Truth Or Myth – Star Trek: First Contact Pt 2

Welcome back to Truth OR Myth and part 2 of my deep look into Star Trek: First Contact. I hope you’ll enjoy… beginning where we left off…

After blowing him, on his skin that is, it’s back to Picard and Picard droning on about the great federation and then he decides to go a bit nuts to get some info on what the Borg’s plans are… I guess his Wifi was down again…

(Paramount) Picard Shows Lily Where She Is – “Star Trek: First Contact” 1994

This is actually a well played out scenario. You see he’s talking like the Picard we know, the Great federation, evolved humanity, while in the very Next scene he’s completely oblivious as to the fact that he’s betraying the very future principles that he was trying to convince Lily exists. well done writers, well done…

So after Picard goes all Scarface on the Borg in the Holodeck we begin to realize the extent of Picard’s mental issues when it comes to the Borg and just how right Starfleet was to be worried about Picard confronting the Borg again…

One thing that I’ve always wondered about this holodeck scene was why Picard didn’t simply just ask the Computer for a gun that he wanted… Seems like a really convoluted way to get one…

Back to the Planet and we’re treated to ever pleasant Barkley “Fan Boying” over Cochrane and Cochran has to pee… LaForge ends up scaring Cochrane however with his own “Fan Boying,” really laying the pressures of the future on the poor drunk…

Back to the ship, Picard and Lily make it to the bridge and Picard tells Worf that the Borg’s plan is to contact the Borg from that Century and getting them to send a ship by reconfiguring the main deflector dish into some tech comm device. While on the planet Riker and LaForge are chasing after a fleeing from his responsibility to the future Zephram Cochrane.

(Paramount) Picard, Worf And Hawk Do A Spacewalk – “Star Trek: First Contact” 1994

Picard, Worf and Hawk do a spacewalk to get to the deflector dish. While Data breaks his restraints and begins to cry over a paper cut and is seemingly falling under the spell of the Borg Queen… After all even Androids want love right? remember he’s fully functional audience!

Riker and LaForge eventually catch Cochrane after all. Riker gets ticked and stuns the Doctor with his phaser. And back to the ship, we get some exposition as to what the team has to d to stop the Borg’s plans.

Eventually succeeding though losing Hawk in the Process we get another obvious cliche type line from Worf, and the destruction of part of the Enterprise deflector, sure hope the ship doesn’t need to go anywhere!

And it’s back to the planet where the Phoenix is readying to launch and after a great little convo that makes the audience ponder what any human being is able to become regardless of what their original intentions are it’s time for everything to come to a head.

Picard is so invested in his hatred of the Borg he is unwilling to accept the reality of the situation they’re all in. And this ultimately drives him to insult Worf and send him off to join the unimportant chief of security a few decks down.

Lily decides she’s not having this craziness anymore and goes in to confront Picard about his supposed evolved sensibilities. It is at this point that the true depth the effect the Borg had on Picard is seen.

(Paramount) “The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And I will make them PAY for what they’ve done!” – “Star Trek: First Contact” 1994

Picard feels deeply ashamed and guilty over wolf 359. not being strong enough, in his eyes, to stop the Borg from assimilating him and using all his knowledge and wisdom to kill 11000 Starfleet officers and almost assimilate Earth. He could not forgive himself for those actions and instead of accepting the situation for what it actually had been instead repressed it and didn’t deal with it. he had simply moved on in his eye, placing no further relevance on the subject then ordering an Earl Grey when thirsty.

Yet these events had festered and culminated into the very pit of his soul… As such he was blind to what had happened to him. In his eyes, he was doing what was right to save humanity at any cost. he forgot that sometimes defeating an enemy at any cost is too high a price. The very trait that the audience of Trek had fallen in love with the character for. And ironically it was an “unevolved” human that was the only person who could reach him. Someone who although couldn’t understand completely what he had gone through did understand revenge. And was able to break through his blind armour and make him realize what he had become. What the Borg had actually stolen from him then and were continuing to steal from him now, his very humanity.

he was becoming the instrument of his own undoing. Revenge can be satisfying for a while, but ultimately it leaves a person empty. And had he continued in his current course of action he would have finally seen his entire universe destroyed? there would be no federation, No Enterprise and no future. Though not assimilated, Picard would have succeeded in helping the Borg assimilated Earth as they had originally intended except this time, it would have truly been his fault.

This scene is definitely the best in the movie there is no doubt. With Picard’s, the line must be drawn here speech one of the most poignant in all of Star Trek Lore. As an audience, we know how he feels and understands him suddenly and completely. We come to all these conclusions at the exact same time as he does and it’s a brilliant piece of writing…

Thanks to Lily and Moby Dick Picard decides to blow up the damn ship and on the Planet its launch day for the Phoenix. Strapping in, Cochrane, LaForge and Riker prepare to get underway while intercuts of the auto-destruct being set and the Enterprise evacuation goes on for a little while, and we get Picard apologizing to Worf and suddenly once again his Wifi is turned on and he realizes Data, who ultimately reached him in the Best of Both Worlds was still alive and needed his help.

(Paramount) Zefram Cochrane, Riker & LaForge “Flight Of The Phoenix” – “Star Trek: First Contact” 1994

After the magic carpet ride launch of the Phoenix, we see the rocket actually turn in to something resembling a Starfleet ship complete with 2 nacelles.

Picard, having regained his sense of self, heads down to Engineering to save his friend, and the final showdown begins. Seemingly under the Borg Queens spell, Data releases the main computer giving the Borg control of the Enterprise and ends up firing Quantum Torpedoes at the Phoenix… Dun Dun Dun…

But it’s another fake out… The torpedoes are targeted to not hit the ship and while the Phoenix goes to warp, affirming history, Data punctures the plasma coolant tube on the warp core that had been the original plan Picard had when all this “nuttiness” had begun. And the plasma begins to eat away at the Borg, filling Engineering.

managing to escape with Data forcing the queen into the Plasma cloud, Picard Vents engineering and we see all that’s left of the Borg Queen is cybernetic head and spine.

And here is my final slight problem with this movie. Were to assume that all the Borg on the ship is either destroyed or incapacitated. But we don’t really know. This movie doesn’t really explain that at all. The ship was almost overrun with all the Borg on all the decks, so the death of the queen suddenly stops them? We know from Voyager that although the Queen gives the Borg specific orders she’s not actually the collective consciousness itself. So even if she was destroyed would that collective consciousness be stopped? Did Picard and Data have to turn off the Borg tech, whatever they brought over for this to be done? How many people were assimilated and how many of those Borg would then have to re-assert there humanity after Crusher operates… And that’s a lot of operations since we get the impression a LOT of the crew has been assimilated… I guess my problem here is it just raises a lot of questions that are NEVER explored…

So after Picard preserves the Queens leftover body parts for Starfleet in a stasis field, oh wait no after breaking the damn leftovers in half, Picard and Data head out of Engineering into the sunset. Just in time for us to see the movies namesake finale take place.

(Paramount) “Mr Data lay in a course for the 24th century. I suspect our future is there waiting for us” – “Star Trek: First Contact” 1994

In this scene the entire senior staff witnesses a Vulcan ship landing and making contact with Cochrane. it’s a clear violation of the temporal prime directive but I think we can let this one go.

Then we get a goodbye to Lily Scene, An Enterprise heading back to the future and finally, one last seizure scene and this movie come to a close.

When I decided to review this movie from an outside dispassionate and subjective point of view I was worried as to what Id actually conclude. Well, I was pleasantly surprised.

This movie hasn’t aged one bit, it’s message is still as good today as it was then. It was a great balance between action and adventure and intelligence. Everything in this movie was Epically perfect. sure there were a few little problems I pointed out but they can easily be overlooked because this is a prime example of Star Trek at it’s best.

And so with all that I’m happy to be able to conclude that this is, in fact, the Best of TNG movies and worthy of all the praise it has ever received, well done Star Trek!

And that brings to a close this 2 part episode of Truth OR Myth. I know it was a bit annoying having it in 2 parts but hey, what can do you right? editing these videos together isn’t as easy as you’d think. Anyhow have something you’d like to add? Leave a comment in the section below and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the channel so you won’t miss a single video we release… Thanks again for watching… Live long and prosper.

 

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