Editing Star Trek: First Contact (section)

===Development===
In December 1992, [[Paramount Pictures]] executives approached ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' producer [[Rick Berman]] to develop two films featuring the cast of the television series. Berman decided to develop two screenplays simultaneously, and prioritize the most promising one for the first film. The effort of writers [[Brannon Braga]] and [[Ronald D. Moore]] was chosen and developed into ''[[Star Trek Generations]]''. The other, by [[Maurice Hurley]], was set aside to use in a possible second movie.<ref name="Reese-Stevens">{{cite book |last=Dillard |first=J. M. |author-link=Jeanne Kalogridis |contributor-last=Reeves-Stevens |contributor1-first=Judith |contributor2-last=Reeves-Stevens |contributor2-first=Garfield |contributor1-link=Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens |contributor2-link=Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens |name-list-style=amp |date=1994 |title=Star Trek Generations  |contribution=Behind the Scenes of Star Trek Generations |url=https://archive.org/details/startrekgenerati00dill/mode/1up |contribution-url=https://archive.org/details/startrekgenerati00dill/page/245/mode/1up |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Pocket Books]] |isbn=0671511491 |pages=245–247 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref> Two months after the release of ''Generations'', Paramount decided to produce the second feature for a winter holiday 1996 release.{{sfn|Nemecek|2003|p=322}} Paramount wanted Braga and Moore, who had written the ''Generations'' script and a number of ''Next Generation'' episodes,{{sfn|Frakes|2005}} to pen the screenplay.{{sfn|Braga|Moore|2005}} Berman told Braga and Moore that he wanted them to think about doing a story involving time travel. Braga and Moore, meanwhile, wanted to use the Borg. "Right on the spot, we said maybe we can do both, the Borg and time travel," Moore recalled.{{sfn|Nemecek|2003|p=322}} The Borg had not been seen in full force since the fourth-season episode of ''The Next Generation'', "The Best of Both Worlds" and had never been heavily featured in the series due to budget constraints and the fear that they would lose their scare factor.{{sfn|Braga|Moore|2005}} "The Borg were really liked by the fans, and we liked them," Moore said. "They were fearsome. They were ''unstoppable''. Perfect foils for a feature story."{{sfn|Nemecek|2003|p=322}}

Having decided that the time travel aspect of the plot would involve a Borg plan to stop humans ever reaching space,{{sfn|Nemecek|2003|p=322}} the writers considered various historical periods as a setting. "Our goals at that point were to create a story that was wonderful and a script that was [...] producible within the budget confines of a ''Star Trek'' film", said Berman.{{sfn|Kaplan|1996|p=18}} The first story draft, named ''Star Trek: Renaissance'', adopted his concept of a Borg attempt to prevent the emergence of modern European civilization during the [[Renaissance]]. In this scenario, the ''Enterprise'' crew hunted down the Borg to their hive in a 15th-century Italian castle dungeon, and envisaged sword fights alongside the use of [[Weapons in Star Trek#Energy weapons|phasers]], with Data becoming [[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s apprentice. Moore was afraid that it "risked becoming campy and over-the-top",{{sfn|Nemecek|2003|p=322}} while Stewart refused to wear tights.<ref>{{cite web|last=Restaino|first=Mike|date=September 22, 2009|url=http://www.dvdfile.com/reviews/review/star-trek-the-next-generation-movie-collection-bd-86325/5|title=Star Trek: The Next Generation Movie Collection&nbsp;— BD|access-date=November 6, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716113844/http://www.dvdfile.com/reviews/review/star-trek-the-next-generation-movie-collection-bd-86325/5|archive-date=July 16, 2011}}</ref> Moreover, informal research suggested that the film's core audience were unenthusiastic about the setting.<ref name="Berkmann-2016">{{cite book |last=Berkmann |first=Marcus |author-link=Marcus Berkmann |date=2016 |title=Set Phasers to Stun: 50 Years of Star Trek |url=https://archive.org/details/setphaserstostun0000berk_y4n1/page/258/mode/1up |url-access=registration |publisher=Little, Brown |isbn=9781408706831 |pages=258–261 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Braga, meanwhile, wanted to see the "birth of ''Star Trek''", when the Vulcans and humans first met; "that, to me, is what made the time travel story fresh", he said.{{sfn|Braga|Moore|2005}}

With the idea of ''Star Trek''{{'}}s genesis in mind, the central story became Cochrane's warp drive test and humanity's first contact. Drawing on clues from previous ''Star Trek'' episodes, Cochrane was placed in mid-21st-century [[Montana]], where humans recover from a devastating world war. In the first script with this setting, the Borg attack Cochrane's lab, leaving the scientist comatose; Picard assumes Cochrane's place to continue the warp test and restore history. In this draft Picard has a love interest in the local photographer Ruby, while Riker leads the fight against the Borg on the ''Enterprise''.{{sfn|Nemecek|2003|pp=322–333}} Another draft included [[John de Lancie]]'s omnipotent character [[Q (Star Trek)|Q]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Bassave |first=Roy |date=September 1, 1996 |title=New 'Trek' film big on the Borg |work=[[Mobile Register]]|issn=2641-1563 |page=G3}}</ref> Looking at the early scripts, the trio knew that serious work was needed. "It just didn't make sense [...] that Picard, the one guy who has a history with the Borg, never meets them," Braga recalled. Riker's and Picard's roles were swapped, and the planetside story was shortened and told differently. Braga and Moore focused the new arc on Cochrane himself, making the ideal future of ''Star Trek'' come from a flawed man. The idea of Borg fighting among period costumes coalesced into a "Dixon Hill" holographic novel sequence on the holodeck. The second draft, titled ''Star Trek: Resurrection'', was judged complete enough that the production team used it to plan expenses.{{sfn|Nemecek|2003|pp=323}} The film was given a budget of $45&nbsp;million, "considerably more" than ''Generations''{{'}} $35&nbsp;million price tag; this allowed the production to plan a larger amount of action and special effects.<ref>{{cite news| last = Llamas | first = Cora | date=November 26, 1996|title=Hollywood's last hurrah|work=Business Daily}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Wilonsky |first=Robert |date=October 26, 1999 |url=http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/1999/10/29/trek/ |title=The trouble with Trek |work=[[Salon (magazine)|Salon]] |access-date=July 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041104201441/http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/1999/10/29/trek/ |archive-date=November 4, 2004 }}</ref><ref name="Werts-1996">{{cite news |last=Werts |first=Diane |date=November 29, 1996 |title= 'First' in Command: Jonathan Frakes takes directing controls of the latest 'Star Trek' film enterprise |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-29-ca-4037-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110912040929/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-11-29/entertainment/ca-4037_1_star-trek |archive-date=September 12, 2011 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |issn=0458-3035 |access-date=April 17, 2011 |pages=F1, F32}} (Note that online and print versions of article have slightly different titles).</ref><ref name=oc>{{cite news |last=Koltnow |first=Barry |date=November 20, 1996 |title=Calling His Shots&nbsp;— Movies: Jonathan Frakes is second banana in front of the camera, but top dog behind it in 'Star Trek: First Contact' |work=[[The Orange County Register]] |page=F04 |issn=0886-4934}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Staff|date=November 28, 1994|url=http://www.businessweek.com/archives/1994/b340152.arc.htm|title=This Season has Fangs|work=[[BusinessWeek]]|access-date=August 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022210638/http://www.businessweek.com/stories/1994-11-27/this-season-has-fangs|archive-date=October 22, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Image:Jonathan Frakes cropped1.jpg|alt=Bearded man in a black jacket gesturing while talking into a microphone.|left|thumb|Having directed several episodes of ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', [[Jonathan Frakes]] made his feature film directorial debut with ''First Contact''.]]

Braga and Moore intended the film to be easily accessible to any moviegoer and work as a stand-alone story, yet still satisfy the devoted ''Star Trek'' fans. Since much of Picard's role made a direct reference to his time as a Borg in ''The Next Generation'' episodes "The Best of Both Worlds", the opening [[dream sequence]] was added to explain what happened to him in the show.{{sfn|Braga|Moore|2005}} The pair discarded an opening which would have established what the main characters had been doing since the last film in favor of quickly setting the story.{{sfn|Kaplan|1996|p=20}} While the writers tried to preserve the idea of the Borg as a mindless collective in the original draft, Paramount head Jonathan Dolgen felt that the script was not dramatic enough. He suggested adding an individual Borg villain with whom the characters could interact, which led to the creation of the Borg Queen.{{sfn|Braga|Moore|2005}}

Cast member Frakes was chosen to direct. Frakes had not been the first choice for director; [[Ridley Scott]] and [[John McTiernan]] reportedly turned down the project.<ref name="oc"/> Stewart met a potential candidate and concluded that "they didn't know ''Star Trek''".<ref name="making">{{cite AV media|people=''Star Trek'' cast and crew|date=March 15, 2005|title=Star Trek: First Contact; Making First Contact|publisher=[[Paramount Pictures]]|medium=DVD; Disc 2/2}}</ref> It was decided to stay with someone who understood the "[[Gestalt psychology|gestalt]] of ''Star Trek''", and Frakes was given the job.<ref name=improved>{{cite news|title=A New, Improved 'Star Trek' Film&nbsp;— Flagging Franchise Gets Big Boost With Frakes-Helmed 'First Contact'|date=November 22, 1996|work=[[Daily News of Los Angeles]]| first = Bob | last = Strauss | page=L3}}</ref> Frakes reported to work every day at 6:30&nbsp;am. A major concern during the production was security—the script to ''Generations'' had been leaked online, and stronger measures were taken to prevent a similar occurrence. Some script pages were distributed on red paper to foil attempted photocopies or faxes; "We had real trouble reading them," Frakes noted.<ref name="Croal-1996">{{cite news |last1=Croal |first1=N'Gai |author-link1=N'Gai Croal |last2=Stone |first2=Brad |author-link2=Brad Stone (journalist) |name-list-style=amp |date=May 20, 1996 |title=Star Trek; it's not easy being Frakes |work=[[Newsweek]] |volume=127 |issue=21 |page=12 |issn=0028-9604}}</ref>

Frakes had directed multiple episodes of ''The Next Generation'', ''Deep Space Nine'' and ''Voyager'', but ''First Contact'' was his first feature film.<ref name="record">{{cite news|title=Star Trek, First Contact: Commander Riker takes the starship helm as Jonathan Frakes directs Star Trek Movie|date=November 21, 1996| first = Jamie | last = Portman | work=[[Waterloo Region Record|The Record]]|page=E1/Front}}</ref> Whereas Frakes had seven days of preparation followed by seven days of shooting for a given television episode, the director was given a ten-week preparation period before twelve weeks of filming, and had to get used to shooting for a 2.35:1 [[Anamorphic format|anamorphic]] ratio instead of the television standard 1.33:1.{{sfn|Thompson|1996}} In preparation, he watched ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]'', ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'', ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]'' and the works of [[James Cameron]] and Ridley Scott.<ref name=oc/>

Throughout multiple script revisions a number of titles were considered, including ''Star Trek: Borg'', ''Star Trek: Destinies'', ''Star Trek: Future Generations'' and ''Star Trek: Generations II''.<ref>{{cite AV media|date=2005|title=This is a List of Titles Applied to Star Trek: First Contact Before the Final Title Was Decided| medium=DVD|publisher=Paramount Pictures}}</ref> The planned title of ''Resurrection'' was scrapped when [[20th Century Fox]] announced the title of the fourth ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]]'' film as ''[[Alien Resurrection]]''; the film was rebranded ''First Contact'' on May 3, 1996.{{sfn|Nemecek|2003|p=325}}