The year is 2373 and the crew of the Enterprise-E has learned the Borg have returned. Because of Captain Picard's past experiences with the Borg, Starfleet has ordered the Enterprise to stay out of the fight. Realizing too much is at stake, Picard disobeys orders and takes the Enterprise to Earth. His knowledge of Borg technology leads the Federation fleet to victory, but a Borg sphere escapes and opens a temporal vortex. The Enterprise pursues and travels back to April 4, 2063; the day before the first warp flight. The sphere is destroyed by the Enterprise and the crew begin to help the soon to be inventor of warp drive, Zefram Cochrane, make repairs to his warp ship, the Phoenix. But Picard makes a horrifying discovery that the Borg have survived. Now, Picard, Data, Worf and the remaining crew aboard the Enterprise must stop the Borg from changing history, while Riker and the rest of crew prepare the Phoenix. Will the Borg assimilate the Enterprise and then Earth? Will the first warp flight be made in time?

Patrick Stewart - Captain Picard

Jonathan Frakes - Commander Riker

Brent Spiner - Lt. Commander Data

LeVar Burton - Lt. Commander La Forge

Michael Dorn - Lt. Commander Worf

Gates McFadden - Dr. Crusher

Marina Sirtis - Counsellor Troi

Alfre Woodard - Lily Sloane

James Cromwell - Dr. Zefram Cochrane

Alice Krige - Borg Queen

Michael Horton - Lieutenant Daniels

Neal McDonough - Lieutenant Hawk

Marnie McPhail - Lieutenant Eiger

Robert Picardo - Emergency Medical Hologram

Dwight Schultz - Lieutenant Reginald Barclay

Adam Scott - Defiant Helm Crewman

Jack Shearer - Admiral Hayes

Eric Steinberg - Lieutenant Paul Porter

Scott Strozier - Security Ensign

Patti Yasutake - Nurse Alyssa Ogawa

Victor Bevine - Security Crewman 1

David Cowgill - Security Crewman 2

Scott Haven - Security Crewman 3

Annette Helde - Security Crewwoman 1

Majel Barrett - Enterprise Computer Voice

C.J. Bau - Holodeck Nightclub Bartender

Hillary Hayes - Ruby

Julie Morgan - Holodeck Nightclub Singer

Ronnie Rondell Jr. - Nicky`s Henchman

Don Stark - Nicky the Nose

Cully Fredricksen - Vulcan Captain

Tamara Lee Krinsky - Townsperson

Don Fischer - Borg

J.R. Horsting - Borg

Heinrich James - Borg

Andrew Palmer - Borg

Jon David Weigand - Borg

Dan Woren - Borg

Robert Zachar - Borg

Mike Boss - Extra in Holodeck Nightclub Scene

Brannon Braga - Extra

Cameron - Ensign Kellogg

Jeff Coopwood - Voice of The Borg

Ronald D. Moore - Extra

Ethan Phillips - Nightclub Maitre d'

Ray Uhler - Dancer

Michael Zaslow - Town Barkeeper

Although the role of Zefram Cochrane was actually written for James Cromwell, Tom Hanks was originally considered for the role, but the filming of this movie coincided with the filming of That Thing You Do! which prevented him from taking the part.

For inspiration prior to filming, director Jonathan Frakes says he viewed the films Alien, Aliens, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Blade Runner, and Jaws.

The Borg makeup and suits had to be constantly touched up. Several of the Borg actors lost a considerable amount of weight while in costume due to the heat of the sets and temperature in L.A. during the shooting.

At the end of filming, actor/director Jonathan Frakes got the nickname: "Two takes Frakes" because of the efficiency of his style.

The deflector dish is labeled AE35, the name of a component of a satellite dish in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Moby Dick is alluded to in this movie and in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan. 'Stewart, Patrick' contemporaneously starred as Captain Ahab in a new TV movie version of Moby Dick.

Cameo: [Ethan Phillips] The actor who plays Neelix in Star Trek: Voyager is the Maitre'D of the holodeck scene club.

Cameo: [Ronald D. Moore] The screenwriter appears in the holodeck club scene.

Cameo: [Brannon Braga] The screenwriter appears in the holodeck club scene.

Cameo: [Dwight Schultz] reprises his role as Lt. Barclay from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

This film marks the final appearance of the "oval-back" combadges (which appears on Picard's uniform in his nightmare) that were introduced in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation and were subsequently used in the first two seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Star Trek: Voyager episode entitled "Death Wish."

When Dr. Crusher says "In the 21st century, the Borg are still in the Delta Quadrant", it was intended as a teaser for upcoming episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, in which The Borg were featured prominently.

The program menu in the holosuite depicts various holodeck programs from previous episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Specifically: Cafe Des Artistes is from "We'll Always Have Paris". Charnock's Comedy Cabaret is from "The Outrageous Okona". The Big Goodbye is from "The Big Goodbye", "Manhunt", and "Clues". Emerald Wading Pool is from "Conundrum." Equestrian Adventure is from "Pen Pals".

Cameo: [Robert Picardo] reprises his role as the Emergency Medical Hologram from Star Trek: Voyager.

The eyepieces of the Borg flash the Morse code of the names of people associated with the production.

The opera that Picard is listening to is Berlioz' "Les Troyens". The song is "Hylas' Song" from the beginning of Act V. Hylas is a homesick young sailor being rocked to sleep by the sea as he dreams of the homeland he will never see again.

The character of "Ensign Lynch" is a reference to Internet critic Timothy W. Lynch, who watched and reviewed every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

The subroutine that controls the deflector dish maglocks is identified as system AE35; the same designation as the antenna control module on Discovery in 2001, A Space Odessey.

Reg Barclay shows LaForge a coil of copper wire to ask if it would work to fix the plasma coil. It is the same prop used in Forbidden Planet where a crew-member asks Commander Adams if it would work in building the transmitter.

The Enterprise E is a Sovereign class starship. The previous Enterprise, D, was a Galaxy class ship.

In an earlier draft of the script, the character of Lily was originally named Ruby. In the theatrical version, Ruby is now a holographic character in "The Big Goodbye" holonovel. Additionally, the Enterprise-E was depicted as being part of the "Nova Class" of starships instead of the "Soverign Class." The Nova Class ship was later introduced in the Star Trek: Voyager episode of "Equinox" as the U.S.S. Equinox.

The display cases in the Enterprise's briefing room contain gold models of all six Federation starships to bear the name Enterprise.

The first Star Trek movie to receive an MPAA rating higher than PG.

The character of Lt. Hawk was originally scripted as a homosexual, with a long-term partner who also served aboard The Enterprise. Scenes depicted their involvement were filmed and ultimately deleted due to objection from producer Braga, who has long been credited as a force striving to keep gay characters out of the Star Trek universe.

The titles "Star Trek: Borg" and "Star Trek: Resurrection" were considered. The Resurrection title was almost a lock until the studio realized Fox had earlier registered the name for their upcoming Alien movie. The name First Contact is also the name of a 4th season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The "first contact" in this movie takes place at a "missile silo in Montana". Montana's missile base is Malmstrom AFB in Great Falls, Montana, site of many of the more famous "UFO" sightings over the past few decades.

The character of Zefram Cochran originated in the Star Trek episode "Metamorphosis". There are differences between the Cochran from the series and from this movie, but they are both regaled as pioneers in the field of space-flight.

ILM animators created several new classes of Federation ships for the huge CGI animation sequence against the Borg. Classes include the Akira, Sabre, Steamrunner and others.

James Cromwell becomes the first actor in Star Trek history to actually utter the phrase "star trek" (although in the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, John de Lancie (as Q) said, "It's time to put an end to your trek through the stars").

Footage of the Warp Ship Phoenix's launch was later reused in the opening sequence for the new Star Trek series Star Trek: Enterprise.  James Cromwell reprised his role of Zefram Cochrane in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Broken Bow". In the episode, Cochrane is seen as a recording from the dedication of the "Warp 5 Complex".

All the scenes filmed inside the silo and of the "Phoenix" were taken at the "Titan Missile Museum", located in Green Valley, 20 miles South of Tucson, Arizona. This site is the only Intercontinental Missile (ICBM) silo complex in the world that is open to the public. The 110 foot tall Titan II rocket has been "de-militarized" (no fuel or nuclear payload) and, per the SALT treaty and SMART (Strategic Missile Arms Reduction Treaty), one of the two silo doors must remain blocked open for Russian satellite verification.

In earlier versions Picard's character was supposed to be the one helping Zefram Cochrane on Earth, with Riker fighting the Borg on the Enterprise. The main story was also focused on the happenings on Earth. After Patrick Stewart objected to that, the characters of Riker and Picard were swapped. This also resulted in making Picard more of an action hero and the story more focusing on happenings on the Enterprise.

Actor Michael Zaslow, the first actor to have been killed off in the Star Trek universe, has an uncredited appearance as Eddie, the bartender

Cochrane asks Geordi, "Don't you people in the 24th Century ever pee?" This is a reference to the fact that bathrooms are never shown in Enterprise schematics.

After Cochran sarcastically asks Riker, "Don't you have the moon in the 24th Century?" Riker mentions that there are over 50 million colonists on the moon, as well as a list of cities on the moon, including Tycho City. Tycho was the crater on the Moon (named after 16th century Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe) where the monolith was found in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Earlier drafts of the script called for the U.S.S. Defiant to be destroyed in the battle with the Borg, but screenwriter Ronald D. Moore objected to the needless destruction of the ship from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in a story that didn't even involve the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine characters (apart from Worf). It would also prove to be inconvenient for the television show, so the Defiant was eventually allowed to survive the battle.

The U.S.S. Defiant introduced in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was built for the sole purpose to fight and defeat the Borg. This movie features the only time the ship fights the Borg.

Once the creative team decided they were going to make a time travel movie two of the time periods they considered the Enterprise and her crew visiting included The American Civil War and Medieval Europe (which gives the alternate title "Renaissance" more meaning), and would have included a castle that would have partially been assimilated by the Borg.

The Norway-class starship is seen for the first (and only) time in this film; the CGI "model" of the ship was subsequently lost due to a computer glitch, and so the class never appeared again in any other Trek show or film.

Was released the same day that Mark Lenard (Sarek) died.

Is the first Star Trek film in which none of the original Star Trek cast members appear.

Continuity error: Inconsistent direction of shadows when Picard et al are walking on the saucer section.

Continuity error: When Picard destroys the Borg Queen's skull, his reflection can be seen to stand up, but in the next shot he is still kneeling.

Continuity error: During the scenes when they are showing the "maglock" handles, some of the shots show that the locks are already in the "open" position before they are turned and unlocked.

Continuity error: Just before Cmdr Data attempts to escape from Engineering a former Enterprise crewman is working on his right arm. The crewman's face has the coloration of a borg but his hands do not.

Continuity error: As the velocity meter on the Phoenix is increasing thru 20900 km/s, it flips over to 20000 km/s not 21000 km/s

Continuity error: During Picard's briefing of the commando teams about their objectives, they arm themselves with phaser rifles. As Picard and Data approach the Borg lair, their team is holding a different kind of weapon. During the subsequent fight with the Borg, everyone is again holding the first type of phaser.

Continuity error: When Data jumps down while Lily is shooting at him, he has no bullet holes in his clothing as he walks towards her.

Continuity error: When the camera gets a shot of the holodeck doors right before Picard shoots the Borg wall with his phaser, the ID sticker on the door reads "08 HOLOSUITE 4". When the Borg force their fingers through the seam to open the door, the ID sticker now says "0820 HOLODECK 07".

Continuity error: The stated number of decks on the Enterprise changes from 26 to 24.

Revealing mistake: As the Borg Queen tries to maintain her grip on Picard's leg in Engineering, she leaves a smear of metallic paint/makeup on his pants.

Continuity error: The Borg attempt to get the access codes from Data's memory banks by drilling into his head and the drills are shown making holes in his head, but a short time later the holes are gone.

Continuity error: When Lt. Hawk shoots the Borg on the deflector dish, it floats across the dish and strikes the opposite side, creating a burst of sparks. These sparks fly up from the surface of the dish and then arc back down with gravity, but there is supposed to be no gravity outside the ship. The sparks should all follow straight paths away from the point of origin in a zero gravity environment.

Continuity error: Just after Worf blows up the floating yet-to-be Borg Beacon above the deflector, there is a wide shot showing the whole deflector section of Enterprise, and you can clearly see three individuals in Federation EVA suits walking around. There was a third crewman outside with Worf and Picard, but he was assimilated and killed by Worf just a few seconds before.

Error in geography: When Picard shows Lilly Australia and New Guinea from space, New Zealand is nowhere to be seen, it should be seen just right from Australia, but all you can see is ocean.

After 'Stunt Players' are listed in the credits, the 'Stunt Borg' are then listed.