In 'Star Trek: First Contact,' new generation takes able command
Note this in your Starlog: Tacky toupees are out. Chrome domes are in. And
not only is the future in safe hands, so is the Star Trek franchise.
With the landing of Star Trek: First Contact (*** out of four), the original
crew is finally history. And the plodding tentativeness of 1994's
Star Trek: Generations, in which cameos by William Shatner and the gang
overshadowed the fledglings from TV's Star Trek: The Next
Generation, can be passed off as a fluke.
Patrick Stewart's noble Capt. Jean-Luc Picard boldly and baldly takes command
without fear of being upstaged. With plenty of solid in-jokes,
longtime fans will be beaming. But even those who don't know a Worf (a
Klingon warrior turned good guy) from a warp (a measure of speed)
will enjoy this fairly brisk, often intriguing time-travel tale ably directed
by Jonathan Frakes, who plays second-in-command Riker.
The best move was reviving the most estimable foe in all Trek lore, the Borg.
These single-minded half-cyborg, half-organic drones with their
freakish hardware and maggot-like skin suck up other cultures like
intergalactic Hoovers.
The unstoppable zombies suddenly pop up on the Enterprise, which has zoomed
back from the 24th century to the 21st (a feat as easy as
yanking on your socks in these movies), and start behaving like extras in
Invasion of the Body Snatchers. And the usually unflappable Picard,
who was once captured by the Borg and didn't like it a bit, is bent on
revenge.
The horror element works well, especially the Borg Queen. With delicate
features, seductive voice and sly mouth, Alice Krige is one kinky
china doll. She certainly knows how to push the human-wannabe buttons of
Brent Spiner's droll android Data.
Less interesting is the story on Earth, in which an Enterprise team helps a
hard-drinking rocket pilot (James Cromwell of Babe) keep his date
with destiny. As his fiesty partner who is taken aboard the starship, Alfre
Woodard is her usual swell self and is best when tussling with a
pigheaded Picard. When told of the Borg, she replies, "Sounds Swedish."
While First Contact espouses the usual lofty Trek ideals, it never forgets to
factor in the fun. As the Borg likes to say, resistance is futile -
and also unnecessary. (PG-13: violence, profanity, sex talk)