Movie Reviews: Star Trek: First Contact; The Cold Equations

Movies: Star Trek: First Contact | The Cold Equations

The more things change, the more they stay the same

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Star Trek: First Contact
Rated PG-13
Starring Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Alfre Woodard
112 minutes

Review by Tasha Robinson

aptain Kirk may be dead, but the legacy of the starship Enterprise lives on. In First Contact, the eighth Star Trek film, the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation is back in the saddle again, this time in the new Enterprise-E. ("There are plenty of letters left in the alphabet," Captain Picard says wryly.)

The Enterprise is sent out on a milk run -- patrolling the Romulan Neutral Zone, which has been silent for over nine months -- when the Borg resurface and attack Earth. Surprisingly, the ship's ordered to remain by the Neutral Zone during the battle. Picard immediately realizes that Starfleet considers him untrustworthy where the Borg are concerned, because he was once assimilated into their Collective. Nonetheless, he ignores his orders and charges back to Earth, just in time to help destroy the main Borg ship with his insider knowledge of their weak spots. Before it's completely destroyed, the Borg ship launches a smaller craft which immediately drops into a time warp.

Seconds later, the Earth is populated entirely by Borg. Unaffected by the change due to typical technical gobbledegook, the Enterprise leaps into the past to try to set things right. The crew promptly find themselves fighting a two-front war in 2063, as the Borg attempt to take over the Enterprise while an away team tries to preserve the past by getting inventor Zefram Cochrane and his makeshift warp-drive ship into space in time to attend a rendezvous with destiny.

Storywise, this is the densest and most breathless Trek film to date. Screenwriters Brandon Braga and Ronald D. Moore seem to want to match Independence Day for tone, pacing, laughs and explosions-per-minute, with at least three crises in the works at all times.

Director Jonathan Frakes (aka Will Riker) occasionally seems overwhelmed by that pace. The film's opening is rushed and uneven, to the point where no one even reacts to Earth's takeover by Borg; there's no time for anything but a bridge-wide shrug and a blase "Okay, guess we should fix that" attitude. The ending is similarly abrupt, in a typical Trek/action-film climax vein.

But in between, there's some unusually intriguing material, as Picard wrestles with some particularly unpleasant inner demons, Data tries to fend off the advances of the Borg Queen (Alice Krige, as spooky as she was in Sleepwalkers) and the historical hero Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell) turns out to be considerably less than he's cracked up to be.

And of course there are the requisite Trek-junkie fixes. All the old TNG warhorses weigh in, albeit with various levels of character consistency, and a number of incredibly cute cameos reward the audience for paying close attention. And of course the special effects are designed to keep the lower jaws of viewers on the floor from the opening shot of the massive Borg ship.

Altogether, it adds up to a familiar, enjoyable-if-lightweight package, one of the best Trek films as Trek films go. It's just too bad that doesn't mean more.

Just a personal gripe: Trek's female characters get stupider with every movie. This time around, Troi and Crusher are both worse than useless, and even the token "tough" chick spends as much time fainting, screaming, whining and clutching Picard's arm as she does standing up for herself. In a word, feh. -- Tasha

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The Cold Equations

Stowing away seemed like a good idea at the time...

Our pick:
1 2 3 4 5

The Cold Equations
Starring Bill Campbell, Poppy Montgomery
The Sci-Fi Channel
Premieres Dec. 14, 8 p.m. EST

Review by Kathie Huddleston

n the far future, John Barton (Campbell) is a space pilot on an emergency mission to deliver medical supplies to a mining colony on a remote planet. After taking off, he discovers a pretty young woman named Lee (Montgomery) stowed away, hoping to visit her brother at the mining colony.

Unfortunately, Lee never knew the "cold equations" of the situation when she decided to stow away. Every pound on John's ship has been figured into the equation of exactly how much fuel he needs to complete the mission. Every item in John's ship has been created of the lightest material possible, right down to his flight suit -- any extra weight means he won't reach the colony. If she remains on board, Lee's weight will cause the ship to run out of fuel and crash. There are no ships in the area to render assistance and lives are depending on John's cargo.

Against orders, John adjusts the ship's speed to buy Lee some time. He soon begins to realize that there are no easy answers, and Lee realizes the only possible answer may mean her own death.

Based on the classic Tom Godwin short story "The Cold Equations," the film begins with the same uncompromising situation that the short story did. However, this is a movie and the film's creators must have felt it needed a love story and some bad guys. So that's exactly what they gave it. By adding those "movie" elements, Director Peter Geiger and his team of writers have also changed the original short story's entire meaning.

Despite the problems with the story, Campbell and Montgomery are terrific as the two characters locked in an impossible situation. Campbell is particularly good as the pilot struggling with inner conflict -- he is just trying to follow orders even though he can't quite keep from following his heart. The two have plenty of chemistry, and they are the main reason to watch this movie.

On the other hand, production values are at a minimum. From sets to special effects to lack of extras, The Cold Equations looks cheap. However, since this is a character driven film, it's fortunate that the filmmakers sprang for some quality actors.

While this is certainly not a bad film, it's disappointing that the filmmakers can't trust a good story. For those unfamiliar with the short story, this film will probably do the job. It's not the first time a good story's been mangled for the screen and it won't be the last. After all, what's a movie without a love story and some bad guys to move it along?

The Cold Equations is certainly worth seeing; however, if you want a real treat, hunt down the original short story. -- Kathie

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