James Cromwell Movie: "Star Trek: First Contact" Career
Opportunity: Creator of warp drive and general technical genius
Racial Profiling: Human Background:
Coming off his career highlight playing Farmer Arthur Hoggett in "Babe," James Cromwell was tapped by the powers-that-be at ... more "Star
Trek" to play warp drive pioneer Zefram Cochrane in what is probably the only
good movie featuring "The Next Generation"
cast. The role was a reinvention of an old character from the original
series. In an old episode, Kirk and crew encountered Zefram Cochrane living out
his days on an alien planet, but here we met "Z" in his younger days as he's
about to conduct the first space warp flight that will catch the attention of
the pointy-eared Vulcans who will meet the human race for the first time. If you
haven't figured it out already, "First Contact" is one of those "let's go back
in time" stories that has Picard and his crew trying to prevent the mechanized
Borg from changing history. Along the way, they meet Cochrane, who's revered for
his scientific achievements. In the movie, they're surprised to learn the man is
a hard-drinking, Steppenwolf-loving, money-obsessed cynic. Best part of the
movie may be when Cochrane, along with Commanders Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and LaForge (LeVar Burton), takes his ship, The Phoenix, out for
its first spin around the galaxy while listening to "Magic Carpet Ride." Ahh,
Good times.
