20 Things You Didn't Know About Star Trek: First Contact 1996 - Part 1
First Contact remains a mighty Trek classic over 25 years or so later.
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00:00And we have come to it at last. It is the film that proved that the Next Generation crew really
00:06could handle a big-screen budget and some big-screen adventure. Now, whether we are
00:11following Jean-Luc Picard on his insane quest to smash every piece of glass that he finds,
00:17or Riker's quest to figure out what was that third seat originally for in the cockpit of the Phoenix,
00:25it is the big film of 1996. I'm not going to lie to you. I've got very happy memories of this film.
00:31Is it a perfect film? No. No, it isn't. Is it a terrible film? No. No, it isn't. Is it a film
00:37that I shockingly, with my father, found myself in the middle of when the screen turned off and
00:42suddenly we were all given a bathroom break? Yes. Yes, it is. That was very surprising. I mean,
00:47I don't know what to tell you. Bathroom break in the middle of a two-hour film. Hey, listen,
00:50I wasn't about to turn it down. That is just one of the many things you probably didn't know. So,
00:56with that in mind, I am Sean Ferrick for Trek Culture, and here are 20 things you didn't know
01:01about Star Trek First Contact, Part 1. Number 20. It had a considerably bigger budget than
01:07Generations. First Contact's final budget was set at $45 million, making it the most expensive film
01:13of the franchise up to that point, tied with the very first film in the series, Star Trek
01:16The Motion Picture. After the release of The Motion Picture, the sequels received considerably
01:20smaller budgets, with First Contact's predecessor originally priced at a slender $25 million before
01:25reshoots and overages pushed to $35 million. First Contact having $10 million more to play with
01:30allowed the production team to plan and stage more elaborate effects-driven action sequences,
01:34as ultimately became a large part of the movie's mainstream appeal. Its subsequent box office
01:38success prompted Paramount to drop a stonking $70 million on the direct sequel, Star Trek
01:42Insurrection, which wasn't nearly as well-received, either critically or commercially.
01:47Number 19. Picard and Riker's planned roles were swapped. In earlier drafts of the script,
01:52the plot roles assigned to Captain Picard and Riker were actually reversed. Picard would remain
01:56on Earth to help with the Phoenix's historic warp drive flight, while Riker would fight the Borg
02:00aboard the Enterprise. As a result, the bulk of the earlier drafts were focused on Earth, which
02:04Patrick Stewart reportedly objected to, resulting in Picard and Riker's arcs being switched around.
02:09This explains why Picard assumes a more action-centric role in this film. It was originally
02:13written for Riker, while Picard was supposed to replace Zefram Cochran in launching the Phoenix
02:17after the Borg put Cochran in a coma. Number 18. It almost took place in Medieval Europe.
02:23As soon as writers Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore committed to the idea of a time travel movie,
02:27they began tossing around potential settings and settled on one distinct time period, Medieval
02:31Europe. This version of the story, aptly entitled Star Trek Renaissance, would have revolved around
02:35the Borg attempting to prevent the development of modern civilisation in 15th century Europe.
02:39The Borg's base would have been an ornate castle that would have been half-assimilated,
02:42there would have been sword fight sequences, and Data would end up as Leonardo da Vinci's
02:46apprentice. Ultimately, Moore felt that the idea risked becoming too campy the more they dug into
02:51the bones of it, and Patrick Stewart refused to wear tights, so the concept was scrapped. While
02:54it does sound a little Bill and Ted all in all, it could have been a lot of fun.
02:57Number 17. The Borg were given a big budget redesign. Budgetary constraints meant that
03:02the crew of The Next Generation weren't totally happy with how the Borg looked on the show,
03:06but First Contact's beefier budget allowed them to take the intended design much further,
03:11and retain the costumes and sets for later use on Star Trek Voyager. The makeup team's
03:15process for Borg actors on the movie took five times as long compared to The Next Generation,
03:20as they opted for a more visceral and involved look that better conveyed how thoroughly an
03:24assimilated person is subsumed by the Borg. Once shooting was complete for the day, it reportedly
03:28took a Borg actor two hours to get out of the elaborate costume and remove all of their makeup.
03:34Number 16. Zefram Cochrane is greeted by Spock's great-grandfather.
03:38The Vulcan captain of the Tiplana Hath who crucially greets Zefram Cochrane and initiates
03:42First Contact is never named in the movie itself or its end credits, though it's stated in a Star
03:47Trek card game and also a reference book that it is in fact Sulkar, Spock's great-grandfather.
03:52We first hear mention of Sulkar way back in Star Trek III The Search for Spock,
03:56when he's named as the father of Scone and the grandfather of Sarek, Spock's own father.
04:01Fan service of this sort is tricky and often ends up confusing or enraging fans,
04:04but in this case, it's a meaningful addition that's just subtle enough to
04:08pass by more casual observers. Number 15. Q appeared in a draft of the script.
04:14There's no denying how much fans love Q, and so it's little surprise he almost wound up in First
04:18Contact, having been part of one of the script's earlier drafts. There's no word on precisely what
04:23his role might have entailed, but his presence surely would have dovetailed neatly into the
04:27time travel plot. Yet, the decision was ultimately made to exclude him, potentially due to the
04:31script already having so many spinning plates to keep track of. A Q cameo is rarely a bad thing,
04:36and Paramount was reportedly angling hard for the character's inclusion, but it never came to pass.
04:41It would have been neat, but it's not like the end result suffered at all due to his absence.
04:44Number 14. Geordi's visor was replaced at LeVar Burton's request.
04:49Geordi LaForge ditched his iconic visor from The Next Generation in this movie,
04:53switching it out for ocular implants which aren't given any further explanation. The
04:56change was actually suggested by actor LeVar Burton himself, who for years had been lobbying
05:00to get rid of the visor, feeling that it encroached upon his performance due to his
05:04lack of eyesight, and that preventing the audience from seeing his eyes lessened their
05:08emotional connection to him. Co-writer Moore eventually complied and came up with the implants,
05:12which Geordi continued to wear for the remainder of his cinematic Trek tenure,
05:15bar that subplot and insurrection where his eyes temporarily regenerate.
05:19Number 13. It was the last Trek film to use practical models.
05:24First Contact marked a major milestone for the Star Trek movies by being the final one to use
05:29a practical scale model of the Enterprise during production. Most of the shots of the Enterprise
05:33throughout the film were achieved through practical motion control photography, with the model being
05:36filmed and then inserted into a CGI environment or enhanced with digital effects. From Star Trek
05:41Insurrection onwards, the various effects shot of the ships were entirely digital,
05:44initially working from high-resolution images of the Enterprise model taken during production
05:48on Star Trek First Contact. Naturally, it goes without saying that the J.J. Abrams-produced
05:52reboot franchise also opted for 100% CGI ships, given that VFX are considerably cheaper than
05:58practical elements these days. Number 12. The Borg eyepieces secretly flash Morse code
06:03Each Borg drone, of course, wears an electronic eyepiece which could be seen periodically blinking
06:08red, but what you surely didn't realise is that these blinks were actually spelling out Morse
06:12code. Makeup designer Michael Westmore's son, Michael Westmore Jr, programmed the lights to
06:16spell out the names of various members of the film's production team. Though you'd struggle
06:20to make any of these names out given that a single Borg drone is rarely lingered upon for long,
06:24it's a most fascinating, peculiar easter egg for sure. Allegedly, some of the names included
06:28are producer Rick Berman, former Paramount CEO Sherry Lansing, and Michael Westmore's dog,
06:33Bonnie. Number 11. Shooting started just seven months before release
06:38This fact is scarcely believable considering how polished and well-aged the movie is,
06:42but First Contact didn't start shooting until April 8th, 1996, just seven and a half months
06:47before the film ended up releasing in cinemas. This truncated production schedule comprised of
06:52three months of shooting on almost five months of post-production forced visual effects company
06:56Industrial Light & Magic to rush to complete the film's effects on time. The most complicated
07:00effect in the film, the Borg Queen's head being lowered onto her torso, alone took five months
07:06to satisfactorily finish. The prospect of a sci-fi tentpole film hitting cinemas less than
07:11five months after the last piece of principal footage is shot is absolutely mind-boggling
07:16to consider today, where it's not unheard of for glossy tentpoles to spend 18 months in
07:21post-production. Now that is everything for the first part of the list because we don't want to
07:25give you everything too quickly because you'll never come back and visit us again. Also before
07:29I let you go make sure that you check out our interview with Doug Drexler who was of course a
07:35designer and worked as a scenic artist on Star Trek First Contact as well in addition to designing
07:41so many cool things for Star Trek. You can find the link to that in the description of this video
07:46you won't regret it. Don't forget that you can catch us over on Twitter at Trek Culture and you
07:51can catch myself at Sean Farrick on Twitter and Instagram and TikTok as well where I post
07:57daily Star Trek videos. You will be able to catch the rest of this list soon in the meantime live
08:02long and prosper you look after yourself you look after your friends and family and to my friends
08:07in Ukraine stay safe we're thinking of you with all of our love thanks a million