Star Trek: First Contact

"Resistance is futile."

1996 1h 51m EN

👍

7.3

SOLID

★7.3TMDB · 2,043

Science FictionActionAdventureThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The Borg, a relentless race of cyborgs, are on a direct course for Earth. Violating orders to stay away from the battle, Captain Picard and the crew of the newly-commissioned USS Enterprise E pursue the Borg back in time to prevent the invaders from changing Federation history and assimilating the galaxy.

“Resistance is futile.”

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Cast

Patrick Stewart
Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Jonathan Frakes
Commander William T. Riker
Brent Spiner
Lieutenant Commander Data
LeVar Burton
Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
Michael Dorn
Lieutenant Commander Worf
Gates McFadden
Commander Beverly Crusher
Marina Sirtis
Counselor Deanna Troi
James Cromwell
Dr. Zefram Cochrane

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jonathan Frakes
Writers: Ronald D. Moore, Brannon Braga, Rick Berman
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.2× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

30 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Part of the "Star Trek: The Next Generation Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

252+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jonathan Frakes, shot by Matthew F. Leonetti. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Anastasia Emmons shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jonathan Frakes directs. Matthew F. Leonetti behind the camera. Jerry Goldsmith scores. Anastasia Emmons cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.2× over at the box office.
230 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Star Trek: The Next Generation Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4252+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Jonathan Frakes, shot by Matthew F. Leonetti. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Jerry Goldsmith. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Anastasia Emmons shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Patrick Stewart and Jonathan Frakes and Brent Spiner carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Resistance is futile.".
10IMDB entry: tt0117731 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 18 themes, including "spacecraft", "teleportation", "inventor", "starship".
12Released under 36 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Matthew F. Leonetti
Original score: Jerry Goldsmith
Editing: Anastasia Emmons
Production design: Herman F. Zimmerman
Costume design: Deborah Everton
Makeup / hair: Danny Valencia
VFX supervisor: David Takemura
Sound: Steve Pederson
Stunt coordinator: Ronnie Rondell Jr.
Runtime: 111 min · 1h 51m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $46,000,000
Box office: $146,027,888
Return: 317% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Part of

Star Trek: The Next Generation Collection

The Star Trek: The Next Generation Collection explores futuristic adventures led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise. Blending science fiction, action, and philosophical themes, it delves into diplomacy, identity, and humanity’s place in the cosmos through thrilling encounters and thought-provoking challenges.

Also by

Jonathan Frakes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2020-04-17
★ 7/10
Solid Next Generation Trek film with The Borg Released in 1996 and directed by Jonathan Frakes, "Star Trek: First Contact" features The Next Generation characters taking on the Borg, a collection of species that have been turned into cybernetic organisms functioning as drones in a hive-mind called the Collective. In order to escape imminent destruction by the Federation, a Borg mini-ship flees back in time to 2063 to prevent the renowned Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) from accomplishing the initial warp drive and the subsequent first contact with an alien race, which later paved the way for the Federation of Planets. Alfre Woodard has a key role as a colleague of Cochrane. The Borg are an excellent villain and one of the greatest contributions of The Next Generation TV series, along with all its elaboration on Klingon culture. Here the Borg are augmented by the introduction of a Queen (Alice Krige), which some feel detracted from the impersonal and eerie race while others think enhanced them. It makes no difference to me personally, but it fits the parallel of a queen bee in a honey bee colony. Besides, why wouldn’t there be a central intelligence? There are some gems to mine from the proceedings, like Cochrane's revelation of his carnal motivations for developing warp drive and Picard's hell-bent desire to annihilate the Borg. Speaking of Picard, Patrick Stewart carries the film with his unique star power, which is very different from Shatner, but just as effective. Interestingly, The Next Generation TV series never developed a prominent triumvirate like Kirk/Spock/McCoy, but rather a dyad, Picard and Data. Whereas this duo was core to the previous TNG film, "Generations" (1994) and the last one, "Nemesis" (2002), it's not as evident here until the last act when Picard attempts to rescue the charismatic android, but that's only because they get separated early on and Data ends up hanging out with the Borg Queen. By the way, Picard's self-sacrificial desire to save Data reveals a weakness in the script: After the Enterprise is set to self-destruct, Picard only has 15 MINUTES to rescue Data and escape the ship, but Picard is shown having a meaningful discussion with Lily (Woodard). Why sure! Another gem of the film is the revelation of the alien race at the end, which prompts a "Wow" reaction to fans of Star Trek (although erudite Trekkers undoubtedly knew what was coming). There are other flaws, like the jarring, contrived excuse for going back in time and the questionable fiery confrontation between Picard and Lily. I say "questionable" because something about the sequence renders it somewhat shaky; it may be the acting, the writing or some combination, but they needed to work out the kinks. Still, that scene has some good aspects, like Picard's line: "The line must be drawn HERE!" and the build-up to it. While I favor 1994's "Generations" to "First Contact" because of the fascinating story elements, e.g. the Nexus, and the potent subtext (see my review), and even marginally prefer the underrated "Nemesis" (2002), this doesn't take away from the fact that "First Contact" is a quality installment in the series, which gets better with repeat viewings despite its weaknesses. The movie runs almost 111 minutes and was shot in the studio with location shooting at Angeles National Forest and Green Valley, Arizona (substituting for Montana). GRADE: B
Kamurai2020-10-23
★ 6/10
Good watch, could watch again, and can recommend (at least for dedicated "Star Trek" fans). My favorites aspects of all of "Star Trek" are The Borg, and the artificial entities like Data. This movie potentially ruins both of them, depending on who you ask. Also, time travel is the worst. I would have been much happier if we hadn't bothered with time travel as that creates a lot of other questions about why The Borg haven't utilized it before if they had such technology. The investigation of humanity in The Borg and Data are pretty interesting though, seeing Data find what it is to FEEL is a great, but seeing The Borg personified into a single entity to which one can converse is odd, at best. Seeing the Enterprise defend against Borg assault was fun, but none of the "First Contact" stuff was compelling at all.
JPV8522023-04-09
★ 8/10
Really solid and suspense-filled Star Trek film. Seen this one once before and still holds up along with the visual effects which were decent for its time. This is also the first complete TNG feature and unlike Generations, did feel like a movie rather than two-part episode. 4.0/5