best star trek borg episodes

Complete List Of Appearances Of The Borg In Star Trek

This article is more than seven years old and was last updated in July 2019.

The Borg are Star Trek's most feared and most loved adversaries they appear in a total twenty-one episodes in the Star Trek franchise in 'Enterprise,' 'The Next Generation' and 'Voyager,' every television incarnation other than the original series and 'Deep Space Nine.' They also appeared in the Star Trek movie 'First Contact.' Below is a complete list of the Borg's appearances in chronological order.

1. Enterprise - 'Regeneration' [S02E23]

2. The Next Generation - 'Q Who' [S02E16]

3. The Next Generation - 'The Best of Both Worlds' [S03E26 - S04E01]

4. The Next Generation - 'I, Borg' [S05E23]

5. The Next Generation - 'Descent' [S06E26 - S07E01]

6. Voyager - 'Unity' [S03E17]

7. Star Trek: First Contact

8. Voyager - 'Scorpion' [S03E26 - S04E01]

9. Voyager - 'The Raven' [S04E06]

10. Voyager - 'Drone' [S05E02]

11. Voyager - 'Dark Frontier' [S05E15 - S05E16]

12. Voyager - 'Survival Instinct' [S06E02]

13. Voyager - 'Collective' [S06E16]

14. Voyager - 'Child's Play' [S06E19]

15. Voyager - 'Unimatrix Zero' [S06E26 - S07E01]

16. Voyager - 'Imperfection' [S07E02]

17. Voyager - 'Endgame' [S07E25]

There's More To Come...

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Star Trek: 6 Best Episodes Featuring The Borg, Ranked

These Star Trek episodes featuring the Borg are some of the best in the franchise. Why not give them a rewatch?

Some of the best Star Trek stories involve the Borg, one of the deadliest enemies that Starfleet ever faced. The Borg is an entity that was outside of Federation space for some time, and it wasn't until The Next Generation that this dangerous race even appeared. RELATED: Underappreciated Space Western TV Shows The Borg was introduced to the Star Trek universe on The Next Generation timeline, so most of the best Borg episodes are either TNG or Voyager episodes from roughly the same era. The series Picard , which is currently in circulation, includes several Borg characters from the TNG series along with Seven of Nine from Voyager .There's some speculation that early versions of the Borg, or maybe even an origin story , might appear as part of the plot in the more recent TV shows like Discovery. These are based in the Trek universe but pre-date TNG on the timeline.

6 Endgame (Voyager)

The final episode of Voyager carried the burden of seven years worth of expectations. After this many seasons, much of it spent dodging the Borg in the far reaches of space, it took a total of 27 years for Janeway and her crew to get home.

The main thing is that they made it, but for the Captain, that's not good enough. Tuvok was suffering from a debilitating cerebral disorder that couldn't be treated in time, which is one of the reasons Janeway takes the risk of going back in time and making a deal with the Borg to get them back twenty years sooner. This isn't the first time that Janeway outsmarted the Borg, and with the aid of her younger counterpart , they were able to get it done a second time.

5 Q Who? (The Next Generation)

This memorable episode isn't just recognized as one of the greatest TNG episodes, featuring one of the most popular and endearing supporting characters, but it was also the very first time the Borg appeared in the Star Trek universe. The Enterprise-D had to find some way to get that far across the galaxy, and it was Q that got them there.

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This was one of the life lessons or tests that Q would often throw at Picard when he thought the captain was getting too arrogant, or when Q himself was simply bored. Picard is excited at the prospect of exploring a new part of the galaxy at first, even though Gainan warns him that they need to get back to Federation space as soon as possible. Once they encounter the Borg, it seems that the omnipotent Q is all that can save them.

4 I, Borg (The Next Generation)

As it is with Star Trek , there's more nuance to every villain than simply "ugly alien bad" and the Borg is no exception. Plenty of debate took place among the officers of the Enterprise regarding what kind of considerations the Borg should be given as a sentient, independent race, and "I, Borg" was part of that discussion. In this episode, the Enterprise responds to a distress call as they would, but it's from a Borg drone that crashed while on a scouting mission.

The debate rages as to whether or not they should help the Borg or use him to destroy the local Collective. They decide that any principled Starfleet officers would, especially as the drone in question even starts to show signs of sentience and individuality - they help him and send him on his way with no strings attached. Hugh, which is the name the drone eventually took for himself, would return again in later episodes of TNG and Picard .

3 Descent (The Next Generation)

What could be worse than being attacked by the Borg? Well, how about getting attacked by a group of Borg in league with a powerful and amoral android? This is actually a two-part episode, and also a great choice for Data fans. This character takes a central part in the plot, and questions about the android's humanity are also brought into question.

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The episode starts with a now-famous scene of Data on the holodeck, playing cards with Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. A few scenes later, the crew is attacked by Borg who seems to be acting strangely. Part of the tension is finding out why, and it turns out that Lore, essentially Data's evil twin, is behind it all.

2 Scorpion (Voyager)

One of the best episodes of Voyager and memorable for several reasons, the main one being the introduction of Seven of Nine to the crew. This was also the first time that Janeway showed how humans could defeat the Borg - by outsmarting them.

The Federation protocols for a ship and crew that find themselves on the other side of the galaxy, with thousands of light-years filled with Borg between them and earth, might not be so clear. That might mean making a few deals focused on defeating a common enemy. The Borg thought it could take the earthlings for a ride, but Janeway turned the tables on them at the last minute by separating Seven of Nine from the collective. She eventually became one of the most valuable members of the crew.

1 The Best Of Both Worlds (The Next Generation)

Another two-parter, this time part one was the last episode of the third season and the first episode of the fourth, which is a pretty clever marketing ploy. This storyline is a daring one , and beloved by fans and critics alike. This time the Borg was at the Federation's doorstep, ready to conquer earth. Their plan was to use Jean-Luc Picard, now as the Borg drone Locutus, as their emissary to do so.

This wasn't just a chilling story about the implications of a Borg takeover, both as individuals and also on a global scale, but there was a crucial glimmer of hope here. The possibility that Borg drones could be rescued and recovered was what raised the stakes in this episode as viewers wondered if their beloved Captain Picard would be lost forever.

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'Make it so': Star Trek: The Next Generation's 25 best episodes, ranked

These are the best adventures of Captain Picard's  TNG  crew.

No one expected Star Trek to last longer than the original series’ first three seasons, let alone 55 years. 

Even by 1960s standards, the classic show suffered from low-budget sets and, at times, cheesy effects. But what it lacked in spectacle it made up for with ideas; a thematically-rich exploration of heady sci-fi concepts bolstered by occasional space-based action and some of the finest TV characters ever assembled. Trek ’s legacy would endure and spawn 13 feature films and several series, most notably Star Trek: The Next Generation , which is as popular now (or more) than it has ever been, thanks to streaming. In 2021,  TNG  celebrate some significant milestones: The 30th anniversary of the Season 5 episode "Disaster,"  Trek 's take on disaster movies like  The Poseidon Adventure , the 30th of "Unification, Parts I and II, which marked Mr. Spock's return to television prior to the theatrical release of 1991's  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , and  Star Trek: First Contact  recently turned 25. 

With everyone coming up  Star Trek: The Next Generation  lately, as well as the franchise itself celebrating its 55th anniversary this year, SYFY WIRE scrolled through our databanks to rank and file the 25 greatest episodes of  TNG . 

25. “Q Who?” (Season 2)

The Borg have never been more scary than they are in “Q Who?”, their first appearance in Star Trek .

When Q is denied a spot amongst Picard’s crew, he punishes the captain’s perceived short-sightedness by snapping his fingers and sending the Enterprise to the unexplored reaches of the Delta Quadrant. There, Picard encounters — and barely escapes — the Borg and their relentless pursuit of perfection by means of assimilation. The moment their cube vessel cuts out a section of the D’s saucer as easily as one would carve a roast, the Borg instantly shot past the Klingons as Star Trek ’s most lethal adversary. Our introduction to the Borg is both bleak and dark, which gives the episode a slow burn, almost haunted house movie-type feel thanks to future X-Files director Rob Bowman’s dread-filled visual style. For the first time on Star Trek , you don’t know how or if the crew will get out of this one. The tension therein makes for one hell of an episode. 

24. “The Next Phase” (Season 5)

“The Next Phase” is further proof that, when it comes to delivering high-concept entertainment, no Trek show did it better than The Next Generation .  

With a plotline rich enough to sustain an entire feature, “Next Phase” pairs the conflict-heavy Ensign Ro (Michelle Forbes) with LeVar Burton’s Geordi LaForge on a mission to free themselves from being phased out of reality before Romulans destroy the Enterprise. Forbes and Burton’s committed performances help ground the out-there premise as the sci-fi complications build to a race-against-time conclusion that is so satisfying, you might catch yourself applauding in approval. 

23. “Ensign Ro” (Season 5)

Season Five’s “Ensign Ro” had the unenviable task of introducing the episode’s titular recurring character as means to tee up the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine spinoff. While more plot heavy than usual TNG episodes, Michael Piller’s teleplay delicately balances out the exposition with essential character development scenes between the infamous Ro Laren and her new captain, Picard.

When we first meet the Bajoran Ro, everything about her says “stay away.” Her rebellious Starfleet record precedes her when she first boards Enterprise, which leads to instant friction between her and Riker as Picard recruits Ro for a mission that concerns her people and their enemy, a Nazi-like occupational force known as the Cardassians. Ro quickly became a fan-favorite, thanks to Forbes’ sympathetic and charming performance in what would become a load-bearing episode for the franchise’s expansion in the ‘90s. 

22. “Brothers” (Season 4)

This Season 4 entry fleshes out Data’s backstory with a one-man show for Brent Spiner as he plays three different characters: Data, his very old creator, Dr. Noonien Soong, and Data’s very evil brother, Lore. 

After Data inexplicably orchestrates a fake disaster aboard the Enterprise and takes control of the ship’s computer, he confronts both the father he thought was long lost and the brother he can’t seem to lose. Soong wants to give Data an emotion chip, to finish what he started before he dies, just as Data’s family reunion jeopardizes the health of a young boy under Dr. Crusher’s care. If Data doesn’t relinquish control of the Enterprise, this kid will die and his brother will suffer from a lifelong case of survivor’s guilt. Looking past the fact that “Brothers” confusingly avoids dealing with any serious questions surrounding Data’s selfish and potentially deadly actions, the episode serves as an extended Emmy reel for Spiner. He effortlessly dons old age makeup and switches between three generations of Data’s family line in what is a definitive moment in the android’s arc. 

21. “Deja Q” (Season 3)

The second best of Q’s visits to the Enterprise, “Deja Q” is a brilliant elevator pitch — what if Q lost his powers — executed to its richest and most dramatically satisfying potential. Stripping Q of his omnipotence gives the mischievous a newfound sense of vulnerability and humility, one he only previously experienced when observing the subjects of his torments. While Q’s appreciation for what it means to be human is brief, it gives John de Lancie interesting opportunities to invest his iconic baddie with more nuance as Q goes from selfless to selfish in this entertaining (and very meme-friendly) outting. 

20. “Reunion” (Season 4)

Worf-centric episodes of TNG like “Reunion” or “Sins of the Father” are to Star Trek what the last two Captain America movies are to Marvel: World-building game changers. “Reunion” pushes major plotlines whose consequences will eventually ripple effect throughout the next three decades of Star Trek , as Worf’s personal vendetta against his rival, the Duras family, brings more intrigue to the Enterprise and tragedy to our favorite Klingon. 

It also pushes Worf into a relationship with his estranged son, Alexander, as the two must learn to live together when a conspiracy that threatens to tear the Klingon Empire apart results in the death of Alexander’s mom and Worf’s over, K'Ehleyr (the scary-talented Suzie Plakson). The mystery plot here clicks into place like safe tumblers, but “Reunion” truly excels in the moments spent with Worf as his obligations as a Starfleet officer get in the way of his code as a Klingon warrior. Especially when, during one of Trek ’s darkest moments, Worf exercises his right to avenge his one true love by straight-up murdering her dishonorable killer. 

19. “The Drumhead” (Season 5)

As bottle episodes go, they don’t get much better or more powerful than “The Drumhead.” 

It’s The Crucible on the Enterprise as Picard spars with one of the Federation’s legendary legal minds and investigators when she suspects there is a Romulan conspiracy taking root on the flagship. The circumstances surrounding her suspicions achieve Red Scare-levels of paranoia as TNG puts McCarthyism through a revealing and unyielding sci-fi lens to tell a very timely story of how far people will go to find the truth — even if it means fabricating a version of it. 

18. “Lower Decks” (Season 7)

Before the comedic adventures of the animated Star Trek: Lower Decks , Star Trek ’s first attempt to explore the lives of the rank-and-file officers aboard a starship occurred in “Lower Decks,” one of the few standout episodes from the underwhelming Season 7. 

“Lower Decks” devotes most of its screentime to a small group of pals who aspire to be on the Enterprise bridge or among the senior staff’s away missions. They soon end up in “be-careful-what-you-wish-for” territory when Picard plucks one of the young officers, the Bajoran Ensign Sito (Shannon Fill), to help him execute a dangerous mission involving the Cardassians. “Lower Decks” acts as a pseudo-sequel of sorts to “The First Duty,” where Picard first encountered Sito during a court martial that tarnished the then-cadet’s career before it started. Her chance at redemption via Picard’s mentorship gives the episode its beating heart, which ultimately breaks ours in the final moments when this earnest officer we’ve been rooting for becomes another casualty under Picard’s command. With this final dramatic twist, “Lower Decks” goes from a welcomed departure from TNG ’s usual story template to one of the show’s most effective episodes. 

17. “The First Duty” (Season 5)

Wesley Crusher continues to give Picard more headaches than anyone is worth, but at least this time it results in a standout episode of Trek . 

Ron Moore’s attempt to do A Few Good Men , Star Tre k -style, centers on Crusher and his fellow cadets. On the eve of their graduation from Starfleet Academy, they find themselves in the middle of a tribunal that intends to get to the truth behind why their friend and fellow cadet, Josh, died during a flight exercise. The lies Wesley and his friends tell to escape justice only puts them under more scrutiny when Picard goes digging around the shady circumstances surrounding Josh’s death. That search yields a show-stopping scene between Picard and Wesley, with one hell of a monologue that still gives us chills. “The First Duty” adds some much needed depth and ethical greys to Wesley’s squeaky-clean image, while also affording TNG the rare chance to challenge its “perfect” utopia by proving that even the best of us can succumb to our lesser angels. 

16. “The Defector” (Season 3)

“The Defector” is another exceptional episode from (shocker) writer Ron Moore, which puts a Romulan defector front and center with tragic consequences.

This defector, who Picard struggles to believe is just some low-level officer, risks never seeing his family again in an effort to save his people and Earth’s from what appears to be another costly war brewing between the two adversaries. In the course of vetting the defector’s statements, Picard finds more questions than answers. That investigation comes with one hell of a gut punch: Eventually, the Romulan officer realizes his people betrayed him . They used him as bait, leaking somewhat false information as a way to test his loyalty to the Empire and gleam intelligence off Starfleet’s response to their partial ruse. “The Defector” is a powerful tale of one man’s journey from brave hero to duped traitor, with a mystery plot that keeps audiences at the edge of their seats as the final scenes send them reaching for some tissues. 

15. “Disaster” (Season 5)

Designed as an homage to classic disaster movies like The Poseidon Adventure , Ron Moore’s underrated “Disaster” gives the Enterprise the Irwin Allen treatment when the starship is crippled after a collision with two quantum filaments (think space potholes). With the ship powerless and adrift, “Disaster” splits up the crew and mines their individual crises for maximum tension by putting these characters outside their comfort zone or into conflict-rich pairings. For example, an injured Picard is forced to help and work with people he normally can’t stand, children, while Counsellor Troi finds herself both in command and way over her head as her inexperience clashes with that of the better-trained Ensign Ro. “Disaster” is the rare Trek outing with no moral or lesson to learn, just good ol’ fashioned, keep-the-plates spinning tension that is just as rewatchable as the epic movies that inspired it.

14. “Relics” (Season 6)

The Next Generation thankfully loosened up on its “no classic Star Trek actors” guest star policy for Season 6’s “Relics,” a thrilling episode written by Ron Moore that brings James Doohan’s Scotty into the 24th Century. 

Prior to Scotty, only McCoy and Spock mingled with Picard’s crew, but Scotty’s episode arguably makes the best use out of revisiting these iconic characters. Here, Scotty struggles with being a man out of time and a fish out of water when he is thrust into a conflict of engineering styles with Geordi as the two must work together to free the Enterprise-D from the massive confines of a Dyson sphere. The episode spends considerable time contrasting the two engineer’s styles, giving Doohan more meaty acting moments in this one hour than any episode or movie did before. Scotty, accustomed to saving the day and with plenty of old war stories to prove it, quickly realizes he’s less of an asset on this Enterprise and more of a has-been. He begins to find his place and relevance once again by sharing a drink with Picard on the bridge of The Original Series ’ Enterprise (albeit a holodeck recreation of it).

“Relics” wisely invests Scotty with a rich exploration of what would really happen if one of the 23rd Century’s most famous heroes finds himself questioning his usefulness in the 24th Century. Moore’s script uses one Trek icon to push and challenge his TNG equivalent, giving fans one of the show’s most exciting adventures.

13. “Chain of Command, Parts I & II” (Season 6)

“Chain of Command” is arguably TNG ’s darkest hour, and one of its most thrilling. This two-parter kicks off with one of the shortest teasers in Trek history: Captain Picard loses command of the Enterprise when Starfleet re-assigns him to lead a Black Ops-esque team on a mission deep into enemy territory. That enemy? The Cardassians. Picard’s job is to find out if these baddies are creating a deadly bio-weapon and but his mission goes sideways; he is soon captured and tortured as a POW by a sadistic Cardassian (David Warner) as Riker bristles against the brash command stylings of Picard’s replacement, Captain Jellico ( RoboCop ’s Ronnie Cox.) 

The second half of this intense storyline is the strongest and most memorable for fans, as it features the infamous “There are four lights!” interrogation scene. Here, a gaunt and delirious Picard combats his captor’s psychological torture as the Cardassian gaslights Picard into submission by promising him freedom if Jean-Luc will admit he sees five lights when there are only four. This battle of wills is fraught with more tension than any space battle could muster, as “Chain of Command” provides a sobering dose of political commentary by tackling the issues of war crimes and genocide in ways only Star Trek could.

12. “The Wounded” (Season 4)

The first appearance of the villainous Cardassians (complete with their funky and quickly-abandoned head gear) is Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s sci-fi take on Coppola’s Apocalypse Now . Only instead of venturing “up river” to terminate a rogue colonel, Picard and Chief O’Brien (Colm Meany) are forced to work with “the bloody Cardys” in pursuit of O’Brien’s former captain, Maxwell ( Shawshank Redemption ’s Bob Gunton). Maxwell has seemingly gone rogue, using his starship to attack what appears to be non-military Cardassian targets.

O’Brien, having fought the Cardassians during a violent war years ago, must grapple with his hate and his duty in an episode that gives the supporting character his first real dramatic showcase. When O’Brien finally has some alone time with the cornered and defeated Maxwell, “The Wounded” earns its namesake as the two sing a melancholic song after sharing war stories of comrades lost that Maxwell’s vengeful PTSD can’t ever bring back. This haunting scene tugs on the heartstrings moments before Picard discovers that the supply ships Maxwell attacked were indeed part of Cardassian efforts to re-arm themselves. It is a revelation that validates Maxwell’s career-ending crusade while also giving the episode one of Trek ’s most bittersweet finales. 

11. “The Offspring” (Season 3)

Data’s earnest endeavors to be more human reach a turning point in “The Offspring,” an emotionally-charged episode of TNG where Data creates his daughter, Lal. 

Just as the android bonds with his child, a veteran Starfleet admiral arrives on Enterprise threatening to pull them apart when he challenges their right to be a family at all. Star Trek: TNG often finds success in exploring Data’s humanity

through the lens of the very humans who would try and take it away from him. “The Offspring” offers an excellent and tearful portrayal of that conflict as the crew comes to their friend’s aid just as Lal suffers a life-threatening issue. It’s a five-boxes-of-tissues affair when Data and the admiral work offscreen to save Lal. No matter how fast Data’s hands move, they fail to prevent Data from having to learn the hardest of humanity’s lessons: Loss. 

10. “Measure of a Man” (Season 2)

Real talk: Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s first two seasons are noble misfires. Their weekly installments have more lows than highs, but one of the few outstanding hours from the series’ early days is the Data-centric “Measure of a Man.” 

When another jerkoff Starfleet scientist comes looking to dissect Data to see what makes him tick, Picard must defend his officer’s sentience in court, and settle once and for all if this android is indeed alive or merely Federation property. The stakes couldn’t be higher — Data either gets to live on the Enterprise or under a microscope — and the drama that unfolds from this classic Star Trek premise is riveting. “Measure of a Man,” Melinda M. Sondgrass’ first writing credit for the show, is full of great dialogue and speeches that spark numerous ethical debates: Who is Starfleet to say that Data is sentient or not? Is their mission to explore new life or to play God when they find it? “Measure” never shies away from debating such topics, which have always been at the heart of Star Trek . It all builds to Picard’s passionate, climactic defense in favor of his colleague and friend — a scene that ranks near the top of Patrick Stewart’s long list of great acting achievements.

9. “Darmok” (Season 5) 

Credit: © Paramount Television/courtesy Everett Collection

Picard’s diplomatic skills are put to the test in “Darmok,” when he is taken against his will and paired with an alien commander who only communicates via metaphor. This “only-on- Star-Trek ” premise offers a potential minefield of narrative obstacles that could easily derail the drama in their execution, but Joe Menosky’s exceptional script for this Season Five episode pulls it off effortlessly. 

Picard, stranded on a mysterious planet with Dathon (Paul Winfield), quickly finds that language can be both a tool and a barrier for success, but only after failing several times in his attempt to communicate with his new alien friend. The two can hear each other's words, but not comprehend their meaning, which eventually leads to one of Picard’s finest moments: A campfire story recounting the tale of Gilgamesh. (But only after Dathon tells the mythic story of Darmok and Jalad, at Tanagra). Here, the two strangers forge a strong alliance — just in time to combat a savage threat. “Darmok” deservedly takes its time to tell a story about how similar we are despite our linguistic differences, and every rewatch of this seminal TNG episode never fails to make that point resonate as deeply as it did when it first aired. 

8. “I, Borg” (Season 5)

The value of life has been a thematic staple of many Star Trek episodes, but few have tackled it with the high-stakes drama like “I, Borg” does.

When the crew of the Enterprise finds an injured Borg drone, Picard must make a choice: Nurse it back to health or use it as a Trojan Horse that can infect the Borg Collective with a fatal virus. When Picard leans closer to condemning this Borg’s life to save millions of others, “I, Borg” thrusts the captain and his crew into a passionate moral debate that results in one of the series’ most powerful moments when Picard confronts the naive drone, one that Geordi has affectionately named “Hugh”. Up until this moment, Picard was hellbent on using Hugh to destroy the alien race that once assimilated him. But the captain has a change of heart while talking to Hugh as Locutus, Picard’s former Borg self. Here, Hugh breaks from the collective by speaking firmly from the “I” instead of “we,” which sends Picard into a wrestling match with his conscience. 

Star Trek rarely colors its heroes in such dark shades, but “I, Borg” succeeds by realistically portraying how someone like Picard isn’t wrong , per say, for wanting to kill those that turned him into a killer. For wanting to punish the Borg for crimes against humanity (and the galaxy) that they have committed and will likely commit again. But can you still be a hero if you do to your enemy what they did to you, and alter and weaponize them? “I, Borg” argues that there are no easy answers to those questions, but the discussion they spark makes for a very profound hour of television. 

7. “Tapestry” (Season 6)

Star Trek goes full It’s a Wonderful Life with “Tapestry”, which is arguably the best of the standalone Q episodes.

After a near-death experience, Picard is shown the life he could have lived had he played it more “safe” in his youth. The path not taken leads Picard away from command and into a blue uniform with a career so unremarkable, even Troi struggles to find something nice to say about it. On the road to nowhere fast, Picard turns to Q for a second chance to get back the only life he knows, even if it means dying to get it. “Tapestry,” written by the inestimable Ron Moore, takes an almost Twilight Zone -y approach in telling this story, which is full of heartfelt moments and surprisingly laugh-out-loud comedy. The lesson Picard learns here, about how rewarding taking risks can be, is a universal one — which explains why "Tapestry" often finds its way near the top of fans’ “must-watch” lists. 

6. “Family” (Season 4)

Honestly, it’s a mini miracle that “Family” got made. 

Before this exceptional episode from TNG ’s fourth season, the series largely steered clear from serialized storytelling. At the time, executive producer Rick Berman and Paramount television were strongly against “sequelizing” any TNG storylines; “no serialized stories” was an unofficial “rule” of television back then. But writer Ronald D. Moore thankfully saw an opportunity to break that rule with a story that he couldn’t pass up: How would Picard deal with the emotional fallout of his time with the Borg? 

With no phaser battles or even a trip to the Enterprise bridge (the only episode in Star Trek ’s run to never have a scene set on the command deck), “Family” pulls off an engrossing hour of television that peels back the curtain on who Picard was, and who he is struggling to be, in the the aftermath of the two-parter “Best of Both Worlds”. Mostly set on Earth, the episode introduces Picard’s family vineyard into Trek canon, as Picard confronts his estranged brother and debates whether or not to leave Starfleet. The only person who can help Picard deal with his trauma is the last person he can stand being with, his brother. Only through their constant bickering does Picard find a sense of satisfying resolution, which gives Stewart one of his most heartbreaking scenes when he finally acknowledges the emotional scars the Borg left him with. 

5. “Cause & Effect” (Season 5)

After a jarring teaser that culminates with the fiery destruction of the Enterprise, “Cause & Effect” unfolds with time loop after time loop as Picard and his crew struggle to free themselves from suffering the same terrible fate. 

Written by Brannon Braga, TNG ’s go-to scribe for high-concept stories, “Cause & Effect” pulls a Groundhog Day two years before the movie was even a thing. It breaks the show’s traditional storytelling mold by repeating the same disaster and making each loop through a new puzzle that both the audience and the crew must solve. Fans were so “in it” with their favorite characters that many called their local affiliates during the original broadcast with concern that something was wrong with the satellite feed as the episode kept repeating scenes. While audiences take the “time loop concept” for granted today, “Cause & Effect” pioneered it in a way that still registers as one of its best and most entertaining executions. 

4. “The Inner Light” (Season 5)

This surprising tearjerker ranks high for fans, thanks in large part to Patrick Stewart’s compelling performance as “The Inner Light” explores the concept of being a living witness to an extinct civilization. In this classic episode, Picard finds himself living the life of a long-deceased man named Kamin, after being zapped by a probe that is seemingly all that remains of Kamin’s civilization. 

The probe allows Picard to live a lifetime in 20 minutes, and experience all the things Picard denies himself to be — namely a husband and a father. The majority of the episode takes place on an alien world as it is slowly undone by Star Trek ’s equivalent of global warming, with Kamin trying to help save his planet from pending doom the way Jor-El tried with Krypton. And like his Superman counterpart, Kamin fails — but he succeeds in providing a glimpse into a society that, while being nothing more than a blip in the galaxy’s grand scheme, still has a legacy worth being remembered. That’s the heartfelt and poignant endnote “Inner Light” imparts on viewers, which explains why this episode still resonates decades after it first aired.

3. “Yesterday’s Enterprise” (Season 3) 

When the long lost Enterprise-C travels through a (what else?) temporal anomaly that alters history, Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D find themselves in the darkest timeline and at war with the Klingons. The only way to stop this war is to send the C’s Captain Garrett back to when she came from and change history. The only catch? In order to save millions of lives, nearly everyone aboard the Enterprise-C must sacrifice theirs.  

That moral and ethical dilemma at the heart of “Yesterday’s Enterprise” makes this hour more than just a novel “What If…?” detour for the show to explore. It affords TNG a chance to give its main characters a more desperate edge as they debate the notions of fate as participants in a reality that should not exist. At the heart of this drama is Picard, who is more militant and beleaguered than ever as he debates with Whoopi Goldberg’s Guinan (and her time-sensitive intuition) about whether or not to send the other Enterprise’s crew to certain death. 

The return of Denise Crosby’s Tasha Yar gives her character the proper (and heroic) sendoff she deserves, which gets complicated as Tasha falls in love with a member of the C’s crew around the same time she discovers she died in the original Enterprise-D timeline. The internal struggle over restoring the way things were meant to be, by sacrificing lives history already recorded as lost, is a classic Star Trek premise that “Yesterday’s Enterprise” explores to a very satisfying, and action-packed, conclusion. 

2. “The Best of Both Worlds, Parts I & II” (Season 3 & 4) 

Star Trek ’s first-ever season-finale cliffhanger is one of television’s greatest. More than three decades later, fans still get chills at the end of “Best of Both Worlds, Part I” when Riker gives the chilling order to “fire” on the Borgified version of his former Captain Picard. 

The wait for this iconic storyline’s resolution made the Summer of 1990 a very long and agonizing one for Trek fans, but it was worth it. “Best of Both Worlds, Part I” has TNG mining similar character drama as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan did, with Commander Riker forced to confront why he keeps passing up one promotion to Captain after another — just as his Captain is taken by the Borg in a violent attempt to turn Picard into Locutus, the public face of their campaign to assimilate Earth and all of humanity. The episode is a nail-biter, thanks to a perfect script from the late writer Michael Piller. The former TNG showrunner takes a bigger-than-usual swing with the characters to tell a story somewhat outside of the series’ comfort zone. While “Part II” falls a bit short of the dramatic highs of “Part I,” it finds great success in dramatizing the crew’s struggle to get their Captain back (even if their final solution is ultimately more convenient than inspired.)

The Enterprise crew’s second encounter with the evil cybernetic beings would have consequences throughout the next 30-plus years of Star Trek , especially in 1996’s Star Trek: First Contact . The hit movie serves as a big-screen, action packed therapy session for Picard to deal with the trauma of his assimilation into the Borg collective.

1. “All Good Things…” (Season 7)

“All Good Things…” is the best Star Trek series finale ever and The Next Generation ’s crowning achievement. 

Written by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore, “All Good Things” proved to be a better cinematic-worthy adventure than The Next Generation crew’s first movie, Star Trek: Generations . The briskly plotted, feature-length episode — and its complex storyline involving paradoxes and second chances — finds a disoriented Picard struggling to uncover why he is moving back and forth through time. He slips in and out of three key time periods: The past, just before the launch of Enterprise-D’s first mission; the present, and the future. In the future, Picard is a very retired, very old man, who runs his family’s vineyard. He also is afflicted with a debilitating neurological syndrome that makes it hard for his former shipmates to believe him when he starts pulling a Sliders across multiple timelines. Picard’s mission — which, of course, is being manipulated by the omnipotent Q — forces the captain to convince all three versions of his crew to work together in each timeline in order to stop an anomaly from unraveling existence as we know it. 

TNG gives the beloved cast and their characters a perfect final episode that brings them together as a family in ways the series left surprisingly unexplored for most of its run. As impressive as the action is in “All Good Things”, especially the scene where the futuristic Enterprise-D flies on its Z-axis while blasting newly-mounted phaser cannons, the episode’s best scenes are the quieter ones spent with these characters. The finale truly shines in its final moments, when Picard joins his crew for the first time at their regular poker game. Picard’s arrival at the poker table resonates with his crew as deeply as it does for fans, which is a testament to the finale’s commitment to giving Next Generation the emotional send off it deserves. 

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The 10 Best 'Star Trek' Episodes Ever

Best 'star trek' episodes.

With five live-action TV series, each ranging from three to seven seasons, there's been a ton of great "Star Trek" over the years. Here are 10 episodes — two from each live-action series — that we rank as the best. In each of these episodes, you're guaranteed to learn something about the "Star Trek" universe and, in some cases, even challenge your own moral beliefs about right and wrong.

10. "Regeneration," 2003 ("Star Trek: Enterprise")

The Borg's terrifying powers of assimilation are tough enough to face when you're in a starship with weapons on board. But what about if they were discovered on your own planet? "Regeneration" shows what happens when Borg are found above the Arctic Circle on Earth, facing a fairly unprepared group of people — remember, "Enterprise" is a prequel series and takes place just as starship travel begins. The creative methods "Enterprise" used in fighting the Borg are fun to watch.

9. "Equinox," 1999 ("Star Trek: Voyager")

As fans of the series know, the premise of "Voyager" is that the crew becomes stranded some 75 years' travel away from home. By Season 6, we are pretty confident that the crew has well assimilated (so to speak) this knowledge, but they come across a ship in the same quadrant that has more questionable methods in dealing with the problem. We see the stranded ship engage in subterfuge in this two-parter during the Season 6 finale and Season 7 premiere, which reminds us of how badly "Voyager" could have gone with a different crew. While "Star Trek" only touched on this theme briefly in "Voyager," mutiny by crews is also explored a few times in the series "Battlestar Galactica" in the 2000s.

8. "Borderland" / "Cold Station 12'' / "The Augments," 2004 ("Star Trek: Enterprise")

This incredible trio of episodes has some throwbacks to "Star Trek: The Next Generation" — mentions of Dr. Arik Soong, the grandfather of Data's creator, for instance — as well as the original "Star Trek," with some oblique references to the noted villain Khan . While these episodes came too late in the run of "Enterprise" to save the series from cancellation, they did show some creative flair with "Star Trek" lore, with the addition of references to genetic engineering, a hot topic in the current affairs of the time.

7. "Emissary," 1993 ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine")

Pilots of "Star Trek" series are often unbearable to watch, but this one is an interesting exception. Viewers saw an interesting puzzle early in the two-part episode. The beloved Capt. Jean-Luc Picard of "The Next Generation" is portrayed as an enemy to Benjamin Sisko, the man considering taking the position of commander on "Deep Space Nine"; the conflict stemmed from a Borg attack and the death of Sisko's wife. There's nothing better than starting a new series with a moral quandary for fans to argue about. [ 'Star Trek' Stars Celebrate 50 Years of Hope at Comic-Con ]

6. "Living Witness," 1998 ("Star Trek: Voyager")

Writing history is never a neutral process, as there are so many viewpoints to consider. At times, countries must come to grips with the mistakes of their past that their ancestors may have actually believed were victories. In "Living Witness," the holographic doctor of "Voyager" is reactivated about 700 years after the series' events take place. He sees a museum exhibit that talks about the "warship Voyager" and some things the starship did that this museum portrays as extremely negative; the doctor then spends most of the episode trying to set the record straight, as he was there at the time.

5. "In the Pale Moonlight," 1998 ("Star Trek: Deep Space Nine")

Here, an Enterprise crewmember turns bad — but for the greater good. Commander Benjamin Sisko decides that he needs to bring the Romulans, a noted enemy of the Federation, onto the Federation's side to win a greater war. Immediately, the unprepared Sisko is thrown into a situation where he needs to ally with a Cardassian spy, a former prison convict and other unsavory characters to get the job done. We'll let you watch the episode to find out the conclusion, but let it be known that Sisko does break a few rules in his quest — and that he still thinks it's the best choice, even though he has some moral qualms about it.

4. "The Best of Both Worlds," 1990 ("Star Trek: The Next Generation")

The Borg — a race that assimilates everything that comes into its way into a vast collective — make an unexpected invasion of an area that is supposed to be reserved for the United Federation of Planets, which the USS Enterprise represents. Through a series of complicated events, the starship comes face-to-face with the Borg, and Picard is captured, ultimately becoming assimilated by the aliens. This season ended on a cliffhanger, with Picard — calling himself "Locutus of Borg" — ordering the USS Enterprise to surrender and assimilate. The cliffhanger, considered a huge shocker at the time, set up several other Borg-related episodes as well as the movie "Star Trek: First Contact" (1996). [ The Evolution of 'Star Trek' (Infographic) ]

3. "The Menagerie," 1966 ("Star Trek: The Original Series")

This two-part episode plays on our expectations of Spock, a logical Vulcan alien who usually runs things exactly by the book. In an uncharacteristic maneuver, the Vulcan kidnaps his former commander, Christopher Pike. He sets the Enterprise on course to Talos IV — a planet that Spock well knows is off-limits for Federation officers — and then Spock voluntarily assents to a court martial to talk about why. "The Menagerie" is noteworthy not only for playing with our expectations of reality but also for a creative use of old footage. A large part of the episode reruns parts of "The Cage," the original pilot for "Star Trek." That pilot was ultimately scrapped, and the series launched with an almost entirely rebooted set of main characters. [ What I Learned by Watching Every 'Star Trek' Show and Movie ]

2. "The Trouble with Tribbles," 1967 ("Star Trek: The Original Series")

Tribbles are an adorable species — fuzzy, small, almost like a spherical teddy bear — that have an unfortunate ability to reproduce. After the crew receives a single Tribble, generations of Tribbles quickly begin to take over the USS Enterprise, soon crowding the crewmembers out of their own quarters. Before long, the Tribbles start getting into the food stores and consuming anything edible on the Enterprise. The ultimate solution to the problem is creative. And don't worry — you don't see anything bad happen to these cuties. In the meantime, you can enjoy the hilarity, including a wonderful scene where a shower of Tribbles drops onto Capt. James T. Kirk's head.

1. "The Measure of a Man," 1989 ("Star Trek: The Next Generation")

"Star Trek" turns its attention to the android Data in a heartbreaking episode about how easily human rights can be disregarded for those who are a bit different. Data, we are informed, is going to be disassembled so that Cmdr. Maddox (a Starfleet cyberneticist) can study him. Data, naturally, is not pleased with this prospect and would like to resign, but he's told he can't because Starfleet considers him property. This sets the stage for a riveting legal drama, where Capt. Jean-Luc Picard represents Data's interests and Cmdr. William Riker is pressed into reluctantly representing Maddox's side.

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Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, " Why Am I Taller ?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews
• Episode aired May 9, 1992

The Enterprise finds a lone Borg drone, separated from the collective, and brings him aboard. The drone begins to reassert his individuality, but his presence causes differing levels of fear... Read all The Enterprise finds a lone Borg drone, separated from the collective, and brings him aboard. The drone begins to reassert his individuality, but his presence causes differing levels of fear and sympathy from various crew members. The Enterprise finds a lone Borg drone, separated from the collective, and brings him aboard. The drone begins to reassert his individuality, but his presence causes differing levels of fear and sympathy from various crew members.

• Robert Lederman
• Gene Roddenberry
• René Echevarria
• Brannon Braga
• Patrick Stewart
• Jonathan Frakes
• LeVar Burton
• 22 User reviews
• 11 Critic reviews

• Captain Jean-Luc Picard

• Commander William Thomas 'Will' Riker

• Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge

• Lieutenant Worf

• Dr. Beverly Crusher

• Counselor Deanna Troi

• Lieutenant Commander Data

• Third of Five …

• Ensign Gates
• (uncredited)
• Crewman Nelson
• Crewman Garvey
• Crewman Martinez
• Ensign Kellogg

• Operations Division Ensign

• Science Division Officer
• Crewman Diana Giddings
• Command Ensign
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia In a 2002 TV Guide Magazine commemorating the 35th anniversary of Star Trek (1966) , I, Borg ranked 5th among the greatest episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) .
• Goofs In the scene in which Geordi names 3rd of 5 "Hugh", 3rd of 5 asks, "Do I have a name?" Rather than, "Do we have a name?"

Third of Five : We are Borg.

Guinan : Aren't you gonna tell me you have to assimilate me?

Third of Five : You wish to be assimilated?

Guinan : No, but that's what you... things do, isn't it?

[the Borg nods]

Guinan : Resistance is futile?

Third of Five : Resistance is futile.

Guinan : It isn't. My people resisted when the Borg came, to assimilate us. Some of us survived.

Third of Five : Resistance... is not futile?

Guinan : No. But thanks to you, there are very few of us left. We're scattered throughout the galaxy. We don't even have a home anymore.

Third of Five : What you are saying... is that you are lonely.

Guinan : What?

Third of Five : You have no others. You have no home. We... are also lonely.

• Connections Featured in Trek Nation (2011)
• Soundtracks Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews 22

• planktonrules
• Nov 25, 2014
• May 9, 1992 (United States)
• Official site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 46 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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The Best of Both Worlds (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 Production history
• 4.2.1 Script edits
• 4.3 Sets, props, and wardrobe
• 4.4 Cast and characters
• 4.5 Production
• 4.6 Visual effects
• 4.8 Continuity and trivia
• 4.9 Reception and aftermath
• 4.10 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Guest Stars
• 5.4 Special Guest Star
• 5.5 Uncredited Co-Stars
• 5.6 Stunt doubles
• 5.7 Stand-ins
• 5.8.1 Script references
• 5.9 Sources
• 5.10 External links

Summary [ ]

The remains of New Providence

Commander Riker , Data , Worf , and Geordi La Forge file into a transporter room . Worf notifies Riker that there has been no contact from the surface of Jouret IV for over twelve hours, nor are there any signs of life on the surface. Immediately after the away team is beamed down by Transporter Chief Miles O'Brien , the team finds not only that the entire colony of New Providence has been completely destroyed but also that the colony's former town center is now nothing more than a giant crater .

Act One [ ]

As the USS Enterprise travels alongside an Excelsior -class starship , Hanson and Shelby inform Captain Picard and Riker – in Picard's ready room – that Starfleet is currently unprepared for a potential Borg incursion, despite having known for over a year that they are coming. The officers discuss whether the colony was destroyed by the Borg and refer to the Enterprise 's first contact with them, at System J-25 a year previously. Hanson asserts that Shelby – an expert on the Borg – will lead the investigation. She is eager to view the colony site, but the next away mission there will not be until dawn.

Before leaving with Shelby, Riker invites Hanson to the Enterprise 's poker night

Before taking Shelby to her quarters , Riker invites Hanson to the Enterprise 's upcoming poker night but the admiral instead recommends Shelby as a rumored poker player, as he and Picard have much to discuss. Alone with Picard, Hanson details his approval of Shelby. He tries to encourage the captain to accept her as his first officer and convince Riker to assume captaincy of the USS Melbourne , a command offer that Picard was heretofore unaware of and follows two previous proposals – the USS Drake and the USS Aries – that Riker has declined. Hanson suggests that Picard should kick Riker in the rear end for his own good and notes that his staying on the Enterprise is hurting his career.

Entering her quarters with Riker, Shelby reveals she has an uncertain theory about how to search for the Borg, extrapolating a "Borg footprint" from their previous encounter with the Enterprise . Unusual magnetic resonance traces were left on the damaged sections of the Enterprise 's hull that were tested. Shelby then select away team members for the forthcoming mission, and Riker interjects that not only has he already assigned the crew members she asked for to the away team, but that he will be joining the team himself. Shelby lets Riker know that she wants his job but then apologetically claims she was unaware that he has no intention of leaving the Enterprise . Riker responds that she will be the first to know if he does decide to leave. On his way out of the quarters, Riker tells Shelby the details of that night's poker game.

Later, Wesley Crusher , Deanna Troi , Data, and Geordi La Forge are in attendance at the game, which results in Riker fooling Wesley – inexperienced at poker – into suspecting that Riker has an impressive hand. However, Shelby suspects Riker is bluffing and calls him on it, winning the game, to Riker's chagrin.

The next morning, Riker learns from O'Brien that she and Data beamed down to the colony an hour beforehand. On the planet's surface, he authoritatively draws her away.

Data is confused by Shelby's statement that the "early bird gets the worm" and confers with La Forge, saying she made a mistake because there are no " avifaunal or vermicular lifeforms" found on Jouret IV. La Forge tells Data that's not what she meant, but she did make an error.

Shelby privately tells Riker that her expediency was due to an approaching storm front that could have potentially affected their readings and because Data was available to beam down right away. Riker reminds her of regulations, of which she takes note. Shelby reports that the area's soil contains their Borg footprint, confirming that the colony's decimation was due to the Borg.

Act Two [ ]

" Will… what the hell are you still doing here? "

With the Enterprise now in a solitary orbit , Riker notifies Picard of the efforts being made to ready the ship and Starfleet for the impending Borg invasion. When Picard asks for his assessment of Shelby, Riker admits that she knows her stuff but has not earned his full confidence, noting her initiative and taking risks. Humorously, Picard indirectly likens those qualities to a younger Riker. The captain then questions why Riker is still on the Enterprise , since he's been offered command of the Melbourne , noting it as a fine ship. Although Riker answers that he has decided not to pursue that commission, Picard lengthily urges him to reconsider, noting that he is ready to take command and that the Enterprise will be just fine without him.

Riker confides in Troi

Later in Ten Forward , Riker discusses his uncertainty while seated with Counselor Troi at a table, noting that he has pushed himself hard and sacrificed much (implying with a gesture that he means even having ended their romance) to get where he is, had always said he wanted his own command, and yet he's now hesitating. As he considers reasons why he is still aboard the ship, Troi doubts each one. He agrees with Picard that there is a similarity between Shelby and his younger self, and wonders why he seems to have lost attributes that he liked about himself but that she now possesses – such as impatience, ambition, and risk-taking. Troi reassures him that, on the contrary, he has matured and thereby gained more than he realizes. He is much more comfortable with himself, though Riker wonders if he's too comfortable. She's not sure what he means by that, but she does know that he's happier than he's ever been. Giving him pause for thought, she asks him what he really wants.

In engineering , Shelby and a team that includes Data, Geordi La Forge and Wesley Crusher deduce that a Borg cube 's systems are likely interconnected, like the Borg themselves. The team debates their own ship's available technologies, but La Forge and Crusher confess to being overly tired. Riker decides to call it a night and they'll reconvene tomorrow at 0500 hours. Despite Shelby wanting to continue working with Data who does not require rest, Riker insists otherwise, due to the team's exhaustion and that he doesn't want the crew fighting the Borg at the same time they're fighting their own fatigue. Shelby insists that she can keep on working by herself, but Riker dismisses her.

The next day, most of the ship's senior officers are in the observation lounge while Admiral Hanson remotely notifies them that the USS Lalo recently reported (via a distress call) contact with an alien, "cube-shaped" vessel but subsequently went missing. On Picard's direction, the Enterprise starts to head there at maximum warp. Meanwhile, Hansen informs Picard that every available starship is en route to assist the Enterprise but are still six days away from their destination. Picard vows that the Enterprise will try to keep the Borg occupied and Hanson then ends his message. While some of the senior officers exit to man their battle stations , Picard questions La Forge about the Enterprise 's state of combat readiness, but the engineer relates that the situation seems grim. He does tell Picard that they will retune the phasers to a higher EM base emitting frequency to try to disrupt the Borg's subspace field. La Forge notes that it is a shot in the dark when asked by Picard of the plan's effectiveness, but La Forge tells the captain it is the best they can do.

" We have engaged the Borg. "

With the Enterprise continuing at warp, the bridge officers later detect the invading Borg cube, which moves to intercept the Starfleet vessel. Picard instructs Worf that Hanson is to be contacted with news that the engagement has begun.

Act Three [ ]

The Enterprise under attack by the Borg

Picard is personally hailed by the Borg. Data is unsure if the cube is the same ship the Enterprise encountered at J-25 but says their dimensions match exactly. The Borg demand that Picard surrender to them, influencing the bridge officers to realize that the Borg's priorities have changed from an interest exclusively in technology. Picard defiantly refuses and continues to threaten the Borg to withdraw. A skirmish ensues, in which the cube makes an eventually successful attempt to trap the Enterprise in a tractor beam . Whereas the Enterprise 's weapons do no damage to the cube, the Borg's use of a cutting beam on the secondary hull forces La Forge to evacuate engineering. Shelby tells Data to target the cube with random phaser frequencies, which sever the tractor allowing the Enterprise to get away. On a course set by Picard, the ship speedily departs, pursued by the cube moments later. La Forge arrives on the bridge, while Data reports that eleven crewmembers were killed when the Borg attacked, along with eight more missing. Picard supervises the ship's entry into the sensor-blinding Paulson Nebula , a hiding spot into which the cube does not follow.

Riker, Shelby, and the engineering team in the observation lounge review their escape from the cube's tractor beam, finding that a high narrow band of phaser frequencies momentarily nullified the cube's power. La Forge and Crusher come up with a plan to fire a concentrated blast of those same frequencies from the main deflector dish , the only component on the ship capable of handling that much power at controlled frequencies. Shelby fears that such a blast will also destroy the Enterprise , but Riker proposes that the plan could still work, if some distance was put between the ship and its target. Although Riker approves Shelby's suggestion to retune all phasers to the same band of frequencies, he repeatedly dismisses her recommending that they separate the vessel's saucer section and use it to divert the Borg. Shelby insists that Captain Picard be given the option of deciding on her proposal, but – after Riker replies that he personally presents all ideas and alternatives to Picard – she finally desists and exits with Data and Wesley, leaving Riker and La Forge to remark on her stubbornness. They nevertheless agree that she can help the Enterprise crew.

Riker later enters Picard's ready room to find Shelby there, having brought her controversial suggestion to the captain. Picard agrees with an uncomfortable Riker that the right time for Shelby's plan is not yet but dictates that her proposed stratagem should be used as a fallback. Riker accepts Picard telling him to make the necessary preparations to enact her plan.

Riker and Shelby board a turbolift via the bridge, but Riker immediately stalls their journey to the battle bridge on Deck 8. He angrily warns Shelby not to bypass his authority again. After he grants her permission to speak freely, she bluntly states that Riker is in her way. Riker mocks her frustration but she then criticizes the cautiousness of his shipboard service, telling him that – if he cannot make the big choices that go with his rank – he should abdicate his position as first officer to someone who can.

Act Four [ ]

While touring the Enterprise (after surveying engineering), Picard visits an empty Ten Forward, where Guinan is puzzled to see that he is awake. He tells her of his tour and, as they converse over the tradition of such a tour, Guinan intuits that Picard is not confident about the imminent clash with the Borg. He admits as much, anticipating that the conflict may spell the end for his civilization. She assures him that – even in the face of almost certain obliteration – Humanity, like her own people have done, will prevail against the Borg by surviving. Explosions outside the ship's hull and a communication from Worf summon the captain to the bridge.

The Borg begin invading the Enterprise

There, Picard learns that the blasts are due to magnetometric guided charges from the Borg cube. Soon thereafter, the Enterprise speeds out of the nebula under Riker's supervision, as requested by Picard, but is struck by one of the charges. The cube gives chase, soon managing to tractor the Enterprise , and Borg intruders begin to transport onto the bridge. Although Worf manages to disable the first with his own phaser, he and Riker are forcefully discarded when they consecutively try to assault a second Borg, who resists Worf's phaser. A third appears beside Picard and restrains the captain before both vanish. He and the two Borg survivors are transported from the bridge, leaving the disabled one to self-destruct. Recovering, Riker and Worf find that the Borg are making a quick getaway, so Riker orders pursuit. O'Brien is unable to beam Picard back, due to interference. Worf discovers that the course the Borg has set will lead them to Sector 001 . Riker grimly identifies the Borg's exact target: Earth .

Picard stands amid the Borg cube

Picard is escorted to face the cube's interior, where the Borg Collective inform him that he has been chosen to become a liaison between the Borg and Humanity, to expedite the assimilation of Earth into the Collective. Picard refuses to comply, saying that Humans would rather die, but the Borg maintain that his efforts to resist them will not succeed.

La Forge meanwhile informs Riker, on the Enterprise 's bridge, that their deflector is nearly weaponized but will require an abundance of power from the warp engines . Riker arranges an away team to retrieve Picard, and, on Shelby's advice, he also prioritizes inducing the cube to drop out of warp before they must disengage their warp drive. Riker plans to lead the away team himself, leaving Shelby to coordinate with Starfleet from the bridge, but she objects that the team could use Shelby's knowledge of the Borg. Riker cuts Shelby off mid-sentence but listens to Troi's objection that protocol dictates that Riker's place is on the bridge, as he is the highest-ranked officer and the Federation is currently in a state of war with the Borg. Reluctantly, he assigns command of the team to Shelby.

Act Five [ ]

After preparing to board the cube, the away team members – Shelby, Worf, Data, and Doctor Crusher – are transported over to the Borg craft, armed with newly retuned phasers. Shelby reminds the team that their phasers will work once or twice before the Borg learn to adapt. Doctor Crusher asks what kind of resistance they should expect. Data replies that the Borg ignored them when they originally beamed aboard their vessel, as they did not see their presence as a threat. Shelby pipes up that may change, should they begin to interfere with their plans. They begin their quest for Picard, whom Worf is unable to detect using a tricorder . As predicted, the Borg take no action against the away team. Doctor Crusher notices a Borg linkup and metaphorically suggests – likening the away team to mosquitoes – that vandalizing the cube's systems could hinder the Borg. In another section of corridor, Data finds more distribution nodes , and Worf's tricorder detects Picard's combadge but the communicator is unresponsive, so the team start heading towards it.

In the Enterprise 's ready room, Riker strongly advises Admiral Hanson – via the room's desktop monitor – that Earth's protection be prioritized. The admiral says his fleet will intercept the Borg at Wolf 359 , where they will make their stand. Riker notifies Hanson of the Enterprise 's situation, worriedly implying to a curious Hanson that there has not yet been any sign of Picard.

In a large drawer, the away team finds Picard's discarded uniform and combadge . Shelby apprises Riker (now on the bridge) of this news, just before he is told – by Wesley and La Forge – that the deflector weapon is ready but that, due to the radiation danger, the forward half of the secondary hull and lowest three decks of the saucer section will require evacuation, which Troi goes to organize. Riker orders the away team to find a way to disengage the cube from warp. Shelby oversees the experimental destruction of one of the distribution nodes, requiring the combined phaser power of Data and Worf. The disturbance influences the Borg to become energized, but the team manages to shatter two more nodes.

The away team's sabotage causes the Borg cube to drop out of warp, a development that Wesley reports on the Enterprise 's bridge, and enables La Forge to divert power from warp to the deflector. Riker supervises final preparations for using the weapon.

Doctor Crusher engaging the Borg

Meanwhile, the away team manages to disable several approaching Borg, but they soon adapt to the modified frequencies. As the Borg close in on the away team, Beverly notices Picard in the distance and calls out to him, but, as the captain turns to face his crew, his features reveal the implementation of Borg implants and hardware throughout his body – he has been physically transformed into a Borg. Worf, shocked, determinedly heads towards his former captain, but a powerful force field blocks his way and knocks Worf to the floor. On Shelby's command, the team makes a hasty escape to the Enterprise , leaving Picard behind.

The members of the away team arrive on the bridge and notify Riker that the captain "has been altered by the Borg," though Worf disgustedly clarifies that Picard is a Borg. Shelby and Doctor Crusher are intent on making another recovery attempt, but, as the Borg cube re-energizes, Riker insists that they instead use their deflector weapon, as this is the only chance to destroy them – should the Borg regain warp drive, the Enterprise 's weapon will become useless. Shelby proposes sabotaging the Borg cube again, and orders Worf to contact Starfleet to consult with Admiral Hanson. Riker refuses both options, saying simply they are out of time.

The Borg then hail the Enterprise . The crew watches in horror as Captain Picard, now calling himself " Locutus of Borg ", intones the Collective's intention  file info to assimilate the Enterprise and destroy the Federation. Determined, and with no other option, Commander Riker makes the ultimate decision: “Mr. Worf…FIRE!"

" Mister Worf… fire. "

TO BE CONTINUED…

Log entries [ ]

• Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2366
• First officer's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)

Memorable quotes [ ]

" The truth of the matter is… hell, we are not ready. We knew they were coming for over a year. We've thrown every resource we have into this, but still… " " Then you are convinced it is the Borg? " " That's what I'm here to find out. The initial descriptions of these surface conditions are almost identical to your reports from system J-25. "

" He's hurting his career by staying put. If I were you, I'd kick him in the rear end for his own good. "

" Well, I've only got two pair, but I've got to see your hole card. I'll call. "

" Morning. Early bird gets the worm, eh? We've had some interesting results. " " Commander Shelby. Walk with me, Commander. " (confused) " Early bird…? I believe Commander Shelby erred. There is no evidence of avifaunal or crawling vermicular lifeforms on Jouret IV. " "That's not what she meant, Data… but you're right: she erred."

" The soil contains the same magnetic resonance traces. That's our footprint. There's no doubt anymore. It is the Borg. "

" Will… what the hell are you still doing here? " " Sir? " " You've been offered the Melbourne . " " I've decided not to pursue that commission at this time. " " She's a fine ship, Will. " " Yes, but she's not the Enterprise . With all due respect, sir, you need me. Particularly now. " " Indeed? Starfleet needs good captains, particularly now. Reconsider your decision. " " Are you telling me to leave, Captain? " " I'm asking you to look at your career objectively. Will, you're ready to work without a net. You're ready to take command. And, you know, the Enterprise will go along just fine without you. "

" Mister Worf, dispatch a subspace message to Admiral Hanson . We have engaged the Borg. "

" Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the starship Enterprise , registry NCC-1701-D, you will lower your shields and prepare to transport yourself aboard our vessel. If you do not co-operate, we will destroy your ship. " " You have committed acts of aggression against the United Federation of Planets! "

" What the hell do they want with you ? " " I thought they weren't interested in Human lifeforms, only our technology. " " Their priorities seem to have changed. "

" You disagree with me, fine. You need to take it to the captain, fine; through me. You do an end run around me again, I'll snap you back so hard you'll think you're a first-year cadet again. " " May I speak frankly, Commander? " " By all means. " " You're in my way. " Really? (Unpleasant smile and sarcastic tone) How terrible for you. "

" I wonder if the Emperor Honorious, watching the Visigoths coming over the seventh hill, could truly realize that the Roman Empire was about to fall. This is just another page in history, isn't it? Will this be the end of our civilization? Turn the page. "

" When it comes to this ship and this crew, you're damned right I play it safe. " " If you can't make the big decisions, Commander, I suggest you make room for someone who can. "

" Captain Jean-Luc Picard, you lead the strongest ship of the Federation fleet. You speak for your people. " " I have nothing to say to you! And I will resist you with my last ounce of strength! " " Strength is irrelevant. Resistance is futile. We wish to improve ourselves. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service ours. " " Impossible! My culture is based on freedom and self-determination! " " Freedom is irrelevant. Self-determination is irrelevant. You must comply. " " We would rather die! " " Death is irrelevant. Your archaic cultures are authority-driven. To facilitate our introduction into your societies, it has been decided that a Human voice will speak for us in all communications. You have been chosen to be that voice. "

" The captain has been altered by the Borg. " " Altered? " " He IS a Borg!

Locutus contacts the Enterprise

" I am Locutus… of Borg. Resistance… is futile. Your life, as it has been… is over. From this time forward… you will service… us. "

Background information [ ]

Production history [ ].

• Pitch memo from Michael Piller : 22 January 1990 [1]
• First draft story outline: 1 March 1990
• First draft story outline distributed: 2 March 1990
• Final draft script : 6 April 1990 [2]
• Patrick Stewart records ADR looping at Modern Sound : 11 May 1990 [3]
• Premiere airdate: 18 June 1990
• First UK airdate: 29 April 1992

Story and script [ ]

Writer Michael Piller on the Borg set of this episode

• Michael Piller was unsure how this episode's two-parter would end when he first sat down to write the episode. He began with the need for a season-ending cliffhanger . ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 130)) Naturally, the episode was designed to create anticipation for the return of the series in the following season. ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• While the Borg had proven popular after their introduction in the second season episode " Q Who ", the writers had struggled to bring them back, noting the problem of writing for a race with no personality. ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 199) In fact, Michael Piller himself had tried throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation ' s third season to devise a new story about the Borg. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 130)) While several of the writing staff suggested creating a "queen bee" to act as a spokesperson, Piller resisted these proposals. He commented, " To me, there was something special and frightening about the Borg that their lack of character brought. For a show that dwells and specializes in character to be challenged and possibly destroyed by a characterless villain seemed, to me, to be a special kind of threat. But when we started talking about the cliffhanger and the Borg, we really did talk about who was going to be the queen bee. " It was Piller who came up with the notion of meeting this requirement by having Picard be assimilated. The writer recalled, " It all just fell into place. I said, 'I've got it. Picard will be the queen bee.' " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 199)
• In an early draft of the story, however, Data and Picard were combined as one Borg unit. Piller recalled, " Someone said why should they do this, and we didn't have a good answer so we dropped that idea. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 199)
• To fill up the rest of the storyline, Piller sought to maintain the Human drama in all the spectacle. ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 199) As a result, the story's central character shifted, in Piller's opinion, from being Picard to Riker. ( Starlog issue #159, p. 42) Piller revealed, " We had no idea it was really a Riker story when we started out. I came up with the idea of having the Shelby character come on board to challenge Riker. That seemed to play into the Riker emotions and the conflict over whether to take the other job or not, and that builds into the issue of whether or not he was big enough to fill the center chair. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 199)
• Another reason that Piller had for creating the Shelby subplot was to better explore Riker's motivation for staying aboard the Enterprise , as the series' fans had begun to wonder why Riker had – on a couple of times beforehand – turned down command opportunities (despite the real reason for this being that the series' production team did not want to lose Jonathan Frakes from the cast nor the popular character of Riker from the series). ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• Piller had intended this season finale to be his last contribution to The Next Generation , after having agreed to only a one-year contract. His turmoil over leaving the show was reflected in Riker's struggle over leaving the Enterprise for his own command. Piller recounted, " By the end of the season, I was struggling with whether or not to stay or leave. And this came out in the screenplay for 'Best of Both Worlds, Part One', as Riker spoke about those issues. " ( Mission Overview , TNG Season 3 DVD special features) Piller also commented that he found this mirroring to be "very interesting." ( Starlog issue #159, p. 42) Due to having always found it easier to write character exposition than technobabble , writing about Riker's career dilemma came easily to Piller, especially since the character's issue mirrored his own situation. He remembered, " As I was writing this script, I found myself in the position of Riker, who was trying to decide whether he wanted to leave the ship or not. Much of what happened in Part One was about what was going on in my head. " Of one scene in particular, Piller recalled, " Riker is talking to Troi about why he hasn't left […] That was really me speaking through Riker. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 199) The writer elaborated, " When [Riker] talked to Troi about 'Why am I still here?' and she's telling him, 'because you're happy,' that was a conversation I had with myself several times during the course of writing that show. " ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 130)) Piller was finally convinced to stay by Gene Roddenberry . ( Mission Overview , TNG Season 3 DVD special features)
• The real reason Doctor Crusher was included in the away team that attempts to retrieve Picard from the Borg was that actress Gates McFadden had mentioned to Piller that it would be fun to fire a phaser, as her character wasn't usually provided with the opportunity for much phaser action during the series. Piller was happy to accommodate her request. ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary ) As the episode's text commentary notes, even though it makes logical sense for a medical officer to go on such a mission (as it does involve rescuing a potentially wounded crew member), the situation raises the question of why it is necessary for the chief medical officer to risk her life by partaking in such a dangerous mission. Just before the away team are beamed to the Borg ship, Shelby is even specifically reminded by Riker not to take any unnecessary risks.
• The script described Admiral Hanson as "fifties, high ranking, hard driving" and Shelby as "late twenties, very beautiful, energetic, extremely motivated and ambitious." The script also commonly referred to each of the Borg's distribution nodes as a "conduit box" and included only one reference to the moniker "Locutus" (specifically, in his dialogue at the end of the episode), otherwise referring to him as "Picard/Borg". [4]
• All the stardates provided in the episode's log entries were changed between the script and the final version, with two supplemental entries in the script (the final two log entries of the episode) ultimately being given stardates instead. [5]
• Although the script described the Paulson Nebula as containing "large rocks and clumpy material," none of this debris is shown in the episode's final version. [6] In fact, the resemblance is of the Mutara Nebula .

Script edits [ ]

The final draft script included several moments that did not survive the episode's transition to its final, televised version. These included:

Sets, props, and wardrobe [ ]

• The surface of Jouret IV was a set built on Paramount Stage 16 , its design supervised by Production Designer Richard James . He used a large painted backdrop to extend the set, adding illusory distant mountains and an artificial sky to the planetscape. The planet's crater was added via the use of a matte painting that was based on a photograph of Meteor Crater in Arizona . ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• Creation of the Borg designs benefited from lessons learned from "Q Who". David Livingston noted, " The set had been a problem, because we didn't have the money to build a complete one, and the Borg had taken a long time. We made a lot of changes on them after they were first put together. The technical part of figuring out how to stick on all this tubing to these guys was a big deal […] When we got to 'Best of Both Worlds', we knew what the problems were. We knew we had to build a different kind of set and it worked out really well. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 199)
• The Borg costumes seen in this episode were based on designs that Durinda Rice Wood had created for "Q Who". ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary ) Wood had left the series by this point, however, so the task of improving the Borg suits for this episode's two-parter fell to Robert Blackman , who had joined the series since the Borg's previous appearance. Blackman remained close to his predecessor's Borg designs for this episode and the next.
• The design of Locutus for this episode and the next was slightly more elaborate than the rest of the Borg suits used here. Michael Westmore recalled how an effective special effect was added to Locutus' helmet, using merely a tiny, cheap laser; " My son Michael , who did all the Borg electronics in the eyes and the head, found this little laser that was only one inch long. We mounted it on Patrick Stewart as Locutus. There's that scene at the end of the first part of 'The Best of Both Worlds' where Patrick turns his head and looks directly into the camera with his laser. We had no idea what was going to happen. Boy, the phone rang! Rick [Berman] saw it and said, 'Oh, my God, what a great effect.' Now that's an effect that could cost thousands of dollars to do if you wanted to say 'This is what I want to do,' and this was done with a little cheap laser. " [8] (X)
• As with the planetscape used for Jouret IV, the Borg interior set was also created by Richard James and built on Stage 16. Having devised the basic look of a Borg ship for "Q Who", James built on those designs for this episode. The Borg interior set, in this case, was built on an area of the stage where the floor could be removed, allowing the production crew to place lights in the basement area so that they could shine up through the floor grating. ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary ) The ceiling of this Borg set featured many round yellow lights that were actually covers from swimming pool filters, two of which had also been influential in the design of an ancient Iconian control building seen on the planet Iconia in the second season TNG episode " Contagion ". ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary , Star Trek Encyclopedia  (2nd ed., p. 202)) New for the Borg set of this episode was the presence of numerous small, rectangular, black-and-red placards that were intended to represent Borg signs. Most of these placards were detailed with random patterning, but a few instead featured the distinctive claw-like emblem of the Borg Collective. ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• A reworking of a matte painting by Syd Dutton was used for the interior vista of the Borg cube in this episode, as had previously been done in "Q Who". The illustration was used for both the scene wherein the Borg cube contacts the Enterprise and for the later scene in which Picard, not yet Locutus, is brought to face the Borg ship's interior. For the latter scene, a larger interior vista was created with a blue screen composite, adding Picard and two drones into the shot. ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• The set of Shelby's quarters included a pair of paintings on the room's back wall, designed by Rick Sternbach . ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• Close-up footage of the desktop monitor that Riker utilizes to contact Admiral Hanson reused stock footage that had been filmed early during TNG's first season. Longer shots of Riker using the monitor involved the use of the actual monitor prop, including grey stripes that had later been added to the prop's base but were not present in the stock close-up shots. The differences between the monitor in the two types of shots, in this episode, therefore constitute a continuity error. ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• For scenes of Admiral Hanson contacting the Enterprise 's senior officers while they are gathered in the observation lounge, footage of actor George Murdock as Hanson was superimposed during post-production. When the senior officers watch footage of the Borg attack against the Enterprise , however, this footage was actually displayed on the screen amid the filming. The differences in these two methods of screen display was noticeable by looking at the observation lounge's table, as the footage that was on the set reflected off the table whereas the superimposed footage obviously didn't. ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary ) For the remastered version of the episode, the reflection on the table was added for the superimposed footage.

Cast and characters [ ]

• George Murdock ( Admiral Hanson ) previously appeared in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier as " God ".
• Guest star Elizabeth Dennehy found this episode to be the hardest of its two-parter, experiencing difficulty in playing an authority figure in a series with which she was entirely unfamiliar. The actress noted, " I didn't know anything about the show and I had to look like I knew, because I was in charge. I was a commander and the hardest thing in the world to do was making that dialogue sound like I spoke that way all the time. It was impossible. It's so easy to remember and memorize lines when they make logical sense or when you get blocked and you say when I move over here, I say this. But this was just memorizing times tables. It was just 2x2 is 4. I didn't know what a manipulation effect in the Borg ship's subspace meant. That's not English! It was like learning a foreign language by phonetics. It was just grueling. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 200)
• Jonathan Frakes commented about this episode, " That was one of the best cliffhangers ever. " ( AT : " Vaulting Ambition ")

Production [ ]

• This episode was produced in April 1990 . ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• The fact that this episode was the first cliffhanger in the history of Star Trek: The Next Generation (" Encounter at Farpoint " was later divided into two parts but was a feature-length episode at first-run) was influential in Paramount opting to be less restrained with this episode's budget than the organization typically was. Director Cliff Bole noted, " Paramount, at the beginning of the year, had pulled back a little budget-wise […] They let us go a little bit on the first one because it was the first time we'd done a cliffhanger. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 207)
• Cliff Bole was delighted to work on this episode and its follow-up. He recalled, " I enjoyed these two shows [The Best of Both Worlds, Part I and II] more than anything I've ever done. " ("Cliff Bole - Of Redemption & Unification", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 17 , p. 31)
• Assistant Director Chip Chalmers recalled one memorable moment during filming. " I remember the moment when Patrick [Stewart], dressed in a Borg outfit, first walks up to the viewscreen and says, 'I am Locutus of Borg.' He came on to the set – everybody was wowed with what they had done to Patrick – and we got everyone settled down and did one rehearsal. All he had to do was walk up to the camera. He did so and towered over everyone. It was just so creepy and so spooky, and he said, 'I am Locutus of Borg. Have you considered buying a Pontiac?' And everyone was on the floor. That's the kind of thing that makes it wonderful to work on the show; those people have a wonderful sense of humor. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 200)
• Elizabeth Dennehy struggled to begin her work on this episode, specifically owing to the lines of technobabble that Shelby had been scripted to say. " My first day was the hardest of all, " Dennehy related. " It was a scene in the big conference room where I'm talking to them about what the Borg do, and they're like tongue twisters […] But, geez, those lines. I yelled at Michael Piller when I first met him. The day he visited the set I had to say, 'Separate the saucer section, assign a skeleton crew,' and I asked him, 'Can you lay off the alliteration a little, Michael… please.' He laughed. It was hard. " ( Captains' Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages , p. 200)
• On the day when the teaser scene was filmed, the production staff gathered for a group photograph of virtually everyone involved in the making of the series. ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• A close-up shot of the Borg linkup was filmed by a second unit crew, weeks after principal photography for the third season had ended. ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )

Visual effects [ ]

• According to an estimate made by Associate Producer Peter Lauritson on 21 August 1991 , this episode probably had eighty visual effects shots. ( New Life and New Civilizations , TNG Season 4 DVD special features)
• This episode was one of a mere few that required all-new shots of the Enterprise 's exterior to be created, rather than reusing stock footage that had originally been filmed for " Encounter at Farpoint ". ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• For two establishing shots (using the same clip) of Admiral Hanson's transport ship flying alongside the Enterprise , recycled footage of the Excelsior -class model was recomposited with the Enterprise model; the clip had previously been used in TNG : " The Child ", for which it was utilized to represent the USS Repulse . Although the clip had originally been filmed by Industrial Light & Magic , its new composite was done at The Post Group , overseen by Visual Effects Supervisor Robert Legato . ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• Similarly, the images of the Paulson Nebula were recycled images of the Mutara Nebula from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . This stock footage was enhanced for the episode, by photographing the Enterprise model on a stage that was filled with smoke, helping to create the illusion that the ship was in the cloudy nebula. ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• Shots of the Borg cube involved reusing a three-quarters filming miniature from "Q Who". ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• This episode is notable for the musical score composed by Ron Jones , as it uses a synthetic chorus to provide a five-note leitmotif for the Borg and a dramatic cliffhanger cue for the ending when Riker chooses to fire on Locutus. According to Jones, the producers were uncomfortable with the choir concept, though he felt the extremity of the Borg threat allowed for the musical style. He related, " Let's be serious. This isn't another episode of Wagon Train , this was the end of Mankind as we know it. This is not just 'Well, somebody's going to blow us out of the sky, but we'll be smart and figure it out.' I wanted it to be like 'Goodbye,' like an epitaph for humanity. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 23, No. 2/3, p. 125)
• The orchestra for this episode and Part II was double the size of that for other episodes, at seventy-seven musicians. ("Ron Jones – Sounds in Space", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 14 , p. 17)
• Some parts of the score seem to build upon musical themes used by Ron Jones in earlier episodes. For example, a piece of dramatic underscoring music that is heard during the activation of the auto-destruct sequence by Picard and Riker in the episode " Where Silence Has Lease " is featured even more profoundly in "The Best of Both Worlds".
• Ron Jones also happened to have scored the first episode to ever feature the Borg, "Q Who", as well as the episode that foreshadowed their threat, " The Neutral Zone ".

Continuity and trivia [ ]

Picard's assimilation, as later seen in Star Trek: First Contact

• This episode is essentially a sequel to "Q Who", in particular a scene at that episode's conclusion wherein Picard realizes – during a private conversation with Guinan – that the Borg "will be coming."
• This episode begins the first two-parter in Star Trek since TOS : " The Menagerie, Part I " and " The Menagerie, Part II " in 1966 .
• This was also the first end-of-season cliffhanger in the history of Star Trek 's production.
• The Borg went on to be used to provide end-of-season cliffhangers for Star Trek on three further occasions: TNG : " Descent ", VOY : " Scorpion ", and VOY : " Unimatrix Zero ". They also went on to reappear in the feature-length premiere of DS9 (" Emissary "), the feature-length finale of Voyager (" Endgame "), and their big-screen debut in Star Trek: First Contact , the latter of which loosely continues the storyline from this episode. They even ultimately made a controversial appearance in ENT : " Regeneration ", which takes place after most of the events in First Contact and begins a paradox of the Borg threatening the Federation.
• This episode marks the first use of the Borg's now-famous line: " Resistance is futile. " Another phrase, " Strength is irrelevant, " also becomes a commonly used Borg phrase with the subject "strength" being replaced in each use (for example: "freedom", "self-determination", "death").
• While the Borg later prove to have typically unimaginative naming conventions (i.e., Third of Five , Seven of Nine , etc.), the name chosen for Picard's alter-ego is quite appropriate. His function is to speak for the Borg, and "Locutus" is Latin for "he who has spoken."
• Though the Borg's first appearance was in "Q Who", this is the first episode in any Star Trek series where the Borg assimilate a person.
• This episode also includes the first time that Doctor Crusher personally encounters the Borg, due to her absence in the second season of the series. At one point, the script of this episode specifically stated, " Beverly wasn't around for the Borg last year. "
• This is the only season finale that Wil Wheaton recorded any scenes for. Of the other two season finales during his time as a regular, " The Neutral Zone " does not feature the character of Wesley at all and " Shades of Gray " only features him in stock footage.
• Wesley's poker hand as he loses to Riker's bluff, three Jacks, is nearly identical to Data's hand in " The Measure Of A Man " when he similarly lost to Riker's bluff, three Queens. In both cases, Riker had one card short of a flush and managed to bluff both Data and Wesley, respectively, into folding their three-of-a-kind hands (although in this instance, Shelby goes on to call Riker's bluff and win the hand).
• The new weapons that Shelby mentions are in development by Starfleet to combat the Borg very likely included the USS Defiant as well as a battle fleet which the Defiant was designed to be the prototype for. Commander Benjamin Sisko later states, in DS9 : " The Search, Part I ", that plans for the Defiant began five years prior to 2371 , which would place it in the same time frame as this episode. Furthermore, the Defiant was to be built for the singular purpose of fighting and defeating the Borg. With the defeat of the Borg in " The Best of Both Worlds, Part II ", Starfleet later considered the threat from them to be "less urgent" and, coupled with design flaws of the Defiant , decided to abandon the project until faced with a similar threat from the Dominion .
• Although she is not seen on-screen in this episode, it is established in Star Trek: First Contact that the Borg Queen was aboard the cube.
• Despite Data apparently misunderstanding the phrase "early bird" in this episode, he has heard it once before; he is present when, in TNG : " The Arsenal of Freedom ", a Minosian peddler uses the saying.
• This is the first of two episodes that establish Earth as being in Sector 001, the other episode being the following installment.
• Wolf 359 is an actual star that exists in reality. An extremely faint red dwarf , the real Wolf 359 is approximately seven-point-eight light years from Earth, the fifth nearest star to our sun . Wesley makes reference to "the Wolf system", although, at the time the episode was produced, Wolf 359 was not believed to have any planets. However, in 2019, two exoplanet candidates were reported orbiting Wolf 359. [9]

Reception and aftermath [ ]

• Michael Piller predicted the attention which would be paid to this season finale. In a memo he wrote Rick Berman (on 18 April 1990 ), he stated that the episode's debut airing "ought to generate some decent publicity if Paramount milks it properly." ( The Making of Yesterday's Enterprise , pp. 91-92)
• Cliff Bole was ultimately very proud of his work on this episode and its sequel. " They turned out very well […] The two episodes really go together, and I wouldn't put it past Paramount to release them theatrically in the foreign market, " he enthused. ("Cliff Bole – Of Redemption & Unification", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 17 , p. 31)
• As a member of TNG's writing staff, Ronald D. Moore was intensely aware of the impact that the initial airing of this episode had. In his introduction to the reference book Star Trek: The Next Generation 365 , Moore recollected, " We were well into writing new episodes [for the fourth season ] when the third-season finale, 'The Best of Both Worlds, Part I' [ sic ], was broadcast and all hell broke loose. That episode, Trek 's first cliff-hanger, touched a chord with the audience, and suddenly everyone was talking about TNG. We were seeing press clippings from all over the media with buzz about how wild it was to see Picard being Borgified into Locutus, and how stunning Riker's shout of 'Fire!' was, just before the final cut to black. " No longer was the series derided for its newness and differences from Star Trek: The Original Series . " All that went away after 'BOBW', " Moore noted. He also clarified, " It wasn't until after the 'Best of Both Worlds' cliffhanger that you felt the whole gestalt of it shift and suddenly we were Star Trek . " ( William Shatner Presents: Chaos on the Bridge )
• Brannon Braga joined the writing team of TNG shortly after this episode was first aired. On 15 November 2002 , he recalled the environment at the time: " The feeling back then was very exciting because… 'Best of Both Worlds, Part I' – the big Borg, Picard-gets-assimilated cliffhanger – had just aired. In fact, it was the first episode of Star Trek I'd really sat down and watched. And it was a turning point for The Next Generation , which was climbing its way up the ratings, getting better and better, but that was the defining moment, where it got a lot of people excited and the show really took off. So I came in right at that point, when that show had just aired and they were preparing Part II. " ( Chronicles from the Final Frontier , TNG Season 4 DVD special features)
• After the episode's airing, rumors circulated among fans that Patrick Stewart's contract talks with Paramount had stalled, and that Picard would be killed off, with Riker becoming captain while Shelby would become his first officer. This culminated in an unprecedented level of interest in the next season opener , with Paramount running ads and radio spots specifically for the episode. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (2nd ed., p. 131))
• This episode was featured in the Star Trek: The Next Generation Viewers Choice Marathon .
• TV Guide ranked this as the eighth-best Star Trek episode for their celebration of the franchise's 30th anniversary. ( TV Guide August 24, 1996)
• Entertainment Weekly ranked this episode (combined with Part II) #2 on their list of "The Top 10 Episodes" to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation . [10]
• This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Special Visual Effects.
• After Trek host Matt Mira remarked about this episode, " It was beautiful, it really was. " ( AT : " Vaulting Ambition ")
• When asked about the show's enduring popularity, Michael Piller commented, " I think it's because we saw a side of Picard and a side of Riker that we had not seen before, plus of course, the depiction of 'an undefeatable' enemy like the Borg. Plus it had a scope because it was a two hour story. " ( AOL chat , 1997 )
• The book Star Trek 101 (p. 72), by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block , lists this episode and the concluding part of its two-parter as being, together, one of the "Ten Essential Episodes" from Star Trek: The Next Generation .
• TV Guide ranked this episode #36 on their list of the Top 100 Episodes. [11]
• A mission report for this episode, by Will Murray, was published in The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine  issue 14 , pp. 54-57.
• Jeff Russo cited this as one of his favorite episodes and scores from TNG. ("Standing in the Shadow of Giants: Creating the Sound of Discovery ", DIS Season 1 DVD & Blu-ray special features)
• Following his work on this installment and the concluding entry, Robert Blackman later significantly reworked the Borg costumes for subsequent episodes in which they were featured.
• The Borg linkup later reappeared as part of the electronic "guts" inside a wall panel aboard the NX-class Enterprise during Star Trek: Enterprise . ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• The group photograph that was taken on the day this episode's teaser was filmed turned out to be the last crew photograph to include Gene Roddenberry, prior to his death in 1991 . ( Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg text commentary )
• A soundtrack album containing music from this episode (as well as Part II) was released in 1992 . An extended soundtrack , featuring the complete episodic score, was released in 2013 .

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 37 , catalog number VHR 2564, 17 February 1992
• As part of the UK VHS collection Star Trek: The Next Generation - Borg Box : 5 December 1994
• As part of the UK VHS release Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Full Length TV Movies : Volume 2, catalog number VHR 4102, 16 January 1995
• UK collectors' edition VHS: 9 December 1996
• UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 3.8 , catalog number VHR 4751, 2 October 2000
• As part of the TNG Season 3 DVD collection
• In feature-length form, as part of the Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Complete TV Movies DVD collection
• As part of the Star Trek: Fan Collective - Borg DVD collection
• As part of The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation DVD collection
• As part of the TNG Season 3 Blu-ray collection.
• In feature-length form, as part of the The Best of Both Worlds Blu-ray standalone release
• In feature-length form, as part of the Star Trek: Picard Movie & TV Collection Blu-ray collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard
• Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker

Also starring [ ]

• LeVar Burton as Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge
• Michael Dorn as Lieutenant Worf
• Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher
• Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi
• Brent Spiner as Lt. Commander Data
• Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher

Guest Stars [ ]

• Elizabeth Dennehy as Shelby
• George Murdock as J.P. Hanson
• Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien

Special Guest Star [ ]

• Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan

Uncredited Co-Stars [ ]

• Rachen Assapiomonwait as Nelson
• Majel Barrett as Computer Voice
• Debbie David as Russell
• Nyra Crenshaw as operations division officer
• Robert Daniels as operations officer
• Chris Doyle as Borg drone
• Eben Ham as operations division ensign
• Tim McCormack as Bennett
• Michael Moorehead as civilian
• Randy Pflug as Jones
• Keith Rayve as Borg drone
• Lynn Salvatori as Borg drone
• Adrian Tafoya as Borg drone
• Command division officer
• Female command division officer
• Female engineer
• Female operations division ensign
• Five Borg drones
• Science division officer
• Ten Forward waiter
• Voice of the Borg

Stunt doubles [ ]

• Dan Koko as stunt double for Jonathan Frakes
• Rusty McClennon as stunt double for Michael Dorn

Stand-ins [ ]

• Jeffrey Deacon – stand-in for Patrick Stewart
• Nora Leonhardt – stand-in for Marina Sirtis
• Tim McCormack – stand-in for Brent Spiner
• Lorine Mendell – stand-in for Gates McFadden
• Guy Vardaman – stand-in for Wil Wheaton

References [ ]

2365 ; 2366 ; ability ; aggression ; " all hands "; alternative ; ambition ; analysis ; arming sequence ; As You Like It ; attention ; authority ; auxiliary generator ; avifauna ; away team ; battle ; Battle of Trafalgar ; battle stations ; bearing ; " beyond imagination "; blast ; Borg ; Borg Collective ; Borg cube ( unnamed ); captain ; captain's chair (aka " big chair "); career ; choice ; chromium ; civilization ; closest help starship ; colony ; commission ; communicator ; computer program ; conclusion ; confidence ; confrontation ; conversation ; coordinates ; core chamber ; course ; " covered all the bases "; cube ; culture ; cutting beam ; damage ; damage report ; dawn ; day ; death ; decompression ; defense system ; deflector modulation ; deuce ; dilithium hydroxyl ; dimension ; distress signal ; door ; drawing board ; dust cloud ; Earl Grey tea ; " early bird gets the worm "; Earth ; El-Aurians ; El-Aurian homeworld ; EM base-emitting frequency ; enemy ; emperor ; " end run "; engineering section ( secondary hull ); evacuation sequence ; evidence ; Excelsior -class ; experience ; explanation ; fatigue ; Federation ; Federation space ; first officer ; first year cadet ; Flavius Honorius ; flush ; freedom ; Galaxy -class decks ; grade ; hail ; Hanson's transport ; heart ; history ; hour ; hull ; hull breach (aka hull rupture ); Human ; idea ; impatient ; impression ; impulse engine ; initiative ; intercept course ; jack ; job ; Jouret IV ; kilometer ; king ; knowledge ; Lalo , USS ; lead time ; light year ; Locutus of Borg ; Locutus' cube ; long range sensor ; magnesium ; magnetic-resonance trace ; magnetometric guided charge ; main deflector dish ( navigational deflector ); Melbourne , USS ; metaphor ; meter per second ; millennium ; minute ; mosquito ; name ; naval tradition ; nebula cloud ( nebula ); Nelson, Horatio ; New Providence colony ; New Providence colonists ; number one ; order ; outpost ; page ; Paulson Nebula ; percent ; phaser ; phaser frequency ; phaser resonance frequency ; philosophy ; photon torpedo ; plan ; plasma phaser ; playing card ; poker ; power ; power distribution node ; power source ; power waveguide conduit ; problem ; question ; radiation ; range ; rear end ; repair team ; report ; resource ; result ; risk ; Roman Empire ; rumor ; sabotage ; saucer section ; search ; second ; Sector 001 ; self-determination ; senior officer ; sensor data analysis ; sensor playback analysis ; sensor range ; Sentinel Minor IV ; shield ; shield harmonic ; shield modulation ; shield nutation ; skeleton crew ; " shot in the dark "; sleep ; society ; soil ; speed ; Starbase 157 ; Starbase 324 ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Command ; Starfleet Tactical ; Starfleet uniform ; state of war ; storm front ; straight flush ; strategy ; structural latching system ; subspace ; subspace field ; subspace field fluctuation ; subspace interferometry scan ; subspace message ; supervision ; surface ; surprise ; surrender ; System J-25 ; tactical analysis ; target ; Terran system ; theory ; thousand ; threat ; time index ; torpedo bay ; town ; tractor beam ; tricorder ; truth ; universe ; upper frequency band ; velocity ; vermicular lifeform ; vessel ; Victory , HMS ; Visigoth ; visual range ; voice ; warp core ; warp energy ; weapon ; weapon system ; weather system ; " with all due respect "; yellow alert ; Zeta Alpha II

Script references [ ]

" Did You Ever Have the Feeling That You Wanted to Stay? "; Friday ; klystron ; trombone ; Wednesday

Sources [ ]

• Reeves-Stevens, Judith and Garfield , Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Continuing Mission (1997)
• Van Hise, James , Trek: The Unauthorized Behind-The-Scenes Story of The Next Generation (1992)

External links [ ]

• " The Best of Both Worlds " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " The Best of Both Worlds " at Wikipedia
• "The Best of Both Worlds, Part I" at StarTrek.com
• " The Best of Both Worlds " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
• "The Best of Both Worlds" script  at Star Trek Minutiae
• " The Best of Both Worlds " at the Internet Movie Database
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’s’ 15 Best Episodes

A look at the 15 best episodes from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” to celebrate the show’s 30th anniversary.

15. Time’s Arrow Part 1 & 2

Season 5, Episode 26 and Season 6, Episode 1:

Possibly the goofiest “Next Generation” story not involving a holodeck, “Time’s Arrow” kicks off with the bizarre discovery of Data’s severed head in a cavern beneath San Francisco. A time-travel adventure ensues, the highlight of which is a scene-chewing performance by Jerry Hardin — Deep Throat on “The X-Files” — as Mark Twain, who follows the Enterprise crew back to the 23rd century.

– Dan Holloway

Season 6, Episode 4:

“TOS” regular James Doohan reprised his role as Montgomery “Scotty” Scott. In the episode, Scotty has been trapped for 75 years on a vessel that crashed on the outer shell of a Dyson sphere, surviving only through a brilliant feat of engineering. The episode saw Scotty realize that he is woefully out of date with modern starships and has little hope of catching up at his advanced age. But he nevertheless proves that old tricks still work when you know what you’re doing.

– Joe Otterson

13. I, Borg

Season 5, Episode 23:

The most personal in scale of the episodes about the machine-humanoid hybrids who would hound Picard and crew through the series, “I Borg” is a rare episode that puts LeVar Burton’s Geordi La Forge front and center. Burton excels as La Forge forms an unlikely bond with a captured Borg who, under La Forge’s care, begins to show signs of individuality, thus dissuading Picard from using him as a weapon against the Borg collective.

12. Lower Decks

Season 7, Episode 15:

By the seventh season of “The Next Generation,” viewers were extremely familiar with all of the Enterprise’s top officers. We knew their flaws and foibles, and though their actions were usually admirable, we knew they were far from perfect. So it was a stroke of genius to do an entire episode from the perspective of junior officers who viewed their superiors in an entirely different light. As personnel evaluations were carried out, a set of younger characters were put through their paces by the ship’s elite, whom their juniors viewed with a mixture of fear, admiration, hero worship, and anxiety. By this point in the show’s life cycle, Picard and the rest of his team had very little to prove. But the literal next generation of officers had a lot to prove, and “The Lower Decks” ably explored the bonds among those characters, as well as their hopes, fears, and ambitions.  

— Maureen Ryan

11. Skin of Evil

Season 1, Episode 23:

This Season 1 episode has the rare distinction of featuring the death of a member of the Enterprise bridge crew, Lt. Tasha Yar. In reality, actress Denise Crosby asked to be released from her contract. On the show, Yar is killed by an alien being known as Armus, who is comprised of the evil parts of an ancient race. The final scene, in which Yar delivers a pre-recorded, heartfelt goodbye to her shipmates, features several memorable lines. 

10. The Offspring

Season 3, Episode 16:

“What if a sentient android had a child?” That’s a fairly standard premise in science fiction, but it was brought beautifully to life in this episode, which embodies all the things that “Star Trek” does well when it’s firing on all cylinders: It asks a morally important question and in a well-paced hour, and it watches the answers play out among characters worthy of the viewer’s attention. The TV career of René Echevarria, who wrote “The Offspring” on spec, was essentially launched by this moving hour, in which Data introduced the Enterprise crew to a daughter he had created in his own lab. There were a few humorous moments about the way, but thanks to the sensitive direction of Jonathan Frakes, the ending of “The Offspring” is about as moving as anything “The Next Generation” ever did. As Lal and Data, Hallie Todd and Brent Spiner did exceptional work. 

—  Maureen Ryan

Season 3, Episode 13:

John de Lancie brought a sense of guile and mischief to “TNG” with every appearance, but this episode was something different. After being stripped of his powers by the Continuum, Q is forced to seek refuge on the Enterprise. He grapples with the very idea of being human, all while forming a funny yet touching relationship with Data. The episode ends with Q granting Data the first laugh of his android life. 

8. Ensign Ro

Season 5, Episode 3:

“Next Generation” was the “Star Trek” series that most obeyed franchise creator Gene Roddenberry’s rule barring conflict between crew members. Michelle Forbes’ Ensign Ro Laren was the character who most broke that rule, never more so than in the episode in which she is introduced as part of a plot to arm Bajoran rebels against the Cardassians. Ro initially clashes with, then earns the respect of Capt. Picard, who invites her to join the Enterprise crew.

— Dan Holloway

7. Redemption Part 1 & 2

Season 4, Episode 26 and Season 5, Episode 1:

When the Klingon Empire is in danger of a civil war, Worf resigns his commission as a Starfleet officer and joins his brother against those who would seek to align the Empire with the Romulans. The episodes offered a fascinating look at life on the Klingon homeworld, and also featured compelling scenes on the Enterprise, which is trying to prevent Romulan interference in the war. 

6. Chain of Command Part 1 & 2

Season 6, Episodes 10 and 11:

Years before military torture was explored in “Battlestar Galactica,” writer Ronald Moore dove into the subject in this two-parter in which Picard is captured by the Cardassians and handed over to a brutal, calculating intelligence officer. The Enterprise, under the command of a prickly new captain, manages to save Picard, who reveals later to Counselor Troi that his tormentor had finally managed to break him.

—  Dan Holloway

Season 5, Episode 2:

One way to figure out whether someone is a true “Trek” nerd is to work the phrase “Shaka, when the walls fell” into conversation. If the other person’s eyes light up and they answer “Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra,” you know they understand how special this episode is. In this fascinating hour, Picard must try to understand the allegorical language of the Tamarians, and the entire endeavor ends up being a celebration of language and of the ability to forge a connection with someone whose worldview had otherwise been impenetrable. Professor Ian Bogost wrote a wonderful essay about the episode’s use of language, positing that “Tamarian language isn’t really language at all, but machinery.” When someone can write thousands of words for the Atlantic about an episode of TV, you know it’s done something right.

4. The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 & 2

Season 3, Episode 26 and Season 4, Episode 1:

There was no “TNG” villain more insidious than the Borg, and this epic two-parter proved it. The cybernetic race begins to make their move on Earth, with only the Enterprise standing in their way. Not even Capt. Picard can stop them, as he is assimilated along the way, with the command crew rescuing him shortly before saving the Earth. The episode also served as a basis for the film “Star Trek: First Contact.”

3. The Measure of a Man

Season 2, Episode 9:

A classic “Star Trek” scenario puts the characters or an ethical dilemma on trial, and this is one of the best examples of episodes in that category. In this great installment by Melinda M. Snodgrass, Picard squares off in a Starfleet hearing against an officer who wants to take Data apart in order to create copies of him. What is consciousness, what does it mean to be human or sentient, what rights are due creatures who can think — whether they are man or machine? The episode considers all these topics in a typically brisk and energetic fashion. It’s sort of “Law & Order: Human Rights Space Court,” which is actually a TV show someone should commission right now. 

Season 4, Episode 2:

The episode immediately after “Best of Both Worlds Part 2” saw Capt. Picard return home to France to spend time with his brother on the Picard family vineyard. Though the episode contains little action, Patrick Stewart delivered a commanding performance, particularly the scene in which he confesses his deep feelings of doubt and fear following his assimilation. The episode also saw Wesley Crusher get a hologram message from his late father, whom Wes barely remembers. 

1. The Inner Light

Season 5, Episode 25:

The winner of a Hugo Award for writer Morgan Gendel, “The Inner Light” opens with Picard being knocked unconscious by an energy beam from a probe found in space. Picard then proceeds to, over the course of the episode, live an entire life — growing old with wife and children — on a faraway planet. As an elderly man, Picard discovers that his new life was a simulation rendered by the probe, the last relic of a culture wiped out centuries ago. The episode is widely credited as the series’ creative pinnacle.

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7 best Star Trek villains, ranked

Thanks to its more than 50 years of continued existence, Star Trek   has produced just a lot of stuff. That stuff includes several great TV shows, more than a few outstanding movies, and perhaps most importantly of all, some genuinely great villains.

4. The Klingons

3. the borg queen, 2. gul dhukat.

Because Trek has always concerned itself with the politics of the stories it tells, the series has also introduced some genuinely nuanced bad guys. There are plenty of great villains of the week, to be sure, but there are also legendary villains who have made their way onto this list. These are the seven best Star Trek villains, ranked.

Say what you will about  Star Trek Into Darkness , but J.J. Abrams’ first Star Trek effort was a rousing success. Among its many feats was its introduction of a totally new villain in the form of Nero, a vengeful Romulan who blames Spock for not preventing the death of his family.

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Eric Bana’s performance in the role is transformative, but what really sells the whole endeavor is the sense of grandeur and scale that’s on display. Nero is filled with rage, and it’s that rage that has driven him to where he is now.

We’ve had plenty of great villains from across the many Trek shows, but Deep Space Nine ’s Weyoun was among the most beloved, in part because he was an ideal foil to the show’s cast. As the mouthpiece for the Dominion and a Vorta himself, Weyoun always delivered his message with a smile, but that rarely meant that he actually had the best of intentions.

In fact, Weyoun was in many ways your typical slimey politician, and that was undoubtedly a huge part of what made him so appealing to fans of  Deep Space Nine every time he was killed off and then inevitably returned to the show.

An omnipotent being that is a reminder of how far  Star Trek  characters can come, Q was first introduced as an ominous presence but became something much sillier as he became more familiar to Star Trek fans.

It was Q’s actions that ultimately resulted in the introduction of the Borgs to the universe, and he was also the one who charged Picard with the crimes of humanity. In spite of his power, Q is ultimately not the worst perpetrator of evil in the world of Star Trek, even though he certainly could have been.

In many ways the primordial Star Trek villain, the Klingons have shown up in a number of different villainous guises over the course of the franchise’s long and storied history. In the show’s original configuration, they existed as a foil to the Federation — the USSR to the Federation’s America.

Of course, Trek never expressed any idea quite that simply, and the Klingons were always humanized, even as they often opposed what the Federation was doing. You understood that they had their reasons, even if you weren’t always supposed to be sympathetic to them.

The Borg, in general, is a major menace to the crew of Star Trek: The Next Generation . Operating as a hive mind with the goal of assimilating all other living things into them, part of the point of the Borg was that they were everywhere and nowhere.

That’s why many were so worried by the introduction of the Borg Queen, but they didn’t have any reason for concern. The Borg Queen totally works, in large part thanks to Alice Krige’s memorable, sensual performance in the central role.

Gul Dukat was the best version of the authoritarian mode of Star Trekvillain. A character so villainous and tyrannical that you wanted nothing more than his ultimate defeat, even if you also found him compelling.

A Cardassian war criminal who ruled over Bajor as a complete totalitarian, what made Dukat so remarkable was that you could understand that his actions were heinous, even as you found yourself drawn into his world. Many argue that Gul Dhukat is the finest villain Star Trek has ever produced, and we think that’s pretty close to being on the money.

A name memorably screamed not once but twice in Star Trek movies , Khan is most remembered today for killing Spock in  The Wrath of Khan , widely regarded as the best of the  Trek  movies for a reason.

Although Khan was just a villain-of-the-week in the original series, in Wrath of Khan , he is elevated to a devious mastermind, capable of taking down and outsmarting even Kirk, Spock, and their crew. Ricardo Montalbán’s performance made the role one of the most important in the history of the franchise. As for Benedict Cumberbatch’s reprisal of the character? Well, the less said about that, the better.

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The video game adaptation trend continues with Amazon Prime Video's Fallout, and Walton Goggins was among the hit streaming show's standout performers. His casting as the former Hollywood actor and mutated ghoul was pitch-perfect for the dystopic world's atmosphere and sardonic humor.

One of the best character actors around, Goggins typically specializes in morally ambiguous or outright evil characters. Aside from Fallout, the actor has played compelling roles across film and TV over the last decade. Check out these critically praised movies and TV shows if you're looking for more of the Fallout star's career highlights. Justified (2010-2015)

For most movies, the only cut that we get the chance to see is the one that's released in theaters. Sometimes, a Blu-ray release will include some deleted scenes, but it's rare for those scenes to be reintegrated into the film. On some rare occasions, though, we get a chance to see what a director would have done with a movie if they had been granted final cut. Usually, these director's cuts come from some of the best directors ever to work in Hollywood, and they're sometimes even directorial debuts.

Sometimes, these director's cuts aren't that different from the theatrical versions, or it turns out that those cuts are actually worse than the ones we saw in theaters. Other times, though, we get cuts that are genuine improvements on the original film. We've compiled seven of the best director's cuts that ever saw the light of day for this list and ranked them below. 7. I Am Legend (2007) I Am Legend (2007) Official Trailer #1 - Sci-Fi Thriller

Streaming prices continue to increase, but luckily for viewers, there's a growing number of free streaming services out there. From Amazon Freevee to Tubi, Pluto TV, and even no-cost options on Peacock, there's tons of free content to be enjoyed. In recent years, the free content has also gotten a lot better now that major companies are investing in free streaming services.

This is especially great news for sci-fi fans since lots of fantastic new and classic sci-fi films have made their way to these free streamers. Whether you want a big box office hit, an award-winning indie film, or a legendary cult classic, you can find them for free. Here are seven of the best sci-fi movies you can stream right now without paying a dime. The Thing (1982)

Star Trek's Writers Didn't Invent The Borg Queen – A Paramount Executive Did

When the Borg were first introduced on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (in the 1989 episode "Q Who"), they were terrifying. Clearly inspired by the works of H.R. Giger, the Borg sported tubes, servos, wires, and ineffable black machinery sprouting from their bodies. The Borg were made up of other species that had been kidnapped and assimilated into their collective, their minds wiped and replaced with a singular, terrifying machine consciousness. The Borg traversed space in outsized cube-shaped vessels, likewise crisscrossed with wires and ducts. They only had one goal: to grow. As Q (John de Lancie) described them, the Borg are the ultimate users. They look out at the universe and emotionlessly see nothing but raw materials to expand with.

The Borg returned periodically throughout "Next Generation," becoming one of the show's more impressive antagonists. The race of soulless machine people proved to be a great villain.

Naturally, when "Next Generation" moved into feature films, the Borg had to return. Jonathan Frakes' 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact" featured the Borg traveling back in time to a vulnerable moment of Earth's history, hoping to alter events in their favor. In the past, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise discovered a new Borg wrinkle: they didn't have a group consciousness but were ruled by a sweaty, malevolent, emotional Queen (Alice Krige). Giving the Borg a "boss monster" was a silly twist that has, unfortunately, become a key part of "Star Trek" lore.

In the oral history book "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams," edited by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross, "First Contact" co-writer Brannon Braga revealed that the Borg Queen was invented by a Paramount executive named Jonathan Dolgen ... who thought the Borg were boring.

To elucidate: "Star Trek: First Contact" is about a Borg attack on Earth that is cut short by the tactical savvy of Starfleet and the Enterprise-E. Just before their ship is destroyed, the Borg send a small spherical vessel through a mysterious time portal. The Enterprise pursues, getting caught briefly in a "time wake" and for a moment see that history has been altered. The Earth's population is now nine billion Borgs. The Enterprise goes back to the year 2063 to prevent their timeline alteration.

Audiences finally meet the Borg Queen a third of the way into the film. Unlike the other Borgs, the Queen is individualistic, sexual, and emotional and claims to speak for the Borg. Uncharacteristically, she states very specific goals. She was a fun, slinky, terrifying movie monster, but she made the Borg less threatening; the previously single-minded cyborgs now had a leader one could negotiate with.

Which is how Dolgen wanted it. The exec said that the Borg were dull, amounting to little more than robot zombies. They needed a voice. Screenwriter Brannon Braga hastened to come up with a "fix." Braga recalled: 

"We did a substantial rewrite. Also, it was Jonathan Dolgen at the time who ran Paramount, the biggest cheese there was, and he was also a ravenous 'Star Trek' fan. Rick and I used to go into his office for meetings all the time, and he would say, 'Oh, I really like this episode and that episode.' I think he was the one who said the Borg are boring. They're just zombies, you need a voice. We thought, 'S***, okay, it's like a hive. Like a bee colony. Let's make a queen,' and it was probably the best invention we could have possibly come up with." 

A hive? Sure.

Assimilate this

Turning the Borg into a hive made the villains a lot less interesting. Instead of being an unreasonable machine intelligence, there was now a hierarchy on board a Borg ship, with a "captain" calling the shots and the "drones" taking orders. And if the Queen was sexual and emotional, she was suddenly prone to trickery and manipulation herself. Indeed, in the climax of "First Contact," Data (Brent Spiner) hoodwinks the Borg Queen; she is emotionally distracted enough to let Data (Brent Spiner) re-aim the ship's torpedos.

But Braga was just following orders from Paramount, and a Borg Queen was his most elegant solution. At least the change was demanded by a Trekkie with his own vision of the franchise, and not an ignorant moneyman looking for toyetic images.

Early in the scriptwriting process, it seemed that Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) was to be the hero. Braga realized that Picard should be the one to face off against the Borg again, saying:

"I don't think anyone realized by shuffling Picard and Riker around it would change things so monumentally, but I'm glad it did. Because it was the next movie, and it had been two years since you had last seen Picard, you kind of wanted to do big things with him. You wanted to have him fall in love and take a woman with him at the end. Actually, it was a good instinct on Patrick's part, because you want to see these characters in new situations. But this is an action movie. A romance? What a stupid idea. In the rewrite, the Borg meets the captain and he's our action hero."

"First Contact," despite its action film trappings , was a big hit, and is often considered the best of the "NextGen" movies. A Hive it is.

Star Trek: Best Book-Only Characters

• The Star Trek novels introduce unique characters like Akaar and Treir, adding depth to the expansive Starfleet universe.
• Characters like Nick Keller and Elias Vaughn bring new perspectives to the post- DS9 era, facing challenging galactic events.
• Mackenzie Calhoun leads the USS Excalibur in a new hero ship series, showcasing tactical genius in the New Frontier books.

Just like the universe itself, the Star Trek franchise is huge and far-reaching, encompassing several television shows, and numerous video games, movies, and books. While many of Star Trek 's most iconic characters appear in various series and films, there are many other great characters who only feature in alternative media sources. For instance, the final frontier has spawned some memorable video game-based characters .

Star Trek: 8 Most Powerful Federation Starships, Ranked

Yet perhaps the richest source of characters is the now questionably canon series of books that take place following The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine . From fresh takes on classic species like the Andorians and Orions, to some of Starfleet's finest officers, the Star Trek novels are a treasure trove of notable figures.

Leonard James Akaar

First appearence: star trek mission gamma book one: twilight.

• Author: David R. George III
• Publication Date: September 2002

Leonard James Akaar is unique among novel-only characters in that he does, in fact, make a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance on televised Trek . "Friday's Child," an episode of The Original Series , ends with his birth; however, the Capellan royal would not be seriously fleshed out until 2002's Mission Gamma: Twilight . By the time of the Deep Space 9 novels, Akaar had risen through the ranks of Starfleet to become an influential admiral with the ear of the Federation president.

Akaar's strategic mindset and steely resolve proved essential in preserving the Federation through some of its darkest periods, including the Borg invasion depicted in the Star Trek: Destiny series. The Starfleet legend may have been born in The Original Series , but the Star Trek novels were where he made his name.

First Appearence: Star Trek: Demons of Air and Darkness

• Author: Keith R. A. DeCandido
• Publication Date: September 2001

Star Trek features many inspirational female characters, from Kira Nerys to Katherine Janeway. However, few are as resourceful or as motivated as Treir , an Orion Dabo girl who transformed Quark's Bar into a highly successful business during the post- DS9 novels. Following her escape from Orion servitude, Treir earned her place as Quark's right-hand woman by implementing a series of radical reforms, including hiring a Dabo boy to attract more customers.

Star Trek: The Fates Of Every Live-Action TV Show's Main Character

Treir may not play a significant role in the canon-shattering events depicted in the Deep Space 9 novels, but this ruthless businesswoman helped to make Star Trek 's prose universe feel like a living, breathing place. If anyone is capable of giving Quark a run for his latinum, it's her.

Nick Keller

First appearence: star trek new earth: challenger.

• Author: Diane Carey
• Publication Date: August 2000

New Earth , a series of six novels that take place between Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan , was intended to act as a backdoor pilot for a new narrative focusing on Commander Nick Keller . In the final novel, Keller takes command of a makeshift starship in order to defend the human colony of Belle Terre from alien attack. Keller was conflicted between overthrowing his inept captain and preserving the lives of his comrades, and it's a great shame that a full series based on the space cowboy's adventures never emerged.

Interestingly, author Diane Carey based Keller's appearance on Scott Bakula, who would go on to play Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise . Keller, however, would make only two more appearances in the Star Trek universe, with both being part of the multi-series Gateways crossover event.

Elias Vaughn

First appearence: star trek: avatar (book one).

• Author: S. D. Perry
• Publication Date: July 2001

Elias Vaughn was a Starfleet officer and intelligence operative who joined Deep Space 9's command staff following the end of the Dominion War . Despite only holding the rank of commander, Vaughn's expertise proved a boon to the Federation outpost, and he played a role in several key events, including the USS Defiant 's post-war exploration of the Gamma Quadrant (depicted in the Mission Gamma sub-series).

Star Trek: 8 Impressive Things Kirk Did Before Joining The USS Enterprise

Vaughn was haunted by the death of his wife, Ruriko, and his troubled relationship with his estranged daughter, Prynn. This relationship was complicated by the fact that Prynn was also assigned to Deep Space 9. However, father and daughter were eventually able to reconcile–but not without some bumps along the way.

Christine Vale

First appearence: star trek: the belly of the beast.

• Author: Dean Wesley Smith

While William Riker's USS Titan has made notable appearances in Star Trek: Lower Decks , the starship's adventures were originally chronicled in a series of spin-off novels. These books featured Christine Vale , a former detective turned Starfleet officer, as Riker's second-in-command. Vale was initially unwilling to take the post, as she disliked the idea of Riker working so closely with his wife, Deanna Troi.

Luckily, Vale took the post, which allowed her to act as a counterweight to any of Riker's Troi-related biases. During her time aboard the USS Titan , she helped to explore the Beta Quadrant and fend off a Borg invasion. Indeed, her record was so good that, following Riker's promotion to admiral, she took command of the Luna -class starship.

Thirishar ch'Thane

From their initial appearance in 1967's "Journey to Babel" and 2001's "The Andorian Incident," references to Star Trek 's Andorians were true and far between. One important detail was disclosed in The Next Generation , however: Andorians have four sexes , with all four required for successful reproduction.

The character of Thirishar ch'Thane (or "Shar") was a response to this premise. Shar served as Deep Space Nine's science officer following the end of the Dominion War, but was torn between his commitments to Starfleet and to his mating group, who wished him to return to Andor. This dilemma was further complicated by a dangerous decline in Andorian fertility, which threatened to cause the Andorians' extinction in the long term. Shar was eventually able to use his scientific knowledge to help solve the Andorian fertility crisis.

The Jem'Hadar are one of Star Trek 's most iconic creations , a powerful race of warriors motivated by their addiction to the chemical ketracel-white. During the Dominion War of 2373–2375, the Jem'Hadar were central to the Dominion assaults which nearly overwhelmed the Federation Alliance.

8 Best Starfleet Ships During The Dominion War

After the war's conclusion, Taran'atar , a Jem'Hadar without a ketracel-white dependency, was sent to Deep Space Nine as a cultural observer. Taran'atar's struggle to adjust to the Alpha Quadrant during peacetime makes for fascinating reading, as does seeing the fearsome warrior growing closer to his former enemies. Taran'atar's story takes some strange twists and turns, but he remains a fascinating character.

Mackenzie Calhoun

First appearence: star trek new frontier: house of cards.

• Author: Peter David
• Publication Date: July 1997

In 1997, Pocket Books published the first of Peter David's New Frontier books. While these novels included several characters from TV Trek (mostly notably Commander Shelby from "The Best of Both Worlds" ), they focused on a new hero ship, the USS Excalibur , and a new captain: Mackenzie Calhoun . Calhoun, an alien warrior modeled after Mel Gibson, was depicted as a tactical genius capable of beating Starfleet's toughest challenges–including the infamous Kobayashi Maru test.

Calhoun soon became a fan-favorite, with his New Frontier series including over 20 volumes. The Xenanian captain was even popular enough to be made into an action figure, the only example of this honor being bestowed on a character originating from any of Star Trek 's novels.

Created by Gene Roddenberry

First Film Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Latest Film Star Trek Beyond

First TV Show Star Trek: The Original Series

Latest TV Show Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Creation Year 1966

Screen Rant

"no drone ever forgets": star trek confirms dark secret technology all borg drones can build (even after being freed).

Being assimilated by the Borg is a traumatic experience, and now Star Trek has confirmed a drone's memory lasts even after they are liberated.

• Assimilation by the Borg means losing your identity and soul, making it a fate worse than death.
• Former drones, like Hugh, remember Borg functions even after being freed, leaving lasting trauma.
• In Star Trek: Defiant #14, Hugh saves the crew by using Borg knowledge to defeat a takeover.

Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek: Defiant #14!

In the Star Trek universe, the chances of coming back from assimilation by the Borg are slim, and even when people are freed, they still retain terrible knowledge of their times as drones. The ex-drone, Hugh, has joined Worf’s crew in Star Trek: Defiant, and in issue 14, with the team’s back against the wall, Hugh saves the day using Borg knowledge that he somehow retained.

Star Trek: Defiant #14 is written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Angel Unzueta. B’Elanna Torres has been taken over by one of the parasites from “Conspiracy.” Spock attempts a mind-meld to free her, but it fails. Running out of options, Hugh suggests he “assimilate” B’Elanna. The parasites cannot infect the Borg, making it B’Elanna’s only salvation. When asked how he plans to do this, he tells Worf and company he can jury-rig an assimilation chamber from various parts.

He tells Worf that it is something all drones remember –even after they have been liberated.

The Borg Not Only Takes Your Technology--They Take Your Soul As Well

Assimilation is a fate worse than death.

The Borg are one of the most powerful, and scariest, alien species in the Star Trek franchise. Residing in the distant Delta Quadrant, the Borg travel the galaxy (and some even speculate the entire universe), assimilating other lifeforms into their collective. The Borg gain the knowledge of those they assimilate. As seen in the epic Star Trek: The Next Generation two-part episode “The Best of Both Worlds,” this makes them extremely difficult to defeat. When assimilated, a person loses their identity and their essence, making it a kind of “living death.”

Assimilation was not initially a part of the Borg, but was added later for dramatic effect.

In the Star Trek franchise, very few individuals have come back from being assimilated. Captain Picard, Hugh and Seven of Nine were all Borg at one point, and all of them were freed from the Collective. Yet as seen in other episodes and other media, pulling a person out of the Collective can have lethal effects on them, making it a delicate procedure. After being freed, the person must then come to terms with the trauma they have experienced. Picard, Seven and Hugh carry the scars for the rest of their lives.

Star Trek's 2009 Movie Hid the Full Power of Nero's Ship (& Its Borg Connection)

Borg drones carry more than just their guilt, it seems there is no escape from the borg.

And now, Hugh has revealed that not only do former drones carry the guilt of what they did, but also, horrifyingly enough, can still perform Borg functions. Previous issues of Star Trek: Defiant revealed that when Hugh was severed from the Collective, he lost all memory of who he was prior to assimilation. This, when coupled with drones retaining their knowledge of Borg procedures and technology, paints a truly terrifying picture of the horrors of assimilation. Being assimilated into the Borg can last a lifetime, and even being freed from them is no guarantee of happiness.

Star Trek: Defiant #14 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!