Star Trek: First Contact is often regarded as the best Star Trek: The Next Generation movie, and it also has two surprising Star Trek: Voyager cameos. Crossovers between the 24th-century Star Trek shows were common, since Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager all took place at the same time in the Star Trek timeline, and progressed in real time. For seven years, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and the crew of the USS Voyager were lost in the Delta Quadrant, making crossovers with other Star Trek shows difficult, but not impossible.
One 90s-era Star Trek crossover with Star Trek: Voyager was possible because Voyager's Doctor (Robert Picardo) was an Emergency Medical Hologram who could be transmitted back to the Alpha Quadrant to interact with Star Trek: The Next Generation's Lieutenant Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz). Robert Picardo also played the Doctor's creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, not just in Star Trek: Voyager, but also in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Zimmerman visited DS9 to scan Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) for a new version of the EMH, since the EMH with Zimmerman's face had been a successful feature on Starfleet's new ships.
Voyager's Robert Picardo And Ethan Phillips Are In Star Trek: First Contact
In Star Trek: First Contact, Robert Picardo plays the USS Enterprise-E's version of the Emergency Medical Hologram, and Neelix actor Ethan Phillips has a cameo playing a completely different character. Picardo's cameo is easy to spot since the EMH on the Enterprise-E is essentially the same as the USS Voyager's EMH at the start of Star Trek: Voyager, just in a new gray-shouldered First Contact uniform. The Enterprise's EMH is a blank slate hologram designed to assist in medical emergencies, so he's woefully unequipped to carry out Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden)'s order to distract the Borg.
As the TNG cast's first solo outing, 1996's Star Trek: First Contact famously featured the debut of the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), who would go on to become one of Janeway's major enemies in the later seasons of Star Trek: Voyager. Krige split royal Borg duties with Susanna Thompson, who played the Borg Queen on Voyager .
Ethan Phillips cameos in Star Trek: First Contact as the nightclub maître d' in Captain Jean-Luc Picard's (Patrick Stewart) Dixon Hill holodeck program. Picard and Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard) use the holodeck as another distraction to stop the Borg on the USS Enterprise-E. Without Neelix's Talaxian makeup, the actor is trickier to spot, but Phillips' voice is unmistakable in his brief moment. The uncredited role in First Contact is the only time Phillips appears in Star Trek with his own face since Ethan Phillips' other Star Trek roles are Ferengi in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Enterprise.
Both Picardo And Phillips Asked To Be In First Contact, But In Different Ways
Star Trek: Voyager's Robert Picardo and Ethan Phillips both appeared in Star Trek: First Contact because they asked to be part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation movie. The EMH was in Star Trek: First Contact thanks to Picardo's not-so-subtle hinting. Picardo left a trail of "breadcrumbs" by explaining to Star Trek executive producer Rick Berman and First Contact's writers, Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, that it would make sense for the newest Starship Enterprise to have more advanced technology than the USS Voyager. As a result, the USS Enterprise-E had its own Emergency Medical Hologram.
Ethan Phillips asked for his Star Trek: First Contact cameo more directly than Picardo's "breadcrumb" strategy. Phillips pointed out to Star Trek executive producer Rick Berman that "nobody knows what the heck I look like" underneath the Neelix makeup, so Phillips could audition for the holodeck maître d' role despite being a series regular in Star Trek: Voyager. Phillips' uncredited First Contact role was also his idea since it would make his cameo harder to confirm. The two Star Trek: Voyager cameos in Star Trek: First Contact bring the connection between Star Trek: The Next Generation and Voyager full circle.
