Star Trek: The Next Generation Reaction! - The Best of Both Worlds 

"Mr. Worf.... fire." And we had to wait the rest of the summer to find out what happened. lol.

One of the great things is, when they did the first spinoff series from TNG, Deep Space Nine, the commanding officer of DS9 was shown to be a survivor of the Battle of Wolf 359. So this two-parter here really has ramifications for the whole continuity moving forward.

One of the best cliffhangers in television history!

I'm a "STAR TREK"-fan for over 30 years now and I wish You could watch the whole series!

To fully understand how this affected Picard you need to watch the last 10 minutes of the next episode, Family, before you watch First Contact.

When this aired on TV originally, Riker says "Fire" then the episode ended. We had to wait 3 months to find out if Riker kills Picard or not.

The next episode is a connected story, not wishing to just ignore what had happened to Picard- episode is "Family"

Fun Fact for you, Primate: The actress who played Commander Shelby is Brian Dennehy's daughter

You should watch the next episode "Family". It deals with Picard's PTSD and guilt for having to participate as a borg in killing so many people.

Locutus: "You will become obsolete in the new order." Primate: "He ain't have to go roast my man Data like that, c'mon now." 😂😂😂

Riker realised he's in a TV show, that's why he's not leaving. He didn't want to be just another footnote: Yeah we lost USS Melbourne last week right after they got a new commander. Oh well..

I wish you could react to these more often.

*"we are the Borg resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. your biological and technological advances will be added into our own."*

This gives you all the basics of The Borg, so you understand the Star Trek movie First Contact. Though the next episode of the TV series explains why Picard looked out the window at the end and explains what exactly Picard meant when he said he remembers 'everything'.

This was one of the strongest episodes in TV scifi history, when we first saw the remains of the starfleet ships it was a big kick to the gutt as it was never seen on tv before. This is up there with "way of the warrior" from DS9 and "Identity" from The Orville.

Fuck it I'm paying the $8 to watch this and First Contact in their entirety LOL

The Locutus of Borg speech was my dad's computer's start-up sound. He still loves this series and watches it every now and then.

I’m so happy you’re watching some episodes from The Next Generation. It’s obviously a long show and a big commitment, so I understand why you can’t watch the whole thing, but it’s soooo good and I’m happy you’re getting to watch some great episodes.

The first episode of the next Star Trek Series, "Deep Space Nine", kicks off with a few Minutes of the Battle of Wolf 359. By the way, at one point you should watch DS9. Its my favourite ST-Series and it has a more serialized nature -especially in later seasons - making it very easy to binge.

Captain Janeway sorted out those Borg in Voyager for us.

First time I saw this episode it gave me chills

"Data was available, I took him, we came." Yeah, I saw that eye twitch. You were thinking it too.

The next episode, Family, has some amazing acting. It shows Picard dealing with his PTSD from this episode.

Actually Shelby is the typical badass career guy you always have on a tv show or a movie.

Been a Star Trek fan since I was a kid (my mom held a big torch for the original series in the 70s when it was in reruns). I really love this franchise, not really since the last few years, but the classics are really incredible.

One of the best episodes to check out, just as a fan, is “Yesterdays’ Enterprise.” Season 3 episode 15.

"Data saved the day. Without Data they would-ve been f*cked" - Yep. Pretty much summorized the entire TNG

Congratulations on 60,000 subscribers! 🖖

The episode after this explores the aftermath of the Borg incident, particularly how it effects Picard. It is a really great episode and while it isn't a necessary episode to watch, it features some great acting from Patrick Stewart. That episode also features Picard's family, who died during the 7th movie, as you know

Deep Space Nines Pilot Episode ties in to that episode :D

At 14:44 when Ryker said fire, part 1 ended there as a cliffhanger and we all had to wait a couple of months for it to continue.

People had to wait all summer for part two.

Did you notice at the start that was an Excelsior class ship next to the Enterprise. Should give you an idea of how big the Enterprise D was.

Congratulations on 60k bro . Well deserved

A really good episode to watch would be 'Yesterday's Enterprise' maybe best Picard speech ever.

Fun fact, Levar Burton was out for surgery when they filmed Part Two, so any scene with him was shot separately. That's why they have O'Brien standing in after they recover Picard. It was originally supposed to be Geordi helping Data hack Picard's brain.

Wolf 359...whenever I hear that now I get shivers. It was so tragic

I watched this when it aired in 1990. It's one of the top cliffhangers in TV history, right up there with "Who shot JR?" on Dallas.

"Pick-ard" ROFL, killin me LOL

Great episodes of TNG for reccomend- "Yesterday's Enterprise" "A Fistful of Datas" "The Offspring" "Unification I and II" "Relics" "Tapestry" Also I reccomend DS9 and Voyager as well.

Thanks, Primate! My friends and I went bonkers over this two-parter back in the day!!! 🌌

I'm isolating as a precaution for 10 days so I'm very happy that you've posted this today, it's really brightened up another boring day living and working home alone. Thanks dude, you are THE greatest Star Trek reactor there is and I mean that. You really get it and you comment on the right bits at the right moment, thank you so much for these videos. If you reacted to every Next Generation episode I would definitely join your Patreon, things are a little tight at the moment but I appreciate these videos massively. xx

There's no possible way this episode has the same impact to someone who hasn't watched the show and wasn't familiar with the characters. I understand people like to recommend their favorite episodes of their favorite TV shows, but I don't know if they realize that those episodes aren't nearly as impactful when watched without context.

Just re-watched this Friday with wifey, still one of the best. SLEEP!

One thing that you'd kinda skipped over was the aftermath of "The Battle Of Wolf 359" one of the ships that was destroyed in that battle was the USS Melbourne, which was the ship that Riker was offered the command of and had turned down, thus saving his life

Terrific two part episode! And, the American Film Institute voted it as one of the top 100 episodes of any series in TV history. One other Star Trek episode was voted in the top 100 and it was from the original series. The episode is called "The City On the Edge of Forever," and many people consider it to be the best Star Trek episode ever. It's an emotional rollercoaster; and, most of the episode takes place on Earth, which you've said before that you like. You should react to at least that one episode of the OG series. You'll love it and your fans will love you for it.

Standing there with latex parts glued to his face, Patrick Stewart didn't have a very fun 50th birthday.

It was one hell of a long summer waiting for the show to come back in the fall. Maybe I haven't found rhe right modern shows, but they don't seem to do cliffhangers like they used to.

The enterprise in TNG is a galaxy class starship. Its large enough to accommodate for peoples family if you have one.

This was the episode(s) that saved the series. And cemented TNG’s place in Americana. And was so daring the way they did it. Removing Picard from the Enterprise, and turning him into one of TVs most memorable villains. Forcing Riker to step up, and fill his shoes.

Dude you should have also watched the episode right after this one called "Family". What a good episode with a great emotional swell at the end. A remarkably deep episode in my opinion.

I've always been a little amused that part 1 ends with what is possibly the best cliffhanger of all cliffhangers as Riker gives the order to fire. Then part 2 starts and the weapon does....absolutely nothing. lol

The trick isn’t having a good poker face. The trick is having a bad poker face. That’s how you get ‘em to call when they shouldn’t. Make them think you’re bluffing. 😛

While you got to watch both parts back to back, back in June of 1990, the rest of us had to wait THREE months for part 2, one of the best, end of season cliff-hangers of all time!

S04E02 "Family" is also a good episode to watch, as it links directly to The Best of Both Worlds by showing how the experience affected Picard for more context for First Contact, as well as presenting us to Robert and Rene, who were mentioned in Generations when Picard tells Troi about them.

I do believe the ending with Picard was him still feeling the effects of being assimilated. It kinda traumatized him a bit, I love that they kept that as time went on. Very realistic. 👍🏽

This double episode and "Who Killed JR?" on Dallas were the pioneers of season finale cliffhangers. Oh, I remember it like it was yesterday. The episode ended and I could see my reflection in the TV. "What do you mean to be continued?!" Waited some eight months for the second episode... It was so dirty.

How Janeway on Star Trek Voyager handles the Borg is always a fun watch. That and the large fleet battles in DS9

shoulda watched it as 2 episodes as it was broadcast, you've missed the massive cliffhanger after Riker says 'Mr Worf, fire!'

Fun Fact; The actor that played Admiral Hanson also played "God" in Star Trek 5

The reason they could recover picard like that is because he is still in the process of getting converted in full, so there's still key biological functions going on, compared to a more long-term converted drone where cybernetics have taken over just about every single function.

The Borg only get stronger as the TV series goes along both the Next Generation and Star Trek Voyager.

Jean-Luc Picard, and the Enterprise, a man, and machine, who had defeated gods and monsters together, were beaten. This horrific battle informs absolutely everything that happens later.

These were key episodes to watch. Just FYI, there's an episode that immediately follows "Best of Both Worlds Part II" called "Family" where Picard takes leave on Earth with his brother's family. It serves as an unofficial part 3 to these, because it deals with Picard's PTSD from being assimilated. It's not a "must-see" to understand the next movie, "First Contact" but it does put it into deeper context.

7:00 Primate, notice the gesture Riker makes toward Deanna as he says, "I sacrificed a lot". Years before serving together on the Enterprise, they dated and had been a couple. They drifted apart as he focused on his career, and were reunited years later when they both came to serve on the Enterprise. He sacrificed their relationship for his goal to one day be a Captain.

FYI, Captain Picard, still can hear the hive mind even without the implants. Once a person is assimilated into the collective, and then separated from them, they can still hear the hive mind.... They just can't communicate with it as before. When Picard was looking out of the window of the Enterprise, he could sill hear the hive mind just as clearly as he could hear Will Riker speak.

This, along with "Who Shot JR" on Dallas, is the episode that truly defined the season finale cliffhanger.

Mark 28:03. "Smart as shit", hey? Haha! Patrick Stewart, pokes fun at himself, in the movie, "The Emoji Movie"! He's, "💩", and as such, has a scene with him in a command situation, giving orders in his, "Picard", voice! 🤣😂🖖

You really need to wrap up your Borg experience with ST Voyager: Endgame, series finale. They finally get weaponry and armor that scares the Borg, and use it where it hurts them the most.

My understanding is that Stewart was possibly going to be leaving the show so they wrote it to end his arc if his contract wasn't redone. So if those talks fell through season 4 episode 1 would have gone a different way completely.

Little known fact. Patrick Stewart was in the middle of renegotiating his contract between these seasons. They were prepared to make Johnathan Frakes lead if Patrick left the show. The assimilation was a way to write Picard out of the show if needed.

Locutus set in motion the design and construction of my favorite space ship. You might enjoy seeing how the battle of Wolf 359 effected some other Starfleet officers.

You should watch the episode "The Measure of a Man"

That very last scene with Picard was to show he's NOT OK. Just before that its "business as usual" and it suddenly hits him, He's NOT the same. The Borg messed him up.

Imagine waiting an entire summer between Part One and Part Two. I was there. The suspense was crazy.

Wolf 359, half of an hour of firefight, 30 ships lost, around 15,000 dead. Definition: hairball.

This music was playing a lot during my childhood cuz it was playing in the 90s which is when I was born

The ending was Picard knowing that there's way more Borg coming.

You have to understand that the Enterprise is the flagship of the federation meaning is the first major starship in the federation and for someone like Riker who has very high ambitions he wants to stay as close to the to that ship as possible.

Hey Primate, if you'd watch the entire series later on, you'll see that "Best Of Both Worlds, Part 2" is actually the 3rd time that the Enterprise separates the saucer section from the the secondary hull The first 2 times that the Enterprise does that is in season one

I lived in Washington for awhile. Enumclaw. My GFs house had no AC. I was there in the Summer, it was so cold. I can't imagine what you guys are going through now.

Most people call it "the Battle of wolf 359" but it was a battle, it was more like a slaughterhouse so most people tend to rebrand it as "the massacre of wolf 359" cause once to Borg rolled in, The Borg just obliterated the fleet, and assimilated the rest.

"Without Data, they'd have been f**ked there." -20% of ST:TNG :D

When Data was linked to LaQutis he almost met the queen, through the nero-link...

by uploading this video and the one that follows ....sir you just made my day after working a long shift......thx~!!!!!!

They really put Picard through the ringer in the Chains of Command 2-parter! And don't get me started on Inner Light 😭

All of the classic Star Trek shows are worth watching.

This 2 parter is a spectacular example of what's not shown is more terrifying than what is. The Battle of Wolf 359 wasn't shown in the episode almost certainly due to budget practicalities of even a top show of the time. But the disabled Enterprise, adrift while receiving very brief communication from the fleet at Wolf 359... yikes, not sure how they could have made this more terrifying to the crew of the D and the viewer.

Also watch the pilot of DS9 as it features the battle of Wolf 359 against the Borg.

It's the third time we see auto seperation: "Encounter At Farpoint", "Arsenal Of Freedom" and "Best Of Both Worlds"

These episodes may have saved STNG. The cliffhanger was amazing. The next episode, Family, introduces Picard’s brother and nephew who are killed in a fire at the beginning of Star Trek: Generations.

Watch more of this series. Absolutely.

Ive been watching Star Trek since I was a kid, the TV babysitter. It was this and I love Lucy showed right after on TV.

About Riker's position: Picard once said, First officer on the flagship is a very prestigious seat, but it's only the XO... Captain on a far way small ship, is insignificant in terms of prestige, cut away from anything, but you are the captain, implement the rules and routine you see fit to your crew, shape them and their future. That's the choice you've got to make. Riker is fine in the Enterprise, because it is the Enterprise and also there is Deanna Troi, his former lover he once left to satisfy his ambitions, and now he just doesn't know if he can leave her once more without feeling remorse. Wolf 359 is a real starsystem and not very far from here (on the galactic scale). You didn't have the cliffhanger when Riker says 'Fire', it was the biggest TV Cliffhanger at the time ! Assimilating people's experiences is the ultimate expression of "Knowledge is power." Picard is being ery remorseful (as seen in the subsequent season 4 ep2 Family), he thought he would resist the Borg and he simply couldn't, his knowkedge was used to destroy 39 Starfleet vessels and kill 11 000 Starfleet personnel. He thinks he has betrayed them and feels also violated. You can defeat the Borg, but you have to play on their playground, get some crucial intel on them and then implement a new out of the box strategy that will work only once, most of the time. So contrary to what O'Niell says in Stargate SG1, not all that has been done can be done again... at least as far as details are concerned.

A robot, a guy who can see through the cards, and an empath probably make for the worst poker table ever.

It was actually up in the air if they'd save Picard, as Patrick Stewart was unsure about continuing for a while. Also, I recommend watching the next episode "Family" as it has connections to the 8th movie (though not as important as this one).

I remember watching this on tv as a kid, and seeing the remains of the fleet utterly destroyed was terrifying. It just looked like there was no possible chance to win.

Sometimes I think how the Borg don't have any kind of failsafe against Data's connection, but then again, in terms of how many cultures the Borg encounter, how often doesn't something like that happen? Probably next to never.

I was just a young whipper snapper when this came out. Obviously loved it! You cut out the bit when the fly through the wreckage... I was looking for to that bit!

Patrick Steward had a three season contract, and was planning to leave the show. Shelby was going to replace Riker, who would take the captain's chair. But during the season break, Patrick Stewart met so many people who said they're summer was ruined, worrying about him, and he decided to come back.