“The Best of Both Worlds, Part I” is written by: Michael
Piller and is directed by: Cliff Bole. It
was produced under production code 174, was the 26th episode of Star
Trek: The Next Generation Season 3, the 74th episode overall,
and was broadcast on June 18, 1990.
The pre-credits sequence for “The Best of Both Worlds,
Part I” is fascinating. Rhetorically it
is there to put the viewer in a state of anxiety. While it introduces the first intrigue of the
episode: what happened to the colony of New Providence to turn it into a
crater, the speed at which this happens is incredibly quick. It only lasts one minute and 20 seconds. The impact barely has enough time to process a
colony being wiped out as the camera pans over the crater before an immediate
cut to the opening credits. That’s the
point, of course. The sense of dread as
the first episode builds to the suspicion of and then confirmation that it is
in fact the Borg responsible for the destruction of New Providence. Much like the pre-credits sequence, this is
done relatively quickly, the confirmation coming at about the one-third mark of
the episode so the second and third acts can be the Enterprise actively chasing
the Borg in a reversal of “Q Who”, a decision that by the end of the episode has
grave consequences. Michael Piller’s
script is clear that the Enterprise (and by extension the Federation)
choosing to go after the Borg is simultaneously an ignorant decision, but the
correct decision. Nobody else is going
to save them and people are already dying.
The Enterprise is going into danger and it is reiterated that
there is not enough time before they will find the Borg to upgrade even their defenses
properly, much less the weapons. People
are dying. Any possible advantage
against the Borg is necessary.
Seeking any possible advantage is Lt. Cmdr. Shelby,
played by Elizabeth Dennehy. Shelby is
introduced with Admiral Hanson, played by George Murdock, as one of two experts
on the Borg, investigating since the reports back to Starfleet in “Q Who”. She is introduced as cool, confident, and
competent. A candidate to take the position
of first officer as Riker for the third time has been offered a commission as
captain of a different ship. He refuses
to take it, his entire arc in this episode is grappling with that decision, but
Shelby fully believes the position on the Enteprise is hers. Despite her qualifications, she is the woman
to run into danger, investigating the ruins with Data before the rest of the away
team and against Riker’s orders. This is
the wrong decision, she is lucky to not have negative consequences outside of further
tension with Riker (she outright tells him she is taking his position). She still gets invited to the poker game, a
game of bluff thematically furthering the idea that Riker is a man who knows exactly
how to bluff. Hanson, on the other hand,
is the latest in a long line of Starfleet officials. He is a representative of the authority
behind the Enterprise’s actions.
Physically, he is only present on the Enterprise in the opening
act, but his real impact is these periodic updates on where the rest of
Starfleet is. These are further used to
build the tension and Murdock plays the roles with this little hint of humanity
that the audience believes him to be a real person that cares about the people
being sent into battle. “The Best of
Both Worlds, Part I” is still an episode of a television show and does not have
the budget to actually show many of the updates, so Hanson as a character is
integral for creating those stakes. Murdock
keeps the tone intense, the episode slowly spiraling out of the Enterprise’s
control.
The tone is not only these details, but also the actual
production. Cliff Bole is not a director
unfamiliar to Star Trek: The Next Generation. His work is some that I have praised and with
“The Best of Both Worlds, Part I” there is an intense tightness to the shots
and the blocking. Some of this is the
smallness of the sets, when the action shifts to the Borg Cube it is clear
there is a limited number of sets, but simple redresses disguise this and
enhance the conformity aspect of the Borg.
Much of the action is on the Enterprise, but the real money shots
from Bole is that opening crater and the model work of the Enterprise
and Borg Cube is excellent. There’s also
clearly been so much work that has gone into remastering the series for high
definition. But Bole is also continuing the
trend of moving the camera with the action, even if it’s a simple dialogue scene. There’s also little character touches like
Geordi La Forge evacuating engineering and staying behind ever so slightly,
having to roll under the door to get out.
It’s small touches like these and Wesley learning how to play poker (and
losing) that help bring a lot of this episode together.
Michael Piller’s script is also notable for being
quite progressive. “The Best of Both
Worlds, Part I” may be an episode at its core that centers two male characters
in Riker and Picard, but it is not one to forget other characters exist. Through the first two seasons the female
characters especially on Star Trek: The Next Generation had the tendency
to be written with the same brush, often a sexual one even in scenarios where
sexualization is not necessary. What
Piller has done here with Troi, Crusher, and Guinan is give each of them an
individual scene, not so much to stand on their own, but at the very least make
them people who are written as colleagues, and importantly, friends. They are not carrying the invisible baggage
of telling the two men what is wrong, they are there for advice and Troi and
Guinan especially. Whoopi Goldberg is
clearly playing Guinan in conversation with her role in “Q Who”, though here
there isn’t the antagonistic force of Q so she is opposite Picard. Troi is opposite Riker, explicitly being a
counselor so he can get to the bottom of his own needs and desires.
Riker is the centerpiece of the episode. His plot, which has been alluded to already,
is one of a man coming to terms with who he wants and needs to be. There is such love and passion for the Enterprise
that despite the blood, sweat, and tears shed to become first officer,
specifically on this ship. His ambitions
are to become captain, but they have stalled.
This is not in a bad way, to reiterate William Riker is a man who loves
the Enterprise and her crew. He butts
heads with Shelby because of that love and is willing to sacrifice himself to
the Borg if necessary. The tragedy of “The
Best of Both Worlds, Part I” is that the situation has held him back. That’s the big twist. The Borg themselves, a collective that erases
individuality to just become another cog in a machine that is ever expanding, but
this time they need an individual. They specifically
want Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and after being unable to outrun or trick the
Borg into a defeat, Picard is abducted.
Now, I do think discussing the Borg in depth should wait for next week
and “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II” because the commentary of a collective
needing an individual feels like post-Cold War commentary on the Soviet Union needing
to accept capitalism in the context of a 1990 episode of television (though
ironically could also very easily be a metaphor for the unsustainable nature of
capitalism that was becoming rapidly apparent after Reagan and Thatcher). This is because the Borg while ever present a
threat and terrifying, they actually aren’t on-screen all that much. When they are it becomes clear more budget
has gone into the designs of the individual bodies of the borg, taking specific
inspiration in places from Clive Barker’s Hellraiser, but this is a
story about people. Picard is given
nearly as much time as Riker, representing a diplomat going into war and that
slowly tearing him apart as it really is against his values. Both Jonathan Frakes and Patrick Stewart play
their characters as parallels to one another.
The episode builds their individual arcs to a climax,
culminating in that ending. The dread,
tension, and suspense all boil until we get to the big twist: after being
captured Captain Jean-Luc Picard has been assimilated into the Borg as Locutus. This is a twist that somehow I was unaware of. I knew about the Borg, I even knew that they
were the villains of The Best of Both Worlds, but I did not know about
the twist. It is a twist a genre savvy
viewer can see coming, the Borg are clearly inspired by Doctor Who’s
Cybermen, a relationship that has become symbiotic. It’s also a slight lie to say that this boils
over, it’s just at a rolling boil after the away team where basically every
main character who hasn’t had a moment to shine yet does so, including Crusher
with a phaser, discovers this. They are
only saved by a perfectly timed transporter.
You would think that’s the end.
But no, that’s a twist. The
cliffhanger has to be the inflection point, the point where everything the
episode builds to has to change. There has
been one plot thread I have left out.
The Borg continually advance their technology whenever attacked, so the Enterprise
has been developing a Hail Mary weapon, something they hope not to use. The inflection point is acting Captain
William Riker deciding, after being begged not to because there’s still a slim
chance for Crusher to save Picard if retrieved, to fire. The music quotes Holst’s “Mars, Bringer of
War”, and the episode cuts to a To Be Continued caption. It physically dropped my jaw. It is a brilliant climax that is the
culmination of Riker needing to listen to himself and choose. Did he choose correctly? That’s discussion
for when I actually see “The Best of Both Worlds, Part II”.
Overall, “The Best of Both Worlds, Part I” at its core
is a gamble. It’s a season finale that
ends on a cliffhanger and while CBS and Paramount Pictures had already started
work on the fourth season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, there still
was that chance that it would not work.
It’s also currently riding this tightrope, as setup it’s brilliant. Every aspect of the production slots into
place to tell a story driven by where the characters have been going over the
course of this entire season, and for Riker and Picard even earlier. The script and direction both are building
tension and every performance is on the top of their game, but it could all
come crashing down with the potential for a poor second half. Yet, it’s also the statement of a show that
has fully found its identity and voice after the first two very rocky seasons
and a third season that is very strong, but arguably lacking a mission
statement as to its identity. This is
that mission statement and it is a perfect one.
10/10.
Bottom 5 Episodes of Season 3:
5. Booby Trap
4. A Matter of Perspective
3. Transfigurations
2. The High Ground
1. The Price
Bottom 10 Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation So Far:
10. The Price
9. The Schizoid Man
8. Too Short a Season
7. Shades of Gray
6. Home Soil
5. Justice
4. Up the Long Ladder
3. Angel One
2. The Child
1. Code of Honor
Top 5 Episodes of Season 3:
5. Deja Q
4. The Offspring
3. Yesterday's Enterprise
2. The Best of Both Worlds, Part I
1. Sarek
Top 10 Episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation So Far...
10. The Survivors
9. The Enemy
8. Deja Q
7. Q Who
6. Elementary Dear Data
5.The Offspring
4. Yesterday's Enterprise
3. The Best of Both Worlds, Part I
2. Sarek
1. The Measure of a Man
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