2. The Payoff
Part of the problem with J.J. Abrams's Star Trek reboot is that I just can't get emotionally invested in these versions of the classic TOS characters. We'll see them in one more film at least, but who knows what will come of them after that - with the current film system we may see yet another reboot after the obligatory trilogy is up. Part of the reason the TOS Star Trek films were so popular is that people had years to become emotionally attached to those characters through the original run and then endless reruns. It was the same with TNG: I was born in 1974 so I missed the original run of TOS, but I literally grew up watching first-run TNG. I started watching it when I was thirteen and it ended when I was twenty; I remember speeding home from a third shift job to watch the finale "...All Good Things" that I had to tape (yes, you read that right. Tape. The nineties sucked.) For seven years those characters were part of my life as I grew up myself. First Contact finally gave Picard what one could call closure after his experience being assimilated by the Borg in a way that the television show never really did. The episode "Family" - one of my favorites set right after Best of Both Worlds - dealt with the immediate fallout, but didn't satisfy the need for Picard's revenge, the need for him to make them "pay for what they've done!" First Contact let Picard finally take down the Borg on a visceral level - noted by Lily after he machine guns (machine guns! In Star Trek!) several Borg down in the holodeck, including one of his own crew - and in turn, gave the fans a feeling of satisfaction as well after watching what they had put him through.