Zefram Cochrane
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| Gender: | Male |
| Species: | Human |
| Occupation: | Scientist |
| Status: | Alive (2267) |
| Born: | 2032 |
| Played by: | James Cromwell Glenn Corbett |
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- For the mirror universe counterpart, please see Zefram Cochrane (mirror).
Doctor Zefram Cochrane was a Human scientist in the 21st century. An eccentric genius, he was the inventor of warp drive on Earth and became the first recorded Human to travel faster than light, thereby initiating official first contact with the Vulcans.
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Biography
Edit
Cochrane was born in 2030. (TOS: "Metamorphosis"; ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II" library computer file) During the 2060s, he lived in Bozeman, Montana in North America, where he and his team of engineers began developing the warp drive and finally built Earth's first warp ship, the Phoenix.
On April 4, 2063, he encountered the crew of the Federation starship USS Enterprise-E, who had recently come from the year 2373 to stop a Borg sphere from the same year from preventing first contact. Doctor Cochrane was treated like an historical figure by the crew, as he was to them. On April 5th, the next day, at 11:00 AM, the Phoenix was launched with Commander William T. Riker and Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge accompanying him. He broke the warp barrier just after 11:00 AM, enough to draw the attention of the Vulcan ship T'Plana-Hath passing near Earth. The Vulcan ship landed in Montana that evening, thereby making first contact with Humans, and opening a new era for the whole of mankind. (Star Trek: First Contact) At least one historical archival regarding Starfleet dated these events to the year 2061. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")
In 2064, Cochrane mentioned details about the first contact in Bozeman, in a commencement address at Princeton University. He claimed that it had involved "a group of cybernetic creatures from the future" which had been repelled by a group of Humans who had come from the same era. However, Cochrane's remarks were largely shrugged off by his audience as a result of his tendency toward imaginative stories and intoxication, and Cochrane recanted his own statements several years later. (Star Trek: First Contact, ENT: "Regeneration")
In the early 22nd century, Cochrane worked closely with Henry Archer on the warp five engine and had met Henry's son, Jonathan Archer, the future captain of Enterprise NX-01. (ENT: "Daedalus") In 2119, Cochrane officially opened the Warp Five Complex on Earth. During a speech he made at the opening ceremony, Cochrane used numerous phrases that would be repeated by Starfleet for generations to come, such as the expression "where no man has gone before." (ENT: "Broken Bow", et al.)
Later in 2119, at the age of 85, Cochrane left his new home on Alpha Centauri colony for an unknown destination, and was later presumed dead. (TOS: "Metamorphosis") The same historical archive concerning Starfleet that dates Cochrane's first warp flight to 2061 also cites his disappearance as occurring in the year 2117, giving his age at that time as 87. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II")
When Enterprise discovered a mysterious craft adrift in space in October 2152 with one dead occupant, Captain Archer wondered if it could be the long-lost Cochrane. In the interest of determining the deceased pilot's identity, Dr. Phlox submitted a request to the Cochrane family in order for them to release Cochrane's genetic profile. However, it was soon discovered that the pilot was a Human from the 31st century whose time travel pod had suffered a critical disaster, in which he was killed, while visiting the 22nd century. (ENT: "Future Tense")
Cochrane ended up on an asteroid in the Gamma Canaris region. He subsequently cannibalized his wrecked ship, using tools and supplies left over from the crash to construct a building where he could live. After discovering a cloud-like entity which he called the Companion, Cochrane was healed by this entity, which went on to keep him young and alive for 150 years. The fact that Cochrane was lonely was eventually sensed by the Companion, so it decided to bring him other Humans for company.
In 2267, Captain James T. Kirk, Commander Spock, and Dr. Leonard McCoy of the USS Enterprise were ferrying the terminally-ill Federation commissioner Nancy Hedford aboard the shuttlecraft Galileo when they were mysteriously brought to the asteroid, by the Companion, where they met Cochrane. Once it was discovered that the Companion was actually feminine with romantic feelings toward Cochrane, the female entity entered the body of Hedford, and she and Cochrane began a new life on the asteroid, now with a typical Human life span. Cochrane had Kirk promise never to reveal the events surrounding their encounter. (TOS: "Metamorphosis")
Personal life and legacyEdit
One of Cochrane's good friends was Lily Sloane, whom he knew since the Third World War. She nicknamed him "Z". Cochrane was a fan of late 20th Century rock music. Cochrane's favorite songs included "Ooby Dooby" by Roy Orbison, and "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf. (Star Trek: First Contact) His favorite food was cheese pierogi. (VOY: "Homestead")
At the time of First Contact, Zefram Cochrane did not have a grand vision of ushering in a new era for mankind or of endowing Earth with the gift of warp technology. These qualities came to be commonly ascribed to him by later generations, but, as with many of history's icons, the man himself was more complex.
In fact, Cochrane had a cynical streak. He had an alcohol abuse problem, and his primary motivation for developing warp technology was financial gain in the devastated, poverty-stricken America that existed in the wake of the Third World War. When confronted with worshipful Enterprise crew members, Cochrane claimed that he was interested in nothing more than a simple life on an island filled with money, rock and roll, and naked women. He actually had an intense dislike for air- and space-travel and preferred taking trains.
When the crew of the Enterprise-E confronted him in 2063 with his future image as herald of a better world, Cochrane refused to accept this new role. After Geordi La Forge told him about the statue of Cochrane which would be built in Bozeman, Cochrane initially attempted to literally flee from his destiny. In time, Cochrane came to understand the magnitude of his accomplishment and the necessity that he become a better leader – and of the hope for a better future that First Contact with the Vulcans provided. In 2073, he is recorded as proclaiming, "Don't try to be a great man; just be a man, and let history make its own judgments." (Star Trek: First Contact)
In 2152, Cochrane still had surviving family. Dr. Phlox contacted them that year to request a DNA sample when the remains of the Human pilot of a derelict spacecraft discovered in deep space were thought to be Cochrane. (ENT: "Future Tense")
The cochrane, a unit of measure of subspace distortion, was named after Zefram Cochrane. Planets, great universities, cities, and the USS Cochrane were also named in his honor, as was the shuttlecraft Cochrane on the USS Voyager. (TOS: "Metamorphosis"; DS9: "Emissary"; VOY: "Threshold", "Day of Honor")
AppendicesEdit
BackgroundEdit
IntroductionEdit
Zefram Cochrane was first seen and mentioned in the original series episode "Metamorphosis". In the first-draft script for that episode, Cochrane encounters not only Kirk, Spock and McCoy but also Montgomery Scott, who is delighted to meet the noted inventor and discuss some engineering with him. (The Star Trek Compendium, UK 4th ed., p. 71) Cochrane also reacts much more frustratedly to the revelation of the Companion's female gender and love for him than he does in the installment's final version; enraged, he calls the Companion an emotional vampire, repeatedly yells "nasty," raves and screams, throws rocks, grabs a club and even tries to physically attack her. The conclusion to the same draft of the script involves Spock wondering – in the company of the three other Enterprise crewmen – if the fact that Nancy and the Companion share the same body might result in Cochrane being a bigamist, an idea that Kirk dismisses as nonsense. [1]
In the final version of "Metamorphosis", Cochrane was played by Glenn Corbett. His introduction in the episode was partly filmed with a fish-eye camera lens, though its use at first caused him to appear strange. "When Cochrane entered the foreground and ran toward the group at the [shuttle]craft, it seemed as if he had on seven league boots; he was covering what seemed like a football field distance in about five paces," explained director Ralph Senensky. "I solved this by filming his approach from several angles, which were then joined together in the editing room." [2]
Film appearanceEdit
Rewriting the characterEdit
The decision to include Zefram Cochrane in the film Star Trek: First Contact was preempted by the movies' writers choosing to set the story at a time when they could also feature Humans and Vulcans making first contact with one another. "Lo and behold, we looked around and found Zefram Cochrane sitting around the same time period," recollected co-writer Ronald D. Moore. (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages, p. 171)
How to depict Cochrane in the movie was a subject of much debate among the writers, including Moore, who later recalled, "We had very long discussions about who Cochrane was and who he should be in this film. And what we decided was you wanted to see a transition. You wanna see an arc for the character." (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray) The writers also chose to significantly vary the film's depiction of Cochrane from how he had been established in "Metamorphosis". "We decided to take a lot of liberty with the Original Series character, and we created a new character," declared co-writer Brannon Braga. "Because the character we meet in this film is very different [....] We kind of ignored, to some degree, the Cochrane from the original series." ("The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane" documentary featurette, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray)
In the first draft script for First Contact, an initial description of Cochrane reads, "He has a youthful, dynamic appearance marred by recent radiation burns." Much of the plot also deals with Cochrane receiving urgent medical treatment in a hospital, comatose throughout much of the script. Out of action even for a while after he regains consciousness, he lets Captain Picard secretly pilot the Pheonix rather than himself, wishing he could make the flight too. It is also said that he is "touched" by Geordi La Forge paying him "obvious respect." Cochrane goes on to make first contact with the Vulcans, much as he does in the film's final version. [3]
Although the writers thought Cochrane was one of the elements that worked successfully in the first script draft, they decided to adjust the character. "Let's get simple. Bring Cochrane into the story," stated Ronald D. Moore. "Let's make him an interesting fellow, and it could say something about the birth of the Federation. The future that Gene Roddenberry envisioned is born out of this very flawed man, who is not larger than life but an ordinary flawed human being." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, 3rd ed., p. 323) Brannon Braga agreed, "We realized in subsequent drafts that this is an interesting character. You kind of want to meet the guy. He's such a critical part of history. One of the things that we thought was an interesting idea was that if you went back in history [...] to meet one of your heroes [...] you might find meeting them in person, smelling the environment they lived in, and really just being there, very different from reading about it. We thought it would be cool if the man who basically ushered in a new era of humanity was motivated by things that were antithetical to Star Trek." Having discarded the concept of Cochrane changing by being revived, the writers now dealt with their impulse to have Cochrane undergo a character arc, in the course of the movie, by implying that he becomes the man whom the Enterprise-E crew expects him to be. (The Making of Star Trek: First Contact, p. 16)
Both Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga described Cochrane, by the end of the movie, as having become "a Roddenberry person." (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray) Anthony Pascale said further, "I always felt that the way they treated Cochrane is kind of like Roddenberry. Roddenberry's revered as this god-like visionary, but Gene Roddenberry was a human being with flaws, you know, but that doesn't mean he isn't also a great man and a great visionary." Damon Lindelof similarly likened Cochrane, in a scene where Lieutenant Reginald Barclay is thrilled to meet him, to Gene Roddenberry being met by an enthusiastic fan. (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact 2009 DVD/Blu-ray)
Damon Lindelof opined that showing the highly esteemed Cochrane as actually alcoholic and eccentric is an example of "one great convention of time-travel movies" and "sort of a touchstone of what Moore and Braga did on the series and are doing in the movie, which is, you know, character first, character first, character first." Lindelof also observed that, in common with the character of Lily Sloane, Cochrane serves as "a conduit for the audience," as he is at first unfamiliar with the Enterprise-E crew and their indigenous time period of the 24th century. (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact 2009 DVD/Blu-ray)
Recasting the roleEdit
Veteran Star Trek actor James Cromwell was cast as Cochrane in First Contact. The role was written for him to play. "Rick Berman [who worked on the film as producer and story co-writer] told me that they wrote the part specifically for me, because I was in their minds from my guest work," stated Cromwell. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 111, p. 71) Due to the actor becoming extremely famous for his appearance in the film Babe, the production personnel were at one point somewhat worried that Cromwell might not be available. "We were afraid he was going to be out of our price range," explained Berman. "But it all worked out." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 108, p. 7)
Even though the part had been written for him, James Cromwell auditioned for the role. Upon doing so, he was asked to perform a later-excised scene wherein Cochrane attempts to commit suicide by jumping off the edge of a cliff, only for his descent to be stopped in mid-air by a force-field Geordi La Forge has rigged up. The actor recalled his performance; "I stood on the edge of a chair, and when it came time to fall, I lay down across the chair which got a real hoot out of everybody!" (Star Trek: Communicator issue 111, p. 71) Cromwell's audition was indeed highly successful. "He nailed it," enthused director Jonathan Frakes. "He left Berman and me with our jaws in our laps." (Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion, p. 325)
Academy Award-winning actor Tom Hanks was briefly considered to play Cochrane in First Contact (requested by then-Chairwoman of Paramount Pictures Sherry Lansing), but James Cromwell was ultimately confirmed for the role – much to the relief of both he and Rick Berman – after it was determined that the film's production wouldn't fit into Hanks' scheduling. According to Berman, the role would have needed to be considerably rewritten if Hanks had been able to perform it. (Star Trek: Communicator issue 111, p. 71)
Having an interest and belief in the existence of extraterrestrials, James Cromwell was thrilled to be cast as Cochrane. (The Making of Star Trek: First Contact, p. 41) The actor later enthused, "The character was very well-written, and he had wonderful things to do. What intrigued me was the first contact idea [....] So that was a lot of fun." Cromwell's participation was also valued by Rick Berman, who explained, "He seemed to be the perfect character to play Cochrane because we were looking for somebody who was exactly opposite what people would think [....] Jamie was perfect, and he was available and interested in doing it, and we were lucky from day one." ("The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane" documentary featurette, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray)
Costuming for movieEdit
Of all the costumes in First Contact, costume designer Deborah Everton felt she was given the most freedom to design Cochrane's clothing. "Even though he's so established in the lore of Star Trek, he's not a character with which we're really familiar," she mused. "I could really go to town on him and take his character pretty far out." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 109, p. 52) Given that Cochrane had been written as an eccentric genius famed for being a pivotal figure in Human history, Everton wanted to represent the character's kookiness in his costuming, without making him too repulsive to the film's audience. "I wanted to bring out a lovable, quirky quality about him," she noted.
The inclusion of a distinctive-looking hat was at the request of Rick Berman, after Deborah Everton had incorporated the headgear in her original sketch for Cochrane's costume. She reflected, "Rick Berman kept liking this hat – every time he would see it on one of the illustrations, it was 'God, I really like that hat!' So when I made it for Cochrane, I wanted to make it sort of funkier, as a character thing." (The Making of Star Trek: First Contact, pp. 80 & 81)
James Cromwell was grateful that Cochrane's costumes included a large, heavy, wool coat that he was able to wear while filming on location in frosty cold night conditions. (Star Trek Monthly issue 22, p. 34) Jonathan Frakes was also pleased with the clothes Cochrane wears in the film, terming them "great costumes." (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray)
On the other hand, the costuming for Cochrane proved baffling to others. For instance, Brannon Braga once admitted, "I always meant to ask Deborah Everton, 'What was that hat that he was wearing?'" (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray) Cochrane's neck-scarf likewise puzzled Damon Lindelof and Anthony Pascale, though the latter theorized that Cochrane wearing it might be an attempt to hide a scar. (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact 2009 DVD/Blu-ray)
Second portrayalEdit
James Cromwell did not watch the original depiction of Cochrane, prior to playing the character in First Contact. He found it easy to appear in the movie role. "They just let me play it as it was written," he said. "And I looked at him as just me. A guy who is overwhelmed, horny, fun-loving and self-deprecating, which is me." With a laugh, Cromwell added, "Except that he happens to be an alcoholic." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 111, p. 70) Cromwell also related, "The character came alive for me. Instead of having to play a legend, what I had to play was someone who was reluctant to become a legend. That's immanently playable. It's very hard to play a legend, but it's not so hard to play when you have an action. He had a very strong action, which was that it frightened, confused, confounded and disturbed him." (Star Trek Monthly issue 22, p. 33)
Jonathan Frakes believed that James Cromwell's ease with playing the part added to the portrayal, as did him having great physical ease, especially considering his extreme height. "I think it made him... or made the character more Human and more attractive, because of the way Cromwell tackled the part," Frakes commented. "Instead of playing it with this sort of straitlaced respect, it was played with a wonderful casualness." (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray)
One particular element of the story in which Cromwell found difficulty with portraying Cochrane is when the character is finally involved in the actual First Contact with the Vulcans. Noted Cromwell, "All I had to do was say, 'It's real, it's real, it's real.' And I kept on saying to myself, 'What would it look like? What would I do? Would I perspire? Would I shake?' and I thought, 'God, the real thing is that you don't know what you'll do when it actually happens.'" (The Making of Star Trek: First Contact, p. 110)
Although Cochrane was instrumental in the construction of the Phoenix, his real-life alter ego never saw the missile that, in the movie, supposedly delivers the prototype warp ship into space. (Star Trek Monthly issue 22, pp. 33-34)
Ultimately, Jonathan Frakes deemed Cromwell as having been "brilliant in this role." (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray)
Enterprise appearancesEdit
The only physical description of Zefram Cochrane in the final revised draft script for the pilot episode of Star Trek: Enterprise, "Broken Bow", is the word "elderly." [4] In that episode, Cochrane was once again played by James Cromwell. As he had become a relatively big movie star by then, Star Trek's production personnel had to pull in a favor for him to reprise the role. This task was facilitated by Junie Lowry-Johnson, a big fan of Cromwell's who helped cast both First Contact and "Broken Bow". Rick Berman said of Cromwell's return as Cochrane, "It was interesting to get [him] [....] He was very gracious and did it." ("Broken Bow" audio commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD special features) Elaborated Berman, "We just needed him for a day [...] and he was sweet enough to come and do it for us in our pilot." ("The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane" documentary featurette, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray)
A representation of Cochrane similar to a statue described and mimicked by Geordi La Forge in First Contact – which has Cochrane "reaching out to the stars," in La Forge's words – was created as a statuette and seen in Jonathan Archer's quarters on Star Trek: Enterprise. This statuette was designed by illustrator Doug Drexler. ("Broken Bow" text commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD) In one scene from the episode "Twilight", Archer uses the statue to kill a Xindi-Reptilian who has boarded Enterprise. The statue and "stunt" statue props were sold in both the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection and It's A Wrap! sale and auction. [5] [6]
Footage of James Cromwell (as Zefram Cochrane greeting the Vulcans) was reused, with Cromwell's consent, at the beginning of "In a Mirror, Darkly".
Age and physical appearanceEdit
"Metamorphosis" establishes that Cochrane was 87 years old in 2117, and that he was therefore born in 2030. This correlates with information provided in the Star Trek Chronology (second ed., p. 26) and the Star Trek Encyclopedia.
The first draft script of Star Trek: First Contact, set in 2063, describes Cochrane as "a man in his mid-forties." [7] However, James Cromwell was 56 years old during the production of the film, the final version of which is also set in 2063, meaning that the character is supposedly in his early 30s during the events of the film. The Star Trek Encyclopedia accounts for this discrepancy by speculating that Cochrane's aged appearance in the film was the result of radiation poisoning.
TriviaEdit
In the first draft script for Star Trek: First Contact, Cochrane's first name is consistently spelled "Zephram". [8] Similarly, in the credits for First Contact, the character's name is misspelled "Zefram Cochran".
At one stage, Brannon Braga speculated that Cochrane "probably is instrumental in the formation of Starfleet." ("The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane" documentary featurette, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray) Likewise, in an audio commentary for First Contact available on the film's Blu-ray and 2009 DVD releases, Anthony Pascale supposes that, prior to encountering the Enterprise-E crew, Cochrane "must have read a journal about time travel in Scientific American, maybe before the Third World War, or something."
Cochrane is the only character to utter the phrase "star trek" in the franchise, which he does in First Contact, although Q does use the phrase "trek through the stars" in the series finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation, entitled "All Good Things...". The prospect of somehow working the phrase "star trek" into the franchise had been a secret fantasy of Rick Berman's for about the past eight years, but had proven challenging to carry out due to the oddness of the phrase. Brannon Braga offered, "We went round and round about that, [contemplating] whether it should just be 'trek,' 'star journey' [or something else]." (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray) James Cromwell was conscious of whether the line sounded like a natural or intentional reference, stating, "Hopefully it came out [...] as, you know, searching for an idea." Cromwell believed that Cochrane saying the line while in a forested area helped make the reference sound natural, interesting and somewhat fitting. ("The Legacy of Zefram Cochrane" documentary featurette, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray) However, audience reaction to the line, when the film was exhibited in movie theaters, was not only sometimes laughter but also occasionally groans. (audio commentary, Star Trek: First Contact Special Edition/Blu-ray)
An episode of South Park referenced a line spoken by Cochrane in First Contact: "Don't try to be a great man, just be a man." (AOL chat, 1998)
ApocryphaEdit
In the novelization of First Contact, it was suggested that Cochrane's alcoholism was not his only issue. He also suffered from bipolar disorder, a condition that had been treated with a cerebral implant that delivered the necessary medications. After World War III, however, Cochrane was unable to find either a way to refill the implant, nor a suitable replacement, so he took to self-medicating with alcohol. The crew of the Enterprise-E was able to stabilize his condition enough for him to complete his work on the Phoenix, and Beverly Crusher cured the disorder permanently, shortly before returning to the Enterprise.
In addition, this novelization states that Cochrane was born in the year 2013, as opposed to 2032, which would be more consistent with actor James Cromwell's real-life age and physical appearance in the film.
The reasoning for Cochrane having a far more weathered and older appearance than his natural age would suggest has often been given in non-canon literature (most notably the Pocket Books novel Federation) as being a result of him suffering from radiation poisoning.
The novel First Frontier states that Cochrane accidentally stumbled on the secrets of the warp drive and that he was originally looking for something else, though it is never mentioned what he was looking for, exactly.
External linksEdit
- Zefram Cochrane at StarTrek.com, the official Star Trek website
- Zefram Cochrane at Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
- Zefram Cochrane at Wikipedia
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