Product Description

In their second big screen adventure, the year is 2373 and the crew of the Enterprise-E has learned the Borg has returned. Because of Captain Picard's past experiences with the Borg, Starfleet has ordered the Enterprise to stay out of the fight. Realizing too much is at stake, Picard disobeys orders and takes the Enterprise to Earth. His knowledge of Borg technology leads the Federation fleet to victory, but a Borg sphere escapes and opens a temporal vortex. The Enterprise pursues and travels back to April 4, 2063; the day before the first warp flight.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8239 in DVD
• Brand: Paramount
• Released on: 2005-03-15
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD, Special Edition, Widescreen, DTS Surround Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 111 minutes

Amazon.com
Even-numbered Star Trek movies tend to be better, and First Contact (#8 in the popular movie 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 tantalizing 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

DVD features
The continuing excellence of the Star Trek feature-film special editions continues with the best Next Generation film, First Contact. As with Generations, veteran Trek writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore provide an excellent commentary track providing insight in the film and candid comments about what they feel didn't quite work out as expected. Less effective is director-actor Jonathan Frakes's commentary. He has a great time watching the film and offers occasional good information (like the pain of acting in the Jefferies tube), but might have benefited from a second voice to keep him focused.

In addition to the usual documentaries (lots of praise for first-time director Frakes) and text commentary, the more enjoyable features cover aspects of Star Trek across the different series--for example, showing the first appearance of Zefram Cochrane on the original series--and a three-part feature on the Borg. (Unfortunately, a closing pitch for the amusement-park attraction makes it seem like a commercial.) There are also some spotlights on the Borg queen, including a look at the effects that created her striking first appearance. --David Horiuchi

Customer Reviews

Star Trek First Contact Special Addition At It's Finest
This two Disk DVD Set is extraordinary. The Picture and Sound quality are so very good that you feel as though you are watching it in a theater. Because it's a widescreen picture the closed captioning doesn't interfere with the picture. It's jam packed with all sorts of extra bonus special features. Everything you ever wanted to know about First Contact and weren't afraid to be told. Let's not forget what a wonderful job Jonathan Frakes did directing. He truly proved himself a more than qualified director for feature films. We all know what a great job he did behind the cameras on the T.V. show. My boyfriend and I watched it together and he was really impressed. He asked me how much it cost. When I told him how inexpensive it was he bought two copies. One for a gift to another Treky fan. I highly recommend this two disk set and suggest you buy it right away before they run out. If you're not satisfied with it, I'll pay you for it. That's how much confidence I have that you'll absolutely LOVE it. Believe me when I tell you this is one purchase that you will never regret. ORDER NOW!!! In response to your comment first of all thank you for reading my review and please feel free to check them all out. You are correct I didn't leave enough information on my personal feelings. I thought the film was terrific. It lived up to the quality that we are used to getting when we see anything that starts out with the heading Star Trek. The storyline was very entertaining, it was as usual well acted, written, directed, great effects. I agree I could have done a better job on the body of the review itself. I'm busy writing another review as we speak. Thank you for taking the time to read my comments and I will strive to do better in the future!

"Assimilate THIS!"....First Contact moves at Warp 9.9!
Even though Star Trek: Generations was a good first entry in The Next Generation era of feature films, it wasn't until Rick Berman, Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga wrote Star Trek: First Contact's story and screenplay that Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and his crew proved that they could carry a Trek film without help from The Original Series' cast.

It also helped that the film was more action-oriented than Star Trek VII. Sure, the last battle of the NCC-1701 D was impressive and the brief meeting of Captains James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Picard did provide Trek fans with some exciting and moving moments, but what fans really wanted was a muscular...action movie with a mission (and antagonists) worthy of the Next Generation crew and the new, top-of-the line Enterprise E.

Star Trek: First Contact brings back the Borg, a race of half-organic, half cybernetic beings whose goal is to destroy other races by assimilating their technology and transforming the survivors by injecting microscopic nanoprobes that turn humans, Vulcans, El-Aurians -- anyone, really -- into unfeeling, relentless drones. As fans of the 1987-1994 syndicated series know, Capt. Picard was once captured by the Borg and transformed into Locutus, a Borg strategist/spokesdrone whose intimate knowledge of Starfleet technology,its tactics and its officers nearly spelled certain defeat for the Federation at the Battle of Wolf 359.

Now, several years later, the Borg are back and meaner than ever. Having been thwarted more than once in the 24th Century by Picard and his crew, the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) leads a single-cubeship invasion force into Federation space, hoping to defeat the Federation by either conquering Earth in a battle against Starfleet...or tinkering with the timeline and going back to the 21st Century to prevent humanity's first contact with another spacefaring race.

Actor Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr. Will Riker) makes his feature film directing debut in this eighth installment of the Star Trek movie series, and although he would only direct the weaker Star Trek: Insurrection, he does a great job at helming a very high-octane action flick that involves time travel, space battles, a strong Picard/Data storyline and elements from The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and the then-still new Voyager.

Guest stars James Cromwell (The Sum of All Fears, Babe) and Alfre Woodward join the cast of TNG as warp-drive inventor Zefram Cochrane and his friend and assistant Lily, who add a certain mixture of edginess and wit to the film. Cromwell fares particularly well as Cochrane, a character first seen in The Original Series episode Metamorphosis. While Cromwell doesn't remotely look like the then-30 or 40-something Glen Corbett, he portrays the legendary "father of warp drive" as a very human and flawed genius -- he is cranky, cynical and drinks way too much -- who is bemused by the hero-worship he receives from the Enterprise crew. He also gets some of the best lines. (My favorite: "You're astronauts...on some kind of star trek?")

Also contributing to the excitement is Jerry Goldsmith's score, a mixture of a lovely new main theme and such familiar touchstones as Alexander Courage's fanfare for the Original Series theme and Goldsmith's own "Main Theme" for Star Trek's first feature film (and later adapted as The Next Generation's main title).

Although First Contact does require some familiarity with the Star Trek universe and its history, it's clearly among the best of the 10 in the series.

Easily the Best TNG Film
While "Star Trek: First Contact" rewrites too much of the original TV series' history--a debilitating addiction the current production people can't seem to shake--it delivers a rollicking adventure that is more in keeping with Captain Kirk's episodes than any other "TNG" film. That's really good because on TV, talky Captain Picard and crew often seemed better suited for Monday morning board meetings than the intergalactic perils of space opera. In this one, a race of cybernauts called the Borg decide to revise Earth history by stopping the first human excursion with warp drive. Picard and crew follow the aliens back in time, meeting with a cynical, drunken inventor (a laconic James Cromwell) who revises their assessment of his place in history. Unlike the other TNG films, this one's plotted more like a film than a TV show, meaning that the pace is less likely to put you to sleep, even if Star Trek still can't quite escape cornball humor or pure cheese. (How many times does Data have to discover his humanity or Worf be told he's a warrior worthy of respect? Why do characters rely so often on a pregnant pause and one last line before exiting? Just how much technobabble can we really take?) The regular cast is as good as it's always been--which is to say, adequate--but Alice Krige stands out as the creepily sexy Borg queen and though she's frequently bug-eyed with excitement, Alfre Woodard deserves more screen time as Picard's potential love interest. The real stars here, though, are Jonathan Frakes as director, who seems to actually understand and respect the material he's working with, and Jerry Goldsmith, whose score is among the better in the series. When the humans meet up with a surprise alien race at the end, the moment might actually give you goosebumps.