Star Trek VIII: First Contact

Director: Jonathan Frakes, Peter Lauritson Jonathan Frakes

Overview

The first "Trek" film to feature the cast of the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series without any of the members of the original series, this action-packed hit was well received at the box office. The Federation comes under attack by its ongoing enemy, the Borg, a cybernetics-enhanced race that once kidnapped Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), "assimilating" him into a drone. As a former prisoner of the Borg, Picard is ordered to stay out of the new battle, but he cannot resist and orders the brand-new starship Enterprise into the fray. The Enterprise follows the only surviving Borg ship through a time tunnel, where they intend to conquer Earth in an earlier era. The Borg have targeted the work of Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), inventor of warp drive, the device that makes interplanetary travel possible. As the Enterprise crew attempts to stop the Borg from interrupting the work of Cochrane and his assistant, Lily (Alfre Woodard), Borg drones invade the Enterprise and take it over piece by piece, while Data (Brent Spiner) is captured and seduced by the Borg Queen (Alice Krige).

Product Details

Release Date:	09/22/2009
UPC:	0097360719444
Original Release:	1996
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Paramount
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:50:00
Sales rank:	37,389

Special Features

Closed Caption; Commentary by Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale; Industrial Light & Magic - the next generation; Greetings from the international space station; Spaceshipone's historic flight; Brent Spiner: Data and beyond part 2; Trek roundtable: first contact; Starfleet Academy: temporal vortex

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Patrick Stewart	Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes	Commandant William Riker
Brent Spiner	Lieutenant Commandant Data
LeVar Burton	Lt. Cdr. Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn	Lieutenant Commandant Worf
Gates McFadden	Dr. Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis	Lt. Cmdr. Deanna Troi
Alfre Woodard	Lily Sloane
James Cromwell	Zefram Cochrane
Alice Krige	Borg Queen
Neal McDonough	Lt. Hawk
Robert Picard	Holographic Doctor
Dwight Schultz	Lt. Barclay
Patti Yasutake	Nurse Ogawa
Michael Horton	Security Officer
Marnie McPhail	Eiger
Adam Scott	Defiant Conn Officer
Jack Shearer	Admiral Hayes
Eric Steinberg	Porter
Scott Strozier	Security Officer
Victor Bevine	Guard
David Cowgill	Guard
Scott Have	Guard
Annette Helde	Guard
C.J. Bau	Bartender
Hillary Hayes	Ruby
Julie Morgan	Singer in Nightclub
Ronald R. Rondell	Henchman
Don Stark	Nicky the Noose
Cully Fredricksen	Vulcan
Tamara Lee Krinsky	Townsperson
Don Fischer	Borg
Andrew Palmer	Borg
Robert L. Zachar	Borg
J.R. Horsting	Borg
Jon David Weigand	Borg
Heinrich James	Borg
Dan Woren	Borg
Matthew F Leonetti	Actor
Majel Barrett	Actor
Rick Berman	Actor
John Agalsoff Jr.	Actor
Barbara Affonso	Actor
Ronald Moore	Actor
Pamela Bentkowski	Actor
Joseph Brennan	Actor
Scott Haven	Guard
Jerry Goldsmith	Composer,Actor
Marty Hornstein	Actor
Bob Baron	Actor
Brannon Braga	Actor
Ed Callahan	Actor
Robert Picardo	Holographic Doctor

Technical Credits

Rick Berman

Brannon Braga

Ronald D. Moore

Gene Roddenberry

Jonathan Frakes	Director
Rick Berman	Producer,Screenwriter
Terry Frazee	Special Effects
Martin Hornstein	Executive Producer
Adam Howard	Special Effects
Junie Lowry-Johnson	Casting
Jeff Olson	Special Effects
Scott Rader	Special Effects
Ronald Rondell	Stunts
Ron Surma	Casting
Brannon Braga	Screenwriter
Ronald D. Moore	Screenwriter
Kenny Alexander	Stunts
Peter Lauritson	Director
Gene Roddenberry	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

The best of the first three big-screen productions to feature the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, this eighth film in the long-running Paramount Pictures cash cow thankfully ups the action quotient. Every familiar character in the film from Picard (Patrick Stewart) to Data (Brent Spiner) has received a welcome double dose of testosterone and adrenaline. Screenwriters Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga have also deftly worked the series' most fearsome villains, the Borg, into a plot line that revisits the science fiction franchise's canonical roots. At the same time, the filmmakers offer up just the slightest whiff of sexuality in the relationships of Data with the Borg Queen and Picard with space greenhorn Lily (Alfre Woodard). The regular cast members are comfortable and solid in their recurring roles, while getting able support from character actors Woodard, James Cromwell and a riveting, scenery-munching Alice Krige as the Borg Queen. There's a lot going on here with a story involving time travel, cyborg villains, and the invention of interstellar space flight, but the pace buzzes along at a rapid clip and the action is handled with sure-footed aplomb by first-time director Jonathan Frakes. His familiarity with his co-stars and their roles proves just as valuable an asset as did Leonard Nimoy's in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Only a few entries in the ever-growing Star Trek feature library are outright duds, but the rest can admittedly be divided up into those that will appeal to hardcore fans only and those that will be appreciated by anybody who likes a ripping yarn. Star Trek: First Contact (1996) is the first Next Generation picture to fall into the latter category.