First Contact remains a mighty Trek classic over 25 years or so later.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00 And we have come to it at last. It is the film that proved that the Next Generation crew really
00:06 could handle a big-screen budget and some big-screen adventure. Now, whether we are
00:11 following Jean-Luc Picard on his insane quest to smash every piece of glass that he finds,
00:17 or Riker's quest to figure out what was that third seat originally for in the cockpit of the Phoenix,
00:25 it is the big film of 1996. I'm not going to lie to you, I've got very happy memories of this film.
00:31 Is it a perfect film? No, no it isn't. Is it a terrible film? No, no it isn't. Is it a film that
00:37 I shockingly, with my father, found myself in the middle of when the screen turned off and suddenly
00:43 we were all given a bathroom break? Yes, yes it is. That was very surprising. I mean, I don't
00:47 know what to tell you. Bathroom break in the middle of a two-hour film. Hey, listen, I wasn't
00:51 about to turn it down. That is just one of the many things you probably didn't know. So, with
00:56 that in mind, I am Sean Ferrick for Trek Culture, and here are 20 things you didn't know about Star
01:02 Trek First Contact, part one. Number 20, it had a considerably bigger budget than Generations.
01:08 First Contact's final budget was set at $45 million, making it the most expensive film
01:13 of the franchise up to that point, tied with the very first film in the series,
01:16 Star Trek The Motion Picture. After the release of The Motion Picture, the sequels received
01:19 considerably smaller budgets, with First Contact's predecessor originally priced at a slender $25
01:24 million before reshoots and overages pushed to $35. First Contact having $10 million more to
01:29 play with allowed the production team to plan and stage more elaborate, effects-driven action
01:33 sequences, as ultimately became a large part of the movie's mainstream appeal. Its subsequent
01:37 box office success prompted Paramount to drop a stonking $70 million on the direct sequel,
01:42 Star Trek Insurrection, which wasn't nearly as well-received, either critically or commercially.
01:47 Number 19, Picard and Riker's planned roles were swapped. In earlier drafts of the script,
01:52 the plot roles assigned to Captain Picard and Riker were actually reversed. Picard would remain
01:56 on Earth to help with the Phoenix's historic warp drive flight, while Riker would fight the Borg
02:00 aboard the Enterprise. As a result, the bulk of the earlier drafts were focused on Earth,
02:04 which Patrick Stewart reportedly objected to, resulting in Picard and Riker's arcs being
02:08 switched around. This explains why Picard assumes a more action-centric role in this film. It was
02:13 originally written for Riker, while Picard was supposed to replace Zephram Cochran in launching
02:17 the Phoenix after the Borg put Cochran in a coma. Number 18, it almost took place in medieval Europe.
02:23 As soon as writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore committed to the idea of a time travel movie,
02:27 they began tossing around potential settings and settled on one distinct time period,
02:30 medieval Europe. This version of the story, aptly entitled Star Trek Renaissance, would have revolved
02:35 around the Borg attempting to prevent the development of modern civilization in 15th
02:38 century Europe. The Borg's base would have been an ornate castle that would have been half
02:42 assimilated, there would have been sword fight sequences, and Data would end up as Leonardo
02:46 da Vinci's apprentice. Ultimately, Moore felt that the idea risked becoming too campy the more
02:50 they dug into the bones of it, and Patrick Stewart refused to wear tights, so the concept was scrapped.
02:54 While it does sound a little Bill and Ted all in all, it could have been a lot of fun. Number 17,
02:58 the Borg were given a big budget redesign. Budgetary constraints meant that the crew of
03:03 The Next Generation weren't totally happy with how the Borg looked on the show, but First Contact's
03:07 beefier budget allowed them to take the intended design much further, and retain the costumes and
03:12 sets for later use on Star Trek Voyager. The makeup team's process for Borg actors on the movie took
03:17 five times as long compared to The Next Generation, as they opted for a more visceral and involved
03:22 look that better conveyed how thoroughly an assimilated person is subsumed by the Borg.
03:26 Once shooting was complete for the day, it reportedly took a Borg actor two hours to get
03:31 out of the elaborate costume and remove all of their makeup. Number 16, Zephram Cochran is greeted
03:36 by Spock's great-grandfather. The Vulcan captain of the Tiplana Hath who crucially greets Zephram
03:41 Cochran and initiates First Contact is never named in the movie itself or its end credits,
03:46 though it's stated in a Star Trek card game and also a reference book that it is in fact Solkar,
03:51 Spock's great-grandfather. We first hear mention of Solkar way back in Star Trek III The Search
03:56 for Spock, when he's named as the father of Scone and the grandfather of Sarek, Spock's own father.
04:01 Fan service of this sort is tricky and often ends up confusing or enraging fans, but in this case,
04:05 it's a meaningful addition that's just subtle enough to pass by more casual observers. Number
04:10 15, Q appeared in a draft of the script. There's no denying how much fans love Q,
04:16 and so it's little surprise he almost wound up in First Contact, having been part of one of the
04:20 script's earlier drafts. There's no word on precisely what his role might have entailed,
04:24 but his presence surely would have dovetailed neatly into the time travel plot. Yet, the decision
04:29 was ultimately made to exclude him, potentially due to the script already having so many spinning
04:33 plates to keep track of. A Q cameo is rarely a bad thing, and Paramount was reportedly angling
04:38 hard for the character's inclusion, but it never came to pass. It would have been neat, but it's
04:42 not like the end result suffered at all due to his absence. Number 14, Geordi's visor was replaced
04:47 at LeVar Burton's request. Geordi LaForge ditched his iconic visor from The Next Generation in this
04:52 movie, switching it out for ocular implants which aren't given any further explanation.
04:56 The change was actually suggested by actor LeVar Burton himself, who for years had been lobbying
05:00 to get rid of the visor, feeling that it encroached upon his performance due to his lack of eyesight,
05:05 and that preventing the audience from seeing his eyes lessened their emotional connection to him.
05:09 Co-writer Moore eventually complied and came up with the implants, which Geordi continued to wear
05:13 for the remainder of his cinematic Trek tenure, bar that subplot and insurrection where his eyes
05:17 temporarily regenerate. Number 13, it was the last Trek film to use practical models.
05:23 First Contact marked a major milestone for the Star Trek movies by being the final one to use
05:29 a practical scale model of the Enterprise during production. Most of the shots of the Enterprise
05:33 throughout the film were achieved through practical motion control photography, with the
05:36 model being filmed and then inserted into a CGI environment or enhanced with digital effects.
05:40 From Star Trek Insurrection onwards, the various effects shot of the ships were entirely digital,
05:44 initially working from high-resolution images of the Enterprise model taken during production on
05:48 Star Trek First Contact. Naturally, it goes without saying that the J.J. Abrams-produced
05:52 reboot franchise also opted for 100% CGI ships, given that VFX are considerably cheaper than
05:58 practical elements these days. Number 12, the Borg eyepieces secretly flash Morse code.
06:03 Each Borg drone, of course, wears an electronic eyepiece which could be seen periodically blinking
06:08 red, but what you surely didn't realise is that these blinks were actually spelling out Morse
06:12 code. Makeup designer Michael Westmore's son, Michael Westmore Jr, programmed the lights to
06:16 spell out the names of various members of the film's production team. Though you'd struggle
06:20 to make any of these names out given that a single Borg drone is rarely lingered upon for long,
06:24 it's a most fascinating, peculiar easter egg for sure. Allegedly, some of the names included
06:28 are producer Rick Berman, former Paramount CEO Sherry Lansing, and Michael Westmore's dog,
06:33 Bonnie. Number 11, shooting started just seven months before release. This fact is scarcely
06:39 believable considering how polished and well-aged the movie is, but First Contact didn't start
06:43 shooting until April 8th, 1996, just seven and a half months before the film ended up releasing
06:49 in cinemas. This truncated production schedule comprised of three months of shooting and almost
06:53 five months of post-production forced visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic to
06:57 rush to complete the film's effects on time. The most complicated effect in the film,
07:01 the Borg Queen's head being lowered onto her torso, alone took five months to satisfactorily finish.
07:07 The prospect of a sci-fi tentpole film hitting cinemas less than five months after the last
07:12 piece of principal footage is shot is absolutely mind-boggling to consider today, where it's not
07:17 unheard of for glossy tentpoles to spend 18 months in post-production. Now, that is everything for
07:23 the first part of the list, because we don't want to give you everything too quickly, because you'll
07:27 never come back and visit us again. Also, before I let you go, make sure that you check out our
07:32 interview with Doug Drexler, who was of course a designer and worked as a scenic artist on Star
07:38 Trek First Contact as well, in addition to designing so many cool things for Star Trek.
07:42 You can find the link to that in the description of this video. You won't regret it. Don't forget
07:47 that you can catch us over on Twitter @TrekCulture, and you can catch myself @SeanFerric on
07:53 Twitter and Instagram and TikTok as well, where I post daily Star Trek videos. You will be able
07:59 to catch the rest of this list soon. In the meantime, live long and prosper. You look after
08:04 yourself, you look after your friends and family, and to my friends in Ukraine, stay safe. We're
08:09 thinking of you. With all of our love. Thanks a million.