‘First Contact’ With a Soon-to-Be Hit

The Scene: Monday’s benefit premiere of Paramount’s “Star Trek: First Contact” at Mann’s Chinese theater. A party followed at the nearby Hollywood Colonnade. Filmgoers with lives beyond the “Trek” biosphere should find the film readily accessible. One woman associated with the TV series said: “Borgs are bad; humans are good. That’s all you need to know.”

The Buzz: The universe will have to expand to contain the money this film will make. The opening weekend will go where no film grosses have gone before.

Who Was There: Stars Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Alice Krige and Alfre Woodard; director-star Jonathan Frakes; producer Rick Berman; Rene Auberjonois, Avery Brooks, Colm Meaney and Armin Shimerman, who acted in sundry “Star Trek” shows; plus 1,000 guests, including Ted Harbert, Roger Birnbaum, Mark Gordon, Nick Reed, Lou Pitt and studio execs Sherry Lansing, Jonathan Dolgen and Don Granger.

Fan Reaction: Zealots seemed satisfied that customary plot points were embraced--aliens invading the ship, time travel, malfunction of holodeck or other key component, emotions unleashed in roboticly unemotional person, etc. Most said it was one of the series’ best. One woman from the Midwest said, “The worst was the one William Shatner directed where at the end they were all sitting around a campfire singing ‘Row, Row, Row Your Boat.’ ”

Quoted: “If I’m explaining the film to someone with no foreknowledge of ‘Star Trek,’ ” Stewart said, “I would say it’s a film about the power of the individual to overcome the repressive many.”

Best Strange Idea: One guest, who was familiar with the film’s myriad product tie-ins, said, “They should have gone for the Borg Barbie.”

Money Matters: Tickets were $200, and about $70,000 was raised for Amnesty International. William Schulz, the human rights organization’s U.S. executive director, said, “On the most basic level, Amnesty is about making tyrants tremble, and that’s what this movie is about.”

Noted: Before the film rolled, the actors, director and producer--but not the screenwriters--were all introduced. One Hollywood writer’s aside was, “I’m going to talk to Amnesty about representing the tortured screenwriters in this business.”