Fix Best of Both Worlds II

[Garm Bel Iblis]

I know Piller wrote himself into a corner here. How would you have rescued Picard and destroyed the Borg.

Here's my idea

Since the Collective left a portion of Picard intact to act as a voice, I would've liked to have seen Picard overcome his programming during the Battle of Wolf 359, and free HIMSELF and escape to the Enterprise.

Then once there, they find a way to cripple the Borg ship but it could kill him because of his link, he links with them and in the last instant Data finds a way to disrupt the program that causes Borg drones to self destruct at the exact instant the Borg ship's shields and power goes down, in which the Enterprise and the remnants of the Starfleet taskforce blow the cube to hell.

 

[startrekwatcher]

There is nothing to fix. It is a perfect masterpiece as is. The only thing I might have done differently is left intact Piller's original idea that Picard lost his arm in the assimilation and it was replaced by an artificial one.

 

[Shazam!]

Since the Collective left a portion of Picard intact to act as a voice, I would've liked to have seen Picard overcome his programming during the Battle of Wolf 359, and free HIMSELF and escape to the Enterprise..

Are you Patrick Stewart?

As if you should be able to un-Borg yourself just by thinking hard enough. You should be a writer for Voyager.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

There is nothing to fix. It is a perfect masterpiece as is. .

Part I is nearly perfect. Part II is just one big reset switch. To fix it I would have actually followed through on the foreshadowing from Part I. Picard is not rescued and remains a Borg or dies. Riker is permanently promoted to Captain of the Enterprise with Shelby as XO.

I personally grew to like Picard a lot over the course of TNG, but the way Part I was set up the only satisfying way to conclude the episode would be with his demise or permanent assimilation. It also would have set TNG apart by having real lasting changes occur.

 

[LeadHead]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It ain't broke.

Part 1 was so good, it's almost impossible to match or beat that in Part 2. Part 2 may not be better than part 1, but it is still very good.

 

[Gepard]

I wasn't aware there was anything wrong with it.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Part II is just one big reset switch.

Tell that to Picard. 10,000 lives were lost, 39 starships lost. Picard might have preferred death than living and personally killing him off would have been the *easy* way out for the writers. Not only was the hour tension-filled and full of suspense since Piller toyed with the very real possibility Picard could have died several times but Piller's decision to let Picard survive meant he would have to deal with the aftermath of not only the physical assimilation but his role with that massacre. It would have been nice and clean had Picard died.

Frankly, I found Part II just as satisfying as Part I. We get a terrifying glimpse of the nightmare Picard is experiencing aboard the cube. Much like in “Chain of Command”, this is a trauma that Picard must endure alone on his own and one that no one else can even begin to fathom and for which no one can take his place for him. In an agonizing scene to watch, we witness the indignity Picard is subjected to as he is treated like an inanimate object as further alterations are made to him as part of the ongoing assimilation process. The scene is so powerful because it doesn’t use graphic violence or conventional torture.

We get a graveyard of destroyed vessels some still smoldering from recent weapons fire. Nothing of this scale had been depicted on Trek before. This packed a wallop visually. It is a shocking moment in Trek history. Michael Piller took every opportunity to keep upping the stakes and portraying events so devastating in their unpredictability realizing the Borg invasion was the one chance to really pull out all the stops. The Borg steamrolled through 39 starships leaving what we later learn is 11000 deaths in its wake. Nothing comes close to the dramatic impact of this scene until years later with DS9 and the Dominion War. The scale of devastation was really ground-breaking.

The wonderfully choreographed assault on the cube carried off surgically with the Enterprise using the separation capability of the vessel for only the third time only underscored the fact that this was a struggle for life and death. This was a thrilling sequence from start to finish. The subsequent bombarding of the cube with the beautiful pyrotechnics of the antimatter spread was a spectacular sight to behold of Armagedon as we realize this might very well be the one last fight for survival. Guinan and Riker's conversation was a highlight.

I know some have issues with this episode but with so much of the above going for it, I think it really is part of a rare breed where the episode, along with Part I, is pretty much perfect.

 

[Klaitu]

Since the Collective left a portion of Picard intact to act as a voice, I would've liked to have seen Picard overcome his programming during the Battle of Wolf 359, and free HIMSELF and escape to the Enterprise.

This totally guts what the story was about, and would have wrecked the episode.

The entire point of the Locutus was that not even Picard could resist assimilation. There was absolutely nothing Picard could do except watch as the Borg forced him to destroy all those ships at Wolf 359. It put Picard in a place of complete and utter hopelessness.

Picard isn't a superhero here, at most you could consider him the "best of mankind" but even the best of mankind fell to the borg. What hope does anyone else have against them?

And that's why the Borg were totally awesome until Voyager came along and ruined them.

 

[Anwar]

And that's why the Borg were totally awesome until Voyager came along and ruined them.

First off, that's anti-VOY hyperbole. Secondly, it was near-inevitable that they'd be decayed eventually, otherwise VOY would've been destroyed and the show over. And no, do not reply with "They should've written the episodes better" or "not use the Borg at all" because neither were options and the writing was fine.

The Borg worked here because it was only their second appearance and their first real assault on the Feds. Naturally there's noway to go higher than this if you keep using them. And no, not using them wasn't an option.

 

[Klaitu]

And that's why the Borg were totally awesome until Voyager came along and ruined them.

First off, that's anti-VOY hyperbole. Secondly, it was near-inevitable that they'd be decayed eventually, otherwise VOY would've been destroyed and the show over. And no, do not reply with "They should've written the episodes better" or "not use the Borg at all" because neither were options and the writing was fine.

The Borg worked here because it was only their second appearance and their first real assault on the Feds. Naturally there's noway to go higher than this if you keep using them. And no, not using them wasn't an option.

Obviously the more you learn about the Borg, the less ominous they become, and I agree, Voyager needed to address the Borg, what with them being in the Delta Quadrant..

But after Seven of Nine showed up, nearly every episode of Voyager became about the Borg. Borg technology was the solution to every other plot, and nanoprobes proved especially troublesome and helpful throughout the run of the series.

Need to walk through a forcefield? just tweak an implant. Got a disease? just reprogram some nanoprobes. Weapons not good enough? hose them down with some borg juice. Shield failing? Enhance them with some borg emitters. Can't make heads or tales out of that starfleet transmission? use some borg algorithms. Need to get back to Earth? Just use a borg transwarp conduit.

Heck, even if you're assimilated, it turns out that you can just resist assimilation, even though the Voyager borg were more advanced than TNG borg.. Enterprise even went one step farther and made denobulans resistant to assimilation entirely.

TNG episodes dealing with the borg: 5 (1 movie)
DS9 episodes dealing with the borg: 1
VOY episodes dealing with the borg: 105

I'm gonna go ahead and say they overdid the Borg in Voyager.

 

[Anwar]

Actually, the Borg actually only appeared not that much in VOY. It's just that they were MENTIONED a lot thanks to Seven and the tech she brought with her.

As for the VOY crew resisting assimilation, Fed tech had advanced since then and they had Seven to give additional help. They weren't going to be helpless before the Borg forever.

As for Denobulans being resistant to assimilation, how do you know it wasn't their natural resistance that led to the reverse-assimilation techniques they used on Picard at the end of BOBW and the VOY crew? Of course the Borg can't easily assimilate EVERY lifeform, no one complained when they couldn't assimilate the 8472 aliens.

 

[JoeD80]

Actually, the Borg actually only appeared not that much in VOY.

If you don't count every Seven episode there are still about 10 or so Borg episodes in Voyager (if you count two-parters and two-hour episodes as one each). TNG only had 4 Borg episodes (couting BOBW and Descent as one each) and the big movie.

 

[Too Much Fun]

I feel conflicted about this question. I call The Best of Both Worlds collectively my favourite episode and I don't think there's a sharp drop in quality when the second comes around (although I agree the first is better overall), but I do feel every time I see it that the one thing less than perfect about it is that it seems a little too easy for Data and Worf to rescue Picard. I'd think the Borg would be a little too smart for Riker's plan to succeed so smoothly. Sneaking a shuttle with Worf and Data past Borg defenses while the Enterprise distracts them? That's all it took? I'm at a loss for what exactly they could have done to punch up the rescue, but I think something a little more challenging would have been ideal. Still, that's mostly a nitpick and the episode is still excellent as it is.

 

[Ward Fowler]

Part I is nearly perfect. Part II is just one big reset switch. To fix it I would have actually followed through on the foreshadowing from Part I. Picard is not rescued and remains a Borg or dies. Riker is permanently promoted to Captain of the Enterprise with Shelby as XO.

I personally grew to like Picard a lot over the course of TNG, but the way Part I was set up the only satisfying way to conclude the episode would be with his demise or permanent assimilation. It also would have set TNG apart by having real lasting changes occur.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

Part II is just one big reset switch.

Piller's decision to let Picard survive meant he would have to deal with the aftermath of not only the physical assimilation but his role with that massacre. It would have been nice and clean had Picard died..

Except that he didn't deal with it. It was covered briefly in Family, the next week, but they rest of the series had practically no mention of the aftermath of being Locutus, either physically, emotionally or anything.

Because of the reset switch it WAS nice and clean.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Part II is just one big reset switch.

Piller's decision to let Picard survive meant he would have to deal with the aftermath of not only the physical assimilation but his role with that massacre. It would have been nice and clean had Picard died..

Except that he didn't deal with it. It was covered briefly in Family, the next week, but they rest of the series had practically no mention of the aftermath of being Locutus, either physically, emotionally or anything.

Because of the reset switch it WAS nice and clean.

It resurfaced in "I, Borg" in a very significant way and again in First Contact.

I think that was sufficient. I certainly didn't need a weekly therapy session or Picard breaking down every four or five episodes.

 

[Klaitu]

39 starships and 10,000 lives lost at Wolf 359 was a very big number for Star Trek at the time. Has the massive armadas seen in later seasons of Deep Space Nine diminished the significance of Wolf 359 for the viewer?

I don't think so. The BOBW destruction was caused by one nearly unstoppable cube, whereas all those DS9 battles were fleet on fleet action.

First Contact had more of an impact as two borg ships were destroyed in it with minimal effort.

Actually, the Borg actually only appeared not that much in VOY. It's just that they were MENTIONED a lot thanks to Seven and the tech she brought with her.

I'm not just counting the epsisodes where borg drones appeared on screen. I'm counting every instance where borg technology was used as the solution to a problem, as well as every appearance of drones. 105, count it up.

As for the VOY crew resisting assimilation, Fed tech had advanced since then and they had Seven to give additional help. They weren't going to be helpless before the Borg forever.

Really? Future Janeway managed to resist full assimilation through sheer willpower, with no technology preventing anything.

As for Denobulans being resistant to assimilation, how do you know it wasn't their natural resistance that led to the reverse-assimilation techniques they used on Picard at the end of BOBW and the VOY crew?

You mean other than the fact that Crusher had never seen assimilation before, nor had heard of the borg before and had to study the implants in order to remove them surgically?

By the time Voyager rolled around, they were de-assimilating people right and left, to the point where assimilation was merely a fancy word for "kidnapping".

Of course the Borg can't easily assimilate EVERY lifeform, no one complained when they couldn't assimilate the 8472 aliens.

8472 is a whole other can of worms. They were specifically designed by the writers to combat the Borg, so they pretty much have every trick in the book.. including an immune system that destroys anything that enters their bodies, and resistance to sensor scans.

Phlox didn't have any of these things, and it seems incredibly unlikely that the Borg somehow managed to avoid assimilating even one member of a pre-TOS race over the 200-250 year span between ENT and First Contact.

Either way, both 8472 and Phlox weaken the Borg as villains, but at least 8472 flies around in biological ships and is completely alien to anything seen before in Trek.

 

[Yassim]

Early in Part 2, Worf and Riker are in a turbolift together, and Worf says

"The Borg have no courage, and no honour. That is why we will defeat them."

I so wanted him to be right. I wanted the Borg to be in a position where some honour, or some courage might have saved them, but they couldn't take whatever action was necessary...

Failing that, I expected O'Brien and Data to just flood the neighbourhood in some jamming, on whatever frequency they discovered connecting Picard to the Borg, and suddenly turn the collective into a bunch of disconnected individuals... and then beat the hell out of them.

I find Part 2 better now than I did when it first came out. Then, it was a huge disappointment. Now, it's mildly disappointing as an ending.

 

[EliyahuQeoni]

Piller's decision to let Picard survive meant he would have to deal with the aftermath of not only the physical assimilation but his role with that massacre. It would have been nice and clean had Picard died..

Except that he didn't deal with it. It was covered briefly in Family, the next week, but they rest of the series had practically no mention of the aftermath of being Locutus, either physically, emotionally or anything.

Because of the reset switch it WAS nice and clean.

It resurfaced in "I, Borg" in a very significant way and again in First Contact.

As I said, practically no mention at all. mentioned once more in the next seven years of the show and in one movie. Whereas killing Picard and promoting Riker would have been a real permanent change to the entire series, not just a pretend change that they could reference whenever they remembered it.

 

[Cyke101]

I haven't really thought of the story that much because even if Piller wrote himself into a corner (and I agree with you there), I think he pulled it off anyway. It was great seeing the crew band together under Riker, and even though it's Picard's most famous ordeal, at a certain angle it's very much a Riker-centric episode.

The only thing I would change then (without giving much thought for now) is the score in Part 2. Part 1's score was epic, original, intimidating, and urgent, and I'm pretty sure other shows and films started using a chorus because of BOBW. Part 2's score, however, is pretty much standard Trek. Watch both parts back to back and you get a better sense of what I'm getting at.