YMMV / Star Trek: The Next Generation Relaunch

• Ass Pull: The Borg Queen having conveniently learned to teleport the Cube from having only analyzed Lady Q (or at least that's what we're led to believe).
• Broken Base:
  • The deaths (or apparent deaths) of Kathryn Janeway and Montgomery Scott.
  • Between sudden abrupt shifts in characterization of the new characters introduced in the previous two books^note to the point where it was blatantly obvious that Peter David hadn't communicated with the other authors whatsoever - for instance, one happily-married character was suddenly lusting after the new security chief, who was most definitely NOT her husband, the death of Janeway, and, in the eyes of some readers, a ludicrous plot, "Before Dishonor" was not well received by a good chunk of the fandom.
• Funny Moments:
  • Controversial position in the fandom aside, "Before Dishonor" still has a few of these:
  • As Picard is giving the command for his company of ships to move out:
  "Don't forget to say 'engage'," Calhoun cautioned. "It's just not the same if you don't say 'engage'."
  "Make it so."
  "Damn you, Picard, you tricky bastard," said Calhoun.
  • Jellico's reaction to Picard's "promotion":
  "Did I miss a memo? Who promoted him?"
  "Mackenzie Calhoun."
  "Oh. Well, figures."
  • "Did you see the gift-shop?"
  • Starfleet admirals Jellico and Nechayev speculating on the fate of humanity should the Borg destroy Earth:
  "At least there's nothing for them to assimilate on Pluto," said Nechayev after a moment. "The only planet in the system that doesn't have some fool colonists trying to turn hell into paradise."
  Jellico looked up in surprise. "Planet? You mean dwarf planet."
  "No. Planet. They changed it back again."
  Jellico moaned. "Not again. This makes, what, the tenth time in the last three centuries? Can't they make up their damned minds?"

  • Leading to...
  Jellico: Well, that settles that debate.
  • All of Q&A.
    • Q telling Picard everything he'd put him through over the years was all part of the plan... except Sherwood Forest.
  Q: I just wanted to see you in tights.

  • In particular, there's the ultimate strategy that Worf suggests for dealing with Q - ignore him and he'll go away.
  • Tyrssa's dream, at least before it becomes a proper nightmare, in "Greater Than The Sum". The Borg are back, and they've assimilated Dracula and the Wolf Man!
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • For the hope of future humanity, Losing the Peace places Geordi La Forge's Zefram Cochrane high school in Mogadishu, Somalia.
  • Picard and Crusher finally getting their act together after nearly two decades (at the very least) of Unresolved Sexual Tension.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • T'Ryssa is a wild, unconventional Vulcan whose character arc is how she doesn't fit in with the straight-laced Enterprise. But her behavior means she'd fit right in with the cast of Star Trek: Lower Decks.
  • "Greater Than The Sum", published in 2008, introduces a new version of the Emergency Medical Program noted to be a short, blond woman. Fast forward a decade later, and the Thirteenth Doctor would be a short, blond woman. (for added amusing, "Greater" was written by Christopher L. Bennett, who includes the occasional Doctor Who references in his Trek works.)
• Moment of Awesome:
  • In Before Dishonor: Remember the Doomsday Machine from the Original Series? Well, it's back. And it's on our side. And kicking the Borg's collective ass. For about ten minutes, anyways, until the Borg Ass Pull a teleporting trick and EAT the damn thing.
  • Also counts as a Continuity Nod to the older novel Vendetta which featured the completed version of the thing. You read that right. The one in The Doomsday Machine was theorized in Vendetta to be a PROTOTYPE that was launched because the war between the creators of the original machine and the Borg was going badly for the good guys. This series outright confirms the theory established years ago by Vendetta.^note Of course, since both were written by Peter David, Your Mileage May Vary. The final version went into something like Warp 9.999999999999-ad infinitum (Warp 10 was still "unreachable" at the time Peter David wrote the novel^note Your Mileage May Vary if it still is or not, given that the Voyager episode Threshold has largely been written out of continuity), with its pilot, linked to the minds of the ship (essentially making the ship a sentient collective- the irony abounds) intending to go straight for the Borg homeworld and devour it before she died of phaser wounds that should have been fatal.
  • Picard and the Enterprise hooking up unexpectedly with none other than Mackenzie Calhoun and the Excalibur, who then proceeds to declare Picard honorary commodore of his and the other ships as they head out to engage the Borg.
  • It should be noted that Before Dishonor, Vendetta, and Star Trek: New Frontier were all written by Peter David.
  • The short story "Suicide Note" in The Sky's The Limit: the 12-year-old Tiaru Jarok defies her mother's, and her society's, judgment that she has been permanently disgraced by her father's treason: she repeats back what her mother and her teachers have always taught her: that if you remain true to yourself, you have honor; you might cast it away, but no one can take it from you.
• Nightmare Fuel: The new and improved Borg.
  We are the Borg. You will be annihilated. Your biological and technological distinctiveness have become irrelevant. Resistance is futile... but welcome.
• Salvaged Story: As mentioned up above, "Before Dishonor" has some contention for its Flanderization of some characters (Worf, for example). "Greater Than The Sum" tries patching these up best it can, with Worf thinking to himself what an idiot he'd been, and the happily married character acknowledging her behavior and doing damage control.

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