I just watched Best of Both Worlds in HD. While a great show, it does feel a little dated, mostly because of technobabble, but there are a couple of other things which bring the overall two-part episode as a 3/5 rating. Things which could be improved just by better editing could shave 15 minutes off the run time and give it a more cinematic feel: 1. Commercial brake space-scenes Get rid of them all; if you're watching on BluRay there are no commercials. Cut from break to the next scene immediately. 2. Captains Log: The first one is necessary, but limit or eliminate the rest. 3. Beam in, Beam out: Cut out the transporter room scenes (except for when Riker gets pissed that Shelby went out early). Cut straight from "Ok, lets beam over" to the beam-down sequence - or even better, right after they finish beaming. 4. Tighten up Borg Ship scenes - they were too long, cut a minute here, a minute there and you have a much tighter scene. 5. Captain Riker: Ok, Hanson told Picard Riker was offered the Melbourne. Lets cut the rest of it out, shall we? Except for his discussion with Troi, and his fights with Shelby, which were quite awesome, most of the Captain Riker talk was kinda unnecessary. 6. Technobabble. I don't need a 15 minute discussion on how to cut Wesley apart and hide his body in the deflector in order to stop the borg ship. Of note, eliminate O'Briens role in Data's lab at the end. He doesn't say anything useful. 7. Riker getting pissed at Shelby. Seriously, you're not 5 anymore. 8. Cut the scene at the end with Picard, Riker and Shelby. The episode should end with the borgified Picard being taken to sickbay. Other thoughts: Shelby should have been kept as a recurring or guest role through the rest of the series; she was a great character. What do y'all think?
Shelby should have been made a regular. They could have used the excuse of her knowledge of the Borg in case of future invasions to keep her on board as the second officer. I'm sure Data wouldn't have minded stepping aside. I don't really have any issues with this fantastic 2 part episode but I agree about the comment regarding the fleet being built back up in less than a year. Out of place.