Why Star Trek Changed TOS’ Zefram Cochrane So Much In First Contact

Zefram Cochrane went through a radical character change in Star Trek: First Contact from how he was portrayed in Star Trek: The Original Series, mostly due to the producers’ interest in giving him a new-and-improved story arc. Zefram Cochrane is best remembered in the Star Trek universe as the inventor of warp drive, the engine that powers nearly every ship in the franchise. Cochrane was first introduced in The Original Series during the season 2 episode “Metamorphosis.” The character was originally played by Glenn Corbett, but actor James Cromwell assumed the role when Cochrane was brought back 29 years later for Star Trek: First Contact. Cromwell also played Cochrane for a couple of brief appearances in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Cochrane was first introduced in Star Trek: TOS as a castaway on a remote planet discovered by Captain Kirk, Spock, and Doctor McCoy. The team discovered Cochrane after being brought to the planet by the Companion, a life form who found Cochrane in space dying of old age and subsequently brought him to its planet and restored his youth. TOS portrayed Cochrane as a relatively typical Star Trek character. Creator Gene Roddenberry had a very idealized vision of what humans were like in the future, and Cochrane embodied this, presenting as a handsome, chivalrous, intelligent, and mostly enlightened man similar to many of the characters from The Original Series.

The Zefram Cochrane that fans were reintroduced to in Star Trek: First Contact was a completely different story. The plot of First Contact revolved around Captain Picard and the rest of the crew from Star Trek: The Next Generation attempting to prevent a group of time-traveling Borg from stopping humanity’s first contact with the Vulcans following Cochrane’s first warp flight. While Picard and Cochrane’s assistant, Lily Sloane, tried and take back the Enterprise-E from the Borg, and Data was held hostage by the Borg Queen, the rest of the crew assisted Cochrane in repairing his warp ship and going through with the flight. However, James Cromwell’s version of Cochrane bore little resemblance to Glenn Corbett’s. First Contact’s Cochrane was a hard-drinking, eccentric recluse who, though brilliant, was entirely uninterested in being the one to make history until reluctantly coaxed into it. In short, he was a human being with his flaws completely on display.

These changes to the character might seem surprising, but the reason behind them makes a fair amount of sense. The producers of Star Trek: First Contact thought that if they were going to make Cochrane a main character in the film, they would have to flesh him out to give him a satisfying story arc. The choice not to portray Cochrane as a larger-than-life figure was a result of the producers’ interest in the idea that an ordinary man could give rise to something as extraordinary as Star Trek’s vision of the future. Cochrane’s humanity made him generally more likable and allowed the audience to identify with him over the course of the film. It also provided several instances of much-needed humor to First Contact, since the film’s other storylines occasionally verged into darker territory.

Keeping Cochrane’s characterization the same as it was in TOS would not have allowed the character to provide Star Trek: First Contact with the same sense of whimsy and humanity, and this would likely have hurt the film as a result. Instead, James Cromwell portrayed the role skillfully, and Cochrane’s inclusion in First Contact also gave the audience a chance to see a bit of Star Trek history that had never been shown before. While it may be hard to reconcile the two versions of him in canon, the decision to make Zefram Cochrane a more down-to-earth character was ultimately the right one for Star Trek: First Contact.

About The Author

Dana Hanson
(110 Articles Published)

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Dana Hanson is a trainer and freelance writer for Screen Rant, covering stories about Star Trek for the Movie/TV feature writing team. She attended Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, graduating in 2019 with a degree in Media Arts production and a concentration in Writing for TV and film. She has previous experience working with an online and print publication as a freelance editor and has been passionate about both writing and Star Trek for years. She currently lives in Pennsylvania.

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