Cover
Jonathan Ross' Essential Guide To Star Trek: First Contact was a short promotional documentary released in the UK on VHS that looked at the making of Star Trek: First Contact.
Like the similar promotional release, Your Guide To ... Star Trek: Generations, the video was purchased via the collection of tokens in The Sun newspaper, and distributed by WHSmith.
Contents
- From the back cover
- An exclusive behind the scenes look at the biggest ever Star Trek blockbuster.
Hosted by Jonathan Ross, the feature contained interviews with the cast, clips from the films, as well as "Data blasts", in which information is given via screenshots of written text in quick succession, so that the viewer can pause the individual frames and read the text at their own pace.
Well known in the UK, Ross was perhaps chosen to be host due to his well-known fandom of Star Trek, as well as his appreciation for film in general. The feature takes a somewhat informal approach, featuring Ross watching clips from a sofa, and also makes use of his humor - at one point he asks for information on the Borg, but specifies that he doesn't mean "Swedish tennis players."
The video also included a competition in which entrants could win a Pioneer LaserDisc player and discs, as well as the entire (at the time of release) back catalogues of VHS releases from CIC Video and Star Trek novels from Simon & Schuster.
The theatrical trailer for the film was also included on the video, playing at the end of the documentary.