Subject: REVIEW: STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT (1996)

From: [email-masked] (J. C. Gibson)
Date: 25 Nov 1996 17:57:46 GMT

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                        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"? <G> 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. <sigh>
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.." <G>
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! <G>