स्टार ट्रैक: फ़र्स्ट कॉन्टैक्ट

When the Borg launch an attack on Earth, the Enterprise is sent to the neutral zone due to the Admiralty's mistrust of Picard's abilities as he had been assimilated in the past. The Enterprise however, disobeys and returns to help destroy the Borg ship. However a smaller ship escapes and travels back in time, causing the assimilation of Earth in the future. The Enterprise follow the ship back in time and have to undo the damage the ship did on the surface to an experimental warp drive unit that will led Earth to it's first contact with alien life. Meanwhile, on the Enterprise, survivors of the Borg ship begin to assimilate decks within the ship itself.

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.

Clearly one of the best Star Trek TNG films, this film minimizes typical TNG goody-two-shoes lameness in favor of action, and the result is quite good. There is no Wesley Crusher YA angst here; that character is thankfully absent. Patrick Stewart is excellent as usual, particularly in his "Captain Ahab" diatribe. Alfre Woodard was very good; I wish we could have seen her in more Star Trek productions. We even have a decent villain for a change, who has some pithy lines.

"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.

'Star Trek: The Next Generation' may not be quite as influential or as ground-breaking as the original 'Star Trek' series (though it certainly has those elements), but quality-wise it is every bit as good with a few improvements.

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 next generation crew of the Enterprise star in their best movie. Picard and his crew hitch a ride back in time to save the Galaxy from being infested with Borg, by saving the drunkard who invented Warp Drive from being killed by the Borg. This Star Trek movie is nuanced enough for the 'trekkies' to get into, while still being very accessible to the rest of the cinema going public. Johnathon Frakes, for all of his smarmy, cocky demeanor, still I have to admit that he hits a home-run in this initial outing (now his "Insurection" is a whole nother story, one for a different day) This film is action-packed, features good performances, and is just plain fun. All those aforementioned traits easily puts it among the top echelon of Trek films.

My Grade: B+

DVD Extras: Disc 1) Commentary with director/actor Jonathan Frakes; Second commentary with writers Brannon Braga and Ronald Moore; Text Commentary with Michael and Denise Okuda Disc 2) 12 featurettes (Making 'First Contact', The Art Of 'First Contact', "The Story, The Missile Silo, The Deflector Dish,From 'A' to 'E', Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute, The Legacy Of Zefram Cochrane, 'First Contact': The Possibilities, Unimatrix One, The Queen, and Design Matrix); 3 Scene Deconstruction;Storyboards, Photo Gallery; Teaser & Theatrical Trailers; and Trailer for the Borg Invasion Hilton show in Vegas

3 Easter Eggs: In the Main Menu, click on the sun for a list of all the alternative titles considered; In the Star Trek Universe menu highlight a circle for an interview with Ethan Philips; In The Borg Collective menu highlight a circle for an interview with Alex Jaeger

Star Trek VIII: First Contact - Stardate: 50893.5

Finally, after the dismal Generations outing, they got it right with this one! First Contact indeed is on par with the very best of the Star Trek films - The Wrath of Khan and The Undiscovered Country. Unfortunately, they won't get it right again to the present day (with the above average but still not as good Insurrection and awful Nemesis). The script is very solid, the acting above par (with kudos going to Alice Krige as the seductive Borg Queen and Alfre Woodard as the trusting Lily Sloane), and the score by Jerry Goldsmith again another hit. All of that combined with visual effects that service the story and not is the story makes this outing a spectacular success - a solid 9 out of 10!