1996-????: Star Trek: First Contact and Beyond

For the 30th anniversary of Star Trek, Paramount has something planned, and this time, the Federation will be meeting their greatest threat ever: The Borg.

The Borg are partially biological, partially mechanical creatures. Controlled by a collective consciousness known as the Borg Collective, which is embodied in the Borg Queen, their mission is to assimilate all known life. Previously, they have invaded the Federation, and only barely defeated by Captain Picard and the crew. Picard was actually assimilated by the Borg, and was recovered just before the Borg ship's destruction

This time, the Borg is back, and the Enterprise-E (replacing the ship destroyed in Generations) was ordered to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone. Realizing that Starfleet is losing, Enterprise-E rushes back into battle, and after Picard took command of the combined fleet, was able to destroy the Borg ship. Just before destruction, the Borg ship released a small sphere, which entered a time warp, and promptly disappeared. Enterprise-E followed the sphere, and witnessed the transformation of Earth into a Borg colony. Picard and crew must head back to save history, or all will be lost...

Enterprise arrived in the mid-21st century, just days before first contact, when Zefram Cochrane will be making his first translight warp flight, which leads to the first contact with Vulcans visitors who happened to be in the Solar system surveying planets. It was clear that the Borg will prevent the formation of the Federation, and thus lead to conquering Earth. Half of the Enterprise team beamed down to sort things out after the Borg attacked, but Enterprise picked up a hitchhiker: the Borg queen. The Borg started taking over Enterprise level by level, turning captured crew into more Borg... As the Enterprise crew on Earth attempt to convince a reluctant Zefram Cochrane that he will be , the Enterprise crew on the ship fights a desperate losing battle for the future of the galaxy...

I won't tell you any more about the plot though. You can check out the website, or wait for the video to come out. It is a great movie, and suspense hangs all the way till the end. Definitely must see.

 

So what does the future hold for Star Trek? With four series (Original, Next Generation, DS9, and Voyager), eight movies, an animated series, over a hundred novels (over 70 for the original series alone), comic books for all series, Star Trek has taken us many places beyond our imagination. Can it continue to do so?

The answer is yes, many professional authors are writing for Star Trek, and the truth is, Star Trek is still the only show that will look at unsolicited scripts. Of course, this also means that the staff wades through thousands (tens of thousands?) scripts a year, 99% of them unusable in any form. Still, there is a chance, however slim, for a fan who has writing ability and creative elements to send their script to Paramount, and have it made into a television episode, thus leaving their permanent contribution to Star Trek.

Star Trek will be taking us into the future, and Star Trek: Voyager may even live past the Millennium mark. Now all we have to do is to live up to the vision that Gene has left us, and perhaps, someday, we can take our own Star Trek.

 

To learn more

Borg, First Contact fan sites, Fan Fiction, Zines, and other Writings

 

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Generations: and Voyager