Star Trek: First Contact's Most Famous Line Was Instantly Mocked By Jonathan Frakes
Jonathan Frakes' 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact" is often considered the best of the four feature films to have been based on "Star Trek: The Next Generation." While the special effects are first-rate, the script, for better or worse, has more in common with a middle-of-the-road Hollywood action flick than with the ordinarily cerebral, philosophical, and political leanings of "Star Trek." But plenty of fans seem to enjoy it.
The plot of "First Contact" follows the U.S.S. Enterprise-E into an attack by the Borg, a species of malevolent cyborgs that once assimilated Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) into its collective. Although Picard had dealt with the ramifications of his assimilation, "First Contact" transformed him into a mad, Captain Ahab-like character seeking revenge on the Borg for the damage they did to him. The bulk of the film's action takes place in the distant past of 2063, as the Borg opened up a rift in time to happened to the year humanity made first contact with an alien species. While Picard fights with the Borg on the Enterprise, the ship's crew has to help a 21st-century engineer named Zefram Cochran (James Cromwell) build the very first rocket capable of faster-than-light travel.
In a climactic moment, Picard — decidedly losing his cool — begins raving to Lily (Alfre Woodard) that the Borg have had too many opportunities to attack Earth, and now is the time to stop them once and for all. Stewart's performance is sweaty and over-the-top in this scene as he swears vengeance. "The line must be drawn here!" he yells.
According to Stewart's new autobiography "Making It So: A Memoir," director Frakes couldn't watch that moment without snickering. To Stewart's chagrin, his dialogue became an in-joke on set.
The line must be drawn h'yah!
Picard's explosive outburst was sparked by his conversation with Lily, a 21st-century character who is not beholden to Picard's authority as a starship captain and is unimpressed with his character. Lily has only watched Picard become increasingly unhinged as she spent more time with him, and she chides him for his aggression. She compares him to Ahab right to his face. Picard wails and breaks a glass model case on the wall behind him. Stewart described the scene thus:
"The moment we read the script, Alfre and I recognized how explosive the scene was going to be. Jonathan supported the line we took, making us feel safe in committing so deeply to our characters' feverish energy. This scene shows Jean-Luc at his most vulnerable, his anger and aggression boiling over into frightening rage. Under the spell of these emotions and Alfre's intensity, I spat out the words 'The line must be drawn here!' like venom: 'The line must be drawn h'yah!'"
To be fair, this moment is incredibly out-of-character for Picard, especially at this point in his life. Multiple episodes of "Next Generation" saw Picard already tackling his Borg trauma with aplomb, and the cyborgs returned time and time again without Picard losing his cool. This time, he became a vengeful action hero with an itchy trigger finger.
But Frakes, perhaps indelicately, or perhaps just to keep the mood on the set jovial, began repeatedly saying, "The line must be drawn h'yah!"
'You broke your little ships'
As Stewart wrote:
"We all felt good about the scene after we shot it, but it was Jonathan who recognized instantly that my eccentric pronunciation was bound to achieve traction. He started saying 'The line must be drawn h'yah!' in my voice, in all sorts of situations. Sure enough, it has become a pop-culture trope, oft quoted and parodied. I am all too pleased about it."
Stewart seemed to have a good laugh at his own expense. Sadly, despite a thorough internet search, there doesn't seem to be behind-the-scenes footage of Frakes imitating Stewart on the set, so we have to imagine his "h'yah!" for ourselves. Personally, I like to think he incorporated it into his directing. "No, no, Mr. Spiner's mark is in the wrong place. The line must be drawn h'yah!" Or perhaps, "I know you're having trouble remembering dialogue, but I can see where you've hidden your script. I've written your pages out of the camera's eyeline on this warp manifold. Your lines must be drawn h'yah!" That sort of thing.
The scene concluded with Lily poking through the remains of the plastic models that Stewart had broken in the scene. "You broke your little ships," she said. I am convinced that the models in the case were nothing more than the AMT brand "Star Trek" modeling kits that one could buy in toy shops back in 1991.
"Star Trek: First Contact" went on to make $92 million worldwide.