Data Stellare 50893.5: Dopo la distruzione dell'Enterprise-D, l'equipaggio della vecchia nave si ritrova nuovamente insieme sulla nuova Enterprise-E. Picard è però tormentato da incubi della sua passata esperienza con i Borg, i quali decidono di sferrare un nuovo attacco alla Federazione. Disobbedendo agli ordini, Picard intercetta la nave Borg e la distrugge, non prima che gli alieni riescano ad inviare una sonda nel passato della Terra. Picard è quindi costretto ad inseguire i Borg nel passato della Terra per evitare che la storia venga alterata.

Note
Durante la lavorazione, il film ha avuto molti titoli provvisori: Star Trek: Future Generations (il più vecchio), Star Trek: Resurrection (dicembre 95, scartato in quanto del tutto simile al film Alien 4: Resurrection), Star Trek: Destinies (febbraio 96), Star Trek: Borg (fino al 10 marzo 96), Star Trek: Generations II (l'ultimo titolo al 3 aprile 96, doveva essere accompagnato da un sottotitolo), Star Trek: First Contact oppure Generations II: First Contact (fino al 3 maggio 96).
La première mondiale si è tenuta lunedì 18 novembre 1996 al Mann's Chinese Theater alle 19:00 ora locale. Gli ultimi biglietti sono stati venduti a 200 dollari l'uno e l'incasso è stato devoluto a favore di Amnesty International.
Nel primo week-end di programmazione, il film ha incassato 30,5 milioni di dollari, stabilendo il record per quanto riguarda i film di Star Trek.
Il coordinatore del make-up Michael Westmore ha rivelato che le parti elettroniche di Data e dei Borg, realizzate da suo figlio, contengono dei led che non lampeggiano a caso, ma ognuno riporta un messaggio differente in codice Morse; la maggior parte di questi messaggi sono i nomi del team della produzione.
Quando Worf sale a bordo dell'Enterprise, alla domanda di Riker se Worf è ancora in grado di sparare con un phaser era prevista una risposta di Worf, ma Dorn ha risposto con un'espressione tale che Frakes ha deciso di tener buona quella scena.
Gates McFadden era contraria all'uso del medico olografico, ma l'idea di Picardo sulla battuta del dottore è stata talmente buona che la produzione ha deciso di usarla.
Frakes ha deciso di rigirare alcune scene poche settimane prima della data di rilascio del film. Alcune di queste erano scene di Borg che camminavano nei corridoi; per ragioni di sicurezza agli attori era stato detto che stavano girando scene per Deep Space Nine.
I disegni delle capsule di salvataggio per la versione aggiornata della Star Trek Encyclopedia sono stati eseguiti da Doug Drexler.
Dati tecnici delle riprese:
Lunghezza della pellicola: 3095 m
Formato dei negativi: 35 mm
Formato della pellicola: 35 mm (anamorfica)
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Premi
Nomination al premio Hugo 1997 nella categoria Best Dramatic Presentation.

Citazioni
Data: I believe I speak for everyone here, sir when I say... to hell with our orders!

Worf: Perhaps today is a good day to die.

Cochrane: You're all astronauts of some kind of... star trek.

Lily: Borg? Sounds Swedish.

Lily (sui Borg): Definitely NOT Swedish!

Troi: This is no time to argue about time! We don't have the time!

Troi: I'm just trying to blend in!
Riker: You're blended, all right.

Medico Olografico: Please state the nature of the medical emergency.
Crusher: Twenty Borg are about to break through that door! We need time to get out of here; create a diversion!
Medico Olografico: This isn't part of my program! I am a doctor, not a doorstop!

Picard: I will make them pay for everything they have done!

Worf: If you were any other man, I would KILL you where you stand!

Lily (a Picard): You broke your little ships!

Data: Resistance is futile.

Riker: Someone once said "Don't try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make its own judgements."
Cochrane: That's rhetorical nonsense. Who said that?
Riker: You did, ten years from now.

Picard: We have not lost the Enterprise! We're not going to lose the Enterprise, not to the Borg, not while I'm in command!

Picard: They invade our space, and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn HERE. This far! NO further. And I will make them pay for what they've done.

Crusher: So much for the Enterprise-E.
Picard: We barely knew her.
Crusher: Do you think they'll make another one?
Picard: Plenty of letters left in the alphabet.

ENGLISH VERSION

“Star Trek: First Contact”
Feature Film Series No.: 8
Original Release Date (USA): 11/22/1996
Stardate: 50893.5

Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the new U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E face their greatest challenge yet as the Borg begin a second invasion of the Federation.

While completing a shakedown cruise of their latest starship Enterprise, Captain Picard is awakened from a nightmare of his assimilation by the Borg six years earlier. He receieves a report from Starfleet Command that long range sensors have detected the Borg on course for Earth.

Picard and crew are ordered not to join in the battle to defend Earth, rather they are instructed to patrol the Neutral Zone along the Romulan border, should the Romulans decide to take advantage of the Federation’s predicament. The truth behind this obscure order is Starfleet Command is uncertain about putting Picard, who had been captured and assimilated by the Borg, into a situation where he would have to face them again. In their judgment, to do so would introduce an “unstable element” into a critical situation.

While on patrol of the Neutral Zone, the Enterprise monitors the battle against the Borg and listens as the Federation fleet is rapidly being destroyed. Disobeying his direct orders, Picard sets course for Earth to engage the Borg.

The Enterprise arrives at the battle coordinates just in time to save the U.S.S. Defiant from total destruction, and realizing that the fleet Admiral’s ship had been destroyed, Picard takes command of the fleet. He order them to target all weapons at a seemingly non-vital area of the invading Borg Cube, and the fleet begins their final assault.

The Borg Cube is destroyed, but a spherical escape pod manages to exit the doomed ship before it explodes and heads for Earth. The Enterprise pursues the sphere, and is soon caught in a temporal wake that the sphere is emitting. The Enterprise crew realizes the Borg are attempting time travel, and watch in amazement as Earth becomes totally assimilated. They realize that the Borg have travelled back in time and managed to change history to assimilate Earth in the future. The Enterprise follows the sphere through the temporal vortex before it closes and arrives at Earth in the late 21st century. There they see the Borg Sphere in orbit of Earth firing at the surface, and swiftly destroy the sphere.

The crew soon realizes the Borg plan; they have arrived on April 4, 2063... the day before first contact with the Vulcans, the event which began the founding of the United Federation of Planets. They also discover that the Borg had been attempting to destroy an abandoned nuclear missile complex in central Montana, where scientist Zefram Cochrane invented the first warp capable spaceship. It was his initial warp flight that led the Vulcans to Earth. Fearing that there may be damage to the ship which played such a pivotal role in history, the crew beam to the surface to investigate.

They find that there has been damage to Cochrane’s ship, the Phoenix, and that they must have an engineering team beam to the surface to aid in repair if the flight is to take place the following day.

Meanwhile, back aboard the Enterprise, several engineers are working to fix the environmental controls for deck 16 which seemed to be malfunctioning. It is soon realized that this problem is no accident... the Borg have escaped the destruction of their sphere to the Enterprise. Picard, who can somehow still sense the Borg, returns to the ship with Data.

Upon his return to the Enterprise, it is soon discovered that the Borg are rapidly assimilating the Enterprise, but Data manages to encrypt the computer controls before the Borg can gain access. But the Borg had already gained significant control of the ship, and they Enterprise crew realizes they must fight them hand to hand. Their plan is to rupture one of the plasma conduits in main engineering which will liquify the organic portion of the Borg.

Back on the surface, Geordi LaForge oversees the engineering team efforts to repair the Phoenix, and the crew find that meeting Zefram Cochrane in person, a legendary figure in their history, is not exactly the man that history had painted him to be.

Back onboard the Enterprise, Picard leads an armed team to engineering where they encounter heavy Borg resistance, and Data is captured by the Borg. Data soon encounters a mysterious figure... the Borg Queen, who appears to be unlike any Borg they had encounterd before.... she is an individual. The Borg Queen seduces Data by offering to make him human in exchange for his allegiance to the Borg and to her. Meanwhile, Picard discovers that the Borg are intending to use the Enterprise’s defelctor dish to signal for reinforcements in assimilating Earth. Picard leads an assault force to stop the Borg outside the ship. His team is successful in destroying the deflector before the Borg could transmit their signal. However, this causes a change in the Borg plan, and the Borg begin to assimilate the entire ship. Realizing that the Borg have adapted to their weapons and after a heated debate, Picard decides to destroy the Enterprise and the Borg with it. But before Picard leaves the ship, he “hears” Data call to him, and proceeds to engineering to save his friend.

On the surface, repairs are completed in time, and Commander Riker along with Geordi Laforge and Zefram Cochrane launch the Phoenix on it’s maiden flight. While in orbit, the Phoenix is followed by the Enterprise as they begin their buildup to warp speed.

Onboard the Enterprise, Picard enters engineering and meets the Borg Queen. He suddenly remembers her from when he had been assimilated and offers himself in exchange for Data. However, Data, who has been partially assimilated, appears to be under the control of the Borg Queen. He releases the computer controls and targets weapons on the Phoenix. Data fires upon the Phoenix, but the torpedoes miss the tiny vessel and Data proceeds to rupture the plasma conduit. The Borg are destroyed, and the Phoenix is able to achieve it’s first warp flight.

The Vulcans detect the warp signature of the Phoenix, and arrive at Earth, making first contact.

The Enterprise and her crew are able to re-create the temporal vortex, and return to the 24th century having restored history.