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Originally Posted by Cellardoor
Best of both worlds? I dunno, the episode isn't that spectacular if you ask me. No interesting plot or character dilemma/development, and the borg are silly.
When it comes to borg episodes, Voyager's "Scorpion" is way better.
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The Borg
were cool until Voyager ruined them. They were cool in TNG because they were the unbeatable foe. And they were only in about four episodes in the entire seven years. That lack of exposure made them all the more intimidating when they did show up. With something like this, less is more. But then Voyager started having them show up in every episode. They were blowing up a Borg cube every week, so the Borg became just like any other alien on the show.
The invincibility of the Borg is what made Best of Both Worlds cool. BoBW was pretty much all character dilemma. It's like a stress test--seeing how people react under impossible circumstances. The only reason the episode didn't have more of a lasting impact on the characters is because of the way Star Trek is written. There is almost no character development at all in the entire series, even DS9 which is much more arc driven than the other series. If TNG did have more of a story arc, the events in BoBW would almost certainly have been a huge turning point--you have Riker taking command for the first time, being forced to fight his captain, his conflict with Shelby, Picard being assimilated by the Borg (something which actually did come back in later episodes). But even as a single episode, there was plenty going on.
This season of Enterprise has had some really good episodes too. There are still a few points where they could improve, but overall it's turning out very well. It's kind of a shame nobody seems to be interested in Star Trek any more because if it keeps on the way it's going Enterprise could turn out to be even better than TNG and DS9.
"The Shipment," "Similitude," "Stratagem," "Azati Prime," and
"Damage" are all solid episodes. I'm looking forward to seeing how they wrap up the season.
mag
