Two great things about Star Trek: First Contact happened because of an episode of Star Trek: Voyager season 2. First Contact was the second film to feature the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation and is widely considered one of the better movies in the TNG film franchise. The Jonathan Frankes-directed movie featured the crew of the USS Enterprise-E following a group of Borg back in time to keep them from preventing the birth of the Federation by stopping Zefram Cochrane’s (James Cromwell) first wrap-speed flight.
At the time that First Contact premiered, Star Trek: Voyager was in its third season. The Star Trek universe has always been full of crossovers between different projects, and an episode of Voyager season 2 featured a major crossover with TNG. During Voyager season 2, episode 3, “Projections,” a hologram of Reginal Barclay (Dwight Schultz) appeared to the Doctor (Robert Picardo) after a holodeck program he was running began to malfunction, causing the Doctor to question his existence. “Projections” was also directed by Jonathan Frakes, who played Commander William Riker on TNG. Interestingly, this one episode helped facilitate two great decisions about First Contact.
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How Voyager Gave Star Trek: First Contact 2 Important Things
“Projections” was at least partially responsible for both Jonathan Frakes becoming First Contact‘s director, and Robert Picardo making a cameo in the film. When the studio executives at Paramount were evaluating whether they wanted to select Frakes to direct First Contact, “Projections” was one of the episodes they looked at to assess his talents. Frakes has become a prolific television and film director since the 1990s, but before Star Trek, he had never directed anything, so the executives only had episodes of TNG, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Voyager to go off of. These demonstrated Frakes’ talent well since First Contact ended up being his feature film directorial debut.
Along with this, Robert Picardo made a brief cameo in First Contact as the Enterprise-E’s Emergency Medical Hologram, partially due to his friendship with Frakes after the two worked together on “Projections.” In First Contact, the Enterprise-E’s EMH buys time for the crew to escape a group of Borg who break into sickbay after infiltrating the ship. Since Picardo had enjoyed a good working relationship with Frakes, he was able to convince both the director and Paramount that it made sense for the Enterprise-E to have an EMH if Voyager did, since the Enterprise was Starfleet’s flagship and would, of course, be outfitted with all the latest technology.
Barclay Also Appeared In Both “Projections” and First Contact
Interestingly enough, Reg Barclay also appeared in both Voyager‘s “Projections” and First Contact. Barclay was more of a recurring guest character on TNG, but still a big part of the show. Having him play a main role in “Projections” was a great TNG tie-in for Voyager, and although his appearance in First Contact was nothing more than a cameo, it still affirmed his importance as part of TNG‘s side-character cast. Given that “Projections” helped make Star Trek: First Contact a better movie by facilitating Frakes’ and Picardo’s involvement, it seems fitting that Barclay also appeared in both projects.
