The movie
"Resistance is futile."
That's the chilling motto of the sinister half-organic,
half-cybernetic Borg. No longer content to remain outside Federation
space, they've turned their collective attention toward a very
tempting target for assimilation: Earth. It's up to Starfleet to stop
them, but the powers-that-be have decided to sideline the one ship
whose captain and crew have the most experience dealing with this
threat: the Enterprise. It's not like Captain Picard to just
remain on the sidelines, though...
Star Trek: First Contact was
the first totally stand-alone Next Generation feature film,
and it remains the best of the Next Generation film series.
While it doesn't live up to the epic grandeur that the Original
Series films captured in The Undiscovered Country, First
Contact gets almost everything right... things that for one
reason or another seem to have been missed in Insurrection and
Nemesis (which I consider to be reasonably entertaining but
far from exceptional).
What does First Contact do
right? First of all, it picks up on a great storyline that draws
directly on the backstory developed in the Next Generation
television series. Rather than inventing a new villain from scratch,
or putting the crew through their paces as if they're just any old
group of spacefaring heroes, First Contact takes Next
Generation's most innovative and scary foe: the Borg. Let's get
this straight from the start: these Borg are not the watered-down,
familiarity-breeds-contempt Borg of the Voyager television
series. No, these are the kick-ass Borg as introduced in the Next
Generation series, back when one cube was enough to make your
hair stand on end, and when the booming "Resistance is futile"
message had a very believable ring to it. First Contact delves
gleefully into its use of the Borg, with a fantastic space battle
early in the film along with excellent use of the Borg as an invasive
presence on the Enterprise.
What's more, the film ties in the
use of the Borg with character development from the series (Captain
Picard's experience of being assimilated).
For viewers who have seen the series, that gives the film a great
deal more depth, and it calls upon one of the biggest strengths of
the Next Generation show: its character development and the
interactions of its ensemble cast. The use of backstory elements
doesn't mean that the film casts adrift new viewers, though: First
Contact does a good job of getting viewers up to speed on
Picard's past history with the Borg. It's a smart move, capitalizing
on the depth of story available from the series' excellent seven-year
run.
That's not to say that First
Contact makes as good use of its cast and backstory as it could
have. The character of Lily (Alfre Woodard) is patently a stand-in
for the new-to-Star-Trek viewer, seeing the Enterprise
and meeting its crew for the first time. I found Lily to be utterly
extraneous the first time I saw the film, but after a few more
viewings, I'll concede that her character's function is probably
useful, and for the most part her role doesn't intrude too much on
the forward movement of the narrative. The one glaring exception is
her confrontation with Picard late in the film, in which Lily
challenges him on a crucial decision. It's an element in the film
that would have worked far better if one of the Enterprise
crew had been used in that confrontation in place of Lily. Commander
Riker, Dr. Crusher, or even Counselor Troi could all have served very
well as the opposite pole to Picard in this crucial scene, with the
essential difference that their challenge to Picard would have drawn
on years of character development and shared experiences, giving an
extra depth and significance to the scene. It's an example of the
trend that, I think, expands and further weakens Insurrection and
Nemesis: the sidelining of the ensemble cast of Next Generation.
In many ways, the storyline echoes
Star Trek IV with its use of time travel to save the future,
just as Nemesis echoes Star Trek II, but whereas
Nemesis is basically just a remake of the earlier film, First
Contact develops its material in a fresh and interesting manner.
Again, the film makes intelligent use of Star Trek's extensive
backstory by setting the story at the key moment of "first
contact," which offers us a plot line
that's quite engaging (and James Cromwell is absolutely perfect as
Zefram Cochrane). I do think that the time-travel aspect of the story
could have been used to give a bit more of a twist at the end, but in
any case, the storyline on Earth is as satisfying as the parallel one
involving the Borg. Jonathan Frakes does a very solid job in
directing the film, which shouldn't come as a surprise, considering
that he directed some of the very best Next Generation
episodes; in addition to having a good story, First Contact is
well paced and visually interesting from start to finish.
The DVD
As with the other Special Edition
releases of the Star Trek films, First Contact is a
two-disc set, packaged in a double-wide keepcase.
Video
The transfer for the Special Edition
looks phenomenal. The film appears in its original 2.35:1 aspect
ratio and is anamorphically enhanced. Since the earlier release was
already anamorphic, I wasn't anticipating a huge improvement in image
quality, but in fact the Special Edition is a step up in quality on
all counts.
Colors are richer and more vibrant,
making formerly ordinary-looking scenes have a new visual appeal.
Additionally, the contrast looks like it's handled better: blacks are
deep and dark, but even in the film's many dark scenes, the right
amount of detail is always present, and it never looks too dark. By
comparison, the same scene in the original release looks murky and
overly dark. The print is noticeably cleaner, with not a trace of any
dirt, noise, or grain to be found. The image as a whole is crisper
and more finely textured, and there's no trace of edge enhancement as
far as I could see. From live-action to CGI, and from tight close-up
to long-distance shot, the film looks fantastic, and earns full marks
for video quality.
Audio
The biggest appeal of the Special
Edition's audio mix is the brand-new DTS soundtrack, which blows the
5.1 track out of the water. It's not that the 5.1 track is bad,
because it's not; it's a respectable surround soundtrack, and the
Dolby 2.0 is an acceptable, if limited, stereo track. But the DTS is
an auditory delight, adding a hefty dose of increased enjoyment to
the experience of watching the film.
The DTS track has a rich, textured
feel to it, and makes excellent use of all the channels to create a
convincing immersive experience. It's not just in the major fight
scenes that we get great surround sound, either: throughout the film,
the side and rear channels are put to great use for various
environmental sound effects as well as music to give the impression
that we're really in the middle of the action. The dialogue is always
clear and crisp, the music is perfectly balanced with the rest of the
track, and the action sequences pump up the audio adrenaline without
overdoing it on volume increases.
It's worth pointing out that the
sound design for First Contact is really outstanding. The film
takes advantage of the fact that the Star Trek world is really
a very sound-effect-intensive one, from the turbolift doors opening,
to the computer beeping, to the sounds that the Borg make as they
move around. All these little sounds, and more, are seamlessly
incorporated into the film, somehow making it feel more detailed and
real.
English and Spanish subtitles are
also included.
Extras
First Contact: SE comes with
a lavish spread of special features that are sure to appeal to all
fans of the film. The first disc, which contains the film itself,
also contains three commentary tracks. The first is a full-length
audio commentary by director and actor Jonathan Frakes. He doesn't
seem like he has a lot of experience doing commentaries, and there
are some silent spots as well as some narrating-the-action (I suspect
he'd have done better if he'd shared the commentary with someone
else) but overall it's a track that offers some interesting thoughts
on the film. The second audio commentary is by writers Brannon Braga
and Ronald Moore, who provide a somewhat more detailed and
interesting commentary. A text commentary by Michael Okuda and Denise
Okuda is the third offering; it provides various bits of trivia and
background information about the film on little pop-up bubbles on
screen. It's possible to turn on the text commentary at the same time
as either of the audio commentaries, which is quite nice.
Disc 2 contains the bulk of the
special features, mainly in the form of short featurettes assembled
under various topic headings. For the most part, these are
interesting pieces; there's some use of clips from the film, but
these are primarily informative rather than promotional pieces.
Under "Production" we get
seven featurettes, running a total of 81 minutes. "Making First
Contact" offers an overview of the making of the film, "The
Art of First Contact" is a slideshow of design sketches, "The
Story" focuses on the writing of the film, "The Missile
Silo" and "The Deflector Dish" take a look at the
making of specific scenes in the film, and "From "A"
to "E"" considers the transition from Original
Series films to Next Generation films. All these
featurettes are reasonably interesting, with an assortment of
interview clips from various cast and crew.
"Scene Deconstruction"
gives us about 19 minutes of commentary on the art design of the
film, focusing specifically on three scenes: the "Borg Queen
Assembly," "Escape Pod Launch," and "Borg Queen's
Demise." We get to hear from the art director and visual effects
supervisor, and see the concept art for the scenes.
"The Star Trek Universe"
section broadens the scope a bit. "Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute"
is a 20-minute appreciation of Star Trek's premier composer.
"The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane" (12 minutes) is an
interesting look back at the character of Cochrane as introduced in
the Original Series, and how the writers of First Contact
decided to change the character. Lastly, "First Contact: The
Possibilities" (20) takes a look at the idea of first contact
itself.
The last main section is "The
Borg Collective," which seems to be more aimed at viewers who
are relatively new to the Star Trek universe. "Unimatrix
One" (14 minutes) provides background information on the Borg,
drawing on clips from the relevant Next Generation episodes.
"The Queen" is a rather light-weight eight-minute interview
with actor Alice Krige, and "Design Matrix" (18 minutes)
takes a look at the costume and makeup design for the Borg in the
film.
The final section, "Archives,"
contains a set of storyboards for the 1930s nightclub scene, the hull
battle, alternate shots for the hull battle, and alternate shots for
Worf vs. the Borg. There's also a design gallery of art images, and
trailers for the film: a teaser trailer, the theatrical trailer, and
a trailer for the "Borg Invasion" ride.
Final thoughts
Star Trek: First Contact is
my favorite of the Next Generation feature films, and it's a pleasure
to see it getting a significant upgrade in video and audio quality on
this Special Edition. Even without the generous selection of special
features, this DVD set would be worth the upgrade for viewers who
have the earlier edition. Highly recommended.
Buy: