Picard wasn't an idiot. The reason they defeated the Borg was because Riker played a whole new game. It was one of unexpected surprises rather than intelligence. The Borg knew Picard, but not Riker. That was the trick.
The Borg are stupid, Picard had that information in his brain thanks to the combat simulation in season 2, knowing that Riker was after unconventional tactics. The problem is the Borg can"t engage nonconventional tactics without being defeated once by them. So any non conventional tactic can be used once against them but you have to change or they'll adapt.
They had Picards knowledge but not his intuition. They knew basic reference tactic rules of Star Fleet standards and that's what Riker used to trick them.
@dark zeratul They are stupid as Wikipedia is stupid. They have all knowledge but they lack human intuition and creativity to adapt to new situations without having had them once. Remember, that they never developed anything themself, all abilities they have was assimilated from species they assimilated. They can't think creative and "out of the boundaries" and go unconventional ways. In AI you'd implement a Borg like a binary tree of known solutions and expectations, every defeat would add a new node to the tree and they would select a strategy along these tree paths according to best chance of winning. But if something is not in that tree/has no path to a node, they can't handle it. Also remember, that the Borg Queen, the only borg who would be able to do human intelligent things and develop a creative tactic, didn't exist in the canon when this episode was shot. Although claimed to be present at this time later in the canon, she didn't exist in the script there. The Borg without the queen where a totally different Borg, more like an artificial swarm intelligence than a collective controlled by a mastermind.
Funny thing about this is that if they really delved in Picard's brain, they would have known that their first course of action after assimilating him should have been to assimilate Riker. You can even imagine the train of thought: Riker is unconventional --> unconventional is bad for us --> we should assimilate Riker so he won't come with something bad for us.
I always thought that it would be a great idea to have Riker go off on his own command but have a certian number os episodes per season within TNG dedicated to his own adventures and then occaisonally have them link up for some major 3 episode arc or something. And potentially a merged TNG/DS9 with a similar idea.
Don't tell the idiot who fired him. Ron Jones's music was "too noticeable," said Rick Berman. Think of some of the episodes where music helped set the tone of the critical scenes: "Q Who" "Booby Trap" "The Defector" "Data's Day" "Night Terrors" "Reunion" Ron Jones was involved in all of those. About the only one I can think of with great music that doesn't involve Jones is "Yesterday's Enterprise," which was by Dennis McCarthy. He did plenty of good work, but I don't recall the music in most of his episodes. Rick Berman might say that's great, because the story should do the work, but the right music can really elevate a scene and make it memorable. The first appearance of the Promellian battle cruiser in "Booby Trap" is a beautiful moment, and the music sells it perfectly.
I know it's nothing special, but that whole shuttle craft departure scene with Data and Worf, where you see them fly out of the hangar bay and pass the ventral side of the ship, still seems so cool to me even now.
900 years in the future, historians review this moment. They find that the transporter shouldn't have worked. With period Federation technology, in 100 out of 100 simulations run, the Borg destroy the shuttlecraft before the team is transported off. Chief O'Brien should not have been able to do what he did. Intrigued, historians conduct further review of Miles O'Brien's life. It is found he saved the Federation by himself on no fewer than 14 occasions, and the officers he taught in the academy another 22. No single man was more responsible for the Federation's success. A certain Ambassador Spock comes in a distant second place with 7 and 12.
Upon further evaluation by peer review, it is found that the historical documents supporting these claims were in fact based entirely on fan fiction. Yes, DS9 is nothing more than high quality self indulgent fan fictiob
Of course it did. They adapted. All the best procedures the Federation knew, whenever they were better than the Borg's current, got put into use. That's what it means that your technological sophistication shall be added to our own.
The Borg were always clean and organized on "TNG" before assimilation. That whole thing of them being garbage-looking ships with a vomit-causing green glow started with "First Contact" and expanded with "Voyager."
@@robjackson5245 But the Borg Drone design in first contact and Voyager was leagues better. Those drones put the fear of assimilation with those tubials in me. This earlier drone design made me cringe hard. And we don't talk about the queen here. That was a mistake in every way
You are right. Borg aren't able to assimilate the skill set of an individual, only his/her/its knowledge. This fact was made clear in STVOY: Scorpion Part 1. The crew of Voyager was able to set a deal with the Borg because Borg even after assimilating so many species couldn't think of dealing with a completely new one. They will develop a way to control omega particles, they will destroy fleets and assimilate worlds and make hue ships, but they can't knock out a new species unless they assimilate it. It's sort of like "For his hands can't hit what his eyes can't see!" thing with the Borg.
True, but the Borg (Locutus included) hadn't anticipated the antimatter spread being able to disrupt their electromagnetic field to allow Data & Worf to maneuver close enough to infiltrate the Cube and steal Locutus (Picard) from them, and then escape. As it was, Data only got the drop on Locutus at the last second, just when he nearly overpowered Worf. I'd say a fraction of a second longer, and Worf would have been on his way to becoming a Borg drone.
In this one scene Riker proved himself an outstanding tactician. As a Strategist he proved himself brilliant. But on the level of Grand Strategy he showed himself Unsurpassable.
One of my favorite things about the scene is when data and warf are in the shuttle. I love being able to look through the windows of the shuttle and see the battle going on in the background. It is so nice to see that POV. It really makes you feel like you’re right there in the shuttle with them.
I like the scene in another episode when Geordi is on a shuttle playing a game with the computer while on the viewscreen behind him you see a Romulan Warbird decloak.
@@huskyfaninmass1042 That’s the one where they brain worse him so he’ll shoot the cleaning on ambassador. Then plant all of the fake memories of being on the planet on his vacation. I don’t remember the name of it.
0:33 One of the few times Geordi appears in "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II". LeVar Burton had injured himself round the time the episode was filmed and was in hospital having surgery. Then when he came back, most of the episode was completed. Hence why he only has less screen time and mostly appears sitting down. And also why O'Brien's the one working with Data, Beverly and Troi to restore Picard.
Worf was all, I got this, it is only Captain Picard, without accounting for the added strength from BORG enhancements, then after realizing he was outmatched, he called out to Data, for help.
That's bogus, Worf had already encountered the borg before and was well aware of their superior strength, he did the brave thing by charging Picard to try and restrain him until Data could help. He wasn't being stupid, he knew he had backup. If anything you should be impressed he was physically able to hold Picard off as long as he did.
Not really. The smart move would have been to beam a high explosive weapon on board with Data and Worf. Maybe grab picard and then set it off or just blow the whole cube to bits and save thousands of lives instead of one.
@@MrBottlecapBill The Borg Cube was a lot more powerful than a Probe ship. It would've immediately detected it and beamed it off. Plus they didn't have anything powerful enough to do that kind of damage to something as massive as a Borg Cube. Voyager pulled it off because that Probe ship was a lot smaller and weaker.
Given that one Borg cube managed to destroy almost 40 Federation starship at the battle of Wolf 359, a separated Enterprise D was fortunate to withstand this confrontation and then escape, only losing on shuttle craft. Great sequence 🎥👏🏾❤
I really loved this two part episode! When I saw it back in 1990 I remember how shocking it was to me to see Picard assimilated so easily. Couldn't have imagined it happening to Kirk in TOS. One thing about the second part that stood out to me was how it was a total team effort to rescue Picard and defeat the Borg. Obviously Data is the Starfleet MVP of this incident!
Worf and Data are the only two crew members with the raw strength to fight Borg hand to hand. Data has been known to carry a 400 LB anvil around like an empty briefcase. While Worf maybe the Walmart brand of Klingon, his strength still far exceeds that of humans.
@@Letyourcolorsblendwithmine No evidence that Klingon's have superior strength vs humans. Sure, they are generally much taller than an average human giving the advantage in that way, but that doesn't mean they are physiologically stronger. Compare that to Vulcans where we know they are in fact several times stronger and faster, i.e. able to deliver acceleration of movement in blows for greater force impact. In fact, we saw Sisko routinely able to beat up random Klingon warriors left and right, but he admitted he had no chance against a Vulcan.
The best episode was the one after this one, where Picard takes leave and returns home to France to see his brother and nephew, and where he deals with the psychological aftermath of his assimilation.
What i like is how this shows the difference between captain picard and riker as leaders... picard is an expert at diplomacy. Riker on the other hand is very cunning. When pushed his ideas are extremely detailed and in dept. Hes super focused.. sort of like janeway in a way
1:34 I don’t know why, but seeing Worf and Data executing a critical part of the mission in a shuttle craft (instead of teleporting over there) excited me. I think it’s maybe because they’re both very capable combatants and seeing them do something with some complexity and danger was a thrill. Also the music at 1:44.
@@VDAM1984 Like he said later to Captain Picard, "I always figured I'd have a shot at this chair." (Leans over the captain's chair in the bridge of the destroyed Enterprise-D) Captain Picard: "Perhaps someday you still will. Somehow I doubt that this will be the last ship named Enterprise."
Riker,often ridiculed in the Trekverse showed how badass he actually is during this story arc.Even in this clip he seems to know what the Borg are going to do before they do it.
I get the feeling that even when assimilated, Picard was still resisting in any way he could. Yes, River was unconventional in his tactics, but the Borg would have realised what he was doing if they had the full access to his thoughts and experience. To me, Locutas was a separate entity inside Picard that had the negative traits of humanity - ego, overblown confidence, all the things that the Borg thought were irrelevant or were against. That makes more sense when you consider Hugh later in the series. In short, Locutas and the Borg were ineffective because Picard still resisted in any small way he could, perhaps locking some of the knowledge and experience in his mind. He was highly evolved in human terms which was why Q was so fascinated by him over all the other crew members.
the thing is, what riker did was counter intuitive. when a person, or group, or culture, or planet, or star system was assimilated by the Borg, all hope was lost. the Borg were accustomed to this, and had no expectation that star fleet would behave any differently. the collective was wrong. loyalty, unknown to the Borg, is a strong trait in star fleet. also innovative and adaptable, star fleet officers and crew, much like the Marine corps, improvise, adapt and overcome. granted, it's fiction, but still a valuable lesson. no one gets left behind. moreover, locutus had essential intel that enabled the enterprise to disable the Borg cube, leading to its destruction. eventually, the information gained from removing the Borg implants and nanites from Picard aided in the liberation of 7 of 9, among others. is it plausible? hell, no! the whole goddamn thing is implausible! it's fiction, people! but it's still a cracking good story with some object lessons tossed in for good measure. I like it.:)
Les Sanders Cell phones are the direct result of kids who grew up watching the original Star Trek being inspired by the sci-fi tech and growing up to be scientists and inventors who greatly enhanced our world. Many other examples exist. Tell me again how imaginative thought is unimportant.
When real aliens and robots come, everything turns out to be fantasy Robo-aliens: resistance is futile Humans: but loyalty, innovation and adaptability an- and Hope! Robo-aliens: All is irrelevant, prepare to be assimilated. Seriously, we've never faced against neither robots or aliens and create television series like independence day to talk about our fantasies with final minute plots. We only ever faced against other humans.
Always thought this two-part episode was great and more accomplished than the TNG actual movies. Drama, suspense, and emotionally charged. This and Yesterday's Enterprise were faves.
Yeah the Best of Both Worlds is the best "movie" TNG ever got. The finale of TNG is also one of the best show finales ever made it wrapped up the series nicely. Finales are often let downs and it was not.
Yesterday's Enterprise was a modified script. It was supposed to be the Generations movie, and involve the complete TOS and TNG crews, but it ended up being modified and turned into a TV episode. I've seen this explained in more than one article but can't think of any link at the moment.
This is one of my favorite sequences in ST:TNG. The characters I usually like the least are the playboys like Riker, but Jonathan Frakes plays the character and his complexities so well--he's intelligent, resourceful, commanding, charming, and knows how to throw out the playbook and make a new one. This two-parter is Riker's story more than anyone else's and it's the best episode in the series.
My man, Pat. Mista don't play. Good eyes and ears. Especially for the non eighties babies, nineties kids. You need thug life 😎 for that one fellow old head.
Go, plucked turkey! Go! I can remember how amazing it was to watch saucer separation for the first time. I'm glad they did it sparingly throughout TNG series. Though there were times I was like "come on! Do saucer separation!" during encounters as well lol. Now it's kinda cheesy but iconic
@@zt1053 Of course Kira was a very strong character, would have been interesting to see those two interact. I guess I like conflict between characters. I mean I remember the animosity between Odo and Worf.
Eh, I think one and done was ok for Shelby, although one more appearance before All Good Things would have been nice, just to see where she ended up. Not sure where she would have fit on DS9.
I liked the Battle Bridge set. such a shame they didn't use it more. I know separating the ship was expensive to shoot, but they could have done an episode where the main Bridge had to be evacuated or was hijacked and Enterprise crew members took over from the Battle Bridge
Separating the ship wasn't expensive. All the way up to Generations they reused footage of the separation that ILM did for Encounter at Farpoint. That shot of the ship separating was used in Encounter at Farpoint, The Arsenal of Freedom, BoBW Pt2 and Star Trek Generations. The new shots of the individual modules they filmed for this episode was likely expensive but they could have separated the ship more times and only used stock footage. The battle bridge is actually seen in just about every episode of TNG. They redressed it and used it as the court room, various labratories, and dozens of other purposes. It was originally the bridge of the refit Enterprise from The Motion Picture.
Why does it feel like the Borg invasion of whatever quadrant and the battle at Wolf 3 is the biggest highlight of my life? The saucer separation is diabolical. From the time Picard sends a message home - "We have engaged the Borg", its nothing but pure exhilaration!
Thing is...they are capable of that. DS9's flashback showed them blowing apart multiple ships simultaneously. They only bothered firing at the Battle Section because they didn't realize the Saucer was a threat until it was too late and the anti-matter spread screwed up their targeting capability.
Funny how they were that time, yet Wolf 359 lost nearly almost 40 ships, that attacked the Borg...yes I know they didn't do the "swarm" maneuver, like at Sector 001, but the attacking ships still fired at the Borg nearly at the same time...yet the Borg won the Wolf 359 battle.
And yet, They were at the time of this episode, because there wasso much unknown about them except that they would always adapt and wanted to assimilate the Earth. You could slow them down but hey would get you eventually - so yes, terrifying. Then they introduced the queen and captain janeway outsmarted them again and again. They made the borg boring after this
The next generation is a very good movie and I am a science fiction fan and I have watched this movie often on Netflix without commercials with sir Patrick Stewart he is my favorite best actor of all time.
