[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/firstcontacthd0256.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Resistance is ''not'' futile.]]
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* TheReveal of the ''Enterprise''-E. Paramount wanted a new, better-looking ship for the movies. They sure as hell got one. Even better, she homages the original TOS-era Enterprise in her overall shape like her predecessors did, but she's far larger and sleeker. There's no question that, Starfleet's talk of "peaceful exploration" aside, this is a ship that's built for ''battle'', and she proves more than up for the task.
* A moment for the Borg Cube can be heard over the intercom at the beginning of the battle: it takes them 3 seconds to break the first defensive line, and another 9 before Starfleet is routed and calling for reinforcements, a display of the Collective's power that surpasses that of Wolf 359.[[note]]While the length of time isn't noted, the Borg ship went up against 40 ships armed with Picard's stolen knowledge, and so suffered nothing more than light damage. The Borg only had outdated knowledge to start with here, and they still broke through in a short amount of time.[[/note]]
* Directly after the Borg give their "Resistance is Futile" speech, a Starfleet officer shows why the Federation may be beaten, but never broken:
-->'''Admiral Hayes:''' "All units, open fire!"
* "I believe I speak for everyone here, sir, when I say: '[[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight To hell with our orders]].'"
* This exchange, leading to what is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4DCOpG1oNE arguably the Enterprise-E's first CMoA.]]
-->'''Worf''': [[FacingTheBulletsOneLiner Then perhaps today is a good day to die]]! Prepare for [[RammingAlwaysWorks ramming speed]]!\\
'''Helmsman''': Sir, there's [[CoolStarship another starship]] [[BigDamnHeroes coming in]] ... it's the ''Enterprise''!
** Characteristically for Worf, he decides that with a ship broken beyond repair [[TakingYouWithMe he is sure as hell going to do all the damage he possibly can]]. "Prepare for ramming speed!"
** Especially the way they do it. The Borg ship's attacks absolutely demolish pretty much every ship when they connect. The ''Enterprise''-E's shields takes two of them [[NoSell with zero effect]].
** And notice that, as they arrive, they announce their arrival by [[DynamicEntry unleashing a barrage of photon torpedoes]] which destroys the turret firing on the ''Defiant'', as if to say "Hands off the ''Defiant''!"
* Despite not being an Admiral, Picard is able to take control of the fleet ''and every other ship follows his lead''. As established in ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', when a fleet has no clear command structure, the captain of the [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership most powerful ship gets to be in charge]]. And not only is the new ''Enterprise'' the most powerful ship around, it, like its direct predecessor is ''literally'' the ''Federation's fucking'' '''''FLAGSHIP'''''.
* During the first fight against the Borg, the Borg adapt to the Starfleet phasers rather quickly. Worf's "Captain, ''they've adapted!''" would sound slightly fearful when said by a member of any other species. Worf? Hell no. He takes his rifle and starts clubbing the Borg drones with it. It should be noted that a (presumably) human Starfleet officer tries to follow Worf's lead, only for the drone to NoSell his attempt. Worf's warrior training and Klingon muscles overcome Borg armor when PunyEarthlings can't.
** During the battle at the deflector dish the Borg again adapt to the phasers. This time, Worf slashes it apart with his beloved Klingon Mek'leth. When it manages to cut a hole in his suit, he patches it ''with the Borg's cables''. Complete with ''trailing arm''!
*** Hell, just the fact that the Klingons managed to create a '''melee''' weapon that can harm the Borg.
* Another Worf line, just two words: "[[VerbThis Assimilate THIS!]]" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4QyCdRvXr4 See here]]
* Picard killing Borg with a Tommy Gun in the holodeck.
* The Borg Queen's [[FemmeFatale temptation of Data]] is evil, kinky win. [blows on Data's new skin] "Was it good for you?" Yes. Yes it was.
* Picard is going blind with revenge against the Borg and calls Worf a coward for falling back and destroying the ''Enterprise''. Worf stands up to him, face to face, and says with as much restraint that a Klingon can have, "If you were any other man, I would kill you where you stand!"
** Another for Picard and his effect on Worf -- there are precisely three men in the universe that Worf would let insult him like that without violent retribution. One is his son Alexander. Another is Picard. (The other is [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Sisko]], but sadly, his only scene in this movie was cut.)
* Lily [[WhatTheHellHero calling Picard out]] on his decision to stay and fight the Borg.
-->'''Lily''': I am such an idiot. It's so simple: The Borg [[MindRape hurt you]], [[PayEvilUntoEvil and now you're gonna hurt them back]].\\
'''Picard''': In my century, we don't [[RevengeBeforeReason succumb to revenge]]. We have a more evolved sensibility.\\
'''Lily''': '''''[[PrecisionFStrike BULLSHIT!]]''''' I saw [[UnstoppableRage the look on your face]] when you shot those Borg on the holodeck. [[HeWhoFightsMonsters You were almost enjoying it!]]\\
'''Picard''' ''(indignant)'': [[WhoDares How dare you?]]\\
'''Lily''': Oh, come on, Captain. You're not the first man to get a thrill from murdering someone! [[CrapsackWorld I see it all the time!]]\\
'''Picard''': ''[[GetOut Get out!]]''\\
'''Lily''': Or what? [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt You'll kill me?]] Like you killed [[RedShirt Ensign Lynch]]?\\
'''Picard''': ... There was [[MercyKill no way to save him.]]\\
'''Lily''': You didn't even ''try!'' Where was your [[IronicEcho "evolved sensibility"]] then?\\
'''Picard''': I don't have time for this.\\
'''Lily''': Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your little ''quest''! [[MobySchtick Captain Ahab has to go hunt his whale!]]\\
'''Picard''': [[FlatWhat What?]]\\
'''Lily''': You ''do'' have books in the 24th century?\\
'''Picard''': [[BlatantLies This is not about revenge.]]\\
'''Lily''': ''Liar!''\\
'''Picard''': This is about [[WellIntentionedExtremist saving the future of humanity!]]\\
'''Lily''': [[SayMyName Jean-Luc]], ''[[WhyDontYouJustShootHim blow up the damn ship!]]''\\
'''Picard''': '''''[[BigNo NO! Nooooooo!]]'''''\\
''(Picard angrily smashes the glass case with the Enterprise ship models)''
** Tim Lynch [[https://web.archive.org/web/19970523014444/https://www.bradley.edu/campusorg/psiphi/mov/STFC/review.html found]] Lily's retort "'''BULLSHIT!'''" to be an excellent summation against Picard's (temporary) pomposity about having "evolved sensibilities".
---> When Picard tried to hide his desires behind his old platitude about how 24th-century humans have outgrown vengeance, I was cheering Lily's "bullshit!" cry in response.
* Picard's "line must be drawn here" speech afterwards.
-->'''Picard''': I will not sacrifice the ''Enterprise''. We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space, and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds, and we fall back. Not again. '''[[HoldTheLine The line must be drawn here!]] [[YouShallNotPass This far, no further!]]''' [[RevengeBeforeReason And I will make them pay for what they've done!]]
** Lily tops him by quietly saying "You broke your little ships. See you around, Ahab."
** A quieter, but no less awesome moment of HeWhoFightsMonsters[=/=]MyGodWhatHaveIDone realization follows:
--->'''Picard:''' ''(softly, to himself)'' "[[Literature/MobyDick And he piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the rage and hate felt by his whole race. If his chest had been a cannon he would have shot his heart upon it.]]"
*** Followed by a bit of MoodWhiplash when Lily doesn't know what he's quoting. [[PopCulturalOsmosisFailure She's never read]] ''Literature/MobyDick''.
* Picard, when asked by Crusher if they'd make another ''Enterprise'', smiles and says, "Plenty of letters left in the alphabet."
* Picard's NoOneGetsLeftBehind speech to Lily, before going after Data.
* Data: "[[AllegianceAffirmation Resistance]] [[IronicEcho is]] [[PreMortemOneLiner futile.]]" [[ItMakesSenseInContext For full impact]], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnN-SR_2ovA you need to watch the whole scene]]. A lot of fans liken it to Spock's "Live long and prosper." from ''Film/StarTrek2009'' as one of the most subtle non-explicit "Go fuck yourselves" in cinema.
* The whole duplicity that Data pulled off. He went from unconvincingly rationalizing his reaction to true pain after his escape attempt was thwarted, to so utterly fooling the Borg Queen that she didn't see his subterfuge until ''he'' was ready. Data has mastered [[ILied lying]].
* Data's escape attempt, even though it was ultimately thwarted. Despite being hamstrung with having his emotion chip forcibly reactivated, he still gained enough emotional control to remain inscrutable enough to leap into sudden action. He first times the initiation right as a restraint on his hand is being reapplied, breaking the restraint's actuator. After clobbering a drone while still partially restrained, he quickly figures out the controls for the rest of the restraints and makes a run for it. Even the forcefield that Queenie erected still wasn't enough to stop his resolve; only the slashing of his skin graft and the sudden sensation of organic pain stunned him enough to thwart his attempt.
* Special notice to the part when the the ''Phoenix'' launches (complete with its own SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic) and flies away from the Earth with the ''Enterprise'' in pursuit, while at the same time Picard looks utterly screwed ... until suddenly Data reveals his hand and breaches the coolant tank.
** The ''Phoenix'' has another [=CMoA=] as it reaches orbit. At first it just looks like this rickety, cobbled-together ''thing'' that's barely a step up from a 60's space capsule... Then the side panels come off, and slowly a pair of ''Franchise/StarTrek''-style ''[[CoolStarship warp nacelles unfold and lock into position]].'' And '''that''' is when the discerning Trekkie ''knows'' epic-ness is about to ensue.
** The reveal that Cochrane himself is the originator of the command "Engage" for warp drive. Geordi and Riker beam at each other like schoolboys when they hear it from the man who ''invented'' (the human version of) warp drive.
** Another for both Zefram Cochrane and Steppenwolf: Cochrane launches his modified nuclear missile to go to warp flight and get the attention of the Vulcans, leading to Earth's first contact with an alien race ... and he does it while blasting "Magic Carpet Ride" across the whole base.
* First Contact itself, especially as the aliens are revealed to be Vulcans. Because of ''course'' they were the Vulcans.
* A subtle one for Starfleet comes up just after the ''Enterprise'' rescues the ''Defiant'' survivors -- it might not have been enough, but even before Picard and the ''Enterprise'''s intervention, Starfleet was doing ''much'' better than they did at Wolf 359 six years earlier (compare 'light damage' to 'heavy damage to outer hull, fluctuations in cube power grid detectable to Starfleet sensors', which considering the Borg's multiple-redundant systems, is saying something). Further, Starfleet was able to keep up a running battle all the way to Earth's solar system; there were a lot of ships ''still going'' by the time the Cube reached Earth -- compare "The Best of Both Worlds", where there weren't any ships left after Wolf 359 ''except'' the ''Enterprise'', which, as here, arrived late. The Borg aren't the only ones capable of adapting ...
** This works as an example for the Borg too. Even with far more preparation and advanced ships, Starfleet still doesn't even manage to slow the Borg down. They come within a hair's breadth of reaching Earth. Oh, and the destruction of the Cube? [[CrazyPrepared The Borg are prepared for the eventuality too.]] There's a reason everyone in the ''Star Trek'' universe fears the Borg.
** The ''Defiant'' is awesome. The Borg cube [[OneHitKill one-shots]] most ships with its attacks, two for the tougher ones. The ''Defiant'' gets the absolute snot beaten out of it, taking multiple hits, returns fire while having a gaping hole in its side, taken another which disables its weapons and shields, [[BeyondTheImpossible and then one more before the Enterprise saves it. It's still going when others of its kind are scrap.]] Then it was caught in the explosion of the Borg Cube which took out several ships and still remained salvageable. Sisko had built a ''tough little ship'' indeed.
** The leitmotif that plays when the ''Defiant'' and Worf are introduced? The Klingon theme, first heard in ''The Motion Picture'' when another looming menace was approaching Earth. And by this point in the franchise, that song had long since evolved to be a theme of imminent ass-kicking. What makes it even ''better'' is that the Klingons were originally the hated, yet respected enemies of Starfleet. When fans heard that music in the TOS era films, you expected the Klingons and the Federation to go at it tooth and nail. But in the TNG era? It brings ''smiles'' to the faces of a lot of Trek fans. Why? Because they're on ''our side'' now, and are among, if not ''the'' strongest allies the Federation has. You hear that song now, you know the Federation and the Klingons are about to pull off something '''''magnificent''''' against whoever the bad guys are eventually. And the Klingons will do it with {{Slasher Smile}}s on their faces, eager for a good fight.
* While not from the film itself, the previews on the ''First Contact'' VHS version had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Tp1L7ekaAo an amazing Paramount movie montage]].
* The Borg Cube's first scene. A giant 3x3x3 kilometer cube of twisted mechanical monstrosity looming over the POV, accentuated by a ''very'' loud four-note bass brass instrument chord, signifying newcomers and reminding longtime fans that the Borg are ''terrifying''. Followed by Starfleet's incoming fire slamming into it. The Borg are a [[ImplacableMan nigh-unstoppable force]], but [[{{Determinator}} Starfleet]] is ''[[DoNotGoGentle not]]'' [[DoNotGoGentle going to go quietly.]]
* Heck, the entire [[BigBadassBattlesequence Battle of Sector 001]] is one long SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome beautifully married to SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome. And it all culminates when Picard orders every ship left to concentrate on the Borg's hidden weakspot, raining absolute ''barrages'' of phaser fire and photon torpedoes, capped off with the ''Enterprise''-E's newest quantum versions delivering the finishing blow.
-->'''Picard:''' ''[[PreMortemOneLiner Fire.]]''
** It was ''very'' [[TheKnightsWhoSaySquee satisfying]] watching those starships [[MoreDakka unload]] their [[BeamSpam phaser banks]] and [[MacrossMissileMassacre torpedo bays]] into the Borg cube.
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