Movie Review – Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

Overall Quality 5.0 / 5.0 (excellent)
Gay Content 1.0 / 5.0 (nothing explicit in the movie, but possibly one gay crewmember)
Gay Positivity 1.5 / 5.0

Following an abysmal Star Trek movie (Generations) and succeeded by two more not-so-great ones (Insurrection and Nemesis), First Contact stands out as one of the highlights of the Star Trek film franchise, and the singular best effort by the Next Generation crew.

Inevitably, considering their success as arch-villains, the Borg make their big screen debut. A Borg cube is heading toward the Earth with the intent of assimilating humanity into the Borg collective consciousness and subjecting our species to an eternity of chafing under cybernetic implants. A Starfleet armada, under the command of Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), manages to destroy the cube.

Unfortunately, a Borg sphere escapes from within the cube and travels back in time to prevent first contact (when humanity meets an alien race for the first time, following humanity’s first successful warp flight). The Enterprise follows, only to find itself boarded by the Borg.

The situation forces Captain Picard to confront his own hatred and fear of the Borg from the time when the Borg assimilated him (”The Best of Both Worlds, Parts I and II” on the TV series).

Who knew Star Trek could find inspiration in Moby Dick? Picard and guest star Lily (Alfre Woodard) have amazing chemistry, and together provide an emotional core to the story. Lily is the no-nonsense assistant to Zefram Cochrane (James Cromwell), the architect of humanity’s first warp flight, but she ends up with Picard aboard the Enterprise. She also enjoys some of the movie’s best one-liners. My favorite: “Borg? Sounds Swedish.”

In truth, it’s a dark story. There’s a reason the Borg are so successful as villains, and they kill or assimilate (which amounts to the same thing) a lot of people. But frequent moments of humor, plus the more hopeful subplot of humanity’s first warp flight, offset the grim events aboard the Enterprise.

A great script keeps the pace moving along and never gets mired in too much technobabble or exposition. In fact, the story and script are so accessible and engaging, this film would probably make a good “point of entry” into the Star Trek universe for newbies.

Although I take issue with the direction of the Star Trek franchise under the leadership of Brannon Braga, Rick Berman, and Ron Moore, they hit the mark with this one. Kudos!

Well, with one exception.

While still in production, a rumor arose that a crewman named Lieutenant Hawk (Neal McDonough) would be gay in the film. Apparently an early draft of the screenplay did portray Lt. Hawk as gay, but the decision was changed for later drafts.[1]. In fact, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, based on information from Producer Rick Berman, released an Alert clarifying the issue: “According to Producer Rick Berman, there are actually no gay characters in a new film, or, for that matter, on any of the Star Trek shows scheduled to begin new seasons this fall”[2].

As an aside, it’s interesting to note that Rick Berman, who “inherited” the Star Trek franchise in part after Gene Roddenberry’s passing, felt compelled to specify that the film contained no gay characters. Any reference to Lt. Hawk’s sexuality was definitely omitted from the feature; the minor character had no scenes or dialogue to indicate his sexual orientation one way or the other. By default, most audiences would read the character as heterosexual. Those who read him as gay would probably fall into the category of “wishful thinking.” But if that’s what they want, why would Rick Berman feel the need to deprive them?

Especially considering that Lt. Hawk is gay in the Star Trek novel Section 31: Rogue, written by openly gay author Andy Mangels and gay-friendly co-author Michael Martin. Star Trek fiction is not considered canon (i.e., official). Nevertheless, all book projects must be vetted by Paramount. The Simon & Schuster website explains,

“All material is subject to the approval of Paramount Pictures, which owns all copyright to Star Trek in its various incarnations and is very concerned about maintaining the integrity of the characters and the Star Trek universe. To that end, we make a serious effort to see that the books line up with the episodes and films, though we recognize that absolute consistency is a practical impossibility. We do, however, expect every aspiring Star Trek author to approach the material with a thorough understanding of the Star Trek mythos, its characters, and its history. The best reference, of course, are the Star Trek episodes and films”[3].

As a result, in the absence of contradictory information in the canon source material, the book offers semi-official confirmation of Lt. Hawk’s gayness.

Please read my review of Section 31: Rogue for my information about that book’s gay content.

Returning to my comments on the film, even in the absence of any clear gay content, I decided under the circumstances to score the movie for its Gay Positivity. I take the fact that an ambiguous character’s sexuality was consciously and explicitly whitewashed as a smear against the gay community. I do not know why Mr. Berman felt compelled to categorically state that Lt. Hawk is heterosexual, especially since he’s portrayed as gay elsewhere in the Star Trek universe, but I find myself reminded of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s 2007 comment, “In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals”[4].

*** Minor spoiler warning *** To further explain the Gay Positivity Score, I spoil one aspect of the movie. If you don’t want to know, please stop reading. For more posts on all things gay in the Star Trek universe, check out my Gay Star Trek Main Page.

I also note that, alas, things don’t turn out so well for poor Lt. Hawk (which actually makes Section 31: Rogue a rather bittersweet read). Unfortunately, from a Gay Positivity perspective, this film can’t win. Either Lt. Hawk is gay, and the portrayal contributes to the stereotype that things end badly for gay people. Or he’s not gay, and the Star Trek franchise is communicating that heterosexuality is superior to (rather than just different from) the alternative, and gay is not good enough for Starfleet.

Either way, the Gay Positivity score reflects the poor handling of the (possible) gay content.

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[1] “Trivia for Star Trek: First Contact,” imdb.com,http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117731/trivia (retrieved 9 June 2008).

[2] “Gay Trek Rumor Light Years Ahead of Reality,” GLAAD Alert Archive, GLAAD.org, 23 August 1996, http://www.glaad.org/publications/archive_year.php?year=1996 (retrieved 5 May 2008).

[3] “Star Trek Novel Submission Guidelines,” SimonSays.com, the website of Simon & Schuster, Inc., December 2004, http://www.simonsays.com/content/feature.cfm?feature_id=439&tab=24 (retrieved 5 May 2008).

[4] The Associated Press, “Iran sites omit leader’s homosexuality remark,” MSNBC.com, 26 September 2007, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20999705/ (retrieved 5 May 2008).

Tags: Andy Mangels, Brent Spiner, Gay Star Trek, Michael Martin, Neal McDonough, Patrick Stewart, Star Trek, The Next Generation