16. The Borg Queen’s Entrance (Star Trek: First Contact, 1996)
The Borg are one of the greatest villains introduced into Star Trek lore, but they've been severely neutered (thanks to overexposure on the Voyager TV show) since the days they first menaced Picard and co.
While the first glimpse of the Borg Queen is seen as the beginning of the end (after all, why did the Borg need a central focus except for dramatic reasons?) there’s no denying the power of her entrance as she walks toward camera in one smooth shot – slick, grey skin, phallic tubes jutting from her body and the fact that her top half neatly slots into her lower body.
Actress Alice Kriege gives her a spooky, otherworldly, sexy power and she’s mostly a decent character – creepy, freakish, but with just enough female-ness to make geek-tummies go funny.
Trek Trivia: Keeping with the series’ love of in-jokes, the Borg drones have eyepieces with blinking lights that flash, in Morse code, names of production crew-members.
15. Enterprise Launches (Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, 1982)
Star Trek: The Motion Picture features one of the biggest examples of techno porn in the series, as we get not only a long, lascivious look at the curves of the newly film-worthy ship, but an extended sequence of it leaving space dock.
For The Wrath Of Khan, however, Nicholas Meyer – using some of that footage to keep costs down – chose to impishly have the crew make youngblood Saavik command the ship out of dock, with customary harrumphing from Spock and smarmy grinning from Kirk.
Trek Trivia: And if you think the two ships featured in the film – the Reliant and the Enterprise - look alike, it’s not just because they’re from “one big happy fleet.” They’re the same set redressed with different lighting and, er, new seat covers.
Next: Fight! Fight! Fight!, Assimilate this!
Comments
mattburgess
May 4th 2009, 16:33
Star Trek Generations, and the Enterprise-D is moments from being destroyed by a vastly inferior klingon warbird. But thanks to a nifty little trick by Data, they force the warbird to drop its own shields, and in one brilliant, heart stopping, breath taking moment, Commander Riker gives the order: "Fire!" A single, fateful photon torpedo later, and the warbird is a complete wreck. Brilliant! (Never mind the fact that Riker has previously asked for a spread of torpedos)
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jhr01
May 5th 2009, 21:42
6. “This Far. No Further!” (Star Trek Generations, 1994) The scene involving Patrick Steward and Alfie Woodward's Lily Sloane is from First Contact, not Star Trek's Generations! Shame on you Total Film!!!!
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jwhite
May 7th 2009, 21:26
Argh! My bad. I'm turning in my phaser and heading to the Agony Booth for a sesh. Error fixed!
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Juliette
May 8th 2009, 19:53
Brilliant article, thanks! Though I think Spock's death has to be No 1 for me, and I also have a soft spot for Chekov's 'Now would be a good time!' in Star Trek IV
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stewart
May 10th 2009, 18:08
A really good article, thanks! Personally I thought your number 3 was probably the number 1 - Kirk destroying that which he coveted above all else - and of course the exchange between Kirk & Bones that followed. I felt that Star Trek III was the best of the lot - despite the critics harangueing it no end, and largely because of the scenes from that filn that you included in this article!
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