History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds

The cube has now reached Earth, so the ''Enterprise'' engages in a LastStand battle. Data attempts to disable the Borg's weapons and power systems, but they're too heavily protected. Riker dips into the fountain of CharacterDevelopment one more time and [[RammingAlwaysWorks orders Wesley to ram the Cube]] [[HeroicSacrifice to save the Earth]]. However, Data's influence has revealed that Picard ''is'' in there somewhere, as he now suggests "sleep." Data orders the cube's drones to begin a regeneration cycle, and it shuts down. A feedback loop is created, and the cube overloads and is destroyed.

* BatmanGambit: Captain Riker's plan against the Borg involves modifying a saucer separation battle plan that Picard was briefed on before being assimilated, when Commander Shelby reminds him of this he replies he is counting on it. The saucer separation was a distraction to slip in a shuttle under the Borg magnetic field, capture Locutus almost as swiftly as they had captured Picard, and then slip out. The smug expression he wears at the act break after hearing they got him could aptly be titled "Riker Wins."

** In this episode, the assimilated Picard is given the designation "Locutus." Later stories would establish that Borg are instead given numbers according to their batches. This name would get an explanation a few years later in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' that "Locutus" wasn't going to be a run-of-the-mill drone. This continues into ''Series/StarTrekPicard'', as a former drone refers to him as Locutus... over 30 years after the fact.

** During Part I, as the ''Enterprise'' uses a nebula to hide from the Borg Cube, Picard tours the ship and meets with Guinan in the lounge. Guinan notes the tradition of a captain touring his ship before a hopeless battle, and Picard says, "Lord Nelson toured the HMS ''Victory'' before Trafalgar." Guinan replies that Nelson never returned from Trafalgar...

* GreatOffscreenWar: The Battle of Wolf 359. Some of it is seen later in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' pilot "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS01E01E02Emissary Emissary]]."

* HeroicWillpower: Subverted. Once captured Picard tells the collective he will fight them with every bit of strength he has, and they respond that his strength is irrelevant. It is proven impossible to overcome assimilation through force of will and the following episode "Family" reveals just how traumatizing this was for Picard, saying "They took everything I was." But after Locutus was captured by the Enterprise, Crusher removed a number of Borg implants and Data hacked into the Borg collective consciousness Picard ''was'' able to push the rest of the way to become cognizant of himself again.

* NightmareFace: Some of the Borg drones in this episode wear ''two'' eyepieces (along with a ''[[NoMouth mouth]]'' [[NoMouth implant]]). [[http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/3x26/the_best_of_both_worlds_part1_hd_475.jpg It's... unsettling]].

* PhlebotinumAnalogy: Crusher suggests destroying the Borg's power distribution nodes by way of "The mosquito's point of view: If we sting them in a tender spot, they might stop for a minute to scratch."

** The lead-up to the Borg Cube's reveal. Upon being told a vessel has already moved to intercept them, Picard orders it be put on screen. You can just hear the trope in his voice when he says, "Magnify."

* SciFiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Several examples...
** [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance No Sense of Distance]] - When the crew is about to [[WaveMotionGun fire the deflector dish]] in '''Part 1''', Riker tells Wesley to move the ''Enterprise'' "to within 40 thousand kilometers" of the Borg Cube. The ''Enterprise'' is 642 '''''meters''''' in length, and a Borg Cube is '''''three''''' (3) kilometers on each side. At '''40 ''thousand''''' kilometers, the Cube might appear as a dot from the perspective of the ''Enterprise'', but the ''Enterprise'' would appear too small to see from the Cube (without visual augmentation, that is). Yet when we see the Enterprise engage the Cube, it's at most a few short kilometers away.
** [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfVelocity No Sense of Velocity]] - When the ''Enterprise'' reaches the outer edge of our solar system in '''Part 2''', Riker tells Wesley to slow the ship to sub-light speed ("Slow to impulse"), and Wesley says that the time to intercept the Borg (who are approaching ''Earth'') is "23 minutes". Except that the distance between the Cube (approaching Earth) and the ''Enterprise'' (at the edge of the system, likely ''Pluto'') is 5 1/2 '''''hours''''' at Warp 1 (the speed of light). At maximum impulse (''sub-light'' velocity), it would take '''''at least 10 hours''''' to reach the Cube at Earth. And that's assuming maximum impulse is half the speed of light.

Picard is now fully freed from the Collective, and Doctor Crusher is able to [[SnapBack remove all the Borg implants without any problems]]. Riker announces he'll have to decide what he's going to do, but [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E2Family by the next episode]] he'll trip over the ResetButton and lose a pip in the process. [[ButNowIMustGo Shelby is already leaving]], joining a task force to rebuild and expand the lost fleet. After this harrowing experience, Picard [[ContemplateOurNavels looks out his office window and drinks some tea]]. Meanwhile, offscreen, the [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine newly-widowed First Officer]] of the USS ''Saratoga'' starts thinking about building a [[CoolStarship new ship]] so this never happens again...

* AchillesHeel: The Borg do not have the capacity to automatically cut off any member from the Collective, even if an enemy is using that member of the collective to hack into their HiveMind. Crusher compares it to disconnecting your hand through force of will. By capturing Locutus, Data and O'Brien are able to pare away segments of their consciousness. While it would be near impossible to remote control the collective consciousness at large, Picard was able to break through the assimilation long enough to suggest a simple command of "sleep" (shut down and recharge) to buy them time. With the Cube shut down, some sort of feedback or failsafe ends up destroying it in the process.

** Part of the reason Starfleet Command's caught off guard by the incursion is because System J-25 is 7,000 light years from Federation space; they naturally assumed it would take the Collective more time to reach Federation space. With that assumption now having been proven wrong, Picard speculates to Admiral Hansen that the Borg may have a source of power superior to Federation/Starfleet technology. It'll subsequently be revealed [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E24S7E1Descent three years later]] that Picard ''was'' on the right track: the Borg possess Transwarp capabilities and maintain a network that allows this to cross vast distances of space in short periods of time. So retroactively, the implication here is the Cube reached the edge of Federation space so quickly using a Transwarp Conduit.

** Part of the reason Starfleet Command's caught off guard by the incursion is because System J-25 is 7,000 light years from Federation space; they naturally assumed it would take the Collective more time to reach Federation space. With that assumption now having been proven wrong, Picard speculates to Admiral Hansen that the Borg may have a source of power superior to Federation/Starfleet technology. It'll subsequently revealed [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E24S7E1Descent three years later]] that Picard ''was'' on the right track with the reveal that the Borg possess Transwarp capabilities and maintain a network that allows this to cross vast distances of space in short periods of time. So retroactively, the implication here is the Borg reached the edge of Federation space so quickly using a Transwarp Conduit.

** Part of the reason Starfleet Command's caught off guard by the incursion is because System J-25 is 7,000 light years from Federation space; they naturally assumed it would take the Collective more time to reach Federation space. With that assumption now having been proven wrong, Picard speculates to Admiral Hansen that the Borg may have a source of power superior to Federation/Starfleet technology. It'll be eventually revealed [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E24S7E1Descent three years later]] that the Borg possess Transwarp capabilities and maintain a network that allows this to cross vast distances of space in short periods of time (thus retroactively explaining what happened here).

** Part of the reason Starfleet Command's caught off guard by the incursion is because System J-25 is 7,000 light years from Federation space; they naturally assumed it would take the Collective more time to reach Federation space. With that assumption now having been proven wrong, Picard speculates to Admiral Hansen that the Borg may have a source of power superior to Federation/Starfleet technology. It'll be eventually revealed [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E24S7E1Descent three years later]] that the Borg possess Transwarp capabilities and maintain a network that allows this to cross vast distances of space in short periods of time. Thus, the retroactive implication is that this what happened here.

** Adding to the bitter, while the Borg devastated Starfleet, they only sent a single Cube this time. They still have vast resources and manpower back in the Delta Quadrant. While an existential battle for the Federation, this was essentially a mere weekend excursion to the Collective. More, the incursion was only stopped by sheer luck and an unexpected flaw. ''When'' the Borg inevitably come again, they will have adapted and that strategy won't work a second time. Indeed, that the Federation was able to repel a Borg invasion only vindicates the Borg's belief in assimilating this culture and adding its biological and technological distinctiveness to their own.

** Adding to the bitter, while the Borg devastated Starfleet, they only sent a single Cube this time. They still have vast resources and manpower back in the Delta Quadrant. While this a existential battle for the Federation, this was essentially a mere weekend excursion to the Collective. More, the incursion was only stopped by sheer luck and an unexpected flaw. ''When'' the Borg inevitably come again, they will have adapted and that strategy won't work a second time. Indeed, that the Federation was able to repel a Borg invasion only vindicates the Borg's belief in assimilating this culture and adding its biological and technological distinctiveness to their own.

** [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfDistance No Sense of Distance]] - When the crew is about to [[WaveMotionGun fire the deflector dish]] in '''Part 1''', Riker tells Wesley to move the ''Enterprise'' "to within 40 thousand kilometers" of the Borg Cube. The ''Enterprise'' is 642 '''''meters''''' in length, and a Borg Cube is '''''three''''' (3) kilometers on each side. At '''40 ''thousand''''' kilometers, the Cube might appear as a dot from the perspective of the ''Enterprise'', but the ''Enterprise'' would appear too small too see from the Cube (without visual augmentation, that is). Yet when we see the Enterprise engage the Cube, it's at most a few short kilometers away.

* MissingMainCharacter: Some scenes in Part 2 have O'Brien standing in for Geordi because [=LeVar=] Burton was having surgery.

** Adding to the bitter, while the Borg devastated Starfleet, they only sent a single Cube this time. They still have vast resources and manpower back in the Delta Quadrant. While this a existential battle for the Federation, this was essentially a mere weekend excursion to the Collective. More, the incursion was only stopped by sheer luck and an unexpected flaw. ''When'' the Borg inevitably come again, they will have adapted and that strategy won't work a second time. Indeed, that the Federation was able to repel a Borg invasion only vindicates the Borg's belief in assimilating this culture and addingg its biological and technological distinctiveness to their own.

** Adding to the bitter, while the Borg devestated Starfleet, they only sent a single Cube this time. They still have vast resources and manpower back in their home space. More, the incursion was only stopped by sheer luck and an unexpected flaw. ''When'' the Borg inevitibly come again, they will have adapted and that strategey won't work again. Indeed, that the Federation was able to repel a Borg invasion only vindicates the Borg's belief in assimilating this culture and additing its biological and technological distinctiveness to their own.