Star Trek: First Contact Review
by Chuck Dowling (chuckd21 AT southeast DOT net)November 27th, 1996
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STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT
[Spoilers]
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1996 Chuck Dowling
Star Trek:First Contact (1996) ** out of ***** - C:Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, James Cromwell, Alfre Woodard, Dwight Schultz, Robert Picardo.
***This review does contain spoilers***
I was completely unprepared for how bad this movie is. After seeing about a thousand commercials for the newest Star Trek adventure, I was sold. Finally, Starfleet battles their dreaded enemy from the series, the Borg. Finally, an action packed Star Trek movie which many had called "Die Hard on the Enterprise". I was one of the first in line. Once it began, I couldn't keep from wanting to leave.
If you are a casual Star Trek fan, you'll be lost from the first minute. If you are a serious Star Trek fan, I think you'll feel cheated. First of all, nothing is really explained in the film. As soon as the film starts, the Borg attack. You aren't even given a second to settle into the film. And after that it's just "kill the Borg". How are they doing it? Don't ask. Just watch. Will it make sense? No. Just watch.
When we first see Geordi (Burton), he is no longer wearing his visor. He apparently no longer needs it. Well when did that happen? In the last film, the Enterprise was completely destroyed. So are we introduced to the new ship as we were in the original Star Trek film? Nope, not even for a second. When the Enterprise was destroyed in "The Search for Spock" and in "Generations", you cared because the characters cared. Here, when the ship is facing destruction, who cares? Blow it up. Starfleet has changed their uniforms AGAIN, now they look like jumpsuits from the 1970s. Would you feel safe being protected by an organization in charge of defending the universe that can't even make up their minds about how to dress?
Also, none of the characters in the film even seem familiar anymore. Data has emotions now, so he's just like anyone else. The rest of the crew is given little or nothing to do. Captain Picard (Stewart) turns into a madman upon encountering the Borg, because of events which took place during the series' third and fourth seasons. Forget the fact that the Enterprise crew encountered the Borg two more times after that in the series. They act as if those seemingly important events never happened. I don't like that. It's like I'm being lied to.
The Borg as an enemy seemed vicious in the series, but now they seem pretty ridiculous. As smart and advanced as these things are, they still only attack when provoked. This is how they always lose, because the crew just stops fighting them and figures some other way to destroy them. The Borg will just walk right by members of the crew as long as they aren't a direct threat. Meanwhile those crew members keep on walking and eventually devise a way to destroy them. This is a movie folks! You writers could have raised the stakes just a little!
A Borg leader is introduced here, something which also seems to be a contridiction from the series. Picard confronts her and tells her that he destroyed her years ago. She admits that is true, but that humans need to look beyond thinking 3 dimensionally, perhaps meaning that the Borg cannot be killed by conventional means. But then, later in the film, she and the other Borg are killed by some sort of gas that was contained in the engine room, which had become their hive. (That poses the Wizard of Oz question: If water killed you, why would you keep a bucket of it near you?) So what was the point of all that discussion?
Also, in the TV series, the writers made a point to explain EVERYTHING, even if it was just a technobabble explanation. Never once can I recall did I question the logic of any episode of "The Next Generation". Here, they don't bother to explain anything. The Borg have developed time travel capabilities. They send only one ship to Earth (just as they did before, way to learn from previous mistakes borgies) and then send a smaller ship back in time upon reaching Earth. Well, the Enterprise is prepared for this because they see it happening. Wouldn't it make sense to go back in time BEFORE reaching Earth so no one knows you're doing it? Again, these "fierce" enemies seem stupid.
There's a pointless time travel subplot which doesn't make any sense either. Throughout the history of Star Trek, everyone always made a big deal about time travel, about how not to interfere with events in the past. Well not only does the crew interfere with MAJOR events, they actually participate in them too! Ridiculous.
For a series which prided itself in continuity and details, it's shocking to see that this film throws all of that out of the window. There's a Star Trek novel called "Vendetta" which deals with the Borg, and that would have been far superior to this. Maybe when making the next film, the filmmakers can pretend that this one didn't happen. Why not? They got plenty of practice ignoring their own history in this one.
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Chuck Dowling
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