Learning the fleet is losing the battle, the Enterprise crew disobeys orders and heads for Earth, where a single Borg Cube ship holds its own against a group of Starfleet vessels.

[5] As Cochrane, Riker, and engineer Geordi La Forge prepare to activate the warp drive on Phoenix, Picard discovers that the Borg Queen has grafted human skin onto Data, giving him the sensation of touch he has long desired so that she can obtain the android's encryption codes to the Enterprise computer.

[20] Robert Picardo, who played Voyager's holographic Doctor, was asked to appear as Enterprise's Emergency Medical Hologram after suggesting to producers that the two vessels should share similar technology.

[21] In December 1992, Paramount Pictures executives approached Star Trek: The Next Generation producer Rick Berman to develop two films featuring the cast of the television series.

[23] The Borg had not been seen in full force since the fourth-season episode of The Next Generation, "The Best of Both Worlds" and had never been heavily featured in the series due to budget constraints and the fear that they would lose their scare factor.

"[23] Having decided that the time travel aspect of the plot would involve a Borg plan to stop humans ever reaching space,[23] the writers considered various historical periods as a setting.

In this scenario, the Enterprise crew hunted down the Borg to their hive in a 15th-century Italian castle dungeon, and envisaged sword fights alongside the use of phasers, with Data becoming Leonardo da Vinci's apprentice.

Since much of Picard's role made a direct reference to his time as a Borg in The Next Generation episodes "The Best of Both Worlds", the opening dream sequence was added to explain what happened to him in the show.

[17] Eaves looked at the structure of previous Enterprise iterations, and designed a more streamlined, capable war vessel than the Enterprise-D, reducing the neck area of the ship and lengthening the nacelles.

[48] Working from blueprints created by Paramount's Rick Sternbach, the model shop at effects house Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) fabricated a 10.5-foot (3.2 m) miniature over a five-month period.

[47] The crew had multiple difficulties in prepping the miniature for filming; while the model shop originally wanted to save time by casting windows using a clear fiberglass, the material came out tacky.

[51] The designers created a larger and less-spartan ready room, retaining elements from the television series; Zimmerman added a set of golden three-dimensional Enterprise models to a glass case in the corner.

[22] The set for the ship's outer hull and deflector dish were built on gimbals at Paramount's largest sound stage,[55] surrounded by bluescreen and rigged with wires for the zero gravity sequences.

[52] The Starfleet uniforms were redesigned for the film by the Star Trek costumer Bob Blackman to give a more militaristic feel, with grey padded shoulders, black torso/sleeves/leggings and colored undershirts/stripe cuffs.

[8] Zimmerman, Everton and Westmore combined their efforts to design and create the Borgified sections of the Enterprise to build tension and to make the audience feel that "[they are being fed] the Borg".

Being unfamiliar with the Star Trek canon, Leonetti prepared for the assignment by studying the previous four films in the franchise, each of which had used a different cinematographer (Donald Peterman on The Voyage Home, Andrew Laszlo on The Final Frontier, Hiro Narita on The Undiscovered Country, and John Alonzo on Generations).

Using different-colored gels made the rocket appear longer than it actually was; to complete the effect, shots from the Phoenix's nose downwards and from the engines up were filmed with a 30 mm lens to lengthen the missile.

[13] The last location shoot was at an art deco restaurant in Los Angeles' Union Station, which stood in for the Dixon Hill holonovel; Frakes wanted a sharp contrast with the dark, mechanical Borg scenes.

The scene was inspired by a New York City production of Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street in which the stage surrounded the audience, giving a sense of realism.

[49] Small lights attached to the Cube's surface helped to create visual interest and convey scale; the model was deliberately shot with a slow, determined pacing to contrast with the Federation ships engaged in battle with the Borg.

[73] When the Borg invade sickbay and the medical hologram distracts them, Joel wrote what critic Jeff Bond termed "almost Coplandesque" material of tuning strings and clarinet, but the cue was unused.

[73] In a break with Star Trek film tradition, the soundtrack incorporated two licensed songs: Roy Orbison's "Ooby Dooby" and Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride".

Artist and writer Julie Clarke notes that while other alien species are tolerated by humanity in Star Trek, the Borg are viewed differently because of their cybernetic alterations and the loss of freedom and autonomy.

The site's critics' consensus reads: "While fans of the series will surely appreciate it, First Contact is exciting, engaging, and visually appealing enough to entertain Star Trek novices.

"[105] Adrian Martin of The Age noted that the film was geared towards pleasing fans: "Strangers to this fanciful world first delineated by Gene Roddenberry will just have to struggle to comprehend as best they can," he wrote, but "cult-followers will be in heaven".

Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly appreciated that guest stars Woodard and Cromwell were used in "inventive contrast" to their better-known images, as a "serious dramatic actress" and "dancing farmer in Babe", respectively.

[114] A couple of reviews noted that Data's interactions with the Borg Queen were among the most interesting parts of the film;[109][115] critic John Griffin credited Spiner's work as providing "ambivalent frisson" to the feature.

[119] Thompson's assessment mirrored Carr's; he agreed that the film managed to convey much of the original 1960s television show, and contained enough "special effects wonders and interstellar gunplay" to sate all types of viewers.

[132] In addition to the feature, presented with the same technical specifications as the previous release and a new DTS soundtrack,[133] the first disc contains a director's commentary by Frakes and a track by Moore and Braga.

[133] As with other special-edition DVD releases, the disc includes a text track by Michael and Denise Okuda that provides production trivia and relevant facts about the Star Trek universe.