1996 SkyBox Star Trek: First Contact trading cards take a tallboy or widescreen approach to things. That is, it presents cards in an over-sized format intended to better convey what was seen on the screen. And let’s be honest, Topps was finding great success with the format for the Star Wars Widescreen sets at the time as well.
Although the change was inevitable, 1996 SkyBox Star Trek: First Contact is also the first set of Star Trek trading cards to have autographs.
The 60-card base set breaks down the film and its characters. The larger canvas allows for more imagery. Overall, cards are kept simple with a full-bleed front that only has the movie’s logo to go with the picture.
The big chase card in the product is its lone autograph — Brent Spiner who plays Lt. Commander Data in the film. He is also one of the classic characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Inserted 1:3,600 packs, it’s an extremely tough card to find. A total of 200 were made. Like the other cards in the set, it too is in the over-sized format. Although Spiner has signed many times since, this card holds a special place for both its status as an early autograph for the franchise and its extreme rarity.
1996 SkyBox Star Trek: First Contact has a few other insert sets as well. Ten Behind the Scenes cards are among the most common, landing 1:6 packs. Others include ten etched Character cards (1:9), Techno-Cell Borg (12 cards, 1:8), and Enterprise (six cards, 1:12). The set is rounded out with three Blueprint Posters. Inserted approximately one per box, they start as standard-sized cards but unfold to make posters.
1996 SkyBox Star Trek: First Contact Checklist
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Cards per pack: 9
Packs per box: 36
1996 SkyBox Star Trek: First Contact boxes on eBay.
Base Set
60 cards.
1 A Dedicated Vessel
2 The Nightmare
3 The Neutral Zone
4 U.S.S. Defiant, Off-Line
5 Borg Sphere
6 Unto the Breach
7 Zefram and Lily
8 Borg Meteor
9 Historic Date
10 21st Century Civilians
11 Lily Opens Fire
12 Lily Faints
13 The Phoenix
14 Heating Up
15 Sickbay Goes Dead
16 Please State the Nature..
17 Drinking With Zefram
18 The Hive
19 Firefight
20 Lieutenant Commander Data Captured
21 Assimilated
22 Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Lily
23 Borg Drones
24 Talk of the Future
25 View From the Stars
26 Borg Queen
27 Real Skin
28 Borgified Starship!
29 The Return of Dixon Hill
30 Nightclub Entrance
31 A Ruby Kiss
32 Borg in the Night
33 Missile Complex
34 Barclay meets a Legend
35 Reports of My Assimilation…
36 Lily Meets Lt. Commander Worf
37 Lost in the Woods
38 Suiting up for Zero G
39 Lieutenant Commander Data the Rebel
40 Pain and Pleasure
41 Interplexing Spires
42 Hull Fight
43 Deflector Separation
44 True Motives
45 Objection Noted
46 Lost Friend
47 Phoenix Launches
48 Databorg
49 Captain Jean-Luc Picard Faces the Queen
50 The Return of Locutus
51 Sacrifice
52 Target Phoenix
53 Phoenix Hits Warp
54 Hive Collapse
55 Close Encounter
56 First Contact!
57 Back on Duty
58 New Friends
59 U.S.S. Enterprise Crew
60 Checklist
Autographs
1 card, 1:3,600 packs.
200 signed.
Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data
Behind the Scenes
10 cards, 1:6 packs.
BS1 Jonathon Frakes the Director
BS2 Directing a Klingon
BS3 With Friends Like These…
BS4 On Location
BS5 Give That Borg a Hand!
BS6 Made for the Job
BS7 Fit for a Queen
BS8 It’s Easier in Space
BS9 Lt. Commander Data and the Borg Queen
BS10 A Man Amongst Borg
Blueprint Posters
3 cards, 1:36 packs.
S1 U.S.S. Enterprise
S2 Borg Cube
S3 Phoenix
Character Cards
10 cards, 1:9 packs.
C1 Captain Jean-Luc Picard
C2 Lieutenant Commander Data
C3 Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
C4 Commander William T. Riker
C5 Lieutenant Deanna Troi
C6 Dr. Beverly Crusher
C7 Lieutenant Commander Worf
C8 Lieutenant Hawk
C9 Zefram Cochrane
C10 Lily Sloane
Enterprise
6 cards, 1:12 packs.
E1 Bridge
E2 Main Engineering
E3 Ready Room
E4 Sickbay
E5 Evacuation Corridor
E6 Observation Lounge
Techno-Cell Borg Cards
12 cards, 1:8 packs.
B1 Star Trek: The Next Generation Borg
B2 Star Trek: First Contact Borg
B3 Locutus
B4 Klingon Borg
B5 Bolian Borg
B6 Cardassian Borg
B7 Borg Queen
B8 Borg Alcove
B9 Borgified Engineering
B10 Star Trek: First Contact Borg
B11 Star Trek: First Contact Borg
B12 Borg Symbol
