is star trek first contact worth watching

'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.

When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form .

The beginner's guide to Star Trek: What to watch first

The Star Trek television world consists of eleven full and distinct television series released across the decades, going all the way back to the mid-1960s. While some of the older sets and effects are certainly dated, some of the issues the shows grappled with back in the day are as relevant now as they were almost 60 years ago.

When Star Trek debuted on September 6, 1966, it was a relatively low-budget TV series with only lukewarm network support. It took two pilot episodes before the series was picked up by NBC, only to be unceremoniously cancelled three years later. Nobody back then knew that Star Trek would create cultural touchstones and iconic characters, or that it would go on to spawn ten more TV series (so far) and thirteen movies (also, so far).

Today, Star Trek is deeply entrenched in modern mythology, with characters like James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard as familiar to us as Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo.

But not everyone is fully up to speed on all things Trek . Perhaps you're seeing promotions for the new shows coming out this year and wonder what all the fuss is about. Perhaps you want to introduce Star Trek to a younger generation or catch up after a long hiatus.

No matter what, we're here to help. In this guide, I'm going to take you through the TV series and help you understand what each is about, give you some hints about watching order, and share with you my subjective perspective on the shows.

Also:  14 unofficial Star Trek series and films

Star Trek has inspired a tremendous amount of media. Beyond the TV shows, there are movies, video games, books, comics, fan fiction and productions, collectables, and more. Because the commercial world of Star Trek fandom is so huge, I'm going to limit our discussion to just the TV shows -- although there will be a few mentions of one or two movies that are requisite viewing for later series' continuity.

How to get started

There are four Star Trek series currently in production right now. More are rumored to be on the way. And there's even a Seth McFarland-helmed homage to Star Trek called The Orville that carries on the Trek spirit (new episodes will be broadcast on Hulu in June).

So, you could get started watching a current show, especially since the visuals and production quality are top-notch. If you feel strongly about starting with new material, I'd recommend kicking off your watching with Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on the Paramount+ streaming service. I'll talk more about SNW (most Trek series get abbreviations) in a bit. Another choice would be the gorgeous animated series Star Trek: Prodigy . It's intended to bring kids into the Star Trek universe, but it fires on all cylinders for adults just as well.

But I recommend you start where it all started: Star Trek , the original series ( TOS ) produced in the 1960s. It's here you'll meet Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, and Scotty the engineer. This is where it all began, and everything builds upon this fundamental mythology.

And with that, let's get started!

1. Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS)

The series that began it all.

• Production Years:  1966-1969
• Trek Timeline Years:  2266-2269
• Seasons:  3
• Episodes:  79
• Stream on:   Paramount+
• Buy:   Amazon

This is it. The series that began it all. I recently rewatched the entire run of  TOS  after not having seen it in years, and the thing that made the biggest impression on me was how much they got right in those early years. Roddenberry was building a mythos out of thin air, and yet many of the foundational elements that  Star Trek  folks know and love today were written into those early shows.

Of course, Roddenberry didn't get it perfect right out of the gate. He did two pilots which introduced Captain Christopher Pike instead of Captain Kirk and a female "Number One" as second in command. This pilot, called " The Cage " never made it on the air but was repurposed into a two-parter late in the first season. You'll want to remember Pike and Number One because they're prominent in the new modern-day  Trek  series currently being released.

Some episodes of this very early series age well, while others are deeply cringeworthy. Because it's 1960s entertainment (and relatively low-budget entertainment at that), it can be a bit tedious at times. And yet, it touched on some really important themes.  Martin Luther King Jr. actually reached out to Nichelle Nichols , who  played Lt. Uhura , when she was considering leaving the show. He urged her to stay on because he saw her role as a very important inspiration.

If you want to understand all the  Trek  lore that comes after, this is the place to start.

Must watch episodes:   The City on the Edge of Forever, Space Seed, The Trouble with Tribbles

Movies:  There were six movies made with the  TOS  cast. Of them, the best two are  The Wrath of Khan  (which sets up a lot of subsequent mythos) and  The Voyage Home , which is probably the most fun of them all.

2. Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)

The story forward 100 years.

• Production Years:  1987-1994
• Trek Timeline Years:  2364-2370
• Seasons:  7
• Episodes:  178

Star Trek's  continuing popularity during the eighteen years after NBC cancelled the original series was unexpected.  Star Trek , that weird space show with the pointy-eared alien, turned out to have legs. It took ten years of fan pressure and conventions, but in 1979  Star Trek: The Motion Picture  was released. It was... not so good. But three more movies came out over the next eight years, and they were great. So the momentum was in place for a  Star Trek  reboot.

Rather than recasting the original characters, Roddenberry decided to move the story forward almost 100 years, create a version of the  Enterprise  starship whose interior decor most resembled a Marriott hotel in outer space, and give it warp nacelles and photon torpedos. This was  The Next Generation , with Captain Picard, first officer William Riker, the android Data, the boy wonder Wesley Crusher, his mom, the Klingon Worf, and unlucky-in-love engineer Geordi La Forge. Roddenberry even created the role of a mental health counsellor (Deanna Troy) as a key member of its bridge crew.

While Patrick Stewart's Picard was much more  Captain Stubing  than Shatner's Captain Kirk, there's no doubting this Shakespearean actor's talents. Brent Spiner, as the android-who-wants-to-be-human, was another standout performer. The first two seasons were a little rocky. Remember: back then, nobody knew whether this show would last, and the actors and showrunners were still trying to come to terms with how to move beyond  TOS . But subsequent years are among the best science (and societal) fiction you'll ever see on TV.

Must watch episodes:   The Measure of a Man, Yesterday's Enterprise, The Best Of Both Worlds I  and  II

Movies:  There were four movies made with the  TNG  cast. The first one,  Generations , also included key members of the  TOS  cast. I recommend you watch  First Contact  because it's a really good movie. And you might want to watch  Nemesis  because it sets up some details you'll need in later series (but it's definitely  not  the best movie made).

Also: Best video streaming service  

To boldly go...

Once you've watched  TOS  and  TNG , you're pretty much ready to travel wherever you want throughout the  Star Trek  franchise. You'll have a good foundational understanding of the Federation, the various alien species, the rules and regulations of Starfleet, and most of the iconic characters.

My recommendation is to wrap up the early  Trek  productions by taking in the two seasons of the first animated series. Then, move on to the middle period of  Star Trek  production, with  Voyager, Deep Space 9 , and  Enterprise , and then jump forward to the current productions. That's how I'm going to present the remaining series to you, but you can pretty much choose any order you want once you've made it this far.

3. Star Trek: The Animated Series (TAS)

Worthwhile animation with tos voices.

• Production Years:  1973-1975
• Trek Timeline Years:  2269-2270
• Seasons:  2
• Episodes:  22
• Buy:  Amazon

A few years after NBC canceled TOS , Roddenberry managed to convince studio heads to let him produce an animated version of the show. While it was considerably less expensive to produce than the live-action  Star Trek , the animated series was the most expensive animated show airing at the time, but that was mostly because nearly all the original series actors (Walter Koenig as Chekov was missing) lent their voices to the show.

While the series was intended as a kid's show, it hews pretty closely to classic  Star Trek  themes and can be considered a proper sequel to  TOS . Watching it in 2022 is a bit weird because cartoons from the 1970s definitely seem a bit weird to our 2022 mindset, but  TAS  is a worthwhile romp, especially since it features the voice work from the core actors who first made  Star Trek .

Must watch episodes:   Yesteryear, The Slaver Weapon, More Tribbles, More Troubles  (because...Tribbles)

4. Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (DS9)

Thought-provoking, must-watch tv.

• Production Years:  1993-1999
• Trek Timeline Years:  2369-2275
• Seasons:  7
• Episodes:  176
• Stream on:   Paramount+ , Netflix
• Buy: Amazon

By many measures,  Star Trek: Deep Space 9  is as good as  Star Trek  (or science fiction overall, for that matter) gets. Rather than exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations,  Deep Space 9  takes place mostly on the eponymous space station, Deep Space 9.

The station sits at the junction of a wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant (a far off part of space) and the planet Bajor, a planet previously occupied by Cardassians' warlike race (not to be confused with the Kardashians). DS9's leader is played by actor Avery Brooks, who starts off with the Starfleet rank of Commander and later gets promoted to Captain.  DS9  starts off slow but ends with a massive war and some of the best space battles ever put on film.

While there are a few silly episodes, most plotlines are tight, deep, and thought-provoking. Characters develop complex and compelling personalities. And the show takes some powerful swings at issues of the day, with  Far Beyond the Stars  an absolute standout showing issues of racism in 1950s America and yet fitting totally in with the rest of  DS9 . If anything can be considered must-watch TV, chock full of religious and political intrigue, it's  Star Trek: Deep Space 9 .

Must watch episodes:   Far Beyond the Stars, The Visitor, Trials And Tribble-Ations  (because...Tribbles)

5. Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)

A female badass captain who guides her crew on the uss voyager.

• Production Years:  1995-2001
• Trek Timeline Years:  2371-2378
• Episodes:  172

The series starts with the crew of the  Voyager  chasing after a Maquis raider ship in a rough part of space. Suddenly, both ships get pulled into a spatial distortion, only to wind up far, far away from home. A super-powerful being called the Caretaker brought both ships to the Delta quadrant as part of its quest to help a species it cared for.

The plot of the pilot is a bit convoluted, but the Captain Kathryn Janeway makes a decision that strands  Voyager  and the crew of the Maquis ship in the Delta quadrant. The voyage home will take 75 years. Kate Mulgrew was not the franchise's first choice for a Janeway captain. Instead, Geneviève Bujold was originally cast in the role, but she apparently  crashed and burned in a day and a half . That's fortunate because Mulgrew absolutely owns the part, turning the Janeway character into a tough, sensitive, compassionate, and absolutely kick-ass leader.

The  Voyager  crew becomes a blended crew with both Starfleet and Maquis. Early episodes playoff that dynamic, but the early crew conflicts tend to slip away as the series progresses and the crew coalesces. Throughout it all, the series is about how this crew survives all on its own, trying to find a way home and the adventures along the way.

Must watch episodes:  Tinker, Tailor, Doctor, Spy, Year of Hell  (two-parter),  Timeless Worst episode in any science fiction, ever:  Threshold

6. Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT)

The start of the prime universe.

• Production Years:  2001-2005
• Trek Timeline Years:  2151-2161
• Seasons:  4
• Episodes:  98
• Stream on:  Paramount+

With  Enterprise  (the series debuted without the " Star Trek: " prefix), we're starting to move around the "Prime Universe" timeline. So, okay, some definitions are in order. In 2009, J. J. Abrams did a reboot of the original  Star Trek  crew in a three-movie set. That reboot changed some of the  Star Trek  canon (its established mythology) and became known as the "Kelvin Universe". All the  Star Trek  that exists in the unaltered (or mostly unaltered) mythology is called the "Prime Universe." All of the TV shows so far (but not all the movies) are considered Prime Universe.

In the Prime Universe,  series timelines span centuries . The majority of established canon takes place in the  TNG  era, which is 2364-2379.  TOS ,  Discovery , and  Strange New Worlds  take place 100 or so years earlier than  TNG , while  Discovery  eventually jumps to about a thousand years later. But  Enterprise  is a prequel to all of that, showcasing a ship just beginning to travel between the stars. It takes place starting in 2151, a century before the days of Kirk and Spock.

There are some nods to the idea that technology wasn't as advanced in 2151 as it was in later centuries, but since  Enterprise  itself was made 35 years after  TOS , the production value and effects made it seem somewhat more advanced. That will prove to be an ongoing problem with Trek prequels: what do you do when the real tech to produce the prequel is half a century more advanced? What do you do when the actual tech we have in our pockets seems far more advanced than the "future" tech shown in the early shows? Artistic license is used.

The  NX-01 Enterprise  is led by Captain Jonathan Archer (played by  Quantum Leap's  Scott Bakula) and his Number One is a Vulcan named T'Pol (played by Jolene Blalock). In  Enterprise's  time frame, trust between Earth and the Vulcans is tenuous, and that tension plays out over the series. Unfortunately,  Enterprise  only lasted four seasons. It, like most other  Trek , was a bit rocky in the first seasons, but by Season 4, it was producing excellent television.

My biggest question about Enterprise is about Porthos, Archer's adorable beagle. Porthos spent most of his time in Archer's cabin, but I've always been curious about how Porthos took care of business. Did they just walk him around the decks and some crewmember cleaned it up? Was there a spot of grass somewhere in an unused cabin? It keeps me up at night.

In any case, I consider  Enterprise  criminally underrated. It was a great show.

Must watch episodes:   In a Mirror, Darkly  (two-parter),  Carbon Creek, Similitude, Twilight, The Breach  (because...Tribbles)

7. Star Trek: Discovery (DIS)

Discover the fun in star trek.

• Production Years:  2017-current
• Trek Timeline Years:  2255-2259, 3188-3190 (so far)
• Seasons:  4 (so far)
• Episodes:  55 (so far)

Star Trek  production effectively went into shutdown for about a decade after  Enterprise . After the success of the reboot movies in the late 2000s,  Star Trek  TV experienced a resurgence in  Discovery .  Discovery  is a hard beast to pin down, and this had the effect of turning off some of the entrenched  Star Trek  fanbase. That said, it's still great TV.  Discovery  was the first of the modern-day  Star Trek  series to be available solely on streaming, via what was then CBS All Access and is now Paramount+.

Somehow (spoiler alert), Micheal Burham goes from the Federation's first mutineer with a life sentence to a beloved starship captain. Burnham is Spock's human sister (yeah, that was a surprise to everyone). Played by Sonequa Martin-Green, the standout feature of  Discovery  is some of its great performances and characterizations.

My favorites are the gangly alien Saru (played with absolute perfection by Doug Jones), the mirror universe emperor Georgiou (played with scenery-eating intensity by Michelle Yeoh), cranky under-utilized engineer Jett Reno (played by the wonderful-in-anything Tigg Notaro), and Captain Christopher Pike, reimagined from the pilot for  TOS  (who was played to such perfection by Anson Mount that the minute he hit the screen, everyone knew a series had to be made around him -- which became  Strange New Worlds ).

The first season takes place ten years before the original series. Klingons don't really look like Klingons, Burnham starts a war,  Discovery  travels to the mirror universe where everything is  Bizarro World , and chaos ensues. The second season is back in the home universe where the crew tries to stop an AI bent on destroying all life in the universe. To avoid that fate, the crew travels 930 years into the future and...okay, let's take a breather for a second.

Do. Not. Try. To. Make. Sense. Of. All. This.  Discovery  is weird enough to be pretty much the  Twin Peaks  of  Star Trek . Just enjoy the fact that the visuals are impressive, the characters (at least most of them) are great, and the stories hold together long enough to make it through each episode as long as you don't think about it too much.  Discovery  can be annoying and sappy, to be sure. But it's also a heck of a lot of fun.

Must watch episodes (so far):  An Obol for Charon, The Sound of Thunder, Short Trek: The Trouble with Edward  (because...Tribbles)

8. Star Trek: Lower Decks (LD)

Focus on life onboard for low-ranking members of starfleet.

• Production Years:  2020-current
• Trek Timeline Years:  2380- (so far)
• Seasons:  2 (so far)
• Episodes:  20 (so far)

Back in 1994, there was an episode of  TNG  called  Lower Decks . It focused on lower-ranking crew members and looked at what life onboard a starship was like for the non-hero characters of Starfleet. In 2020, Mike McMahan, previously known for his work on the animated comedy  Rick and Morty , took the lower decks concept into an entire animated  Star Trek  series.

And it works. McMahan also addressed a lot of fan complaints about  Discovery  by including an almost overwhelming array of  Star Trek   Easter eggs  as fan service in the series. If you've ever wondered about  Cetacean Ops , for example, McMahan has an entire episode devoted to Starfleet's underwater crew.

Overall,  Lower Decks  delivers fully  Star Trek  plots, along with a lot of genuinely funny moments. But it doesn't sacrifice good storytelling either for laughs or nostalgia.

Must watch episodes (so far):   No Small Parts, First First Contact, An Embarrassment of Dooplers

9. Star Trek: Prodigy (PRO)

Animated and visually stunning.

• Production Years:  2021-current
• Trek Timeline Years:  2383- (so far)
• Seasons:  1 (so far)
• Episodes:  9 (so far)

Prodigy  is the second animated series currently in production. It has a completely different theme and art style from  Lower Decks  and is most definitely its own thing.

The premise is that a bunch of enslaved tweenagers of varying non-human species in the Delta Quadrant find a dormant Federation starship. While exploring, they activate the "emergency training hologram," which turns out to be an animated Captain Janeway (voiced by Kate Mulgrew herself). Hologram Janeway thinks the interlopers are cadets and helps them start the ship up so they can make their escape.

The series is Nickelodeon-branded and is supposed to be for kids, but the episodes are well-written and even suspenseful. The first season ended on a cliffhanger that both newbies to  Star Trek  and long-time fans will find compelling. And can we talk about the visuals? This series is just absolutely gorgeous. Watch it on the largest, brightest TV you can. It's that good.

Must watch episodes (so far):   Time Amok, First Con-tact, Kobayashi

10. Star Trek: Picard (PIC)

New adventures of an older captain picard.

• Trek Timeline Years:  2399- (so far)
• Seasons:  2 (so far)
• Episodes:  20 (so far)

The premise behind  Star Trek: Picard  is simple. Thirty years after  TNG , Admiral Picard goes back out into space for new adventures. Picard (and Patrick Stewart) are much older, and the series addresses the challenges of ageing and how someone who was once the galaxy's hero deals with becoming irrelevant -- just as events reach out to bring the retired admiral back onto center stage once again.

Have you noticed how most of the  Star Trek  series have three-letter abbreviations?  Star Trek: Picard's  should be WTF. There are moments in  Picard  that are wonderful. But a lot of  Picard  is just plain terrible. If you even try to think about all the plot holes and paradoxes in just the final episode of Season 2, you'll find your brain sucked into a wormhole. As much as it's an absolute pleasure to see Patrick Stewart in anything,  Star Trek: Picard  is undeniably the worst television  Star Trek  has yet produced.

Like all of the current-era  Star Trek , it's gorgeous. There's fan service everywhere, and we do get to meet some of the  TNG  characters again. More are promised for Season 3. But something went horribly wrong in the writers' room for the storylines in most of the episodes to be this convoluted, self-referential, internally inconsistent, and rather unbelievable (trust me, suspending disbelief often just doesn't work here). If anything, Season 2 is even more disastrous than Season 1, and that's saying something.

All that said, should you watch  Star Trek: Picard ? Of course. It's a hoot. Plus, the episode  Nepenthe  (where we get to meet a gray-haired Captain Riker and his wife, Deanna Troy, along with their daughter Kestra) makes the whole series worthwhile.

Must watch episodes:   Nepenthe, Stardust City Rag

11. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW)

Referential to established canon for entrenched trek fans.

• Production Years:  2022-current
• Trek Timeline Years:  2259- (so far)
• Seasons:  1 (so far)
• Episodes:  4 (so far)

Strange New Worlds  has been jokingly called the longest order from the pilot to series in television history, but there's some truth to that. The very first  TOS  pilot back in the 1960s spotlighted the main characters of  Strange New Worlds . As the legend goes, NBC didn't like those characters, so Roddenberry retooled and the result was Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

Today, however, Anson Mount is center stage, along with Ethan Peck as the third actor to play Spock, and Rebecca Romijn playing Number One. We haven't seen too many episodes yet, but so far it's good. Really, really good. Sure, this  U.S.S. Enterprise  is supposed to be from a time ten years before Kirk's in  TOS , and it's far fancier. But that's what you get with 2022 budgets and CGI compared to the hand-me-downs that went into the original  Star Trek .

You can follow the story well enough without having seen any other  Star Trek , so it makes for a good first series. But it also is so reverently referential to established canon (while blazing its own way as well) that deeply entrenched Trek fans will undoubtedly enjoy it as well.

Must watch episodes (so far):  Strange New Worlds, Children of the Comet, Ghosts of Illyria, Memento Mori

Also: The 7 best free video streaming services: Watch movies for free

What are the worst to best Star Trek series?

This is a highly subjective list, but I know you're going to want to know. So here it is. My call for worst series to best. You'll be surprised.

10. Picard :  I had high hopes, I love the reunions, but the plots don't hold together if you think about it for just one minute.

9. The Original Series :  Yes, it started everything. And yes, they got a lot right. But some of it is just downright hard to watch.

8. The Animated Series :  Like  TOS , it's a rough ride to watch. Pacing is very late sixties.

7. Lower Decks :  I'm not a huge animation fan, and the silliness is a bit annoying.

6. Prodigy :   Prodigy  is gorgeous, and the plots hold together well. But I'm not as into it as I could be. Perhaps with more seasons.

5. The Next Generation :   TNG  defines  Star Trek , and while there are some great shows there, it's getting old. I'm just not that invested anymore.

4. Discovery :  I really like some of the characters and the modern visuals are spectacular. The focus on one character as a  Mary Sue  gets tiresome, as do the somewhat lazy resolutions for season-long mysteries.

3. Voyager :  Some of the premise broke down in early years, but the overall crew survival dynamic makes for worthwhile TV. I've become attached to some of the characters after watching them grow into their responsibilities.

2. Enterprise :  Yes, I consider  Enterprise  among the best  Star Trek  ever, even though it died an early death. From Archer's relationship with the Andorian commander Shran (played by the wonderful Jeffrey Combs) to some really excellent standalone episodes, I miss  Enterprise  more than any other series.

1. Deep Space 9 :  Yeah, this is just about the best science fiction you're going to find anywhere.

* Strange New Worlds :  I'm not rating  Strange New Worlds  yet. I've only seen a few episodes. But from what I've seen, it has the potential to be among the favorites.

What about you? What's your favorite Star Trek series? Are you Trek-curious and just getting started? Are you coming back after a long hiatus? Share with us in the comments below. Live long and prosper.

You can follow my day-to-day project updates on social media. Be sure to follow me on Twitter at @DavidGewirtz , on Facebook at Facebook.com/DavidGewirtz , on Instagram at Instagram.com/DavidGewirtz , and on YouTube at YouTube.com/DavidGewirtzTV .

ZDNET Recommends

The best tvs of 2024: expert tested, the best live tv streaming services for cord cutters: expert tested, the best 85-inch tvs you can buy: expert tested.

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, star trek: first contact.

Now streaming on:

“Star Trek: First Contact” is one of the best of the eight “ Star Trek ” films: Certainly the best in its technical credits, and among the best in the ingenuity of its plot. I would rank it beside “ Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ” (1986), the one where the fate of Earth depended on the song of the humpback whale. This time, in a screenplay that could have been confusing but moves confidently between different levels of the story, the crew of the Enterprise follows the evil Borgs back in time to the day before mankind made its first flight at warp speed.

That flight, in 2063, was monitored by an alien race, the Vulcans, who took it as evidence that man had developed to the point where it deserved to meet another race. But now the Borgs, starting from the 24th century, want to travel back through a temporal vortex (how I love the “Star Trek” jargon!), prevent the flight and rewrite history, this time with Borgs populating the Earth instead of humans.

The latest edition of the starship is the “Enterprise E” (and there are plenty of letters left in the alphabet, Capt. Picard notes ominously). It is patrolling deep space when it learns the Borgs are attacking Earth. The Enterprise is ordered to remain where it is--probably, Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) notes bitterly, because he was a prisoner of the Borgs some six years ago, and “a man who was captured and assimilated by the Borg is an unstable element.” These Borgs are an interesting race. They are part flesh, part computer, and they “assimilate” all the races they conquer into their collective mind, which organizes their society like a hive. There is even a queen ( Alice Krige ), although she is not fat and pampered like an ant or a termite, but lean, mean and a student of seduction. One of the movie's intriguing subplots involves Data ( Brent Spiner ), the Enterprise's android, who is captured and hooked up to a Borg assimilating machine--which fails, because it can't crack his digital defenses. Then the Queen tries some analog methods all her own.

The central plot takes place as the Enterprise follows a Borg ship back through time to Earth, which, the Trekkers are dismayed to learn, is now populated by Borgs. To turn history around again, they need to be sure man's first warp flight succeeds. Earth is recovering from World War III, and a brilliant inventor named Cochrane ( James Cromwell , the tall farmer from “ Babe ”) has adapted a missile for this historic flight.

He leads a commune that seems to be part hippie, part survivalist, and spends much of his time listing to rock 'n' roll and drinking, to the despair of his associate Lily ( Alfre Woodard ). These two do not believe the weird story they get from the starship crew, and at one point Lily nearly fries Picard with a stolen gun. (He: “Maximum setting! If you had fired, you would have vaporized me.” She: “It's my first ray gun.”) The plot moves deftly between preparations for the Earth launch, Data's assimilation tortures on the Borg ship, and a fight against a Borg landing party on the Enterprise, which Picard personally directs, overruling doubts expressed by his second-in-command, William Riker ( Jonathan Frakes ) and their own assimilated Klingon, Worf ( Michael Dorn ).

Some of the earlier “Star Trek” movies have been frankly clunky in the special-effects department; the first of the series came out in 1979 and looked pale in comparison to “Star Wars.” But this one benefits from the latest advances in f/x artistry, starting with its sensational opening shot, which begins so deep inside Picard's eyeball, it looks like a star-speckled spacescape and then pulling back to encompass an unimaginably vast Borg starship. I also admired the interiors of the Borg probe, and the peculiar makeup work creating the Borg Queen, who looks like no notion of sexy I have ever heard of, but inspires me to keep an open mind.

“Star Trek” movies are not so much about action and effects as they are about ideas and dialogue. I doubted the original Enterprise crew would ever retire because I didn't think they could stop talking long enough. Here the story gives us yet another intriguing test of the differences among humans, aliens and artificial intelligence. And the paradoxes of time travel are handled less murkily than sometimes in the past. (Although explain to me once again how the Earth could be populated with millions of Borgs who are expected to vanish--or never have been--if the Enterprise succeeds. Isn't there some sort of law of conservation of energy that requires their physical bodies to come from, or be disposed of, somewhere, somehow?) “STFC” was directed by Frakes, who did some of the “ST Next Generation” shows for television, and here achieves great energy and clarity. In all of the shuffling of timelines and plotlines, I always knew where we were. He also gets some genial humor out of Cromwell, as the inventor who never wanted fame but simply enough money to go off to a “tropical island with a lot of naked women.” And there is such intriguing chemistry between Picard and the Woodard character that I hope a way is found to bring her onboard in the next film. “Star Trek” movies in the past have occasionally gone where no movie had gone, or wanted to go, before. This one is on the right beam.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Now playing

Wicked Little Letters

Sheila o'malley.

Chicken for Linda!

Robert daniels.

Clint Worthington

The Long Game

The Listener

Matt zoller seitz.

LaRoy, Texas

Film credits.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Rated PG-13 For Some Sci-Fi Adventure Violence

112 minutes

Brent Spiner as Data

Alfre Woodard as Lily Sloane

LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge

Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi

Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard

James Cromwell as Zefram Cochrane

Alice Krige as Borg Queen

Jonathan Frakes as William Riker

Michael Dorn as Worf

Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher

Directed by

• Jonathan Frakes
• Ronald D. Moore
• Brannon Braga

Latest blog posts

25 Years Later, Alexander Payne’s Election Remains as Relevant as Ever

Sharp Writing, Excellent Cast Keep Spy Thriller The Veil Engaging

Take Another Trip to the End of the World with Sony’s Stellar Blade

He's Got Something Going On: David Proval on Mean Streets, and Acting for Martin Scorsese

Star Trek: What New First-Time Viewers Should Watch to Start With

With a franchise that has run as long as Star Trek, with so many installments, it can be hard to find a place to start. Here are some recommendations.

Star Trek has been a part of the pop culture landscape for over 50 years. The series has spanned multiple television series, a successful film franchise, and a merchandising empire. Everyone the world over likely knows the concept of Star Trek and possible characters like Kirk, Spock, or Bones, and even quotes like "KAHN!" or "Beam me up Scotty," even though that last one was never actually spoken. It is part of the shared pop culture language for generations.

Yet just because Star Trek is known, that does not mean it is entirely accessible. After all, a franchise that has gone on for this long and has had so much material made for it can seem daunting to new fans, or anyone born after the series boom in the late 80s and early 90s. Combine that with the long-held pop culture stigma of Star Trek being too 'nerdy', it is easy to understand why it might be hard to get into Star Trek.

However, the franchise has seen a new resurgence in popularity thanks to the recent push on Paramount+ , where there is a new Star Trek series all year round. The reboot film series featuring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Zoe Saldana have been big box office hits and anticipation is high for their return in Star Trek 4 whenever there's a director .

For anyone looking to start exploring the Star Trek franchise , these are a few suggestions to make it seem less daunting. All the films and series listed here can easily be someone's first starting point to Star Trek , or combined into any combination to make this massive galaxy-spanning exploration into space not seem so directionless.

2009 Star Trek

J.J. Abrams's 2009 Star Trek reboot is the perfect way to introduce new audience members to the franchise, as that was one of the main reasons it was created as the franchise had become so massive it was alienating new viewers. The creative team sought to make a Star Trek film that could be enjoyed by anyone, whether they had seen every Star Trek episode or never watched any of it.

Abrams' Star Trek acts as a great entry point, introducing young versions of the iconic Enterprise Crew and audiences get to know them, see their core character personality, and grow into their iconic positions. It also leaves enough bread crumbs that connect to the legacy of the franchise that can entice viewers to go back and explore, but also that doesn't take away from the overall singular experience. Star Trek can be enjoyed as just a great 21st-century blockbuster, or as a gateway to the larger franchise.

Star Trek: The Original Series

It is also never a bad idea to start with the one that started it all, the bright and colorful Star Trek: The Original Series . While the series is clearly a product of its time, from production and costume design to even the style of acting, the storytelling certainly makes up for it, and if one allows themselves to view it through the same open optimism of a child it can seem bigger than the budget actually allows.

Due to it being an episodic series, one isn't confined to watching from the beginning or in order, there is a lot more experimentation to jump around and view different episodes to get a good taste of the overall series. First-time viewers should certainly check out "The City on the Edge of Forever", "The Balance of Terror", "Space Seed", "Doomsday Device", "A Piece of the Action", and "Trouble with Tribbles" to get a great sense of the entire series.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

While someone might be inclined to start with Star Trek: The Motion Picture , that is not the most accessible entry point in the series and is more suited for someone who is deeply in love with the Star Trek franchise. Instead, possibly enter the franchise with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan , which despite being a sequel does not really follow up on the first movie but instead the episode "Space Seed" from the original series (it is not required viewing).

Related: Strange New Worlds: How La'an Noonien Signh will Redefine Star Trek's Relationship with Khan Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan sees Kirk come into conflict with an old nemesis Khan Noonien Sighn and Kirk will pay the ultimate price. Even if one knows nothing about Star Trek, Wrath of Khan works as an accessible story about a man growing older and dealing with the mistakes of his past. The fact that there are additional Star Trek adventures to watch is not important to this story which can be enjoyed on its own, and the added context but not necessary. Often cited as the best Star Trek movie of all time and one of the best sequels ever made, that alone means it can stand on its own merits.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

If one is not into the space battles, alien species, and extreme science fiction of Star Trek , the funnier Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is certainly a good starting place as it sees the crew of the Enterprise travel back to the then-present 1980s to save the whales before the future is destroyed. The movie is a fish-out-of-water comedy and struck a chord with mainstream audiences, as it was until the release of the 2009 Star Trek the most successful film in the franchise grossing $109 million domestically in 1986 which adjusted for inflation is $271 million worldwide meaning it connected with those who didn't care for the wider franchise.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

While Star Trek: The Original Series might have launched the franchise, an argument can be made that Star Trek: The Next Generation truly created the largest fanbase of the franchise. Coming in during the series' newfound popularity from the films, Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced a new cast of characters and starting point for the series with many citing it as their Star Trek .

Related: Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Best Episodes, Ranked While the first two seasons are important, the series truly finds itself in season 3 onward so that is a good starting place to pick up this series.

Star Trek: First Contact

The cast of The Next Generation crew took over the Star Trek film series, and the best one of the four films was the second entry, Star Trek: First Contact . Like The Wrath of Khan , the movie is a follow-up not to the previous film but instead an episode of the series, in this case, the iconic The Next Generation 's third-season finale and fourth-season premiere, "The Best of Both Worlds" which saw Picard assimilated by the Borg.

Star Trek: First Contact is in many ways a mix of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (the main plot about a captain and a villain with a deep personal history with one seeking revenge) and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (the movie is also a time travel adventure, this time to the day humans first make contact with aliens). It is a big massive science fiction adventure, and also a deeply inspiring movie about human accomplishment.

Star Trek: Discovery

While there have been plenty of Star Trek series since Star Trek: The Next Generation , Star Trek: Discovery is designed to be a new entry point for fans. The series features state-of-the-art visual effects and designs that feel akin to modern 21st-century blockbuster movies. The series also moves away from the episodic nature and features a more serialized story in its four seasons, making it more accessible to a modern television audience.

Its status as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series also means it can be accessible to new viewers as no prior knowledge is required. The series introduces a new cast of characters, on a new ship, and the few legacy characters that do appear are either pop icons like Spock or relatively underutilized characters in the franchise like Captain Pike who can exist practically as new characters.

Star Trek: Discovery was designed to be a Star Trek series for a new generation , and rightfully is a great starting point to enter the franchise.

Star Trek: Prodigy

Star Trek: Prodigy is an animated series aimed at kids to introduce the world of Star Trek and the various rules of the universe. Despite being an animated series for Nickelodeon , the series is also an entertaining watch for adults as it features well-rounded characters, beautiful animation, and serves as a great introduction as the title characters learn about the Federation in the same way the target audience is made to. By the end of season one, the viewer will know core concepts like what Starfleet is about, the prime directive, and various alien threats in the universe.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Of the several modern Star Trek series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds might be the best new starting place for those who want to experience the thrill of Star Trek: The Original Series but have trouble getting past the dated visuals. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds features episodic stand-alone stories that while forming a greater whole can be enjoyed on their own. The episodes stretch a variety of different genres and tones, showcasing the wide breadth of the franchise. It has a great cast of characters that have connections to other series that if an audience is intrigued can be a gateway to check out other entries in the franchise.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds feels like the perfect 21st-century update to Star Trek: The Original Series , as one that can be enjoyed by newcomers and hardcore fans alike, and can be a shared experience among families and friends as a weekly adventure into the stars.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• Challengers Link to Challengers
• Abigail Link to Abigail
• Arcadian Link to Arcadian

New TV Tonight

• The Jinx: Season 2
• Knuckles: Season 1
• The Big Door Prize: Season 2
• Them: Season 2
• Velma: Season 2
• Secrets of the Octopus: Season 1
• Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
• Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story: Season 1
• We're Here: Season 4

Most Popular TV on RT

• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• Fallout: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• Ripley: Season 1
• The Sympathizer: Season 1
• 3 Body Problem: Season 1
• Under the Bridge: Season 1
• Sugar: Season 1
• Palm Royale: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Baby Reindeer Link to Baby Reindeer
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch

DC Animated Movies In Order: How to Watch 54 Original and Universe Films

The Best TV Seasons Certified Fresh at 100%

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

‘Seen on Screen’ Podcast: A Celebration of Universal Stories 

Watch An Exclusive Pixar Studio Tour, Plus Inside Out 2 Secrets From The Set

• Trending on RT
• Challengers
• Play Movie Trivia

Star Trek: First Contact

Where to watch.

Watch Star Trek: First Contact with a subscription on Max, rent on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy on Fandango at Home, Prime Video, Apple TV.

What to Know

While fans of the series will surely appreciate it, First Contact is exciting, engaging, and visually appealing enough to entertain Star Trek novices.

Audience Reviews

Cast & crew.

Jonathan Frakes

Patrick Stewart

Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Commander William Thomas Riker

Brent Spiner

Lieutenant Commander Data

LeVar Burton

Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

Michael Dorn

Lieutenant Commander Worf

Movie Clips

More like this, movie news & guides, this movie is featured in the following articles., critics reviews.

• Episode Reviews
• Film Reviews
• Book Reviews
• Model Reviews
• SNW Episodes
• SNW Production Info
• Picard News
• Picard Episode Guide
• Picard Production Info
• Prodigy News
• Prodigy Episodes Guide
• Prodigy Production Info

Content Creators

Latest sponsored content, the measure of an episode – lower decks s3e2- “the least dangerous game”, orange river – where did the gorn come from, the measure of an episode – lower decks s3e1- “grounded”, past creators.

• Become Guest Author With Treksphere

Star Trek: First Contact – A Fans Perspective

The beautiful thing about the end of an era is that a new beginning succeeds it. Not long after the death of Captain James T. Kirk on the big screen, I decided to follow my now-retired dad to Ft. Myers, Florida.

In doing so, I was saying goodbye to the town in which I had graduated high school, but it no longer seemed to have anything for me. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was about to start a new adventure in life that would bring bliss and cool rewards for the next 17 years.

While I was attending Edison College studying English and Literature, I started working at a small airport facility called Ft. Myers Airways and began taking my first flight lessons. Not only did this prove to me that any career involving aeroplanes was not above me, I suddenly found that I was now in a career field in which I could greatly identify with my heroes on Star Trek (as well as the popular sitcom “ Wings ”.

Watch that show on Netflix or Hulu sometime, and you’ll see the kind of happy life I had in aviation.) Real-life was becoming every bit as interesting for me as life in the Federation was for our favourite characters, which only strengthened my conviction that the next Star Trek film needed to be a spectacular adventure.

There was quite a bit riding on the eighth Star Trek feature film. 1996 was the 30 th anniversary of the franchise and we now had not one, but TWO Star Trek spinoff series running concurrently with each other; Deep Space Nine and Voyager . On top of that, this was to be the first ‘solo flight’ of Captain Picard and his stalwart crew on the big screen, so the stakes needed to be high on film, for they were indeed high in terms of the franchise’s reputation.

It came as a very little surprise that to create a high-stakes adventure worthy of Picard that Rick Berman and the writers would turn to the greatest nemesis we had seen on Star Trek to date…the return of the Borg.

“ The Best of Both Worlds ” pushed the envelope of adventure and excitement not only in terms of a seemingly invincible enemy that our heroes were just barely able to stop but also behind the scenes too. Michael Piller’s spectacular two-parter taxed TNG’s production savvy and special effects budget to their very limits. This was an adventure that could not be followed up on until these characters had made the transition to the big screen. Now that Generations had already accomplished that, the light of another Borg invasion had just turned green.

With cast member Jonathan Frakes at the helm (who had proven himself a capable director with several of the show’s best episodes, including my all-time favourite TNG episode, “ The Chase ”), the bar was set high for veteran TNG writers Ron Moore and Brannon Braga to give us a worthy adventure to complement this talent.

Initially wanting to go with an all-out Borg invasion with a fleet of cubes, Moore and Braga quickly discovered that that idea would not pan out even on a big-screen budget, especially with all of the visual revising of the Star Trek universe that would come with this film. These would include all new sets, uniform costumes, and several spaceship designs.

On top of that, Berman had mandated that this Star Trek adventure needed to involve time travel. His reasoning: because “all the best Star Trek ’s involve time travel.”

Personally, I don’t think that that’s true, not by a long shot! Apparently, studio heads and producers look at the numbers and critical acclaim of Trek ’s successful time travel stories like “ The City on the Edge of Forever ” and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and come to this conclusion. But these two examples are the exception, not the rule. The truth is time travel tends to be overused and has to be done very carefully in order to be done well. (Besides, didn’t we just do time travel in the last movie?!?!)

Fortunately, the era in which the writers chose to have our heroes go back to serves this story’s purpose brilliantly. Apparently, the Borg, now realizing that humanity can hold their own against them in the present, have decided to sacrifice a cube to invade Sector 001 and travel back into Earth’s past during the warp trials of Zefram Cochrane (originated by Glenn Corbett in the TOS episode “Metamorphosis”, now played by James Cromwell ).

When Earth was still in recovery from World War III and they had yet to make First Contact with an alien species. It is now up to our heroes to stop the Borg, convince the cynical Cochrane that his program should continue, and ensure that First Contact unfolds, as it should. The stakes are indeed appropriately high, as we are not just fighting for survival, but the very existence of the Federation!

With the appropriately epic story in place, producer Berman and director Frakes decided to take this opportunity to once again upgrade the look of the Star Trek universe. All-new sets, costumes, and models were created to give us the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E , the sleek and beautiful consolation prize to the loss of her predecessor in the previous film. The Sovereign-class starship , designed by John Eaves, is beautifully streamlined and looks like she’s at warp standing still, yet she retains the design perceptions of the TNG-era Starfleet. (This would be the last Star Trek film to make use of a physical model for the ship’s exterior. Future films and other productions would rely on the ever-improving CGI technology.)

The film also takes the opportunity to upgrade the look of the Borg . Much like the updating of the look of the Klingons in The Motion Picture , the increase in budget from television to film allows the Borg to go from the relatively simple white makeup and back spandex with various plastic goodies attached to looking like true ‘bionic zombies’, which only serves to enhance their fearsomeness.

With this suitably creepy new look, we also get our first look at the head of the hive-mind. Every hive must have a queen, and the writers give us our first (and so far, only) female Trek film antagonist, the Borg Queen. Played with seductive sadism by Alice Krige, the queen can get under Picard’s skin in a way that few antagonists do, having previously stripped him of all that he was during his assimilation.

The writers employ a fascinating reversal of a rape victim facing their attacker, by having the victim be male and the attacker female. Now, she has her sights set on seducing Data into the collective by bringing him another step closer to humanity. Where the previous film gave Data emotions, this film gives him a physical sensation, allowing him to FEEL things for the first time and deal with many of the temptations of the pleasures of the flesh that we humans must deal with on a daily basis.

Refreshingly, Zefram Cochrane is far from the nobleman that 24th-century history books have made him out to be, and it’s fun to see both Reg Barclay ( Dwight Shultz in a nice cameo) and Geordi succumb to their star-struck hero-worship of him. Riker feels some of this as well, but his impression of Cochrane is such that he might actually have been disappointed if Cochrane turned out to be a saint. And it’s also nice to see our heroes ultimately treat him as though he doesn’t have to be one of Gene Roddenberry’s perfectly awesome humans to fit in with his vision.

Lily Sloane ( Alfre Woodard ) also is a breath of fresh air, calling Picard out on his desire for revenge against the Borg. When Picard tries to be holier than thou and say they “have an evolved sensibility”, Lily calls those platitudes out for what they are: complete bull***t!

Star Trek provides us with our greatest hope for humanity by showing us that we DO have weaknesses and that we will strive to overcome them. Whenever it has tried to show us, humans who are without weaknesses or temptation, we’re only kidding ourselves. Without fear, weakness, and temptation, courage could not exist. And courage is exactly what Picard and Data show when they face down the Queen in the centre of the hive in engineering, using the very same things that the queen tried to intimidate and/or seduce them with before, the fears and temptations brought on by flesh.

The Borg are creatures of both flesh and machine and in “The Best of Both Worlds,” our heroes were able to beat them by accessing the machine; this time, they beat them through the flesh, Data ultimately resists the temptation and shatters the coolant tank that liquefies the queen’s organic components, and once the head of the snake is cut off, the body dies with it.

Meanwhile, Gene Roddenberry’s optimism is shown in full light as Picard and company bear witness to the first extraterrestrial species that humankind meets: the Vulcans.

With Roddenberry’s optimism both challenged and winning out, the destruction of the Enterprise -E averted (which I was really happy about. As they set the auto-destruct for the new ship, I was thinking, “Jeez! They’re going through Enterprises as they’d go through SHOES!”), and the triumphant return of Jerry Goldsmith to the film series, First Contact proved to be a spectacular solo flight for our TNG heroes on the big screen.

Star Trek: First Contact gets a 9 on the one-to-ten scale. While there was a certain lack of originality in the title (there had already been a TNG episode by this name), it is appropriate for the story. It’s a shame that neither of the succeeding TNG films came close to this high-stakes adventure.

Watch The Trailer & The Battle Of Sector 001

• Tags - Film Reviews , Star Trek Films , Star Trek: Universe
• , Reviews , Star Trek Films , Star Trek: Universe

Join the conversation

Leave a comment, « due to gdpr, eu users need to be logged into facebook to read and leave comments », share this post, latest from treksphere.

Star Trek: The Original Series – The Enterprise Incident

Trek LCARS Android Apps By NSTEnterprises

The Measure of an Episode – Strange New Worlds S1E10- “A Quality of Mercy”

Star Trek is for Kids!: A Review of “My First Book of Space” & “My First Book of Colors”

Where the Blood Poppies Blow: A Review of Star Trek: Picard: Second Self

Wrath of Khan – 40 years on…

The Measure of an Episode – Strange New Worlds S1E9 – “All Those Who Wander”

Star Trek  and all related marks, logos and characters are solely owned by CBS Studios Inc. Treksphere & Trekfanproductions are not endorsed by, sponsored by, nor affiliated with ViacomCBS, CBS Studios Inc, Paramount Pictures, or any other  Star Trek  franchise. Treksphere.com is a fan website. No commercial exhibition or distribution of its content is permitted. No alleged independent rights will be asserted against ViacomCBS, CBS Studios Inc or Paramount Pictures.”

Treksphere.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. Treksphere.com is not supported, sponsored, or endorsed by Amazon Services LLC

© 2016 – 2023 TREKSPHERE & TREKFANPRODUCTIONS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, ANY REDISTRIBUTION OR REPRODUCTION OF PART OR ALL OF THE CONTENTS IN ANY FORM IS PROHIBITED. YOU MAY NOT, EXCEPT WITH OUR EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION, DISTRIBUTE OR COMMERCIALLY EXPLOIT THE CONTENT.

Privacy Overview

• April 25, 2024 | Recap/Review: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Reflects On Its Choices In “Mirrors”
• April 24, 2024 | Coffee Table Book On The ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Makeup Artistry Of Glenn Hetrick Coming In September
• April 24, 2024 | ‘William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill’ Documentary Arrives On VOD On Friday
• April 23, 2024 | THEORY: Did ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Finally Resolve The “Calypso” Mystery?
• April 23, 2024 | The Fight Against The Space Parasites Isn’t Going Well For B’Elanna In Preview Of ‘Star Trek: Defiant’ #14

‘Star Trek: First Contact’ Turns 25 – Celebrate By Watching 1996 Interviews And More

| November 22, 2021 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 65 comments so far

In the Fall of 1996 , Star Trek: Voyager was in its third season on television and Deep Space Nine was in its fifth. And on November 22nd, The Next Generation crew returned to the big big screen with Star Trek: First Contact , which was the biggest commercial and critical success of the TNG-era feature films. Today we celebrate the 25th anniversary of First Contact by looking back at some interviews conducted for the release. There are also a couple of new interviews with co-writer Ron Moore about the movie, and we have news on a brand-new book all about First Contact .

First Contact Junket interviews

Veteran NBC entertainment reporter Bobbie Wygant recently posted full unedited videos from her 1996 First Contact junket interviews with producer Rick Berman, director/star Jonathan Frakes, and members of the cast.

Siskel & Ebert gave it two thumbs up

Movie reviewer all-stars Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert review First Contact . Ebert called it “one of the best in the series” and lauded the effects and performances. Siskel called it “the best in the series,” which he noted had been “uneven,” adding that “everything looked sharper, including Patrick Stewart.”

Theatrical Trailer

Ron Moore talks Borg Queen debate, cutting jokes, and almost being replaced

First Contact co-writer Ron Moore did a couple of new interviews for the anniversary of the film. He spoke to Syfy about the Borg Queen, acknowledging that an individual was “antithetical” to how the Borg collective had previously been presented, which created a lot of debate between himself and co-writer Brannon Braga and producer Rick Berman:

[A]s soon as you bring the Queen into it, that voice became an individual and it brought up significant, in-world story questions. So we really went back and forth about it internally; the three of us argued it every which way.

He also clarified what she was the queen of:

So what we came up with was, there this idea of a Borg Queen that controlled at least this collective of that particular ship, not necessarily that she was the queen of the whole Borg. We wrestled with it for quite awhile before deciding to do it.

Moore also talked about some of the things he wished weren’t cut from the final version:

There was just more action in general, more fighting the Borg in the corridors, and going into different places on the ship. And I think there was more humor. A lot of the jokes got cut down. I think we had more fun with Troi (Marina Sirtis) and Cochran’s relationship on Earth, where he gets her drunk. We had more to that sequence scripted and that was fun to write, too. Rick might have made us cut it because he was always a little too—he was always kind of worried that maybe the humor would be too corny or something.

The writer also spoke to The Hollywood Reporter , where he dismissed the idea that Tom Hanks was ever in serious contention to play Zefram Cochrane, saying “…it was never really on the table.” He also revealed that at one point, Patrick Stewart got Rick Berman to bring in a different writer to rewrite some scenes, but eventually those scenes “were thrown out.” Later this incident created a bit of tension on set when the writers sat down with Stewart, as recalled by Moore:

I remember Patrick at the outset just said something like: ‘It’s good to see you. I hope that we can all move on from the things that have happened, and now let’s just concentrate on the work.’ And I took that in the spirit it was given: [He] wants to move on from this, he’s not going to apologize outright, but he kind of is apologizing. And it was never spoken of again. So we just moved on.

New First Contact book

Titan Books is releasing a new book celebrating the movie.  Star Trek: First Contact The Making of the Classic Film by Joe Fordham promises rare and previously unseen production art as well as new interviews with the cast and crew. The book, “filled to the brim of archival material, behind-the-scenes photography, concept art, production designs, and much more,” will arrive on April 5, 2022, just in time for First Contact Day. The hardcover coffee table book retails for $50 and can be pre-ordered now at Amazon . The Kindle/ebook can be pre-ordered for $15.39 .

Cover mockup

First Contact virtual panel tonight

To celebrate the 25th anniversary Larry “Dr. Trek” Nemecek is hosting a Zoom tonight at 6PM PT/9PM ET.

So days ago longtime Trek illustrator  John Eaves  rounded up some friends and asked me to herd them, as a free, one-hour online panel/reunion: With Trek video supervisor  Ben Betts , ILM model supervisor  John Goodson ,  and Trek art department superstars   Doug Drexler, Mike Okuda, Denise Okuda  and  Jim Van Over .  PLUS ILM vet  David Blass , now  Picard ‘s production designer over Season 2 & 3.

Check out the full details over on Trekland

Short notice, #StarTrek , but BOOM—this live #FirstContact25 panel literally just came together: https://t.co/EtcoTV9cfl pic.twitter.com/BsENeV6wfA — Larry Nemecek (@larrynemecek) November 22, 2021

VES Celebrated First Contact

Last night, the Visual Effects Society held a screening along with a Q& following the film, which included producer Rick Berman, director/star Jonathan Frakes, VFX supervisor Dan Curry, production designer Herman Zimmerman, and visual effects artist John Knoll and makeup artist Todd Masters.

In the audience was Star Trek: Picard production designer David Blass, who talked about how the film still holds up as a masterpiece.

Cast and Crew screening of the 25th Anniversary of @StarTrek #FirstContact with a panel of the filmmakers. What an amazing night. Congratulation @jonathansfrakes on a fabulous film that hold up as a masterpiece 25 years later pic.twitter.com/RolJTCY182 — Dave Blass (@DaveBlass) November 22, 2021

First Contact still part of new Trek

25 years on and First Contact is still resonating with the new Star Trek shows. In October the Star Trek: Lower Decks episode “ I, Excretus ” featured a storyline involving the Borg, which featured the Borg Queen and the return of Alice Krige to voice the character.

From Lower Decks “I, Excretus”

The Borg Queen is also returning in the second season of Star Trek: Picard, which debuts in February 2022. The Queen will be played by Annie Wersching , and we have already seen glimpses of her in trailers.

Annie Wersching as Borg Queen in trailer for season 2 of Picard

Find more Star Trek history at TrekMovie.com .

Related Articles

History , TOS

Lost Original USS Enterprise Model From ‘Star Trek’ Returned To Gene Roddenberry’s Son

All Access Star Trek Podcast , Discovery , Section 31 , Star Trek 4 , Starfleet Academy , Strange New Worlds , Upcoming movies

Podcast: All Access Goes To The ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 5 Junket And Breaks Down That ‘Variety’ Article

All Access Star Trek Podcast , Discovery , Star Trek Online , Star Trek: Picard , Star Trek: Prodigy , Upcoming movies

Podcast: All Access Breaks Down The News On A New Star Trek Movie, ‘Discovery,’ Shatner/Stewart Comments & More

Star Trek: Picard , Upcoming movies

Patrick Stewart Reveals New Star Trek Movie Script Featuring Jean-Luc Picard Is In The Works

I hope they are working on a 4K release that reflects what the movie looked like in cinemas. That means no dvnr, no artificial sharpening/edge enhancement or redone colors. In other words don’t give it the Lowry treatment.

From what I’ve heard Paramount has a nice 4k digital cinema format version of the film for theatrical exhibition, so it’s only a matter of time for that version to filter down to the home video market.

Best Trek movie! Finally depicting the Borg in the proper terrifyingly realistic way. Thank you Ron Moore and for BSG that came later.

The Borg from the show were much scarier and unnerving, especially from the first few episodes.

The Borg in this movie were more like generic zombies.

Just one of those little continuity questions I ponder….Voyager depicted Delta Quadrant Borg having access to vast fleets, the the technology to pretty much deposit them anywhere they wanted. Yet, anytime they made a run on Earth, it was always one cube….

The answer I think is that the Borg were farming the Federation for tech. Even the attack in FC, they didn’t want to destroy Earth, they wanted to capture Data because they thought the emotion chip would give them the ability to transform the hive into an innovative imaginative lifeform without the need for organics (after all, you can only assimilate what is out there as opposed to go beyond what is out there). This is why they let Locutus in on where to fire.

Very imaginative theory. I’d think it more likely the effects team simple couldn’t afford to have a massive battle involving a number of cubes.

With a JJ budget it could have been done but having said that I think what we see is good enough. Star Trek isn’t about massive space battles and that’s why I like it the way it is myself.

What leads you to this conclusion? Was it the bit at the start of the film when they attacked the Sol system and had to fight through pretty much every single Starfleet ship other than the Enterprise which was sidelined and stationed elsewhere? Or was it that part when they travelled back in time and assimilated every single living person on planet Earth?

Yeah I don’t really understand that theory either. Why are they going to Earth and not just directly to the Enterprise then? And if they wanted Data, why are they time traveling to the past, that would also effectively wipe out everything in the future including Data since I’m guessing Soong would never be in the position to make an android.

And they would have to assume the Enterprise would be just lucky enough not to get erased in the future with everything else and be able to follow it?

If they really wanted to assmiliate Earth of the past, why wouldn’t they just goto the past? Or send more Cubes to the present? Or both? I think the answer is clear – they don’t want to end the Federation / want the Federation to not exist unless they have the tech that allows AI life to be fully innovative/imaginative (think V’ger). Then they don’t care anymore – past, present, whatever.

Yeah, that has always been the HUGE plothole lol.

But they clearly would’ve succeeded since 9 billion were Borg on Earth as Data said before they stopped them. They had already ended the Federation in the past. Or will. Ah, temporal mechanics!

Also the Queen states directly why she wants Data, most of it is just to get the encryption code to the Enterprise computer. She thinks Data is imperfect like humans are. She wants to assimilate him but none of that you’re suggesting is ever said or implied in the film itself.

Your theory just has a lot of holes in it to work.

That was the big plot hole of the movie. I’ve always wondered why not just time travel well before reaching Sol then just approach Earth completely unmolested? However this is where the “we want Data” theory helps. It is possible that they had both goals going into this. Showing up at Earth would have drawn Data out and then go back and assimilate.

But this is the real problem you get when you give characters control of time travel. Anything can be undone at any time.

They went back in time, assimilated earth… There’s enough exposition that suggests that turning Data was just a happy coincidence for the Borg. Assimilation of earth was always the primary goal, IMO….

I think going back in time wasn’t also their plan but came up at the last moment. They could have simply choosen a place far away from earth to go back in time.

If the Borg can go back in time (and pick the time and place), then they would just go back in time. They purposely don’t. My thought is they wanted to “trap” Data and see him in action. (Btw writers, this is why time travel/reset stories are always the worst outside comedies). Also if they got the key to AI=life why not get that tech to the Borg early. Indeed the time for the tech to get to the Borg on the present from the alpha quadrant could have been the real purpose of the drive.

That’s another problem. The entire concept of the Borg having the ability to time travel at will means they could just go back far enough and start assimilating every single race in every corner of the universe at will.

And yet no one seems to care that the Borg have this monumentally powerful tool in their arsenal. I guess they were banking on the idea that “they tried it once and failed. They won’t try it again.”

Yeah all true, but let’s be honest, that’s been the issue with having time travel in Star Trek since TOS started. As I once argued here back in Discovery season 2, EVERY one knows how to time travel. You can’t get away from that. The ‘go really fast around a star method’ is baked in. You don’t need any special equipment beyond just a ship capable of warp speed and a star to steer it by and you’re in a time warp.

In fact I remember arguing this with you and Sam (hey whatever happen to that guy??) at the time that Star Trek just made it too easy for anyone to already time travel. You said Star Trek has never made it directly known how to do it and how you can kind of justify it not really being used very much. But then the irony came a month later when we found out on Discovery that both Starfleet and the Klingons were involved in some secret time travel race; to the point Starfleet was now building specialized time travel suits and we learned the Klingons had an entire collection of time crystals which Section 31 stole from them for their time suit. Both groups could indeed travel any time they wanted. Why didn’t the Klingons just use the crystals to time travel and defeat the Federation in the war that way? Same as the Borg.

On Enterprise, there was a time travel war already happening centuries into the future. Who knows how much they had changed time over and over again which brought up another point and was addressed with Carl/GOF on Discovery.

That thing just sat idly on a planet for millions of years. Why didn’t other species use it to go back in time and change their fates? That’s why I liked how they used it in Discovery in the 32nd century and explained it started to hide once the Temporal Cold War started because it made NO sense this powerful entity just sat on a lifeless planet where anyone can use it at any time (excuse the pun ;))….but didn’t.

So yes time travel has always been a problem in Star Trek. The Federation itself has the Temporal Prime Directive that states they can’t just go back and change history willy-nilly, especially because they seen the effects of doing that over and over again. But it doesn’t stop the Klingons, Borg, Romulans and anyone else to not time travel when they feel like it and completely remake history. I guess you can argue that’s what the time police job in the 29th century does and watch ALL groups in the galaxy from changing time, but how they can stop them all from doing it is a head scratcher.

For me it seemed, they never really made a run on Earth as a major target. they just had some cubes flying around the galaxy who made a run on anything that seemed interesting to assimilate.

An invasion of the Federation might even be quite a waste of recources from borg perspective. If only some technologies or only some aspects of the species are interesting you don’t have to spend so many drones and ships, don’t have to conquer the whole other stuff, that isn’t more developed than the many other species you already have at home.

EDIT: Just think of the borg’s reaction of someone beaming onto their ship. As long as they don’t do any real harm drones ignore intruders. Because it would be a waste of recources to do otherwise.

The size of their territory and fleets in the delta quadrant is more of a irresistible side effect of their exponential growth of power due to assimilation. They are not like the Klingons truely interested in expanding their territory, going to war, conquering or ruling. These things just happen by becoming 1000 times more advanced than anyone else.

IMO this film holds up very well as the best of the TNG offerings, I watched the first 15 minutes the other night just to watch the fleet battle with the cube. Very enjoyable.

I can’t tell you how many times I used that scene as a demo for how cool the image quality and 5.1 sound on DVDs was back when it was first released on DVD.

I remember how excited I was for this movie to come out. I was in college at the time and just couldn’t wait. I was so obsessed with it watching/reading every clip, interview or article on it. It was around the time the internet was really becoming a thing and I was always online trying to find anything about it. I remember some of the crazy rumors at the time. Sisko was going to have a role in the beginning of the film. Geordi was going to get assimilated. Data will die.

I remember going home to see it with my friends in L.A. About 9 of us went opening weekend and it did not disappoint. We were with a huge crowd and clearly big Trek fans. The two biggest applause lines came when Worf appeared in the Defiant and then the Doctor in sick bay. People were really shocked to see him there.

It’s been 25 years later and it still holds up well IMO. I’ve watched it twice in the last year. Its also cool it has turned April 5th into First Contact day for us fans to celebrate every year together! Even the company has made it a special day to promote the franchise. Sad to say this, but this was the last great Star Trek film to come out for me.

I vividly remember being 13 years old, counting down the days until this movie came out. I used to dial-in to my AOL account to go to stfcweb.com to read spoilers about what the new Enterprise-E would look like. I went with my Dad and best friend on premiere day to the local theater and was blown away that the movie was even better than I could have imagined. 25 years later it’s still my favorite Trek. I keep a small model of the Enterprise-E on my desk. Thank you for a fine film and for being a cornerstone of my childhood.

That’s such a great story Dennis. Always love hearing stuff like this. It does remind me how special the films can still be, even when we had like 500 episodes of the shows by then. But the really good films (or our favorites) can create the those type of experiences and later memories after seeing them with family or friends for the first time.

My journey to First Contact began in the pages of Dreamwatch and Starburst (uk scifi magazines) and that it would feature the borg and be set in the Renaissance and titled ‘Star Trek Resurrection’ and then the very early days of ‘surfing the net’ (can clearly remember slowly loading up the new one sheet movie poster astounded that i was looking at it on a screen instead of the back of a comic book or theatre lobby). then seeing the film was obviously far superior to Generations and had a Khan feel (second improved film, sequel to an episode, Moby Dick, revenge, militaristic tone, better uniforms ) but at the same time it felt like FC was being the ‘TMP’ for TNG in that it was being re-jigged for the big screen like the way TOS had with TMP (and then was again for TWOK) with a new Enterprise and redesigned Giger Borg . and also felt like part of the’ Alien Invasion’ wave that was in vogue throughout 96 (ID4, XFiles, Mars Attacks), also was fun that uk wasnt too far behind the US release date unlike the last films

in the run up and after bought the usual Trek movie memorabilia – official magazine (titan not starlog), comic (Marvel not DC anymore), the novel, poster, the making of book .and a few First Contact chocolate bars! (pretty sure they had caramel inside, and were very nice )

That’s right, I remembered one of the earliest rumors was that the movie was going to take place in the Renaissance. It would’ve been interesting to say the least lol, but I’m happy the first contact idea came along.

I do agree with you about TMP parallel. I never really thought of it before until now but you’re right in a way because Generations basically kept all the elements for the show like the ship and uniforms. It was FC they really had the ‘movie version’ of TNG. There was a big shift between TMP and TWOK of course but that was probably due to slashing the budget and MANY people hating those TMP uniforms. I couldn’t stand them lol.

The recent Hollywood Reporter article citing Ron Moore on conflicts between Moore/Braga and Patrick Stewart on First Contaxt is worth a read.

It really sounds as though Stewart generally shouldn’t be indulged too far in providing input into scripts. A challenge and feedback function can be helpful and seems to have been positive but it went far beyond that. The idea that he hired his own writer to rework his dialogue is mind boggling even if the rewrites were thrown out in the end.

LOL I read that yesterday as well. It popped up on my phone. It was an interesting read! Hiring his own writers, my god! People always talk about how power hungry Shatner was on the show and films, but Stewart sounded just as bad in many ways, at least by the time the movies started. I still think Michael Piller’s original idea for Insurrection was a much better story until Stewart got involved and mucked it all up.

And its interesting no matter HOW much we’re told about these shows and films you are still learning new things about them. The Center Seat was on yesterday and I learned a ton about the time when Paramount was getting TMP up and running (both being our favorite movie of course ;)). The biggest that TMP was suppose to be the only one movie because they had planned to make another TOS TV show after it. I knew they planned to make one before it, but never after. But then it made a ton of money…

Oh and just to make this as off topic as possible, I rewatched 12 Monkeys! Finished it a week ago. There was SO MUCH I forgot because I only watched it when it originally aired starting in 2015. But boy a great show. More excited about Picard now.

It had a modest budget by even 1996 standards but it looks really smart and has aged quite well indeed. The key fx scenes hold up very well still today.

The biggest tragedy is they didn’t capitalise on this film and make a sequel perhaps with the crew having to find a way back home because temporal rift sent them where they didn’t expect to end up.. perhaps to a far future where the Borg have succeeded and the Enterprise is on the run and having to find a way to get the right coordinates to return home.

TNG didn’t act like a proper film series. A series of films in a franchise need to connect because that’s what keeps audiences coming back. Generations was passing of the baton and ended with a clear intent to continue.

“Somehow I doubt this will be the last ship to be called Enterprise”

First Contact delivered and delivered a solid movie. The film series has momentum!

Insurrection totally did its own thing and has no connection to previous movie. Even worse is the movie is really not very geared toward general audiences to enjoy and despite a higher budget it seems the actual end product look far cheaper (must have been the Baku village?)

Insurrection derailed the whole thing sadly. Doing sigular stories only work if every film is a winner and the Star Trek franchise is inconsistent on that front. If the audience is invested in the characters they will still turn out even for a somewhat poor film in a franchise. That’s what I’m thinking anyway.

To this day I don’t understand why neither the TNG or Kelvin movies didn’t have more of a story arc in their films? The irony about the TOS films was that 2-4 became special for fans because it was the first time TOS told a continuing story and those became a trilogy of sorts. I know it was more of an accident due to the Spock/Nimoy thing but it was also really successful too.

I thought the Kelvin movies would basically be a serialized trilogy from the start, especially since that’s what most movies were doing more and more. Movies were still mostly standalone sequels in the TNG era with some call backs to other movies but more were appearing outside of Star Wars. But by the time the Kelvin movies came out, nearly every big franchise were doing serialized stories. There was definitely a connection between the first film and Into Darkness, but a minor one. And then Beyond just totally ignored the events of Into Darkness. Same with Insurrection and Nemesis.

I think both movie franchises would’ve been more popular today if they built in a really strong story arc and not just standalone movies. Today it would be crazy not to do it. If the next film ever gets off the ground and stars a new cast, I really hope it goes that direction.

Well, the explaination for the Kelvin movies is easy – just way to much time between projects. It didn’t help that the behind the cameras creative team had way to many other projects going concurrently with their Trek work. It doesn’t matter how good a multi-tasker you are, at some point quality suffers with too many pokers in the fire.

The TNG movies are another story. There were decades of serial TV on their resume, DS9 in a lot of peoples eyes laid the groundwork for serialized TV we see today. For the TNG movies to be as disjointed as they are is a mystery, considering the backgrounds of the creative team.

I agree with you with both points.

The Kelvin movies just took a long time between movies and didn’t have a build up between the next ones. STID had plenty of hype but once people actually saw the movie and that it was a completely separate story (and not a great one at that) it made it easier to not care as much. Now to be fair, there were certainly other big brands out there taking their time between films like the James Bond and Nolan Batman movies. But those also were smart enough to continually build on those characters and storylines that got people excited to keep coming back. I think the Kelvin movies should’ve done something like those more. Give Kirk and Spock a REAL arc even if the stories are completely standalone. They sort of got them, but they weren’t very strong either.

The TNG movies also weird as you said. They had the opportunity to tie the movies a little more together and there was serious talk with Insurrection, the next movie was going to directly connect to those events but then completely dropped it. My guess is because the movie didn’t get the reception they hoped and just went a different way. TBH, it would’ve been hard to follow First Contact story wise since that was a time travel movie (and they did sort of make a sequel out of it with Regeneration on Enterprise). But they could’ve still made the stories a little more connected instead of just being completely standalone. The crazy thing about the TNG movies is I don’t think a single movie ever called back to any of the films. They referenced stuff from the shows in all of them, but the movies were isolated from each other outside of getting a new Enterprise and the Troi’s getting married.

You make an interesting point about the Enterprise episode “Regeneration”. The first time I saw that episode I kept thinking to myself why they couldn’t have made this or a version of this as a proper sequel to First Contact on the big screen. It could have worked, maybe have it as a flashback or involve the holodeck somehow.

In my grand rewatch of the franchise this year, I actually watched First Contact and Regeneration together. I followed a viewing order website and that’s how they suggested to watch it. And it works really well. I still remembered how much it bothered some fans when it was revealed the Borg was coming to Enterprise. But it ended up being a very clever way to introduce them on that show and one of Enterprise’s best episodes. It’s in my top 10 episodes for that show.

I agree, they could’ve found a way to follow up the story on the big screen, but I really liked how it was followed up on Enterprise.

I think that the other issue with the Kelvin movies is that if there is any linking arc, it is Kirk’s hero’s journey.

But it’s just not all that well done, and a fourth film resolving daddy issues just wouldn’t be all that compelling since the action has always been more important than the character arcs.

I’m forced to agree. I don’t think they really intended to arc the 3 KU films but yes… What arc there is would definitely be Kirk’s. Especially since the message from the 2nd film (which I agree with but not in how it was executed) was that Kirk got the chair by circumstance in the first film and in the 2nd he needed to EARN it.

Trek Beyond didn’t even have an arc in itself- Kirk is bored with Starfleet –> Kirk saves a space station and now he is not bored with Starfleet. The movie barely even had a theme– I think it was supposed to be “strength through diversity” but an exec decided that was too divisive so they changed it to “unity,” thus there’s the antagonist inexplicably saying how much he hates “unity” which comes across like a kid’s cartoon villain whose mission is to eradicate hugs.

Its crazy to think Beyond would have to have been budgeted cheaper than Trek 2009 to have made money for Paramount. Sequels cost more, actors salaries go up not down. Inflation happens. But Bad Robot’s budgets are untenable. They can’t make one of these for 200 million and make less than 400 million and continue to make them. I assume that means the KT will remain a trilogy unless they are willing to gamble on one more script and director and go for broke. But i doubt it they seem risk averse.

It’s why I’m not holding my breath the next movie will be about the Kelvin cast. They will be spending tens of millions of dollars to get them all back when they can probably spend a fraction of that with a new cast. I remember Beyond and everyone saying it would be the ‘cheapest’ Kelvin film and that was still around $140 million estimated at the time. Instead it basically cost the same as STID but only made $120 million less than that film did in the process. That probably put a bad taste in Paramount’s mouth they still can’t get rid of.

Between 2016-2018 despite Beyond bombing I was sure of two things, we’ll get another film and it will star the Kelvin cast; just a much cheaper one in the process. But once Pine walked away because they wouldn’t pay him what they promised, I been completely convinced of the opposite and still am.

And if another movie really happens it may still take place in the Kelvin universe but if they don’t use that cast, I’m guessing it’s going back to the Prime universe. That’s the one fans truly care about and where the focus squarely is again with all the new shows and seeing legacy characters like Picard, Janeway and Seven again. That’s just a lot more exciting in general.

Unfortunately they squandered those films and I don’t think most fans really cared as much about that universe in general.

It seems Orci’s ST3 wouldve tied into the alternate reality plot threads from ST09 (and a lesser extent ID with the timeline ‘righting’ itself into a reversed TWOK reenactment) Beyond pretty much ignored anything to do with that other than Spock Prime and the fun Trek V cast photo

TNG couldve done a trilogy arc by doing a mirror film after FC (Geordi’s wormhole led into the mirrorverse?) and then a wrap up the trilogy film with the borg returning for TNG4 (including 7of9 for extra appeal)

I guess the studio was always afraid that making the stories more serialized would exclude new audiences (because they couldn’t understand what was going on) but the movies never really succeeded in attracting a lot of new audiences despite allegedly being made very accessible. It took Marvel years and a long string of movies to reach that level of loyal following, and I guess Trek just never really tried.

As for Insurrection looking cheaper than First Contact despite a bigger budget, the TNG movies really had a big problem that the actor salaries shot up and ate up a big chunk of the budget. Some fans are complaining that the Kelvin actors are too expensive but they completely ignore that essentially half the budget of the TNG movies went into actor salaries. Patrick Stewart alone allegedly made $14 million on Nemesis on a movie with a total reported budget of $60 million.

Yeah that’s a good point about the budgets. They only went up to pay the cast AND crew salaries more, not necessarily for the production itself. They were all being paid 7 figures by the third film with Stewart and Spiner making the most. With the exception of Shatner, Nimoy and probably Kelly, none of the others ever got to a million dollars in the films and why it was easier to keep those budgets lower. And I read they all took a pay cut for TUC to happen.

As for the Kelvin actors, I don’t think anyone is really ‘complaining’ about their salaries. They should get whatever they deem is worthy. The problem is unlike the TOS and TNG films, the Kelvin films are some of the most expensive movies Paramount has ever made and they are clearly not getting the ROI as they hoped on them. So the reality is IF people want to see those films continue then yeah the budget has to be cut across the board, including the actor’s salaries as well. If not, then that’s probably why there has been no movie with them in the last 5 years. That’s really the issue most fans cares about. Many want to see them again but knows that probably won’t happen unless there is a serious budget draw down somewhere. It’s also why I’m not holding my breath they are coming back in the next film. Once Pine walked and they shelved the fourth film a few months later, that told me those films are most likely dead barring any real breakthroughs…and we’ve heard nothing out of all that time.

I thought he took a pay cut for Nemesis. Or maybe I’m mixing that up with Shatner and TUC.

Very Cool, they should release books like that on all the movies,…or least the first 10.

And I agree with what the critic said, about Stewart looking sharp, I think the TNG cast looked their best in this movie, which is interesting as they were nine years into the roles.

I remember seeing this when I was 15. Once those credits started in with that unexpectedly emotional theme I knew I was in for something special.

To this day it’s still kind of wild to me that the Borg — the coolest, scariest, most thought-provoking enemy from the series — actually got the big screen treatment. I used to watch “The Best of Both Worlds” repeatedly daydreaming about how epic a movie about them would be. I never thought they would actually do it!

I still hope we get another Borg movie some day, just involving a different crew. If we can have two Khan movies and 6 movies involving Klingons, then yes, I think we can have another Borg outing.

They are still very very popular today. It’s the reason why they are now showing up again in Picard and LDS. My guess is we will even see them again in Prodigy being back in the Delta Quadrant, but that’s probably in later seasons.

I think we can have another Borg outing

If it still involves the Kelvin crew, they could use the Planet Killer instead. Or combine it with V’Ger and/or the Borg. There still is the non-canon connection of V’ger and the Borg. And there is a TNG-novel which includes the Planet Killer and the Borg, which suggests that the Planet-Killer was sent to destroy the Borg. First Contact was the TNG-version of Wrath of Khan, but I think vice versa V’Ger and the Planet Killer are the TOS-equivalents of the Borg.

The problem is that Enterprise seeded the Borg into pre TOS canon. I’ll refrain from commenting on that creative decision, but it at least provides some continuity if the Borg are discovered in the Kirk era Kelvin universe.

My personal opinion, any Borg movie now should not happen, or just be a stand alone project.

All true. It’s not hard at all to place the Borg in the Kelvin universe in the 23rd century. And it would be interesting to see them connected to things like V’ger or the Planet Killer. That’s the thing about the Kelvin universe, it could shake things up in all kinds of ways from the Prime universe and unfortunately it didn’t. Other than turning Khan white and destroying Vulcan it didn’t really do anything interesting in this new universe. Just a lot of uber-villains in big ships who want to take down the Federation.

There seems to be this perverse need for the creative types to not be creative. The Kelvin universe doesn’t have to unfold the way the Prime universe did, and who’s to say the Prime universe isn’t some shadow of some different universe? Into the Spiderverse did a good job with a multiverse story, Worf’s trip down that rabbit hole in Parallels certainly allowed for different outcomes. Yeah, let the Borg find earth early in the Kelvinverse…..thaw out white Khan and his crew and let them have at it. It would be….glorious!

Even though I wasn’t really into the idea of redoing TOS at all (and I been a fan since the late 70s), once I found out it was going to be done in a different universe at least, I got a lot more excited about it. Because then they could tell stories any way they wanted. Really mix it up. Introduce known species or situations in different ways, etc.

Now to be fair they did SOME of that like the Spock and Uhura relationship. That would never fly in the Prime universe for most fans, so it was nice to see and I liked it personally (I know others didn’t though to say the least). And some Star Trek fans seem perverse to seeing relationships and sex in Star Trek in general lol.

But they could’ve done SO MUCH MORE to make the Kelvin universe just a more unique and interesting setting. Maybe the Cardassians and the Federation became major allies in this universe and fighting the Klingons together. Just the opposite, maybe the Andorrians left the Federation and became its main enemy instead like the Klingons breaking its treaty with them on DS9. Maybe the Federation already created the Genesis device but the technology caused havoc once the Romulans got their hands on it.

Take familiar elements of the universe but put your own spin on it. Have the destruction of Vulcan create a real shake up in the galaxy besides just creating a more militarized Section 31. And it doesn’t even have to be about conflict all the time either. Maybe the Federation has spread out to the Gamma Quadrant by this period because they found the Bajoran wormhole a lot earlier and now the Federation has expanded because of it.

That’s what bothers me about the Kelvin universe, it just doesn’t add anything really new . Star Trek has become such a rich and deep universe in the last 40 years by then with so much mythology it could mine. Now they can take all of that and mold it any way they want. Instead we get stuff like waking Khan up to build weapons or a former MACO soldier angry because he was left on a planet for 100 years. They never tried to expand their universe in any meaningful way or told bigger stories. It felt pretty much like the Prime universe, just with a few minor changes.

Watched this in the cinema, was incredible and such a strange experience and a lot to take in seeing the new uniforms, ship, Geordi without a visor etc. Incredible film still looks great today…my gripe after all this time was they should have made that battle scene at the start a little more wow…would of loved to see the Defiant get more than 20 secs of film time!

LOOKING SO MUCH FORWARD TO THE 4K BLU RAY OF IT (AND THE OTHER TNG FILMS)!!!

25yrs later and it’s still yarn inspiring. But it’s easy to understand why TNG fans think this is the best ST movie while being actually being one of the most predicable dull stories committed to film. Add half a star if your a fan, enema’s are free.

Make a zombie like tv series but borg version, assimilating humans before Enterprise catch-up.

Such a delightful film. So much fun to watch as a teenager too, getting a proper PG-13 action film for the first time. I ate up all the articles and the website (complete with that fun little first person shooter game) and the press coinciding with the 30th Anniversary. 1996 was just the best year to be a Trek fan.

This is the last great Trek film IMO. I’ve not enjoyed any of the subsequent films. 25 years now without a decent film… its a hellava long time.

Their is something very special about FC. The action is sharp and the film is beautifully paced. Just to think they took a massive risk making an all out action film… it could have gone either way with the fans. Fortunately, it all turned out well and we are celebrating its 25 anniversary. The film has become iconic.

Excellent movie, I’d consider it the best of TNG. All these reviews are good and nice but everyone seems to be missing an important part of what made the film so good and that is the excellent music by Jerry Goldsmith. His borg themes and the klingon themes and of course that beautiful ending theme when the first contact is happening are just so memorable and make the movie much better and much more emotional.

1996 interviews are veeeery much to see…

Thanks Trekmovie.com for such a great compilation of info celebrating the anniversay of Star Trek First Contact.

When I was a kid I of course loved Wrath of Khan. It was such a cool movie and of course compared to TMP I am sure it helped sell the studio on making more movies in the future!! That said, the older I get, I have to say my favorite is now, by far, First Contact. IMHO, the acting, the story, the music, the FX, the overall themes in the movie all combine to create the best of the 13 Star Trek motion pictures.

To all those south of the border, have a great Thanksgiving! The holiday is easily one of the things I miss most after moving back to Toronto a few years ago.

I was 4 years old when I saw this movie in the theater. It is my earliest memory of seeing a movie in the cinema, and was definitely the coolest thing I had ever seen by far in my short lifetime. I remember going to preschool and doodling the Enterprise E with its incredible details, I remember waiting for it to come out on VHS so we could rent it and watch at home, and then I remember when the Borg finally showed up in Voyager…yeah, I guess I got started on the Star Trek obsession pretty early

Curious thing about First Contact… The friend who is the biggest Trek fan after me became a big TNG guy while I remained a TOS guy. Which we sorta enjoyed over the years. The thing about First Contact that I liked best, that it showed Picard to succumb to the human frailty of revenge, is the same thing that he did NOT like about it. I liked that Picard was no longer perfect. And he was unhappy for the same reason. That Picard was no longer perfect. His opinion was that when Picard told Lily that in the future mankind has risen above such weaknesses that he should have stuck with it and NOT felt that emotion. Of course then we would have no character in the movie but he didn’t care. I actually liked that Picard spoke about how he had evolved into this higher ideal but Lily saw right thought it. That it was bul***it.

If only they could have called bul***it on the bit about money not existing in the future, too.

“THE LINE MUST BE DRAWN HERE!!!”

This has oddly become one of the most famous lines in Star Trek. That line could ONLY happen with a much different and vengeful Picard in that moment. A guy who wanted to take down the Borg one by one. I can understand why your friend felt that way, but I fully agree with you. I loved seeing this version of Picard. And it just made sense because it was the first time he seen the Borg again in the way he saw them in BOBW as this terrifying group who would do anything to rip the Federation apart and this time he was going to do anything to stop them.

That entire scene Between him and Lily is just great on so many levels. The above line with “Jean Luc blow up the damn ship!” is just really great writing and acting.

I can still remember a bunch of us watching that whole scene with Picard and Lilly and thinking how great the acting was! That may be one of the finest, or the finest, Star Trek theatrical scene ever! I hope both Stewart and Woodward as well as Director Frakes are proud of what they made.

My friend who liked TNG didn’t like FC for four reasons I believe, and certainly saw it as a let down to The Best of Both Worlds:

1) The Borg weren’t the scary Borg from Best of both Worlds. Suddendly the Borg aren’t a unimind and they have a Queen. They only send one Cube… again. He went into the theatres thinking it was going to be this massive Borg invasion and got one Cube and 15 minutes of fighting at the beginning after which the whole thing was a forgettable affair in his opinion. I remember him showing me scripts (obviously fake? Internet was new then) with these massive battles at the end, the Federation fighting for survival, etc. I even remember seeing a trailer that used scenes from Ds9 and TNG to make you think you were going to get this epic Borg invasion and instead got.. 15 minutes at the start.

2) Did not understand how Picard “won” the battle. He “heard” exactly where to shoot? Huh? No three dimensional strategic thinking in this one. All those Akira class ships just couldn’t hit the er, something.

3) Did not like action hero/out for revenge Picard, which I personally thought was an improvement on the boring perfect TNG Picard who lasted like 10 seconds in combat when not working for the Borg. I disagree on this point, Picard was way better and watchable in FC vs. TNG.

4) Time travel is dumb, why do the Borg not just go back in time again? And why even engage Picard?

Ironically I at the time was happy there was some TOS with Cochrane and the door was open for an prequel birth of the federation / early exploration that I thought would be the future of Trek… (which ironically happened but not the way I thought it would go when the ENT pilot was a disaster in being TNG lite.. sigh).

Out of that discussion came the idea to save the Borg as a scary unimind from BOBW (the only TNG worth watching in my opinion, including FC) where they are “farming” the Federation for tech (i.e. the Borg right now only get new tech by assimilating life to add distinctiveness and new tech) , purposely sent only one Cube, told Picard where to shoot and force him to follow, the time travel was all about getting the Ent/Data alone, the Borg never really cared about time travel, that their soul purpose is to get the Federation to develop AI=life and thought it was achieved with Data only to be disappointed when Data was found subpar. The Queen is a ruse, and on finding out it was all for naught they lose and send the compromised Picard back home. This plays into concepts from TMP, the Borg go back to being an evil V’ger that want to take the next step in its evolution.

Ironically ST Picard is consistant with this. Picard seems internally lost, goes obsessed with AI and Data in his dreams, builds an evacuation fleet on his watch with an odd focus on using AI synths to the point they are programmed to act as slaves and then almost instinctively does whatever it takes to get AI=life tech to the point he dies and becomes it. I’m actually in shock Season 2 isn’t the Borg trying to capture him at all costs (and throw in that massive invasion for my TNG friend).

This movie and the critical and financial success of it book-ended the “peak trek” or “golden” era from 1990-1996 which to this day I don’t think has been matched in terms of overall broad-based popularity of Star Trek. That era started with BBOW and the sustained mainstream ratings success of TNG and the spin-offs that resulted from that point. DS9 was established as a very good show at this point, and voyager still had it’s moments before that show ruined the main villain of this movie (that being the Borg) in subsequent seasons. After this movie, things slowly went downhill even though DS9 had some of its best moments in season 6 and 7 until for better or worse JJ Trek gave a new lease on life for the Trek franchise.

• Sci-Fi Movies

Every Star Trek Movie, Ranked: Which Ones Are Worth Watching?

If you buy something using our links, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for your support!

Star Trek is the sci-fi franchise that went where no other sci-fi franchise had gone before. Indeed, no other media franchise—in and beyond the realm of science fiction—has had the same kind of complex storytelling and world-building that Star Trek brought forth.

Ever since 1979, the Star Trek movies achieved varying levels of success, both good and bad. For every bad movie ( The Final Frontier ), there would be also a good one ( The Undiscovered Country ), and Trekkies love them all in their own unique ways.

Despite dips in quality, all of the Star Trek movies are worth watching for their different journeys and arcs. Here's our take on how the different Star Trek movies rank against each other.

13. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

The Final Frontier is universally slammed as the least impressive Star Trek movie ever made. The crew of the Enterprise is called to action when rebel Vulcan Sybok, Spock's half-brother, stages a hostage crisis.

They then discover his plans to venture to the center of the galaxy and physically locate God. Does that premise sound ludicrous? Wait 'til you see the movie itself. The uninspired action and cheesy dialogue make it look like a spoof.

William Shatner's vision is all over the place, but you can still see the passion from the entire crew. Incompetence aside, this has some decent ideas. For skeptics, treat it like a decent passion project.

12. Star Trek VII: Generations (1994)

Star Trek: Generations is the first movie crossover in the franchise and the first entry for the Next Generation timeline.

For this seventh movie, Jean-Luc Picard teams up with the now-retired Captain James T. Kirk to stop the devious El-Aurian Tolian Soran (played by Malcolm McDowell) from causing destruction throughout the galaxy.

For the average Trekkie, it's amazing to see the two generations team up. Sadly, the resulting crossover ended up sour when Picard got more screen time than Kirk, and when the story ended up feeling more like a stretched TV episode.

Overall, Star Trek: Generations is a passable time-burner for the least-expecting fanatic, and McDowell's Soran makes for a great threat.

11. Star Trek IX: Insurrection (1998)

Another from the Next Generation, Star Trek: Insurrection follows the Enterprise-E crew at odds with Starfleet when they learn of a heinous plot to conquer the planet Ba'ku for its resources. This results in Picard leading a rebellion to stop the Son'a from causing destruction to the planet.

Picard leading an insurrection is an idea filled with potential. Even if it seems thin on execution, it works as the ideal Star Trek escapist flick. Jonathan Frakes continues to deliver the goods of a fun Trek voyage: the Son'a are a credible threat and Patrick Stewart remains awesome.

10. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

In the second movie of the Kelvin timeline, the Enterprise is assigned to travel to Klingon territory and track down the terrorist John Harrison (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) who's behind the attacks on Earth.

But when Harrison surrenders, his hidden intentions compromise the mission and the crew themselves.

Star Trek Into Darkness continues the streak of the J. J. Abrams series of movies, even if this one has a mediocre outcome. Most Trekkies point to the characterizations as its main problem, the worst being Harrison's twist revelation and Carol Marcus herself.

Regardless, it has all the set pieces for an explosive Star Trek blockbuster, making it the highest-grossing Star Trek movie.

9. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

Star Trek: The Motion Picture came on the heels of the show's abrupt cancellation. This time, the original crew of the USS Enterprise is brought back to their assignments, along with now Admiral James T. Kirk, to stop an alien cloud called V'Ger.

For all its hype, Trekkies were delighted to see the crew back on deck for more missions, even if it wasn't the brightest of starts. Despite all that, there are moments to enjoy, like the cloud's destruction scenes, Ilia's presence, and Leonard Nimoy as Spock.

8. Star Trek X: Nemesis (2002)

Star Trek: Nemesis was unfortunately the endcap to the Next Generation timeline. In this last hurrah, the Enterprise-E crew is assigned a hazardous mission: to stop a clone of Jean-Luc Picard named Shinzon (played by Tom Hardy) from taking over the Romulan Star Empire.

Both fans and audiences deride this film for ending the Next Generation timeline on a sour note. Yet, Nemesis is filled with intriguing ideas beneath its mess and action. For one thing, Picard's brawl against Shinzon is both a physical and philosophical combat for Picard.

7. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

For the third Star Trek movie, the crew of the USS Enterprise seizes their starship to return Spock's body to his homeworld after his spirit is confined inside Dr. Bones McCoy's mind.

Meanwhile, their mission is interrupted when a group of ruthless Klingons, led by Kruge (played by Christopher Lloyd), want to use the Enterprise for terraforming purposes.

The Search for Spock continues the three-movie arc started by Wrath of Khan about Spock's significance. And while it feels like the middle child, it successfully balances the crew's enjoyable dynamic with the overall spectacle. Plus, Christopher Lloyd's Kruge is watchable as ever.

6. Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Star Trek Beyond continues the voyage of the Kelvin timeline reboot series. During one passage, their starship is ambushed and the crew ends up isolated on a nearby planet.

There, they learn of a Starfleet captain named Krall (played by Idris Elba), who was horribly transformed and developed a hatred of the Federation.

Trekkies and audiences might know this entry as the one with Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" playing in its trailer. While that was an unfortunate red herring, the resulting movie is more than rewarding.

Star Trek Beyond keeps the ball rolling with its splendid cast and immersive world-building, and Justin Lin's knack for action makes it more alive. Sadly, this is the last we see of Leonard Nimoy and Anton Yelchin.

5. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country is the last movie to feature the original cast. This time, the Klingons are brought to their knees and attempt to make peace with the Federation.

However, Captain Kirk and McCoy are held accountable for the murder of a Chancellor, leading Spock on a mission to clear their names.

When The Final Frontier proved to be the end for Star Trek , The Undiscovered Country proved that there were more worlds to conquer. Trekkies were treated to many callbacks to the series, while newbies were welcomed with its stunning visuals and the whodunnit plot.

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

The fourth chapter in the Star Trek movie saga, The Voyage Home finds the Enterprise crew succumbing to the fallout from The Search for Spock .

Upon their travel, they learn that the planet is under threat from an alien probe attempting to contact humpback whales. As a result, the crew travels back in time to before the whales' extinction.

For his second directorial effort, Leonard Nimoy proved that he knew how to blend the absurdity of Star Trek with its seriousness into a fantastic popcorn flick. The result is a fun adventure that's half "fish out of water" fantasy and half cautionary tale.

3. Star Trek VIII: First Contact (1996)

Star Trek: First Contact features the directorial debut of Jonathan Frakes. The mission this time is for the crew to travel back in time to the mid-21st century to thwart the plans of an alien race called the Borg, who want to change the past and make the Earth vulnerable to invasion.

Storylines within the Star Trek pantheon have been endlessly compared to literature by scholars. This one has a clear parallel to Moby Dick , with Picard being compared to Captain Ahab. That proved a strong point for the crew's intense conflict against the Borg—the perfect foil.

Combined with the cool Borg Queen and its exciting action, First Contact made resistance to expanding the franchise futile.

2. Star Trek (2009)

The 2009 Star Trek movie starts the series fresh with a reboot, and the result is gratifying. The newly-rebooted crew of the USS Enterprise is sent on a mission to stop the nefarious Romulan Nero (played by Eric Bana) from laying ruin to an alternate timeline (separate from the original show).

Back then, no other filmmaker had the sheer ability to re-energize a franchise like J. J. Abrams. While he brings a ton of flashiness to the screen, Abrams also bridges the gap for old and new fans by honoring the show's legacy while starting afresh with a fine cast led by Chris Pine.

1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

No other Star Trek movie sticks the landing as greatly as The Wrath of Khan did. The second entry finds the Enterprise facing off against their fiercest rival yet, the tyrannical Khan Noonien Singh (played by Ricardo Montalbán), who wants to acquire the terraforming device Genesis.

This is the perfect film for newbies to Star Trek since it references the 1967 episode "Space Seed," which set up Khan. It provides the right balance between immersive sci-fi flick and radical Star Trek voyage. And thanks to Montalbán's charm, Khan is the best Star Trek villain to date.

• Tickets & Showtimes
• Trending on RT

TAGGED AS: CBS , CBS All Access , Sci-Fi , science fiction

(Photo by Paramount+/CBS)

Star Trek TV Shows Ranked by Tomatometer

Updated: September 8, 2023

The Star Trek universe kicked off in 1966 with the original series , created by science fiction visionary Gene Roddenberry , and later exploded into a massive film and TV juggernaut.

While the original series, which starred William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock, saw only three seasons, it made an indelible impression on the sci-fi genre. Live-action TV follow-up Star Trek: The Next Generation , with  Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard leading an ensemble cast, captivated viewers from 1987–1994 and inspired three more series that would air within the next decade:  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ,  Star Trek: Voyager , and  Star Trek: Enterprise .

Starting with 1979’s  Star Trek: The Motion Picture , Paramount Pictures has been regularly cranking out Trek films with the original series and Next Generation casts, as well as a rebooted version in 2009 with Chris Pine as Starfleet Academy cadet James Kirk and Zachary Quinto as young Spock. ( See the Star Trek films ranked here. )

In 2017,  Trek  returned to small screens with season 1 of CBS All Access streaming title  Star Trek: Discovery , set during a tumultuous wartime era about a decade before the original and starring Sonequa Martin-Green . The new series marked a TV franchise reboot by Alex Kurtzman , writer on the 2009 Star Trek film and its sequel  Star Trek Into Darkness .

RELATED: All Star Trek Movies Ranked by Tomatometer

The year 2020 gave fans a celebration of one of its most iconic characters with the premiere of Star Trek: Picard and Stewart reprising his role in the new streaming series that launched its second season in 2022. New live-action series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds was also released in 2022, and its first season was quickly Certified Fresh with a 100% Tomatometer score (it has since dropped to 99% on one review). The show’s second season, released in 2023, was nearly as well received and is Certified Fresh at 97% on the Tomatometer.

The TV franchise has since introduced two animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks , about the misfit support crew on one of Starfleet’s least-important ships, and kid-friendly Star Trek: Prodigy , which tells the story of a diverse group of teens who inadvertently become the crew of a prize starship and learn important lessons in their subsequent adventures. The latter series — No. 3 on our list below — has since been canceled by Paramount+, but a petition to save the show has gathered over 33,000 signatures.

Have a look below to find out which series score highest with critics in our Trek TV by Tomatometer list.

Disagree with the results? Tell us in the comments which series you think should have been ranked higher (or lower).

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (2022) 98%

Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973) 94%

Star Trek: Prodigy (2021) 94%

Star Trek: Lower Decks (2020) 92%

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) 92%

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) 91%

Star Trek: Picard (2020) 89%

Star Trek: Discovery (2017) 85%

Star Trek (1966) 80%

Star Trek: Voyager (1995) 76%

Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) 56%

Related News

TV Premiere Dates 2024

Fallout : What to Expect in Season 2

Fallout : What It Gets Right, and What It Gets Wrong

More Movie & TV Scorecards

The Best TV Seasons Certified Fresh at 100%

Marvel TV Ranked by Tomatometer

Best Actor Oscar-Winning Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer

Movie & TV News

Featured on rt.

DC Animated Movies In Order: How to Watch 54 Original and Universe Films

April 23, 2024

April 22, 2024

Weekend Box Office Results: Civil War Earns Second Victory in a Row

25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming

Top Headlines

• DC Animated Movies In Order: How to Watch 54 Original and Universe Films –
• The Best TV Seasons Certified Fresh at 100% –
• Best TV Shows of 2024: Best New Series to Watch Now –
• 25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming –
• 30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming –
• Box Office 2024: Top 10 Movies of the Year –

Common Sense Media

Movie & TV reviews for parents

• For Parents
• For Educators
• Our Work and Impact

Or browse by category:

• Get the app
• Movie Reviews
• Best Movie Lists
• Best Movies on Netflix, Disney+, and More

Common Sense Selections for Movies

50 Modern Movies All Kids Should Watch Before They're 12

• Best TV Lists
• Best TV Shows on Netflix, Disney+, and More
• Common Sense Selections for TV
• Video Reviews of TV Shows

Best Kids' Shows on Disney+

Best Kids' TV Shows on Netflix

• Book Reviews
• Best Book Lists
• Common Sense Selections for Books

8 Tips for Getting Kids Hooked on Books

50 Books All Kids Should Read Before They're 12

• Game Reviews
• Best Game Lists

Common Sense Selections for Games

• Video Reviews of Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Family Fun

• Podcast Reviews
• Best Podcast Lists

Common Sense Selections for Podcasts

Parents' Guide to Podcasts

• App Reviews
• Best App Lists

Social Networking for Teens

Gun-Free Action Game Apps

Reviews for AI Apps and Tools

• YouTube Channel Reviews
• YouTube Kids Channels by Topic

Parents' Ultimate Guide to YouTube Kids

YouTube Kids Channels for Gamers

• Preschoolers (2-4)
• Little Kids (5-7)
• Big Kids (8-9)
• Pre-Teens (10-12)
• Teens (13+)
• Screen Time
• Social Media
• Online Safety
• Identity and Community

Explaining the News to Our Kids

• Family Tech Planners
• Digital Skills
• All Articles
• Latino Culture
• Black Voices
• Asian Stories
• Native Narratives
• LGBTQ+ Pride
• Best of Diverse Representation List

Celebrating Black History Month

Movies and TV Shows with Arab Leads

Celebrate Hip-Hop's 50th Anniversary

Star trek: first contact, common sense media reviewers.

Intense, gory Starfleet adventure earns series' first PG-13.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Starfleet is notably racially, gender, and species

Picard's vengeful attitude towards the Borg is cal

Spaceship explosions, ray-gun fire, dead bodies se

Dialog about sexuality in general terms, mostly wi

More bathroom talk than usual Starfleet regulation

Tie-ins with three Star Trek TV shows, innumerable

Quite a lot of drinking and drunkenness among the

Parents need to know Star Trek: First Contact is the first Trek movie to Go Where No Star Trek Flick Had Gone Before, to a PG-13 rating. It has some pretty gruesome violence and a macabre threat in the menacing Borg, a zombie-like, infectious, cybernetic race who could give younger viewers nightmares…

Positive Messages

Starfleet is notably racially, gender, and species-integrated (with the addition of Mr. Data, even machine-integrated), and there is a strong sense of friendship, duty, loyalty and, if necessary, sacrifice.

Positive Role Models

Picard's vengeful attitude towards the Borg is called into question by a civilian, and he relents. Mr. Data puts his own wishes to be human aside for the greater good.

Violence & Scariness

Spaceship explosions, ray-gun fire, dead bodies seen. Grisly close-combat with the Borg, including snapped necks, injections-implants piercing skin, disembodied or hacked-off body parts, and dissolving flesh.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Dialog about sexuality in general terms, mostly with the android Data being tempted by an inhuman villainess. He talks about being anatomically correct and programmed in "techniques." A human character described as a drunken womanizer.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

More bathroom talk than usual Starfleet regulations, including "bulls--t," "hell."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Tie-ins with three Star Trek TV shows, innumerable action-figure/book/video game spin-offs. Zephraim Cochrane forces the crew to listen to classic rock.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Quite a lot of drinking and drunkenness among the people of Earth, played comically.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know Star Trek: First Contact is the first Trek movie to Go Where No Star Trek Flick Had Gone Before, to a PG-13 rating. It has some pretty gruesome violence and a macabre threat in the menacing Borg, a zombie-like, infectious, cybernetic race who could give younger viewers nightmares. Humans and Borg alike die in battles, with some limbs severed, and a Borg commander can detach her head at will. There is some generalized dialog about sexuality, as well as mild swearing. A historical Starfleet hero is revealed as a misfit drunkard; while his alcoholism is perhaps meant as pathos, it comes across as mainly comical. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (3)
• Kids say (15)

Based on 3 parent reviews

Fine except for that one scene...

The best tng film. excellent flick, deserving of pg-13 rating., what's the story.

A theatrical spin-off of the fine TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation , STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT gets right to business with the most compelling of the villains from the program, the Borg, an army of ghoulish cyborgs from deep space, out to conquer all humanoid life. Responding to an attack on Earth by the Borg, the starship Enterprise (a new model since the previous one got trashed in the last film ) discovers the invaders have sent a Borg expedition back in time, to a war-devastated 21st-century Earth. By striking at this crucial interval, the Borg will absorb humanity at its weakest point, altering history and preventing the founding of Starfleet. Following in the same time warp, the Enterprise crew split into two teams; one beams to the wilderness of Montana of 2063, to find a genius inventor-pilot named Zephraim Cochrane (James Cromwell), responsible for faster-than-light space travel -- but he turns out to be a gangly wastrel, aghast that he's destined to be regarded as the planet's greatest hero. That's played on a comic level; more serious events unfold on the Enterprise , where Borg have taken root like an infection and are spreading throughout the ship.

Is It Any Good?

Kids (heck, adults too) who have absorbed Treklore on the level of their Pokemon or Buffy the Vampire Slayer scholarship should be delighted by the well-modulated space adventure. Though it comes on like gangbusters (or Borgbusters, as the case may be), as with many Star Trek movies, knowledge of the dense TV mythology is crucial to comprehending this maximum-warp theatrical expansion. Someone who has not seen the cliffhanger episodes in which Capt. Jean-Luc Picard ( Patrick Stewart ) is captured and turned into a Borg, will be a bit lost -- and Star Trek: First Contact not only references them but also connects, to varying degrees, with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager , among others. In-joke lines and cameos that made audiences cheer in 1996 may seem puzzling and out of context today.

While the relatively tame stuff on Earth with Zephraim Cochrane seems to have drifted in from an entirely different (and more lighthearted) film, it gives you vital breathing space in between the Borg conflict, in which the stakes are literally a fate worse than death. Indeed, the vibe is not unlike Alien as the purposeful zombies take over deck by deck -- only to meet their match in human will and loyalty.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about why the Borg are standouts among all the alien menaces on Star Trek . Why are they such memorable adversaries?

What about the side-story about Zephraim Cochrane, the legendary inventor who turns out to be an extremely reluctant hero? Can you think of any real-life equivalents in human history?

The theme of Moby Dick and obsessive vengeance arises, a reference that also came up in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . What similarities are there in the stories?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 22, 1996
• On DVD or streaming : May 15, 2005
• Cast : James Cromwell , Jonathan Frakes , Michael Dorn , Patrick Stewart
• Director : Jonathan Frakes
• Inclusion Information : Black actors
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Science Fiction
• Run time : 111 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some sci-fi adventure violence.
• Last updated : March 10, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

Our editors recommend.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Star Trek: Voyager

The Terminator

Star trek movies & more, sci-fi movies.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

• More to Explore
• Series & Movies

Published Apr 5, 2022

Watching First Contact In the Worst Possible Timeline

It’s become easier to understand the movie’s fear of losing the future.

StarTrek.com | Getty Images

This article was originally published on November 20, 2020.

Star Trek , at its core, is about a future where we’ve overcome culture clash to become a better society who can work together to a common good. Creator Gene Roddenberry spoke at length about why his Enterprise crew comprised people from different races and backgrounds, and how it represented a future beyond the time that gave birth to the series. Trek is matter-of-fact, even innocent, about a humanity without borders.

It’s for that reason that, in a series that features the meeting of disparate cultures as a constant theme and plot complication, the biggest culture clashes often happen between our Federation heroes and the humans of the past. In the first season episode of TNG, “The Neutral Zone,” when the Enterprise rescues three cryogenically frozen humans from the late 20th century, they are like boorish tourists, both overwhelmed by the miracle of the future and uncertain what to do with themselves in a world where wages and want don’t exist. In the DS9 episodes “Past Tense, Parts 1 & 2” Sisko, Bashir, and Dax find themselves dragged back to a 2024 ripe for violent revolution as society buckles under the weight of its every ill.

The past (that is, our present), is terrible and full of trouble, but every human in Star Trek walks around free from that burden. We are going to get over it, Trek reassures us. There’s hope. We can be better.

That future is what’s at stake in Star Trek: First Contact , the second TNG-cast film and Jonathan Frakes’ feature length debut as director. As the Borg pull a desperate gambit to travel back in time to Earth before its ascension into the Federation, they aren’t just trying to assimilate Picard again, but to completely erase the world that created him. In almost no other story in all of Star Trek is the fear of losing that future so immediate.

Watching it now, as the world groans under the weight of so much woe, is to view the film in a completely different light. It feels like we, too, are struggling against the promise of the future being callously snatched away.

Lily: How much did this thing cost? Picard: The economics of the future are somewhat different.

Coming as it did after Star Trek Generations , Star Trek: First Contact was also somewhat freer from its own past, but fighting for its future in a way. It was the first of the feature films without any of The Original Series cast, and so had to answer the question of whether or not the TNG cast could keep the franchise going on the silver screen two years after the end of its run on television. Whether fairly or not, it seemed like the movie had something to prove. (It did: First Contact is a damn good movie that expands on the juiciest series lore while remaining accessible to newcomers and packed with darling character moments and thrilling action.)

StarTrek.com

In a recent interview , Frakes called the Borg “our best, most complicated, and interesting nemesis.” Where the Federation celebrates individuality, the Borg strip it away. Where Picard and the crew of the Enterprise seek to reason with other peoples and employ diplomacy, the Borg demand submission and swallow up other cultures. Their hive mind is as impenetrable to reason as their shields are to phasers.

It’s crucial that the movie understands why they are so scary. The first shot, zooming out from Picard’s pupil as he stands enthralled within a vast Borg cube, says everything about the captain’s antagonist. Years after his encounters with them, he lives in mortal fear of an enemy that will strip away his sense of self and turn him into a cog in a violent, callous machine.

A movie about a wounded Picard warping to Earth’s defense against “bionic zombies” would’ve been a serviceable TNG movie, if perhaps one that could’ve just been an overlong episode of the show. And this is why the moment their devious, time-traveling backup plan is revealed is such a brilliant end-of-an-act twist.

Picard: The date… Data I need to know the exact date. Data: April 4th… 2063.

It is not just the Enterprise and her crew hanging in the balance but the world that made these people we’ve grown to love across seven seasons of television. By putting it all on the line, First Contact becomes one of the most effective thesis statements on what Star Trek ’s vision for the future of humanity means.

Of course, that premise would just look like some very privileged people freaking out amongst themselves without the perspective of Zefram Cochrane and Lily. As the film switches between the mission down on the surface to ensure that a reluctant Cochrane goes through with his historic flight and Lily’s perspective of the desperate fight to stop the Borg from taking the Enterprise , it spends equal time reflecting on hope for the future and the fear of losing it.

Riker: It is one of the pivotal moments of human history, Doctor! You get to make first contact with an alien race! And after you do, everything begins to change. Troi: Poverty, disease, war - they’ll all be gone within the next 50 years.

To believe the fight against the Borg hinges upon simply blowing them up is to misunderstand them, of course. So it’s to the credit of the scriptwriters that the story pushes Picard to ever more callous and obsessive lengths to keep the fight going even as it becomes clear he’s essentially lost the Enterprise . When he guns down two drones on the holodeck and strips the corpses of what he needs, it becomes clear that it isn’t just the Enterprise he’s losing, but the “more evolved sensibility” of the future that he so proudly touts to Lily. The Picard we see barking orders to a terrified crew, clinging to a violent confrontation, and hurting Worf’s feelings is not the man we know.

It’s only after Lily gets him to realize he’s losing himself to pettiness and revenge that he forces the Borg to play to his own strengths: The absolutely unbreakable bond he has with his crew. His faith in his shipmates is borne out yet again as Data reveals he’s been playing the Borg Queen for a sucker all along and wrecks her plans at the last possible second. (The creepy seduction between the two is the only part of this movie I don’t really like, but it’s worth Data’s cold-as-ice betrayal.)

Ultimately, Picard and the crew of the Enterprise save the future with all of its best principles. Down on the surface, her brilliant, cooperative, well-educated, unflappable scientists repair the single most important machine in human history like it’s no biggie. On the ship, in a nightmarish fight for their lives, they don’t lose sight of what makes them human, and peacefully choose a life of self-sacrifice stranded in a strange time because it’s the right thing to do even though it sucks.

Lily: I envy you. The world you’re going to. Picard: I envy you. Taking these first steps into a new frontier.

It’s Cochrane’s story, though, that’s the most relatable. He hasn’t the slightest inkling he’s about to usher in a new age of peace hitherto only dreamed of, and  he’s understandably terrified. When the time comes, though, he finds that he’s equal to the task even if he doesn’t know precisely what he’s doing.

The world is unbearable right now, and the promise of a future like Star Trek has never felt further out of reach for all the same small-minded reasons Trek has always argued against. Watching First Contact again, though, is to be reminded that even our rosiest imaginings of the future have always told us that it was bound to get worse before it got better. First Contact is the eighth movie in the series, but it might be one of the best arguments for why Star Trek ’s is so important, and that we can get there together, with our heads held high.

A Timeline Through the Star Trek Universe

Kenneth Lowe (he/him) works in state government in Springfield, Illinois and also writes for Paste Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter @IllusiveKen.

Get Updates By Email

Oh no! This title currently isn’t available to watch in your country.

Fantasy & Sci-Fi

Star trek first contact (hbo).

: The Next Generation crew are pitted against their deadliest foe: the half-human, half-automaton Borg.

Plans start at $9.99/month.

Action, Fantasy & Sci-Fi, Space & Beyond, Adventure

Release Year

Rating information, about this movie.

The Next Generation crew are pitted against their deadliest foe: the half-human, half-automaton Borg.

Cast and Crew

Starring: Patrick Stewart , Jonathan Frakes , Brent Spiner , LeVar Burton , Michael Dorn , Gates McFadden , Marina Sirtis , Alfre Woodard , James Cromwell , Alice Krige

You May Also Like

Avatar: The Way of Water (HBO)

Avatar (HBO)

Timeline (HBO)

Star Trek: Nemesis (HBO)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (HBO)

Now You See Me 2 (HBO)

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (HBO)

Godzilla (HBO)

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition (HBO)

Jurassic World (HBO)

X-Men: Days of Future Past (HBO)

Now You See Me (HBO)

Find iconic entertainment for every mood.

Star Trek: First Contact

Streaming in:

We checked for updates on 246 streaming services on April 25, 2024 at 12:48:34 PM. Something wrong? Let us know!

Star Trek: First Contact streaming: where to watch online?

Currently you are able to watch "Star Trek: First Contact" streaming on Max, Max Amazon Channel or for free with ads on Tubi TV. It is also possible to rent "Star Trek: First Contact" on Microsoft Store, Amazon Video, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu, Spectrum On Demand online and to download it on Apple TV, Amazon Video, Vudu, Microsoft Store, AMC on Demand, Google Play Movies, YouTube.

Where does Star Trek: First Contact rank today? The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Streaming charts last updated: 1:17:28 PM, 04/25/2024

Star Trek: First Contact is 1504 on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts today. The movie has moved up the charts by 511 places since yesterday. In the United States, it is currently more popular than The Perfect Game but less popular than One Eight Seven.

The Borg, a relentless race of cyborgs, are on a direct course for Earth. Violating orders to stay away from the battle, Captain Picard and the crew of the newly-commissioned USS Enterprise E pursue the Borg back in time to prevent the invaders from changing Federation history and assimilating the galaxy.

Videos: Trailers, Teasers, Featurettes

Streaming Charts The JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts are calculated by user activity within the last 24 hours. This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as 'seen'. This includes data from ~1.3 million movie & TV show fans per day.

Production country

Bundle offers, people who liked star trek: first contact also liked.

Popular movies coming soon

Upcoming Action & Adventure movies

Similar Movies you can watch for free

Star Trek: First Contact

1 HOUR 50 MINS

Science fiction.

The Enterprise and its crew try to stop the half-robot Borg from sabotaging a rocket flight in 2063.

Movie Trailer

Cast & Crew

Patrick Stewart Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Jonathan Frakes Commander William Thomas Riker

Brent Spiner Lieutenant Commander Data

LeVar Burton Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

Michael Dorn Lieutenant Commander Worf

Gates McFadden Commander Beverly Howard Crusher, M.D.

Marina Sirtis Commander Deanna Troi, Counselor

Alfre Woodard Lily Sloane

James Cromwell Dr. Zefram Cochrane

Alice Krige Borg Queen

Neal McDonough Lieutenant Hawk

Robert Picardo Emergency Medical Hologram

Dwight Schultz Lieutenant Reginald 'Reg' Barclay III

Where to Stream

Upcoming TV Airings

The airings below are based on a generic national schedule. Times and dates can vary by TV provider.

Thursday, May 9

Screen Rant

Star trek: discovery’s biggest time travel shock is season 1 burnham.

Captain Michael Burnham faced her younger self in Star Trek: Discovery season 5, and it was shocking how much Michael has changed from season 1.

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery Season 5, Episode 4 - "Face The Strange"

• Specialist Michael Burnham's shocking return in Star Trek: Discovery season 5 reveals a stark contrast to her future self, Captain Burnham.
• The time travel adventure in Discovery season 5, episode 4 sends Captain Burnham and crew on a dangerous mission to face their past and possible future.
• Captain Burnham's evolution into a compassionate leader highlights her remarkable transformation, making her the most evolved Captain in Star Trek history.

The biggest shock of Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4's time travel was seeing Specialist Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) from Star Trek: Discovery season 1 again, and how much Michael has changed. Written by Sean Cochran and directed by Lee Rose, Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange," was a thrilling time travel adventure that sent Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green), Commander Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie), and Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) into key moments of the USS Discovery's past and possible future. And what Burnham dreaded came to pass: facing her younger self.

In Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4, "Face the Strange," the villainous Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) smuggled a Krenim Chronophage, or a Time Bug, aboard the USS Discovery. The Time Bug trapped Discovery in a series of loops, sending the starship uncontrollably hurtling through time. However, Captain Burnham and Commander Rayner were able to operate independently in the time loops, and Stamets was also spared because his tardigrade DNA allows him to live outside of space-time. The Discovery trio went about destroying the Time Bug, but Burnham had to reveal herself to Discovery's bridge crew to save the ship. Further, Michael had to literally contend with herself from Star Trek: Discovery season 1.

Star Trek: Discovery Season 5 Returning Cast & New Character Guide

Why michael burnham was shockingly different in star trek: discovery season 1, discovery season 1 michael was defined by her biggest mistake..

Captain Burnham confronting Specialist Michael Burnham from Star Trek: Discovery season 1 was as shocking for her as it was for the viewers at home. The contrast between both Michaels, who were 5 years of age and 935 years apart after the USS Discovery time traveled to the 32nd century, was stunning. Captain Burnham is physically different from Specialist Burnham, not just because her hair is longer, and she wears a Starfleet Captain's uniform. There is a warmth and compassion to Captain Burnham that is absent from her younger self , who was just weeks removed from the biggest mistake of her life.

Specialist Michael Burnham thought Captain Burnham was a changeling imposter, as she couldn't fathom herself as a Starfleet Captain.

At the point in Star Trek: Discovery season 1 that Captain Burnham arrived at, Specialist Michael Burnham was still mired in guilt and sorrow for her mutiny that ignited the Klingon War and led to the death of her mentor, Captain Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh). Michael was resigned to spend the rest of her life in prison, and Discovery season 1's Burnham does not believe she deserves to be in Starfleet. The younger Michael's appearance is harsher than Captain Burnham's , and she is more prone to judgment and not looking before leaping into action. Captain Burnham beat Specialist Burnham in hand-to-hand combat because she was more centered and in control of herself, but also filled with empathy for the younger Michael.

Michael Burnham Is Star Trek's Best Captain Evolution

No captain has changed for the better as much as burnham..

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 4 is a powerful reminder that Michael Burnham is the most evolved Captain ever in Star Trek . By comparison to some of her peers, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) did not change very much as he aged, except for facing his own regrets. Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) in Star Trek: Prodigy is essentially the same as when she was the USS Voyager's Captain, just with a higher rank. Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) isn't as stern as he was when he was Captain of the USS Enterprise-D, but Jean-Luc never had to overcome the obstacles to the Captain's chair that Michael Burnham did.

It was incredibly touching for Michael to see how much she changed for the better.

Seeing Star Trek: Discovery season 1's Specialist Michael Burnham again is a stark reminder of how far Burnham has come. By Star Trek: Discovery season 5, Captain Burnham is confidently at peace with herself, has reconciled her gravest mistakes, and has proven her worth by saving the galaxy multiple times. Burnham has also known true love with Cleveland Booker (David Ajala), and she has the friendship and support of her found family, the crew of the USS Discovery. Specialist Michael Burnham is only at the start of her long, hard road to redemption , and becoming Captain Michael Burnham is her destiny in Star Trek: Discovery. It was incredibly touching for Michael to see how much she has changed for the better.

New episodes of Star Trek: Discovery season 5 stream Thursdays on Paramount+