Fix Best of Both Worlds II

[Cid Highwind]

I wouldn't necessarily want to "fix" BoBW2, but what comes after - because, I think, the correct building blocks are there, they are just lacking lasting consequences... We have:

• A starfleet captain that was forced to attack and kill his own people
• A senior staff (and especially XO) of a starship that was willing to kill his own captain for the greater good
• The whole Starfleet in shambles
• Enough characters available to do some shuffling of the chain of command

The one piece that I would have added to that mix is: severely damaging the Enterprise, for example destroying the saucer section while barely surviving on the battle section (or vice versa).

To the viewer, the Enterprise is sort of an icon for the state of Starfleet, the Federation, the individual characters - so what better way to show how affected these are than to show the icon itself on the brink of destruction.

I would then have followed BoBW2 by not only a single episode dealing with the fallout, but a whole arc of perhaps four to six episodes dealing with the theme of "Rebuilding": Most of all deal with what happened to Picard and "rebuild" him from the physical and psychological rape he's gone through - all the while also rebuilding Starfleet and the Enterprise itself.

At the end of that arc, which might span well over a year, we would see a brand-new Enterprise being sent on its first mission under the command of Captain Riker, with Picard on board as a civilian advisor or diplomat, after having resigned from Starfleet. The mission would be one of "exploring the unknown" - instead of "going where everyone else has gone before", like the last three years after the failed Farpoint mission.

 

[Search4]

The Borg win, earth is assimilated, and the series changes title to "Star Trek: Borg". The Enterprise-D leads the resistance.

They do a reverse First Contact to undo the damage. (The need to reboot, right?)

Or alternatively, they figure out how to bring together the parallel universes (where there were 225,000 Enterprises in one place,) and they ALL attack the Borg cube.

Okay, that is unlikely. But there's no reason for it to be a two parter, how about Locutus gets to run around for a while before being brought down?

 

[Timewalker]

I would have liked to have seen Shelby again. It might have been interesting to have seen her return as a captain with her own ship while Riker was still just a first officer.

Shelby was not command material at that time. Actually, she was barely First Officer material, in my opinion, seeing as how she was openly disrespectful and defiant of Riker's authority (even though I can understand her frustration with Riker's resistance to taking his own command and opening up the position of First Officer to someone else).

Picard was the heart and soul of the Next Generation. I loved all of the characters but if Picard had died in BOBW the show would have died with him.

I didn't love all the characters, but I do agree that the show would have puttered out to nothing without Picard.

The Borg win, earth is assimilated, and the series changes title to "Star Trek: Borg". The Enterprise-D leads the resistance.

They do a reverse First Contact to undo the damage. (The need to reboot, right?)

Or alternatively, they figure out how to bring together the parallel universes (where there were 225,000 Enterprises in one place,) and they ALL attack the Borg cube.

Okay, that is unlikely. But there's no reason for it to be a two parter, how about Locutus gets to run around for a while before being brought down?

The parallel universe story came long after "Best of Both Worlds" - and in fact, if not for the ending that BoBW had, Worf would likely not have been in the situation he faced with all those parallel universes.

If I were to change how the episode ended, I would have had Picard remain as a Borg, Riker promoted to Captain, and conflict ensue over whether Shelby or Data would be promoted to First Officer.

As for Picard... rescue him half a season later, somehow. Make it truly unexpected, and treat us to a real story arc that makes sense.

I found the DS9 story arcs ungodly boring, but making Season 4 of TNG one long arc would have been a treat!

 

[Mr Troi]

I would have liked to have seen Shelby again. It might have been interesting to have seen her return as a captain with her own ship while Riker was still just a first officer.

Shelby was not command material at that time. Actually, she was barely First Officer material, in my opinion, seeing as how she was openly disrespectful and defiant of Riker's authority (even though I can understand her frustration with Riker's resistance to taking his own command and opening up the position of First Officer to someone else).

I disagree that Shelby was not First Officer material at that time. She may have protested some of Riker's decisions but she was never insubordinate. In Part 2 Riker even told her to continue to challenge him, to which Shelby replied that she believed that was the role of a First Officer.
As for her returning as a Captain - I meant that I would have liked to have seen her return as a Captain several years after the events of BOBW.

 

[Timewalker]

I would have liked to have seen Shelby again. It might have been interesting to have seen her return as a captain with her own ship while Riker was still just a first officer.

Shelby was not command material at that time. Actually, she was barely First Officer material, in my opinion, seeing as how she was openly disrespectful and defiant of Riker's authority (even though I can understand her frustration with Riker's resistance to taking his own command and opening up the position of First Officer to someone else).

I disagree that Shelby was not First Officer material at that time. She may have protested some of Riker's decisions but she was never insubordinate. In Part 2 Riker even told her to continue to challenge him, to which Shelby replied that she believed that was the role of a First Officer.
As for her returning as a Captain - I meant that I would have liked to have seen her return as a Captain several years after the events of BOBW.

I did not say Shelby wasn't First Officer material at all - I said I thought she was BARELY First Officer material. For somebody who was in that position, she sure seemed to subscribe to "Captain Esteban Syndrome" - too cautious, too much of a "let's ask permission to do what we should do anyway, just because it's POLICY." If Riker had listened to her TNG would only have been 3 seasons long, because all the characters would have been dead!

And she did blatantly disobey Riker's orders - ie. beaming down to the planet without permission.

 

[Mr Troi]

Shelby was not command material at that time. Actually, she was barely First Officer material, in my opinion, seeing as how she was openly disrespectful and defiant of Riker's authority (even though I can understand her frustration with Riker's resistance to taking his own command and opening up the position of First Officer to someone else).

I disagree that Shelby was not First Officer material at that time. She may have protested some of Riker's decisions but she was never insubordinate. In Part 2 Riker even told her to continue to challenge him, to which Shelby replied that she believed that was the role of a First Officer.
As for her returning as a Captain - I meant that I would have liked to have seen her return as a Captain several years after the events of BOBW.

I did not say Shelby wasn't First Officer material at all - I said I thought she was BARELY First Officer material. For somebody who was in that position, she sure seemed to subscribe to "Captain Esteban Syndrome" - too cautious, too much of a "let's ask permission to do what we should do anyway, just because it's POLICY." If Riker had listened to her TNG would only have been 3 seasons long, because all the characters would have been dead!

And she did blatantly disobey Riker's orders - ie. beaming down to the planet without permission.

Shelby was in charge of that away mission to the planet not Riker. Riker was concerned because they had planned to go down together but Shelby altered the plan without informing him. It might have been disrespectful, although I think that was unintentional, but it was not insubordination because there were no orders to disobey.
I'm sorry - you did say barely, but even then I would still have to disagree with you but this entire forum is all about people expressing different opinions.

 

[Kira Nerys]

there is nothing to fix

 

[Arpy]

I think it could have used a few subtle special effects showing the remnants of Earth's defenses (ships, satellites, stations) burning in space. I'm seeing on the Enterprise's main viewer a subtle effect (also helps for budgetary reasons) what looks like embers wafting around the cube. Similarly, many barely-visible points of light around the planet drifting away, as people try to evacuate in any and all ships available.

As noted earlier, some drifting Klingon ships at Wolf 359 would have been nice.

Story-wise, it was pretty darn good. Perhaps another pass at the script could have helped a bit, a little better directing as well. I am intrigued by the notion that the Borg could have been defeated by some show of courage or honor... Courage? Nothing you could do would put a dent in them. How does courage help? ...What if they struck at some pivotal moment when the Borg were for the first time in eons not entirely sure of their superiority. Maybe something Picard leaked in that lab that the Enterprise made use of and shocked the Borg to play it safe and the Enterprise takes advantage?

Just thought of something that might have helped pacing is that last trip to the cube before they realize it's gonna blow. Maybe the feedback-loop what's-it-or-other should have happened a lot faster, and as soon as the drones are put to sleep, sensors detect strange readings telling them to get out of there.