With a history that spans nearly half a century, 11 feature films and a combined total of over 700 hour long episodes of television---not all of the
Star Trek stories are going to be stellar. In fact some of them are downright bad ("Spocks Brain"?). Still, they are all loved in their own way by fans far and wide, including this writer---but that cant make the worst of them better, nor can it make the plot holes, inconsistencies and changed premises easier to swallow. One of the worst offenders in
Star Treks history is the eighth feature film (second for the crew of the
Next Generation) Star Trek: First Contact. A film that, while I enjoyed it, nearly ruined the series most enticing villain. Here Ill recap ten reasons
First Contact ruined the Borg.
1. Alien 5?
Everything about the Borg in
First Contact was a departure from what was established previously---well get to other details of this later on---one of the most ridiculous of these however, was the shift of the Borg from a Collective intent on assimilating entire cultures in order to gain their technology in service to themselves; into something akin to Ridley Scotts Xenomorph designed by H.R. Giger. One of the most menacing aspects of the Borg has always been their cold, calculating methodology. Even in their debut story, Q points out that the Borg arent interested in Picards attempt at peaceful contact and they care nothing for humanity, only their technology and how it may best serve them. In this way the Borg were sort of presented as a type of intergalactic Zombie, undead drones interested only in the technology they can use to perfect their condition. By the time
First Contact comes around the Borgs motivation of soulless assimilation is gone, replaced by an enemy that resembles the Borg but has elements of the Alien hive from James Camerons sequel to 1979s
Alien. In fact whenever we are meant to see something from the view of the Borg it is almost like weve been taken out of a
Star Trek film and landed on LV-426 with Ripley and a troop of Space Marines on a bug hunt. With this in mind, its not really a surprise to learn that among the first choices to direct the film were both Ridley Scott and James Cameron. The film was given to Jonathan Frakes when the two senior directors proved unavailable.