The Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth's first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight ... Read allThe Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth's first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight reaching warp speed.The Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth's first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight reaching warp speed.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 8 wins & 21 nominations total
- Geordi
- (as Levar Burton)
Featured reviews
Warp Speed - they've been saying that since Captain Kirk. But how did it happen? and why might it all not happen, our future could be in ruins and one flight of one makeshift spacecraft some time after world war III will make all the difference.
The on-screen relationship between Picard & Lily is totally magic, as is the relationship between the Enterprise crew members - you get a sense of team, of family.
First Contact is one film I enjoy watching again & again. The flight of the Phoenix is one scene I totally love, along with the end scenes.
The only sad thing about the movie is that you come away and deep down you know there is no Cochrain, no FTL engine around the corner. Well, not yet!
"I envy you, the world you're going to" "I envy you, taking these first steps"
In addition to fine performances from the crew (highlighted as always by Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard), the supporting cast is more than equal to the task. Its too bad that the crew didn't bring Alfre Woodward back home with them........ she's one of the very few actors/actresses in Star Trek history who have been able to match Patrick Stewart's personality, acting skills, and histrionics. Also, I thought I detected a touch of romance between the two that could have been further developed at another time.
James Cromwell makes a perfect Zefrem Cochrane. It was a humorous touch to portray him as somewhat of an anti-hero, in contrast to the god-like reverence with which the characters in the film viewed him from a distance of 300 years.
The protagonists in the film, the Borg, have never looked more dangerous. I'm glad that this film returned them to their "roots", unlike their last few appearances in the television series in which they were becoming a little too domesticated.
This is a film to savor for any science fiction fan. 9.5/10.0 !
"I am the beginning, the end, the one who is many."
I like Star Trek, but the TNG/DS9/Voyager series are more about smarmy franchise-building than hardcore S/F. I give this film seven (7) stars.
The first "Next Generation" 'Star Trek' film, 'Generations', was to me not that bad but was frustratingly uneven (namely the treatment of Kirk and the emotion chip subplot). The next film, 'First Contact', was a significant improvement and highly deserves its reputation as the best film based of 'The Next Generation' series and one of the best 'Star Trek' films overall. Giving some of the supporting characters, like Worf and Crusher, more to do rather than giving them little screen time and not having them do much, was pretty much the only thing that 'First Contact' could have improved on.
'First Contact' is one of the best looking 'Star Trek' films, feeling more expansive and cinematic and benefiting from significant technology advances. The cinematography is intimate, colourful, brooding and immersive, while the sets rich in detail and the special effects are first rate with a real sense of awe. Bringing Jerry Goldsmith back was a good move, and he and his son Joel produce a score that's rousing, haunting, menacing, melancholic and sometimes even pastoral. Oh and the main theme tune is a classic.
Writing-wise, 'First Contact' is one of the best written and balanced of the films. The humour is genuinely funny and sometimes affectionate with the in-jokes, the emotional moments have real poignancy and a grandiose sweep and there is a real tension at times too. The story is perhaps the best paced, with no wasted or extraneous scenes and the one that gets to the point the most. The action is simply thrilling, and while some characters are underused there is still some interesting character development and interaction, namely a more conflicted Picard (in a way that's reminiscent of Captain Ahab), the scene between him and Lily and Data and the Borg Queen.
Patrick Stewart gives his most intense and moving performance of all the 'Next Generation' films, and still has the commanding presence and the dignified gravitas. Brent Spiner is strong too, and he is much more restrained here with Data significantly better written. Jonathan Frakes is compelling as Riker but does even better in the director's chair, he doesn't lose any of what makes the series so great in the first place or what makes it so influential while showing some freedom to show his own style and open things up.
Alice Krige is on seductive and deliciously slimy villainous form, while the Borgs are genuinely fearsome even now. James Cromwell and Afre Woodard excel in atypical roles to the work they're best known for, Cromwell in particular.
In conclusion, first rate and a high point of the 'Star Trek' franchise. 9/10 Bethany Cox
The trend of the `even good, odd bad' continues in Star Trek with this good entry in the series. Linking to previous story lines, the film starts immediately and continues at a good pace. Where the previous time travel excursion for the crew was more funny than anything else, this film goes down a more dramatic route with the main plot not turning out to be on the ground (as I first thought it would be) but on the ship where the crew struggle to contain the Borg's advances. This aspect works well - it is not edge of the seat stuff, but it is dramatic and involving.
In contrast the stuff on the surface is more a side issue that is used well to contrast with the pace on the Enterprise itself. There aren't many laughs but it does have a nice little bit of self mocking humour that raises it's head occasionally. The cast (crew?) all do good work, but it is Stewart's film and his Borg past help to enrich his character well. Frakes does an able enough job as director but as an actor he has little to do, as indeed do most of those on the Earth aside from a cameo from Cromwell who adds humour. Woodard is OK in her role but not as good as I've seen her be in other things.
Overall this is a solid Star Trek film, which although not excelling in any one area, has a strong backbone of drama and action aboard the ship that works well with the lighter stuff on the earth.
Did you know
- TriviaOn account of budgetary restrictions, the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) was never quite satisfied with the Borg sets and costumes as used during the series. However, the significantly bigger budget for this film finally allowed them to design the Borg in a way that was much closer to what they had intended. As a result, the suits and sets were reused extensively on Star Trek: Voyager (1995).
- GoofsWhen Geordi is asking Cochrane to look at the intermix chamber blueprints, he is wearing sunglasses, even though his artificial eyes don't require protection from the sun. The sunglasses are probably needed in case a local comes looking around. Only Cochrane and Lily knew about time travelers, and Geordi's futuristic implants could blow their cover. Geordi used dark glasses for the same purpose in Time's Arrow, Part II (1992) as well.
- Quotes
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: [Quoting "Moby Dick"] And he piled upon the whale's white hump, the sum of all the rage and hate felt by his whole race. If his chest had been a cannon, he would have shot his heart upon it.
Lily Sloane: What?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: "Moby-Dick".
Lily Sloane: Actually, I never read it.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Ahab spent years hunting the white whale that crippled him, a quest for vengeance, but in the end, it destroyed him and his ship.
Lily Sloane: I guess he didn't know when to quit.
- Crazy creditsAfter 'Stunt Players' are listed, the 'Stunt Borg' are listed.
- SoundtracksTheme from 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture
by Jerry Goldsmith
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Viaje a las estrellas: Primer contacto
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $45,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $92,027,888
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $30,716,131
- Nov 24, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $146,027,888
- Runtime1 hour 51 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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