Hi-Def Revelations: Star Trek: First Contact

Last year I finally joined the early 2000s and retired my twenty year old picture tube TV and bought a hi-def set. Hey, don't judge. I was waiting to see if all this hi-def jazz was just a passing fad or if it was going to catch on. I ain't no early adopter!

Anyway, the past few months I've been rewatching a lot of my favorite movies in glorious 1080p resolution, and it's been, pardon the pun, eye opening. I'm seeing all kinds of things I never noticed before when I watched films in low-def, like a common peasant.

For example, here's a high-def detail for you: Most people think the shark in Jaws was just an unconvincing fiberglass robot, but it was actually real! Who knew? At least it looked real in hi-def on my set. Maybe I need to adjust some settings. Never mind.

Anyway, on to tonight's Hi-Def Revelation. I recently rewatched Star Trek: First Contact, aka The One With The Borg, aka The One Good Next Generation Movie.

In the film, the cybernetic Borg invade the Alpha Quadrant and head toward Earth. The Federation throws everything it has at them, as dozens of ships battle the attacking Borg cube.

Among those ships is the Defiant, the Borg attack ship assigned to Deep Space Nine. First Contact premiered during the fifth season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, so I'm sure the Defiant's appearance was an early attempt at franchise synergy as it tried to tie the movies and the TV series into a coherent whole.

The Defiant is commanded by Lieutenant Commander Worf, the only Klingon serving in Starfleet.

Take a close look at the Defiant's nameless conn officer here, who's having a really bad day courtesy of the Borg.

That's a very young Adam Scott, aka Ben Wyatt from Parks & Recreation! Wow! Good old super-nerd Ben, who wrote Star Trek fan fiction for fun, was actually in a Star Trek movie nineteen years ago! Who knew?

Next on Hi-Def Revelations: I rewatch Star Wars, because I'm starting to suspect it wasn't actually shot on location in outer space.