50 Fun Facts About Star Trek: First Contact

Who directed Star Trek: First Contact, in his feature film debut?

Ridley Scott and John McTiernan reportedly turned the job down before it went to the man who played Riker.

First Contact is which number film in the Star Trek series?

It followed Generations (1994) and was followed by Insurrection (1998).

In what year does the Enterprise-E arrive after following the Borg sphere through the temporal vortex?

Earth is still recovering from World War III at the time.

What is the name of Zefram Cochrane's warp ship?

It was designed to fit inside an old nuclear missile, so its nacelles had to fold into less than ten feet.

In which US state is Cochrane's launch site?

The Montana scenes were actually shot in California's Angeles National Forest, in a village of fourteen huts.

Who plays Zefram Cochrane?

Paramount floated Tom Hanks for the part, but Berman said it was never serious and Frakes thought a star that famous would be a mistake.

Zefram Cochrane first appeared in which 1967 Original Series episode, played by Glenn Corbett?

Cromwell's older, drunker Cochrane bears no resemblance to Corbett, which the writers were fine with.

Who plays Lily Sloane, Cochrane's assistant?

Woodard had jokingly declared herself Frakes's godmother at a barbecue years earlier, and he cast her through that friendship.

Who plays the Borg Queen?

Her silver contact lenses were so painful they could only stay in for four minutes at a time.

Whose suggestion led to the creation of the Borg Queen, because the script lacked an individual villain?

The writers had wanted to keep the Borg a mindless collective, as in the TV series.

What does the Borg Queen graft onto Data to tempt him?

Data pretends to turn, then ruptures a coolant tank whose vapour eats away the Borg's organic parts.

Which crew member is assimilated during the spacewalk on the deflector dish?

Neal McDonough said he knew someone in that scene had to die and 'that would be me'.

Picard angrily calls which officer a coward for suggesting the ship be destroyed?

Lily's confrontation makes Picard see he is behaving like Ahab; he apologises and orders the self-destruct.

Scholars compare Picard's obsession with the Borg to which literary character?

The faceless Borg stand in for the whale.

Which alien species makes first contact with humanity at the end of the film?

Only a boomerang-shaped landing foot of the Vulcan ship was actually built; the rest was CGI.

Where were the writers originally going to set the Borg's attack on history, before dropping it as too kitschy?

Data would have become Leonardo da Vinci's apprentice, and Patrick Stewart refused to wear tights.

Star Trek: First Contact's working title was dropped in 1996 because it clashed with which other sequel?

Other titles considered included Star Trek: Borg and Star Trek: Destinies.

Who wrote the screenplay for First Contact?

Braga and Moore wanted the Borg; Berman wanted time travel; they combined the two on the spot.

What was the film's budget?

More than a quarter of it went on effects.

How much did First Contact gross worldwide?

It was the top film in the US on its opening weekend, then got knocked off by 101 Dalmatians.

Which film knocked First Contact off the top of the US box office in its second week?

In the UK it opened at number two, the first Trek film not to open at number one there since The Wrath of Khan.

The new Enterprise-E belongs to which starship class?

The Enterprise-D had been destroyed in Generations.

How long was the physical Enterprise-E miniature built by ILM?

First Contact was the last film to use a physical model of the Enterprise.

Which of these was one of Alex Jaeger's four new Starfleet ship classes for the Borg battle?

John Knoll reasoned Starfleet would throw everything it had at the Borg, including ships never seen before.

Where were the silo scenes for Cochrane's ship filmed?

The real silo saved building an expensive set but the cramped space made every camera move a puzzle.

The Dixon Hill holodeck nightclub was filmed in an art deco restaurant inside which Los Angeles landmark?

Ethan Phillips, Voyager's Neelix, has an uncredited cameo as the club's maître d'.

Which Voyager actor cameos as the Enterprise's EMH, quipping 'I'm a doctor, not a door stop'?

The line is a nod to Dr McCoy's catchphrase from the original series.

Which Next Generation regular was NOT asked back for the film and learned of it from the newspapers?

Dwight Schultz did return as Reginald Barclay, and Patti Yasutake as Nurse Ogawa.

How was Geordi La Forge's look changed for the film?

LeVar Burton had lobbied to lose the VISOR because it hid his eyes.

Who composed the score for First Contact?

With the schedule cut to three weeks, he brought in his son Joel, who wrote 22 minutes of additional music.

Which two licensed rock songs appear on the First Contact soundtrack, breaking with Trek film tradition?

Cochrane plays them on the Phoenix's jukebox; the label president admitted the decision was controversial.

Instead of a menacing Borg theme, Goldsmith wrote a pastoral theme for what?

It reuses a four-note motif from his Star Trek V score as a friendship theme.

How long did the Borg make-up take per actor for the film, compared with one hour on television?

Only eight to twelve actors played all the Borg because the costumes were so expensive; mannequins filled the background.

The blinking lights in each Borg drone's eyepiece were programmed to spell out what in Morse code?

Make-up designer Michael Westmore also created assimilated Klingons, Bolians, Romulans, Bajorans and Cardassians for the drone crowd.

Who voiced the Borg tagline 'Resistance is futile' in the film?

Michael Horton's bloodied security officer was only given a name, Lt. Daniels, in the next film.

Which scene did Frakes call the film's 'signature visual effect', taking ILM five months?

Krige wore a prosthetic spine over a blue suit so ILM could erase her lower body.

Which was the last scene filmed?

The staging was inspired by a New York production of Sweeney Todd in which the set surrounded the audience.

Why was some of the script printed on red paper?

The Generations script had leaked online, so security was tightened.

Which films did Frakes watch to prepare for directing his first feature?

He got ten weeks of prep and twelve weeks of shooting, versus seven and seven for a TV episode.

Where did the film premiere on November 18, 1996?

The UK got a royal premiere, with Marina Sirtis accompanying Prince Charles to the screening.

Which cast member accompanied Prince Charles to the film's royal premiere in London?

Sirtis said the cast were scared people would think they couldn't cut it without the original crew.

Which Starfleet ship, commanded by Worf, does the Enterprise rescue during the opening battle?

The Defiant scenes were shot on Deep Space Nine's standing set to save money.

In the film, the Enterprise is initially ordered to patrol which area, away from the Borg battle?

Picard disobeys and heads for Earth anyway.

How many costumes was newcomer Deborah Everton responsible for on the film?

She gave the Borg sleeker suits with fibre-optic lights.

How did critic Roger Ebert describe the Borg Queen?

Ebert nonetheless considered it one of the best Star Trek films.

Roughly what proportion of the film's budget went on visual effects?

ILM had less than five months to finish them.

According to Zefram Cochrane's Wikipedia entry, his warp ship was built out of what?

In the future a 20-metre marble statue of Cochrane stands at the launch site.

In which category was Star Trek: First Contact nominated for an Academy Award?

It also won three Saturn Awards; the redesigned Borg took five hours of makeup per actor, with only eight to twelve performers playing the whole army.

Which Voyager actor makes an uncredited cameo as the maître d' in the holodeck nightclub scene?

The producers left him out of the credits so fans would keep guessing whether it was really the man who played Neelix.

Which two directors reportedly turned down First Contact before Jonathan Frakes got the job?

To prepare, Frakes studied Jaws, Close Encounters, 2001 and the works of Cameron and Scott.