Patrick Stewart Requested One Major Change In Star Trek: First Contact

In Jonathan Frakes' 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact," the Borg — an invading force of malevolent cyborgs — had formed an attack plan against Earth, and boy howdy, was it complicated. At first, they tried a frontal assault in one of their cube-shaped ships, but Starfleet fought them off. That, however, was only Plan A. 

Plan B: While their ship was exploding, a miniature Borg envoy fled the scene and opened a time portal to the year 2063 (!). That was a year, Trekkies can tell you, when Earth was still recovering from a vicious World War, but also a year when a man named Zefram Cochran (James Cromwell) was building the planet's very first faster-than-light spacecraft. According to "Star Trek" history, Cochran would attract the attention of some passing Vulcans while testing his ship for the first time, causing them to land and greet humans. The first contact with an alien species would usher Earth into a peaceful, utopian future. The Borg aimed to destroy Cochran's ship in the past, and thereby prevent Starfleet from forming. 

The Enterprise followed the Borg through their time portal, and instantly faced two crises at once. Half of the crew, led by Commander Riker (Frakes), had to help Cochran repair his ship in time for First Contact Day, while the other half, led by Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), had to fight a Borg invasion force back on the Enterprise. 

The screenwriters for "Star Trek: First Contact," Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, always knew that "First Contact" was going to be a Borg movie, but they originally envisioned the plot involving Picard interacting with Zefram Cochran as they rebuilt the faster-than-light ship together, while Riker stayed on board the Enterprise fighting the Borg. Braga talked about this during a Star Trek convention in 2017 (via TrekMovie). He also said that he transposed Picard's and Riker's roles after Patrick Stewart suggested it; Stewart felt that Picard should be the one to face the Borg head-on.

Stewart's suggestion likely makes perfect sense to Trekkies, who know that the character had been assimilated by the Borg many years before, an action that left him traumatized. Braga recalls writing "First Contact" and having a blast. Unlike the previous film he wrote, "Star Trek: Generations," there weren't as many studio notes to follow. He and the rest of the "Star Trek" handlers were a lot freer to tell the kind of story they wanted. And he knew it was going to be a Borg story. As Braga said at the 2017 con: 

"['First Contact'] is a great initiation for what 'Star Trek' is all about. It had to be the Borg. There was no question what we were doing for 'First Contact.' It was fun to do from beginning to end, fun to make, fun to watch. And I think it shows up on screen." 

He also talked about how he and Moore initially liked the idea of Captain Picard having conversations with Zefram Cochran, while Riker handled the action-hero stuff in orbit. Stewart, however, thought the script should be changed. As Braga recalls: "We were summoned to Patrick Stewart's apartment in New York, where he said, 'I should be battling the Borg' ... so we changed it." Indeed, "First Contact" changed Picard from a diplomatic leader into a revenge-minded analog to Captain Ahab, allowing him to do some action-hero stuff (which he typically didn't do on "Star Trek: The Next Generation"). 

Frakes got all of the Zefram Cochran scenes, but he also directed the film, so his character work was light and amusing. He wasn't left out of the movie for a lack of action. Stewart got to fire weapons and run around in a tank top, but Riker was present during humanity's first warp flight in "Star Trek." They both got fun things to do, and pretty much everyone loved the movie (including "Original Series" cast member DeForest Kelley).