Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27508 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-06-06
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 106 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Even-numbered Star Trek movies tend to be better, and this one (number eight in the popular series) is no exception--an intelligently handled plot involving the galaxy-conquering Borg and their attempt to invade Earth's past, alter history, and "assimilate" the entire human race. Time travel, a dazzling new Enterprise, and capable direction by Next Generation alumnus Jonathan Frakes makes this one rank with the best of the bunch. Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his able crew travel back in time to Earth in the year 2063, where they hope to ensure that the inventor of warp drive (played by James Cromwell) will successfully carry out his pioneering warp-drive flight and precipitate Earth's "first contact" with an alien race. A seductive Borg queen (Alice Krige) holds Lt. Data (Brent Spiner) hostage in an effort to sabotage the Federation's preservation of history, and the captive android finds himself tempted by the queen's tantalising sins of the flesh. Sharply conceived to fit snugly into the burgeoning Star Trek chronology, First Contact leads to a surprise revelation that marks an important historical chapter in the ongoing mission "to boldly go where no one has gone before". --Jeff Shannon

Synopsis
The Borg have once again targeted the Federation; this time, their devious plot threatens not only the present, but Earth's past as well. While Commander Riker, Deanna Troi, and Geordi La Forge work hard on the surface of 21st-century Earth to keep history on schedule, the rest of the crew plays a desperate game with the genetically-networked attackers above the planet, matching former Locutus Jean-Luc and cybernetically-naive Data against the erotic, mechanized cunning of the Borg queen.

Customer Reviews

The Best TNG Movie
After the great disapoint that was Generations, Things could only go up, and boy did they. With the return (& 1st big screen appearence) of the creepy Borg, a new ship, and the filling in of a major slice of the mythos, this movie a great addition to the series and continues the tradition of great even numbered movies being the best. The picture quality has been somewhat improved from the 1st release and the features on disc 2 make for some interesting watching if your a production info freak like me.

all in all this is a great Trek movie for newbies and long time fans, the best edition currently availible and well worth the money.

Star Trek at its best
This is a really well made film. It has a good plot, good action, nice effects and the Borg!
Having failed to assimilate Earth at the battle of Wolf 359 in the ST:TNG double episode 'Best of Both Worlds', the Borg go back in time to try to assimilate Earth again. Trouble is that since Picard was partially assimulated in the previously mentioned double episode, he can 'hear' the Borg collective in his head and so is there to thwart the Borg's attempts as they travel through time. Here is the only plot hole in this film. Why travel through time whilst you have the whole of the Federation's ships around you and risk the possbility of another ship following you through the time rift? Why not travel back in the privacy of 'Borg space' and no-one would ever know the difference! Anyway - the Enterprise manages to follow the Borg back in time to a historic moment when mankind is just getting over World War III (yes, 3!) and one crazy scientist is converting an old missile into a ship equipped with a prototype warp drive system. Its maiden flight is about to take place and this will trigger a series of events that will lead to the creation of the Federation (see the Enterprise series for more details). The Borg see this as an ideal opportunity to take over mankind and its up to our entrepid Enterprise crew to stop them.
This film has all the elements of good Trek. It plays on the strongly established main characters and their relationships, it ties in well with established Trek canon, it has a good balance on action and humerous moments. Patrick Stewart gives a stellar performance as Captain Picard thanks to a well written script and the directorship of fellow crewman, Jonathan Frakes (Commander Riker).
I doubt that you will have missed this film if you are at all into Star Trek as it is a classic. Even if you are not into Star Trek, you will enjoy and appreciate a well made film. The extra's on this DVD are on a par with previous Special Editions with good commentary by cast and crew.
A worth addition to anyone's DVD collection.

The Best Star Trek The Next Generation Movie
I have always had a problem with movies that are based on Star Trek The Next Generation (TNG). The seven season series was fine but the films have always seemed to me to be just glorified television episodes, they are just not grand enough.

The original series was of course shot in the 60's and was constrained by the technology that was available at the time, so much so that when The Motion Picture arrived in 1979 filmed with the most advanced movie-making procedures it elevated Star Trek in a way that had never been seen before, TNG movies used the basic procedures that the TV show had been using, admittedly with a bit more detail but not enough to make the films seem more epic than the series.

First Contact is however the best of TNG films and is the only one that can be described as a movie other than a 'big' tv episode. The whole idea of the Borg going back in time to prevent first contact with the Vulcan's was a good one, but I found the whole Picard/Data/Borg Queen section of the film to be somewhat predictable having seen something very similar in The Best Of Both Worlds. The Riker/Zefram Cochrane portions of the narrative were much more interesting with Cochrane superbly portrayed by James Cromwell. Having said that the scene where Picard loses control and smashes his display cabinet of the past ships called Enterprise is some of the finest acting ever to grace TNG, Patrick Stewart was brilliant.

Jonathan Frakes' direction is excellent with great camera angles and tilts, in fact the film starts with one of the best continuous Pull-Backs in movie history. The skill and dedication that he uses shows just how much he cares about TNG and pulled out all the stops to make the film (his first one) as good as he possibly could, I think he succeeded.

There is no denying the fact that all TNG movies are inferior to The Original Series films though, except this. This is the saving grace of TNG features and if I were to place the 10 films in order of preference I would put this at number 6, The Final Frontier is the only original cast film that is weaker than this, however it is vastly superior to the other TNG movies.

It seems sad that I am going to have to spoil my fellow reviewers maximum marks, but that is what these reviews are for and as such I can only give it three. If you want a TNG movie then this is the one to buy and avoid at all costs absolute rubbish like Star Trek Nemesis and total bores like Insurrection.