Star Trek Fans Can Watch First Contact With Jonathan Frakes Tonight

With all of us stuck at home during quarantine, watchalong parties have become the internet’s favorite way of passing the time, as fans and stars alike replay their favorite movies and share their thoughts on social media. And here’s one that Star Trek fans will want to get involved with.

IGN has organized a rewatch of Star Trek: First Contact for this very afternoon (Wednesday, April 29th), with actor/director Jonathan Frakes on hand for a live Q&A. Frakes made the announcement a couple of days ago on his Twitter, but if you’re just hearing about it now, you’d better be ready to watch at 5PM PST.

You can catch Frakes’ livestream on IGN.com or the IGN and CineFix YouTube channels. You’ll have to sort out how you’re going to watch the actual movie yourself, though. So have your physical or digital copy at the ready, or else find it via streaming. CBS All Access should have you covered there.

https://twitter.com/jonathansfrakes/status/1254882771677310976

Released in 1996, First Contact was the second Trek movie featuring the Next Generation cast. Frakes had directed multiple episodes of TNG, Deep Space Nine and Voyager before, but this was his first feature credit. It was a strong start to his career, too, as fans widely agree that this is one of the best Trek films of the lot. In fact, First Contact Day has become something of a Trekkie holiday. On April 5th earlier this month, for instance, fans celebrated the day while in quarantine.

Of course, Frakes has continued directing Star Trek, helming a bunch of episodes of Discovery as well as for Picard. He also returned to the role of Riker for the first time in 15 years for the latter show’s first season. He’s promised more TNG stars will be included in season 2 as well. Likewise, expect more directorial efforts from Frakes in Discovery season 3, which will mark a “big tonal shift” for the show.