Aka one of my favourite three ST movies. In case you want to know, the other two are Wrath of Khan and probably the new one, edging out previous candidate Search for Spock. (Yes, yes, yes, I love the whales in IV, too, and it's cute. But Search for Spock had both Saavik and Sarek, which gives it the edge. Also McCoy with Spock's katra, which is a gem of an idea in itself.) Also, much as I enjoy (most of) the movies, I have to say that for all incarnations of Star Trek, the ideal format remains tv, simply because there is no need for a big action plot in every episode, and you can do way more character and issue exploration, which appeals to me. So if it were favourite episodes versus movies, the episodes would win on my ST Top Ten every single time.

All this being said? First Contact, which I hadn't watched for years, holds up very well, both as a good movie and as a good Star Trek story (not always the same thing). It's not flawless, but then none of the Trek movies are. But it does for TNG on the big screen what Wrath of Khan did for TOS. Both came after a none too stellar first attempt at making the transition from tv to cinema (Star Trek The (Slow) Motion Picture and Generations) respectively); in both case, one of the reasons why that second attempt worked so much better was that the adventure told was used to tackle some deeply personal issues for the central characters instead of being just random. Wrath of Khan went for Kirk's aging (and everyone else's; this film brought home that the TOS crew was mortal in more ways than just the obvious one), and his life long habit of not accepting a now win scenario; First Contact went for Picard's trauma with the Borg, and his life long habit to deny and repress emotions that threaten to overhwelm him. Both stories are very specific. Mortality and age can't be an issue for the TNG lot if you have a leading man who is already middle-aged when the story starts, and has no problem dealing with this. What he does have a problem with is losing control. And this is why the Borg as a new nemesis worked so well on TNG (they were overused later and thus lost their impact, but I'm talking about the initial stories plus this movie). They represent the ultimate loss of control, the ultimate violation of body and mind. And it's something that works on the audience, too, because it taps into age old horror archetypes. (You don't get to die, you get turned into a monster who kills, but you get to be conscious of it the entire time; it's the vampire/werewolf/zombie trope all mixed in one.) There is even something of a rape victim metaphor here. (Most evident in the episode Family, immediately after it happened, when a self-loathing Picard after his brother finally gets him to talk about the whole thing says "I should have been able to stop them, I let it happen, I should have been stronger" etc. If you're keeping score, Family and First Contact were both written and co-written by Ron Moore who went on to deal with not so metaphorical rape on Battlestar Galactica.)

At the same time, First Contact is far from being all darkness, which is important in the "good Star Trek" story department. The script (and direction by Jonathan Frakes, who turns out to be quite good as a director) uses its character humour and comic relief scenes quite deftly, whether it's Deanna's drunk scene ("this is no time to argue about time, we don't have the time!"), her earlier amusement at Picard's and Data's geeking out about the Phoenix ("do the three of you want to be alone?"), or scriptwriters Moore & Braga having a go at a long running dig from genre fans at Star Trek ("don't you people from the 24th century ever piss?") and at their own naming conventions ("definitely not Swedish," observes guest character Lily about the Borg). The Zefram Cochrane/launch of the Phoenix subplot does more than provide comic relief, though; it provides the sense of wonder and exploration quintessential to ST at its best. I already mentioned the scene where Picard and Data find the Phoenix, aka the first ship with warp drive. And for all the mileage the film gets out of "Zefram Cochrane isn't a heroic inventor but a messed up drunk horrified at the hero worship he receives", it doesn't short change the ultimate achievement of space flight; the moment where the launched Phoenix, after leaving Earth's atmosphere, is in space and unfolds its warp nacelles, and you suddenly realize this is the basic form of the starships we're familiar with, is awesome. In fact, First Contact uses space - the threat of vacuum, the weightlessness, the way there is no up and down - in a way the previous ST movies didn't, with its suspense sequence of Picard, Worf and the unfortunate redshirt Hawk working on the haul, in space suits, to stop the Borg while having to deal with several drones. (The way said sequence starts is also an example for the deadpan type of humour the film has in addition to the more overt one. "How was your zero g training at the academy, Mr. Worf?" asks Picard when he gets the idea of how to stop the Borg's latest plan, and Worf just gives him a look.)

It's always difficult for a dedicated fan to put oneself in the shoes of newbies, but I think First Contact by and large pulls of the same feat ST XI does, i.e. build in numerous continuity references for the fans without alienating or confusing new watchers. Because Moore & Braga really go for a love declaration to the entire franchise here. When she evacuates sickbay, Beverly Crusher activates the Emergency Medical Holoprogram, which if you've never watched Voyager is simply a funny moment in a suspenseful escape sequence; if, on the other hand, you're a Voyager watcher you're thrilled about Robert Picardo's cameo. Whether you're also thrilled about Ethan Philipp's cameo in the holodeck sequence is up to you, but said holodeck sequence is another way the script works in something typical for TNG without making it feel forced; for new watchers, it should simply be a clever way for Picard to lure the two Borg drones pursuing him and Lily into a trap, something to forward the plot (this is how he's able to access the Borg's orders) and then a character moment because this is the first instant where you realize this whole Borg thing affects him on a level going far beyond "threat to the ship and humanity"). If, on th other hand, you're familiar with the post-TOS ST shows, you get a kick out of the use of the Dixon Hill program and the way later ST indulges in costume scenes now and then without having to resort to the TOS "they find a planet just like Earth in the #century" trope. Lastly, you can't tell me that the Defiant makes it through the initial battle sequence for any other reason than not to upset DS9 watchers. *g*

Speaking of the script and inner Trek references: reason # you know you're watching a Star Trek story and not, say, a Star Wars film: someone quotes a work of literature to explain a crucial plot point to you. *g* Seriously, ST has a thing for Herman Melville and Moby Dick. Khan gets to quote it (and use it as a guide line) in Wrath of Khan, Lily's reference to it works as a reality check on Picard who first shows her she's gotten through to him by quoting lines from it, and Janeway takes her turn at the White Whale in the Voyager two-parter Year of Hell. (Meanwhile, Sisko gets stuck with Les Miserables instead, in For the Cause. Nothing against Les Mis, but that's just mean from Eddington.)

All of which doesn't go to say the film is perfect. I'm going to and thro on the existence of Lily; in herself she's a good character, ably played by Alfe Woodward, and I can see why she's there (to wit: exposition - all the other characters know the backstory with the Borg, and would need to have awful "as you know, Bob" dialogues otherwise, plus for new watchers, her reaction to both Borg and Picard is something they can identify with), but basically her most important scene with Picard should have been Beverly Crusher's. Poor Beverly gets screwed over in the movies anyway - of all the TNG ensemble, she gets the fewest lines and little to nothing to do - and giving Picard a reality check now and then is her job. (Also Troi's and Riker's, but they are stuck on the surface at that point in the plot.) And it makes no sense for Beverly as established on the show not to go after him to talk with him alone. And then there's the Borg Queen. Whose existence just clashes with why the Borg created Locutus out of Picard, and the authorial handwaving used to justify the paradox of her supposedly having been around for Picard's assimilation when that Borg cube was, as Picard points out, utterly destroyed by having her declare "you're thinking so three dimensionally, Locutus" reminds me irresistably of later Moorishly handwavings like "...and they have a plan".

(Speaking of BSG: in retrospect, the Data-and-the-Borg-Queen scenes look a lot like the genesis of the modern Cylons to me.)

(And while the literal seduction attempt in addition to the metaphorical one makes no sense with previously established Borg lore, either, I'm prepared to handwave that myself because the "fully functional and programmed in a variety of pleasuring techniques" continuity gag, complete with reference to Data's Tasha Yar experience, does work for me. I'm cheap that way.)

From the nitpicking to the praise; I approve of the film making it clear that heroic last stands which get everyone killed are a bad (and stupid) thing to do, and not just because our hero has to realize he's succumbing to vengeance here but because there are other strategies available. (Sudden thought: this film was produced in tandem with DS9's sixth season - is the exact quote of "the line has to be drawn here", but in a negative context, an inner-Trek comment?) Also, Picard, once he has gotten everyone else evacuated, going back not to kill some more Borg but to save Data means we have a logical progression of his emotional arc through the film there, instead of a jojo whiplash.

Trivia:
- I don't know why, but Brent Spiner's android make-up never worked in the movies the way it did on tv; the sweat shows every time.
- I find it very refreshing that the first time we see Earth from space up close, we see Australia in the centre, not the North American hemisphere
- Reg Barclay's cameo is another of these continuity-and-newbie pleasing moments, because someone needs to freak out Cochrane by fanboying him completely, and who better than our Mr. Barclay?
- despite all my complaints about the concept of the Borg Queen, Alice Krige brings the slinky-and-menacing villainy on like few actresses can
- why the occasional fourth wall breaking in BSG's final season didn't surprise me in the slightest: "So you people are on some kind of star trek?" Good old RDM.