Plot Holes in 'First Contact'

[MonoLake82]

I was rewatching 'First Contact' yesterday, and I noticed something. The Enterprise is told to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone at the beginning of the movie. They then decide to join the fight against the Borg around Earth. Only problem? Aren't these two locations *really* far from each other?

I'd be interested to hear other plot holes you've found for yourself in rewatches.

 

[DonIago]

Starships in Star Trek are well known for having Speed of Plot drives that are far more powerful than standard warp drives.

To me the biggest plothole in FC is that the Borg go all the way to Earth and then decide to time-travel, versus doing so basically anywhere else and then traveling to Earth. It can somewhat be rationalized as a Plan B, but considering the Borg generally like to assimilate advanced technologies, why would a less technologically advanced Earth be more appealing to them?

Of course, the whole thing opens up a can of worms, though that's not limited to FC: if the Borg have time travel capabilities, why is this the only time they're utilized?

 

[Prometheus59650]

I want to know who the third man was. Cochrane, Lily, and---

There was a third person meant for the Phoenix because of the existence of the third seat alone. Lily groused about how it took her months just to find enough titanium for the cockpit. She wouldn't have bothered with a seat no one would use. And Riker wouldn't have had one put in just to go because, via the observer effect alone he could change things.

I just assumed they died in the attack on the camp, but there was a third person.

 

[Qonundrum]

I was rewatching 'First Contact' yesterday, and I noticed something. The Enterprise is told to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone at the beginning of the movie. They then decide to join the fight against the Borg around Earth. Only problem? Aren't these two locations *really* far from each other?

I'd be interested to hear other plot holes you've found for yourself in rewatches.

The time travel aspect is so glaringly awful (go back in time before attacking the Federation with just one cube (instead of twoi) and accomplish the assimilation without any fuss or muss.)

Picard was told they can't bring the ship - the newest of the fleet, which also has a lot of newer and stronger weapons - to the fleet either. Picard cites Starfleet's reason, which then begs questions on everything from season 4 onward... so they get to the battle, nobody tells them to go back, Picard barks an order and everyone instantly jumps and obeys in a massive WTF moment*, and it's clearly only NCC-1701-E that fires the shiny new quantum plotdevices so what the heck was Starfluff doing telling them to stay back or not assigning a shiny new captain a la Jellico?! Not to mention that anyone watching DS9 at the time knows Defiant was created for the sole purpose of attacking the Borg and it's all but destroyed with ease. There's a tradition about ego overriding continuity in Trek, and the tough little ship is no exception when it comes to showing the shiny new NCC-1701-EZ.

The old standby shlock of "The Borg won't fire unless they see us as a threat" surely ceases to apply after their 5th or 20000000th if not 2nd beam-over, surely? The movie is a caricature of the Borg what with that, only sending over one ship and not two if humanity/Federation/the whales breeding in the ocean/etc was important enough to assimilate.

While there were a few plot issues I had found on my own at the time and sadly I no longer have my notepad I brought into the theater I'd taken notes on, Red Letter Media (the Plinkett caricature) has an entertaining review of the film** that addresses just about every every conceivable issue - of which (too) many exist in their exhaustive list - to the point it's the definitive resource. It's on YouTube and is a surprisingly popular video.

STFC is still fun, and has a number of good scenes, but I wouldn't take it too seriously. It's a 90s party flick. Like "F*R*I*E*N*D*S" except it's "S*T*A*R T*R*E*K T*N*G"

* So if NEM had the pic of young Picard without hair because they thought the audience was dumb to make the connection if young-Picard had more scalp hair than a hippie, that's nowhere as glaringly awful as what's transpired in the opening/battle scenes of FC alone -- never mind the rest of the movie.


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[Qonundrum]

Also note how the deflector dish isn't to the same scale as the bridge... There are more fun plot issues in that scene, but the scale is never mentioned. Possibly because it's too easy to roll along with...

 

[Sketcher]

My biggest problem is the Borg look completely different, but there was never a Klingon-level explanation for it.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

My biggest problem is the Borg look completely different, but there was never a Klingon-level explanation for it.

I've always took it as the Borg updating their own appearance because of all the new species and technology they've adapted.

 

[shapeshifter]

Getting used to plot holes is part of the game if you wanna be a Star Trek fan.

Look out for turbo lift rides to and from the same destinations to take varying lengths of time to accommodate conversations within. Except that one time when abruptly arriving at the destination catching the speaker mid sentence was scripted.

Oh yeah, about PHs in FC, cannot really think of anything not already mentioned.

 

[Kor]

Yes, with the Borg it makes sense that they would be continually updating and adapting their technology, and this would end up affecting their appearance. So we get more detail, more variation, and more color.

Kor

 

[SithHappens]

The time travel aspect is so glaringly awful (go back in time before attacking the Federation with just one cube (instead of twoi) and accomplish the assimilation without any fuss or muss.)

Picard was told they can't bring the ship - the newest of the fleet, which also has a lot of newer and stronger weapons - to the fleet either. Picard cites Starfleet's reason, which then begs questions on everything from season 4 onward... so they get to the battle, nobody tells them to go back, Picard barks an order and everyone instantly jumps and obeys in a massive WTF moment*, and it's clearly only NCC-1701-E that fires the shiny new quantum plotdevices so what the heck was Starfluff doing telling them to stay back or not assigning a shiny new captain a la Jellico?! Not to mention that anyone watching DS9 at the time knows Defiant was created for the sole purpose of attacking the Borg and it's all but destroyed with ease. There's a tradition about ego overriding continuity in Trek, and the tough little ship is no exception when it comes to showing the shiny new NCC-1701-EZ.

The old standby shlock of "The Borg won't fire unless they see us as a threat" surely ceases to apply after their 5th or 20000000th if not 2nd beam-over, surely? The movie is a caricature of the Borg what with that, only sending over one ship and not two if humanity/Federation/the whales breeding in the ocean/etc was important enough to assimilate.

While there were a few plot issues I had found on my own at the time and sadly I no longer have my notepad I brought into the theater I'd taken notes on, Red Letter Media (the Plinkett caricature) has an entertaining review of the film** that addresses just about every every conceivable issue - of which (too) many exist in their exhaustive list - to the point it's the definitive resource. It's on YouTube and is a surprisingly popular video.

STFC is still fun, and has a number of good scenes, but I wouldn't take it too seriously. It's a 90s party flick. Like "F*R*I*E*N*D*S" except it's "S*T*A*R T*R*E*K T*N*G"

* So if NEM had the pic of young Picard without hair because they thought the audience was dumb to make the connection if young-Picard had more scalp hair than a hippie, that's nowhere as glaringly awful as what's transpired in the opening/battle scenes of FC alone -- never mind the rest of the movie.


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you mean like the room picard shows lily outside the and hits the forcefield but you can only enter by crawling in, or Beverly explaining to the doctor about delaying the borg but takes longer to explain to him than the time he delays them

 

[UssGlenn]

I want to know who the third man was. Cochrane, Lily, and---

There was a third person meant for the Phoenix because of the existence of the third seat alone. Lily groused about how it took her months just to find enough titanium for the cockpit. She wouldn't have bothered with a seat no one would use. And Riker wouldn't have had one put in just to go because, via the observer effect alone he could change things.

I just assumed they died in the attack on the camp, but there was a third person.

I once heard a theory that the seat would have eventually been for the person who was going to buy the ship. They aren't going to pay Cochrane without a demonstration flight. That assumes that the Phoenix could land intact. Ever since the Falcon boosters have been landing on their tails, that's how I think the Phoenix landed. They had to use that big engine bell for something, it never fires in the movie.

 

[Prometheus59650]

I once heard a theory that the seat would have eventually been for the person who was going to buy the ship. They aren't going to pay Cochrane without a demonstration flight. That assumes that the Phoenix could land intact. Ever since the Falcon boosters have been landing on their tails, that's how I think the Phoenix landed. They had to use that big engine bell for something, it never fires in the movie.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me, especially considering all Cochrane wanted out of it was money.

 

[Farscape One]

The time travel aspect is so glaringly awful (go back in time before attacking the Federation with just one cube (instead of twoi) and accomplish the assimilation without any fuss or muss.)

Picard was told they can't bring the ship - the newest of the fleet, which also has a lot of newer and stronger weapons - to the fleet either. Picard cites Starfleet's reason, which then begs questions on everything from season 4 onward... so they get to the battle, nobody tells them to go back, Picard barks an order and everyone instantly jumps and obeys in a massive WTF moment*, and it's clearly only NCC-1701-E that fires the shiny new quantum plotdevices so what the heck was Starfluff doing telling them to stay back or not assigning a shiny new captain a la Jellico?! Not to mention that anyone watching DS9 at the time knows Defiant was created for the sole purpose of attacking the Borg and it's all but destroyed with ease. There's a tradition about ego overriding continuity in Trek, and the tough little ship is no exception when it comes to showing the shiny new NCC-1701-EZ.

The old standby shlock of "The Borg won't fire unless they see us as a threat" surely ceases to apply after their 5th or 20000000th if not 2nd beam-over, surely? The movie is a caricature of the Borg what with that, only sending over one ship and not two if humanity/Federation/the whales breeding in the ocean/etc was important enough to assimilate.

While there were a few plot issues I had found on my own at the time and sadly I no longer have my notepad I brought into the theater I'd taken notes on, Red Letter Media (the Plinkett caricature) has an entertaining review of the film** that addresses just about every every conceivable issue - of which (too) many exist in their exhaustive list - to the point it's the definitive resource. It's on YouTube and is a surprisingly popular video.

STFC is still fun, and has a number of good scenes, but I wouldn't take it too seriously. It's a 90s party flick. Like "F*R*I*E*N*D*S" except it's "S*T*A*R T*R*E*K T*N*G"

* So if NEM had the pic of young Picard without hair because they thought the audience was dumb to make the connection if young-Picard had more scalp hair than a hippie, that's nowhere as glaringly awful as what's transpired in the opening/battle scenes of FC alone -- never mind the rest of the movie.


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Regarding the Defiant...

It was fighting the cube for the entire length of the battle. The voices over the speaker on the bridge of the Enterprise, you can clearly hear Worf there. By the time the Enterprise got there, a lot of ships were already destroyed, including the admiral's. The cube was already pretty well beat up, too. The other ships, we have no idea if they were there from the start or if they arrived later in the fight, but the Defiant was definitely there from the first shot. Considering it was the only Defiant class ship around at the time (and Sisko saying it was supposed to be the 'first of a battle fleet' before the project was scrapped), I'd say she did remarkably well.

AND... she did survive the cube blowing up, even after being crippled like she was. Something at least 1 or 2 other functional Starfleet ships couldn't do as they were trying to outrun the explosion.

Tough little ship, indeed.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Already not the same time line.

Borg sfx.

Interplexing beacon/Borg Drones from Enterprise.

The Borg have already gone back in time thousands of times. The Queen is going through the motions, which is why Picard remembers the Wrong Borg, and he remembers a Queen, and he remembers nano probes, none of which was a thing in the Best of Both Worlds.

She loves Locutus, and she's not going back in time without him.

 

[Qonundrum]

Regarding the Defiant...

It was fighting the cube for the entire length of the battle. The voices over the speaker on the bridge of the Enterprise, you can clearly hear Worf there. By the time the Enterprise got there, a lot of ships were already destroyed, including the admiral's. The cube was already pretty well beat up, too. The other ships, we have no idea if they were there from the start or if they arrived later in the fight, but the Defiant was definitely there from the first shot. Considering it was the only Defiant class ship around at the time (and Sisko saying it was supposed to be the 'first of a battle fleet' before the project was scrapped), I'd say she did remarkably well.

AND... she did survive the cube blowing up, even after being crippled like she was. Something at least 1 or 2 other functional Starfleet ships couldn't do as they were trying to outrun the explosion.

Tough little ship, indeed.

Good points, especially for the entire length of the battle.

I think the one ship that got caught in the Borg explosion wake was crippled and unable to maneuver - it is a nice touch. I'll admit to being unable to notice it in the theater (upper corner of the screen) and not because of people in the seats below being too tall and necking.

Defiant was a prototype - ultimately not approved because could literally fly apart, so they give it to Sisko - who looked beyond the fact they were giving him a big box of suicide if they run the thing too fast to instead the multitude of advantages that the ship offered. Apparently the ship didn't fall apart in those tight maneuvers in the actual battle, and it's always possible that a simulation can fail yet in actuality still perform... or someone somewhere got their calculations wrong before giving Sisko the ship that daren't be used because of a major design flaw that could destroy it from within --- yet works right on cue anyway because the script demanded some fanservice along with a way to haul "Worf and only Worf" over. Would have been a great way to introduce more people to the DS9 crew to increase its audience base as well... Still, I prefer Sisko turning a lemon into lemonade over Picard's magic wand.

I wasn't able to discern Worf's voice. Now if I found the right Borg, I could get a new near...

SISKO: The Borg threat became less urgent. Also, some design flaws cropped up during the ship's shakedown cruise, so Starfleet decided to abandon the project.
O'BRIEN: What sort of design flaws?
SISKO: You'll have complete access to the ship evaluation reports but to put it simply, it's overgunned and overpowered for a ship its size. During battle drills, it nearly tore itself apart when the engines were tested at full capacity.

(http://www.chakoteya.net/DS9/447.htm)

It's sorta a cool description... I also love how Sisko palms it off as if it's nothing more than mixing a teaspoon of salt with a half cup of sugar (he knows the ship has more advantages if piloted without reckless abandon), but O'Brien's astute enough to ask -- granted, what's the maximum speed and did any episode make an order of "Go to warp 9.67530 and do a bunch of tight figure-8 loops." Did the ship almost tear apart when the ship reached the faster velocity, or is this going from stationary to warp 1 in 0.2 seconds? They thankfully didn't get too mired in minutiae... I'd presume full capacity is warp 9... oh, wait--

http://techspecs.acalltoduty.com/defiant.html#5.1 WARP PROPULSION SYSTEM

It's worse -- the maximum speed is Warp 9.5, or a super-sweet 9.982 if they fiddle with the phaser pew-pew capacitors and ship won't tear apart but needs 6 hours for repairs. Either way, based on the discussion between Sisko and O'Brien, using Warp 9.5 sounds like a bad idea - never mind overloading the engine by diverting even more energy, and there's no sign that the ship has a bunch more bolts and gusset plates tacked on to ensure it doesn't rip apart at the higher speeds. Or at least when the script calls for it. Smaller things aren't an issue, but when they go in from day 1 with a major plot device or development and something stated so resolute for plot and/or dramatic reasons, it's not as appealing when they bypass it with not even a syllable of exposition. Look at the number of times audiences rightly gripe when the transporters are used when the shields are up, and while the ship is moving at a fast speed so I don't buy the claim of "shields weakened during this stressor so they can get Geordi and Scotty in time" as some fans tried headcannoning for "Relics", and not wrongly so. )

Of course, STFC also tells us they're dressing incognito to blend in but bring down the obvious robot guy anyway and, even better, has the multidimensional chess hopping Queen who laughs and mocks at Picard's limited ways of thinking-- Hmmm, was the Queen an invention of Q? That makes the movie far more interesting at this point. Indeed:

BORG QUEEN: You think in such three-dimensional terms. How small you've become. Data understands me. Don't you, Data?

It's way too easy (and fun!) to have Data nonchalantly point out in turn:
DATA: "Yes I do, Q. Be glad Troi is getting plastered on the planet or else she would have pointed you out sooner." (cue the dun-dun-duuuuuun music. )

Now that would have been both a surprise and an original plot development nobody would be expecting, with the bonus of getting Q into a movie proper...

 

[Qonundrum]

Already not the same time line.

Borg sfx.

Interplexing beacon/Borg Drones from Enterprise.

The Borg have already gone back in time thousands of times. The Queen is going through the motions, which is why Picard remembers the Wrong Borg, and he remembers a Queen, and he remembers nano probes, none of which was a thing in the Best of Both Worlds.

That's a pretty cool point, which retroactively adds into the Queen's comment about multidimensional thinking...

She loves Locutus, and she's not going back in time without him.

That brings up a cool idea: Borg Bed Bugs!

 

[Dee1891]

To me the biggest plothole in FC is that the Borg go all the way to Earth and then decide to time-travel, versus doing so basically anywhere else and then traveling to Earth.

It never made sense to me that the Borg, after invading a few outer colonies, decided to skip many Federation worlds by assimilating Picard and going straight to Earth in "The Best of Both Worlds". Why only assimilate Picard? The Borg could have assimilated the Enterprise's entire crew so easily. Why skip so many Federation colonies and home worlds along the way to Earth? And yes, why did the Borg believe it was necessary to time travel back to Earth's past in order to assimilate it in "First Contact"? Why? What made Earth more difficult to assimilate than other home worlds? Humans are not that special, even if the franchise tries to push that portrayal.

 

[DonIago]

Presumably they went to Earth because the Federation is based on Earth, and Picard had been assimilated to serve as a 'spokesperson' to begin with.

 

[Sketcher]

I always like the theory that the Borg just keep poking and prodding the Federation in an attempt to get them to develop better technologies and strategies. Think of it as fattening an animal for slaughter. Starfleet beat the cube that was sent, so the Borg moved on to see if they could stop time travel. If they can't, cool they assimilated a planet and stopped the formation of the Federation. If they do stop the Borg, even better, because now they're even more unique to assimilate at a later point.

 

[DonIago]

Same, which is why going back in time to a more primitive Earth makes no sense. If anything one would think they might want to go forward in time to find a point where Earth was tricky to assimilate, but not impossible.

The Destiny novel trilogy at least put the Borg's fascination with Earth into some reasonable context.