Patrick Stewart’s favourite ‘Star Trek’ movie he ever did: “I think it was outstanding”
Patrick Stewart has said that *Star Trek: First Contact* was the best of the four films he made as Jean-Luc Picard, praising both its quality and director Jonathan Frakes’s understanding of the series. His view matters because Frakes, who played Riker, had also directed episodes of *The Next Generation* and understood how to balance spectacle with character.
Stewart named the 1996 film as his favourite in interviews in 2020 and 2024. It arrived as the franchise was struggling to hold viewers’ attention, and its larger budget supported more action and updated effects, including a more menacing design for the Borg. The film also made Picard more physically active, giving Stewart scenes involving running, jumping and dancing.
In short
- Stewart calls *First Contact* the best of his four Trek films.
- He praised Jonathan Frakes’s experience directing the crew.
- The 1996 film added action, effects and a more active Picard.
Explained simply
Star Trek is a science-fiction series about the crew of a starship exploring space and encountering new civilisations. Patrick Stewart played Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, a television series that ran from 1987 to 1994, and later reprised the role in four films.
Star Trek: First Contact, released in 1996, was the second of those films. It features the Borg, a group that absorbs people and technology into a shared collective, and was directed by Jonathan Frakes, who played Picard’s second-in-command, William Riker. The film is part of the franchise’s transition from television to cinema, where bigger budgets allowed for more elaborate action and effects.
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