I remember the good old days when "The Leisure Hive" was but ten years old... oh wait, wrong show and same time period anyway...
After how much a bomb "Transfigurations" was, I wasn't sure... I don't recall seeing the teaser, since that would have helped. But I'd watched it anyway, having sat through and invested in season 3's previous episodes, of which the last handful seemed remarkably flat...
It was an exciting episode with build-up of a feel and tone never having been explored before.
The moment the Borg said they were coming for Picard it was fairly obvious that they'd Borgify him. Once we saw the cupboard with all its cubic feet devoted solely to his uniform that was neatly ironed yet not folded, that solidified it...
...but on the other hand, his reveal in the Borg refrigerator radiator outfit was pretty dang effective. Complete with $2000 cat laser toy affixed to his head...
And despite it all, the claustrophobia the whole episode put out would keep anyone... engaged.
Was Patrick Stewart really intent on leaving? If so, what had him opting to stay on and deprive us of several years of "The Riker Bedroom Antics Drama Comedy Hour"?
On subsequent viewings:
It's still a game changer but some nitpicks have flowered nonetheless.
It's definitely a more visceral and drama-driven episode and not as intellectual, but the drama makes an impact and the visceral nature rocks the house. And not everything need be stepped in 200 intertwined layers o' intrigue and multifaceted nuances. This is the Borg. A gestalt. An amalgamation with central locus of focus. And they want Picard's bod, much to everyone's surprise cuz he's like 600 years old now and not 25...
The Riker subplot is overall built up well, complete with Shelby's itchin' for position.
The claustrophobia and brooding gloom still work - largely because this feel and format is atypical of the show, and done well.
And yet, at the same time, there's a lot of soap opera talkies going on. Riker and Shelby bickering in the turbolift is overly long padding. Give me a few minutes with After Effects and some public domain sound effects, like cats yowling and hissing... I'm sure that's been done a dozen times on three dozen YouTube channels already anyhow.
Yet the whole episode still gels together despite its ups and downs.
Apart from "you should be in the center of town!" as the camera pans back with everybody gawking over the edge of
where the town used to be since there are no roads creeping that far out into the desert or mountain terrain...
The nebula scene and how they're driven out was pretty robust, and furthering the dour mood -- very eloquently so.
In later viewings, and on Blu-Ray, I noted Locutus' headpiece has embossing that looks vaguely like a Cyberman helmet -- only done to far better effect, which also has yet to be improved upon by any show made since then. It was never noticed before, in part thanks in part to bunny ears' reception and lack thereof, and how HD didn't exist back then. I never saw those intricate details ever before and every newfound emboss and seam only make the experience even more chilling because it all looks real - a testament to the costume and make-up designers of the time, for sure.
And the reason for the laser costing $2000 had to due with fitting and making it compatible with filming, since any old cat toy didn't do - never mind no such cat toy existed back then. Meow.
If the Cyber visage is a nod and homage, and we all know the maters of TNG were fans of Doctor Who, it's a very subtle one at best. And the innovations for the Borg outfits as whole units - which looked dang expensive at the time and are still very effective regardless - made the Borg their own. For 1990 and now. I don't recall caring for the claim of "Oh the Borg are just Cybermen, wah wah wah". If I did, it definitely didn't last long as there's influence from many sci-fi shows as Cybermen were paralleled to Cybernauts and androids that had souls plopped into them and other then-not-original ideas too. The Borg were and still are simply brilliant, terrifying, and successful regardless of influencers.
Especially as I was hyped to see part 2. If TBOBW was such a hack piece as was crowed often at the time, no dissenter would begin to have ants in the pants to see the upcoming conclusion... and what a friggin' three months of a wait it was... and I was not disappointed, to say the least--
But it was bloody huge as far as cliffhanger events go. Even Troi having a lump in her throat tells far more than any line of dialogue would. Even more momentous than ALF being surrounded! Or Blake's 7 but we saw everyone killed and gunshots fired over the closing credits and it's unlikely Avon was pew-pewing with Sooling rising up from the ground just to pew-pew them all down. But I digress - twice. Thrice would be nice, but as there's no word that's like twice and thrice but to reflect on a fourth-in-a-row... or six-in-a-row by now...
...I do remember people asking if both episodes were made back-to-back. When hearing they weren't, I was wondering what would happen if Picard was to leave. Again, three friggin' months...
and I loved it.
Still do. Nitpicks and all. Resistance is useless.
Unless one is having to listen to a Vogon recite poetry, in which case giving up is the worst thing imaginable but I digress again. Even the obvious lame joke about how everyone's going to service the Borg - since Borg find physical pleasure irrelevant... which is strange since their technology can cure any ailment fairly quickly and as easily as they can adapt and reverse-engineer technology no matter how inferior to theirs it is. If this were season one, especially early season one, it'd be all too easy to imagine - especially if it were a follow-up to that all-time classic entitled
Justice: "Cold sores are irrelevant, we have your Zovirax now."
