Star Trek: First Contact - Thoughts

I recall watching the trailer for Star Trek: First Contact back in 1996, around the time of the movie’s release. Seeing the trailer you’d expect to the see the Star Trek Next Generation crew in battle with the alien Borg, in mammoth galactic space combat. The movie also comes across as a hardcore action flick, with Data being in the midst of the Borg’s capture, assimilate, and transform plan.  Though I was very keen on watching the movie at the time, I don’t recall what stopped me. I finally got around to watching it last night, a good 16 years after its release.

Perhaps the most obvious observation will be the dated look that the movie has, especially in the Sci-fi space. The spaceship CGI is acceptable but lacking by today’s standards, and the sets don’t look as cool as we’d expect the 24^th century to be. The rest is probably in keeping with Star Trek Next Generation standards, as the movie feels a lot like the TV serial. All the familiar faces are back, and the plot has the usual exploration – entanglement – plan – twist – climax – resolution, formula. There are hardly any space battle sequences, and the trailer probably showcases more than 70% of the spaceship battles. There are plenty of slower moments with the earths inhabitants set in the late 21^st century.  If you’re a fan of the franchise, you’ll quite enjoy the big clash with the Borg; but on the flip side if you’re just looking for some Sci-fi action Star Trek: First Contact is dated and limited in its scope.

In terms of performances, you’ll find that it’s quite the mixed bag. Captain Picard played by Patrick Stewart is quite impressive, and is the grounding force to the movie. He drives the narrative, and carries the plot through from start to end. Brent Spiner plays Data, the android crew member, and also a key character in the Star Trek: First Contact plot. He does particularly well in playing the android, experiencing physical emotion and stimulation for the first time. The third and possibly only other notable performance comes from James Cromwell who stars as Zefram Cochran. He does surprisingly well in portraying the eccentric scientist with a love for alcohol. Many of the other crew members put in pretty average performances. Jonathan Frakes plays Commander Riker, and is annoying for most part with his lousy grin. Also silly and forgettable is Troi, played by Marina Sirtis. I used to watch this show, but since it was so long ago I don’t specifically remember the quality of the performances very well; my guess is that it must have been average all along.

The content I was sampling was a high definition 720p BlueRay rip. Video was clear, but there was a slightly faded look, which if my memory serves me right is how the TV show looked. It can partially be attributed to degradation during lossy compression as well probably. Sound was presented by means of a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Dialog was perfect, and with a good part of the movie being slower dialog moments, this worked. There was some noticeable surround usage, but it wasn’t anything spectacular.

My Recommendation: Watch It – (The Next Generation Crew’s first big Borg face-off)