Star Trek: First Contact
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A Note Regarding Spoilers



After the Borg attack Earth in the 24th century, the Enterprise-E follows them back to the 21st century in order to stop them from altering Earth's history specifically, preventing Zefram Cochrane from making his famous first attempt traveling at warp speed (faster-than-light), which resulted with the Earth's first contact with alien life. While Riker, Troi, and Geordi are on Earth ensuring that Cochrane makes his flight, the rest of the Enterprise crew is faced with protecting the ship from a Borg invasion and installment of a Borg Queen (Alice Krige).

All of the Enterprise-D crew is back: Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), Commander Will Ryker (Jonathan Frakes), Lieutenant Commander Data (Brent Spiner), Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge (LeVar Burton), Lieutenant Commander Worf (Michael Dorn), Dr Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Majel Barrett as the voice of the Enterprise computer. In addition, it features the character Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), who was introduced in the TV series episode 'Star Trek: Metamorphosis (#2.9)' (1967). The Holographic Doctor (Robert Picardo) from Star Trek: Voyager also makes a short cameo appearance.

It takes place in the year 2373 A.D., six years after Picard was captured and assimilated into the Borg and given the name Locutus in TV series episode 'Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Best of Both Worlds: Part 2 (#4.1)' (1990).

It is one of the things that Captain Picard could only know due to having been assimilated by the Borg. He shared the Borg's thoughts so that they learned all his knowledge about Starfleet and Earth's defenses. However, during his assimilation, he also learned a lot of information about the Borg and their ships. He was never supposed to be freed from the Borg Collective and able to use this information against them. It justifies his remark that "no one knows the Borg as I do". Obviously, these experiences have taught him that there is a hidden vulnerability on the Burg cube, although the Borg have disguised it or made it seem non-vital. Given the fact that this area is located on the outside suggests that it is something connected to the cube's weapons or shields system; vital areas would ideally be built in a ship's interior for better protection, but weapons and shields are located at a ship's surface by necessity. It could also be a weak power node, something that can be easily overloaded, causing an energy cascade fatal to the ship.

Since they were to avoid contact with 21st century Earth until they could be rescued by Starfleet, they were sent to Gravett Island, a fictional island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

How does the movie end?

When the Phoenix has left Earth's gravity, Ryker and Geordi engage the warp drive while Cochrane sits back to enjoy the ride. Meanwhile on the Enterprise, the Borg Queen orders Data to destroy the Phoenix. Data fires off three torpedoes but, at the last minute they miss the Phoenix. The Queen realizes that Data has betrayed her just as Data breaks a coolant tank, releasing corrosive vapours into the atmosphere. Picard grabs a hose and attempts to crawl above the vapours, but the Borg Queen grabs onto his leg. Data grabs her leg and pulls her back down. The vapour has the effect of eating away the biological components of the Borg, leaving them non-functional. It also eats away the skin grafts that the Queen had given Data as a 'gift'. In a voice-over, Picard begins to describe how the Phoenix was eventually spotted by the alien vessel. Their ship lands on Earth and opens to reveal three Vulcans. "Live long and prosper", they say in greeting; to which Cochrane replies "thanks". While the Vulcans are welcomed by Cochrane, Picard says goodbye to Lily (Alfre Woodard). Then he, Ryker, Troi, Crusher, and Geordi beam up to the Enterprise. Picard orders the recreation of the vortex that plunged them into the past, and the Enterprise disappears from view. In the final scene, Cochrane and the Vulcans are enjoying drinks together in his makeshift tavern.

Yes, a novelization of the movie by American science fiction writer J.M. Dillard (pen name for Jeanne Kalogridis), was released in 1996.

So far, there are 12. Star Trek: First Contact was preceded by Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989), and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991), all of which feature the Enterprise captained by James T Kirk (William Shatner). In Star Trek: Generations (1994), the crew of the Enterprise captained by Jean-Luc Picard was introduced. Star Trek: First Contact was followed by Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) harken to an alternate reality in which Kirk was just beginning his career with Starfleet Academy.

No. The Queen should be seen as the manifestation or personification of the Borg collective mind, not the "brain" which normally houses the entire collective and commands all drones. The Queen is a female drone that can be used when the Borg feel interaction with other species needs to be through a more personal approach, such as the temptation of Data and Picard. The writers have admitted that the Queen was a plot device for this purpose, as a disembodied voice alone would not have been very persuasive. If the Queen in First Contact was indeed the controller of all Borg, that would mean that the Borg in the 24th century would immediately be without a consciousness as soon as the Queen travels back in time and doesn't return. However, this doesn't happen, as the crew of the Voyager also has several run-ins with the Borg and the Queen, and the Queen can be resurrected each time. It is interesting to note that when the Queen is destroyed in the plasma, the other Borg drones immediately malfunction and power down, suggesting she had taken total control over those drones when they were separated from the rest of the Collective. However, in the Enterprise episode Enterprise: Regeneration (#2.23), which takes place a century after First Contact with the Vulcans, a few Borg drones are recovered from wreckage of the Borg Sphere that ended up on the North Pole. After thawing out, they quickly regenerate and form their own mini-Collective, seemingly without ill effects from the Queen's destruction 100 year earlier. In the episode Star Trek: Voyager: Dark Frontier: Part 2 (#5.16), in order to escape, Captain Janeway destroys a Borg power node, which (temporarily) disables the Queen's command interface and thereby her control over the Collective; however, this does not stop the Borg from laying in a pursuit moments later. These examples all illustrate that the Queen is an important, but by no means essential part of the Borg Collective. Some writers of non-canon Star Trek novels have even suggested the Queen is a separate program within the hive mind and can be implemented as the need for a single-acting drone arises or even as a signal booster to connect Borg that are spread out over many light years.

In the episode 'Star Trek: The Next Generation: I Borg (#5.23)', the Enterprise crew found a single Borg drone that was severed from the Borg Collective. They named him "Hugh" and taught him the value of individuality. Hugh was eventually returned to the Collective by the Borg, but his ideas of individuality spread throughout his ship and caused a lot of Borg drones to reject their collective mind and revert to their original individuality. This group is subsequently encountered in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation: Descent: Part 2 (#7.1)' (1993), raising the question as to why not all Borg have been 'freed' this way by the time Star Trek: First Contact takes place, since all Borg are connected by a subspace network. The reason may be a combination of factors. For one, it is known that that the Borg's collective consciousness will reject anything that would threaten their hive mind, as was demonstrated in 'Star Trek: Voyager: Unimatrix Zero: Part 1 (#6.26) (2000)). Also, the idea of shared consciousness is particularly deeply rooted in the Collective and fiercely defended by older drones, especially when separated from the Collective (such as Seven of Nine displayed in Star Trek: Voyager: Survival Instinct (#6.2) and in her later life). And even after successful separation, some freed individuals still long to a form of collective mind (Star Trek: Voyager: Unity (#3.17)). Consequently, Hugh may have introduced his radical idea of individuality into the entire Collective, but it can be expected that many drones, and therefore the hive mind, would largely resist this idea. They would even take measures to eliminate this dangerous thought from their consciousness and destroy drones that have embraced the idea and continue to spread it. Therefore, it is more plausible that Hugh had to introduce the idea subtly, perhaps one drone at a time, to see if the idea would stick and, at the same time, remain undetected. Of course, the rest of the Borg would inevitably find out at one point that drones were breaking off from the Collective and would take measures against it, which explains why the Borg Collective is still largely intact.

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