"Star Trek: First Contact" (12) Savoy, Virgin, Omniplex, UCIs

While the last Star Trek movie, Generations, served as a bridge between the cast of the original series and the young whippersnappers of The Next Generation, this time - thankfully - Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest have finally been put out to grass. As a result, the new film ranks among the best of the cycle, concentrating on the most popular and successful elements of the TV show, and adding some spectacular special effects.

In First Contact, Captain Picard and his crew aboard the brand new Enterprise E join other ships of the Federation in fighting off an attack by the Borg, a hive like species with a collective consciousness. Although the Enterprise manages to destroy the main Borg ship, the invaders send a mission back in time to the 21st century, to change a crucial moment in human history (the first contact of the title), ensuring their victory three centuries later.

The Enterprise follows, of course, and sends a mission down to Earth to ensure that history is not disrupted; but the orbiting ship is infiltrated by the Borg, who take over their victims' bodies in the manner of the zombies of yore. Picard, as all true Trekkies know, is the only human who has been colonised by the Borg and lived to tell the tale, so he has a unique insight into their thinking.

You don't need to be a fan of The Next Generation to enjoy First Contact, although the film is far more astute in its use of the television show's strengths than some of its predecessors. The classic small screen plot structure - with parallel dramas taking place on the planet surface and aboard the ship - keeps things relatively simple, and the film has the good sense to focus on the programme's two most engaging characters, Picard and Data. The Borg were the most successful baddies in the television series, and here they're souped up with big budget effects and make up to become a cross between Robocop and the zombies of George Romero's Dead films.

If the storyline on Earth is less successful, it's because it indulges more in the sort of nudge and wink humour that became so wearisome in the earlier films. Jonathan Frakes, who plays Commander William Riker, follows Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner in combining his acting duties with directing, competently handling all the pyrotechnics.