Zefram Cochrane
Zefram Cochrane is a male television character who features in Star Trek.
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Biography
Zefram Cochrane
He lived when Earth had been devastated by World War III where one of the aggressors was a faction known as ECON. (Movie: Star Trek: First Contact)
During the 2060s, Cochrane and his team of engineers began developing the warp drive. (Movie: Star Trek: First Contact)
Cochrane's primary motivation at the time for commencing warp technology was financial gain in the devastated, poverty-stricken America that existed in the wake of the Third World War. He finally built Earth's first warp ship, the Phoenix, in the hope its success would prove profitable and allow him to retire to a tropical island filled with naked women. A historical irony was that, contrary to the fact he went on to use the Phoenix to inaugurate an era of peace, Cochrane incorporated a weapon of mass destruction into its design; he constructed the Phoenix in a silo on a missile complex and used a Titan II missile as his launch vehicle. (Movie: Star Trek: First Contact)
By 4 April 2063, Doctor Cochrane had made plans to pilot the Phoenix on a test warp flight that was scheduled to launch the next morning. That night, he was witness to an attack from a Borg sphere that fired on the missile complex from above; Borg photon torpedoes exploded extremely close to him, as he desperately struggled to escape. Cochrane was thereafter sought by the crew of the Federation starship USS Enterprise-E, who had recently come back in time from the year 2373 to stop the Borg sphere from preventing first contact. He was temporarily considered by the Enterprise crew to have been killed in the Borg attack. By the time Dr. Cochrane was located by the Enterprise crew, he had abandoned hope for the continuation of the Phoenix, wishing that the prototype craft would "rest in peace." Cochrane was convinced to half-heartedly persist in his endeavors by the Enterprise-E crew, who treated him like a historical figure, which he was to them. When they confronted him with some particulars of his future image as herald of a better world, Cochrane refused to accept this new role. He initially attempted to literally flee from his destiny, pretending that his departure was merely temporary so he could urinate. He was subsequently pursued by a squad of officers and shot down with a phaser – which he thought of as a laser – set to a minimal power output and wielded by an impatient Commander Will Riker. (Movie: Star Trek: First Contact)
Cochrane then became more cooperative; by 10:00 a.m. on 5 April, he had mentally prepared himself to make history despite a distinctly uncomfortable hangover and had begun readying the Phoenix for liftoff, even though he still disputed the notion of being idolized. An hour later he was aboard the Phoenix as it launched, with Commander Riker and Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge accompanying him. Cochrane was not only instrumental in the flight of the Phoenix – at one point giving the instruction to activate warp drive with the command, 'Engage' – but was also amazed to view the Earth and the Enterprise-E from space and was shocked to experience the sensation of traveling at warp. He broke the warp barrier just after 11:00 a.m., enough to draw the attention of the T'Plana-Hath, a type of Vulcan survey ship which was passing near Earth. That evening, Cochrane was among many Human spectators who watched the Vulcan ship land in Bozeman, Montana, thereby making first contact with Humans and opening a new era for the whole of mankind. Finding difficulty in returning a Vulcan salute, he welcomed the arrival of the ship's Vulcan captain by engaging him in a handshake, for which Cochrane was thankful. (Movie: Star Trek: First Contact)
Overview
Personality and attributes
One of Cochrane's good friends was Lily Sloane, whom he had known since the Third World War who gave him the nickname "Z". (Movie: Star Trek: First Contact)
During their time working together, Cochrane would gift Henry Archer a special bottle of whiskey the day they broke ground at the Warp Five Complex. Archer would later give that bottle to his son Jonathan Archer. (ENT: These Are the Voyages...)
Powers and abilities
Notes
- Zefram Cochrane was created by writer Gene L. Coon where he made his first appearance in Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Metamorphosis" (1967) where he was portrayed by actor Glenn Corbett.
- The character was portrayed by actor James Cromwell in Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and he made a brief appearance in Star Trek: Enterprise pilot episode "Broken Bow" (2001).
In other media
Other
Appearances
- Star Trek: The Original Series:
- Star Trek: First Contact:
External Links
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