'Star Trek: First Contact' ventures into the battle within
By Yenni Kwok
JAKARTA (JP): Peaceful co-existence between aliens and humans? The idea may seem outdated amid the current crop of ominous conspiracy films, with plots focusing on rapacious extraterrestrials abducting humans and the ensuing government cover-ups of the cases.
Perhaps in deference to the trend, the recently released Star Trek: First Contact has a rather gloomy, dark feeling. Data (Brent Spiner) is subject to temptations of the flesh, the scientist protagonist is an alcoholic coward, and Captain Jean- Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) is wracked by memories of his past humiliation.
Don't let first impressions turn you off, however, especially if you are a Trekkie. The divergence from the usual Star Trek premise has also brought more complexities to several main characters. Moreover, as gloomy as the tone might be, First Contact does not let you go home without providing a lesson to be learned or a critical observation to be gleaned.
Replete with great special effects and witty dialogue, First Contact ventures into the realm of enjoyable science fiction flicks.
In the second film featuring the cast of the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series, the crew of Starship Enterprise E, led by Captain Picard, resume their battle against the Borg. Although Star Trek has a long list of villains, such as the warring Romulans, manipulative Q or sleazy Ferengis, only the half-organic, half-machine Borg community has left a personal scar in Picard's life.
Those who follow The Next Generation faithfully may remember the episode Best of Both Worlds. The movie script originates from its tale of Picard's capture by the Borg and "assimilation" into their collective mindset (the Borg do not allow individual thinking).
Picard has Borg implants put in his body and his brain. He is known as Locutus, the Borg. Although he is later saved and brought back to his old self, the experience left him humiliated and traumatized.
Violating direct orders to remain uninvolved, Picard leads his ship to join Starfleet's massive assault against the Borg. He proves to his Starfleet superiors and his crew that his Borg experience was an advantage because he knows how they think.
After failing to attack the Earth, the Borg decide to go back in time to change the history of the first human contact with the extraterrestrial. The Enterprise follows them and is responsible to prevent any disruption in the course of history. The logic is this: If the first contact never took place, the whole Federation and inter-galaxy trekking would probably never exist.
Scriptwriters Rick Berman, Brannon Braga and Ronald Moore have created three different storylines around the Borg invasion plan, thus preventing crowding the main characters into individual scenes. After all, the Enterprise's regular crew consists of seven personnel.
The first storyline revolves around the alcoholic scientist, Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell, known best as Farmer Hoggett in Babe) of the 21st century. Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), ship counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) and engineer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) -- all from the 24th century -- have to urge the irresponsible Cochrane to build his warp-speed space shuttle. The scientific "legend" has its say that Cochrane's shuttle attracts the aliens to come to earth, and it establishes the first contact between earthlings and outerspace beings.
The role of Riker, or Picard's Number One, is reduced to a smiling or grinning part whenever something funny occurs. In fact, Frakes is a far better director than an actor. He directed First Contact, making this his big-screen directorial debut. His past credits include directing several episodes of Star Trek spinoffs, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager.
In First Contact, Frakes does a good job in evincing Picard's tortured soul. Most of Picard's scenes take place on Enterprise E, which is infiltrated by the Borg. In this second storyline, Picard has to fight against their deadly enemy, with the help of android Data, doctor Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and Worf (Michael Dorn). Victims are already falling; in such a short time, half of the Enterprise crew are assimilated as the Borg.
During the crisis, Data, the only crew member whose strength can match the Borg, is captured. In this third storyline, Data is seduced by the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) to ponder trading the encryption of the Starship information in exchange for enjoying a human sensation. Will he give in?
Meanwhile, after losing Data, Picard is assisted by Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodward), Cochrane's feisty assistant. Lily quickly perceives Picard's inner turmoil. As the fighting continues on board, Picard can no longer distinguish between his task to defend the ship and his desire to exact revenge for his past humiliation.
"Ahab spent years hunting the white whale that crippled him," says Lily, drawing the comparison between Picard and the Moby Dick captain who destroyed himself through seeking vengeance.
As they race against time, Picard has to make a decision. Should he sacrifice the crew for the ship, and thus complete his revenge on the Borg? Or should he listen to Lily, swallow his pride, evacuate the crew and blow up the ship?
First Contact is the eighth Star Trek movie, and its initial release last year coincided with the 30th anniversary of the Star Trek's debut. The reason why Star Trek has survived all these years is perhaps due to the vision of the late Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek.
Roddenberry was a liberal utopian, and he sometimes used this futuristic society as a metaphor for dealing with problems affecting humankind. Today's scriptwriters carry on this legacy in both the series and First Contact.
The most obvious battle may be between the selfless Enterprise crew, who guard individual uniqueness, and the evil Borg, who force any beings to become one of them and prohibit individual thinking. Look closer, and the film reveals another struggle through the inner turmoil confronted by Data and Picard.