Timeline for Worf's appearances in the Next Generation movies

[Jedman67]

The Defiant class is probably the federation equivalent of a battlecruiser or fast attack craft, fast, and heavily armed and armored for her size. She played a vital role in ending the war, but only because of who was in command - Sisko. Nontheless, as mentioned above Defiant was parked at DS9 half the time instead of always off on missions or in combat. DS9 could have provided a permanent crew (and logically should have, but that would have required paying more actors...etc) for the Defiant with only one or two senior officers riding along for missions.
That Defiant was only used occasionally for the war effort suggests that Starfleet did not need every ship out on the front all the time.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Star Trek has always been insistent that the Enterprises are meant to be the flagship.

So the word "always" means "ever since TNG" now?

 

[The Wormhole]

So the word "always" means "ever since TNG" now?

Actually, fun fact: although TOS and its movies never once indicate the Enterprise was meant to be the flag ship, it is in fact referred to as the flag ship in TOS novels that were written and published years before TNG.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

Actually, fun fact: although TOS and its movies never once indicate the Enterprise was meant to be the flag ship, it is in fact referred to as the flag ship in TOS novels that were written and published years before TNG.

Since those would have been published after TOS, that's still not "always."

 

[The Wormhole]

^^It's still before TNG.

 

[Timo]

Star Trek has always been insistent that the Enterprises are meant to be the flagship.

Except for the Enterprises nil, A, B, C and E, that is. And except for the Abramsverse ship, which appears to be "a" rather than "the" flagship.

Even the original 1701 has since been retconned as the flagship by the Abrams movies.

Those movies never mention that ship, though.

But regardless, Picard is one of Starfleet's top captains and his skills are arguably more on the diplomacy side than as a combat strategist, so again, it stands to reason Starfleet would send him out to these wine and cheeses with all the potential new allies.

Sure. But on a shuttlecraft. Picard isn't gamma-welded to the E-E, and if there really were a war going on (a real one rather than a Cardassian one), that ship would be better used elsewhere while Picard wined and dined.

...Of course, ST:FC already makes it sound as if the E-E is fundamentally worthless in combat, as Starfleet doesn't want her to defend the Earth against the Borg when basically every other ship in the fleet qualifies.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

To quote Picard himself: Let's just say that Starfleet has every confidence in the Enterprise and her crew. They're just not sure about her Captain. They believe that a man who was once captured and assimilated by the Borg should not be put in a situation where he would face them again. To do so would introduce an unstable element to a critical situation. (which of course turns out to wrong).

 

[Kor]

And that kind of ignores the fact that Picard had other encounters with the Borg after BOBW.

Kor

 

[The Wormhole]

Picard isn't gamma-welded to the E-E,

Isn't he? Starfleet assigned the Enterprise border patrol duty in FC rather than ditch Picard somewhere and send the ship off to fight the Borg anyway. Hell, if anything it would have made more sense to do that with Riker in command of the Enterprise, given it was technically Riker who defeated them in TBOBW. Starfleet really was stupid, leaving out the only officer who actually defeated the Borg prior to that.

And that kind of ignores the fact that Picard had other encounters with the Borg after BOBW.

Arguably, FC is Picard's first time encountering the Borg Collective since TBOBW. In I, Borg he's only dealing with one lone drone, and in Descent it's a group of Borg cut off from the Collective who are now under Lore's leadership.

 

[Avro Arrow]

And that kind of ignores the fact that Picard had other encounters with the Borg after BOBW.

Well, from Starfleet's perspective, they didn't exactly seem happy with how Picard handled things in "I, Borg", either, so in their mind maybe those other encounters were *more* reason to keep him away.

 

[Timo]

To quote Picard himself: Let's just say that Starfleet has every confidence in the Enterprise and her crew. They're just not sure about her Captain.

Which makes no sense in practice, as The Wormhole points out, and either indicates that the shakedown year revealed serious deficiencies in the E-E or then reveals Starfleet's deep distrust in Picard's crew (that is, the conviction that said crew would be blinded by loyalty and slow to act on Picard's foreseeable acts of treason).

However, since the "stuck at charting space dust" situation seems to frustrate and even surprise our heroes, it appears to have been a quick, panicky reaction by Picard's superiors to the sudden Borg crisis, rather than a well-considered long term policy of ostracizing the crew. For all we know, Starfleet would have relented in a matter of hours, and fully approved Picard's decision to join the fray once inevitably learning of it.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JonnyQuest037]

And that kind of ignores the fact that Picard had other encounters with the Borg after BOBW.

Those episodes aren't as famous & well-regarded as BOBW, so they don't count.

 

[Kor]

Those episodes aren't as famous & well-regarded as BOBW, so they don't count.

Yeah, I think ST:FC took a "broad strokes" approach on the assumption that general audiences may not have closely followed the series, rather than getting bogged down by all the details. FC is a standalone story that provides just the right amount of exposition to understand it on its own terms.

Kor

 

[The Wormhole]

FC is a standalone story that provides just the right amount of exposition to understand it on its own terms.

Honestly, I always thought FC overdid it with the exposition. Like in Picard's log near the beginning when he says "the Borg, our most feared enemy." Sure, necessary to say for any non-fans watching, but in-universe makes no sense. The people at Starfleet Command who'll be listening to the log will know who the Borg are, why is he explaining them?

 

[Timo]

For all we know, Picard is part of a fairly small cabal of officers who feel this way about the Borg. The majority thinks that abandoning the Defiant project is the way to go in light of the post-"BoBW" events. And Picard here knows that his cause will gain strong support in just a few hours, and wants to make it clear to his superiors that he knows, and was right all along...

But yeah, exposition overload.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Kor]

Maybe Picard just thinks the admiralty is stupid and needs every little thing explained to them.

Kor

 

[The Old Mixer]

^And because it's a Trek movie, they are and they do.

 

[Paul Weaver]

To quote Picard himself: Let's just say that Starfleet has every confidence in the Enterprise and her crew. They're just not sure about her Captain. They believe that a man who was once captured and assimilated by the Borg should not be put in a situation where he would face them again. To do so would introduce an unstable element to a critical situation. (which of course turns out to wrong).

Picard waltzed in and took charge, changing the plan. Sure it worked out, but it was an unstable element that the brass couldn't predict, so they were right in their view, just wrong in their conclusion.

 

[Shamrock Holmes]

Picard waltzed in and took charge, changing the plan. Sure it worked out, but it was an unstable element that the brass couldn't predict, so they were right in their view, just wrong in their conclusion.

Fair point.