Best of Both Worlds

Written by Michael Piller

Directed by Cliff Bole

The remains of a planet after a Borg visit

After meeting the Borg in the second season ("Q Who") the Enterprise D faces a rematch - this time with the Borg wishing to assimilate sector 001 - Earth!

Borg ship firingInterior of Borg ship

This was the first two-part episode of TNG (not counting "Encounter at Farpoint" which was intended to be one 90 minute episode), and the first of the season cliffhangers which TNG and the other Star Trek shows which followed always try to end on.

The Enterprise firing upon Borg shipBorg ship holds Enterprise in tractor beamData works on a way to access the Borg consciousness

The reason why it is my favourite is due to several reasons:

- the Borg are a relentless race whose culture is to assimilate other races and incorporate their knowledge to their collecive.

- Starfleet had NOTHING to stand up to this race, even though they had a year to prepare! In the battle at Wolf 359 many of Starfleet's best ships were destroyed and if the Enterprise D had been there it would have been destroyed also

- the desperation that comes across Riker as he faces the Borg ship in Earth's solar system. As a last ditch attempt he orders the ship to go to warp in the way of the Borg cube so it can be stopped - sacrificing himself (and everyone else on board). If not for Data and Picard's link to the collective...

That's an awfully big needleA tear?Locutus

- the dehumanisation of Picard. Quite simply Picard is taken away from the safety of his Bridge and assimilated into the Borg Collective (the scene in part 2 where you see the drill enter Picard's head and a single tear runs down his face was powerful). I consider the following story "Family" to be the third part of "Both of Best Worlds" as Picard tries to come to terms with what had been done to him.

Other episodes which I really enjoyed included:

Measure of a Man

Sarek

Brothers

Rascals

All Good Things

What's my favourite Star Trek original series episode? Click here.

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Many of the images on this page have been taken from Star Trek In Sound & Vision - an excellent site containing many pictures and sound files

All pictures, sounds on this page (c) Paramount Pictures