How would you rework Star Trek: First Contact?

[Yukaphile]

Recently it was brought up that Star Trek: First Contact doesn't hold up as well as it used to, and I concur. I think this might be a good chance to try and rework it a bit so that structurally, it's a lot tighter, and so Voyager won't need to nerf them. Here's my take on how I'd do it, and please tell me what you think, if you like or hate.

I think the most obvious is change the beginning battle. Instead of one cube heading for Earth, it's two. Show the Borg are adapting to changes in their enemy and responding accordingly. You can even keep the battle sequence mostly intact, with a few alterations. Have Picard mention something about upgraded technology and new anti-Borg tactics. This could explain how they ended up destroying one cube, but the second one is still on course for Earth. Remember the first one only succeeded in taking down a whole fleet, something otherwise unthinkable, because they had intimate understanding of Starfleet technology and protocols as well as battle deployment thanks to Picard's assimilation. Basically address that's changed in the past six years. Obviously with such a security risk, it would mean the Federation would have to rethink their entire strategy in order to cope with any future Borg threat, try and employ a bit more of that "unconventional thinking" Riker so skillfully pulled on them in "Best of Both Worlds."

So the Enterprise-E defies orders, arrives to Earth to find most of the ships are destroyed. There's only three left, and here we can show off some of those new "anti-Borg tactics" - give them special names like in "Best of Both Worlds." Picard quickly takes command, using his intimate knowledge of the Borg to find where to strike the most damage to the cube, but it's no good, the cube keeps regenerating, like all the way back in "Q Who." And then, out of nowhere, a ship emerges from warp! It's the Defiant! Sisko hails the Enterprise. "I'm sorry I'm late. I was held back in the Badlands. What's your status?" And then we get to show off how awesome Sisko's baby is in that it's modified phaser packets can actually punch holes through the cube, similar to what the D had originally done. The cube is sustaining great damage, but it's only a matter of time before they analyze and adapt, and the Defiant is being badly bruised. In desperation, a Galaxy class, the last of the original fleet left that engaged the Borg besides the Enterprise and the Defiant, dives into the broken sections of the cube and takes them out with a warp core breach within the weakened interior structure, the ship is so damaged, they have to launch the Borg sphere, and as in canon, the Defiant crew is beamed off. Sisko and Worf are immediately brought to the bridge. I think you can even keep the time travel, though instead of a magic time vortex, give a subtle continuity nod to TOS films in using tactics Kirk had done a century earlier - as the sphere speeds up around the sun, and the Enterprise pursues, back to 2063 and humanity's first contact with the Vulcans!

My idea radically differs from the film here. After dispatching the cube with a "modified" quantum torpedo, Picard wants to lead an away team down, and Sisko is left to oversee the Enterprise in his place. Riker is left above, as is Worf, and the ones sent down are Data, Crusher, etc. Once they encounter Lillian and she's brought on board (along with Data, Crusher can stay below and Bashir can fill in the medical jargon needed above), an Engineering repair team is sent down, and then Sisko becomes aware the Borg are on board and terminating contact with the away team, so Data encrypts the computer, the same as in canon. We can handwave this by claiming the Enterprise-E computer is de-centralized similar to a Borg cube, so for them to even learn to bypass and assimilate their computer mainframe will take time. They discuss what to do, and Data, with another nod to continuity, brings up the computer virus they were planning to use with Hugh, and they have it "modified" so as to be sped by several hundred thousand computational cycles - meaning it will kill within minutes. Sisko decides to lead an away team into Borg-held territory with the intent to upload the virus into the Engineering subsystems consoles that feed directly into the warp core, which has become the center of the new hive. Or something similar. But point being, this remains somewhat the same as in the film, only don't show the Borg until they come face-to-face with the heroes, as they ARE assimilating everything in sight. Data gets captured, and they're forced to fall back, but now Sisko is caught by Lily. This, imo, would create some nice tension between Riker and Sisko, conflicts on command style, because remember that Sisko does outrank him, but Riker is the first officer and loyal to the ship and carrying out the mission, not in following orders, so if Sisko is the one to grow slowly more obsessed as time goes on (which fits his character more than Picard, tbh), Riker would call him out, similar to the command conflict we saw in "Chains of Command." Meanwhile, Picard is down on the planet, as intended, in order to have the deep philosophical discussions with Dr. Cochrane. He'd appreciate the historical aspect to it. As for Data, my feeling is the Borg would try to hack his positronic brain, but then stop past a certain point, given that Data shows he will voluntarily self-terminate to save the crew. So, they tempt him with flesh, as in canon, though with less seduction ala the Queen (THERE IS NO DAMN QUEEN HERE), and speaking in that singular chorus. Creepy as hell, huh? Just imagine the assimilated warp core chamber here as something like a house of horrors! And of course, Data should show far more temptation than in canon. Like Vader trying to seduce Luke. "Come to the dark side. We can do great things together..."

Actually, scratch that, the biggest change I'd make is, rather than having Data be tempted by his Android Penis as SF Debris notes, tempt him with something else... another continuity nod. Not the Queen. As the stalemate progresses, and Data lies locked in the Borg's cold embrace, the ruthless collective extracts the mostly degraded memory files of Lal Data incorporated from her deactivating body into his own programming, and then whether he wants it or not, "inform" him they intend to "reconstruct progenitor unit Lal." Data is now feeling so much, thanks to his emotion chip, he screams and rages, feeling angry they're talking about such a beautiful soul in such sterile, dead terms, overwhelmed by the guilt of how she had died, yet terrified of disgracing her memory by having her be built as a copy, feeling as if the Borg are intruding upon something new and private as all those old feelings he'd suppressed since the chip fused come rushing back, but above all else... a secret desire to see her again. He can even break free as in canon and attempt to rush her, whether to save her or kill her to spare her, it's unsaid, but the Borg hurt him, and Data is left there reeling, broken, and thus, they end up restraining him again, as he weeps bitter tears and is amazed feeling PAIN for the first time, and perhaps as the Queen had teased, rips off his own flesh, to try and give physical form to the agony he's feeling thanks to the chip, which the Borg just quickly and efficiently reattach to his arm. So as the film progresses, rather than a dumb Borg Queen, we have an almost identical (perhaps subtly different physically) version of Lal built off to the side, with the same biosynthetic upgrades he is being given, as Data is going through an emotional storm, and the mighty, cold chorus of the collective voice matter-of-factly tell him they intend to give him what's logical for them to get the command codes. That just fits the Borg, doesn't it? They assimilate you against your will "for your own good," and so to get what they want, they will give Data what he wants "against his own will." That would really make for very interesting drama, I feel. Once the self-destruct is set, Sisko decides since this isn't his ship and there's always a chance the Borg could still have time to assimilate the ship (they've already taken most of the de-centralized sections of the ship's computer by now) to give the virus one last shot, he heads to Engineering, alone. He fights his way in, and instead of Data and Picard versus the Queen, I'd imagine Data has to take on the replica of his daughter, which is fully linked up to the collective consciousness, and as in canon, a coolant tank bursts as Sisko rushes to get the virus fed into the Engineering subsystems console to infect the nexus that will disseminate the virus to the hive while Data provides a distraction, but a drone stalks up and jabs Sisko, wherein he revealed he had a backup plan - similar to Admiral Janeway, in case he couldn't make it, the virus was encoded into his bloodstream in the form of inert proteins which would then change into computer codes once assimilated by the Borg (similar to "The Drumhead"). Obviously Sisko survives, but he'd just barely survive, and almost die, as he and Data lie there, both wounded, among the wreckage of the dead Borg. Just imagine how epic that'd be?

Yes, I think this rework would structurally improve the movie, and make it a lot more memorable than it is today.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

While I like the different Data idea, I think your revamp fails to address the most essential problem.

The time travel should have been accident, rather than design. Continuity be damned, the last thing we want to do in this story is remind the audience how easy trek time travel can be. The big logistical issue with the film is "Why would the Borg choose to travel back to invade earth at a time when we have just enough of a fighting chance, rather than say, slam-dunking it when printing presses were cutting-edge technology?"

[Madner Kami]

Why would the Borg assimilate such a species to begin with? Humanity in the Renaissance has literally nothing to offer to the Borg. No technology, interesting philosophical insight is hardly what they are after either and not even body-count. It's wierd enough that they do this time-travel thing in the first place, because they just get nothing out of that other than closing a time-loop that didn't... wasn't... wouldn't... will not... ugh, time-travel, I get head-aches.

[Yukaphile]

I thought the idea of time travel to stop First Contact, to stop the Federation forming, was okay - it weakens them for future conquest. But only as a backup plan. If you had added two cubes, and made it a bit harder for the fleet to beat them, and shown off the Defiant having a bigger role as the anti-Borg ship it was intended to be, I think it would have made a lot more sense. I mean, they have the ability to analyze and adapt, remember. So sending two cubes where one failed is logical. But again, only as a backup, and by employing tactics the Borg would probably know about with their supergenius which is canon to Trek and everyone has known about for over a hundred years - what Kirk did. That way of time travel also has a certain element of risk in that if you don't achieve the correct calculations or sufficient velocity, you burn up. Not a problem for the super-perfect Borg, but one they'd most likely deem impractical unless forced to flee the destroyed cube in the sphere. I just edited it so it feels somewhat more logical. It also adds a level of the Borg threat escalating each time which they challenge the Federation. The last time a cube was in Earth orbit, they blew it up via a malfunction and their link to the collective through Picard. This time, they'd come prepared with a mobile and detachable sphere, and it wound up with time travel. What will happen next time the Borg invade?

[clearspira]

I wouldn't, simple as that. It is the best TNG Trek and the second best Trek overall behind TWOK. Honestly, your script sounds extremely complicated, the type that casual movie goers will balk at and thus make less money. And a bit fan-fictiony to boot (Wow! Sisko and Picard together!)

[Yukaphile]

How is it fanfiction-y? You can handle the backstory elements through quick, effective exposition. And it's not complicated, it's complex, depending on how it's executed. With regards to Sisko and Picard working together, they wanted to do that at the end of Season 1 DS9, you know. Never happened. I feel the action elements for Picard and his lust for revenge... just didn't fit him. It didn't feel like the Picard of TNG. Sisko would be better suited to the action elements, hence why he's there. I mean, First Contact, the best film second to Wrath of Khan? It's literally like cheese. It tastes good, but it's full of holes - plot holes, in this case. It's simple, but also stupid. Even Moore commented on it as a "popcorn film" and said his film like Piller's had "died the death of a thousand cuts." And the Queen is just all-around such a BAD idea. The problem with First Contact is that it doesn't feel like a TNG movie so much as just a MOVIE with the TNG cast in it. And it really set up for the problems that came with Voyager's abuse of the Queen that nerfed the Borg so badly. That moment they stopped being a practically inscrutable, incomprehensible alien culture? Began here. They didn't devolve from cold and unyielding machines of unstoppable death yet, but this is where their original concept died. I just don't support the Queen at ALL.

[technobabbler]

I think First Contact has held up ok as a compromise between TNG TV Trek and the need for an action movie to sell tickets Trek.

But it definitely doesn't hold up if you watch it a couple of times and think about some of the throwaway lines used to hand-wave plot points and plot device.

If I was "Canon God," I'd ban all future uses of time travel as a plot device (unless you really have a good idea).

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

"Why would the Borg choose to travel back to invade earth at a time when we have just enough of a fighting chance, rather than say, slam-dunking it when printing presses were cutting-edge technology?"

'Cause Guns.

[Admiral X]

Was there ever a reason given for the time travel plot to begin with, as in, some budget or studio limitation? Otherwise, why not just do the invasion but ramp it up so it's more than one ship?

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Was there ever a reason given for the time travel plot to begin with, as in, some budget or studio limitation? Otherwise, why not just do the invasion but ramp it up so it's more than one ship?

How the script was conceived and ultimately developed would obviously answer that question, but do not know. When you have it put in the past, you avoid the issue of the entire Starfleet being involved. The horror element you have with the Borg taking over the ship and Picard's personal directive to blow it up doesn't really make as much sense if Starfleet and the Federation are around. If the Borg was able to cripple Starfleet to the point where that doesn't matter and Picard becomes a macguffin through that plot of the Borg needing an equal, then you've pretty much obliterated Star Trek along with Starfleet. I suppose there might be a plot idea where they're not at Earth. I think Yuka has posited it (in another thread). It would almost be time-appropriate, except for in the real movie the Borg invading the ship rather early on and gradually taking control of it (which is great imo).

So we get the time travel narrative that turns it into a twice baked potato side dish instead of lasagna with veal entree.