 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The flick was okay but oy, I have NEVER forgiven them for turning what should have been a monumentally profound moment in the annals of ST history into one of the all-time anals of an ending. Am putting on "City On The Edge Of Forever" later and get the bad taste out of my head.
James Cromwell was a bad choice for the Zefram Cochrane role. I don't understand why some actors pat themselves on the back for ignoring the previous establishment of a character, as Robin Curtis did with Saavik. Her performance was a sore thumb only more noticeable than Cromwell's for its comparative proximity to its predecessor. Cromwell's was worse, a greater and less forgivable divergence from the calm, thoughtful, considered fellow rendered so memorable in the Metamorphosis episode of the series by Glenn Corbett. If they really needed an obnoxious, rebellious snot to first meet the Vulcans they'd've done better changing the canonical character's name than getting his soul all wrong.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I thought the Cochrane in "Metamorphosis" was as boring as the rest of the episode and thoroughly enjoyed what Braga and Moore wrote far better. However, since the episode takes place later in the life of Dr. Cochrane, it's easy to imagine that that was him after getting clean. He was far more like his TOS counterpart at the opening of "Broken Bow" after all. I'd take the human ending of First Contact over the pompous bullet they thankfully dodged any day. Better to have the Vulcans meet a sloppy, warm-hearted individual than a pompous ass who's too busy being an orator than a human at such a point in time.
I really liked the film's take on the character. First Contact was a pivotal event for the Federation and by the time the TNG crew was alive, Zephram Cochrane had become a deified figure with at least one statue having been erected in his honor. Portraying Cochrane as a flawed person was a nice contrast to the myth he became. I suspect that many of the people societies have deified over the years are closer to the Cochrane in the film than the myth of who they were supposed to be: a flawed person who still does profound things, even if it isn't necessarily for a good or the "right" reason. It was also clear that Cochrane was meant to evolve from who he was during the events of the film (meeting aliens for the first time will do that to you), as he mocked a quote from his later self that Riker had quoted.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What I didn't like about Cromwell's Cochrane was the idea that a rowdy drunk in biker-gang drag would be the physicist who solves warp drive. I just don't believe him as a guy who could do the math.
They evidently thought the film would be more commercial if Cochrane was an abrasive, counter-culture, anti-hero type. And commercially, they were right. But l found it unconvincing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
