Star Trek: First Contact

I've always loved Star Trek, and I've always seen the Borg as one of the biggest enemies the federation (and the galaxy) has ever faced. The borg are quite literally at odds with what everything humans have stood for over the last millenia. The Borg is completely at odds with humanities way of life. We pride ourself on our community, yet individual acheievements, whereas the Borg are one collective mind made from so many bodies.

The concept is scary, and well woven into the fabric of the star trek universe. This episode particularly poignant because the Borg were nearly successful in wiping out humanity as a whole.

You see, they travelled back in time just as they were about to get destroyed by Captain Picard and his crew, and did so at a point where it was pivotal to humanities journey into the stars. Luckily the eneterprise were hot in pursuit and were trapped in a time bubble where they existed in both the current timeline and the alternative timeline. They had no choice but to follow them in and stop whatever it was that they were trying to do.

When they arrive at their destination they find out they are at a particularly fragile point in history where we make First Contact with the Vulcans. This point in time needs to happen else humanity is doomed.

This is where they meet Zefram Cochran, literally the man that invented warp speed travel. The crew are amidst a historic celebrity, it would be like the equivalent of us meeting Charles Darwin (the father of evolutionary biology and most of what we believe about the world today). But what puts the crew on edge is that Zefram isn't this upstanding man they believe him to be, he's more so a piece loving hippie alcoholic bum, which goes against everything they have been tuahgt about him.

So the film revolves around the crew of the enterprise setting off, helping zefram getting his shit together so that they'll be ready for their first flight. Oh, and this scene is probably still one of my favourite scenes in film history:

But back on the Enterprise nothing is what it seems, and when the crew destoryed the borg ship trying to destroy the earth warp ship take off, they teleported aboard and took away a section of the enterprise, and slowly took over the controls of the ship over. The threat is not all but over and active.

Captain Picard and his crew are left on the ship to deal with the borg threat, and slowly but surely work their way to their main control centre. The borg try lots of different tactics, including setting a homing beacon to the borg of the 21st Century for back up.

All in all this is an amazing film, and by far my favourite one out of all Star Treks. The new ones have gone a bit silly and I'm not entirely sure if I like the new and crisp Kirk. I like the old Kirk, flawed by the death of his son, posioned by the hatred of Klingons; the new Kirk is somewhat dqueaky clean and I don't like that.

So sit down and watch this film, it's a good one. It's a battle for humanity, but also a deeper conversation at a later date can be had on the collectivism of the borg and how it is flawed.

Posted using CineTV