The Best of Both Worlds

ST:TNG:74 - "The Best Of Both Worlds, Part I" (Stardate: 43989.1) - this is the 26th and last episode of the 3rd season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

The Borg are back! The last time they were encountered was 7000 light years away in the 2nd season episode "Q Who?", with Starfleet thinking they'd have more time to prepare. Regardless, the Enterprise goes to intercept - with Elizabeth Dennehy as Commander Shelby. She has more than the Borg on her mind, wanting to replace Riker who has been offered command of the Melbourne. As tensions mount between Riker and Shelby, Picard is captured by the Borg!

Watch this part I of an exciting two part episode. You won't be disappointed.

Trivia note: Riker is offered his 3rd chance of commanding a starship. Also, we see the poker game again (this time Wesley joins in on the fun). And Whoopi Goldberg makes another appearance as Guinan.

Talk about sending off your third season in a blaze of glory. The Borg is easily TNG's greatest enemy (to say nothing of its imaginative conception), and "The Best of Both Worlds' brings them to the forefront, wiping out colonies and attacking the Federation. But it opens with Riker's inner turmoil over accepting a captaincy and leaving the finest ship in the fleet. Meanwhile, Shelby's creating tension by assuming his role and subtly edging him out. This is great character drama.

Once the Borg make their move, it's all action, and it lays the groundwork for this crew's best movie ("First Contact"). It takes nerve to throw your captain to the hands of the enemy and then scrawl "To Be Continued".

Outstanding television.

10/10

I could write such a long review of this but after reading the others, I just echo the repeated sentiments that this is truly some great TV! I remember being gutted that it was the end of the series and we, here in Ireland, had to wait months to see the 2nd part - but it was so worth it.

Patrick Stewart is fantastic and the story is gripping. I still remember the shock of what happens when I saw it that very first time....

I feel if I write any more, I will only start to drop spoilers without realizing it. I always loved the episodes with the Borg, and if you haven't see this, watch it. Resistance is Futile!

The first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation ranged (in quality) from dreadful to uneven. There were some good stories being told and the characters were progressing somewhat, but nowhere near on a consistent basis. Fortunately, this Third Season is where Next Generation establishes itself as a very quality product.

Perhaps the biggest difference in this season is that there is a noticeable decrease in "clunker" episodes, as there really aren't any eps that are truly atrocious (a fairly common occurrence in the previous campaigns). Clearly, the writing was improved.

Another thing I liked about this season was that the stories were so varied. From single-arc mysteries to Data (Brent Spiner) creating offspring to over-arcing Roman plots, Season Three had a little bit of everything in a very nice mix. Of course, the return of the Borg at the end of the season may be the highlight, as Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) faces his greatest challenge yet. Basically, some great diverse storytelling and pacing.

I'm not going to summarize or review specific episodes here, but suffice it to say that Season Three is when Next Generation really makes the leap from "not sure this is ever going to come around" to "this is quality television". I hate to point fingers or cast aspersions, but the common rhetoric for this change is that Gene Roddenberry was less involved in the scripts by this time. While Roddenberry was a great world-builder (not unlike George Lucas of Star Wars fame), his week-to-week scripts or ideas tended to be rather pompous or high-minded. They either really worked or crashed-and-burned magnificently. So, while the decline of Roddenberry was obviously something that no one in the Trek universe wanted to see happen, it may have unintentionally allowed the show's writers to "loosen the bonds" a bit, working out for the better.

Bottom Line: If you can hold out until this Third Season, you'll become hooked on Next Generation, as this is when the character development and stories finally entertain on an almost every-episode basis. My exact star rating would be 4.5.

Now that is how you do a To Be Continued! Wow! This is an amazing cliff hanger, even though I have already seen it, it still hits hard. This episode is kind of a slow build, most of the first half is about setting the stage, but things really get exciting in the second half, and by the climax I was on the edge of my seat. All of the characters are great in this, but, I think I'd say Riker is the MVP. When the pressure is on he shows that he would make a great Captain in his own right. They don't make tv shows like this any more. The Borg are terrifying villains. I love it.