me at least, is that Star Trek was often at its best when the crew set courses for alien planets or star systems. Virtually all of First Contact is set within a short distance to Earth, so that sense of awe and adventure is a bit lacking.

Then there's the climax, which is suspenseful and exciting, but it's a little abrupt and might come as a deus ex machina to some viewers. For those who want their space adventures to end with a huge bang, the twenty-five minute space battle finale to Star Trek: Nemesis might be more up their alley. One of the biggest flaws of Nemesis was that it was often too talky, and there's also a lot of talk going on in First Contact. The difference is that, here, the dialogue accentuates and even heightens the suspense, as we're always made aware of the stakes and dangers on-hand.

Acting-wise, First Contact is unsurprisingly solid. considering the cast has been in these roles for years. Patrick Stewart is the best here, delivering a riveting, power-house performance. The scene where he argues why the Enterprise should stay and fight as opposed to fleeing is simply the best piece of acting in the entire series, period. Brent Spiner is excellent as Data, a role he's fitted so comfortably in, it's hard to imagine anyone else playing the part. The other most significant role belongs to Alfre Woodard as a tough, 21st century woman who finds herself lost on board the Enterprise. The writers cleverly make her both an engaging character and an effective device for which to explain more confusing plot-points (to non-Trek fans, that is) and Trek history.

Directed by Jonathan Frakes (who also plays the part of Commander Riker), the man displays a supremely confident hand behind the camera. Visually, this one breaks the mold from its predecessors. The atmosphere and lighting are darker, and there's even an improved uniform change for the entire crew (obviously done only for aesthetic purposes, but who's complaining?). Too bad success wouldn't be repeated with the gag-inducing Star Trek: Insurrection. The Next Generation films have overall been successful from a quality filmmaking point-of-view. And without a doubt, First Contact represents a pinnacle for this often innovative franchise.
**** 1/2 out of *****

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The best of a mediocre "Next Generation" movie lot
The Next Generation movies in the Star Trek series, generally speaking, stink. Which is unfortunate, since in some ways the TNG series was better than the original Trek. However, the movies generally vary from pure cheese to holier-than-thou piffle.

First Contact is a good, fun movie overall, with pretty good effects shots and plenty of generally well-executed action. However, it also has some defects that can really get on your nerves.

-The plot is dumb. Time travel has been done to death in Trek, and is a real groaner when you realize that it is being done yet again.
-The movie beats into the ground the Star Trek plot gimmick of "we've found a mysterious energy field, let's duplicate it/follow it/etc." We've gone from the first Star Trek movie (crappy in other ways), which at least gave a nod to real science, to the end of TNG, where they just make up fake scientific-sounding B.S. AT WILL as a plot fix.
-Picard acting like Ahab from "Moby Dick" is way overdone, the worst acting by Stewart EVER. Pure scene-chewing cheese, and the PC bit of having the skinny black chick talk reason into him is just dumb and annoying, since she was a throw-away moron of a character. If you are going to be PC for no reason, at least have Geordi do it, we've established that LeVar Burton's character has a brain, and he can actually ACT, unlike what's-her-face.
-Making the Cochrane character such a total jerk was a BIG mistake. Yes, it was intentional, but it was a bad decision... it makes you hope he gets shot in the head instead of fulfill history, and makes the whole middle section of the movie drag.

Overall, however, it is a fun movie and the only TNG movie worth watching.