"Star Trek: First Contact" : Behind the Scenes Information

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Almost immediately after the premiere of "Star Trek: Generations", Paramount Pictures approached Rick Berman about making another "Star Trek" movie featuring the cast of "The Next Generation."
   
Several scenarios of time travel were considered, including the American Civil War and the Renaissance. In the latter idea, the Borg would partially assimilated a castle.
   
An early draft of the script had Picard, Beverly and Geordi down on Earth working to acheive the warp flight with Riker, Troi and Worf aboard the Enterprise fighting the Borg. The Borg would have also made environmental control their hive and Data would have had his entire body covered in human flesh. During the deflector dish scene, a Borg would have assaulted Riker from above, causing the two of them to tumble through space at each other's throats, only to be saved by Troi on the bridge who catches them in the tractor beam. The deflector would have been destroyed by Worf manually rotating the quantum torpedo launcher to point at the dish  and firing upon it. Picard and Geordi would have made the warp flight alone. The character of Lily would have been named Ruby and Picard would have brought her back to the 24th century with him. The script was reworked after Patrick Stewart requested a more "action-role" for Picard. Eventually, Picard and Riker's roles were reversed and the "Ahab gets his whale" element added.
   
The Enterprise-E originally was depicted as being part of the "Nova class" of starships. It was later changed to the "Sovereign class", however, the Nova class would later appear on "Star Trek: Voyager" as the U.S.S. Equinox in "Equinox, Part I" and the U.S.S. Rhode Island in "Endgame."
   
Brannon Braga had originally wanted to destroy the Defiant in the Borg battle, but Ronald D. Moore opposed it, citing the needless destruction of the ship from the series he worked on ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine") in a film that didn't even involve the majority of the DS9 characters. It would also prove inconvenient for the television series, so the ship was allowed to survive.
   
Rumours have long suggested a scene where Avery Brooks as Captain Sisko orders Worf to take the Defiant to battle the Borg. Another rumour is that Kelsey Grammer has an uncredited cameo as Captain Morgan Bateson of the U.S.S. Bozeman saying the line "acknowleged" when the Enterprise crew listens to the battle transmissions.
   
CGI-animators at George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic slipped a shot of the Millennium Falcon from the "Star Wars" movies into the Borg battle. It can (barely) be seen flying to the left off-screen when the Defiant fires its pulse phasers at the Borg ship.
   
Michael Dorn was given only one line of dialogue in "The Ascent" of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" which aired the day before this movie premiered.
   
The teaser trailer for this movie features a custom-made FX visual of the U.S.S. Voyager firing phaser blasts at a Borg ship. The Voyager model, however, has no name markings on it, simply the "NCC-74656" registry on the saucer.
   
The holosuite menu features programs that have appeared or have been referenced in episodes of the television series including:
Cafe des Artises from
"We'll Always Have Paris",
Charnock's Comedy Cabaret from
"The Outrageous Okona",
The Big Goodbye from
"The Big Goodbye", "Manhunt" and "Clues",
Emerald Wading Pool from
"Conundrum" and
Equestrian Adventure from
"Pen Pals."
   
Several people from other "Star Trek" incarnations make cameos in the movie, including:
Dwight Schultz who played Reginald Barclay in "The Next Generation" and "Voyager",
Robert Picardo who played the E.M.H. as well as Dr. Lewis Zimmerman on "Voyager",
Ethan Phillips who played Neelix on "Voyager" as well as a Ferengi on "Enterprise",
Brannon Braga who was a writer and producer on "The Next Generation", "Voyager" and "Enterprise" and Ronald D. Moore who was a writer and a producer on "The Next Generation", "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager."
   
Dr. Crusher's line of "the Borg are still in the Delta Quadrant" is a tease for upcoming episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager" in which the ship finally encounters the Borg.
   
Borg eyepieces displayed in the movie flash the names of several of the cast and crew in morse code. "R-I-C-K-B-E-R-M-A-N" is one of the codes.
   
An alleged deleted scene features Zephram Cochrane jumping off a cliff to prevent himself from attaining "hero status" by the 24th century. He is assisted in his fall by Counselor Troi who actually pushes him off the precipice, only for him to fall onto a forcefield Geordi had set up. Rumour has it that Jonathan Frakes cut the scene because he felt there were enough "Cochrane as a Reluctant Hero" scenes.
   
Unsure of a fitting title, the names "Star Trek: Generations II", "Star Trek: Destinies", "Star Trek: Renaissance", "Star Trek: Resurrection" and "Star Trek: Borg" were all considered at one time or another before "Star Trek: First Contact" was eventually chosen.
   
Much like the new Starfleet uniforms that were introduced in this film, the Borg costumes were also given a face-lift for the movie to make them "more cinematic" for use on the big screen. Both the uniforms and the Borg costumes were subsequently reused on "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager." The "Deep Space Nine" variant of uniform which had been used by several cast members in "Star Trek: Generations" made their final appearance on DS9 in "The Ascent", while they continued to be used regularly by "Star Trek: Voyager."
   
The Enterprise-E was designed after the Galaxy-class Enterprise-D was deemed "too television" to really make for an effective model for any future movies. The new ship was designed to take advantage of the widescreen qualities of a motion picture, hence, its longer, sleeker look. As a matter of policy, the Sovereign class was used exclusively for the movies and was not allowed to be seen on television, which is why the Enterprise-E never appeared any of the Dominion War battles on "Deep Space Nine." Before the decision was made to design a new class ship, the special effects team changed the registry on the old Galaxy-class model they has used for "Star Trek: Generations" to read "NCC-1701-E" because they thought the same model would be used again.
   
The Enterprise-E sick-bay is the sick-bay from Voyager with the doors repainted. It would be used again in "Star Trek: Insurrection."
   
The footage of the Pheonix deploying its warp nacelles was later used in the opening credits for "Star Trek: Enterprise."
   
This movie serves as the "branching off" point for two episodes of "Star Trek: Enterprise":
The episode "
Regeneration" deals with the wreckage of the Borg sphere the Enterprise-E destroys in Earth orbit which eventually crash lands in the Arctic circle and. . .
The episode "
In A Mirror, Darkly, Part I" features a "what-if?" type scenario as the people of Montana assault the Vulcans and loot their ship.
   
The bartender Eddy, played by Michael Zaslow, had originally played Crewman Darnell, the first person to be killed off in "Star Trek" in the classic episode "The Man Trap."
   
Admiral Hayes, whose ship is destroyed in the Borg battle, did apparently survive the battle and would reappear in the "Voyager" episodes "Hope and Fear" and "Life Line."
   
Patrick Stewart reflects on the development of Captain Picard: "Apart from the fact that I obviously look so much younger now than I did then, we have made him a much lighter character, a man with a stronger sense of humour, certainly a sense of irony, a man whose feelings and passions are a good deal more on the surface as they were. He was a little locked away in that first year or two."
   
In earlier drafts of the script, Lily was named Ruby.
   
Patrick Stewart also gives his thoughts on his acting career: "I love making movies, but the theater feeds me in a different way..."
   
Director Jonathan Frakes on the "darker" tone of "Star Trek: First Contact": "I think in light of the way Roddenberry always envisioned Star Trek, which was a very non-violent, non aggressive offering, it is a real departure in that regard..."
   
LeVar Burton on his hopes for more "Next Generation" movies: "If there are ever going to be any other 'Star Trek' movies after this one, this needs to be really good. This needs to be -- if not a home run -- at least a triple."
   
Brent Spiner applauded the directorial efforts of Frakes: "He really was on top of all of us on performance, and adjusted things, and gave us great notes."