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Star Trek: First Contact DIRECTED BY JONATHAN FRAKES RELEASED: 1996 Why's it so good? Unquestionably the best big-screen outing for the Next Generation cast, this pits Picard and crew against wonderfully hissable bad guys the Borg. Picard, traumatised from an old encounter with them (in series 2 double-parter finale Best of Both Worlds, fact fans), gets closure by kicking stellar amounts of ass, while Data gets to explore his human side more deeply than ever before.

How does it stack up to the original? If we're taking the original to be The Motion Picture, it's approximately a thousand times better. If the original's Generations, it's still better - despite the time-travel element, this plot still makes more sense. In fact, First Contact is neck-and-neck with Undiscovered Country, if behind the mighty Wrath of Khan. Glaring error: The existence of the Borg Queen, while an awesome character, makes not a blind bit of sense for a collective hive mind. Why this need for individual avatars like the Queen and Picard's Locutus? Nothing logical: it's just a screenwriting thing. GAP BETWEEN SEQUEL AND ORIGINAL: 204 MONTHS 50 49 48 47 46 45 44 43 42 41 40 39 38 37 36 35 34 33 32 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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