The Best Star Trek Movie

Im often asked which Star Trek movie I like best of all. No, Im not a trekkie, but I am a bit of a Star Trek fanatic. I own all the movies on DVD and Ive just finished amassing my collection of the series on DVD. I love watching them all, and even find myself watching the edited versions when they are scheduled on tv, even though I own them all on DVD.

My favorite crew is the crew of the Enterprise on Enterprise, the last television series. But my favorite movie is a toss up between First Contact and Insurrection. First Contact wins by a nose; probably because I find the dialog and situations more entertaining. It opens with Captain Picard having a nightmare in which he relives his assimilation by the Borg. When he awakens he learns that the Federation is under attack by the Borg, but that he and the Enterprise are being sent far from the battle to patrol the neutral zone. Apparently Star Fleet Command has no faith that this man will be able to overcome his past experiences with the Borg and is therefore too risky to rely upon. This sets up the Enterprise to be able to come into the battle late and help destroy the Borg. Not however, until a sphere is jettisoned and opens a temporal vortex allowing them to assimilate Earth of the past.

This is the one area of Trek that I have trouble with. There is time travel in all of the series, but it always seems to be something that works in the favor of the Federation. Since the Federation doesnt actually possess any of the technology for time travel it doesnt make sense to me that they would always come out ahead. But hey, its a movie, right?

And I must suspend my disbelief, because the plot line that I have so much trouble with mentally, time travel, is the vehicle that sets up most of what makes this movie so entertaining for me. The crew of the Enterprise find themselves thrown back to 21st century earth to a civilization on the brink of discovering warp drive. The general Federation guidelines for First Contact with any species are that that species must not be a pre-warp civilization. Our heroes discover that the Borg are here to prevent First Contact between the Vulcans and the humans by interfering with the first warp flight.

The Enterprise manages to destroy the Borg sphere, but only after theyve damaged the Phoenix, the first warp ship, at least in the timeline the Enterprise has come from. Here we meet Lily. Lily is the assistant to Zefram Cochrane, inventor of warp drive, and creator and pilot of the Phoenix (the first warp ship). She is suffering from radiation poising due to the Borg attack on the Phoenix and the compound so the doctor, Beverly Crusher, beams Lily to sick bay in order to treat her.

For me, the best part of the movie begins when the crew transports down to Earth and meets with their idol, Zefram Cochrane. Cochrane is a figure they have all studied in school, and they are thrilled to be in the presence of this man. Cochrane, on the other hand, is a bit freaked-out by the notion that he could be this person. Hes a drunkard, and hes not exactly what youd expect from a historical figure. And history has been kind to him. In real life hes a bit more of a colorful character than the crew expected.

Back on Enterprise we discover that as the Borg sphere was being destroyed some Borg beamed themselves aboard the Enterprise. A struggle breaks out for control of the Enterprise and we agonize with Picard as he struggles with the decision to destroy the Enterprise.

I really enjoy the dialog between Lily and Picard. She is more than willing to take him down a peg or two. She points out that most of his crew do what he says because they are used to his orders making sense. This time, it doesnt make sense for him to try to save the Enterprise. It is more important to destroy the Borg and save the timeline. Picard has an emotional outburst, which we very rarely see, and destroys his model ships as he comes to grips with the idea that destroying the ship is indeed the only way to save the future.

I also find the scene where the Borg queen offers Data the ability to feel to be emotionally real. Since we first encountered Data he has been striving to become more human. He wants, more than anything, the ability to feel. We see him truly struggle with the temptation to yield to her, and truly dont know how he will side.

The movie ends predictably. The Borg are destroyed on the Enterprise, the ship and the timeline are saved. Our heroes get to stand on the sidelines and watch as First Contact occurs. Even if its somewhat formulaic, its a great movie. The cast delivers a completely believable performance, the dialog is well thought out, and the plot is one of the more enjoyable Treks.