Fails the Bechdel test
Star Trek: First Contact
1996. Directed by Jonathan Frakes, written by Gene Roddenberry and Rick Berman and Brannon Braga.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
In the twenty-fourth century, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E has been ordered to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone by the Federation to avoid interference with their battle against the insidious Borg. Witnessing the loss of the battle, Captain Jean-Luc Picard ignores orders and takes command of the fleet engaging the Borg. But the Borg plan to travel back into the twenty-first century through a vortex with the intention to stop Earth's first contact with an alien race (the Vulcans). Following the Borg sphere, Picard and his crew realize that they have taken over the Enterprise in order to carry out their mission. Their only chance to do away with the Borg and their seductive Queen is to make sure that Zefram Cochrane makes his famous faster-than-light travel to the stars.
- Released
- 22 Nov 1996
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Drama
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 70 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 1 Oscar. 8 wins & 21 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Picard 198 lines, man
- Data 69 lines, man
- Worf 61 lines, man
- Geordi 58 lines, man
- Riker 56 lines, man
- Ruby 47 lines, woman
- Beverly 38 lines, woman
- Borg Queen 36 lines, woman
- Troi 31 lines, woman
- Scrimm 26 lines, man
Full cast, 31 people
- Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard
- Jonathan Frakes as Commander William T. Riker
- Brent Spiner as Lieutenant Commander Data
- LeVar Burton as Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
- Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Commander Worf
- Gates McFadden as Commander Beverly Crusher
- Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
- James Cromwell as Dr. Zefram Cochrane
- Alfre Woodard as Lily Sloane
- Alice Krige as Borg Queen
- Neal McDonough as Lieutenant Hawk
- Dwight Schultz as Lieutenant Barclay
- Cameron Oppenheimer as Ensign Kellogg
- Robert Picardo as Enterprise EMH
- Adam Scott as Defiant Con Officer
- Ray Uhler as Holodeck Nightclub Dancer (uncredited)
- Eric Steinberg as Porter
- Joey Anaya as Borg (uncredited)
- Don Stark as Nicky the nose
- Patti Yasutake as Nurse Ogawa
- Jack Shearer as Admiral Hayes
- Michael Horton as Security Officer
- Michael Zaslow as Eddie (uncredited)
- Ethan Phillips as Holodock Nightclub Maitre d' (uncredited)
- Majel Barrett as Computer (voice)
- Cully Fredricksen as Vulcan Captain (uncredited)
- Louis Ortiz as Vulcan Officer / Borg (uncredited)
- Michael Braveheart as Crewman Martinez (uncredited)
- Sylvester Foster as Enterprise-E Security Officer (uncredited)
- Tracee Cocco as Jae (uncredited)
- Hillary Hayes as Ruby
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 7% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 175
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 5 |
| 9 to 12 | 1 | 11 |
| 13 to 16 | 0 | 8 |
| 17 to 20 | 0 | 12 |
| 21 to 24 | 4 | 21 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 13 |
| 29 to 32 | 2 | 22 |
| 33 to 36 | 13 | 10 |
| 37 to 40 | 1 | 21 |
| 41 to 44 | 11 | 23 |
| 45 to 48 | 5 | 8 |
| 49 to 52 | 8 | 5 |
| 53 to 56 | 8 | 39 |
| 57 to 60 | 0 | 2 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 13 |
| 65 to 68 | 8 | 19 |
| 69 to 72 | 14 | 17 |
| 73 to 76 | 10 | 11 |
| 77 to 80 | 0 | 1 |
| 81 to 84 | 7 | 5 |
| 85 to 88 | 16 | 32 |
| 89 to 92 | 8 | 27 |
| 93 to 96 | 9 | 14 |
| 97 to 100 | 0 | 17 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 5 |
| 105 to 108 | 4 | 4 |
| 109 to 112 | 1 | 9 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 4 |
| 117 to 120 | 2 | 13 |
| 121 to 124 | 1 | 0 |
| 125 to 128 | 1 | 0 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 0 |
| 133 to 136 | 0 | 6 |
| 137 to 140 | 8 | 9 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 6 |
| 145 to 148 | 4 | 15 |
| 149 to 152 | 4 | 8 |
| 153 to 156 | 1 | 4 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 0 |
| 161 to 164 | 1 | 3 |
| 165 to 168 | 7 | 22 |
| 169 to 172 | 1 | 15 |
| 173 to 175 | 0 | 12 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 25 are women's.
163 lines from women, 493 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
9 women and 22 men in the cast. 5 women and 12 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 708.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 63 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 27% of the words (1,710), men 73% (4,676). Women have 25% of the lines, so their lines run longer than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
1
Two men
72
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 17 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 13% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Jonathan Frakes (man)
- Written by
- Brannon Braga (man), Ronald D. Moore (man)
- Story by
- Ronald D. Moore (man), Brannon Braga (man), Rick Berman (man)
- Produced by
- Peter Lauritson (man), Rick Berman (man)
- Shot by
- Matthew F. Leonetti (man)
- Edited by
- John W. Wheeler (man), Anastasia Emmons (gender not listed)
- Music by
- Jerry Goldsmith (man)
- Production design by
- Herman F. Zimmerman (man)
- Costumes by
- Deborah Everton (woman), Robert Blackman (man)
- Cast by
- Ron Surma (man), Junie Lowry-Johnson (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 46 men, 11 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 27 men, 12 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 10 men, 22 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 8 men, 15 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 6 men, 10 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 4 men, 7 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Editing
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 44 on average. Men: 48 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Marina Sirtis 41, Alice Krige 42, Alfre Woodard 44, Gates McFadden 47
Men
LeVar Burton 39, Michael Dorn 43, Jonathan Frakes 44, Brent Spiner 47, Patrick Stewart 56, James Cromwell 56
Exhibit G: the money
It made 3.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $46 million
- Box office
- $146 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 175 scenes and 708 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
