{"id":6173,"date":"2015-09-10T05:41:18","date_gmt":"2015-09-10T05:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/41-The-Best-of-Both-Worlds-Part-II"},"modified":"2015-09-10T05:41:18","modified_gmt":"2015-09-10T05:41:18","slug":"41-the-best-of-both-worlds-part-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/10\/41-the-best-of-both-worlds-part-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"4.1 — \u201cThe Best of Both Worlds: Part II\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

4.1 — \u201cThe Best of Both Worlds: Part II\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plot:<\/strong> Resuming the cliffhanger from last season, Riker leads Enterprise in its standoff against the Borg Cube. The Borg are led by an assimilated Picard, as Locutus. Time is running out, because the Cube\u2019s next chosen target for assimilation is planet Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thoughts:<\/strong> And we\u2019re back! It doesn\u2019t seem like it, but relatively little has been established about the Borg at this point. The catchphrase \u201cYou will be assimilated\u201d debuts in this episode (\u201cResistance is futile\u201d premiered in Part I). You still feel like you know everything you need to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We get a little piece of the Borg’s motivation\/philosophy in this snippet of conversation between Locutus and Worf: \u201cWe only wish to raise the quality of life for all species.\u201d \u201cYou will be obsolete in the new order.\u201d Collective consciousness leads to interdependence, an Achilles\u2019 heel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I don\u2019t know if I buy the last bit. I thought the point of the Borg drones is that they are all expendable due to key knowledge and skills being collectivized. I can buy reversing the connection which the Borg is using to control Picard to upload disruptive commands. The lack of single agency could render the Borg vulnerable to this sort of decpetion, since no individual holds authority or veto. Not, at least, until the Borg Queen is retconned onto the scene (a development I expect to not support, but one that is still six years in Trek’s future).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The choice of Majel Barrett to do the voiceover at the beginning is interesting. Which character is she representing? I would have picked Troi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s a very fine shot of Picard\u2019s head with the single tear. I expect we will see that again fairly often.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While I enjoy this episode in general, I do not enjoy the back and forth between Riker and Shelby. It seems the whole crew disapproves of Riker’s decision to appoint her to first officer. Too bad she doesn\u2019t get anything important to do for the rest of the episode. \u00a0I don\u2019t know if Riker has what it takes to be captain, but the awkwardness of the briefing scene convinces me that Jonathan Frakes doesn\u2019t have what it takes to play the captain every week on television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That\u2019s a big tease about Picard\u2019s relationship with Guinan! I guess we will just have to wait for it to be paid off. And what<\/em> is she wearing? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Visits to Earth come infrequently in Star Trek. The only others I recall were in TOS: \u201cTomorrow is Yesterday,\u201d \u201cThe City on the Edge of Forever,\u201d and \u201cDestination: Earth.\u201d It would be nice to get more of a sense of what Earth means to this crew. I feel like they did more of this in Babylon 5. (Edit:<\/strong> this flaw will be remedied next episode.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ship\u2019s repairs are happening at Station McKinley. Don\u2019t they mean Denali?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I\u2019m going to assume that the Cube chose to self destruct, or was destroyed remotely to prevent its capture, because otherwise the big kaboom doesn\u2019t make much sense. A solid episode, however. What did you think?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4 of 5 ships lost at Wolf 359.<\/p>\n\n\n

http:\/\/en.memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/The_Best_of_Both_Worlds,_Part_II_(episode)<\/a>