From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Nov 26 09:25:09 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!02-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!newsfeed.uk.ibm.net!news.stealth.net!news.mxol.com!news.tbcnet.com!news.nap.net!uwm.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!phase2.worldnet.att.net!netnews.worldnet.att.net!anchor.cis.att.com!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: srenshaw@leland.stanford.edu (Scott Renshaw) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 21 Nov 1996 21:20:14 GMT Organization: Stanford University Lines: 108 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <572h2e$beu@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: srenshaw@leland.stanford.edu (Scott Renshaw) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06381 Keywords: author=Renshaw Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5773 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1118 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1506 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Scott Renshaw Copyright 1996 Scott Renshaw STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (Paramount) Starring: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alice Krige, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell. Screenplay: Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga. Producer: Rick Berman. Director: Jonathan Frakes. MPAA Rating: PG-13 (profanity, violence) Running Time: 105 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw. Paramount's "Star Trek" franchise needs the current crew much more than the crew needs the franchise, and that is something of a shift in the balance of power from the original crew. With the surviving "Trek" television series -- "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager" -- in ratings free fall and the original cast finally retired, the film projects with the "Next Generation" cast are the last, best hope for the survival of Gene Roddenberry's beloved vision. To be even more specific, the franchise needs Patrick Stewart. Far and away the best actor ever to don a Starfleet uniform, Stewart is the standard bearer for a series which has the opportunity to thrive as long as stories can be built around Captain Jean-Luc Picard, a character with unlimited potential in the hands of such a talented performer. STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT is built around Stewart's Picard, which is the first of many things the eighth TREK feature does right. Picard is leading the newly commissioned Enterprise E when the alien Borg -- a race of cybernetic beings whose only purpose is the conquest and assimilation of other races -- attack the Federation. The Enterprise, however, is asked to stay out of the fray, since the admirals don't quite trust Picard to remain objective about a race which once captured and assimilated him. Their concerns are validated when Picard joins the battle anyway, and ends up following a Borg ship into the past, where they intend to conquer the earth the easy way. In the mid 21st century, the Borg plan to prevent the maiden warp-drive flight of Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), which brings earth into contact with benevolent alien races for the first time. It is up to the Enterprise crew to make sure that flight takes place, despite a Borg takeover of the Enterprise itself and the surprising reluctance of Cochrane. The STAR TREK films have often walked a fine line between being love-ins for the die-hard fans of the television series and accessible adventures for a general audience, and FIRST CONTACT walks an even finer line than most. Though brief flashbacks and bits of exposition explain the nature of Picard's previous encounter with the Borg, familiarity with the episodes of the series in which it took place makes his trauma much more clear, and his obsession more compelling. There are obligatory cameos as well (including one "Voyager" cast member) which will likely blow right over the heads of the uninitiated, and at least one moment which will be a Trekker delight: the generally serene Counselor Troi (Marina Sirtis) drunk on tequila shots. Still, the surprisingly effective work of first-time feature film director Jonathan Frakes (who also portrays Commander William Riker) makes FIRST CONTACT a solid, suspenseful action film for any fan of the genre, particularly in a tense encounter between Borg and crew members which takes place on the hull of the Enterprise. If there is likely to be a disappointment for Trek fans, it is a change in the nature of the Borg which works to mixed effect. The anonymous and group-conscious Borg are given a much more individualized queen (Alice Krige) who acts as their mouthpiece in their interaction with crew members, notably the captured Commander Data (Brent Spiner). Krige is creepy and seductive in the role, and the design of her character is sensational, but something is lost in giving the Borg a de facto leader. Writers Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga attempt to explain it away in classic Trek fashion -- it is one of those mysteries, the queen rasps, which limited minds simply can't understand -- but they are unable to explain away a Borg which seems concerned about its own individual survival. Somehow, they become less frightening as an army than as a single entity. Krige is nasty enough, however, to make such matters insignificant while you're watching FIRST CONTACT, and she is part of a phenomenon which makes this TREK somewhat unique: the acting is good enough from top to bottom to drive the film. James Cromwell (BABE) gets the entertaining role of Cochrane, a self-interested sot who finds himself terribly uncomfortable with the notion that he will be considered a hero by history; it is a comic performance which is not simply comic relief. The always-reliable Alfre Woodard is also on hand as Cochrane's colleague Lily, and Spiner (whose Data persona has been the best cushion against his tendency to over-act) has some choice moments with Krige. But it is Stewart who commands both literally and figuratively, making his personal mission to destroy the Borg a solid sub-text to a conventional action film. It takes conviction to sell science fiction, and Stewart is an actor simply unwilling to play a flat character. Frakes keeps the story flowing while switching between the various plot threads, and his steady hand helps make FIRST CONTACT the best TREK since 1986's STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME, and shows that it is far too early to begin the eulogy for this franchise. This is a smart and snappy adventure in which Patrick Stewart doesn't just say "Make it so" -- he does it. On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 captains courageous: 8. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit Scott Renshaw's MoviePage http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~srenshaw Subscribe to receive reviews directly via email See details on the MoviePage --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:11 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!02-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!01-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!voskovec.radio.cz!nntp.zit.th-darmstadt.de!news.nacamar.de!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!news.idt.net!enews.sgi.com!news.sgi.com!news.msfc.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: rhodes_steve@tandem.com (Steve Rhodes) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:45:59 GMT Organization: Tandem Computers, Inc. Lines: 118 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cm0n$1kh@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: rhodes_steve@tandem.com (Steve Rhodes) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06383 Keywords: author=Rhodes Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5782 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1121 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1512 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Steve Rhodes Copyright 1996 Steve Rhodes RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2 When a new Star Trek comes out, there is always excitement in the air. Star Trek has fans like no other series. Trekkies have almost a religious devotion to the series. I still remember the first time I met a master level Trekkie. I was at a party where a TV was playing, and she was reciting not some, but all the lines before the characters spoke them. I stared in awe at her. This review is not for her or her likes. This review of STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT is aimed at the rest of us. She will undoubtedly recognize and appreciate nuances in the picture that mere mortals will miss. First, an admission. I have seen some of the films in the Star Trek series but not all. Some I've liked, and some I haven't. I do not remember any that were bad nor any outstanding. As a non-devotee, I find the films good solid entertainment, but nothing more. This is not meant as a put-down. As a critic, it is a relief not to have every film try to force your emotional systems into a complete meltdown. Being able to kick back and just enjoy an old fashion adventure is a welcome respite for my nervous system. "I am a computer cyborg. Resistance is futile," says Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) remembering the time six years ago when the Borgs assimilated him. He is healthy now, but the earth isn't. The Borgs have gone back in time to the year 2063 so they can stop earth's first contact with an alien spacecraft. If they can do that, they will populate the earth with nothing but Borgs. The film is about the Captain and his crew aboard the newly commissioned U. S. S. Enterprise-E as they follow the Borgs back in time so they can stop them. This plot device lets much of the movie be filmed in a pine forest. The Borgs start taking over the Enterprise, and try torture on those they capture. "I am unlike any life forms you have ever encountered before," tells Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) to the Borg Queen (Alice Krige). He asserts that he can not be broken. She resorts to that age old temptation -- sex. While he is strapped down, she blows over the new skin on his arm and purrs at him, "Was that good for you?" The script by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, and Ronald Moore never takes itself too seriously. The show is peppered with little bits of humor. The twenty-first century earth hero of the story is the original inventor of the warp drive, Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell from BABE). Costume designers Robert Blackman and Deborah Everton chose the outfit of a geriatric hippie for him. Cromwell has great fun playing the part of a reluctant legend who would rather drink whiskey than do anything else. His goal is to get rich and find a desert island full of naked women, but his destiny is to have high schools named after him instead. When Alfre Woodard (HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT), playing Cochrane's sidekick Lily Sloane, is taken up in the Enterprise, she has a rude awakening. As she looks wide-eyed back down to earth, the Captain explains to her, "You are not in Montana anymore." This is one of many homages to older movies. When Lily and Picard become trapped by the Borgs, they turn a room into a 1930's dancehall so that they can get an old fashioned Tommy gun to mow down the Borgs. The show is full of logical flaws like this. Why didn't he just dream up the gun? Why the whole room full of dancing strangers? Logic, of course, is not the point, and the scene is a colorful diversion. Woodard gets to say some of the cornier lines including, "It's my first ray gun," and "watch your caboose." Her performance, however, is too removed. She never gets in sync with the rhythm of a science fiction film. Brent Spiner as Data is the most fun to watch. Quite a complement to Stewart's brooding as the Captain. Lily makes fun of this with, "Captain Ahab has to have his whale." At times, the show takes itself seriously as when Picard barks out about the Borg battle, "The line has to be drawn here. This far and no farther." Having recently watched sci-fi films from 50's classics to STAR WARS to INDEPENDENCE DAY, I found the special effects by Terry Frazee in STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT closer to the hokey 50s' material. Watch especially the cheap model they used in the scene where they look up at the Enterprise from a telescope on earth. I once read that the reason the studio likes the STAR TREK series is that since they are relatively inexpensive to film, they are always quite profitable. STAR TREK films have a basic appeal, and fancy effects would probably just detract anyway. STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT is directed by Jonathan Frakes who plays number one, known more formally as Commander William Riker. Like an old orchestra, the cast seems to run on auto-pilot so I still have little opinion on his directorial skills. The final question becomes: Is there enough here for non-Trekkies, and I think the answer is yes. A completely forgettable, but pleasant enough time at the your local Bijou. A good popcorn movie. STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT runs about 1:50. I missed getting the press kit at the screening, but that is about what my watch said. The film is rated PG-13 for cartoonish violence and a few profanities. There is no sex or nudity. The film would be fine for kids, but my guess is that they would need to be 8 or 9 to understand it. I give the picture a thumbs up and rate it ** 1/2. ______________________________________________________________________ **** = One of the top few films of this or any year. A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = One of the worst films of this or any year. Totally unbearable. REVIEW WRITTEN ON: November 20, 1996 Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:12 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!02-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!newsfeed.uk.ibm.net!news.ibm.net.il!arclight.uoregon.edu!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!news.idt.net!enews.sgi.com!news.sgi.com!news.msfc.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: cronejp@nortel.ca (Jonathan P. Crone) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:49:27 GMT Organization: Bell-Northern Research/Northern Telecom Lines: 138 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cm77$1mf@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: cronejp@nortel.ca (Jonathan P. Crone) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06389 Keywords: author=Crone Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5799 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1128 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1519 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT [Spoilers] A film review by Jonathan P. Crone Copyright 1996 Jonathan P. Crone The Odd/Even rule gets proven again. Star Trek First Contact is a romp through the Star Trek mythos that simultaneously shows the strengths of 'Trek' and the maddening weaknesses of Trek. The Strong: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner Spiner pulls off a top notch job as Data gets teased by the Borg Queen with his ultimate desire. Right up to the climatic moment, you don't see the 'wham' coming. Frakes just set himself up with a lucrative career as a film director. Good pacing, a strong style with the scenes inside the enterprise, a understanding of what is good about a Trek movie. As an actor we didn't have too much of the 'I'm Kirk's replacement' or the smugness that was regularly made fun of in 'Q' episodes. Its almost as if the Second in Command = good director rule needs definition. Nimoy, Frakes... not bad company. Stewart's performances in individual scenes were stronger than the best that we saw from Shatner in complete movies. Patrick Stewart is the best part of First Contact. The portrayal drifting from the frustrated, to the man of action, to obsession, to resolution is delivered in a quality, appealling manner. Unfortunately, everyone else is window dressing. Sirtis and Mcfadden get almost a prefunctory obligitory scene each. (But Sirtis made the most of it, with a hilarious scene with the Zephram Cochrane character) Getting Michael Dorn onto the Enterprise was handled extremely well, but once he was onboard, Worf almost faded into the scenery. Too bad. LeVar Burton had some good scenes with James Cromwell (Zephram Cochrane) but didn't get a chance to truly shine. The guest stars were well chosen. The actress who played the Borg Queen had a perfect degree of menace, and in one scene (you'll know it when you see it) with Spiner/Data you could just feel the audience going 'whoa' Alfre Woodward had to be cast for her one key scene where she faces down Stewart/Picard. The rest of the movie, she gets in the way, but in one key moment she plays off the 'picard' mythos very well. James Cromwell as Zephram Cochrane had a tough job. He has to play off everyone treating him as a hero, even if he doesn't believe he is one. Well done. He ably plays the drunk who suddenly has to put up with hero worship. The special effects are well executed, especially in the initial key combat sequences. The new Enterprise is very pretty. The distressing habit that Trek unveiled in Trek 6, that of the cameo appearance, carries on full strength into First Contact. One of the cameos, that of the Emergency Holodoc is well timed, but I could have done without hearing Nelix's voice in Ethan Phillip's (curiously uncredited) cameo in the holodeck, or Dwight Schultz's utterly pointless cameo as Brocoli (sorry, Barclay) And now to the nasty bits. My wife and I sat having dinner after the premier wondering if we'd just watched Aliens again or not. We finally decided that the best phrase was 'If imitiation is the sincerest form of flattery, then James Cameron (Director/writer of Aliens) must be damned flattered' First Contact is StarTrek meets the Aliens gang. That is not all bad, but damn it, this could have been MORE. Scenes directly calling back the image of chest bursters from Aliens, a whole mental process of 'If they're going to get assimiliated, kill them first, its the best for them' down to the claustrophobia of the combat scenes in the corridors of the Enterprise felt pulled from Aliens. The really bad. (SPOILER CITY BELOW) Data and Jean-Luc save the Enterprise, save Zephram Cochrane, save humanity yet again. The scene changes, and beam off they go, hop onto the Big E, and whiz, snap bang, back through time end of movie. WOULD SOMEONE in the STAR TREK UNIVERSE STOP WRITING RESET BUTTON ENDINGS DAMN IT!!!!!!!! I stopped watching Voyager because of crappy writing and magical mystery reset endings in 30 seconds. (plus technobabble etc.) DS9 still moderately suffers from this disease. The Enterprise has just had most of its crew assimilated and Borgified, the ship itself has been collectivized and has been borg modified from decks 26 up to deck 3 or 4. ( A guess) They've jettisoned the deflector dish for crying out loud, and now 'SNAP BANG' off to warp? Even a ' Captain's Log: we've spent 2 weeks in orbit repairing damage to the Enterprise and rigging a new deflector emitter. We now bid farewell to earth of the past with new hope" Something like that... NOT Whiz bang, the ship is ready to honk back to the future???? Anyways, First Contact managed to in 2 1/2 minutes of film to damn near ruin my enjoyment of the film. Too bad... Incidently: The Defiant gets thoroughly trashed at the beginning of the movie.. Anyone wondering if DS9 will have a throw in it to provide an 'absence' of the Defiant for a few episodes while it gets repaired? Given Trek's inability to provide for continuity, I'm not counting on it... First Contact is worth seeing. Some bloody annoying weaknesses that are unfortunately endemic to the entire Trek universe as corrupted by Rick Berman, but still worth seeing. JpC -- Jonathan P. Crone P.Eng 613-763-8624 Fax 613-763-5568 ESN:393-8624 BNR PCS Systems Development cronejp@bnr.ca From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:13 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!linkoping.trab.se!malmo.trab.se!newsfeed.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!news-peer.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: yamash01@dons.ac.usfca.edu (Yamamoto) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:50:46 GMT Organization: University of San Francisco Lines: 70 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cm9m$1mm@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: yamash01@dons.ac.usfca.edu (Yamamoto) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06390 Keywords: author=Yamamoto Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5814 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1134 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1527 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Yamamoto Copyright 1996 Yamamoto Have you noticed that right after you get your clothes back from dry cleaners, they attract stains? And only for first week or so. Then you never spill anything on the dirty clothes again. I swear there must be a conspiracy going on around here. I bet the dry cleaners add stain attracting chemicals on your clothes that last about a week or so. Of course, if you keep it in the closet, it won't attract dirt until you first put it on again. Speaking of conspiracies, STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT came out so I had to go check it out. It's the latest of the Star Trek movie series. This time around, the Federation's arch enemy come knocking on the front door so of course Star Trek: The New Generation crew must come to the rescue. And they go through the trekkie techno babble along the way just to save not only earth but the whole world as we know it. No nakkid boobs. 33 bullets. Ship loads of dead bodies. 32 on the vomit meter. No moon shots. What we got here are: attack of the killer borg-fu, drill to the eye-fu, implant-fu, dreams from hell-fu, attack of killer comet-fu, targetting of non essential area-fu, techno babble-fu, futile resistance-fu, ankle grab-fu, attack of bullet proof body-fu, touchy feeling-fu, tequila shots-fu, bad whisky-fu, and of course, more techno babble-fu. Video hall of fame nominations to: James Cromwell for saying stuff like "Engage" and to Alice Krige for saying stuff like "You strive to be imperfect?" and to Brent Spiner for saying stuff like "You mean sexually?" Of course to Gates McFadden for saying stuff like "captain has made his decision" and to Alfre Woodard for saying stuff like "captain Ahab" and to Michael Dorn for saying stuff like "it made me sick to my stomach". And we can never forget Marina Sirtis for saying stuff like "This is a primitive society" and to Patrick Stewart for saying stuff like "I will make them pay!" and to Jonathan Frakes for saying stuff like "you mean you told him" and to Levar Burton for saying stuff like "that's funny". Three and a half stars. Shaggy Bob says wicked! Spoilers -- Another one of the Borg ship heads to earth to assimilate. Jean Luc is placed out of the loop because the higher up things he's a liability. Of course, he proves all the higher ups wrong and saves the day. In defeat, escaping Borg ship time travels and attack earth in the past. Hmm... didn't Cyberdine System 101 and T1000 try to do something like that? Anyhow, the Enterprise and her crew follows and prevents altering of time line and saves the world from being conquered by the Borg. All the cameo by people from the different series adds flavor to the flick. But you really do need to follow the TV series to fully appreciate the little quirks and inside humor. If you're waiting for the phone call from Paulina Porizkova, take the cell phone and go see this movie. If you follow Star Trek at all, I doubt I'll even have to say that. Alien Alert! Why do politicians like to make people's lives difficult? And why do we elect these people who try their darnest to make our lives miserable? For example, the another freeway is coming down but may not be replaced. Gee, that makes spending what, extra 40 min on the surface road instead of extra 20 min the commuters spend now. And if there were freeway system as it was furst intended, we would be saving all that time for something more constructive than sitting in the car, getting aggrivated by the BMW who just cut you off. No wonder people go postal. For wisdom according to Shaggy Bob, hit that reply key now. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:15 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!sn.no!nntp.uio.no!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!hunter.premier.net!feed1.news.erols.com!news.idt.net!enews.sgi.com!news.sgi.com!news.msfc.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: kelvington@aol.com (Rick Kelvington) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:51:35 GMT Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Lines: 431 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cmb7$1mv@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: kelvington@aol.com (Rick Kelvington) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06391 Keywords: author=Kelvington Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5797 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1127 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1518 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Rick Kelvington Copyright 1996 Rick Kelvington Star Trek: First Contact - A Review and Story Synopsis ... or How I Learned To Stop Loving Star Trek & Started Watching Babylon 5 Again. First let me say, you probably won't like this review. If your a big Star Trek fan, (like I am) you should probably stop reading now, and pick up a twinkee, or other food product that will give you some level of enjoyment. I guarantee you this review will not. My personal favorite, is the Hostess Cupcake. For those of you that have decided to continue on, here are the rules: 1. This is a review and story synopsis, not a criticism of a life style or clothing choice. 2. You can not flame me, if you are over your target weight by more than twenty pounds, or need a belt which exceeds 46 inches. 3. If you went to the theater more than 3 hours before the film started, you may not flame me. 4. If you went to the theater in a Star Fleet Uniform, or wore more than three star trek communicator pins, you may not flame me and finally... 5. If you think I am sleeping with your wife, girlfriend or daughter, you are probably not a big enough of a star trek fan to even bother to flame me. Star Trek - First Contact I wanted to like this movie, I really, really did. We needed to have one hit out of the park, the Star Trek franchise is starting to show it age. Now as a review of a movie, you can only take into account the things that happened on the screen, (which in my case also includes the previews) and the reaction of the audience, which in my book is somewhat secondary. Please note that anyone wearing a Klingon costume, or dressed as a Romulan does not technically count as an objective audience member. The day started promisingly enough, with a delightful ticket taker, a few short previews, and no over acted computer animations telling me to shut up or throw away my trash. The theater was very full, nearly 80% of it's capacity. People waited with baited breath to see the continuing adventures of Picard, Riker and the rest of the gang. But then a surprise, a preview which had a small TV set showing Star Wars on it, which it turned out to be, was a very good and enjoyable preview of the re-release of the Star Wars films starting in February of next year, the preview even had new footage never before seen and killer effects. The scene was set. A good preview, nice ambiance, and some overly buttered popcorn. The theater got quiet, as the stars on the Paramount logo came flying into view, followed by the familiar strains of the Classic Trek music we all grew up with. The titles, well they were less than inspiring, no bottle slowly falling through space, no ships passing by at warp speed. Just a reverse Superman type of generic title. But who cares about titles anyway, this could still be a good film. Then we see what has to be the longest pull back shot in history of motion pictures and I was very excited, effects like this don't come cheap. This shot from inside Picard's eye to outer space was awesome! Then like most really good things, it turned out to be a dream. We see Picard on his new ship, without so much as clue as to how he got there, and where this ship came from. Everything seems to be normal except Picard knows the Borg are about to attack. Having been Borgified himself several years ago, he still hears Borg song in his head. The most ruthless and vile enemy since the goatee Klingons of the sixties, the Borg. Part man, part machine, part plastic plumbing. These despicable life forms that stagger around like many of Universal Picture's most famous monsters, are the scourge of the galaxy, why the mere mention of their name can make a Klingon wet his pants or a make a security officer wish for the merciful death of a transporter accident. Personally, I wanted to know how this ship got to be the Enterprise-E, I wanted to see it's commission, hear stories of it's design, maybe even see Picard working with the designers on it's construction. See how they go the crew to come back and watch as they slowly break orbit for the first time. But it was not to be, no matter, it can still be a good film. Which brings me to my first rule of Acquiescence, just like the rules of Acquisition that the Frengie use. The rules of Acquiescence are used to point out major flaws in logic or rational thinking that they take for granted in the Star Trek universe. Rule 1: We don't need to know anything about how people in the Star Trek universe get new ships, new eyes, or new hair colors for that matter. We can just take for a granted that Star Fleet will keep building new ships as fast as we destroy them. The scenario is set, the Borg are on the attack. Will Picard defy orders and save the universe again, in a mighty battle around Earth, we see Star Fleet ships tossed about like plastic models being blown to bits by some intergalactic, M-80 firing, Rebukes cube. We see Picard, taking over the fleet and exploiting a weakness in the Borg that he had failed to mention to Star Fleet command during those long debriefings he must have gone through all those years ago. But it seems destroying the Borg ship is not enough, the Borg launch a huge escape pod or cannon ball like item out of the ship as it blowing up, this escape pod has the ability to create a field that will allow it to travel back in time, the Enterprise get's caught in it's wake just long enough to see what happens when you introduce a dominate species into a submissive culture, the Borg take over Earth. By altering it's past. At first I had guessed this take over, which the Borg call assimilation, was done by forcing the people of earth to watch reruns of Regis & Kathy Lee until the strongest of our race killed themselves, and the rest were just given an email address and shown how to use a newsgroup until they were numb and nonresistant. We soon find out that by following them into this temporal field somehow, that they plan to take over earth of the present by stopping something out of Earth's past. So far the film is off to blistering pace. The effects are impressive, the story a little strained but all in all, I still think I can like this movie. Rule 2: You don't need to know how a technology works to use it, the Enterprise-E is somehow able to create, and then later in the film utilize, a here to fore unheard of way of traveling in time by making a cronosmetric field. Next I expect they will just turn off the Enterprise's chameleon circuit and the Enterprise will just turn into a big huge blue police box and be able to travel in time anywhere in time or space that they want to. After following the Borg back in time to a post WWIII era decimated Earth, and deciding that The Borg were trying to stopping the "first contact" humans had with an alien race, ( a very old reference to an episode of the original Trek, where Vulcans were the "first contact" made with Earth and that this helped to save our world) Rule 3: There are no longer any original ideas that can be developed in the Star Trek world, or so they would have us believe, without a reference or major story plot that somehow hinges on information we leaned in Kirks time. Soon I expect to read a book called "The world according to, Kirk" The concept is the Borg will disrupt this meeting, by stopping the first ever test of a working warp drive ship called the Phoenix. They try and do this by firing randomly from space at the area around where the ship is housed. This well thought out plan and the writers deserve credit for trying it. The Borg's plan however, is disrupted by the appearance of the Enterprise-E in this post apocalyptic earth, when Picard blows the Borg ball out of the stars with a few well placed torpedo hits. Rule 4: Shooting at things on the ground from space seems very difficult. You would think that with the technology necessary to travel back in time, and assimilate races of people, one of them would have been a tactical officer, capable of hitting one little missile size ship from their position in space. Or better yet, don't shoot at the little missile just blow up the whole damn town, missile, silo and all. After this blistering assault on the town, the crew of the Enterprise beams down to find Zefram Cochran and make sure he can still do all the things necessary to keep Picard's future in tack, and stop the Borg threat. Up to this point the story was not bad, and everything was going along swimmingly. But unbeknownst to the Captain, and the People on the Enterprise, and the internal sensors, and the crew in general, some of the Borg have beamed over to the Enterprise and are starting to in a very "Aliens" like way, take over the ship a few decks at a time. In scenes that seem all too familiar, where doomed crew members call out to each other, like they are looking for Jones the cat, instead of asking the computer where their shipmates are, they slowly one by one get pulled into the Borg collective. Rule 5: The most powerful computer in the universe can be taken for granted when it would be convenient to ask it a question about a fellow crewman or something even more benign like "Computer, why is it so hot in here?" or "Computer, are there any Borg around the next corner?". Picard, Data, and eventually Crusher and Lilly (whose role in the film is never really clear) return to the ship while the others look for Cochran. Once there, Picard discovers that it appears the Borg, somehow managed to beamed over undetected, while their ship was exploding, and are systematically taking over parts of the ship including engineering. After a few moments a plan is set into place to destroy part of the Enterprise's warp core cooling system, and that in turn will kill the organic parts of the Borg. Also the computer systems are locked out from the Borg by Data who encrypts them so well, that even drilling holes in his head won't get them out. I had a little problem with the holes being drilled in Data's head scene, his skin seemed very wooden like as bits of saw dust came from his skull, and these holes never show up again later in the film, which is a nice little flub on their part. Picard runs into Dr. Crusher's patient Lilly, while trying to make his way back to the bridge, a women who is Cochran's, friend, wife or maybe just a lover, it's very unclear, and the two of them work their way back to the bridge. In doing so they encounter the Borg who chase them through a holographic program, where Picard conjures up a Tommy gun and kills the Borg who are following them. One point that is clearly brought out is that the bullets in the gun are not just holographic ones but are more real thanks in part to a few well placed commands that take all the safety precautions off of the holodeck. We saw this several times during the run of all the current Star Trek series. Rule 6: Holographic bullets don't kill people, it's the over rides that do. Picard takes a part out of the dead Borg, and plugs it into the top of his tricorder to help further the plot, and find out what the Borg are up to. Rule 7: You can plug anything into a tricorder and it will interface perfectly. It seems the writers of this film have seen "Independence Day" and have determined that a computer, is a computer and they all speak exactly the same language in exactly the same way, and will talk to each other perfectly well. You can take what ever is lying around, plug it into the top of a tricorder and retrieve information from it, obviously tricorders must be running the Macintosh operating system. Back on Earth they are searching for Cochran and trying to see if they can fix the ship in time for tomorrow morning's early lift off. After a time and few drinks, the crew catches up with Cochran and they convince him, he must complete his mission in order to save their future. Rule 8: Post nuclear Earth is the perfect time for building a warp drive, it seems the parts and equipment must just be lying around waiting to be assembled. Even if it a takes a while to find enough titanium. By this time I was starting to ask myself a lot of questions about the plot, but I figured, I must hang on I'm sure this is going somewhere, I can stay the course for a few more scenes. Besides how often do we get to see Trio drunk? Cochran who is anything but noble and heroic (which was a touch I really liked), gets so spooked by the hero worship from the Enterprise crew, (including an all to brief appearance by the bumbling and socially inept Barkley). That he goes and runs away and is eventually phasered into doing his duty bit for the future. Rule 9: The boys from Temporal Investigations frown on shooting historical figures with phasers. What's wrong with a good old fashion punch or a blanket party, do we have to shoot everyone who is the least bit cranky with a phaser? On the ship after a long and somewhat boring non-battle and wrestling match with the Borg, where we see somewhat Borgified crew members get phasered to death by their Captain, and Data who all but breaks the head off one the Borg only to be captured by one of the oldest tricks in the books. Rule 10: There seems there is only one door on the Enterprise-E which open up, and Data just happens to be standing in front of it at the time when the Borg raise it just enough to recognize his Bruno Molly boot and pull him under it. It's determined that the Borg, who have been whipping the asses of everyone on the ship so far, need reinforcements, which it seems are located somewhere in the delta quadrant. No doubt setting traps for Voyager to stumble into in the next few years. They will get these reinforcements by attaching a type of homing beacon to the main deflector dish and sending for them. I can only hope the Borg's Seti program is better than ours, or chances are they would never hear it. Picard, Worf and Hawk, not the same one from "Buck Rogers" fame, but a mere body to be killed later decide that the only way to stop them is to go and do an EVA (Extra Vehicular Ascent) walkabout on the ship and destroy the deflector from the outside. Data on the other hand is being tempted by the sins of the flesh by the Borg Queen. Who one can say, despite all her obvious flaws and faults is not spineless. As a matter of fact she is head and shoulders above the rest. She is lowered into her waiting Bat suit of body armor and entices Data to join her in her quest for perfection. Eventually she seduces him and for the moment it seems he has "Come one with the Borg". Rule 11: Never have sexual relations with a women who has no body. It's just plain bad form. Picard, Worf, and the soon to be dead crewmen, go outside of the bridge to where the deflector dish is, when they get there they see the Borg setting up the homing beacon. Now one very interesting thing to note during the fight sequence that takes place is that the Borg don't need space suits to breath in outer space. Picard and Worf manage to destroy the beacon before it is activated. This type of scene has always been a pet peeve of mine, there is no way to do a zero gravity scene well, unless you spend endless time and money on it. Everyone who flew looked as if they rejects from "The Peter Pan School of Flying". This was also the scene where I had pretty much given up on the film, by the time Worf said "Assimilate this!" I was well on my way to a frown. Rule 12: It is very, very cold in space and organic materials do not respond well to the vacuum of space. You would think that even if they don't have to breath (see Rule 13) their faces, and other organic parts would pretty much either seize up, or just plain explode in the absolute zero of outer space. It is mentioned very early on in the film that the Borg like 38 plus degrees Celsius, so how do all those mechanical and organic parts function so well in outer space. This was a big mistake. Rule 13: Some type of humanoids do not have to breath in outer space, the list includes Superman, Space Ghost and obviously The Borg!!! Even if you were mostly mechanical, you would think that your collective brain would have told you to take an oxygen mask with you for your organic side. Back on the ground the warp ship is being readied and launched, with the help of Riker and LaForge who tag along for the ride, which I'm sure is a breach of time travel etiquette. Fortunately the cockpit has seating for three, and we can only hope that Cochran's previous co-pilots were thrown on the funeral pyres before Riker and LaForge took their places. As they travel into space and start their trek, things on the Enterprise are not going so well. After losing more ground to the Borg, and a bitter talking to by Lilly, who did an excellent impression of Guianan, but I'm sure that was just a coincidence and it had nothing to do with the fact that Whoopi Goldberg wasn't in the picture. Also in this scene we see all the previous ships that have the Enterprise name attached to them. The ones that get broken looked just like the models you get in the store except they were gold plated, in this very, very expensive film, this looked really cheesy. Picard decides to destroy the Enterprise and have the crew abandon ship. Crusher asks, "Do you think they build another one?" Good question, since we seem to be going through them at an amazing rate. I wondered why not just separate the ship and leave the Borg the bottom half and then destroy the bottom half of the ship while they had the chance. Rule 14: There is only one type of allegory that works, a literary one. If you are not well versed in the classics you will never understand why you do things. Everything seems to being going well for Cochran and his ship the Phoenix as they approach the light barrier. I did notice one very striking similarity between the Phoenix and the original star ship Enterprise, the Nacelles seemed very familiar. Maybe this was an omage, or maybe Nacelles just have to look that way. Picard attempts a rescue of Data and runs into the Borg Queen. Offering himself as a mate for her if she will let Data go. It seem she was on the Borg ship all those years ago, we just never saw her, or ever heard about her, or had any clue as to her existence before this film. Rule 15: You can destroy a Borg vessel without any apparent survivors drifting in the wreckage and yet the Borg Queen will get away and will mock you for your very linear thinking for not understanding how she could have survived? Go figure. After Data is released from the Borg Queen's force field he gives the impression that he is actually on the Borg's side, just long enough to send a few torpedo bearing down on the Phoenix. The torpedo eventually miss their target and the jump to light speed for the Phoenix attained. Data then implements the plan to destroy the Borg by allowing the engine cores cooling system to pore out into the engineering deck, while Picard looking like Stallone in "Cliff Hanger" climbs out of the way of the boiling vapor which kills most of the Borg and disables the queen. Rule 16: You don't need warp core coolant to keep your star ship engine cool. It seems after you spill it out every where the core is just fine, even if you don't have an engineer or any crew to fix the damage. The Borg Queen or what's left of her and her Bat suit, are finally killed by Picard who while doing a promotional tie-in with "Mortal Combat - The Next Generation", takes out her spine and snaps it in two. He then goes over to Data who has had his new fleshy self boiled away by the coolant leak, and who now resembles Arnold Schwarzenegger in the "Terminator" movies, get set to recall the crew and repair the ship. On Earth, all is right with the world, the warp experiment has attracted the notice of an alien race, the Vulcans. I was stunned that people in the audience didn't know what was about to happen when the Star Trek mythos clearly states our First Contact was with them. They land and emerge from their craft, in a very "E.T" like scene, speaking perfect mid-west English (long before the invention of the universal translator) and giving the basic Vulcan welcome of "Live long and prosper". We learn the Vulcans never knew the Enterprise and here crew were there due to the moon gravitational fields, and we have figured out not only how to generate this cronosmetric field, but how to return to our own time using it. Rule 17: Transporters do not set of sensor alarms of any type on a vulcan ship. The movie ends with a scene very familiar in look and feel to "Star Trek V: The Final Frontier", all that was missing were the strains of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", and people getting drunk. Well we actually do have Cochran getting the Vulcans drunk, which I thought was an interesting little movie moment. Welcome to Earth, have a drink! All in all the movie was very flawed, with only the performances of the major cast members making it worth while. The acting was very good, a particular nod goes to Frakes for not putting himself in the movie too much, and to McFadden for having more hair styles in a single movie than Emelda Marco has shoes. I also like seeing Troi drunk, it was a classic Trek moment. The effects were spectacular, as always. We have come to expect the best from ILM. They delivered seamless and believable effects from the opening shots through the very end. My favorite has to be the pull back from Picard's eye to outer space. It will go down in the history of Trek as being unforgettable. The weakest effects, and this isn't ILM fault was the Zero-G stuff, it still looked like people hanging from wires, even if those wires have been digitally removed. The music was way too familiar, and I thought James Horner stole from his own work, this sound track was choppy at best and didn't add anything to film, if anything I would have like to been without it when it was drowning out some of the dialog between Riker and Cochran. The direction, was slow and plodding, it was a good first outing for Frakes, but it was way to slow for a Star Trek film, I kept waiting for it to pick up, and it never did. I also think the film was about ten minutes too long, a lot of things could have been cut. Namely, half of the Zero-G stuff, and half of the dialog about Cochran being such a hero. The writing was rather bland, there was no new ground broken here, I also have always hated the idea of rewriting history. I did enjoy seeing Picard still having trouble dealing with his encounter with the Borg from six years ago. But by adding the Borg Queen concept when it never existed there before was just plain cheating, and to add insult to injury having her escape the original fate of the Borg was just a slap in the face to the writers of the "Best of Both Worlds". I loved seeing the Emergency Holographic Doctor and Nelix's alter ego from "Voyager" there, they were very funny. Also Barkley added a nice moment and will certainly spawn a five dollar action figure for is five seconds of screen time. Overall, the production values were high, the risk great. But Star Trek - First Contact, just never connected for me. Maybe I was expecting too much, maybe they just can't make a good Trek film without the original crew, or maybe it reminded me just a little too much of Star Trek V. Whatever the reason, it's obvious that Trek needs fixing. Maybe new writers or killing a major cast member is in order. What ever the answer is, I hope it comes before we see, "Star Trek Voyager - The Movie". From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:16 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!02-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!newsfeed.uk.ibm.net!news.stealth.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!news.idt.net!enews.sgi.com!news.sgi.com!news.msfc.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: lmann@city-net.com (Laurie D. T. Mann) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:51:52 GMT Organization: CityNet, Inc. Lines: 99 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cmbo$1n1@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: lmann@city-net.com (Laurie D. T. Mann) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06392 Keywords: author=Mann Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5800 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1129 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1520 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Laurie D. T. Mann Copyright 1996 Laurie D. T. Mann Star Trek (8): First Contact Prediction: Jonathan Frakes will be the first former Star Trek cast member to win an Oscar for best direction. Though he won't win for Star Trek 8, he'll go on to do impressive work in the future. Frakes' sure direction and the wonderful ensemble acting of Star Trek 8 carry the movie. Sure to the past trend, the even-numbered Star Trek movies continue to blow the odd-numbered movies out of the water. Using the Borg as the big screen bad-guys was a good idea, but mixing in two Star Trek cliches in the movie (time travel and another I choose not to mention here) could have come close to sinking the ship. That said, if the Star Trek writers were going to dabble in the past again, why not "resurrect" Zeframe Cochran (a radically different Zeframe Cochran from the one present 30 years ago, but... ;-> ), the man who both invented warp drive and initiated Earth's first contact with aliens? The view of mid-20th century Earth as dystopia was kind of depressing, but not nearly so bad as assimilation plan the Borg wanted to unleash. The Borg go back to the past to prevent Cochran from launching his primative warp drive ship, and, of course, the crew of the Enterprise follow along to stop them. At one point, pretty early in the movie, it almost looks like the Enterprise has everything under control. While the Borg damaged Cochran's test ship the Enterprise destroyed a Borg ship and found Cochran's test ship (cleverly built in an abandoned missle silo). However, the Borg had managed to sneak onboard and start assimilating the Enterprise and its crew. That leaves Picard, Data, Crusher, Worf and some "red shirts" on the Enterprise to duke it out with the Borg, and Riker, Troi and Geordie on the Earth to find Cochran and make sure his damaged warp ship takes off as planned. The acting is just great, including James Cromwell (Babe, and some STNG episodes) and Alfre Woodard (Cross Creek, Grand Canyon). Woodard does more with her eyes than many actors can do with their whole faces. Another great bit of casting was Alice Krige as the Borg queen, as malicious a character as Star Trek writers have ever created. When I reviewed Generations two years ago, I said: Generations lurches off your screen with lots of destroyed space ships, massive plot holes, and a few really great scenes mixed in just to make it frustrating. Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner are so good it's like they're in another movie. All the women characters are completely and frustratingly wasted. The direction is also wildly erratic.... This time, everyone in the cast is terrific, though Stewart and Spiner still outshone the other actors. The female crew members were a little stronger, but I still would like to see more of Sirtis and MacFadden in a Star Trek movie. While I found the plot a little stupid, it was a more logical story than Generations, and the dialog was sharp. My plot quibbles might be more because I've seen so much Star Trek and read so much science fiction over the years. I'm not sure if a "novice viewer" would have more plot quibbles or fewer. To their credit, the writers did turn almost ever Star Trek cliche they used on its ear, particularly in a climatic scene late in the film between Woodard and Stewart. And many scenes used in the trailers and commercials were taken out of context in an unusual fashion - the movie would then go off in a wholly different and wonderful direction. As with most Star Trek movies, there are wonderful comic bits that are fun, but these didn't ruin the flow of the movie. The special effects, particularly the opening shot in the movie, are just first-rate. This movie is definitely worth your time, and rates a strong 8 on the IMDB rating scale. I hope that when they start to write the next Star Trek movie that they think about creating an original story, and one without time travel. Between all the time travel in this movie and in the recent TV shows, it's a science fiction cliche I'd like to see less of. -- *** Laurie D. T. Mann ** lmann@city-net.com *** ******* http://www.city-net.com/~lmann ******** **** Please note new E-mail and home page ***** From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:17 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!02-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!01-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!voskovec.radio.cz!nntp.zit.th-darmstadt.de!fu-berlin.de!news.belwue.de!swidir.switch.ch!surfnet.nl!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!news.idt.net!enews.sgi.com!news.sgi.com!news.msfc.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: derby@admaix.sunydutchess.edu (Scott Derby) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:52:09 GMT Organization: ? Lines: 218 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cmc9$1n2@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: derby@admaix.sunydutchess.edu (Scott Derby) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06393 Keywords: author=Derby Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5793 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1126 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1517 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT [Spoilers] A film review by Scott Derby Copyright 1996 Scott Derby Sorry for any spelling errors. One must always keep in mind that there are many ways to critique a film. You can stand back and judge it on its own merit and not refer back to previous works of the same type or even of the same series. You can judge it based upon what YOU wanted out of the film rather than on many broad categories. For example: I like romance and this film had a lot of it, so I liked the film. This is in contrast to: Well, I like romance, but there was not a very strong plot or well developed characters, so I didn't like it so much. From the perspective of a general, run-of-the-mill science fiction film for the general audience with general expectations, Star Trek: First Contact is a very good film. It combines good (but by no means ground breaking) special effects, action, suspense, and snappy dialog; all wrapped up in good performances by the characters who matter most. For the movie goer with no expectations and is interested in science fiction, Star Trek: First Contact will not disappoint. >From the die-hard trekker/trekkie/trekophile/trekomaniac perspective, this film will be a slight to huge letdown. All the hype and all the film trailers gave the impression of a titanic struggle filled with phasers and photons against the dreaded nemesis of the Federation: The Borg. In reality, those who go to see the action equated with a pro wrestling match will end up seeing a chess game. The action is limited and shows absolutely no imagination whatsoever. The sole scene worth note has the newly minted Enterprise "E" zooming into a sector where Picard sends out a subspace communication that he is "taking command of the battle" due to the death of the admiral in charge. Of course, everyone complies within seconds and follows a strange order to fire together at a seemingly useless section of the Borg ship/cube. This leads to the destruction of the Borg ship. All this action take a scant few minutes and involves no tactical analysis or real drama. But that early in the film, you are deluded enough to believe that this is the mere appetizer, the good stuff is on the way. The problem is... it never comes. What we are treated to is a half-hearted effort at good action and drama. The following are a few of my gripes in no particular order... 1) Bad concept from the start... Someone once said (and I probably paraphrase), "The last bastion of the scoundrel is prayer". In the Trek universe, the last bastion of the writer with no talent is the "Let's go back in time" script or the "Let's do a holodeck episode" script. We are treated to the former, and given a taste of the latter (which is one of the better moments in the film). What drives me nuts about the incessant desire for the writers to go back in time is the question: "Where does it ever end?" Is our future as humanity going to be the never-ending return to the "old, savage days of the late 20th and early 21st century?" So, now that the Borg are stopped in this film (like they would win), will they not just come back a week earlier next time and try again? The problem with time travel is that a conflict is never quite settled unless you go back to the source (like Picard did when he saw the "slime" becoming sentient or whatever deep philosophical dronings were offered by Q in "All Good Things" [I think it was All Good Things... correct me if I am wrong]). This writing is the fallback of one with no imagination. This all follows the same old, tired lines.... "Oh no! If we don't save the whales, life as we know it will change forever!" "Oh no! If we save Joan Collins' character on 20th century earth, life as we know it will change forever!" "Oh no! If we don't let the Enterprise C get destroyed helping the Klingons, life as we know it will change forever!" "Oh no! If we don't stop the Borg from gaining control of early 21st century earth, life as we know it will change forever!" Insert your favorite here. I'm reeeeeeeeeealy tired of this scenario. 2) Typical "Preachie Trek" Why does every Trek episode for the last few years have to have some deep meaning or message to humanity? Granted, this one is not as bad as some of the past episodes and/or films, yet I'm soooooo very tired of being referred to as the "barbaric 20th century". "Oh, thank the powers that be that we have evolved to where we don't go after money or personal gain! No! We are now a higher species." I really, really want to puke. It is so easy to sit in a directors chair and in the writers chair and hurl accusations without offering any REAL solace or solution to the problems of mankind. What we get in this episode is: If you meet an alien (in this case, a Vulcan) you will become enlightened. Just like in Independence Day (which I felt was better, but still had a crappy script/dialog), the discovery of alien life seemed to "bring us together". I do know that every film needs a story and it is nice to have a positive message, but as a non-elected representative of the 20th century, I am sick of being beaten up. 3) Too little action... too much talk. As is typical of many Trek films/shows, there is way too much talk and far too little action. I think I would not have minded so much if I didn't feel that Paramount had deliberately deceived the Trek fans by putting all the action scenes into the trailers. This film is long on tongue and short on phasers. If you feel that this is a barbaric perspective, fine. Just one man's perspective. But I really am not interested in a 24th century version of "My Dinner With Andre". There is hand to hand combat and lots of personal phaser stuff, but it is a drag. I was not on the edge of my seat once. 4) Sub-plot was a total waste of my time. I really don't care a rat's butt about the inventor of Warp technology. There was WAY too much time spent listening to a character that really had NOTHING to do with the story in any real sense. All the dialog that was wasted could have been better spent going back to the 24th century and seeing what was happening (is Sulu still around?). Maybe a starship conflict or two. All this drinking and rock 'n roll and such was a total distraction. In my opinion they needed somewhere to stick Riker, Troi and LeForge. They could have accomplished their goal of making us know of the importance of meeting the Vulcans without wasting all that time (not that I think the idea was any good to start). 5) Great... Just what we need, a human Borg. What is the deal with this Borg leader? Are we trying to portray a "kinder, gentler Borg?" In the TV show we are introduced to a savage, no compromise, no talk, no hope enemy in the Borg. It was one of the most wonderful times in Trek or even Sci-Fi history in my opinion. They evoked terror in the hearts of even the most seasoned space explorer. It is only through the most brilliant cunning that the enemy can be overcome. In this film, the Borg do not have the same presence of terror. Hey, if you can have sex with a Borg, how bad can they be, eh Data? I will say that the Borg looked much nicer in the film. They had a nasty, grittiness to them. They sure made fast work of the Enterprise decks! Maybe we need to get some Borg workers on the job when we are building highways and bridges. This never ending prattling about Data's emotions and need to be a human are starting to get tiresome too. I likened this thread to having Arnold Schwartzenegger sitting down with an alien bent on destruction and talking about why they feel the need to fight all the time. And I REALLY doubt that the Borg would have sent only one ship to attack Earth in the first place. Ah well... it must have cut down on the special effects costs. 6) The characters are going to have to accept their place in the films. Most people (this is a generalization) want to see Picard and Data do something. You will need a good enemy (seems like we just ruined the best enemy the Federation ever had) and a guest star good guy/gal. Everyone else HAS to figure out that while they are VERY important in the Trek universe and to the evolution of the story, we don't need to see them or hear them so much. That little scene with a drunk Troi was a total waste of film. We need her to say "I feel..." a few times or even an "I sense..." and that is about it. Beverly Crusher needs to fix the sick and perhaps give a small amount of "conscience" to Jean Luc: period. Geordi, you need to keep the Big E up and running and come up with some revolutionary means of increasing power and reinitializing the warp chamber reactions: period. Riker and Worf are the second tier. They need to be there for more action, versus the intellectual and diplomatic foil of Picard and the robotic genius of Data. In the original Trek, Kirk and Spock did the stuff with McCoy and Scotty in the background but still important. In the New Trek, Picard and Data run the show, Riker and Worf support them. Everyone else is decoration, albeit very important decoration. You can't give everyone a great line or important role in a 2 hour movie. If they want that, then they should have stayed on TV. Everyone can be explored when you have 26 episodes per year. When you have 2 hours, you have no time to waste. To be fair, it could have been worse in this film. 7) What is the deal with all these jokes? Don't get me wrong, I like a good joke as much as the next guy. But is it me or do the Star Trek writers think that they need to insert 75 jokes per film now? I though I was in the wrong movie when I went to see the moronic whale related Trek movie years ago. Is seems to have started a trend. If the boys and girls on the Big E want to do stand up, give them a mike. A "few" well placed lines are great... but really! Finally.... I'm really sorry. I know this is a diatribe, but I guess I just needed to vent. I am your typical "I want phaser fire, action, suspense, phaser fire, special effects, good vs. evil, phaser fire" kind of Star Trek fan. I realize that the folks at Paramount need to broaden their audience (read non-trekkers and especially women) to make more of a profit. But I feel like Trek is not mine anymore. If it were not for "The Wrath of Khan", I don't know if there would have ever been a Trek film I liked. The world is changing and I guess I am a dinosaur who is doomed to extinction. Patrick Stewart is awesome. He is the finest actor and captain ever placed on the bridge of the Enterprise. Brent Spiner has created a character that rivals that of Spock, which is tough to do. But all the "life" of Trek is being squeezed out. The need for self-actualization in Trek characters and the need for Trek writers to preach their gospel of the month (the futility of the cold war, environmentalism, save the whales, etc.) has sucked the life out of one of the most significant media phenomena in history. You combine this with the moronic "if I can't direct it, I'm not gonna be in it" and "I need more lines and more money or I'm not gonna be in it" foolishness that happened to the last Trek regime, I think it would be best just to kill it and save us all the grief of watching our beloved die a slow, painful death at the hands of idiots. HIRE WRITERS WHO LOVE TREK, NOT MONEY!!! Jonathan Frakes did a pretty good job with what he had. Hope he can do another. With that lovely note, I end this purging. Thanks for reading. Scott Derby From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:19 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!surfnet.nl!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: berardin@bc.cybernex.net (James Berardinelli) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:56:07 GMT Organization: - Lines: 124 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cmjn$1nk@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: berardin@bc.cybernex.net (James Berardinelli) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06398 Keywords: author=Berardinelli Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5789 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1123 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1514 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by James Berardinelli Copyright 1996 James Berardinelli RATING (0 TO 10): 7.5 Alternative Scale: *** out of **** United States, 1996 U.S. Release Date: 11/22/96 (wide) Running Length: 1:51 MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence, profanity, sexual innuendo) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige, Neal McDonough Director: Jonathan Frakes Producer: Rick Berman Screenplay: Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, and Ronald D. Moore Cinematography: Matthew F. Leonetti Music: Jerry Goldsmith U.S. Distributor: Paramount Pictures For the first time in the seventeen-year run of the successful STAR TREK movie franchise, there is no Captain Kirk. STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, the eighth entry into the motion picture series, is the first to rely exclusively on the crew of THE NEXT GENERATION, who were introduced to film audiences two years ago in STAR TREK: GENERATIONS. Following in the wake of a trio of disappointing features, FIRST CONTACT proves to be the most entertaining STAR TREK in more than a decade. First time director Jonathan Frakes (who also plays Riker, the Enterprise's second-in-command) injects some badly-needed energy and inventiveness into a series that, prior to this effort, was sinking under its own weight and boldly going nowhere. A conscious decision was made to develop FIRST CONTACT into the most action-oriented adventure since STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, and the largely-effective results speak for themselves. This film moves, rarely ever stopping to take a breath. Originality is not at an all-time high, but the film makers have shown a great deal of ingenuity in grafting elements of MOBY DICK, ALIENS, TERMINATOR 2, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, RETURN OF THE JEDI, and even DIE HARD onto the familiar STAR TREK formula, which emphasizes ideas over mindless thrills. The editing is crisp and the direction is sure-handed, making for perhaps the most streamlined STAR TREK movie of them all. The highlight of FIRST CONTACT is the first reel, a recklessly- paced, dazzling display of special effects that is exhausting in its intensity. For the first time in eight films, there's no "getting to know you" period. Five minutes after the opening credits have ended, we're right in the middle of the action. And what action it is -- the most spectacular space battle ever to grace the screen in a STAR TREK film. It's clear that this sequence, with dozens of starships doing battle with the enemy -- a cube-like Borg vessel -- ate up a considerable portion of the budget. The Borg, undoubtedly THE NEXT GENERATION's most popular foe, appeared in about a half-dozen TV episodes, but created a legacy that made them a natural choice for a big screen appearance. Half-organic, half-robot, the Borg all share one mind, and have proven to be the most difficult foe for the Federation to overcome. In FIRST CONTACT, when an attack of Earth during the 24th century fails, the Borg travel back in time to change history. The USS Enterprise-E, helmed by Captain Jean- Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), must follow them to the mid-21st century to save the future. But the Borg are on board the Enterprise, and a battle for control of the ship soon develops. As a species, the Borg are effective, cinematic villains, although, on an individual level, their "queen" (played by Alice Krige) is probably the least menacing of them all. The Borg's natural implacability enhances their sinister aura. There's something eerie about creatures that kill matter-of-factly and don't make a sound when they're injured. The Borg's hive -- actually the corridors of the Enterprise's lower decks -- bears more than a passing resemblance to the nest of the Alien queen in James Cameron's ALIENS. FIRST CONTACT's greatest asset is Patrick Stewart. The British screen veteran's presence is formidable enough to allow us to forget William Shatner. Stewart makes us believe in and care about the proceedings. Here, Picard is not just the "intellectual commander" his reputation suggests. Instead, he has become a futuristic Ahab, intent on revenge (he was once captured and "assimilated" into the "Borg collective"). Stewart gives vitality and power to Picard's obsessive rage. All the regulars from the NEXT GENERATION crew are on hand: First Officer Will Riker (Frakes), Data (Brent Spiner) the android, Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn) the Klingon, Doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis). Plus, for fans of the series, there are a couple of unexpected cameos. Joining the regular crew for this one-time outing are James Cromwell (BABE) as Zefram Cochrane, the creator of warp drive, and Alfre Woodard (PASSION FISH) as Lily Sloane, his no-nonsense assistant. If there's an obvious area where FIRST CONTACT falls short, it's in its stabs at humor. Many of these seem like forced attempts to reduplicate the lightness of STAR TREK IV (the one with the humpback whales), and only a few don't come across as misplaced. There are occasional instances of natural comedy, but Troi getting drunk rings about as true as Scotty cracking his skull on a bulkhead in STAR TREK V. The script is cleverly written so that non-fans will be able to follow and enjoy the plot while aficionados will get all the little "in" references. FIRST CONTACT effortlessly negotiates a number of potential problem areas (such as time travel), which is a credit to the screenwriting team of Brannon Braga, Ronald Moore, and producer Rick Berman. After three consecutive less-than-stellar adventures, FIRST CONTACT has single-handedly revived the STAR TREK movie series, at least from a creative point-of-view. If the box office results follow suit, there will be a STAR TREK 9, hopefully with Patrick Stewart and his crew on board. Whatever the case, there's little doubt that FIRST CONTACT has come along at the right time to ensure that STAR TREK continues to live long and prosper. - James Berardinelli e-mail: berardin@bc.cybernex.net ReelViews web site: http://www.cybernex.net/~berardin From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:20 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!surfnet.nl!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: dt@wco.com (Steve Kong) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:57:12 GMT Organization: smart inc. Lines: 61 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cmlo$1nq@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: dt@wco.com (Steve Kong) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06400 Keywords: author=Kong Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5790 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1124 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1515 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Steve Kong Copyright 1996 Steve Kong * * * * (on a four star rating systems) Director: Jonathan Frakes Screenwriters: Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga Starring: Patrick Steward, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alice Krige, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell. Rating: PG-13 Prepared to be assimilated? Yes! Knowing the old saying that all even numbered Star Trek movies are good, and all odd numbered movies are either mediocre or bad, I came into First Contact ready to see a good movie. Did I come out with a feeling that I saw a good movie? Yes. For Star Trek movies there is one problem that follows them. You have to cater to two distinctly different audiences in order to make a large profit. The first audience is the die-hard Star Trek fans. The second is the more general audience, who either knows little or nothing about Star Trek. First Contact swings a lot towards the first audience. It is built around Captain Picard’s original encounter with the Borg. The encounter gets a small flashback in the beginning of the film, and that is all that is really said about the encounter to help the general audience along. For those of us who are well versed in what happened between Picard and the Borg, we are drawn into the story and understand what is driving Picard to do what he is doing. For the rest of the general audience, they are left to catch up. And the director, Jonathan Frakes (also playing Riker), gives little time to catch up. From the explosive starship battle with the Borg cube beginning to the explosive ending, Frakes keeps the pace of the movie quick. The story is about the Borg heading for Earth, readying to assimilate the human race. The new Enterprise E, with Picard at the helm is sent elsewhere by the Admiral. The Admiral believes that Picard is too emotionally involved with the Borg to be in this battle. Picard, obviously disregards the orders and goes into battle. The Borg in a last ditch effort goes back in time to try to assimilate the human race back then. And that is where the real meat of the story goes. If you are a Trekker or are familiar with the Next Generation crew, you will love this film. If you are new to the Star Trek franchise, you might want to just review what happened between Picard and the Borg before going off to see this film. There is a great mix of humor and action in this film. And the pacing of the film will keep you at the edge of your seats in many tense situations. But, in any case, resistance is futile. So go see this film! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ steve kong email - steve@mp.sbay.org or steve@x.sbay.org pager - +1.408.577.9820 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:21 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!surfnet.nl!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: jcgibson@wctc.net (J. C. Gibson) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:57:46 GMT Organization: Wood County Telephone Company Lines: 117 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cmmq$1nu@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: jcgibson@wctc.net (J. C. Gibson) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06402 Keywords: author=Gibson Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5791 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1125 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1516 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] 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"? 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. 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.." 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! From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:22 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!surfnet.nl!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: myst@onramp.net (Robin Starvling) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:58:10 GMT Organization: OnRamp customer Lines: 77 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cmni$1o1@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: myst@onramp.net (Robin Starvling) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06403 Keywords: author=Starvling Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5787 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1122 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1513 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Robin Starvling Copyright 1996 Robin Starvling Star Trek First Contact: rename it STAR TREK FIRST CONTRIVEMENT There will be spoilers, but how can one spoil a movie worse than this? The movie takes place about a year after the last one. There's a whole new ship, a whole new crew of extras, brand new uniforms and Geordi suddenly has brand new eyes. No explanation. We're to take it for granted. The Borg have arrived at Earth and plan to assimilate it. The Federation orders their brand new flagship to hide out in the Neutral Zone because they're afraid Picard might get assimilated again. He of course gets sick of this when news travels back saying that the entire fleet can't stop them. Predicatable. Off they go in the new ship to save the day. They get there and suddenly Picard knows if everyone shoots at the same place, it'll blow up the borg ship. Why didn't he know this before? And how come Picard can suddenly hear them? Still a few implants in his brain that Doctor Crusher overlooked? The Borg head towards Earth and suddenly go temporal. They head back in time. The Enterprise goes after them. At least they didn't mention anything about whales this time. The tale drags on. A landing party goes down to fix temporal changes made by the Borg, The Enterprise gets infiltrated and Data, Worf and Picard try to stop them. Deanna gets drunk (the only tolerable scene in which either Sirtis or McFadden get any kind of center stage time) and after a number of predicatable and contrived plot developments and tried and proven lines of dialogue, Picard saves the day after being compared to Captain Ahab of Moby Dick. The dialogue is stilted. Jonathan Frakes should have spent more time behind the camera and less in front of it. He "acts" like Frakes, not Riker. Worf's "assimilate this" rang of Terminator influence. Data's romantic trist with the Borg Queen was forced and uninteresting. Gates McFadden as Doctor Crusher once again is given nothing to do, which again is predictable. All they did in Star Trek Generations was have Data push her into the ocean and give her a cold. She conveniently disappears after practically a cameo role in both pictures. I went to IRC to see if I was the only one who disliked it. I found myself in the minority. To the point of being kicked out of the #trek channel after being invited by a CAPTMARY specifically for talk about the new movie. A little disagreement and suddenly I'm an outcast. Again predictable. Guess Paramount is right. Stamp ST on something and the Trek masses will buy it in truckloads. This is not worth buying. The special effects were great, but you could say that about the first ST movie, which is one of the worst of the eight they've ever made. If you haven't seen it yet, DON'T. Don't believe the hype. Don't even wait till it comes on video. It's forced, contrived, and predictable. It utilizes variations of many plot devices tried and proven in previous shows. It's a poor excuse not only for an ST movie, but any movie whatsoever. Unless of course you want to be assimilated into the ST cash cow, then by all means give in to it. -- Located Somewhere Near the Moon, Robin Starveling http://rampages.onramp.net/~myst/ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:23 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!surfnet.nl!howland.erols.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!tezcat!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.pbi.net!cbgw3.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: ram@iris3.carb.nist.gov (Ram Samudrala) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 18:51:44 GMT Organization: The Centre for Advanced Research in Biotechnology Lines: 64 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cps0$1u1@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: ram@iris3.carb.nist.gov (Ram Samudrala) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06406 Keywords: author=Samudrala Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5801 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1130 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1521 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Ram Samudrala Copyright 1996 Ram Samudrala As a trekker, I view the release of a new Star Trek movie with excitement and apprehension. Excitement because I will be seeing one of my favourite sci-fi shows and characters once again on the screen, and apprehension because the movies have always been watered-down versions of the series done to satisfy a greater number of the general populace. /First Contact/ is one of the best Star Trek movies made, and in terms of effects and detail, it surpasses anything that's seen previously on The Next Generation (TNG). However, in terms of plot, it doesn't compare to some of the better TNG episodes. The plot is simply a mix of an old sci-fi scenario (the villain travels back in time to alter the course of the future) and the /Best of the Both Worlds/ episodes (instead of Picard (Patrick Stewart), Data (Brent Spiner) is the one who is assimilated). In this case, the villain is the Borg, a race of cybernetic beings who exist in the form of collectives, and assimilate other races into their own in order to acquire their knowledge and experience, with the ultimate goal of becoming "perfect". After a short battle at the beginning of the film, where the new ship commanded by Picard and company (Enterprise E) easily defeats the Borg (thanks to the experience Picard gained while he was assimilated), the Borg travel back to the year 2063 where warp travel was invented by Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell). The testing of the warp drive, leaving a signature, was the catalyst for the Vulcans making "first contact" with Earth which led to the United Federation of Planets, and all the other stuff we're so familiar with in the Star Trek series. The Borg plan to stop the test flight so they can, in the future, easily assimilate the inhabitants of Earth without any interference from the Enterprise crew. Needless to stay, the Enterprise crew must stop the Borg before the entire planet is Borgified. One of the nice things about the episodes is that they usually focused on one character at a time. I personally felt none of the characters in the movie were given enough time to become really dominant. However, some of the characters did manage to shine. Highlights of the movie include some amazing shots of Enterprise E, the exterior and interiors of the Borg ship, some brilliant acting by Stewart, Spiner, and Cromwell, and some great space fights. The humour in the movie maintains the similar high standard seen in previous Star Trek movies and episodes. I watched the /Best of Both Worlds/ episodes just before I went to see this movie and at the end, I couldn't help but think that the episodes were handled far better than the movie. While it's certainly true that /First Contact/ has a plot line that's followable even by uninitiated, the Borg have many episodes of history to them, and I thought the Borg as a threat was highly diminished. But even at its worst, TNG has been the best Star Trek spinoff from the original series, and it is great to see the characters back on the big screen again. me@ram.org || http://www.ram.org || http://www.twisted-helices.com/th Movie ram-blings: http://www.ram.org/ramblings/movies.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:25 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!paladin.american.edu!gatech!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!howland.erols.net!news.sgi.com!news.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.pbi.net!cbgw3.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: tlynch@alumnae.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 25 Nov 1996 18:51:08 GMT Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena Lines: 268 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57cpqs$1u0@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: tlynch@alumnae.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06405 Keywords: author=Lynch Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5805 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1132 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT [Spoilers] A film review by Timothy W. Lynch Copyright 1996 Timothy W. Lynch In brief: The best Trek film in fourteen years, possibly at all. See it, and see it on as big a screen as possible; you won't regret it. Written by: Brannon Braga & Ronald D. Moore (screenplay); Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Ronald D. Moore (story) Directed by: Jonathan Frakes [NOTE: normally for TNG and feature Star Trek reviews, I include a detailed synopsis. Under the assumption that readers of rec.arts.movies.reviews and rec.arts.sf.reviews wouldn't be that interested, this version does not include it. Those wanting a review with synopsis can look in r.a.startrek.reviews or r.a.startrek.current, or check my FTP site at ftp.alumni.caltech.edu. Those wanting a synopsis alone for some reason can check r.a.startrek.info.] Two years ago, when "Star Trek: Generations" premiered, I was beginning to harbor serious doubts about Trek as a franchise. "Star Trek: the Next Generation" had recently finished its seventh season, which despite a few gems was a very uneven season; "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" was in the middle of a terribly disappointing third season; "Star Trek: Voyager" didn't exist yet [which, as it turns out, was a blessing]; and "Generations" itself was, though reasonable, somewhat less than satisfying. What a difference two years can make. "Voyager" may be more or less beyond hope, but DS9 is back to producing enjoyable television (if not quite the sort it made in its first two years), and with "First Contact", the movie run of TNG looks to be rejuvenated. "First Contact" is quite unlike any Trek film that preceded it, and on the whole I think that's a good thing. Even in the mid-21st-century setting that much of the film provides, there are no goofy fish-out-of- water jokes that were so prevalent in the fourth film (and which, while funny once or twice, don't age well). Also gone are some of the lackluster villains that have peppered the later films (neither ST3's Commander Kruge nor "Generations'" Dr. Soran particularly impressed me, and I refuse to discuss the fifth film's existence at all); and gone is the difficulty of making the characters believable after twenty-five years that plagued the last few films in the series featuring the original cast. What's back successfully, for the first time since "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", is a tortured personal core to the story. (ST6 tried it, but backed away from it by the film's end.) This one was also more difficult to pull off: in ST2, Khan's obsessive pursuit of revenge was a serious threat to the heroes, but there was no challenge of making Khan sympathetic in the process. Here, since Picard was the one feeling bloody-minded, there was a real risk of turning some of the audience away from the hero -- and given the years-long wait between films and the pervasive myth among some segments of fandom that Starfleet characters and the Federation must be perfect, that's a worry with considerable implications behind it. "First Contact" took that risk and damned the consequences, which I can't help but applaud -- and it's a credit both to both the screenwriters and to Patrick Stewart that I find Picard even more interesting and worthwhile a character than I did before. A lot of care was taken to make Picard's plight understandable both to long-time fans and to the more casual viewers. For anyone who didn't know about Picard's past as Locutus of Borg, one's education began from the opening shot of the film, an extraordinary pullback showing Picard as the only wholly human face trapped in a monstrously large Borg cube. Further elements, such as Starfleet's concern over whether Picard would be an "unstable element" during the Borg engagement -- a nontrivial concern that some fans had been asking about for years -- were brought in in a completely natural fashion. I haven't talked to anyone yet about the film who wasn't a hardcore enough fan to know all that had gone before, but I've a feeling that the back-story would be clear even to them. A way in which "First Contact" differs substantially from ST2 is that while the latter film had several themes in it -- revenge, age vs. youth, and several others -- they all revolved around one man, namely James T. Kirk. "First Contact" branched out a bit more: while Picard's quest for vengeance was a significant component of the film, so too was the Borg's attempted seduction of Data (in several senses of the word), and so too was Zefram Cochrane's confusion at becoming a legendary historical figure in the world he helped bring about. As a result, the film was rather more complex than the second one, which I appreciate. That complexity also applied to the plot, in spades: while it wasn't quite on the level of Doc Brown having to take out a blackboard to explain the plot to the audience in "Back to the Future, Part II", there was a lot going on. The early stages of the film, though, helped make that complexity a bit easier to grasp by being more straightforward: just about everything up to the discovery of assimilated crewmembers is not only linear, but downright inexorable. It's a cinch that Picard is not going to stay on the sidelines forever, despite Starfleet's orders; it's equally expected that the Enterprise is going to follow the Borg back in time after the Borg have attempted (successfully, it would seem) to alter the course of history. I've thought another working title for the film could have been "Full Circle", as the story wound all the way from the Trek "present" back to the dawn of the Federation without seeming cramped by its scale. The Earthbound side of the tale, with Our Heroes [tm] trying to persuade Zefram Cochrane to go ahead and create the history he already had been about to do (everybody got that?), was clearly the lighter side of the story, as a counterpoint to the relentlessly grim tale being spun aboard the Enterprise. It wasn't all for laughs by any means, as the fate of the Federation was at stake and Cochrane did have to deal with his future; since that future was a bright one, though, there was little real sacrifice involved. As such, the story there flowed more from the banter and the conversation than anything else, and more than ninety percent of it flowed quite well indeed. (The one line that fell really flat for me was "so you're saying you're astronauts, on some kind of star trek?" Ow. Ow ow ow. Never write that again.) Troi's drunk scene was far funnier than I expected, James Cromwell's performance as Cochrane was just over-the-top enough to be entertaining without descending into late-period Shatner, the repeated bursts of hero-worship made perfect sense (and with Dwight Schultz making a five-line or so cameo as Lt. Barclay, they worked even better), and the idea of having to build a better world out of the ruins of the old really felt ... well, almost inspiring. On the Enterprise, on the other hand, the story started out dark and descended into the horrific in a way Trek's never done in a movie before. Some of the early scenes (like the "something coming out of the shadows in engineering" bit) didn't do much for me, but once the initial takeover is complete and it's clear that Picard and company are at a major disadvantage, the story turned into one of desperation. Desperation and revenge work well together as themes, so I wasn't surprised to see them linked; regardless, though, the plot traveling from one long-shot to another actually had my heart pounding in a way no SF movie has done to me in quite some time. As is perhaps typical for time travel stories, though, there were a few moments in the plot that made me very briefly say "wait a minute...", but surprisingly few. I did wonder why no one suggested the idea of traveling back in time to just *before* the Borg arrived and destroying the ship then -- but as soon as the Borg presence on the Enterprise was known, that objection disappeared. I wondered a little bit about the seeming coincidence of the Borg queen being one of the few Borg who made it back into the past and aboard the Enterprise, but given how overwhelmingly powerful the Borg are in many ways, I don't have many difficulties with accepting that they're going to manage a few things we just don't figure out. The one concern I had that never quite went away is why Riker and Geordi accompanied Cochrane on his legendary flight; with every last detail of Cochrane's mission being studied by high school students in the future, you'd think they'd want to stay well out of sight. Given the circumstances (such as Lily's absence, since I assume she'd have been in one of those two seats otherwise), it's justifiable, but that's one case where I think the justification should have been given. (I also think the idea of Picard being able to hear the Borg in his mind should have been fleshed out a little more; it made sense overall, but I definitely had a few questions.) On the character side, the two regular characters who were given the most to do were, not surprisingly, Picard and Data. I've already mentioned Picard's revenge quest, but it was best brought out in the Picard/Lily confrontation in Picard's ready room. When Picard tried to hide his desires behind his old platitude about how 24th-century humans have outgrown vengeance, I was cheering Lily's "bullshit!" cry in response. Every single moment in that scene was not only watchable, but compelling: from Picard's outburst where he breaks his "little ships", to the varied references to _Moby Dick_, to Picard's final realization that he may be sacrificing everything he has for a moment of pain, there really wasn't anything about that scene I'd change. "The Last Temptation of Data" didn't come off quite as well, but it was extremely successful nonetheless. Many of these plot points (Data being given flesh and being literally seduced by the Borg queen, for instance) are ones that I'd heard about months ago and really winced at; they sounded terrible. Once it all got placed in context, though, it seemed chilling in the same way some of Bram Stoker's original _Dracula_ was: sexuality (or, in this case, Data's entire humanity) as a curse. Much of the credit for that has to go to both Brent Spiner and especially Alice Krige, who turned a character I was expecting to loathe into one I found compelling viewing, but some of it is really just waiting for the ideas to be placed in context. Having praised Stewart, Spiner, Cromwell and Krige, I should also mention that Alfre Woodard did a strong job as Lily Sloane; I didn't find her performance quite as sterling as the others', but it was a near thing. She only had two really major scenes, and both worked well: the "Ahab" one with Stewart I mentioned earlier, and the one where Picard reveals to her where she really is. In the latter, she was the stand-in for the audience, giving us her own sense of wonder; and boy, did she ever. (The rest of the cast? Fine, but they didn't have all *that* much to do. They generally fared better than last time, though, with the exception of Gates McFadden, who again was left with only a few token scenes.) That leaves the presentation: visuals, music, direction, and so forth. In that respect, "First Contact" was absolutely stunning. I've seen a lot of SF films in my time, but visually "First Contact" is probably the biggest treat since "Blade Runner", and the biggest treat set in space since "Star Wars" hit the big screen nearly twenty years ago. There were several striking moments (the opening pullback being one, and the glorious shot of Picard, Worf, and Hawk striding out onto the underside of the ship being another, along with the entire more or less scientifically accurate zero-g combat sequence), and Frakes was very careful not to linger too long on them (which would risk turning parts of the movie into parts of the first Trek picture back in 1979). The effects, the music and Frakes' direction combined to give a real sense of atmosphere to the assimilated Enterprise, and on the big screen it was tough not to let a certain feeling of awe seep in -- especially in the final scenes, where we finally get to see Earth's first contact with the Vulcans. A few other notes for trivia fans: -- One of the ships in the initial Borg attack is the Bozeman. I don't know if it's intended to be the same one we saw in "Cause and Effect", but it's certainly still Brannon Braga's hometown. (And gee, Bozeman's in Montana. Fancy that coincidence.) -- Jerry Goldsmith put in a couple of musical stings that sounded familiar. In the early scenes with Worf, he re-used the Klingon theme from "Star Trek: the Motion Picture" to good effect, and one of the early shots of the battle on the hull included a riff that sounded suspiciously like the early notes of "Also Sprach Zarathustra", of "2001: A Space Odyssey" fame. -- "2001" was clearly on the everyone's minds during that scene. While the magnetic locks are being eliminated, the graphic showing the program status refers to subunit "AE35"; in "2001", it's the AE-35 unit which allegedly fails, thus throwing off contact with Earth. Very cute. -- Most of the cameo appearances worked well for me: Schultz's quick turn as Barclay was a scream, and Ethan Phillips' human appearance as a bouncer in Picard's Dixon Hill scenario was cute. I was less enchanted with Robert Picardo's guest appearance as the Emergency Medical Holographic program a la "Voyager"; the idea was fine, but the implication that this doctor has the same personality that the one on "Voyager" developed over the span of months is not. -- And, on a personal note, there's one character now deceased whom I'd like to see return. Who might that be? The redoubtable, yet tragically assimilated, machine-gunned, and mutilated Ensign Lynch. I know the name's coincidence -- but hey, I can still be amused by it. :-) That would seem to cover it. (Whew.) So, some closing summaries: Writing: A few small unanswered questions or muddled moments here and there, but startlingly few for such an ambitious story. Nicely done. Directing: Not bad for a big-screen rookie. :-) Keep him. Acting: Kudos to all. OVERALL: I probably should make it something like a 9.5, but I can't resist giving an extra half-point for the Ensign Lynch cameo :-), so it's a 10. Bravo; would that they all could be like this. Tim Lynch (Harvard-Westlake School, Science Dept.) tlynch@alumni.caltech.edu <*> -- Copyright 1996, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask... This article is explicitly prohibited from being used in any off-net compilation without due attribution and *express written consent of the author*. Walnut Creek and other CD-ROM distributors, take note. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 2 17:10:26 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!news.stealth.net!news.idt.net!feed1.news.erols.com!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: chuckd21@southeast.net (Chuck Dowling) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 27 Nov 1996 18:31:49 GMT Organization: Southeast Network Services, Inc. Lines: 97 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57i1el$2ar@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: chuckd21@southeast.net (Chuck Dowling) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06414 Keywords: author=Dowling Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5807 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1133 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1524 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] 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. -- Chuck Dowling Reply to: chuckd21@southeast.net Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Over 1,600 movies rated and/or reviewed! Movie news, box office From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 3 13:46:43 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!02-newsfeed.univie.ac.at!newsfeed.de.ibm.net!newsfeed.uk.ibm.net!arclight.uoregon.edu!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: legeros@pagesz.net (Michael J. Legeros) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 2 Dec 1996 20:18:23 GMT Organization: none Lines: 47 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57vdif$1uu@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: legeros@pagesz.net (Michael J. Legeros) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06426 Keywords: author=Legeros Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5842 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1144 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1544 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Michael John Legeros Copyright 1996 Michael John Legeros (Paramount) Directed by Jonathan Frakes Written by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, and Ronald D. Moore Cast Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige MPAA Rating "PG-13" Running Time 122 minutes Reviewed at General Cinemas at Pleasant Valley, Raleigh, NC (22NOV96) == The best thing about seeing a Star Trek movie is that when the inevitable projection problem occurs, there's always someone more- obsessive than yourself who gets up to go notify the management. STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT is the perfect movie for those dedicated fans, because they can project their own excitement into an otherwise talky action movie. Despite a strong script and an excellent ensemble cast, there's a fundamental visceral tension that's missing here. Or, rather, which leaks out over time. In fact, the most exciting moment in the movie is a cabin-room confrontation between Patrick Stewart and Alfre Woodard. (How odd. Even with the best FX in eight movies, FIRST CONTACT is surprisingly thrill-less.) Everything else, however, is par for the course: in-jokes, one-liners (most of them hilarious), gizmos with lots of flashing red and yellow lights, explosions heard in the vacuum of space, and plenty of technical mumbo-gumbo like "we appear to be caught in a temporal wake." By the end, the resolution of the lengthy conflict (the Enterprise goes back in time to battle the Borg) makes perfect logical sense and little else. Next time, please reactivate the emotion chip. Grade: B- -- Mike Legeros - Raleigh, NC, USA, Earth legeros@pagesz.net (h) - legeros@unx.sas.com (w) I'm also on the Web! http://www.pagesz.net/~legeros/ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 3 13:46:45 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!nntp.uio.no!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!mr.net!data.ramona.vix.com!news1.digital.com!news.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!arclight.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!hunter.premier.net!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: mredman@bvoice.com (Michael Redman) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 2 Dec 1996 20:19:25 GMT Organization: ... Lines: 72 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57vdkd$1v2@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: mredman@bvoice.com (Michael Redman) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06429 Keywords: author=Redman Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5826 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1138 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1536 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Michael Redman Copyright 1996 Michael Redman **1/2 (out of ****) The "Star Trek" audience applauded wildly at the familiar figures, spectacular special effects and blazing action scenes. Anticipation was high for more of the same. And then the "Star WARS" preview ended. It might have been a tactical error to preview the re-release of the Lucas trilogy just before the new Trek film. Movies about the Enterprise crew tend to be slower moving and more methodical in their approach: something of a disappointment in the sf action arena when compared to Luke Skywalker and his buddies. In this outing, the Federation starship must defeat the evil Borg who have traveled into Earth=92s past to prevent the heavy-drinking heavy-partying warp drive inventor from making first contact with a friendly alien race. This will supposedly make it possible for the Borg to assimilate our planet in their present. This is the first Trek film without a single member of the original crew on hand and featuring the new Enterprise E. No James T. Kirk to romance the alien babes, no Spock to save the day, no Bones to proclaim "I'm a doctor, not a quantum mechanic!" Instead we have the next generation crew with a younger and hipper look. = Some of the new cast look great on the big screen, especially Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Steward who, oddly enough for being a Trek regular, is in reality an actor) and Data (Brent Spiner), but the Spectacular-Looking Award goes to the Borg. The cyborgs have always been the creepiest of the Star Trek bad guys and they captivate the visual aspect of the movie. The queen Borg (Alice Krige) is the perfect mixture of exotic eroticism and lethal danger. But the rest of the Borg, as cool as they look, just don't work as menaces. Their method of attack is to lumber towards the enemy and subdue him hand-to-hand so that he can become a new member of the hive. The slow moving approach combined with Picard and crew waltzing through huge numbers of Borg without even being noticed doesn't exactly create a sense of excitement. They remind me of the zombies in "Brunch Of The Living Dead" -- "Oh no, there=92s a Borg 50 feet away! We=92d better star= t to run in a half hour or so!" The entire film runs as slowly as the Borg. There are not many highs or lows in the level of action. Everything moves forward at the same pondering pace. Much of the movie must be a mystery to non-Trek fans. Picard's previous experience with the hive (which changed mysteriously from a collective) is underexplained. The holo-suite scene appears out of nowhere without a background. In terms of Trek films, this is one of the better ones: it's fun to see the guys in another adventure; but when you compare it to other movies, there's nothing spectacular. When the original series was on television, we used to wonder what they could do with a huge budget on the big screen. Now we know. They make another "Star Trek" episode. [This appeared in the 12/5/96 "Bloomington Voice", Bloomington, Indiana. Michael Redman can be reached at mredman@bvoice.com] From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 3 13:46:46 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!demos!news.stealth.net!news.ibm.net.il!arclight.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!hunter.premier.net!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: johnnyp@curry.lcs.mit.edu Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 2 Dec 1996 20:19:36 GMT Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science Lines: 92 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57vdko$1v3@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: johnnyp@curry.lcs.mit.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06430 Keywords: author=johnnyp@curry.lcs.mit.edu Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5834 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1142 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1538 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by johnnyp@curry.lcs.mit.edu Copyright 1996 johnnyp@curry.lcs.mit.edu || This week's movie: "Star Trek: First Contact" \/ CW loved it. So why the Down Arrow? It was over too damn quick! Now CW's gotta wait two and a half years for another one! What a difference a good director makes (and a decent script that stays off the net)! Instead of ST:G's only-for-regular-viewers hodgepodge clunkiness, with Lursa and B'Etor, Picard's brother and nephew's death, Data's emotion chip, Enterprise-D's crash, and, oh yeah, *Kirk's death* all competing for attention, we get a story that's, to CW's surprise, more intimate than epic. We only see maybe a dozen Borg, and now they're personified by their Queen. That's a change from the faceless unstoppable enemy in "BOBW". But what makes this as good as ST:The Wrath of Khan is that, like TWOK, the story comes down to a battle of wills and a battle against the self. There are many loose parallels between Kirk-Spock-Khan and Picard-Data-Queen. Similar themes of friendship and obsession are woven in. Melville replaces Dickens. But what puts First Contact over the top was the astonishingly crisp, lavish execution in scene after scene (esp. "The Big Goodbye", on the hull, and in the final struggle in engineering). So crisp, it moved just a bit *too* fast...CW wanted to savor the moments a little longer. After all, when CW's got to wait years between Star Trek films, CW wants to see a 4-hour movie featuring a cast of thousands! Rest assured, The Franchise is safe for now. ---- /\ Picard || Defeating the Borg? No big deal. Calling Worf "coward" and getting away with it? Now *that's* impressive! Next movie, Picard calls Mike Tyson a "sissy". /\ Data || Someone get it through this lunkhead's metal skull that humanity ain't what it's cracked up to be! *You* try going 8 yrs. w/out sex as a *real* human! /\ Worf || His "kill you where you stand" line rocked, but how about *this* comeback: "Go stuff a croissant in your pants, Frenchy! You friggin' baldheaded jerk!" /\ Lily || Who's this Alfre Woodward? Boy she can act! CW's never seen her before cuz she acts in Really Smart Films that are too hard for CW to follow! /\ Cochrane || Lewd, profane, and pigheaded. Roddenberry must be rolling over like mad! Good thing they got Cromwell...CW heard Howard Stern was 2nd for the part! /\ Borg Queen || Y'know, CW liked those cute little ears of hers. CW'd go out with her... but only if she promises not to assimilate mankind on the first date. /\ Riker || Notice how he's all smiles in just about every scene he's in? Forget the assimilation of humanity..you'd smile too if you were directing a Trek film! /\ Troi || It's tough being Trek's 19th banana, but hey, she oughta be thankful! Ya don't see CW getting a drunk scene in any $100,000,000 grossing films! /\ Geordi || Damn, he looked good in those Oakleys! *Big* improvement over the barette! But handled the real Zepham Cochrane about as well as the real Leah Goldman. /\ Beverly Crusher || Blink and you'll miss her, but we do see her "special" relationship with Picard in play...like her "Jean-Luc" soothe when he loses it on the bridge. /\ Holo-Doc || One of the things that sucks about r.a.s.c. it's too easy to get tipped off about surprises like this one! Still, a very shrewd, self-aware gag. /\ Wesley Crusher || He gets an up arrow for *not* showing up! Bwah hah hah! (btw, Wil Wheaton's making a comeback in Robin William's "Absent-Minded Professor" this summer). /\ Jerry Goldsmith || A surprisingly restrained, majestic main theme. Almost something you'd expect for a historical ship movie about whale hunting or something... || Berman \/ "A Rick Berman Production"? How about "A Rick Berman Ego"? Enjoy your damn $100,000,000 gross! (By the way, Voyager better not suck next week!) ---- (c) 1996 King of Internet. All rights reserved. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 3 13:46:47 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!newsfeed.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!news-paris.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!rain.fr!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!arclight.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!hunter.premier.net!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: snorfle@teleport.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 2 Dec 1996 20:19:49 GMT Organization: Teleport Lines: 77 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57vdl5$1v4@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: snorfle@teleport.com NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06431 Keywords: author=snorfle@teleport.com Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5835 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1143 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1539 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by snorfle@teleport.com Copyright 1996 snorfle@teleport.com Written by: Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga (screenplay) Directed by:Jonathan Frakes Wow, looks like everybody is taking a crack at review this movie, so I might as well throw in my half a cent or so. I will be the first to admit that I went to the theater with a considerable amount of anxiety, most of it caused by the messages prevalent on this newsgroup in the week before the movie opened. "It sucked" or "It's a dog" seemed to be the general idea of most of these foreboding reviews. Well, I'm here to say..."yeah, right!" Sure, that's somewhat immature. But so am I. This movie did just about everything _but_ suck. It sorta had that "Aliens" thing goin' with just the right amount of humor (mostly from the planet scenes) to keep it from falling into the abyss of seriousness. The performances were great, especially the ranting and raving Stewart. Don't think I've ever seen him so ticked off. The guest cast was good; Cromwell and Woodard caright up with our pals from the century. The FX were amazing; during some scenes (ie. that Borg Queen attachment, the zero-g walk, the zoomout at the start, etc.) I was just wondering "How'd they do that? How'd they do that?" And surprise, surprise! Frakes can direct! Everyone else has done their little comprehensive review of the movie, but I'm a rebel. I'm also pretty tired. So here's a few thinngs that stick out in my mind: -The cameos. All great, though I had to explain to some of my friends that "that one guy" was Neelix. -Lt. Hawk(e). Wow...you really could tell he was GAY, couldn't you??? The way he dressed up in women's clothing and pranced around, that was so HOMOSEXUAL of him! Man, that guy was so damn GAY I was distracted every scene he ws in! -The Borg are really quick workers now, aren't they? Just squirt a little Borg juice into you, and you're toast. -Ok, I'm not one to get all picky about technical deatils and continuity, but one thing really bugged me. How could the Borg have "assimilated decks 11 through 26" if there's only 24 decks? That's what Picard tells Lily!!! I guess I should pass it off to his mind being clouded by revenge... -That thing jumping out of Picard's face at the beginning. Cool. -The Hot Tamales I had were really bad. Tasted like bananas or something...ick. And I've never reviewed a ST movie before, so I guess it's a manditory thing to put "the order" (of films I liked). Ok, sure: 2 and 8 (tie), 6, 7, 4, 3, 1 and 5 (tie). Now feel free to discount my opinion. Rating: 9.4 ----- The Snorf's rating system: 0.0-3.5 What was that all about? I'm embarrassed to be watching. 3.6-5.0 Yawn. Could have been much, much better. 5.1-6.5 A few good parts, but mostly a snoozer. 6.6-7.5 Watch it. You may like it. Or you may not. 7.6-8.5 Not too shabby. 8.6-9.3 Good movie. A keeper. 9.4-9.9 The best of the bunch. These are the ones you can tell your friends that don't even like Star trek to watch. 10.0!!! Never happened in my lifetime...but you never know! http://www.teleport.com/~snorfle/index.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 3 13:46:49 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!demos!news.stealth.net!news.ibm.net.il!arclight.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!hunter.premier.net!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: ih84rds@aol.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 2 Dec 1996 20:20:12 GMT Organization: Micron Electronics, Inc. Lines: 98 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57vdls$1v5@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: ih84rds@aol.com NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06432 Keywords: author=ih84rds@aol.com Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5833 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1141 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1537 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by ih84rds@aol.com Copyright 1996 ih84rds@aol.com Since ST:First Contact premiered over a week ago, I've had several people write and ask what I thought of the film. I didn't get to see the movie opening weekend because I had both a sick baby and an ill wife, but we finally got to go Friday night. So here goes. The Plot The first thing I heard about STFC was the plot and to say the least, I was uderwhelmed. It sounded like fan fiction based upon the brief version I initially heard and it sounded too much like Terminator for my liking. Over all, the film was faithful to that version, but Braga and Moore's script had enough twists and turns to overcome any geeky elements the original concept might have contained. The Script With one exception (Data's "to hell with order's" speech), it was as tight and as polished as any of the Trek films. There were a couple of Treknobabble inconsistancies (see the NitPicks section), but I was impressed. Direction In a nutshell, Paramount is crazy if they let anyone but Frakes direct the next film. It's obvious he loves Trek, respects the fans and on top of everything else, he's talented as a director. If Hollywood does not offer this man other projects in the future, it will be their and our loss. Acting/Characters I had grown to hate Picard. After the political correctness of TNG's last two seasons, I lost all respect for him. After he had a chance to kill the entire Borg collective and passed it by, he allowed an entire planet to die in the name of the Prime Directive and eventually got Jim Kirk killed (okay this is a reach, but I was POed at him to begin with), I was thoroughly disgusted with both Stewart and Picard. I prayed that this movie would begin with Admiral Picard tossing Will Riker the keys the Enterprise-E, but STFC has changed my opinion. I will not call him "an action hero", but I do see him as a very complex man of deep convictions and feelings. If you take TNG and the two movies as a whole, the arc of Picard's development has reached a point where he is free of his demons and will be able become the captain that I've wanted to see since Encounter at Farpoint. Stewart is an incredible actor and I hope he stays involved with Trek. The rest of the characters felt more like real people than they did on TNG. I regret that we didn't see more of Sirtis and McFadden, but I loved seeing Barkely. LaForge has grown, but I wish we could have seen more than the engineering side of him. The only thing I had to keep asking myself is why the heck hasn't Riker taken command of a ship yet? When I heard that Cromwell was cast as Cochrane I worried that I would keep expecting him to say, "That'll do, pig." but he was great. No, he looked nothing like the guy who played Cochrane in TOS, but it didn't bother me. BTW, Steppenwolf was a perfect choice for the first warp test. Technical The technical merit of this film is way beyond Generations. The previous movie looked more like a wide screen TV episode, but this one looked and felt like a movie. The effects were awesome though I'm still not sure what I think of Enterprise-E. I like it much better that Enterprise-D, but that's not saying much. Summation Except, for the nitpicks listed below, I loved this movie. No, it wasn't Babylon5, Star Wars, Aliens or Terminator, but it was the one thing it set out to be: STAR TREK. Regardless of what you think of Rodenberry's vision of the future, this film was faithful to it while at the same time being one heck of a ride. I think Gene would have been pleased. Is this the best Trek film? I don't really know, but it does rank with Kahn and Undiscovered Country. Nitpicks WARNING, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER - THERE BE SPOILERS BELOW Nitpick#1 There's no way a tourniquet would have kept Worf's space suit from completely bleeding off into space. Nitpick#2 Plasma is a highly energized state of matter in which the electrons have been stripped from the atomic nuclei and exist as a high temperature, randomly charged soup. The surface of the sun consists of plasma. If warp plasma had spilled into Engineering it would have either risen as a hot gas would do or it would have uniformly dispersed through the compartment. Either way, Picard would have been toast. Nitpick#3 It was too darned easy for Geordi to configure to the nacelles to emit chronoton particles and send the ship back to the 24 th century. Why not call it the Timeship Enterprise if it was that easy? Granted, the story was over, but at least give us the sling shot effect and a final shot of the Enterprise blasting away from the sun back to the 24 th century. Okay, that's it for what it's worth. John From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 3 13:50:04 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!demos!news.stealth.net!news.ibm.net.il!arclight.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!hunter.premier.net!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: johnnyp@curry.lcs.mit.edu Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 2 Dec 1996 20:19:36 GMT Organization: MIT Laboratory for Computer Science Lines: 92 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57vdko$1v3@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: johnnyp@curry.lcs.mit.edu NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06430 Keywords: author=johnnyp@curry.lcs.mit.edu Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5834 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1142 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1538 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by johnnyp@curry.lcs.mit.edu Copyright 1996 johnnyp@curry.lcs.mit.edu || This week's movie: "Star Trek: First Contact" \/ CW loved it. So why the Down Arrow? It was over too damn quick! Now CW's gotta wait two and a half years for another one! What a difference a good director makes (and a decent script that stays off the net)! Instead of ST:G's only-for-regular-viewers hodgepodge clunkiness, with Lursa and B'Etor, Picard's brother and nephew's death, Data's emotion chip, Enterprise-D's crash, and, oh yeah, *Kirk's death* all competing for attention, we get a story that's, to CW's surprise, more intimate than epic. We only see maybe a dozen Borg, and now they're personified by their Queen. That's a change from the faceless unstoppable enemy in "BOBW". But what makes this as good as ST:The Wrath of Khan is that, like TWOK, the story comes down to a battle of wills and a battle against the self. There are many loose parallels between Kirk-Spock-Khan and Picard-Data-Queen. Similar themes of friendship and obsession are woven in. Melville replaces Dickens. But what puts First Contact over the top was the astonishingly crisp, lavish execution in scene after scene (esp. "The Big Goodbye", on the hull, and in the final struggle in engineering). So crisp, it moved just a bit *too* fast...CW wanted to savor the moments a little longer. After all, when CW's got to wait years between Star Trek films, CW wants to see a 4-hour movie featuring a cast of thousands! Rest assured, The Franchise is safe for now. ---- /\ Picard || Defeating the Borg? No big deal. Calling Worf "coward" and getting away with it? Now *that's* impressive! Next movie, Picard calls Mike Tyson a "sissy". /\ Data || Someone get it through this lunkhead's metal skull that humanity ain't what it's cracked up to be! *You* try going 8 yrs. w/out sex as a *real* human! /\ Worf || His "kill you where you stand" line rocked, but how about *this* comeback: "Go stuff a croissant in your pants, Frenchy! You friggin' baldheaded jerk!" /\ Lily || Who's this Alfre Woodward? Boy she can act! CW's never seen her before cuz she acts in Really Smart Films that are too hard for CW to follow! /\ Cochrane || Lewd, profane, and pigheaded. Roddenberry must be rolling over like mad! Good thing they got Cromwell...CW heard Howard Stern was 2nd for the part! /\ Borg Queen || Y'know, CW liked those cute little ears of hers. CW'd go out with her... but only if she promises not to assimilate mankind on the first date. /\ Riker || Notice how he's all smiles in just about every scene he's in? Forget the assimilation of humanity..you'd smile too if you were directing a Trek film! /\ Troi || It's tough being Trek's 19th banana, but hey, she oughta be thankful! Ya don't see CW getting a drunk scene in any $100,000,000 grossing films! /\ Geordi || Damn, he looked good in those Oakleys! *Big* improvement over the barette! But handled the real Zepham Cochrane about as well as the real Leah Goldman. /\ Beverly Crusher || Blink and you'll miss her, but we do see her "special" relationship with Picard in play...like her "Jean-Luc" soothe when he loses it on the bridge. /\ Holo-Doc || One of the things that sucks about r.a.s.c. it's too easy to get tipped off about surprises like this one! Still, a very shrewd, self-aware gag. /\ Wesley Crusher || He gets an up arrow for *not* showing up! Bwah hah hah! (btw, Wil Wheaton's making a comeback in Robin William's "Absent-Minded Professor" this summer). /\ Jerry Goldsmith || A surprisingly restrained, majestic main theme. Almost something you'd expect for a historical ship movie about whale hunting or something... || Berman \/ "A Rick Berman Production"? How about "A Rick Berman Ego"? Enjoy your damn $100,000,000 gross! (By the way, Voyager better not suck next week!) ---- (c) 1996 King of Internet. All rights reserved. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 3 13:50:20 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!newsfeed.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!news-paris.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!rain.fr!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.erols.net!feed1.news.erols.com!arclight.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!hunter.premier.net!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: snorfle@teleport.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 2 Dec 1996 20:19:49 GMT Organization: Teleport Lines: 77 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57vdl5$1v4@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: snorfle@teleport.com NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06431 Keywords: author=snorfle@teleport.com Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5835 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1143 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1539 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by snorfle@teleport.com Copyright 1996 snorfle@teleport.com Written by: Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga (screenplay) Directed by:Jonathan Frakes Wow, looks like everybody is taking a crack at review this movie, so I might as well throw in my half a cent or so. I will be the first to admit that I went to the theater with a considerable amount of anxiety, most of it caused by the messages prevalent on this newsgroup in the week before the movie opened. "It sucked" or "It's a dog" seemed to be the general idea of most of these foreboding reviews. Well, I'm here to say..."yeah, right!" Sure, that's somewhat immature. But so am I. This movie did just about everything _but_ suck. It sorta had that "Aliens" thing goin' with just the right amount of humor (mostly from the planet scenes) to keep it from falling into the abyss of seriousness. The performances were great, especially the ranting and raving Stewart. Don't think I've ever seen him so ticked off. The guest cast was good; Cromwell and Woodard caright up with our pals from the century. The FX were amazing; during some scenes (ie. that Borg Queen attachment, the zero-g walk, the zoomout at the start, etc.) I was just wondering "How'd they do that? How'd they do that?" And surprise, surprise! Frakes can direct! Everyone else has done their little comprehensive review of the movie, but I'm a rebel. I'm also pretty tired. So here's a few thinngs that stick out in my mind: -The cameos. All great, though I had to explain to some of my friends that "that one guy" was Neelix. -Lt. Hawk(e). Wow...you really could tell he was GAY, couldn't you??? The way he dressed up in women's clothing and pranced around, that was so HOMOSEXUAL of him! Man, that guy was so damn GAY I was distracted every scene he ws in! -The Borg are really quick workers now, aren't they? Just squirt a little Borg juice into you, and you're toast. -Ok, I'm not one to get all picky about technical deatils and continuity, but one thing really bugged me. How could the Borg have "assimilated decks 11 through 26" if there's only 24 decks? That's what Picard tells Lily!!! I guess I should pass it off to his mind being clouded by revenge... -That thing jumping out of Picard's face at the beginning. Cool. -The Hot Tamales I had were really bad. Tasted like bananas or something...ick. And I've never reviewed a ST movie before, so I guess it's a manditory thing to put "the order" (of films I liked). Ok, sure: 2 and 8 (tie), 6, 7, 4, 3, 1 and 5 (tie). Now feel free to discount my opinion. Rating: 9.4 ----- The Snorf's rating system: 0.0-3.5 What was that all about? I'm embarrassed to be watching. 3.6-5.0 Yawn. Could have been much, much better. 5.1-6.5 A few good parts, but mostly a snoozer. 6.6-7.5 Watch it. You may like it. Or you may not. 7.6-8.5 Not too shabby. 8.6-9.3 Good movie. A keeper. 9.4-9.9 The best of the bunch. These are the ones you can tell your friends that don't even like Star trek to watch. 10.0!!! Never happened in my lifetime...but you never know! http://www.teleport.com/~snorfle/index.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 3 13:50:32 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!demos!news.stealth.net!news.ibm.net.il!arclight.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!hunter.premier.net!phase2.worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: ih84rds@aol.com Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 2 Dec 1996 20:20:12 GMT Organization: Micron Electronics, Inc. Lines: 98 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <57vdls$1v5@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: ih84rds@aol.com NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06432 Keywords: author=ih84rds@aol.com Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5833 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1141 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1537 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by ih84rds@aol.com Copyright 1996 ih84rds@aol.com Since ST:First Contact premiered over a week ago, I've had several people write and ask what I thought of the film. I didn't get to see the movie opening weekend because I had both a sick baby and an ill wife, but we finally got to go Friday night. So here goes. The Plot The first thing I heard about STFC was the plot and to say the least, I was uderwhelmed. It sounded like fan fiction based upon the brief version I initially heard and it sounded too much like Terminator for my liking. Over all, the film was faithful to that version, but Braga and Moore's script had enough twists and turns to overcome any geeky elements the original concept might have contained. The Script With one exception (Data's "to hell with order's" speech), it was as tight and as polished as any of the Trek films. There were a couple of Treknobabble inconsistancies (see the NitPicks section), but I was impressed. Direction In a nutshell, Paramount is crazy if they let anyone but Frakes direct the next film. It's obvious he loves Trek, respects the fans and on top of everything else, he's talented as a director. If Hollywood does not offer this man other projects in the future, it will be their and our loss. Acting/Characters I had grown to hate Picard. After the political correctness of TNG's last two seasons, I lost all respect for him. After he had a chance to kill the entire Borg collective and passed it by, he allowed an entire planet to die in the name of the Prime Directive and eventually got Jim Kirk killed (okay this is a reach, but I was POed at him to begin with), I was thoroughly disgusted with both Stewart and Picard. I prayed that this movie would begin with Admiral Picard tossing Will Riker the keys the Enterprise-E, but STFC has changed my opinion. I will not call him "an action hero", but I do see him as a very complex man of deep convictions and feelings. If you take TNG and the two movies as a whole, the arc of Picard's development has reached a point where he is free of his demons and will be able become the captain that I've wanted to see since Encounter at Farpoint. Stewart is an incredible actor and I hope he stays involved with Trek. The rest of the characters felt more like real people than they did on TNG. I regret that we didn't see more of Sirtis and McFadden, but I loved seeing Barkely. LaForge has grown, but I wish we could have seen more than the engineering side of him. The only thing I had to keep asking myself is why the heck hasn't Riker taken command of a ship yet? When I heard that Cromwell was cast as Cochrane I worried that I would keep expecting him to say, "That'll do, pig." but he was great. No, he looked nothing like the guy who played Cochrane in TOS, but it didn't bother me. BTW, Steppenwolf was a perfect choice for the first warp test. Technical The technical merit of this film is way beyond Generations. The previous movie looked more like a wide screen TV episode, but this one looked and felt like a movie. The effects were awesome though I'm still not sure what I think of Enterprise-E. I like it much better that Enterprise-D, but that's not saying much. Summation Except, for the nitpicks listed below, I loved this movie. No, it wasn't Babylon5, Star Wars, Aliens or Terminator, but it was the one thing it set out to be: STAR TREK. Regardless of what you think of Rodenberry's vision of the future, this film was faithful to it while at the same time being one heck of a ride. I think Gene would have been pleased. Is this the best Trek film? I don't really know, but it does rank with Kahn and Undiscovered Country. Nitpicks WARNING, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER - THERE BE SPOILERS BELOW Nitpick#1 There's no way a tourniquet would have kept Worf's space suit from completely bleeding off into space. Nitpick#2 Plasma is a highly energized state of matter in which the electrons have been stripped from the atomic nuclei and exist as a high temperature, randomly charged soup. The surface of the sun consists of plasma. If warp plasma had spilled into Engineering it would have either risen as a hot gas would do or it would have uniformly dispersed through the compartment. Either way, Picard would have been toast. Nitpick#3 It was too darned easy for Geordi to configure to the nacelles to emit chronoton particles and send the ship back to the 24 th century. Why not call it the Timeship Enterprise if it was that easy? Granted, the story was over, but at least give us the sling shot effect and a final shot of the Enterprise blasting away from the sun back to the 24 th century. Okay, that's it for what it's worth. John From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 10 10:50:24 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!nntp.uio.no!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!nntp.crl.com!news.pbi.net!cbgw3.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: trotsky@icanect.net (Mark Farinas) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 4 Dec 1996 16:06:36 GMT Organization: The Communist Party of Miami Lines: 242 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <5847ic$712@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: trotsky@icanect.net (Mark Farinas) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06445 Keywords: author=Farinas Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5847 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1147 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1551 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Mark Farinas Copyright 1996 Mark Farinas Star Trek: First Contact is not only the worst movie of the series, but one of the worst movies ever made. Its worthy of MST3K in every way, shape and form. A movie for the masses? Even if it wasn't a Trek movie it would be horrid. Want to know why? Those who loved this movie and those who hated it should read on and respond through e-mail and posting. Flame or respond intelligently, I don't care! And now for my First Contact review: Let it be known I love Trek. I love TOS and TNG. I, however, hated the last movie and this one even more. I went with two other friends to the largest screen we could find. When the words "A Rick Berman Production" came on we all booed and hissed. First Contact opened with a very disturbing dream sequence showing Picard and his trials during his assimilation in Best of Both Worlds. This was done exactly like Ripple's dream in the beginning of Aliens. Not too original, and overly graphic. It actually scared me. But FC goes totally downhill from here. The plot advances so quickly its hard to really keep up with without your head spinning a bit. This is why I say it's a bad movie period. It was put together horribly. One thing lead to another and another without taking time to breath. The plot moves at warp 10. We get the warning of the Borg invasion, then we spend 30 seconds thinking about how dumb SF is for not allowing the E-E to join the battle (which was idiotic saying its SF's newest ship armed with the newest weapons and a crew that has saved Earth quite a few times in the past). Then 10 seconds more to make the decision to go to earth (all the way to Earth from the Neutral Zone in time to save the day? This should have taken weeks, but this is a shit movie, right?). Now we witness the biggest battle in Trek history. We've all been waiting for it: tonnes of Fed ships against a Borg cube. We missed it at Wolf 359, but now the time is here. It lasts 30 more seconds of the movie. We are 2 minutes into the movie and all this has already transpired. I cant take it! The battle is ended because Picard knows some kind of weakness in the cube that he doesn't explain. Why should he? It would slow the plot to warp 8. And why didn't he point this spot out to the E-D crew in BOBW? Would have been cooler than the stupid "sleep" resolution they came up with that ended TNG's best episode rather sloppily. But the ending of this battle was even more sloppy and was ended this way to advance the so called plot faster. And now it gets really silly. A Borg escape craft easily hurls itself into the past with yet another of Trek's many tachyon pulse things. The Borg can do that? Then why bother fighting for any world? Why go to the 21st century? Why not go back to primordial times? Rewrite the hole universe in their image straight from its beginnings on!? Why not have done that a long ass time ago? Well, the E-E is sucked in after it and blows the crap out of it with the new DS9 invention, "quantum torpedoes". This is, of course, another stupid way of getting the term "quantum" into the show. "Quantum this and that" I'm sick of it. But all the E-E's vital functions are off-line due to the time travel and they have no idea the Borg have invaded the ship. This is know do to a number of idiotic scenes that were ripped from every horror movie ever made. I laughed my ass off when the first two crew members got it. It was that stupid. Meanwhile, on the surface we meat Zephram Cochrane. Remember him in "Metamorphosis"? Remember how moral and upright he was? How clean cut? Well, he's a drunken capitalistic bastard here. He wants nothing but naked women, money, and power. He's also now from Montana. Why? Because Berman Trek is geocentric. Cochrane was originally from Alpha Centauri and we can all guess that, since Alpha Centauri is Sol's closest neighbor, the ACs probably came and visited us. Why the hell not? But not for Berman and Braga, those twits. Yeah, and the original Enterprise's main engineering was in the secondary hull even though that big, red "hall way" with the grill over it was obviously the impulse engines! Thhhhpppptt! And where'd he get the dilithium? It isn't a synthetic material. You mine it out of the ground. As far as I can tell, there is none on Earth. The fact is, a man doesn't take the leap Cochrane did from go nowhere alcoholic to goody two shoes. It don't work. If that Cochrane had been trapped on a planet for a hundred years with anything he wanted it would have been booze, not a fig tree. Thus Cochrane becomes an antihero. Back to the Borg threat, we find that the Borg have not only invaded, but redecorated. This looks so much like Aliens its not funny. Right down to Borg coming out of the walls. Not only that but they came out of these silly Borg Craftmatic Adjustable Reclining Beds with Goofy Sparking Electrical Headrests. And where'd they get the parts to do this? Did they excrete it out their mechanical poop shoots? And they are also assimilating bits of the crew. With what? How'd they get all this stuff aboard with out being noticed immediately? HOW? This is a lot of freaking equipment here! Data has been captured and is being seduced by the disappointingly simple looking Borg Queen. Now the Borg are totally ruined. The concept of this single, simple creature as the head of this immense force. Not a super computer or entity, but a lousy, bodiless nit-wit. And what is such an important person doing on a mission like this? Why isn't she at home working from afar as any all powerful leader would? Oh, and not only is she evil, but she's moist and she accessorizes wonderfully. Did you get a look at the fabulous shade of lipstick she was wearing? It made the scaly, pale thing even more alluring. Hot stuff! Data, of course, gets his emotion chip permanently activated (did I mention he can turn it off now? I'll give them that as it's been two years and perhaps he's worked out these bugs). The chip, it seems, not only gives him emotions, but makes him uncontrollably horny as he is willing to touch lips with the most grotesque and repulsive woman since Cher. This image has been permanently burned into my retina as I can still see it when I close my eyes. Data is also getting real skin grafted onto him. I thought he could already feel. It ain't so hard to make a robot have physical sensation. Just make certain stimuli send certain messages to the "brain". But the skin also brings pain, and its got blood in it. Picard returns to the E-E and meets up with Cochrane's assistant, Lilly, who was injured on the planet and had the get medical attention on board. Together they escape the Borg through the holodeck in a scene made just so Patrick could pull off a few rounds as an action hero and allow us to see the Borg get all shot up in slow-mo. Now some have said that non-trekkers could not understand this movie due to its close ties with BOBW and Metamorphosis. But that's just not so because both of these back stories are explained in laborious detail. These are actually moments when to plot becomes tedious because to the Trekker these are givens. Not only that, but they are told in "Babylon 5" style. You know, in B5 every character gives a long monologue about a tragic part of their history. Just like Picard gives to Lilly about his assimilation. Oye. Picard now no longer gives a flying fuck (yeah I cursed, fuck you) about his crew, something no other Trek captain has ever done. The Captain Ahab thing, done to death already in all Trek incarnations, is reheated to a toasty brown. Picard should be over this part of his life already as he delt with it in "I, Borg". He had the oppotunity to wipe them out, he delt with his rage and hatred, and he conquered it with reason and compasion. Why bring it back now? He actually kills one of his own men who is in the process of Instant Assimilation, a grotesque and unforgivable action. He also dissects a Borg that was one of his own crew with out even flinching and learns the Borg's plan of using the deflector dish to tell the 21st century Borg to attack Earth now. Picard, Worf, and Lt. Hawk (who was said to be the next "Lt. Saavik") put on EVA suits and go out to get the Borgs working on the dish. Let me tell you right now, I hate this new E-E. It is a cheap cut and paste of the Voyager's primary hull, the Excelcior's secondary hull, and the E-A's nacelle struts. It was so totally unoriginal it was sick. Not only that, but the external shots looked like crap. This was the ship that looked the most like a model. I expected to see a string at any moment. It was painted in dayglow colours too. Red, yellow, blue and bright, bright white. The amount of detail in this model was not worthy of a motion picture. This was overly noticeable as the three crew men trekked (oh, did I mention how stupid and trite I thought Cochrane's "some kind of Star Trek" line was?) over the ship's hull. They finally stumble upon the Borg who are putting together some transmitter in the middle of the dish. Lucky for the crew this particular portion of the ship can be easily ejected. Does the whole ship come apart like this? Or was this just a moronic, useless function that was added just for this scene? I'll pick the second. This was plain dumb. This whole scene could have been totally cut and other portions of the movie, like the whole opening sequence, lengthened. As if this is not stupid enough, the crew is attacked in zero-g and merriment ensues. Worf carries his Mek'leth with him everywhere it seems. Picard does a cute jump across the dish. This was the STUPIDEST part of the movie. Picard floating over the deflector was hilarious, and I totally lost it. I could actually see the part of the suit were the string was attached pulled slightly outward. Yes, I admit it, I wet 'um. Then Hawk is attacked by a Borg and thought dead until he reappears and attacks Picard because he's been subject to Instant Assimilation. Yep, without his pressure suit being disturbed and without any equipment the Borg got all these funny mechanical doo-hickies on his face and he's turned against the captain. Do we care what happens next? The Borg, BTW, are not wearing any protective outfits outside. Remember this for later. It will come up again. Worf and Picard get back in the ship when they find that they have to destroy the ship to stop the Borg because phasers no longer have any effect at all. But Picard, being the antihero that he is, refuses to let go of the ship. So he decides he's going to doom himself and his crew. And you know what? No one cares! We're gonna blindly go to our deaths! Crusher doesn't debate him and says "If that's his orders we have to follow them". Like hell! You're the doctor! Pronounce him unfit for command! Either that or talk him out of it! Your Bev! He loves you! You know him better than anyone else. How many times have you said "Jean-Luc! I disagree!" But no, this new character, Lilly has that job. Yep, someone Picard just met totally turns his whole outlook around using the Ahab argument. She then admits she's never read Mobey Dick and you can feel all the Beaver and Buckwheats in the cinema thinking "See! I don't gotta read ta be smart!" Abandon ship! The ship is on autodestruct and everybody's running for their lives! Everyone but Picard who is gonna go save Data. That's right, you forgot about Data, didn't you? At the same time, Cochrane is admitting what an ass he is in B5 style to Riker who pollutes the timeline even more by even telling the man quotes he'll make up in the future. They then fly off into the sky and seeing the earth from above convinces Cochrane what an ass he is. Gee another instant transformation. The second one in as many minutes. Cochrane has to go to warp fast to attract the attention of the Vulcans doing a survey mission near by to come land on Earth. In engineering Picard shows up to find Data and stop the Borg single handedly. It seems Data is one of them now and allows the Borg access the main computer and stops the autodestruct system. He then fires "Quantum" torpedoes at the Phoenix. These are the slowest moving torpedoes in the history of Trek. This wasn't even a dramatic slow-mo effect. It was in real time. The torpedoes miss and it turns out that Data's really a good guy. He then smashes his fist through a coolant chamber releasing freezing gas. Picard jumps up and hangs on to the ceiling as the gas freezes and shatters the Borg's organic parts. Now, think about this. The vacuum of space is 3 Kelvin. The Borg were outside, unprotected, in space, and this didn't effect them at all. If the Borg don't need oxygen, pressure and heat to survive, then why bother with having environmental systems on their ships? But this coolant gets 'em. By this time Picard's uniform is ripped to shreds and is totally sleeveless. He then swings on a bit of tubing to land on the other side of the room and has as the gas sucked out of the room. Picard sleeveless and swinging? What the fuck is going on here? That is so Predator/Terminator/Aliens/Rambo/any other action movie you can think of. This is Picard as his lowest. The Phoenix goes into warp, faster than light, and stays there for five whole minutes. So fast, stars streak by. Mind you, it takes 8 minutes to get to Jupiter at light speed. But when they come out of it they seem to be no further than the Moon's orbit away (judging from the size of Earth when they looked back at it after the jump). Does anyone else see a problem with this? The Vulcans detect the warp field and they come a running. They pick up the warp field, but not the four massively powerful projectiles fired in the same area. A weapon so potent it destroyed a Borg ship. If I was a Vulcan, I'd wet myself, turn around, and hope my ass wasn't spotted by who ever fired those shots. Cochrane introduces them to cheap booze and cheesy mock 1960's retro music. The E-E goes back to there time period which is totally unchanged, which is suprising as I'd think Riker or Jeordi would have told Cochrane something totally history shattering (yeah, as if they haden't already). Hey, how'd they get back? They used the same shit as the Borg. Yeah, the same damn shit. I swore again. I'm that mad. Will it be that easy from now on? Can they do this all the time? If something bad happens, can they go back a day and fix it? Can Rick Berman and Brannon Braga go back in time to stop Gene from creating TOS and convince him to work, instead, on the plots for Deep Space Nine and Voyager? Can they, huh huh? Of course not, this technology will be forgotten right away. And why did Lavar Berton throw a fit and not wear the visor in this movie? He was only on screen for about five minutes of the entire movie. All in all, this movie sucked. Generations was pretty damn bad, but this was even worse. The worst Trek movie ever made! One of the worst action movies ever made. It was dull, unbelievable, and seemed like it was slapped together in a hurry. I could have made a better movie than this. Hell, I could make a better series than the two Bs have. Come on people! Let's end Star Trek for a few years! Maybe in a decade or two some new, better producers will take up the cause. Hell, maybe it'll be me when university's over. Flame on! Mark "Trotsky" Farinas From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 10 10:57:10 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!nntp.uio.no!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!feed1.news.erols.com!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: dzhines@midway.uchicago.edu (David Hines) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 4 Dec 1996 16:24:18 GMT Organization: University of Chicago, Cthulhu help me. Lines: 227 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <5848ji$73h@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: dzhines@midway.uchicago.edu (David Hines) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06446 Keywords: author=Hines Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5851 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1149 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1553 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT [Spoilers] A film review by David Hines Copyright 1996 David Hines (Previously posted to rec.arts.sf.tv and rec.arts.startrek.current.) _Star Trek_, like all science fiction and skiffy, requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. In the best of _Star Trek_, the only requirement is that the viewer accept the somewhat improbable universe that the Franchise presents: one in which socialist ideals reign true; one in which people strive to better themselves and humanity, as well as all the little fuzzies out there; one in which poverty and crime and bad luck are things of the past. In the world of _Star Trek_, everyone is healthy and happy (or as near either of those things as possible), and things always work out in the end. That's a lot to swallow, but provided the viewer can choke that down, a good time may be had by all. That is, assuming that we're talking about good Trek. Bad Trek tries to get the viewer to swallow too many horse pills; witness the typical episode of _Voyager_, wherein we're expected to accept clumsy technobabble, miserable plotting, and characters who are supposed to be capable doing no end of stupid things. _Star Trek: First Contact_'s (hereafter: FC) greatest flaw is that it has too many horse pills. That's a pity, because otherwise it's a surprisingly well-done film: well-acted, well-directed, and (of course) well-effected. The devil, as always, is in the writing; and while the writing is good enough to make FC better than _Generations_ by roughly an order of magnitude (and does something interesting below the surface -- I'll get to *that* in a minute), it's not good enough to make me stand up and cheer the movie as a complete success. It's decent, in the neighborhood of two and a half to three stars out of four, but it would require more work to make it stand tall. Well worth your time at a matinee; don't spend a gazillion bucks on a night ticket, unless you have access to a theater with a mega-huge screen and great sound system. Spoilers follow 30 blank lines and a ^L. Thankfully, most of the painful swallowing takes place at the beginning. If the Federation can't trust Picard, why isn't he safely behind a desk? If the situation was so critical, why didn't the admiral order *Riker* to take command of the Enterprise? Didn't the Federation even try to make a stand outside the Sol system? Why didn't the Borg travel back to the twentieth century before attacking Earth (it would've been much easier, and wouldn't have resulted in the loss of the cube)? Why did Picard's trick work? Why did he know about it, and not tell anyone else in Starfleet before now? Why was the Enterprise able to hang around for a minute or so before zapping back in time with the Borg's hole in time? Why were they able to follow the Borg at all? I could have swallowed one or two of these problems; coming in so quickly, and so closely on each other's heels, they were utterly indigestible and made the opening of FC almost entirely unwatchable. That's not to say there's not more swallowing to be done elsewhere in the film; there is, a mixture of bitter pills small (such as the Borg assimilation time being reduced to a few seconds, "inoculation" against radiation poisoning) and large (such as Picard's fight with Worf, which I'll get to). It's just that the beginning forces the viewer to swallow a lot of horse pills in very little time. The effects are beautiful, but the medicine that gets the movie going is *very* bitter, and needs more than a generous spoonful of eye-candy to help it go down. Once the pills are choked down, however, a people-oriented plot takes over. Thank Cthulhu, because that's where Trek is strong, and because the caliber of the actors is such that it can smooth over rough spots, provided the spots are *relatively* far apart. The cast members deliver fine performances, particularly James Cromwell, Alfre Woodard, Alice Krige, and Patrick Stewart. (It's a bit annoying that most of the best roles went to non-featured players; I get the feeling that Sirtis and McFadden would have killed for an eighth of the screen time Alfre Woodard got... then again, neither of them is as good an actor as Woodard.) There are wobbles, from time to time; however, once the godawful beginning is left in the dust, FC begins to move and becomes a pretty enjoyable movie, largely because of the performances and direction. There are, however, two major exceptions to the rule. Both of them, oddly enough, have to do with Picard. The first is Picard's fight with Worf, his refusal to down the ship, followed by an argument with Lily and a sudden reversal. The acting is fine; I don't have a problem with it (Woodard, especially, shone in that scene). The problem is that it comes out of nowhere. Picard hates the Borg; we know that. But his sudden lunacy doesn't feel right. Stewart acts it well, but the script doesn't give us enough of a reason to buy it. It has set us up to see Picard as a Borg-hater, but one who has some reason to believe he can defeat the Borg where no one else could. Until the scene in question, we haven't seen Picard as seriously unstable; we've seen him as strongly affected by what the Borg are doing, yes, but no reason to see him like this. I'd easily have been able to accept the scene if Picard was shown to have an over-inflated view of his own capabilities; if he *knew* he was going to win, and didn't scream about it, then I'd buy it. It would have worked largely as staged; the crew could have bought in, with only Lily disbelieving him. Ahab wasn't a screaming lunatic; although he did rant on occasion, he was passionate and strong enough to convince his crewmen, to win them over with strength of personality. Picard came off like a spoiled child. The second problem comes just after this: Picard goes to get Data, but he doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about the *other* Enterprise crewmen who've been assimilated?!? I find that creepy, to say the least; while I realize that Data is the only regular threatened by the Borg, you'd think Picard would feel a bit sorry for all those Ensigns Throwaway. Just for a second. Maybe even try to do something for *them.* Just a thought, y'know. I realize that my review up to now has been largely negative, so here, without further ado, are some Things They Got Right: Although the Picard-as-Ahab scene didn't work for me, I was delighted that they *tried* it. A *fallible* character is a zillion times better than an infallible one; Trek has been rightly criticized for its unbelievably infallible characters -- and for its fallible characters whose dumbest screw-ups never get more than a mild rebuke -- and the fact that the Trek folks realized this error, and tried to correct it, pleases the hell out of me. Now, if they'll just start taking this attitude on the series more often... The zero-g fight pleased me. Not just because it was pretty accurate, but because it took place on the *underside* of the Enterprise hull. Three-dimensional thinking, *at last!* Direction, direction, direction. Here's hoping Frakes gets more mainstream directing gigs, so he doesn't have to host any more of those goddamned UPN paranormal shows! The fact that they went to an honest effort, instead of just going through the motions. Of course, now that I've *seen* that even Brannon Braga can make a try, I'll be even more harsh on their miserable flops from now on. *grin* And, last, a funny subtext. Trek has made social commentary on many things before, but FC saw Trek commenting on Trek... and doing it in a very interesting way. I don't think anyone else has commented on this, but when it hit me during the film I doubled up and came close to ROTFL. Here, I'll tell you when it hit me; see if you can get it. It hit me *hard* in the scene in which Zephram Cochrane, Riker, and LaForge are sitting in the little cockpit, and Cochrane discusses his reasons for building the ship. He's not building it for hope, for the future, or for any of the reasons the history books suggest. Cochrane's motive is money (although how he expects to become filthy rich in a world whose infrastructure has been largely devastated is a *really* good question). He doesn't have a vision. He just wants cash, naked women, and a nice strong drink. The funny thing is that posterity idealizes Zephram Cochrane. They build statues and monuments to his memory. They write him up as a great man, as being just shy of the Second Coming, as being a hero. But Zephram Cochrane is none of those things. He's a lecherous, drunken reprobate who did what he did for purely material reasons. Zephram Cochrane is *Gene Roddenberry.* I haven't seen anyone comment on this interpretation yet -- and that surprises me; I'd think someone would have. For me, Trek's spoofing of its creator's own unlikely pop-culture icon status was probably the best part of the movie. It gives the film a bit of a subversive bite for the viewer who looks below the surface, and I think it redeems some of the surface's flaws. FC still isn't a perfect movie, and you'll note that it shies away from spoofing the problems that plague Trek today... but the fact that it goes back to its roots and pisses on them in the same movie is *really* delightful. And that, in a nutshell, is that. Nicely-made, well-done movie; flawed but still very enjoyable. If it weren't for the inept beginning, I'd give it three stars out of four; as it is, I'm giving it two and a half for being an honest effort with a sprinkling of some really nice stuff. Here's hoping the next one is better, and - more importantly - that Brannon Braga learned something from this movie and brings the fruits of his knowledge onto _Voyager_. ( STATLER I hope he brings the fruits onto _Voyager_. WALDORF Yeah, and I hope they're poisoned!) Well, I can dream, right? Anyway, FC is a good start; let's see Trek start cranking out more good stuff. Maybe the next Trek movie will be even better. David Hines dzhines@midway.uchicago.edu From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 10 10:58:41 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!eru.mt.luth.se!news-stkh.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!news-peer.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!hammer.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!worldnet.att.net!anchor.cis.att.com!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: dhouse@itsmail1.hamilton.edu (Denes House) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 4 Dec 1996 19:23:24 GMT Organization: ? Lines: 231 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <584j3c$7l5@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: dhouse@itsmail1.hamilton.edu (Denes House) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06452 Keywords: author=House Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5849 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1148 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1552 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT [Spoilers] A film review by Denes House Copyright 1996 Denes House Grade: 44 out of 50 (4.5 Stars out of 5) The following contains significant spoilers for the movie Star Trek: First Contact. Reading the review before seeing the movie may spoil some fans' enjoyment of the film, though I studiously avoid giving away the end, or the culmination of any plot point. REVIEW: The film opens (after some eye-sore credits) with a spectacular pull-back from within the eye of Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) to show that he is trapped within the monstrous hive-ship of the evil Borg collective. The sequence recounts Picard's "assimilation" into the collective years earlier, and sets up some of his key character motivations for the rest of the film. The Borg, as fans of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series will know, are perhaps the most fearsome foe the crew of the Enterprise has ever faced. Part organic, part machine, the Borg are relentless in their drive to assimilate the genetic and technological distinctives of cultures that they encounter into their own. Assimilation is painful and brings all individual minds into a collective hive-mind, losing all individuality, and becoming part of the "all." Interestingly enough, what Star Trek sees as evil, Isaac Asimov promoted as the highest good and the nature of all reality in his "Foundation" series. Flash forward several years. The Borg are attacking the Earth once again. Picard, now captaining the new Enterprise (NCC-1701-E), is ordered to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone, rather than join in the fight. Picard bitterly observes that Starfleet Command probably considers him a risk rather than an asset because of his unstable feelings towards the Borg. When the battle goes badly, though, Picard and crew disobey and head for Earth, maximum warp. The battle is a mess. The U.S.S. Defiant, captained by Deep Space Nine's Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) is badly damaged, and her crew beamed aboard the Enterprise. Picard assumes command of the battle group, and under his direction, the Borg's cube ship is completely destroyed - but not before launching a smaller, spherical ship that plummets towards Earth. The Enterprise pursues the sphere, as it begins to generate a temporal vortex. Realizing that they cannot defeat and assimilate humanity in the present, the Borgs' plan is to head back in time to prevent the formation of the United Federation of Planets, Starfleet, and eventually Picard, by stopping a pivotal event - humanity's first contact with extra-terrestrial life. That contact will come the day after Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) makes the first warp-speed flight. The Borg want to stop that flight from happening. Picard decides to follow the Borg back in time, to stop their evil machinations, and keep history on the right path. The resulting movie plays out on three levels. First is Picard's fight against the Borg onboard the Enterprise, as they try to assimilate the ship and her crew. Next is second-in-command Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes)'s quest to ensure Cochrane takes his epoch-making flight. Finally, there is the struggle as the Borg seek to assimilate Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) the Enterprise's android second officer. Can Picard stop the Borg? Will Data be assimilated? Will Cochrane make his flight? These are the storylines that drive this film, and fortunately, all of them turn out to be interesting, character-driven tales. Story: 8 out of 10 ================== This is a plot that could easily get confusing, but first-time film director Jonathan Frakes keeps us in the story, and writers Ronald Moore and Brannon Braga give us characters to relate to, who bring out all the necessary explanations. Each thread of the story unfolds in a fast-paced but clear manner, with strong implications of what could happen if this does not all work. In other words, it's compelling. The story weaves in themes of revenge, duty, destiny, hero-worship, individuality, loyalty, seduction, temptation, and many more. Picard is driven by his pain and desire for revenge, along with higher ideals like protecting his planet and culture, and defeating a foe whose evil perhaps he alone fully knows. He is seduced by the siren song of revenge, and is willing to destroy his life, his ship, and his crew in pursuit of that end. Data is seduced on a far more immediate level. The simple pleasures of warm breath blowing across the most intricate sensory network imaginable -- human skin -- are obviously just as tempting as the sensually evil Borg Queen's sexual advances. His ultimate desire -- to become more human -- comes within reach, but the price is the destruction of all that he holds dear. Cochrane experiences what might be called negative-seduction. The prospect of being a hero, a "statue," repulse him. He knows his own frailties and is too honest with himself to want to see himself worshiped. Like the early Christian missionaries Paul and Barnabas, Cochrane wants to scream, "Why are you doing this? I am only a man, not a god!" His desire is to run away from the destiny that awaits him, at the cost of a better future for humanity. All three stories achieve their thematic complexity from genuine human character struggles. Characterization: 9 out of 10 ============================== And that is my favorite thing about Star Trek: First Contact. The film has been praised loudly for its special effects, and they are impressive (see below). But this movie works first and foremost on a character level. This is a character-driven, not an action-driven movie. There is furious, tense action, to be sure -- but all of it is at the service of the plot and the characters. The action and effects serve the story, not the other way around. I was on the phone with my mom, talking with her about "Independence Day," which she had just seen on video. Did she enjoy it? "Yes, but you could just as easily have turned off the sound and enjoyed it just as much." ID4 was all "sound and fury, signifying nothing." First Contact is a movie about real characters, and ultimately, a movie about US. Any film that delves into human character as deeply as First Contact does taps into the well of our self-concept, and challenges us to ask questions about our own values, motivations, and desires. What drives us? Is is revenge, sex, or fame? Or is it rationality, loyalty, and nobility? Moore and Braga's screenplay not only touches on serious themes, but does so by exploring real characters, brought to life by gifted actors. Acting: 8 out of 10 =================== In general, the acting in First Contact is superb. Roger Ebert wrote that Bond movies and Star Trek movies rise and fall based on the quality of their villains. The Borg, and in particular the Borg Queen (Alice Krige). Marked by a particularly gruesome, fascinating, frightening and sexy makeup design, the Borg Queen as played by Krige is a scintilating character, evil and fearsome yet at times tender and touched by human frailty. She scares you and seduces you at the same time. Patrick Stewart is a forceful but focused personality on the screen, at turns raging or vulnerable, macho or frightened, governed through a struggle between moral choice and raging passion. His performance is marked by a brilliant clarity, focusing a turbulent energy. Every minute he is on the screen he controls the scene, even when his character is out of control. Stewart is a big-screen presence, commanding respect, winning trust, inspiring connection in the audience. Serving as Picard's counter-balance is Alfre Woodard's Lily Sloane, an equally forceful screen personality, and the character most likely to be talked about as you leave the film. Woodard is in most scenes with Stewart through the film's last two acts, and is the only one with him in the movie's most powerful and pivotal scene. Not only is her character necessary, her performance needed to be top-notch, and Woodard's was Oscar-caliber. Brent Spiner turns in an excellent performance, playing the innocent "son" being seduced by a gruesome evil. Spiner has commented that he sees Data's relationship with Picard as being a son/father relationship, and that shines forth clearly here. Like Ripley going back for Newt in Aliens, Picard's actions towards Data show the fatherly concern he has for his android son. Spiner portrays the Last Temptation of Data well, skillfully causing the audience to wonder just what side he's on. James Cromwell as Zephram Cochrane is less intense, but quite believable in his role as reluctant role model for high school kids for centuries to come. He is not what the audience expects him to be, but he plays a fully realized character that the audience comes to identify with. Solid supporting performances were turned in by the whole Next Generation cast, most notably Michael Dorn as Lt. Worf. Continuity: 5 out of 5 ====================== Despite all the rumblings on the Usenet, I did not see any irreconcilable continuity mistakes in First Contact. Strong reference is made to Data's emotion chip, to the destruction of the Enterprise, and to Worf's tenure on Deep Space Nine. The Holographic doctor (Robert Picardo) from Star Trek: Voyager appears in a priceless scene, and even the starship Bozeman is mentioned in the opening battle scenes. The only possible mistake I want to deal with specifically is Zephram Cochrane's planet of origin. The character of Cochrane was originated in the Classic Star Trek episode "Metamorphosis" where he was refered to as "Zephram Cochrane of Alpha Centauri." This has led some Star Trek novelists and others to speculate that first contact with aliens happened with folks from Alpha Centauri, or that Cochrane was born on an earth colony on that planet. First Contact's timeline makes more sense, but Trek canon must be appeased. It is highly possible that Cochrane was born on Earth but *settled* on Alpha Centauri later on in life. In any case, First Contact's assertion that Cochrane was from Earth does not *directly* contradict any filmed Star Trek to date. Special Effects: 5 out of 5 =========================== The special effects were of the "ooh and ahh" variety, causing the audience to gasp in wonder, but at no time did they dominate either characters or plot. Frakes uses them as the beautiful tools that they are, and no more. There are space battle scenes, plasma explosions, space walks on the hull of the beautiful new Enterprise, and a spectacular escape-pod scene, but all of it goes simply to telling the story - and that's the way it should be. Emotional Impact: 9 out of 10 ============================= This movie will leave a lasting impression. Darker than any other Trek film, but complex emotionally and structurally, Star Trek: First Contact may be the best Trek movie to date, and is an excellent movie by any standard. Acting, directing, writing, and special effects are all of an Oscar-quality level, which goes together to create a dynamite film. ======================================================== Thus says me, Denes House (dhouse@itsmail1.hamilton.edu) -------http://www.GeoCities.com/Area51/Vault/2744------- ======================================================== From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 10 11:00:04 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!eru.mt.luth.se!news.algonet.se!news.uoregon.edu!hammer.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!worldnet.att.net!anchor.cis.att.com!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: mleeper@lucent.com (Mark R. Leeper) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 4 Dec 1996 19:27:42 GMT Organization: Lucent Technologies Lines: 142 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <584jbe$7lh@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: mleeper@lucent.com NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06455 Keywords: author=Leeper Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5845 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1146 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1550 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Mark R. Leeper Copyright 1996 Mark R. Leeper Capsule: The newest "Star Trek" adventure is an okay science fiction piece lacking in some of the absurdities from which the "Star Trek" films have occasionally suffered. The first of the series without William Shatner finds Patrick Stewart a more than adequate replacement on the screen. The script needed a little tightening, but the Borg turn out to be a good, if familiar-seeming screen foe. Rating: high +1 (-4 to +4) To this point the "Star Trek" films have either had reasonable action but scripts that have shown far too little thought to the concepts (numbers 2-4, 6 and STAR TREK: GENERATIONS). Or have had intriguing ideas wasted on poor execution (1 and 5). STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT falls into the first category, but is blessedly free of ill- conceived ideas like the Genesis Device or the Nexus. The Borg at one time added desperately-needed tension to the "Star Trek" suite of series by introducing an enemy that was at once orders of magnitude more powerful than the Federation ships and as implacable as a nest of ants. The Borg underscored that space exploration was still dangerous and that whatever the current Enterprise was, it still had limitations. However, whatever value that property represented has long since been mortgaged in episodes that showed in a fair fight the Universe has nothing--not even the Borg--that can stand up to the Enterprise, and individual Borgs can be won over by niceness. Some dim bulbs in the "Star Trek" factory have safely established that we never need to worry about "Star Trek" characters again. Vulcans return from the dead and new Enterprises come in convenient six-packs, so we can safely ignore the series and give our primary attention to "Babylon 5." With the concept of the Borg already compromised, they seem fair game to use in a film. In large part they are reduced here to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD style zombies with electronic enhancements they do not seem to use, but then the concept has already been compromised. In the new film the Borg have an unusual strategy for assimilating Earth. They go back in time to just before that momentous day in the 21st Century--and who can forget it?--April 5, 2063 when both Zephram Cochran (James Cromwell of BABE) took the first warp jump and as a result Earth also makes its first contact with an alien race. It is amazing that both happened in one day and even more that nobody in any of the series or films has ever mentioned that fact till now. If the Borg can manage to abort the first warp trip and the first alien contact, apparently everything else will be okay for them. And their arrival has to be just within hours of the flight and not two weeks earlier because ... uh ... well, maybe the Borg are not quite so smart after all. To the rescue in their time-travel wake comes the Enterprise commanded by Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart, of I, CLAUDIUS and JEFFREY). He is here against the express orders of the Federation in a move that would be more characteristic of James Kirk than of Picard. In the new "Star Trek" tradition of giving the directorial reins to an aspiring "Star Trek" actor, the task went to Jonathan Frakes, who is perhaps one of the least noticeable actors in this film. He is in some major scenes but is only noticeable when he seems to be grinning at the joke of him directing himself. But Frakes has always been a little redundant in the Next Generation stories. He was thrown into the cast because the creators knew that there could be no romantic interest in a bald middle-aged captain. Then Stewart demonstrated far more appeal than anyone expected. Speaking of whom I am not sure if it is meaningful to talk about whether Patrick Stewart is a good Captain Picard, but he is. Stewart is the best actor who was ever a regular in the "Star Trek" stories and his is the most interesting character. There are a few other familiar actors sprinkled in (besides the regular cast), but none to very good advantage. James Cromwell plays a sort of working class physics genius in a role that never really gels. He is never believable as the inventor of warp drive, which is perhaps the point of the joke, but it just adds to the question of how with so little resource, physical as well as mental, could this particular person putter together warp drive. Alfre Woodard is totally wasted in a throwaway role. Alice Krige, best remembered for GHOST STORY has only slightly less thankless a role as the one-dimensional punk-looking queen bee of the Borg. This episode is not just darker in tone than many of the chapters, it is literally darker in lighting. In the entire film there are just two scenes that come to mind that are filmed in daylight. This, combined with the somewhat repulsive Borg and their queen who, as a possible homage to INVADERS FROM MARS, is little more than a head gives the film a decidedly colder and more dour feel. This could be a positive touch, but it really undermines the attempted humor scenes. It is hard to imagine Marina Sirtis doing a drunk act being funny even under the best of conditions, here it does not stand a chance. Visual effects are generally fairly good with the exception of some zero-G floating that would have been unconvincing even before the release of APOLLO 13. Jerry Goldsmith has written a nice score incorporating themes from other "Star Trek" series and films but also including some new themes. This is a "Star Trek" episode with its share of faults, but few that come to mind while watching it. It has the melodrama of other episodes of the films but fewer absurdities this time around. Oh, and it is entertaining. I rate it a high +1 on the -4 to +4 scale. Minor spoiler...Minor spoiler...Minor spoiler...Minor spoiler... Some complaints about the script. I have avoided reading discussions on the net so some of there may have already been brought up there without my knowledge. 1. Even a few minutes of warp should have taken a ship a lot further from Earth than it was. Presumably warp speed is faster than light if not out and out discontinuous jumping. 2. The claim in made that in the 25th century they no longer use money. This is patently inconsistent with STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE 9. People are spending and gambling something in Quark's Bar. Gold-pressed latinum is also frequently mentioned and used as money. 3. Data turning off his emotion chip by twisting his head is a nice piece of mime, but it makes little sense. 4. It really reduces the Borg to a very unintelligent level to say they do not even notice intruders in their midst. Even ants are smarter than that with far smaller brains. 5. There are two strategies to use against the Borg and Picard chooses one because he has an unreasoning hatred of the Borg. Someone who really had an unreasoning hatred of the Borg would have chosen the other strategy. 6. Admittedly complaining about holodeck sequences is like tripping a dachshund, but this one seems especially stupid. The holodeck in principle creates only visual effects. It would take a lot of double-talk to make it sound possible that anyone could actually be shot by a visual illusion and bleed real blood. 7. The Universal Translator already sounds like magic assuming that it needs a lot of input about a new race. It goes considerably further to say that it knows the new language instantly with virtually no sampling. Mark R. Leeper mleeper@lucent.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 10 11:00:37 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!newsfeed.luth.se!news.luth.se!erix.ericsson.se!eua.ericsson.se!news.algonet.se!news.uoregon.edu!arclight.uoregon.edu!worldnet.att.net!anchor.cis.att.com!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: cpshelle@watarts.uwaterloo.ca (Cameron Shelley) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 4 Dec 1996 19:27:52 GMT Organization: Evil Designs Inc. Lines: 125 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <584jbo$7li@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: cpshelle@watarts.uwaterloo.ca (Cameron Shelley) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06456 Keywords: author=Shelley Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5853 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1150 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1554 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Cameron Shelley Copyright 1996 Cameron Shelley Star Trek: First Contact (Paramount) ---- Also available at http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~cpshelle/Reviews/stfc.html ----- Review by: Cameron Shelley December 3, 1996. Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis, Alfre Woodard, James Cromwell, Alice Krige. Screenplay: Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Ronald Moore Director: Jonathan Frakes Whereas the previous film, Star Trek: Generations, was very like a mediocre TV episode, Star Trek: First Contact (ST:FC) was more like a competant episode from the Next Generation TV series. Most likely we have director Jonathan Frakes to thank for that. Frakes certainly seems to be in his element here, and deserves credit for making this movie an enjoyable spectacle. Visually, this film works well, matching the feeling of entrapment and restriction with the darkness of the Borg-controlled areas of the ship, the ceiling-height shots of armed patrols passing through the corridors, and the feeling that being in orbit is like just starting to fall a very tall cliff. Although the premise of the film is not especially promising (more on that below), it is really a film for the director and actors to lose, and they don't. Being in the director's chair relieves Frakes from having to "act," so that Cmdr. Riker can just sit in the background and smirk at events in the foreground, such as Troi getting drunk or Cochrane turning up the tunes in his spaceship. The lead actors, namely Stewart, Spiner, Woodard, Cromwell, and Krige all perform well to admirably, although Stewart is the only one allowed to show any depth of character (but not too much). The effect is enjoyable and without surprises. Where ST:FC tends to fall down is the writing. The plot itself is mildly irritating where it is allowed to intrude on the events on screen. The difficulty starts with the tried-and-thoroughly-boring device of time travel. Remember Roddenberry's injunction, at the start of the ST:TNG TV series, that the Enterprise wouldn't be allowed to exceed warp 10 because it had become such an overused ploy to create tension and plot movement? A similar moratorium should be placed on time travel (or at least time machines) right away! Five minutes into the film, I found myself asking why it was that the Borg had to fly to Earth, and into the teeth of a Federation fleet, to travel back in time when they could have done it far away from Earth with complete impunity? In fact, the easy recourse to time travel exposes a fundamental problem with the character of this film. Besides being a crutch for weak plots (as in ST:Gs), time travel allows ST to scratch its metaphorical itch for self-examination. Part of the reason Star Trekkers travel back in time so much is for the cheap thrill of witnessing history. Having achieved perfection (as we are repeatedly assured by the characters on screen), the only place to go for excitement in the 24th century is the 20th century (or the 21st, in a pinch). Time travel is the ultimate form of tourism, borrowing adventure and novelty from events for which the outcome is safely assured. The problem with this habit of borrowing is that it makes "genuine" novelty superficial. Looking around the scenery, we can see the kind of thing Picard apparently means when he says that the challenge in the future is to "improve oneself." Dr. Crusher is now a blonde, the new Enterprise looks different from the previous ones, Jordi has some even funkier eyeware than before, Picard can hear the Borg singing, Data can turn his emotion chip off, and the Starfleet uniforms are a little different. Some borrowing is justified, eg, the "Alien"-like look of the Borg collective, the spacewalk on the bottom of the saucer section (compare with the spacewalk in ST:TMP), and maybe even the cameos from the Voyager TV crew, but the combined effect is too much. The narrow focus on history and cosmetic change make ST:FC seem like an ongoing "trvia challenge" sometimes. The writers are certainly aware of this problem. Cochrane (who is known from the original ST series as the inventor of warp drive) is worshipped in the 24th century as an icon of virtue but is portrayed as a drunk, a lout, and a would-be Casanova. Some humor is made by contrasting his real personality with the myth that has evolved afterwards. But Cochrane is safely domesticated by the end of the film. Inadvertant self-parody is achieved when the mysterious "aliens" prophesied by the Enterprise crew turn out to be---the Vulcans! Was there every any doubt? The film leaves us with the cozy image of something both the characters and audience already knew would happen. In a nutshell, ST:FC is a mixed bag. The acting and direction show that there's life in the old girl yet. The story, however, is a failure by the same consideration. Roddenberry used to say that ST was about issues: sex, war, justice, and so on. Now ST is about ST, and ST:FC is an enjoyable and largely empty experience. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 10 11:01:02 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news00.sunet.se!sunic!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!dciteleport.com!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: mrbrown@ucla.edu (Michael Dequina) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 9 Dec 1996 20:55:51 GMT Organization: Yale CS Mail/News Gateway Lines: 66 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <58hucn$3d2@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: mrbrown@ucla.edu (Michael Dequina) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06463 Keywords: author=Dequina Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5857 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1151 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1555 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Michael Dequina Copyright 1996 Michael Dequina Star Trek: First Contact (PG-13) *** (out of ****) Anyone familiar with the series of Star Trek movies knows of the "even-odd pattern"--the even-numbered installments of the series are good while the odd-numbered ones are, well, not-so-good. The pattern continues with the new Star Trek: First Contact, an energetic sci-fi adventure that (coincidentally?) is the eighth entry in the hugely popular series. In this first Trek feature to feature only cast members from the late Star Trek: The Next Generation television series, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the rest of the 24th-century crew of the Starship Enterprise--Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes, who also directed), android Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner), Lt. Cmdr. Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton), Lt. Cmdr. Worf (Michael Dorn), Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), and Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis)--travel back to 21st-century earth while doing battle with the Borg, a race of cybernetic beings that share a collective mind with the Borg Queen (Alice Krige). The Borg intend to alter history and assimilate all of humankind into their race--starting with the earth-orbiting crew of the Enterprise and a 21st century stowaway (Alfre Woodard). This is an interesting plotline that is sure to mesmerize Trekkers everywhere and engage everyone else, but, unfortunately, it only makes up the Star Trek half of the script by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore. The other half of the title--First Contact--refers to a subplot that takes place on 21st-century earth, where Riker, Troi, and LaForge meet legendary scientist Zephram Cochran (James Cromwell), who is about to embark on the first warp speed flight in human history, which directly leads to the first contact with extraterrestrials. While this story does tie into the main plot and pays off interestingly in the end, it is nowhere near as involving or exciting as the Borg battles on the Enterprise. Not helping matters is the tiresome Cochran character, an eccentric whose drunken schtick starts out funny but becomes too one-note after a while. In the end, though, the First Contact subplot doesn't detract from the enjoyment of the film as a whole. The story is typical sci-fi fantasy, but the conviction of the cast--most notably the always-phenomenal Stewart--makes you believe and care. Frakes, making his feature directorial debut, keeps the action swiftly rolling along and delivers the action goods, even upping the violence a notch (this is the first Trek film to bear a PG-13 rating) to greater effect. ST:FC has a bigger budget than the last Trek outing, the middling Star Trek Generations, and it definitely shows on screen--the production design and especially visual and makeup effects are outstanding (in particular those involving the Borg Queen). Braga and Moore's mostly sharp script will please both Trek devotees and the rest; the references to the Borg storyline in the TV series, the continuity with the previous film (e.g. the ongoing saga of Data's emotion chip), and a fleeting Star Trek: Voyager crossover will make Trekkers squeal with delight, but such points are made easily accessible to those less familiar to the Trek mythos. Paramount was reportedly worried about the staying power of its Trek franchise with the Next Generation cast now carrying the helm. Based on the entertaining success that is Star Trek: First Contact, I'd say the studio has nothing to worry about (at least not until this cast retires and the crew of the wan Star Trek: Deep Space Nine takes over...). __________________________________________________________ Michael Dequina mrbrown@ucla.edu / mrbrown@michaeljordanfan.com Visit Mr. Brown's Movie Site at http://members.tripod.com/~MrBrown/ Personal Page: http://members.tripod.com/~MrBrown/home.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Dec 10 11:01:13 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!mn6.swip.net!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news.uni-c.dk!news-inn.uni-c.dk!news.ecrc.de!news.nacamar.de!news.apfel.de!nntp.zit.th-darmstadt.de!fu-berlin.de!unlisys!blackbush.xlink.net!howland.erols.net!news.bbnplanet.com!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!uunet!in3.uu.net!204.127.130.5!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: freek@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (Philip Richard Yabut) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 9 Dec 1996 21:04:47 GMT Organization: The George Washington University Lines: 125 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <58hutf$3el@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: freek@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu (Philip Richard Yabut) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06476 Keywords: author=Yabut Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5877 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1155 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1556 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Philip Richard Yabut Copyright 1996 Philip Richard Yabut Release date: November 22, 1996 Author's viewing date: December 7, 1996 The (very) long-awaited sequel to TNG "The Best of Both Worlds" has arrived, mixing the Borg, time travel, a little history, some humor, a new soundtrack, and eye-popping special effects. It has proven to be a winner in the eyes of the critics and box office receipts. SPELLINGS: Zephram Cochrane * Defining moment FC wasn't just about the Borg and time travel and rearranging history. This was also the continuation of the journey that Captain Picard has taken as he continues to recover from his assimilation to the Collective six years prior. Here we see something that looks totally out of character for Picard: the thirst for revenge. But one has to remember that Picard was violated beyond imagination, stripped of his humanity and forced to murder thousands of his own people. Ironically it is Lily, a woman he had just met who had never even heard of the Borg, who reminds Picard of his duty to humanity...and himself. The Captain Ahab references work beautifully to illustrate the self-defeating aspects of Picards personal vendetta. * Best cameo The movie featured appearances, some uncredited, by other ST actors, like Robert Picardo as the Enterprise's EMH and Dwight Schultz as Lieutenant Barclay. But did you notice that Ethan Phillips was the first guy to get thrown around by the Borg in Picard's holodeck program? He acted a little like Neelix, too. * Recycling away Speaking of other ST actors, there were a couple of recycled guys, too. James Cromwell, last seen on ST as the Karemma representative Hanok in DS9 "Starship Down," is the most obvious. But did you know that Jack Shearer (Admiral Hayes) was last seen in VOY "Non Sequitur" and DS9 "Destiny?" * Look Ma! I'm a real boy! Data's quest to be more human took a bizarre turn when the Borg Queen kidnaps him and starts giving him some skin. This is the opposite of what the Borg usually do to other races. And it looks like Data as finally mastered the art of the bluff, as he fooled the Queen and Picard (and probably the unspoiled viewer) into believing he was loyal to the Borg (assimilated, as it were). * A few words on those weird opening credits It looks like the TNG movies are going to use the same font for the credits, first seen in "Generations" (if anyone can identify the name of that font, please tell me). The credits themselves looked like they were introducing a second-rate B-movie, and they made me dizzy. * Useless factoids There were plenty of 47s in the film, including Picard's access code...The entire final scene with the settlement, the trees, and the musical score was reminiscent of ST5's close. Thankfully, you couldn't hear Kirk, Spock and McCoy singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"...I guess the Borg don't have to breathe. Assimilated Earth didn't have oxygen in its atmosphere; and they seemed to survive just fine outdoors while Picard and Co. donned spacesuits...That music Picard was listening to at glass-shattering volume sounded a lot like Klingon opera...2063 happens to be 2 years after the next flyby of Halley's Comet. It's also 98 years before the founding of the Federation and exactly 300 years before the Enterprise-D was commissioned...That part of Montana looked pretty good considering the world was just ten years removed from World War III...Past episode ~references: TNG "The Best of Both Worlds" [I & II], "The Naked Now," "Generations"...The "Borg Queen" was never referred to as the "Borg Queen" by anyone, although that's what the credits call her...Riker described the Defiant as a "tough little ship." Tom Riker used the same words to describe Captain Sisko's warship in DS9 "Defiant"...Was it just me, or did Marina Sirtis use her real hair in the film (as opposed to a wig)?...The Enterprise-E's bridge was reminiscent of Voyager's. And Engineering bore a resemblence to its counterpart on the Defiant. Could they be redressed sets?...The Typhon sector, the area where Starfleet made its last stand, was also the setting for that temporal causality loop in TNG "Cause and Effect." Interestingly, the USS Bozeman also figured in both of these stories. * Top three lists Best f/x -- - Third prize: That first majestic shot of Hawk, Worf and Picard walking *on* the ship. - Second prize: The battle against the Borg in the Typhon sector. Definitely first-class. - First prize: The souped-up Borg are an f/x marvel by themselves. But the spectacular opening shot of Picard/Locutus on the Borg ship is one to remember. Best lines -- - Third prize: "You broke your ships." -Lily - Second prize: "Assimilate *this*." -Worf - First prize: "The Borg? Sounds Swedish." -Lily Best moments -- - Third prize: Deanna gets drunk with the legendary Zephram Cochrane. - Second prize: Cochrane meets the Vulcans--and can't do the salute. - First prize: Picard and Lily square off in the Observation Lounge. * Score "Star Trek: First Contact" 100 (A+) From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Dec 19 22:15:09 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!Zeke.Update.UU.SE!columba.udac.uu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!nntp-oslo.UNINETT.no!nntp-trd.UNINETT.no!nntp.uio.no!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!worldnet.att.net!anchor.cis.att.com!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: bb07974@binghamton.edu (Mike V) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 16 Dec 1996 15:03:18 GMT Organization: Binghamton University Lines: 69 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <593obm$1h6@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: bb07974@binghamton.edu (Mike V) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06507 Keywords: author=MikeV Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5910 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1163 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1565 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Mike V Copyright 1996 Mike V It pains me to see so many people ogling over this rather mediocre picture. I intend this review to be short and to the point, so I will not discuss the plot except where it is relevant to my opinions. If you are looking for a brief synopsis, check out any of the other reviews on this newsgroup. The film begins in tragic fashion with yet another time travel paradox. This is generally what writers come up with when they cannot think of a decent science fiction plot. We are all familiar with the paradoxes associated with such a move, and we also know that the matter has never been satisfactorily dealt with. Not only does Stak Trek fail where all others have failed, it doesn't even address the paradox -- as if there is no paradox to be addressed. Things go from bad to worse when the Borg magically appear on the Enterprise, now back in the 21st century (it appeared that the Borg probe was destroyed, so where did they beam on from?). Now, the borg are certainly a fascinating species as portrayed on the show (Next Generation). It also appeared as if they had already been dealt with. But here they are ressurected with a terminator style vengeance. They are hellbent on assimilating everything that moves. It is precisely for this reason that I find the movie so displeasing. It is a horrible disservice to sci-fi fans to turn an interesting sci-fi plot into an action movie. This, however, is done time and time again (Jurassic Park, Independence Day, the last Star Trek, and so forth). At this point in the film it became abundantly clear that I could put my brain on hold and just watch the action as I might watch Die-Hard. the only thing that salvages the film is the interesting relationship that develops between Picard, his crew, and the earthlings. Still, I found a thoroughly vindictive Picard somewhat implausible. I very much doubt that this character would sacrifice the fate of humanity to exact revenge upon the Borg. Furthermore, haven't we had enough of Data trying to be human? He has the emotion chip already -- is there really a further need for some kind of erotic stimulation from a cyborg? Data's quest to become more human has also been dealt with on many occasions (and far more coherently) on the show (a great episode was the one in which he became "father" to a new android). Finally, the notion that a burned out rocker creates the very first warp drive shuttle is just absurd. His character was utterly implausible, and it wasn't because of the acting. Are we to believe that the greatest scientific discovery, one that bridges the gaps of space, was stumbled upon by an embittered drunk looking for an isle of nymphs? In conclusion, let me first apologize for the poor structure of this review. It was written off the kuff, without any forethought plan of attack. In any event, every sci-fi notion in the film was dealt with much better in the show. This movie has nothing new or interesting to offer, and it ultimately degenerates into another hollywood action film. On a scale of one to ten, I'd give it a five. - Mike bb07974@binghamton.edu From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Dec 19 22:15:10 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!mn6.swip.net!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!newsfeed.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!howland.erols.net!worldnet.att.net!anchor.cis.att.com!cbgw1.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: epsicokh@uiuc.edu (Jamahl Epsicokhan) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 16 Dec 1996 15:13:46 GMT Organization: University of Illinois Lines: 374 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <593ova$1i8@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> ~Reply-To: epsicokh@uiuc.edu (Jamahl Epsicokhan) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06508 Keywords: author=Epsicokhan Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5901 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1160 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1564 STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT [Spoilers] A film review by Jamahl Epsicokahn Copyright 1996 Jamahl Epsicokahn Foreword: This review is a little later than I had hoped for, but I finally have it done. Beware the length; it's quite long, the longest review I've ever written. There's also a lot of synopsis in this review, because I felt compelled to describe the plot in detail in my analysis. With that said... Warning: This review contains extreme spoilers for the TNG feature film, "Star Trek: First Contact." If you haven't seen the film yet then proceed only at your own risk. Nutshell: Very good stuff. Probably the best of all Trek films, with an involving story and a skillful, even-handed approach. -------------------- Star Trek: First Contact Theatrical release date: 11/22/96 (U.S.) PG-13, 111 minutes Story by Rick Berman & Brannon Braga & Ronald D. Moore Screenplay by Brannon Braga & Ronald D. Moore Produced by Rick Berman Directed by Jonathan Frakes Rating out of 4: ***1/2 "Someone once said, 'Don't try to be a great man, just be a man, and let history make its judgment'." "That's rhetorical nonsense. Who said that?" "You did, ten years from now." -- William Riker and Zefram Cochrane -------------------- "Star Trek: First Contact" is one of the best Star Trek films--probably *the* best Trek film--definitely the most even-handed. It successfully balances just about every element I believe a good Trek film should have--superior production and special effects, plenty of humor and fun, involving conflicts and problems that must be overcome, and a compelling story with human themes and values consistent with Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision. All of it is wrapped into a very neat package of plotting and pacing. It's good Star Trek, and it's good cinema. As an added bonus, "First Contact" brings back the Borg, perhaps the most interesting and menacing race of villains in the history of Trek. Ever since their introduction in TNG's second season episode "Q Who," the Borg have been the most compelling threat to the Federation. In that episode, they were simply hungry for any technology that was different and new. Negotiation was not a factor; they wanted your stuff, they were without a doubt bigger and stronger, their hive-like collective was overwhelming, and if you resisted them, they would destroy you. A little more than a year later in "The Best of Both Worlds," the writers clarified another element of the Borg that made them even more terrifying--the fact that they wanted not only your technology but also *you*--they wanted to turn you into a mindless drone, to strip you of your individuality and add you to their single-minded collective. Unlike the relatively boring and simple-minded aliens of "Independence Day," who simply wanted to destroy everyone and everything in their path, the Borg instead threaten you with a fate worse than death: Their goal is to absorb people and technology and forcibly make you one of them, so that you will become one in their hive of conquerors. That Borg ship was destroyed, but not before they assimilated Captain Picard into their collective and stripped him of his individuality, which was only regained after the cunning intervention of the Enterprise crew. Now the Borg have returned, and they're again bent on doing whatever it takes to assimilate Earth. "First Contact" opens with a powerful and magnificent-looking shot--part of a flashback dream sequence that begins as an extreme close-up of Captain Picard's eyeball, and then tracks back to reveal Picard standing in a Borg module on a Borg ship. The camera continues to track backward for what seems like miles, showing what must be millions of Borg drones on the massive vessel collective--of which Picard has forcibly become part of. Picard suddenly awakens in his ready room aboard the new Sovereign-class Enterprise-E, which, we learn, has been in service for nearly a year now. A message comes through from Starfleet Command. The Borg have been identified in Federation space, and they're on a direct course for Earth; and as Picard states, this time there may be no stopping them. Further, Starfleet orders Picard away from the battle--they fear his past assimilation by the Borg may instigate an unstable element to an already-volatile situation. Well, no points for guessing that once the Borg start pounding on the Starfleet ships and the losses start rolling in Picard takes it upon himself to violate direct orders and engage the Enterprise in battle. What's surprising here is the speed with which the film launches itself. Unlike in "Generations" two years ago, little time is wasted here on old jokes or the reintroduction of the TNG cast (a nature of the film keeps the plot taut and should actually increase accessibility for non-Trekkers). Within ten minutes of the opening credits, the Enterprise is in the heat of battle with the immense Borg cube--as is the Defiant, commanded by Worf, apparently ordered to the battlefield as part of a reinforcement effort. I must say, seeing a Trek battle of this magnitude on the big screen--especially with that huge Borg ship--is a sight that probably alone is worth the price of admission. It looks great. Particularly attractive are the organic motions of the Defiant, which flies around the screen with such graceful, eye-pleasing movements that it makes war look almost like choreography. Perhaps one negative aspect about the initial battle with the Borg is that it ends a little too abruptly and easily. As Starfleet's resident expert on the Borg and their weaknesses, Picard orders the fleet to concentrate their fire on a specific point, which destroys the Borg cube in a nifty pyrotechnic display. But this victory transpires a little more easily than it really should have--especially considering Picard's aforementioned notion that "this time there may be no stopping them." By beating the Borg in five minutes under only partially explained circumstances, the threat feels a little less real than I hoped it would have, not up to the level of the Borg assault on Earth back in "Best of Both Worlds." But there's a flip side to this coin. Like I said, "First Contact" wastes very little time--the pace of the movie is pretty fast, and once the Borg cube is destroyed and the damaged Defiant crew is beamed aboard the Enterprise, the main plot takes off. You see, just before it explodes, the Borg cube launches a smaller sphere which creates a "temporal matrix" that allows it to travel back to the latter half of 21st century. While in pursuit, the Enterprise is caught in a temporal wake, and upon realizing that the Borg intend to change history by assimilating Earth in the past, Picard decides he must follow the Borg back and prevent such an occurrence. Okay, so it's Yet Another Time Travel Plot. Time travel can be dangerous territory in terms of plausibility, because it sets up the possibility of the all-encompassing Time Paradox. Fortunately, the film steers clear of most of the technobabble and confusion, and wisely delves into its story. Still, time travel has been done on Trek so many times ("Star Trek IV," "Generations," and numerous episodes of TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager), sometimes without success. There are a few things about "First Contact's" logic of time travel that annoy me, like, for example, how time suddenly became something that the Borg could manipulate at will, and how the Enterprise reconfigures the time matrix at the end of the film to get back to their time period. Such complaints are minor, however--the importance here is the story once the movie goes into the past, which easily makes the ends justify the means. The Borg and the Enterprise arrive at Earth, April 4, 2063--shortly after the widespread destruction of World War III that leaves the planet particularly susceptible to an invasion; but, more importantly, as the crew quickly notes, this date is the day before the historic "first contact" between humans and intelligence beyond the solar system, which is supposed to take place when Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), the Montana-based inventor of warp drive among humans, takes a test flight in his revolutionary space craft, to the interest of some extra-terrestrials who are passing near Earth's star system. The Borg want to prevent first contact and assimilate humanity, but the Enterprise intervenes and destroys the Borg sphere. Before the loss of their ship, however, the Borg are able to beam a small invasion party aboard the Enterprise, and begin assimilating the ship and its crew like a cancer from the inside. >From here, the story divides into three narratives. One involves Picard, Worf, and the Enterprise crew's efforts to contain the Borg from taking over the ship. A second centers around Data, who is kidnapped by the Borg during a confrontation and taken to the lower decks they control where they attempt to assimilate him into their collective under the command of an element new to Borg milieu--the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), a single entity who represents the mind behind a massive collective of drones. A third follows Riker, Geordi, and Deanna's attempts to see to it Cochrane's warp flight goes through as history plans. The type of movement between different plot lines exercised in "First Contact" is nothing unfamiliar to Trekkian story structure, but under Frakes' tempered direction, the plot holds together just fine and scenes work. Most importantly, the plot proves consistently interesting and the story remains involving. The key to the film is its big picture--the way it works all of its elements into a coherent, cohesive whole in which each development manages to be something both entertaining and relevant. Picard's fight for the Enterprise takes an understandable and sturdy character-driven turn--that of vengeance. The motif begins subtly; such lines as Picard's order, "Don't hesitate to fire on crew members who have been assimilated," make sense in their context, but also add to the bigger agenda--that of Picard and his hatred of the Borg for what they do to any who stand in their path, and--more specifically--what they did to him six years ago. The vengeance factor present here is deftly executed, thanks in part to another of Patrick Stewart's convincing performances. But another important aspect here is in the screenplay's ability to make points about this theme. For this purpose the writers have a character named Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard), Cochrane's 21st century assistant who winds up lost in the bowels of the Enterprise after a series of events. Sloane is smart, and she makes some keen observations about Picard's situation, at one point drawing a very pointed comparison between Picard and Captain Ahab of "Moby Dick." Woodard's energy is very commendable; she and Stewart work well together in a host of scenes of varying depth. It's clear that Picard allows his anger to cloud his judgment, particularly when he refuses to arm the Enterprise's self-destruct sequence and orders the futile fight for control of his ship to continue. This throws him into conflict with Worf in a charged scene filled with fiery words. Conflict is tough to do amongst the TNG cast, but the filmmakers pull it off here by making Picard decidedly *wrong* and, further, insulting Worf for trying to set him right. Based on TNG's history between Worf and Picard, Worf's very Klingon response to Picard's insults seems sincere: "If you were any other man, I would kill you where you stand." Pretty startling. (If the later scene where the two make up seems a tad easy, remind yourself that this is the TNG cast we're talking about.) The entire revenge theme speaks for itself much of the time, and it's a credit to the writers that the film looks at the situation from so many perspectives. In one way it's easy for us as the audience to hate the Borg and the relentless strive toward oneness and mass consumption they represent (especially those of us who so vividly remember Picard's experience in "The Best of Both Worlds"). On the other hand, many of the Borg now trying to alter history used to be members of the Enterprise crew, and it's unsettling to watch Picard barely bat an eye after damn near *enjoying* gunning down a Borg (in an elaborate holodeck sequence) who used to be one of his own Ensigns. Of the themes in "First Contact," this is the heaviest and most complex, and the writers give it the analysis it deserves. As Picard and the crew attempt to quash the Borg cancer, Data finds himself in the position Picard was six years ago--on the Borg "operating table," where they attempt to turn him into one of them. For some reason, the Borg take a particular interest in Data; they see him as the key to the human puzzle that has defeated them once already. There are a host of intriguing exchanges between Data and the Borg Queen, with some dialog that's really on the mark. Data's quest for humanity has always been something pervasive on TNG, but here the dialog reveals another purpose--it underlines the evil in Borg oneness. Whereas data's quest is a search for his own human individuality, the Borg simply conquer and force their way of life on others, in their effort to become a more "perfect" network of drones. And as Data so rightly points out to the Borg Queen, "to think of oneself as perfect is often the feat of a delusional mind." The Queen has some retorts of her own, and knows that Data's quest for human feelings is his weakness and goes so far as to tempt him closer to the Borg collective with human flesh, grafting it onto his circuitry for true skin sensations. It's a witty and ironic approach by the script, that the key to the Borg's removal of humanity from humans would be in giving Data more distinctly human characteristics. The Borg Queen turns out to be one of the film's most interesting characters, partly in the way the filmmakers realize her--both physically and mentally--but also because of Krige's skillful rendition of a calm, seductive personality who aims to simultaneously consume and create Data anew, as well as humanity along with him. (A particularly nice display of the Queen's sense of superior tranquillity comes when Data attempts to escape but freezes in pain when cut on his newfound flesh by Borg drones. The Queen simply waves her hands and the drones disperse in random directions, like a group of mindless insects. A very neat touch.) Michael Westmore's makeup designs for the Queen, as well as the rest of the Borg, are great--slick, creative, interesting to the eye, and very, well, Borg. Noteworthy in the Data/Queen scenes are Data's emotional responses of fear and subdued anger--appropriately utilized rather than released to run amok like in "Generations." (This makes sense, since Data would have learned much about controlling his feelings since that time.) As the Enterprise copes with its problems, the script also supplies a lighter story as Riker and Geordi attempt to convince Zefram Cochrane that he's really a key figure in the future and that humanity is within a day of being forever changed for the better. While the Borg-centered angle of the story supplies issues of individuality and survival, this part of the story is the true, Trekkian "heart" of the film. It deals with humanity and how it views itself in the prospect of change. Riker's explanations to Cochrane about how much the world will change after first contact is one of the many highlights of the film. And, besides, the character interaction in this story is just plain infectious. Cromwell, in particular, turns out to be an amiable presence, with a lighthearted performance containing much grace and humor--I liked Zefram Cochrane a lot. (I honestly don't remember the Cochrane character that appeared in TOS, but I don't care, either.) I could fully understand why Cochrane would be overwhelmed learning that he's to be labeled a historic visionary. And I got a kick out of the whole bit with the statue that Geordi explains, and the idea that the savior of the future is merely a guy who wants to get drunk and make enough money to retire to an island of naked women. (For that matter, I was amused at the notion of Cochrane getting Deanna tipsy, agreeing to talk to her only after "three shots of something called tequila.") In a key passage, Cochrane explains to Riker that his motives were hardly visionary--that he is not and does not want to be the "great man" that everyone in the future knows him to be. Riker has a response: Riker: "Someone once said, don't be a great man, just be a man, and let history make its judgment." Cochrane: That's rhetorical nonsense. Who said that? Riker: "You did, ten years from now." It's dialog like this that defines the Star Trek universe. It's reassuring that at least some cinematic version of the future has imagination and hope for humanity and still has the prudence not to always take itself so seriously. As much that takes place in "First Contact" (and as haphazardly as I've probably summarized it here), it's a credit to screenwriters Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore that they manage to tie everything into an sensible, efficient whole. They also manage to spread the material around all the main TNG characters--much better than in "Generations." While obviously Picard, Data, and the guest characters get much of the material, given the size of the cast it's nice to see that everyone gets into the action one way or another. And the plot's action provides some fresh and creative technical feats. The most impressive set-piece is a neat zero gravity situation on the hull of the ship, where Picard, Worf, and Lt. Hawk (Neal McDonough, who unfortunately is provided little purpose in the film except to be the token "dead meat" character) attempt to thwart the Borg's attempt to build a beacon on the deflector dish. The special effects are convincing, to say the least, and the entire episode is played out in a sort of slow-motion. In a word, this is clever. There's also the aforementioned Dixon Hill holodeck scene that Picard and Sloane venture into to elude some Borg pursuers. The idea takes time out from the standard chase to nearly transform into a movie with a life of its own, complete with all the typical characters. (I particularly got a good laugh out of the "Nicky the Nose" gag--one of the most subtly amusing notions in the film.) Naturally, there are the obligatory cameos--Robert Picardo as the EMH, Ethan Phillips as a holodeck character, and Dwight Schultz recapping his character Barclay at his most Barclayness--in the context of the film though, they fit, particularly the moment when Barclay so enthusiastically meets Cochrane, which underlines Cochrane's whole annoyance with being constantly identified as a historical figure. Nearing the end, the film brings the three plot lines together, with the launch of Cochrane's warp rocket, the evacuation of the Enterprise (which Picard finally comes to terms with losing and puts on a countdown to auto-destruct), and the Queen's revelation to Picard that she has found an "equal" to her in Data, who she is convinced is completely under her control. She orders him to destroy Cochrane's warp ship with the Enterprise's torpedoes. The most cheer-worthy moment of the movie, at least for me, came when Data turned "Resistance is futile" around on the Queen, much to her horror and disbelief. In one line, Data shows his ability to keep his loyalty to humanity, surprising an arrogant creature and bringing the entire Borg collective down with her. Nice job--it had me cheering. After the Queen's demise, I still had some questions that left me a tad perplexed, like, for instance, how exactly the Queen was on the Borg ship in "Best of Both Worlds" that was destroyed. Seeing her again causes memories to resurface in Picard--he remembers the Queen as the master behind his own attempted assimilation. The Queen's retort that his feeble human mind is too limited to understand was mysterious but unrevealing. Perhaps my primitive three-dimensional mind isn't supposed to understand it, either. Too bad; I would've appreciated understanding the Queen's history a little better. As a symbol of oneness she works great, but the specifics are a tad overly vague. As compensation, the film allows us to witness first contact between the humans and the Vulcans. Without going too much into detail, I'll just say that the sequence is a poignant, effective payoff, and a great way to end the movie. I think it's the best scene in the entire film and one of the better moments in Trek's history, with a genuine sense of wonder and amazement and a real epic feel (and Jerry Goldsmith's theme is top-notch). It lays down some of the background of the Federation, which I've always wondered about, and it reveals that Star Trek cares not just where it's going, but also where it came from. As a Trekker so close to the series, I was moved. (Don't begin to ask me how a non-Trekker would react, though--I wouldn't know.) "First Contact" is not really the action-packed "Borg movie" the trailers want to suggest. It's got action and adventure, sure. But it's really about assembling a sci-fi plot to entertain in thoughtful ways, using the resources and history of the seemingly-immortal concept of Trek itself. If this film is an indication of where the franchise intends to go, I'll gladly be aboard for the next ride. -------------------- This review Copyright (c) 1996 by Jamahl Epsicokhan, all rights reserved by the author, including the right to reproduce with the intent of unauthorized distribution, electronic or otherwise. This review is an original work of fair criticism and remains the property of the author. Star Trek: Hypertext -- http://www.students.uiuc.edu/~epsicokh/trek/ Jamahl Epsicokhan -- epsicokh@uiuc.edu From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Dec 30 22:49:48 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!newsfeed.luth.se!news.luth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!www.nntp.primenet.com!nntp.primenet.com!feed1.news.erols.com!howland.erols.net!nntp.crl.com!news.pbi.net!cbgw3.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: rfd@po.CWRU.Edu (Richard F. Drushel) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 26 Dec 1996 16:23:32 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Lines: 137 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <59u8q4$8jk@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: rfd@po.CWRU.Edu (Richard F. Drushel) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06551 Keywords: author=Drushel Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:5949 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1176 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1578 STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Richard F. Drushel Copyright 1996 Richard F. Drushel The question for me in writing this review is, should I review it as a typical mid-1990s movie, or as a "Star Trek" movie. For me, depending upon which of those criteria I use, ST:FC comes out as either an excellent movie or a disturbing movie. ST:FC is an action-packed, techno-blockbuster. That's the kind of movie that's selling nowadays, that's the movie that Paramount wanted Jonathan Frakes to make, and that's just what he delivered. Shoot-'em-up, blast-'em-up, eye-popping effects, cool ships, awesome space battles, a hint of kinky (i.e., Borg) sex. Of all the movies, this is the one that's most accessible to the non-Trekker audience--and that's surely the intended target. Concessions were made to the Trekker audience: Zefrem Cochrane as inventor of the warp drive; the cameo appearances by Barclay and the holographic Doctor and Dixon Hill's Girl Friday (as well as actor Ethan Phillips as a maitre-d'); Worf bringing the Defiant from DS9; the return of the model Enterprises in the Ready Room; the reuse of the Klingon theme from ST:TMP, as well as the ST:TOS and ST:TMP/TNG main title themes; the basically hopeful (i.e., Roddenberry) view of humanity post-first contact. [They seem to have forgotten, however, that Cochrane was "Zefram Cochrane of Alpha Centauri" in ST:TOS "Metamorphosis", and that the original date for the discovery of the warp drive was 2018.] Things I especially didn't like: * The Borg were too stupid...they can adapt to a [tech] ray in less than 12 collective samplings, but they never adapt to bullets? They just stand around on the hull while Worf et al. magically disengage that disk-thingy? They only ignore you when they know you're not a threat; surely they would have figured out what the game plan was. * That whole hull sequence. It was too convenient that those access controls were so...accessible. And in zero gravity, to have those isolinear memory crystals just sitting in slots, covered only by a thin-looking protective panel...that's pretty bad design for something on the exterior hull of a spaceship. * Lily swearing at Picard. Cochrane's bathroom vulgarity. Totally unnecessary. Call me unenlightened, but those two scenes alone keep me from letting my 10-year-old see it [we don't talk like that at home]. * Data's cheezy seduction by Borgette. I'm sure that the Great Gonad of the Galaxy (aka Gene Roddenberry) got a charge out of the "fully functional" line in ST:TNG "The Naked Now", but each time that line gets reused, it sounds more and more like Beavis and Butthead. * Lily was the wrong person to tell off Picard with the words that were used...I smelled Guinan all the way, and I bet that scene was originally scripted for Guinan. Someone like Troi or Crusher would have been more believable, given their long experience with Picard and insight into his thinking. * The actor who portrayed Cochrane didn't look anything like the Cochrane from ST:TOS "Metamorphosis". While some of the original Cochrane's somberness and composure may have been due to his long life of solitude and insight with The Companion, I didn't see any inklings of this personality in the new Cochrane. Sigh. I guess my chief dissatisfaction with ST:FC is that I can see all the strings of the puppet. Here's the hooks for the Trekkers, here's for the ID4 crowd, here's for the Aliens crowd, etc. That is, it was too calculated and targeted. I never got the feeling that, here's an important story to be told, and the ST universe is the place to tell it. Rather, it was all too plain to me that ST is a franchise, and that making lots of $$$ is the reason it was made. And more sadly, there are more $$$ to be had from people who have not been traditional Trekkers, so the movie is more targeted to *them* rather than the traditional audience. [begin polemic] I was 4 years old when ST:TOS debuted. I can remember flipping past it on the TV a few times during what had to be its final season. I remember that I didn't like it; I liked "Land of the Giants" instead :-) I didn't really like ST until it was syndicated in the early 1970s. As an early teenager with Spockish tendencies, I felt that ST:TOS was somehow talking directly to *me*. I got the same feelings from the first 6 seasons of ST:TNG and the first 2 seasons of ST:DS9. Most net.people berate ST:TNG first season episodes, but I can remember how glad I was to see that they were explicitly worrying about implications of the Prime Directive (e.g., "Angel One", "Justice") or of the Captain-In-Danger plot trap. It felt good, for once, to be part of an audience that somebody cared about. The recent ST offerings don't talk to me. They don't *try* to talk to me. I'm not of interest to the people doing the talking. ST:DS9 in season 3 abandoned its Bajor-Cardassia story arc and has been mostly pointless "action" stuff with Klingons and The Dominion. ST:VOY is willing to do *anything* to try to reach UPN's desirable young-males marketing segment, so we get grade Z sci-fi monsters, Baywatch-In-Space holobabes, a Captain who's a nurturing mommy one week and a kick-butt Hero(tm) the next. And for me, the last straw is ST:FC, which screams at me, "Your past support is irrelevant. Other audiences are more profitable. You are irrelevant." ST is now a Franchise(tm). "The security of the Enterprise (tm) is of Paramount importance." To protect its bottom line in the most Ferengi way possible, the Franchise(tm) is shutting down fan websites and BBSes, all of which detract from the One True Official Site(tm), which can only be viewed by paying members of the Microsoft Network(tm). ST:FC is a "good movie" (it will make lots of $$$ at the boxoffice), and its profits will keep the Franchise(tm) going strong. But for me, it's not "Star Trek" any more, even though it bears the official, authorized trademark. Jonathan Frakes is an excellent director, and I wish him every success in his future endeavors behind the camera, be they ST or otherwise. But for me, ST:FC is not "Star Trek". In fact, I think that "Star Trek" is *dead*. Its living descendant, however, appears to be J. Michael Strazynski's "Babylon Five". B5 makes me feel the way that ST:TOS/TNG/early DS9 made me feel. Hopefully B5 will manage to be successful without becoming a Franchise(tm) and thus, ceasing to be what it is now, one of the best shows on TV ever anywhere. All IMHO, of course. Your mileage may vary. *Rich* -- Richard F. Drushel, Ph.D. Department of Biology, Slug Division Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio 44106-7080 U.S.A. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jan 20 23:35:48 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!paladin.american.edu!gatech!news.sprintlink.net!news-peer.sprintlink.net!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: syegul@!ix.netcom.com (Serdar Yegulalp) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.startrek.current Date: 6 Jan 1997 14:18:10 GMT Organization: Squirt Squirt Lines: 73 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <5ar1j2$mf@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: syegul@!ix.netcom.com (Serdar Yegulalp) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #06632 Keywords: author=Yegulalp Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:6033 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1188 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:1587 [Note that followups are directed to rec.arts.movies.current-films and rec.arts.movies.startrek.current only, not to rec.arts.sf.movies. -Moderator] STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT A film review by Serdar Yegulalp Copyright 1997 Serdar Yegulalp CAPSULE: The Even-Off Rule holds up once again; this is easily the best "Trek" yet. Do not wait for video. Ask any Star Trek devotee about the Even-Odd Rule of Trek Movies, and you're likely to get one of the oddest bits of movie folklore this side of the man who allegedly hanged himself on the set of "The Wizard of Oz". The Even-Odd rule is simple: all of the odd-numbered Star Trek movies stink, and the even-numbered ones are wicked cool. Think for a minute: since when has anyone actually admitted to liking Star Trek: The Motionless Picture? Or Trek 3, the Search for Cash? Trek 5 (about which the less said, the better)? And wasn't the first Next Generation Trek movie a bit of a letdown? The reverse also seems to hold true: Treks II, IV and VI all hold up well on repeat viewings -- not just as Trek movies, but as movies, period. My personal votes go for Trek II -- and now Trek VIII, or "First Contact", as the wags at Paramount have chosen to dub it. If you didn't follow "Star Trek: The Next Generation" when it was on TV, you may miss a few things, but the opening five minutes cover that territory without too much trouble. That, and we get *easily* one of the most amazing opening shots I've ever seen: basically, a pull-back shot that starts at the near-microscopic level and ends up giving us a view of something about the size of a small planet. It's something else. The story settles into place quickly. The Borg, a monolithic race who fused technology and biology milennia ago, are even more hellbent on assimilating the Federation's space than ever. Not good. To that end, they've employed a dastardly plot that ultimately involves time travel -- to say more would spoil the fun -- and the crew of the Enterprise decide to defy orders and follow them. The movie quickly bifurcates into the familiar away team / up-on-the-ship plot threads, although each one of them develop in totally different directions. The ship becomes the center of a swarming Borg invasion (something like "Die Hard" in space), and the away team find themselves having to adapt to rather primitive surroundings (oh, and there's this little problem with the locals...) I'm being deliberately vague to avoid ruining a good many surprises -- not the least of which involves Data's newly-installed emotion chip (you remember that, right?) and the Borg queen. The less said about her, definitely the better. (This movie may also settle some bets among Trek enthusiasts: "So what would happen in a Borg and Data got into an arm-wrestling match?" Or a Borg and Worf, for that matter? Watch and learn...) The cast is in fine form. Memorable scenes include Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) getting royally drunk on *real* alcohol for a change, and Data's increasingly tense exvhanges with the Borg queen. The supporting actors are also good. Alfre Woodard is especially well-used (her funniest line about the Borg: "Sounds like they're Swedish..."), and she and Patrick Stewart have one amazingly well-written and -played scene together near the end. Jonathan Frakes, the actor who portrays William Riker in the series, was given the helm this time. According to the press notes, he studied films like "Blade Runner", "2001" and the earlier "Star Trek" films for notes an inspiration. The homework paid off: this is easily the best of the "Trek" movies, and a standalone triumph, too. Three and a half our of four phasers. ____________________________________________________________________________ syegul@ix.netcom.com EFNet IRC: GinRei http://serdar.home.ml.org another worldly device... ____________________________________________________________________________ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Sep 4 14:28:09 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!feed1.news.erols.com!europa.clark.net!204.127.161.1!wnfeed!204.127.130.5!worldnet.att.net!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: Phil Curtolo Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 1 Sep 1997 17:00:51 GMT Organization: epix Internet Services Lines: 35 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <5uesc3$g7l@nntp5.u.washington.edu> Reply-To: curt@epix.net NNTP-Posting-Host: homer34.u.washington.edu Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #08826 Keywords: author=curtolo X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer34.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:8262 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1519 By Phil Curtolo The crew of the Enterprise is back to do battle with their most lethal enemies, the Borg, in Star Trek: First Contact. The film stars the cast from the Star Trek: The Next Generation television show. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Commander William Riker (Jonathan Franks), Lieutenant-Commander Data (Brent Spiner), Lieutenant-Commander Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton) and Lieutenant-Commander Worf (Michael Dorn) should all be familiar names to Trekies, which is the name given to fans. Some new faces are seen in the film, including James Cromwell, Alfre Woodard and Alice Krige. This 8th episode in the long-lived series rotates around an event called "First Contact." Zefrum Cochrane (Cromwell, Babe) and his partner Lily Sloane (Woodard, Primal Fear) are to make the first warp speed launch in the history of the planet. Aliens are to pick this up and eventually land, peacefully, on Earth. This is a turning point in history, where the world stops fighting each other and starts fighting inter-galactic enemies. The Borg, lead by the evil Borg Queen (Krige, Sleepwalkers), travel back in time to stop this event from happening, and the Enterprise follows. In past films, the battles were fought between the Enterprise and the Borg ship. Well not this time, as the Borg army of half-human robots get onto the Enterprise, in attempt to take it over. One by one, the crew members are turned into Borgs. The usual acting performances were delivered by the usual stars, but Cromwell’s Zefrum Cochrane, a drunken professor living in the past, which is our future, who is to change the course of history. Needless to say, his character is quite memorable, as he tries numerous times to run away. To my surprise, Jonathan Franks not only starred in the film, but also directed it. He did a fine job, as the finished product turned out wonderfully. Excellent special effects, gripping music, and clever turns are just a few of the surprises in Star Trek: First Contact. Grade: B+, **** out of ***** From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Jan 8 15:13:21 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!masternews.telia.net!news-nyc.telia.net!newsfeed.cwix.com!18.24.4.11!newsswitch.lcs.mit.edu!newsfeed.berkeley.edu.MISMATCH!newsfeed.berkeley.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: "Joe Chamberlain" Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.current Subject: Retrospective: Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.misc Date: 23 Dec 1998 05:28:33 GMT Organization: The Movie Guy Lines: 49 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <75pv21$1eci$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> Reply-To: "Joe Chamberlain" NNTP-Posting-Host: homer18.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 914390913 47506 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #15802 Keywords: author= X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer18.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:15050 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2222 rec.arts.startrek.current:363501 Star Trek: First Contact A review by Joe Chamberlain Starring Patrick Stewart; Jonathan Frakes; Brent Spiner & LeVar Burton Star Trek: First Contact is the eighth movie in the series based on Gene Roddenberry's TV show from the sixties. It is the second movie featuring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. First Contact is one of the best movies in the series, and it seems to hold up the tradition of the even numbered movies being far superior to their odd numbered counterparts. Unlike the other films in the series, this is the first one where no members of the original cast of Star Trek appear. (Except for Majel Barret, as the voice of the Enterprise’s computer.) In this latest installment, the crew as forced to travel back in time to prevent the Borg (more about them in a second) from changing the course of Earth's history. It seems the Borg want to prevent the first warp flight. For those of you out there that aren't familiar with the Borg, they are half biological, half mechanical beings that assimilate other races and transform them into Borg. This is usually not a pleasant experience, what with all the mechanical parts being implanted into the victim. As far as villains go, since being introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Borg have become on of the most popular villains in Star Trek. The special effects in this latest effort are among the best in a Star Trek film. As are the sets for the new Enterprise. In the tradition of the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the main cast does their usual superb job. The "guest stars" of the film include Alice Krige as the Borg's queen, and James Cromwell as Zefram Cockran, the man who is to make the historic first warp flight. Cromwell, in my humble opinion, steals every scene he is in. As usual, there is the normal humor associated with Star Trek, although most of it is inside jokes that would go right over the head of non Star Trek fans. Generally, a great film that both diehard Trek fans and your average movie patron will enjoy. 7/10 Visit The Movie Guy http://members.tripod.com/~MovieGuy/index.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Aug 24 16:18:54 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!logbridge.uoregon.edu!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: "Joe Chamberlain" Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.startrek.misc,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 15 Aug 1999 19:39:41 GMT Organization: The Movie Guy Lines: 49 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <7p751t$oo8$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> Reply-To: "Joe Chamberlain" NNTP-Posting-Host: homer26.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 934745981 25352 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #20008 Keywords: author=chamberlain X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer26.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:19215 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2430 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2839 Star Trek: First Contact (1996) A review by Joe Chamberlain Starring Patrick Stewart; Jonathan Frakes; Brent Spiner & LeVar Burton Star Trek: First Contact is the eighth movie in the series based on Gene Roddenberry's TV show from the sixties. It is the second movie featuring the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. First Contact is one of the best movies in the series, and it seems to hold up the tradition of the even numbered movies being far superior to their odd numbered counterparts. Unlike the other films in the series, this is the first one where no members of the original cast of Star Trek appear. (Except for Majel Barret, as the voice of the Enterprise's computer.) In this latest installment, the crew as forced to travel back in time to prevent the Borg (more about them in a second) from changing the course of Earth's history. It seems the Borg want to prevent the first warp flight. For those of you out there that aren't familiar with the Borg, they are half biological, half mechanical beings that assimilate other races and transform them into Borg. This is usually not a pleasant experience, what with all the mechanical parts being implanted into the victim. As far as villains go, since being introduced on Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Borg have become on of the most popular villains in Star Trek. The special effects in this latest effort are among the best in a Star Trek film. As are the sets for the new Enterprise. In the tradition of the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, the main cast does their usual superb job. The "guest stars" of the film include Alice Krige as the Borg's queen, and James Cromwell as Zefram Cockran, the man who is to make the historic first warp flight. Cromwell, in my humble opinion, steals every scene he is in. As usual, there is the normal humor associated with Star Trek, although most of it is inside jokes that would go right over the head of non Star Trek fans. Generally, a great film that both diehard Trek fans and your average movie p atron will enjoy. 7/10 Visit The Movie Guy http://members.tripod.com/~MovieGuy/index.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Wed Dec 29 13:26:59 1999 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!newsfeed.direct.ca!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: "Mikkel Lodahl" Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews,rec.arts.startrek.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 23 Dec 1999 03:58:53 GMT Organization: Customer of Tele Danmark Internet Lines: 188 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <83s6lt$16le$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer38.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 945921533 39598 (None) 140.142.17.38 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #22331 Keywords: author=lodahl X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer38.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:21540 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2534 rec.arts.startrek.reviews:2893 Star Trek: First Contact Directed by: Jonathan Frakes Story by: Rick Berman, Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore Screenplay by: Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore Music by: Jerry Goldsmith The Teaser: The thought that ran through my mind upon completing my viewing of this flick was: "Thank God that I've seen Star Trek: The Next Generation [hereafter: ST:TNG] before!" While the movie might be entertaining to the non-initiated (in fact, if my memory serves me correctly, a friend of mine thought it very good in spite of his lack of Trek-knowledge), it grows multiple times richer when you know some back-story. It doesn't even have to be a lot, but I'd recommend seeing at least the two-parter "The Best of Both Worlds" from the ST: TNG series, which I recommend heartily. The Synopsis: Anyhow, the plot revolves around Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart; Jeffrey), who captains the oh-so-legendary starship U.S.S. Enterprise. A, to non-initiates, quite confusing prologue to the film tries to explain that Picard was once part of an alien cyber-collective named "The Borg", but fails to bring it about in a totally clear fashion. No problem, though, as it does validate the use of a spectacular matte painting depicting the interior of a Borg ship. "Cool," you think, "What now?" The film progresses at an amazingly quick pace, which has us involved in a space battle above Earth within the first fifteen minutes of the flick. The Borg are back with a vengence, it seems, and they want to assimilate all of Human culture into their collective, just as they assimilated Picard. While the quick pace easily could have been terribly wrong, it somehow feels right. The filmmakers seems to believe that we either know these characters well, and therefore don't need an introduction, or that we don't care. And, surprisingly, it works. My fore-amentioned friend just jumped on the rollercoaster so to speak, and went along for the ride. And what a ride? A terrific one! After some nice effects showing how Picard singlehandedly uses an unorthodox strategy to blow up the Borg ship, a small contingent of Borg soldiers escape in a ball-like escape pod. They create some kind of temporal shift or other, and go back in time to the 21st century. The Enterprise, protected by their closeness to this temporal thinggummy sees the horrible changes inflicted on the future by this: Earth has been assimilated into the Borg Collective. Picard decides that they should follow the Borg back to "repair whatever damage they've done." It just so happens that the Borg chose to go back to when humankind invented warp-drive (faster than light travel) and tries to stop the invention. The Enterprise readily blows up the Borg Escape Pod, and an away team beams down to Earth to see what damage the Borg has caused yet. Down there, Picard and company discover that the Borg bombarded the home of Dr. Zefraim Cochrane (James Cromwell; L. A. Confidential), the inventor of warp-drive. Meanwhile, the Borg have beamed over to the Enterprise and starts to assimilate the whole ship. Picard and his android sidekick, Commander Data (Brent Spiner; Independence Day) beams back to the Enterprise just before the Borg take control of most of the systems onboard, though not of the main computer. And then the rest of the movie goes along smoothly. While Picard and Data, aided by Commander Worf (Michael Dorn; Deep Space 9 series) and a 21st century "native" who has been beamed up for medical treatment (Alfre Woodard; Grand Canyon) by the on-board Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden), battle with the Borg, first officer Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes), ship's counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and chief engineer Geordi LaForge (Levar Burton) tries to talk Cochrane into cunducting the warp-flight at the planned date, because else, they'll miss a passing alien ship that will contact Earth when it observes warp-speed in use. The Rambling: The movie is spectacular, and is in my opinion among the best Star Trek has ever created, right up there with "The Wrath of Khan" and "The Voyage Home" Jonathan Frakes does a good job directing; there is hardly a place where I would have done differently. All of the cast delivers no worse than decent performances; Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner and James Cromwell shining particularly. While the film does have a few of the time-travel jokes that were decidedly overused in The Voyage Home, they don't feel forced, and are actually worth a chuckle or two. The effects are stunningly created by Industrial Light and magic, who are without any doubt the leading in their field - and they prove it here. Worth of mention is also the performance of Alice Krige (Barfly) who plays the evil leader of the Borg; the Borg Queen. While this concept falls flat in theory, it works beautifully in function. The Queen captures Data somewhat half-way through the film and then proceeds to try to bribe him into revealing the code that unlocks the main computer, offering him humanity. Spiner and Krige play well off each other and the scenes are all a joy to see [except for one, very brief scene, where there's thankfully only one line - "We've had a change of plans, Data"]. For some reason I detest that scene. The question is, then, how well does this flick carry on the TNG feeling? Very well I think. While the story quite clearly focuses on Picard and Data, it seems like all the characters are pretty much having as much screen time as they had in a typical episode of TNG. (With the possible exception of Dr. Crusher, who seems to be there only to have all of the cast in there) The characters are captured well, as they should be considering the source (Both Braga and Moore were staff writers at TNG), and the actors seem to have fun doing the film, and that reflects on the performance quite more than one should think. No-one gives a bad performance in this film (I would say that Robert Picardo, who has a cameo as a hologram, does, but that's just me hating his character [the hologram, that is :-)]). The Music: The music was composed chiefly by one of my most favorite film composers, namely Jerry Goldsmith. "Chiefly" means that Joel Goldsmith, Jerry's son, composed three of the tracks. The music lives up to my expectations, underlining all the scenes that need underlining, and actually quite good on its own too. I particularly enjoyed the piece "Red Alert" which plays during the first battle against the Borg. Also present, besides the orchestral soundtrack, is two songs included to provide atmosphere. One is the classic "Magic Carpet Ride" performed by Steppenwolf (Born To Be Wild), the other an early rock n' roll tune by Roy Orbinson (Pretty Woman), namely "Ooby Dooby". Both of these play at the discretion of Cochrane, and "Ooby Dooby" could be considered his theme. Overall, a solid soundtrack well worth a purchase. The Summing-Up: This movie, while being a must for Trekkies and ordinary fans of Star Trek, is also quite a ride for the odd Sci-fi fan who isn't all too much in on the Trek franchise (though who that would be, is a question worthy of a much longer essay). I'm in doubt where to rate this, so I'll provide two different ratings: Rating for Star Trek fans: 9/10 Rating for Ordinary Mortals [TM]: 7/10 Best Exchange: "Someone once said: 'Don't be a great man, just be a man. Then let history decide itself." "What retorical nonsense. Who said that?" "You did. Ten years from now." -Riker and Cochrane -- Mikkel Lodahl Jacen@mindless.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jul 8 07:12:55 2003 From: Dragan Antulov Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Approved: ramr@rottentomatoes.com Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 18:54:42 -0000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: X-RAMR-ID: 34775 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1134870 X-RT-TitleID: 1074426 X-RT-AuthorID: 1307 X-RT-RatingText: 7/10 Summary: r.a.m.r. #34775 X-Questions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Submissions-to: ramr@rottentomatoes.com X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 97 Path: news.island.liu.se!news.Update.UU.SE!puffinus.its.uu.se!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!uninett.no!newsfeed1.e.nsc.no!nsc.no!nextra.com!news.tele.dk!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-06!sn-post-01!supernews.com!news.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: news.island.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:6601 rec.arts.sf.reviews:545 STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996) A Film Review Copyright Dragan Antulov 2003 When STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION first aired in 1987, few people believed that it had potential to match the original 1960s series. But the sceptics were proven wrong - the show lasted for seven years and is now fondly remembered even by those who don't fit the usual description of "trekkies". The show finally proved its equality with original by serving as basis for brand new motion picture series. Following the not so successful "transitional" film STAR TREK: GENERATIONS which featured the protagonists of both series, STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATIONS had a feature film adventure completely of its own in STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, 1996 film directed by Jonathan Frakes. Plot begins in 24th Century when the crew of USS Enterprise E must face not only its greatest challenge but also the meanest of all villains in the known universe - Borg, race of cyborgs that destroy and assimilate anything in their way. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart) was once assimilated by Borg and he is still traumatised by the experience. This won't prevent him from performing his duty when huge Borg ships attacks Earth. Starfleet wins the battle but small Borg ship manages to poke hole in time and travels back to 2063. In that year great inventor Zephram Cochrane (played by James Cromwell) made the historic flight with the ship using warp drive and thus triggered first contact with Vulcans and other events that would lead to creation of United Federation of Planets and Starfleet. Borg plan to conquer Earth in 2063 and thus prevent all that from happening. USS Enterprise follows Borg back in time and tries to protect Cochrane, but soon the real nightmare begins. Borg drones have infiltrated USS Enterprise, started assimilating the crew members and taking over ship. Picard would need all the ingenuity and luck to defeat such formidable and unstoppable foe. STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT, just like the all STAR TREK movies, had to satisfy two very different sets of viewers - fanatical "trekkies" that want to see their favourite fictional universe recreated with loving detail and the general audience that wanted more conventional, in other words simpler, plots and characters. Reconciling those opposites requires great deal of skill, and this is something creators FIRST CONTACT apparently had. This film represents one of those rare compromises that could more-or-less satisfy both camps. The reason for that is in the screenplay that, unlike television show, puts more emphasis on action and special effects and less on plot and dialogue. Another important reason why FIRST CONTACT stands out is in its tone, which is surprisingly dark for Roddenberry's optimistic vision of the future. Some characters, like Picard, embodiment of the intellectual enlightenment in the series, show their dark, sometimes atavistic side; the interior of Enterprise becomes dangerous and dark place, completely resembling the mood of the protagonists. The dark tone of the film stays even despite the predictable ending and (usually lame) attempts to lighten up with some humour. "Trekkie" segment of the audience would, on the other hand, find itself in familiar territory thanks to plenty of in-jokes, some of them including references to VOYAGER, the most recent incarnation of STAR TREK. Apart from the larger special effects budget, FIRST CONTACT owes its success to the very good talents involved. The series cast, reunited for the second time, could act those roles in their sleep. Patrick Stewart adds another dimension to his character, showing some emotions we weren't accustomed to see from Captain Picard. The regular cast is joined by James Cromwell in very interesting role of hippy inventor and Alice Krige whose Borg Queen character looks both intimidating and perversely appealing. Jonathan Frakes, best known for his role of Commander William Ryker (whom he portrayed in this film too), had already gained directing experience on the show and this experience is put to good use in this film. Many scenes reveal great influence of classic SF-horrors like ALIENS and Frakes manages to make this film different both from the series and from most of the other films in franchise. Because of its innovative (and brave) approach to STAR TREK, FIRST CONTACT represents one of the better chapters in the long history of this prosperous franchise. RATING: 7/10 (+++) Review written on May 6th 2003 Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in Croatian http://www.purger.com/users/drax/reviews.htm - Movie Reviews in English http://www.ofcs.org - Online Film Critics Society ========== X-RAMR-ID: 34775 X-Language: en X-RT-ReviewID: 1134870 X-RT-TitleID: 1074426 X-RT-AuthorID: 1307 X-RT-RatingText: 7/10