History YMMV / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E26S4E1TheBestOfBothWorlds

** Future episodes and films, especially ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'' and ''Series/StarTrekPicard'', do deal more thoroughly with Picard's abduction and ordeal, and they show that no, he did '''''not''''' recover completely, '''at all'''. The "Best of Both Worlds" incident did indeed '''''permanently fuck him up'''''.

* AngstWhatAngst: During this two-part episode, Picard was abducted, physically turned into a Borg without anesthetic, mind-raped and forced to divulge his most intimate thoughts, used as a puppet to threaten Starfleet and the Federation, forced to watch as the Borg used him to wipe out 40+ Starfleet ships and tens of thousands of people, and forced to threaten, damage, and injure (and nearly kill) his own ship and crew... But in the scene immediately after the Cube explodes, Picard is seen sitting in his Ready Room in his uniform, sipping tea and discussing repairs with Riker. Several small bandages indicate that he just underwent surgery, so no more than a few days have passed, and he acts as if he was kidnapped for only an hour or two by a few insolent rebels.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: While fans were happy to see Picard still around (and [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E2Family the following episode]] ''really'' helped to seal Sir Patrick Stewart as one of the truly great ''Trek'' actors), especially as time went on a lot of fans and viewers were sad that Shelby went away so quickly after this pair of episodes - Elizabeth Dennehy delivered a really good performance of the firebrand Commander and her chemistry with Riker and a few of the others was obvious. Not only does part 2 in particular deliver a tantalizing taste of WhatCouldHaveBeen if Stewart ''had'' decided to move on, but many do wish that the writers and staff had found time to give Shelby a more recurring role. Not surprisingly Shelby does become a major character in the Expanded Universe novels and would later [[TheBusCameBack make a return appearance]] in the final season of ''[[Series/StarTrekPicard Picard]]''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: While fans were happy to see Picard still around (and [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E2Family the following episode]] ''really'' helped to seal Sir Patrick Stewart as one of the truly great ''Trek'' actors), especially as time went on a lot of fans and viewers were sad that Shelby went away so quickly after this pair of episodes - Elizabeth Dennehy delivered a really good performance of the firebrand Commander and her chemistry with Riker and a few of the others was obvious. Not only does part 2 in particular deliver a tantalizing taste of WhatCouldHaveBeen if Stewart ''had'' decided to move on, but many do wish that the writers and staff had found time to give Shelby a more recurring role. Not surprisingly Shelby does become a major character in the Expanded Universe novels.

** Even though this two-parter ends with Picard being de-borgified, he can still hear the voice of the Collective in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''. Season 3 of ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' then reveals why, and it's ''horrifying''.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Retroactive instance with Guinan after the events of Season 5's [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E26S6E1TimesArrow "Time's Arrow"]]. Thanks to the revelation of Guinan and Picard's StableTimeLoop, her speech to Riker might also be to reassure him that Picard will survive, since Guinan knows Picard will meet her in the past from a later point in his timeline.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Given the events of the "Time's Arrow" two-parter, Guinan's speech to Riker might also be to reassure him that Picard will survive, since she knows Picard will meet her in the past from a later point in time.

** Future episodes and films, especially ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact'', do deal more thoroughly with Picard's abduction and ordeal, and they show that no, he did '''''not''''' recover completely, '''at all'''. The "Best of Both Worlds" incident did indeed '''''permanently fuck him up'''''.

** The next episode, ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E2Family Family]]'', does [[HeroicBSOD acknowledge]] [[InelegantBlubbering Picard's lasting]] [[ItsAllMyFault mental trauma]], but only for the duration of the episode. There are no long-term stays at a psychiatric clinic, no monitoring of Picard's mental well-being, no moments of mental or emotional breakdown from Picard after "Family". For the rest of the ''TNG'' series, Picard seems to recover completely, as if it were all just another day in the service of Starfleet.

* HarsherInHindsight: Picard's and Hanson's warnings that Riker is risking his career by repeatedly turning down commands end up ringing unfortunately true when you consider that after this episode, it would be ''twelve years'' before Riker was [[Film/StarTrekNemesis offered another command]].

** Future episodes and films do deal more thoroughly with Picard's abduction and ordeal, and they show that no, he did '''''not''''' recover completely, '''at all'''. The ''Best of Both Worlds'' incident did indeed '''''permanently fuck him up'''''.

* WritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: 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 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.
** [[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.

** The next episode, ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E2Family Family]]'', does [[HeroicBSOD acknowledge]] [[InelegantBlubbering Picard's lasting]] [[ItsAllMyFault mental trauma]], but only for the duration of the episode. There are long-term stays at a psychiatric clinic, no monitoring of Picard's mental well-being, no moments of mental or emotional breakdown from Picard. He seems to recover completely, as if it were all just another day in the service of Starfleet.

** The next episode ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E2Family Family]]'' does [[HeroicBSOD acknowledge]] [[InelegantBlubbering Picard's lasting]] [[ItsAllMyFault mental trauma]], but only for the duration of the episode. There are long-term stays at a psychiatric clinic, no monitoring of Picard's mental well-being, no moments of mental or emotional breakdown from Picard. He seems to recover completely, as if it were all just another day in the service of Starfleet.

** [[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, if not longer.

** [[SciFiWritersHave/NoSenseOfVelocity No Sense of Velocity]] - When the ''Enterprise'' reaches the outer edge of our solar system, 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, if not longer.

* ItWasHisSled: Picard is transformed into Locutus of Borg. A major shocker when it first aired in the summer of 1990, but it's common information to even most non-Trekkies nowadays, [[LateArrivalSpoiler especially since]] [[Film/StarTrekFirstContact one of the films]] is centered around the fallout of it. Home releases of the episode don't even try to hide the twist ending of Part 1 anymore.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: ''Trek'' matte painting shots in earlier episodes and shows sometime get panned for being obvious and off-putting, but the overall effect here used to show the destructive scooping-up of New Providence is ''blisteringly'' effective, and holds up extremely well even in the HD version and well into [=21st=]-century viewing. It helps that the framing of the shot is absolutely perfect (it's bracketed by some real model-work in the foreground to create the illusion of the camera panning to be over the near rim of the crater), and that the sound stage for the actors in the previous shot was carefully crafted to match the painting tone-for-tone, all the way down to the inferred lighting.

* NothingIsScarier: Reportedly not shown for budgetary reasons, the crippled Enterprise learns of the Starfleet armada's battle against the Borg cube at Wolf 359 through a distorted message stating the battle isn't going well. In this case, the worst the imagination could offer was correct.