MovieChat Forums > Star Trek: First Contact (1996) Discussion > The Enterprise time travel at the end

The Enterprise time travel at the end


So basically the Enterprise is able to reverse what the Borg did and travel back to their current day? I love this movie but am I the only one who thinks this is really whacky. I'm not sure how else they could handle it but... if you could so easily travel through time why not go stop Hitler or go back a minute before the borg arrive and blast them to hell. I can't be the only one this bothers...

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No you're not alone, it was pretty lame for the reasons you stated and it was overplayed, it was the second straight TNG movie with time travel and it wasn't needed.

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Preventing Hitler's holocaust would probably be violating the Prime Directive. Since the Borg came from the future, the Enterprise was simply correcting what had already happened in the 21st century. Hitler existed as part of Earth's unfortunate history. The Borg were still 300 years in the future.

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I hated the end of the movie, it was the same trap that Voyager fell into, basically taking something that should been an obstacle and sweeping it under the mat to just finish up the movie. This is what I hate about the TNG movies, aside from Generations they all feel like just another episode of TNG.

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This is what I hate about the TNG movies, aside from Generations they all feel like just another episode of TNG.

I've read that many people feel the opposite way, that Generations felt like a long episode of TNG, and First Contact is generally regarded as the best TNG movie.

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Clingon birds of prey can easily time travel so its not hard to believe the enterprise can as well. Plus its a movie.

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There is actual discussion about the difficulties of time travel in Star Trek IV, in First Contact , Time Travel is treated as just another option on the Enterprise E that the could use at will.

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There is actual discussion about the difficulties of time travel in Star Trek IV, in First Contact , Time Travel is treated as just another option on the Enterprise E that the could use at will.


Picard's era is about a century after the discovery of two time travel methods in TOS and about 80 years after the time travel in Star trek IV.

And of course time travel to the future is always far easier than time travel to the past.

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They should have used the slingshot maneuver since it's a previously established method of time travel that can be used by any warp-capable ship. The Enterprise shouldn't have been able to simply copy the Borg's method, because for all we know, the Borg may have had a particular piece of technology on board that allowed it. It's like trying to time travel in a plain Delorean without a flux capacitor.

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I have a theory that states that the Borg changed the timeline when they went back in time first, and that the Enterprise crew created yet another timeline when they followed them and interfered with Cochrane's mission. The future they went back to would be different.

Of course, I'm sticking with my Picard is still in the Nexus theory.

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No you're not alone, it was pretty lame for the reasons you stated and it was overplayed, it was the second straight TNG movie with time travel and it wasn't needed.

No, First Contact is the only TNG movie with time travel.
What happens with Kirk and Picard in Generations, does not constitute as time travel, since that requires time to actually be in movement, which it is not inside the Nexus. That place just display your personal desires.

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Agreed, it was a plot device to get Kirk and Picard together.

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What happens with Kirk and Picard in Generations, does not constitute as time travel, since that requires time to actually be in movement, which it is not inside the Nexus.

Picard did use the Nexus to send him (and Kirk) back into the real universe several moments before Picard entered the Nexus so that he and Kirk could prevent Soran from firing his rocket at the sun (which was what drew the Nexus to planet in the first place). So there was some actual time travel involved.

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Which begs the question: when Picard and Kirk appear on the planet with Soran, why wasn't earlier Picard still there? He hadn't entered the Nexus yet.

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Because he is earlier Picard. The Nexus did that. If time travel wasn't hard enough to explain already, the Nexus puts a whole new twist on it that makes it almost impossible to explain. Wherever he emerged from the Nexus, he replaces himself there. That's just a guess.

So what if he returned when he was 10 years old? I don't know! Maybe it's better to just say the writers goofed.

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Wherever he emerged from the Nexus, he replaces himself there. That's just a guess.


Then Kirk magically appears from the Nexus with no body to possess. Wow, the Nexus can do anything, no matter what anyone brings up, eh?

The Nexus was a horribly flawed concept, for it left the door wide open for everything at the end to be yet another Nexus-inspired fantasy. It was so terribly written that it turned into just a stupid plot device to do whatever the writers wanted at any given time. What is sad is that the Nexus all by itself could have been what the movie was about. Explore the concept rather than relegate it to a silly plot device.

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Actually no.

The Borg went back in time and prevented Cochrane's first contact flight, changing the timeline.

Because the Enterprise-E was caught in the temporal wake caused by the Borg's timetravel, they were protected from the changes. Because the temporal vortex was still open, the Enterprise was able to use it to go back to the same time the Borg had gone to.

I do agree that the ending (going back to the future) was a little "convenient" and that they were able to replicate what the Borg had done to create the temporal vortex. But still one of the best Star Trek movies out there.

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Because the Enterprise-E was caught in the temporal wake caused by the Borg's timetravel, they were protected from the changes. Because the temporal vortex was still open, the Enterprise was able to use it to go back to the same time the Borg had gone to.


Exactly. It is just like in City on the Edge of Forever from the original series where the Guardian of Forever is protected from the time change. That is why Kirk and the others remained as they were when McCoy altered the past and everything around them changed.

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There's little point in nitpicking a story that includes time travel. In a universe where time travel is possible, anything is possible, which ironically invalidates all the strife in the story that features it. I just wish that long-running franchises didn't have to resort to the cheap tropes of time travel or prequels. Having said that, I still enjoy this movie, as I would a good TV episode of TNG.

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Without getting into cannon of ST time travel.

I think they must have used the Borg tech from the sphere that been installed on the Enterprise to return to the 24th Century.

I'm too lazy to get fully into explaining it (time travel and it's paradoxes), as it gives me a migraine!

-B!

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Why stop at hitler? There have been plenty of other cruel ppl throughout history. But you know, through history we learn (hopefully) and if you prevent everything, it will happen later for the first time.

Unfortunately it needs bad things to happen so we can "advance" ourselfes. And pls don't point out Hitler alone, there are so many wars fought even today, and for instance the US of A have killed more "declared" terrorists and "others" then any other nation, so why not start acting there instead of with hitler?

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