First Contact

DVD, TNG S4 (First Contact)

A series of complex issues that chart the reality of alien interaction, the kind of cerebral story this series could get away with. The issues that confront the Federation when it comes to making first contact, a romantic notion in itself, are varied and risky. Here we are shown the way different people react, whether they are extremists against change, full of distrust, or odd people with slightly distorted imaginings of alien life, or even those ready to make the leap into the shock of the new. In the end there's a great sense of the leader of the Malcorians making the right decision, though it would put his race back in development. He was a wise leader and his position showed that the race had enough sense to elect someone of his thoughtfulness and would suggest they will be ready for the wider universe in the near future. A return to the planet would have been a good idea, but sadly we never heard what happened. You can only reprise so many storylines even with a series that lasted as long as this one.

Carolyn Seymour is the only thing to make a return. In Season 2 she played the first female Romulan of the series, but this time she's a much more sympathetic character (for one time only!), though I can't help wondering if things would have worked out better if Picard had made his own decision and been completely open about the surveillance teams. A similar story had already appeared the previous season, Riker again wearing the rubber forehead. Those people were more primitive, this was about a people being ready to learn of alien life in the eyes of the Federation's, but not in the Malcorian's view.

It's all Riker's fault - if he hadn't got mixed up in a riot none of this would have happened. I wonder what he was doing there as the Enterprise's mission isn't to spy on aliens, and Starfleet already had teams there. They must have been a bit sore about Riker strolling in and ruining the carefully observed plans they'd played out over several years! The sets were good, though not as attractive as the outdoors of 'Who Watches The Watchers', but the single most interesting fact is Picard's statement about how first contact with the Klingons was disastrous and led to decades of war. You mean the bit where a Klingon crashes into a 22nd Century farmer's field and the farmer shoots him? Captain Archer rescued the big guy and helped the Klingons so there shouldn't have been all that hostility. Must be down to the Klingon way - they'd rather fight than make peace. That or 22nd Century history isn't Picard's strong point...

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