Released in 1996, just a couple of years after Star Trek Generations. Star Trek: First Contact is the first full Star Trek: The Next Generation movie, as the previous one was a passing of the torch. This is by far my favorite Star Trek movie, and I would put it up there as one of the best sci-fi movies that the 90s has to offer in general.
How to Download Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek: First Contact was released on November 22, 1996. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
A Fresh Take on the Borg and Time Travel – Star Trek: First Contact Movie Review
Other Star Trek movies demand that you be a fan of the show to enjoy them. I do not think that is the case with this movie. Any sci-fi fan can have fun here, even if they know very little about Star Trek. This movie does have some tie-ins to The Next Generation, mainly the stuff with the Borg. However, it more than stands on its own as an awesome and exciting sci-fi movie.
Picard’s Inner Conflict and Earth in Danger
Picard is having some trouble letting go of his last interaction with the Borg, and it really could not have come at a worse time. The Borg are heading to Earth, and Picard and the sleek new Enterprise need to try and stop them. While there is no Enterprise design that I dislike, the one introduced here is my favorite!
This is not your usual Borg, trying to just assimilate Earth mission. The Borg actually head back in time and assimilate Earth in the past! The Enterprise crew travels through a time warp to the year 2063, the day before Earth makes first contact with aliens. The Borg plans to take Earth before this happens, and had the Enterprise not come through their time warp, they would have succeeded.
Riker, Geordi, and Humanity’s First Contact
Back in 2063, we have two missions going on. On Earth, Commander Riker and Geordi La Forge try to help a scientist called Cochrane get this warp drive ready in time to make sure that the Phoenix shuttle blasts off at a very specific time. You see, a Vulcan ship that is passing by is attracted to Earth by the activation of the warp drive, this being mankind’s “first contact”.
The Cast Shines, Especially Cromwell and Krige
While all of our favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation characters are here in Star Trek: First Contact. We get a great supporting cast here too, Cochrane is played by James Cromwell and he is awesome. I loved the way that the crew of the Enterprise saw him as this heroic figure, but the reality is much different and he is a very flawed, but great character.
Borg Queen and Data Deliver Powerful Moments
The Enterprise crew does not have to just worry about getting the warp drive up and running. In space, Picard, Warf, and Data are dealing with the Borg, who are assimilating the Enterprise deck by deck! This is a very personal story for Picard as he has a real hatred for the Borg, and this affects his leadership.
I just talked about how great the supporting cast was, and The Borg Queen is played by Alice Krige (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), and she is amazing in this role! The stuff with the Borg Queen and Data is very well done, and the movie does a wonderful job in making you wonder if Data has gone over to the Dark Side. Sorry, wrong franchise. The movie flips back and forward between the stuff on Earth and on the Enterprise, and both plots are just as interesting.
Behind the Camera: Jonathan Frakes as Director
A neat bit of trivia about Star Trek: First Contact is that this was directed by Johnathon Frakes, who plays Riker. Frakes had directed several episodes of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and even Star Trek Voyager. He was a great choice for this, I complained that Generations felt like an extended episode of the show. While First Contact has many elements that I love about the show, it feels bigger and grander in pretty much every way.
Final Thoughts: A Top-Tier Sci-Fi Film
If I am in the mood to watch some Star Trek, most of the time, it will be Star Trek: First Contact I watch. This is a great Star Trek movie, but it is a fantastic sci-fi movie in its own right. This is an absolutely top-tier 10/10 sci-fi movie for me. I hand on heart cannot think of a single thing that this movie does not get right. The only downside is that the movie that followed this, Star Trek: Insurrection, had the impossible task of living up to this.
