If you're a "Star Trek" fan, "Star Trek: First Contact" will please you, no matter what. If you're not a die-hard fan of the television series and the seven movies that came before this one, then you may not feel the same.

The opening sequence and the 10 minutes that follow are amazing, and I won't ruin it for you by telling you what it is, but it's really quite something. Unfortunately, that's pretty much the best part of the movie. Directed by Jonathan Frakes, who also takes his part as Director and Commander William Riker, "First Contact" has special effects and three plots that work well together, but is plagued by sloppy dialogue and cheesy one-liners.

The return of the Borg (a race of cybernetically enhanced aliens) mark the central plot of the movie. The mean aliens first appeared in a "Star Trek: The Next Generation "episode called "Q Who" and have popped-up several times since. The Borg, you see, have returned to take over our planet by assimilating themselves with us, creating a half-robot, half-human all-ugly creature. Lead by the Borg queen (played seductively well by Alice Krige who manages to look sexy, despite having a bald veiny head) who represents the Borg collective consiousness, the vile race infiltrate the new Starship Enterprise and begin their takeover. Will our space heros be able to foil their evil plans? Oh, just take a guess. There is even a bizarre sexual tension between the Borg queen and Data. No, not Riker, not Picard. Data. Go figure.

The title of the movie, "First Contact" refers to the first meeting between humans and aliens (Vulcans, specifically) which the Borg are trying to prevent since it would tamper with their plans on taking over the planet.

The man responsible for our first contact with the Vulcans is Zefram Cochrane (played by James Cromwell of "Babe") who is a drunken scientist trying to make a fast buck. Although Cromwell does what he can, this character is weak and his zaniness is over-blown.

"First Contact" has all the elements of your basic sci-fi movie: time-travel, big bad aliens, and big-budget special effects. It borrows heavily from Stanley Kubrick's"2001 : Space Odyssey" for one particular scene, but it worked well. It was more of an homage than a rip-off Trekkers won't be disappointed. Patrick Stewart's (Jean-Luc Picard) classic thespian training makes an appearance in a couple of scenes (damn, he's good) and of course, there are heaps of little inside jokes and references in to past "Star Trek" episodes and movies. I guess once a show has been on the air for decades and has an (at times) disturbingly devoted following, the screenwriters have to make these concessions. It's a shame that it is done at the cost of making "First Contact" a movie for everyone, not just the Trekkers.

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There is a preview of "First Contact" in WWW.

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