Star Trek: First Contact Review
by J. C. Gibson (jcgibson AT wctc DOT net)November 25th, 1996
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STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT
[Spoilers]
A film review by J. C. Gibson
Copyright 1996 J. C. Gibson
FIRST CONTACT! Major spoilers ahoy! Just let me say that it was really cool. :)
Warning: this is long and rambling :)
First impressions:
This movie will be a hit. I can tell because I took some family members who are about as far from being a Trekker as I am from being President. They loved it. I, OTOH, was slightly disappointed, now, I *did* love the movie, I was just expecting *more*. It happened the same way with ID4, TPTB hyped it up for ages before it came, then, when we finally saw it, we realized that all those scenes shown in the trailers and "making of's" *were* all the scenes.
I for one, was expecting more battles, and more action. Now, I enjoy the "Visitor" type as much (possibly more!) as anyone else, but as someone said, this movie was just too short. When I looked at my watch at the end, only about an hour and a half had passed. I'm not sure why they didn't make it longer, but it hurt it badly. Too much was left unsaid. And as another person said, I got the feeling that the ground was more important than the ship at times. This would have been better if they would have portrayed ZC the way we *thought* he was, so he wouldn't have needed all this coddling. If they would have knocked out that stupid chase through the forest, they would have had a few more seconds for the ships.
The *ship* was the part we needed. It seemed like everytime I was starting to get *really* into the Borg and those neat corridors, they instantly cut back to the surface and my adreniline went back down to normal levels. In order for this to have really worked, they needed to spend *all* of that "middle" time on the ship, and just had ZC's launch and First Contact with the Vulcans. (I wonder why they stayed after ZC's music blasted them to kingdom come? :) This would have worked fine.
I also hate to say this, but when the BQ fell into that flesh-eating smog at the end, all I could think about was that this was a poor-man's "Alien". Remember "Alien 3"? <G> I also found myself staring at the Borg being "refreshed" along the corridors, because in a "making of" I saw Jonathan Frakes (I think?) say "take that" and knock one of them over! I couldn't help wondering which ones were the dummies. (to the SFX peoples' credit, I couldn't tell)
I personally hated the uniforms before the movie, but when I saw it, I liked them. They fit in the "battle-like" E-E, and I dare say, the same will happen with the "darker" DS9. DS9 is sort of the same "fighting" machine as the E-E, "darker" than your average Starfleet ship. Gunmetal gray instead of silver. *BUT* I sure as heck hope that they keep them away from Voyager. Not only would that be a pitiful plot device, but they wouldn't *look* right in the "cheerful" atmosphere of the Voyager.
I also didn't think I'd like the design of the E-E, but as soon as I saw it swooping across that beautiful starfield to join the battle with the Borg, I knew it was *her*. She's sleeker and more gorgeous than the squat looking E-D. (and before you flame me, I *love* the E-D, she'll always be "TNG's ship". I'm just talking about design.) I personally cannot wait until I can put together a model of her. <sigh> Love at first sight.
Finally, I really spoiled this movie for myself, I had found out about all the little cameos and things like Hawke dying months ago. I didn't think knowing these little things would hurt the movie as long as I stayed away from plots and major spoilers. I was wrong. :( I went with a friend, and when they ooohed and aaahed at Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, and Dwight Schultz, and looked horrified at Hawke's demise, I was kicking myself, because it wasn't *special* to me. I'm sure other people did the same thing, can we get together and kick each other's a**es?
Oh, and just to make a list of my favorite scenes, here goes:
1. That goregous opening scene when the E-E came swooping down in all her glory. The FX there were beautiful. As Scotty would say, "It brough' a tear to me eye, laddie."
2. The scene with the Defiant zooming across the screen in front of the Borg ship. Wow.
3. When we saw the E-E warp back home from down below on Earth. Loved that.
4. Borg Queen's entrence. The head meeting the body. (But, if anybody here went to Disney World way,way back in the 80's, didn't that chamber remind you of that Epcot 3-D movie "Captain EO"? The one with Michael Jackson doing the moonwalk? It just reminded me of that, especially when Picard was climbing all those tubes. Sorry if you have no idea what I'm babbling about :)
5. The look on Lily's face when she realized she was in space was priceless :)
6. The Picard/Worf "coward" exchange. Sisko better watch out, I don't know if he would qualify as "If you were any other man.." <G> 7. When Data says he was only tempted for ".0068 seconds, an eternity for androids," I was ROFLOL.
8. When the Vulcan gave the "Live long and prosper" hand, and ZC couldn't do it. That was great.
I could go on and on. Suffice it to say: I loved this movie, I think it will keep Trek alive, but I don't think it was as good as "Wrath of Khan" or "Undiscovered Country". Their stories just made more sense. When you work with time travel, you open up too many cans of worms. Time has only really worked *right* a few times, DS9's "The Visitor" is one I can think of off the bat, and that didn't even really have "time travel". But maybe I'm just a sourpuss :) Let's see, I can still catch the 1:00 showing if I run...
Out of 5 stars, I give this a 4 1/2. Congrats to all who worked on it.
- Trek Tech, who got the *last* "Resistence Is Futile" button in the theater! My lucky day! <G>
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