In this episode Mark talks about one of his favourite films and one of the best films of the "Star Trek" film franchise: the 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact" directed by Jonathan Frakes. Set in the 24th Century, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (played by Patrick Stewart) is having nightmares about his experience six years before of being assimilated and transformed by a cybernetic alien race known as the Borg - during which he was given the identity "Locutus of Borg" and subsequently was forced to lead the Borg in an attack against his own Starfleet of starships with a mandate to eventually assimilate the entire population of Earth. Now, the Borg are threatening to assimilate the population of Earth once again - and after the Borg cube threatening Earth are eventually defeated by a Starfleet armada, with the assistance of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in command of the Federation starship USS Enterprise-E, the Borg launch a smaller vessel that travels into the past with the intention of assimilating the population of Earth in the 21st Century. Captain Picard and the Enterprise follow the Borg to the 21st Century and they discover that the Borg wish to stop the first official "First Contact" of humanity and an alien species - which, if successful, will usher in a profound new era of rejuvenation for the nuclear war stricken planet Earth and its human population, as well as inform them that they are not alone in the universe. Though thought to have been defeated, the Borg proceed to attempt to assimilate the Enterprise-E and its crew - which leads Captain Picard to engage the Borg in a face to face effort to defeat them before they can carry out the apparent goal of assimilating all of humanity; however, while on the surface of Earth, other members of the Enterprise-E crew assist Dr. Zefram Cochrane (played by James Cromwell) - the inventor of the first human spacecraft with a warp drive capable of travelling faster than light - in the launch of his ship "The Pheonix", which if successful will attract the attention of a nearby alien spacecraft and propel 21st Century humanity into the next generation of their evolution as a people and as a result secure the prospect of a future of prosperity that will spread throughout the galaxy. The incredible score of the film was composed by the late great Jerry Goldsmith. The film also stars Alice Krige, Alfre Woodard, Levar Burton, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Robert Picardo, Dwight Shultz, and Neal McDonough.
