The Best of Both Worlds: Part 2

Episode aired Sep 22, 1990
TV-PG
45m

IMDb RATING

9.2/10

5.6K

YOUR RATING

Michael Dorn, Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, and Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)

Space Sci-Fi Action Adventure Drama Sci-Fi

Having absorbed Captain Picard and his knowledge, the Borg head for Earth, leaving Riker and the Enterprise desperate for an unanticipated way to defeat them.Having absorbed Captain Picard and his knowledge, the Borg head for Earth, leaving Riker and the Enterprise desperate for an unanticipated way to defeat them.Having absorbed Captain Picard and his knowledge, the Borg head for Earth, leaving Riker and the Enterprise desperate for an unanticipated way to defeat them.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

9.2/10

5.6K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Prior to filming, LeVar Burton had surgery and his scenes were carefully filmed after the majority of production was concluded; this is why he only appears in close-ups and not in shots with any of the other main characters. Most of Geordi LaForge's lines were given to Colm Meaney's Mr. O'Brien.

Goofs
We see the Borg ship approaching Saturn from the side of the planet illuminated by the sun. This would mean the Borg are actually moving away from Earth rather than toward it.

Quotes
Guinan: Did he ever tell you why we're so close?
Captain William T. Riker: No.
Guinan: Oh... Then let me just say that... our relationship is beyond friendship, beyond family. And I *will* let him go. And you must do the same. There can only be one Captain.
Captain William T. Riker: It's not that simple. This was his crew. He wrote the book on this ship.
Guinan: If the Borg know everything he knows, it's time to throw that book away. You *must* let him go, Riker. It's the only way to beat him. The only way to save him.

Alternate versions
In a 2013 Blu-ray release, this episode and the previous, The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 (1990), were edited together into one, feature-length movie. This version is 86 minutes long and was re-released as part of the 2019 Star Trek: Picard Movie & TV Collection Blu-ray release.

Connections
Edited from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Soundtracks
Star Trek: The Next Generation Main Title
Composed by Jerry Goldsmith and Alexander Courage

User reviews22

Review

Featured review

8/10

Jumping to conclusions

To be honest, the conclusion just fell a little short. It was good, but a bit rushed. Fellow ST Spin-off Deep Space went all in on war (with the Dominion). Too much war. In order to REALLY addict me to Next Generation, Picard would have had to remain Locutus of Borg from here on. At least for a while. Return sporadically in single episodes. Not a permanent war story ark, like in DS9. More like Sela, Tasha Yar's Romulan daughter. Picture Locutus become a foe to deal with. He changes the Borg. New strategies. Whenever you see Locutus, unexpectedly, every 10 episodes, full screen, the viewer's blood freezes. And if Locutus returns to Starfleet, then not the very next episode, but maybe 2 seasons later. Live with a Borg cube in your Federation for a while. See what it reasonably would change in Starfleet. The Federation starts cloaking all its ships (like in DS9), as one possible result. Evacuations of whole planets all the time could become the new default. And/or targeted espionage onto Borg cubes. Don't just waste an enemy that was developed so carefully. No need to follow that extended war in every episode, but some chances were missed. Have the crew's faces drop on several further Locutus appearances. That would have been the extra mile. Star Trek: Voyager later did great in catching up.