Star Trek: First Contact UHD Review

Star Trek: First Contact is a lean, efficient and thrilling science fiction adventure combining the top tier of cinematic arts, including frighteningly good and Oscar nominated make-up, compelling sets, effective lighting, well balanced script, a parade of strong visual effects work, brilliant special effects including the skill and detail present on the nearly eleven-foot Sovereign Class Enterprise E model, Jonathan Frakes’ spot-on direction, an array of fine performances, and some of the best of Jerry Goldsmith’s scoring. These elements come together to create an almost perfect piece of Star Trek cinema. And it’s a film that hasn’t lost any of its thrill and adventure all these years later (27 years as of this writing). Highly recommended.

The Production: 4.5/5

“I will not sacrifice the Enterprise. We’ve made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And *I* will make them pay for what they’ve done!”

The Borg mount an invasion of the Federation, but after Picard and the newly outfitted Enterprise E help defeat and destroy the single Borg cube sent to attack, the Borg launch an escape ship that travels back in time to prevent an important moment in earth’s history, first contact between humans and an alien species that has a profound impact on the course of humanity. Picard and crew race back to defeat their plan, but the Borg are cunning and deadly.

Simply put, Star Trek: First Contact is magic. Taking a cue from the sophomore outing of the Original Series crew, writers Brannon Braga, Ronald B. Moore, and Rick Berman craft a clever story (from which Braga and Moore would create the screenplay) that brings back a popular villain from The Next Generation series. For Kirk and company, it was the charismatic Khan, for Picard and crew, it was their arch nemesis, the Borg. And it’s a crackling adventure brimming with action-packed sequences, emotionally dramatic moments, tension, and the right amount of lightheartedness among the darker nature of the story.  First Contact also gives us the first appearance of the Borg Queen, an evolution of the Borg ‘species’ that contradicts everything we thought we knew about the Borg, but also makes sense enough for us to buy it wholesale. The Borg Queen would make multiple future appearances, in Star Trek: Voyager and later in Picard season two.

Jonathan Frakes steps behind the camera to direct. He’d directed a number of episodes during the series’ television run, including greats like Cause and Effect and The Drumhead. Frakes, like Leonard Nimoy before him, was a smart choice to direct a Trek feature and he brings his steeped experience working in Trek and turns it into something creatively, visually, and emotionally powerful. Frakes also portrayed Commander Riker in the film, but moves himself to the sides of the action giving more screen time and fun moments to his fellow castmates – all while creating an obviously familial level of comfort on set that comes through in the performances. That presence, and his generosity as an actor/director, is a real gift for fans. Marina Sirtis’ Troi gets some of the early laughs with her drunken rant about ‘time’ and contending with the difficult Zefram Cochran (James Cromwell). Michael Dorn as Worf gets some wonderful moments; his introduction commanding the USS Defiant (which gave the writers the excuse they needed to get him from his current run on Deep Space Nine back on the Enterprise) and the spacewalk on the underside of the Enterprise E hull (“Assimilate this!”) – his moments are cheer-worthy.

Gates McFadden has some good scenes, notably escaping sick bay (a redress of Star Trek: Voyagers sick bay set) and calling up the emergency medical hologram (a nice cameo from Voyager’s EMH character played by Robert Picardo). Levar Burton as Geordi La Forge may get the least to do of the main cast, but Burton’s fine performance is much easier to recognize, thanks to his character finally ditching the visor he’d worn through the entire series in favor of vibrant blue ocular implant upgrades. That change will give Burton one of his best scenes from all the films in Insurrection, but he’s fun to watch interacting with Cromwell’s Cochrane here. Speaking of Cromwell, he’s terrific fun as the cranky, unpredictable drunkard Zefram Cochrane. Cromwell is a brilliant actor and natural and entertaining as the father of warp technology and reluctant hero.

This film has a heavy focus on Patrick Stewart’s Picard, Brent Spiner’s Data, Alice Krige’s mesmerizing Borg Queen, and the wonderful Alfre Woodard as Lily. Stewart is as good as he’s ever been as Captain Picard. Dramatically weighty, particularly in the scene where he argues with Woodard’s Lily about his encounter with the Borg. It’s a highlight of the film. That he also gets to do some action work and show off his muscles is a bonus. Spiner as Data is fun to watch as always. He shares memorable scenes with Krige’s Borg Queen and straddles the android and emotional parameters with ease. Krige is a gift in the role of the newly created Queen of the conquering cyborg species. Her alluring speech pattern, softly menacing, renders her one of the top tier Trek film villains.

Special mention should be made of Dwight Schultz, who returns in a small role as one of the series’ delightful occasional characters, Lt. Barclay. Adam Scott (Severance) has a good scene aboard the damaged Defiant (“It’s the Enterprise!”), and the always effective Neal McDonough’s Lt. Hawk, a character you suspect from the start might not make it to the end, is memorable, too.

The success of First Contact falls heavily on the shoulders of Johnathan Frakes. He directs with infectious energy and skill. Consider the scene where Picard, down with the damaged Phoenix ship, realizes the Borg are still alive and begins moving, as the camera tracks backwards with him. It’s a gem. Frakes creates lots of little moments like this, using the camera and his directorial prowess to create something thrilling, funny, dramatic, and wonder-filled. Braga and Moore’s script give Frakes good stuff to work with and they also cleverly layer in enough information about the Borg and Picard’s experiences so audiences could be swept up in the action even with limited or zero experience with the assimilating nemesis. It all comes together well. While the film can feel small at times – we’re essentially either on the ship or in the small settlement in Bozeman, Montana the whole time (Borg battle aside). Still, the tense adventure on the ship as the crew battle the menacing Borg, and the activity in the settlement as they strive to make sure Cochrane doesn’t meet his date with destiny, create a big enough tale to fill the big screen just fine.

Video: 5/5

3D Rating: NA

Framed at 2.35:1, Star Trek: First Contact looks the way all Trek fans have wanted it to look – like film, unscathed by heavy-handed digital tinkering, smearing, and sharpening.

Simply put, First Contact looks amazing.

A new 4K scan of the original camera negative performed by Paramount highlights how cinematic this adventure is. There’s an obvious uptick in detail, grain is natural, though occasional green screen effects pop out a little more here from the added resolution (Lily looking down and seeing earth from the orbiting Enterprise is a good example), but it’s as it is supposed to look. The visual effects work during the battle with the Borg cube is filled with detail, with the Borg cube itself benefitting from the added resolution. Interior Enterprise sets are rich with background detail, and skin tones, costume textures, and the vastly improved Borg drone make-up and prosthetic work is a delight. ILM’s exquisite work has never looked better.

The blue-white of photon torpedoes, the green in the Borg cube destruction, and the orange of Federation ship phaser fire positively pop. HDR grading (Dolby Vision) helps with those colors and bring out the detail in some of the darker scenes. Unlike Generations, the lighting here has a more distributed balance (courtesy Director of Photography, Matthew F. Leonetti), which isn’t a knock on Generations, just an observation.

Audio: 4.5/5

Paramount continues its policy of repurposing its original audio, though we get an upgrade here from Dolby TrueHD 5.1 to Dolby TrueHD 7.1. Once again, a Dolby Atmos mix would have been nice, but this track is vibrantly active. The battler with the Borg cube is very active across the speakers, with the surrounds getting good action here and in the Borg-controlled floors on the Enterprise. Jerry Goldsmith’s wonderful score sounds spectacular in the mix, dialogue is crisp throughout, and the subwoofer is exercised in all the right places.

One of the standout elements from this audio mix in Star Trek: First Contact is the representation of the Borg collective voices, as Picard hears their thoughts, we get good placement in the fronts and surrounds to create a sense of being in our heads. It serves the drama and the action and that’s what good sound design should do.

Special Features: 4/5

All the previously produced special features for Star Trek: First Contact are here, but nothing new. With Picard doing exceptionally well for Paramount+, it seems a missed opportunity to have created something with the cast and crew reflecting on this film now nearly 30 years on.

The extras are a mix of standard and high-definition material showing just now old some of them are.

4K Disc:

• Commentary by director and actor Jonathan Frakes
• Commentary by screenplay writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
• Commentary by Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale
• Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda

Blu-ray disc:

• Commentary by director and actor Jonathan Frakes
• Commentary by screenplay writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore
• Commentary by Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale
• Text commentary by Michael and Denise Okuda
• Library Computer
• Production
• Making First Contact
• The Art of First Contact
• The Story
• The Missile Silo
• The Deflector Dish
• From “A” to “E”
• Scene Deconstruction
• Borg Queen Assembly
• Escape Pod Launch
• Borg Queen’s Demise
• The Star Trek Universe
• Jerry Goldsmith: A Tribute
• The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane
• First Contact: The Possibilities
• Industrial Light & Magic – The Next Generation
• Greetings from the International Space Station
• SpaceShipOne’s Historic Flight
• Brent Spiner – Data and Beyond Part 2
• Trek Roundtable: First Contact
• Starfleet Academy SCISEC Brief 008: Temporal Vortex
• The Borg Collective
• Unimatrix One
• The Queen
• Design Matrix
• Archives
• Trailers
• Blu-ray and Digital copy of the film

Overall: 4.5/5

Star Trek: First Contact is a lean, efficient and thrilling science fiction adventure combining the top tier of cinematic arts, including frighteningly good and Oscar nominated make-up, compelling sets, effective lighting, well balanced script, a parade of strong visual effects work, brilliant special effects including the skill and detail present on the nearly eleven-foot Sovereign Class Enterprise E model, Jonathan Frakes’ spot-on direction, an array of fine performances, and some of the best of Jerry Goldsmith’s scoring. These elements come together to create an almost perfect piece of Star Trek cinema. And it’s a film that hasn’t lost any of its thrill and adventure all these years later (27 years as of this writing). Highly recommended.

Neil Middlemiss

Neil has been a member of the Home Theater Forum reviewing staff since 2007, approaching a thousand reviews and interviews with actors, directors, writers, stunt performers, producers and more in that time. A senior communications manager and podcast host with a Fortune 500 company by day, Neil lives in the Charlotte, NC area with his wife and son, serves on the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Charlotte Board of Directors, and has a passion for film scores, with a collection in the thousands.