UHD Review Star Trek: First Contact UHD Review (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

I'll eventually grab this as it is simply too good a film to ignore on UHD but no Atmos is a huge disappointment.

As someone who (fairly) recently just finished a 7.2.4 setup and love me some Atmos, I can say the soundtrack they did give us on this film is extremely dynamic and engaging.

In fact, I think I've grown too accustomed to the Marvel "crushed dynamic range" home near field mixes (on UHD discs and streaming) and was unprepared at how loud explosions were in ST:FC.

While I wouldn't turn down an Atmos mix for this film, what I feel they gave us is something that is very close to the original unadulterated mix. My HT was definitely shaking the house last night, even if it was in 7.2 without the .4 up top.

 

[JoshZ]

In fact, I think I've grown too accustomed to the Marvel "crushed dynamic range" home near field mixes (on UHD discs and streaming) and was unprepared at how loud explosions were in ST:FC.

It isn't just Marvel, but pretty much all of Disney. And it doesn't really have anything to do with the near-field home mixes, as the movies sound the same in theaters too.

 

[Sam Favate]

I watched this last night in 4k, and it looks amazing. Top notch job; best the film has ever looked on home video and the best since I saw it in the theater these many years ago. (27 years ago! Come on! This is getting ridiculous!)

It's a terrific movie, and it starts with a bang and never lets up. A sure fire way to grip the audience is to thrust them into the action and never stop. That doesn't leave a lot of room for character development though, although this movie manages to give each member of the main cast something to do. Crusher and Troi get the short end of the stick as usual though.

There are a few lapses in story logic though, not least of which is the addition of a "Borg queen." I've never been sold on the idea of a queen bee, and certainly not one who acts with as much emotion and cunning as this one does. The Borg were scary because they were relentless and couldn't be reasoned with and all of a sudden they have a leader who, if I read the film correctly, is willing to trade sexual favors with Data for an encrypted access code? (I blame Brannon Braga, if not for the creation of the queen, for all the sexual shenanigans.)

Patrick Stewart gets a lot to play with here, and his Moby Dick outburst is terrific, albeit out of character. We're clearly meant to see that he's lost it where the Borg are concerned, and while he does indeed save the fleet in the beginning of the film, it seems the admiralty was correct in keeping him away from the battle. He's unhinged.

Alfre Woodard is great here, but as a companion and (surrogate) love interest, her character prevents real character development among the characters like we've seen in Picard season 3. Movies had to have a stand-alone quality to them, even this one, even though it references the show's most famous two-parter from six years earlier. (Gates McFadden has said as much in recent interviews, citing Lilly and Donna Murphy's character in the next film, saying they prevented anything from developing between her and Stewart.)

Jonathan Frakes does a great job directing this, keeping the action moving and lighting even the darkest scenes so that the audience can see what is happening. He's also having a lot of fun as Riker. You can't fake the huge smiles he had on camera.

Every time they do the "make Data more human" thing, I just want him to be Data, the android that is without feeling and who makes stoic comments on the rest of humanity. In giving Brent Spiner room to showcase his considerable talents, we lose more of the Data we love. It was frustrating in the first TNG film, and only a little less so here.

I guess if you have to have a Borg Queen, you might as well have Alice Krige. She's very good, and allows the character to give voice to what the Borg want and why in a way that was never addressed before. Still, in adding the queen, the writers forever altered the nature of the Borg, and IMO, diminished them. Also, Krige's character was revisited several times, despite her demise in this movie: We see her in Voyager, in Picard season 2 (albeit in an altered timeline) and in season 3. There was never a great explanation that I'm aware of regarding how she could transfer her consciousness across 70,000 light years. (If there is a second or a third queen, how do they retain the memories of this one?)

Of course, it's now impossible to see this film without the context of Picard season 3, which is a direct continuation of this film and The Best of Both Worlds two-parter. It has to be said that Picard season 3 is superior. That's not a fair comparison, because it has more time to develop characters and let the plot stew for a while, but S3 is ultimately a more satisfying experience.

Star Trek has used the Borg enough now: Six episodes of TNG, a few seasons of Voyager, the First Contact movie, the premiere of DS9, an episode of Enterprise, all three seasons of Picard, and I'm probably missing something. I would be happy to see them retired.

First Contact is easily the best TNG movie. It's a blast, especially if you put aside the connections to the show and Star Trek history. This was the best TNG widescreen adventure... until now.

 

[jayembee]

If the Birg had really wanted to be “cunning and deadly,” they would have done the time travel FIRST (in their part of the galaxy) and THEN done the space travel. There would have been no chance for the Federation to be aware of the attack; no chance for the Enterprise to reverse the damage.

The Borg in this movie are idiots.

This has always been my problem with the movie (and I've mentioned it elsewhere). Now, I still think that the movie is well-made, and makes for an exciting watch, but this plot problem is still a plot problem. One also wonders why they didn't try to assimilate the nearby Vulcan ship, if the aim was to stop First Contact.

I've also wondered why they didn't try to assimilate the other major races near Federation space: Romulans, Klingons, and Cardassians. Especially the Romulans, given that the currently accepted wisdom seems to be that the mysterious goings on in the Neutral Zone late in TNG S1 was the result of a Borg incursion.

There are a few lapses in story logic though, not least of which is the addition of a "Borg queen." I've never been sold on the idea of a queen bee, and certainly not one who acts with as much emotion and cunning as this one does. The Borg were scary because they were relentless and couldn't be reasoned with and all of a sudden they have a leader who, if I read the film correctly, is willing to trade sexual favors with Data for an encrypted access code? (I blame Brannon Braga, if not for the creation of the queen, for all the sexual shenanigans.)

Yeah, there's that, too. I don't have a problem with the idea of the Borg having a "Queen Bee". It's, as you say, that she didn't act anything like what we came to expect of the Borg.

Star Trek has used the Borg enough now: Six episodes of TNG, a few seasons of Voyager, the First Contact movie, the premiere of DS9, an episode of Enterprise, all three seasons of Picard, and I'm probably missing something. I would be happy to see them retired.

To be honest, if they had to use the Borg again, I would love to see a movie that is an adaptation of Peter David's novel Vendetta, in which it turns out that the "Doomsday Machine" from the TOS episode was created to be a Borg-killer. But at this point, I agree, it's probably best to retire the Borg.

 

[Sam Favate]

To be honest, if they had to use the Borg again, I would love to see a movie that is an adaptation of Peter David's novel Vendetta, in which it turns out that the "Doomsday Machine" from the TOS episode was created to be a Borg-killer. But at this point, I agree, it's probably best to retire the Borg.

Yes! Of all the books I read (and I didn’t read that many ST novels), I loved Vendetta. Probably too late to adapt it now, given everyone’s ages.

 

[JoshZ]

This has always been my problem with the movie (and I've mentioned it elsewhere). Now, I still think that the movie is well-made, and makes for an exciting watch, but this plot problem is still a plot problem. One also wonders why they didn't try to assimilate the nearby Vulcan ship, if the aim was to stop First Contact.

I've also wondered why they didn't try to assimilate the other major races near Federation space: Romulans, Klingons, and Cardassians. Especially the Romulans, given that the currently accepted wisdom seems to be that the mysterious goings on in the Neutral Zone late in TNG S1 was the result of a Borg incursion.



Yeah, there's that, too. I don't have a problem with the idea of the Borg having a "Queen Bee". It's, as you say, that she didn't act anything like what we came to expect of the Borg.



To be honest, if they had to use the Borg again, I would love to see a movie that is an adaptation of Peter David's novel Vendetta, in which it turns out that the "Doomsday Machine" from the TOS episode was created to be a Borg-killer. But at this point, I agree, it's probably best to retire the Borg.

These problems have always bothered me about the movie as well. The Borg Queen is a juicy character, but her personality is in stark contrast to everything else the Borg have ever been.

I like First Contact, but I've only ever considered it a "pretty good" Trek movie, not a "great" one. The fact that it's the best of the TNG crew's feature films tends to make peope overrate it, because they really want this cast to have at least one great movie, and this is the only thing close.

 

[JoshZ]

I noticed something interesting about the video transfer here.

Star Trek: Generations clearly received a brand new film scan that's very different than the 2009 Blu-ray in several areas. First off, the aspect ratio measure 2.39:1 rather than 2.35:1 like the older disc. Picture geometry is slightly different, and it has a small amount of extra info around the edges of the frame. The time coding on the disc also differs from the old Blu-ray by about a half-second consistently throughout the movie. When I was reviewing that disc, I had a very difficult time matching up an exact frame-to-frame comparison.

First Contact, on the other hand, appears to be the same scan used in 2009. The aspect ratio measures 2.35:1 just like the old Blu-ray. Picture geometry and framing are identical, and the encoding on the disc matches up exactly frame-to-frame between discs. However, both the new Blu-ray and UHD dial back the DNR and have new color grades (very different even from each other, in addition to differing from the old Blu-ray).

I can't take 4K HDR screencaps yet, but I have side-by-side comparisons of the old and new Blu-rays in the reviews on my blog.

I haven't watched the last two movies in full yet, but from a quick scan, Insurrection appears to be another new scan (2.39:1 aspect ratio vs. the old Blu-ray's 2.35:1) while Nemesis is not (both 2.35:1).