PATRON TAKES - Star Trek TNG S4E1

Riker got the best of both worlds. Stayed on the Enterprise, became captain. I think that's what the episodes are about. Would have paid off more if Stewart's contract was not renewed, but I'm glad it was!

Zack

Most agree this is a great episode, but slightly below the caliber of the first part. But for 12 year old me, this was a satisfying conclusion after months of waiting. Even today, it holds up well.

NivekTheIncorrigible

Has it been three months already?

Dan Krantz

Same here. Patreon takes come out before the uncut reaction does? Do we watch the episode before the reaction comes out and then send in takes, then see the reaction?

Rob Z

Im super confused…it says they are doing patreon takes for season 4 episodes 1 and 2 on Wednesday…..its Friday now and I cant see where they have posted viewing and reacting to those episodes

Derek Orr

Want all the mass they have to hope it has an effect? Even if the mass of a few hundred school children.

Greg Quinn

This doesn't really make any sense. Maybe in the VERY immediate aftermath of the episode. Shelby says at the end that they're going to rebuild the fleet within a year. Meaning there's going to be 40 ships that need captains. There's no logical reason why Riker shouldn't have taken command of one of these ships. At the very least Riker should have taken a promotion by the start of season 5. There's no in universe logic that makes sense. It just comes down to Frakes being signed on as a main cast member and them being unable to write him out.

Spencer Loften

I actually found the line hopeful... it was an indication that Picard was still in there. The Borg referred to Picard by his full name when they told him to beam over... I think, if Picard weren't in there anymore, he'd have called him William Riker.

Jack Shipley

I completely agree.

Jack Shipley

Actually, I've NEVER noticed that before and I've seen these two episodes a dozen times. That's a really good catch. This one should be read during Patron takes, because I can't have been the only person who missed that queue.

Jack Shipley

This really punctuates the point that a ship of exploration with families on board can also be a ship of war, and that they could, and should, be using saucer separation MUCH more than they have at this point. Also, Star Trek, through TNG, has had a major flaw in not having smaller fighters and ships. All the ships we encounter from the Federation are massive. It does make you wonder, does a Romulan warbird have 1000 Romulan warriors on it?

Jack Shipley

That happened to me as well

Jack Shipley

On the flip side, with the majority of the fleet destroyed, they were going to need new captains to command the replacement fleet. They would need Riker to take command even more!

Jack Shipley

Sure. He can have the Melbour- oh. (Too soon?)

Jeffrey P

They barely have time as it is.

Jeffrey P

They've seen the cover of the box.

Jeffrey P

And still one of the dimmest among the visible stars. It coincidentally has a prominent spot in the sky at the time of this comment as it's part of the constellation Leo.

Jeffrey P

I'm sure if he looks for it, he might find it floating around.

JGoss

The app is much better, I recommend getting it

marty63026

True

marty63026

Alas, with the fleet all but destroyed there is no ship for Riker to take command of. I know you guys said a couple times in you discussion that you wondered how they (the producers) could have Riker turn down another promotion without it seeming implausible but that resolved it pretty well.

marty63026

People forget that over the summer there was a question if Picard would survive, because we heard Patrick Stewart was re-negotiating his contract. So, Picard could have really died as Locutus.

Mike Rogers

Fun fact, Wolf 359 is the name of a real star less than 8 light-years from earth.

Evan Guthrie

Good, but not great (at least not as great as part 1, imo).

Collin Freeman

One of the few I saw back in the day and I remember being baffled by people wondering about the cliffhanger from part one when it was obvious to me the weapon was going to fail because the Borg learned what was coming from Picard. There was only one other person I knew at the time (another Trek fan) who agreed with me. She is my wife now.

Nick Sauer

My son regularly wears his Wolf 359 Never Forget t-shirt.

Nick Sauer

In this very act of this episode, the Borg drop to impulse at Jupiter and are said to reach Earth in half an hour. Jupiter is hundreds of million kilometres from Earth (although the distance obviously varies). Even if impulse was as low as 200,000km / second, the saucer would be 2,000km away for every second at just 1% impulse speed. All of that is derived from BoBW2.

Smear Campaign

Finally a good season premiere!

Brendon Waldron

Thankfully the episode didn't run a minute short and need some Wesley filler. Phew

JGoss

And for his compassion and reasonability, he must die.

JGoss

Yeah, I don't want you to spoil anything, either! I just hope we remember this discussion when we get there. 😀

Jovet

Watch the behind the scenes and they talk about Patrick Stewart was thinking about doing other projects. He was upset about so things going on on set and wanted some more creative control with this character.. But the behind the scenes talked about how family/friends/agent asked him to stay. This culminated in a sit down with John Pike, head of Paramount which reached a compromise. So he stayed and we lost our on Capt Riker

John Carpenter

Jovet, we'll get there. I don't want to spoil anything!

Alexander McKechnie

The extra pods on the Kyu Shu were highlighters!

Alexander McKechnie

Patrick Stewart had signed on for season 4 at the start of the show, he was on a six season contract like the entire cast. It was not his choice to leave or not, he could have requested to leave and the producers might or might not have granted his wish (they did it for Denise Crosby but she also said they could have easily refused and she would have been on the show until her contract ended). The "they weren't sure if Patrick Stewart would return" story feels like marketing to strengthen the cliffhanger and make he audience think Picard might actually die. If the show wanted him back he's be back, it was never his choice.

Phillip Grischa

And now, the web page is reloading every time I Like a post. 🙄 Thanks, Patreon: You've made this totally unusable for me.

Jovet

Sorry second comment: At least Riker didn't take the Melbourne chair.

Greg Quinn

Some people might accuse your comment of a element of spoiling though I feel it's kinda self evident (that the battle will be important in some way in the future)..

Greg Quinn

When they are hooking up Data to the Locutus/Borg Net it is O'Brien doing the IT stuff instead of La Forge. The real world reason is LeVar Burton was in the hospital for emergency surgery. So they put Miles in there with a bit of throw away tech dialog that they were running the borg signal through the transporter (hence it makes sense to have O'Brien do it...even though in past episodes La Forge was portrayed as the main transporter expert). But...would you like to see more from O'Brien? Do you think you will?

Greg Quinn

Smear your original post made me think you were talking about instead of ordering the ship to ram, that they should separate the ship delaying the ramming of the cube by a little bit of time. I am pretty clear that I think they should have not reconnected the saucer and just proceeded to earth with the star drive section. That way if you need to make a suicide run, you don't have to worry about getting non essential personnel or families to safety first. And while never listed on any show full impulse speed is 1/4 the speed of light. But its still takes a bit to get up to full speed. I mean the escaping space dock scene would be over in a partial second if it didn't take the ship time to accelerate on impulse.

Mark Wood

Season 3 was when I first got into TNG. I remember how torturous it was waiting all summer for the conclusion of Best of Both Worlds. But this is uo for debate, whether or not TNG would have done as well if the season format is like what it is now. 10 episodes. Then a year off. 5 episodes, then 6 months off. Next 5 then a year and a year and a half off. I hate that. Might work on episodic shows, but long story arc shows, you forgot details as to what you watched and it becomes hard to watch and less enjoyable. I miss 25 episode seasons.

Jeff Lawson

There's a reason for this. I'll try to remember to mention it when the time comes.

Jeffrey P

They read them after watching the episode. Note the announcement that they will be read on Wednesday.

Jeffrey P

Yeah and I’m assuming another Borg ship didn’t suddenly turn up, or Riker had an unfortunately timed heart attack, or that some nanoprobes weren’t left in the carpet and assimilated Wesley’s finger before it hit the button… everything is based on assumptions

Smear Campaign

Never forget the battle of Wolf 359... because this series and those that follow wont. This is one of those major episodes that had a huge impact on this narrative timeline, and you'll enjoy revisiting that impact not only in TNG, but several series that follow. This two part episode is probably one of the most important events in all of modern Star Trek series lore.

Jack Shipley

You're assuming that the Borg tractor beam would allow the ship to separate.

tyranusfan

I think Admiral Hanson breaks the streak of bad Starfleet representatives. He believed in Picard until the end. This episode’s music score was very popular, and was released on cassette/CD, the first such release since Encounter at Farpoint in 1987.

tyranusfan

I agree that's a good line but I think 40 minutes is a long path to walk down to get to a good line

harrypothead42024

I always thought that Best of Both worlds when paired together, has a bell curve in quality. Meaning that it starts off slow, end of part 1 and beginning of part two is Star Trek at its best, but then slows down second half of part two. While the last scene ending on Picard is great on its own, I think the last shot should have pulled back on Riker. It would have served the two parter better, as he is now back where he started.

Nathan Walker

That last shot of Picard, too uncomfortable to finish his tea, staring dead in the eyes out the window. Terribly trying the process the fact that This was almost it, the Borg had defeated him & they all almost didn't make it.

Justin DiBari

One thing that always bothered me was why weren't the civilians and families evacuated to a starbase when it was made clear Enterprise was soon going into battle. That said, despite a great opening, the second half of he story was a bit flat and dependent on technobabble. I totally agree with a fan who wrote, after the episode aired that the Borg conflict should have been decided in the vastness of space, not a laboratory.

Mark Chrisco

Really?!?

Regan

Nonsense. The whole purpose of the saucer since 1701 refit has been to act as a giant light boat. Impulse is around 0.6x the speed of light so it can get out of the way as long as it’s not seriously damaged and it has survived plenty of ships blowing up in front of it when the shields have been up. Riker must have been thinking about ramming it long before giving the order. There was plenty of time to separate or evacuate the ship. They could have damaged it earlier too by beaming a load of explosives into it or beaming its containment field generators into space. But then we have to suspend our disbelief to be able to watch a show that regularly depicts noises in the vacuum of space and has universal translators that somehow change how lips appear to move.

Smear Campaign

In fact trying to actually engage the Borg when its at earth after destroying a fairly descent number of starships, is actually rather silly. Try and get to Picard from a safe distance say between Earth and Mars. If it doesn't work before they start to assimilate Earth, just punch it up to warp 8 and use massive kinetic energy far greater then any weapons system on the Enterprise. And being not in close proximity in the run, be out range of being caught in a tractor beam.

Mark Wood

The Battle of Wolf 359 is such an intense moment in Star Trek history, with reverberations throughout the franchise to come. But here it is, and boy, is it something. You feel the losses as if they were real people in actual combat. It's incredibly sad but so moving for our friends on Enterprise D.

Frank Tagader

My problem is that I Like or ❤️ just about every comment I believe contributes to the discussion.

Jovet

How do you think Wesley feels about all of this? All those people—dead! His father figure—Picard—used, abused, and lucky to have survived when so many others did not?

Jovet

The real question: Whom do you think is the ninth Doctor?

Jovet

Nothing wrong with Sir Patrick getting the compensation he deserves.

Jovet

The Patron Takes are just a few weeks early.

Jovet

Ooooo Now I'm wondering which one you believe is silly....

Jovet

I like the conclusion/resolution. It's a bit contrived and situationally-problematic, but it still cost a lot of lives. The drama was definitely there.

Jovet

FINALLY....Star Trek The Next Generation BEGINS.........

StonyD

You missed the real point. We know it takes time to separate the saucer, and Riker is wanting to do this right this second. It only gets delayed moments by the crew working with Locutus. It takes time for the ship to separate and even more key move away to a safe distance from what likely would be a rather large explosion. The lifeboat are even more restricted. As each crew person would need to make their way to the nearest life boat. Thats going to take time for even people exceptionally close to one. Then they would need to get clear from the radius of the explosion. And they are likely less fast and less resistant to damage then the body of the saucer is. The real point is that the ship should have never reconnected. Leave the civilians and non essential crew on the saucer. Get all needed crew on the saucer section and just head to earth in that form. I can't imagine the the benefit of the two impulse engines would provide that much additional power versus the warp drive and one impulse engine supporting a smaller bodied craft.

Mark Wood

I know! And to think they’d only just escaped the Star Trek II ILM nebula stock footage. They could at least have flipped the image once in a while.

Smear Campaign

After the dynamic tension of part 1, all the scenes in the lab with Locutus in part 2 are a bit of a snoozefest. Rescuing Picard feels like the climax of the story. The rest is rather dull, until the last shot of Picard.

JGoss

So many great moments in this one, Guinan and Riker ready room scene, Wolf 359, saucer separation, and that haunting final scene. It’s a strong start to s4 and its fun to notice that all the extras got changed between Riker saying fire and the opening credits… Not as good as part 1, but a fun ride

Darren Seal

I think I read on some forum somebody said that it was gallbladder removal

Dion James Pitman

Oh, I could say so much to this... especially in a MacDuff scenario...

Jovet

Will this man please sit down???

Jovet

S4 is kinda unique in TNG, in that it's the only one not accompanied by noteriety. S1 was the first, S2 and The Final Frontier premier during it, S3 is when the production was overhauled and the show "got good" S5 had Star Trek 6 premier during it, S6 had DS9 start partway through and S7 ran con-current with DS9 S2 and was the last one. S4 stands on it's own with nothing distingushing it. Except that it sets up a ton throughout.

Nolan

Wolf 359 feels like a huge departure from previous Trek, in that the Federation took massive losses. Even single ship losses on the Federation side were quite rare up to this point. It's hard to describe the sense of loss felt when the aftermath of the battle is revealed, not just because of the direct impact, but because it felt like a turning point in the show. It no longer felt safe.

David Clamage

Ah yes, the ol' spoiled by the opening titles bit. I always appreciate when shows have foresight to alter their titles a bit to avoid major spoilers. Animé changing up openings for arcs is also nice.

Nolan

I loved this episode for the way it handles the in-universe effects from what is happening and the implications it raises. Seeing Riker step up and prove that he can wear the big boy pants after all of the build up towards his hesitation at taking a promotion was also cool. My favorite part of the episode is that Data sends the Borg to their room like the naughty children they are. Lots of people ragged on this plot point, but this is 100% realistic and would be how it would happen. You would find some minor system that no one thinks is a problem and use it as an attack vector. Hackers use this method every day to hack into corporate databases and steal data.

LMPGames

Stock footage from the previous episode was attacking Main Engineering again, so there wasn't time.

JGoss

You know that's an excellent point. In so far as SciFi is an avenue to examine and critique both the present and hypothetical futures, this is as much an exploration of then present day cyber security and the risks of handing increasingly more over to computerized automation. We can also hack bee colonies with artificial pheromones so, you know, there's something to be said for a degree of individuality. Voluntary hierarchy may just be superior to an absolute collective when critical flaws like these are considered.

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

No more fantasies for that old man.

Nolan

Nah, I think I just pulled the back outta my ass. Maybe it migled in my head with the trivia a BSG actor broke their neck during a break in later Seasons.

Nolan

"Belay that order, there's no time, punch it Mr. Crusher ... RAMMING SPEED"

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

Picard as a reoccuring Borg villain would also have been an intruging way to go.

Nolan

The collision course scene was preposterous. Why not separate the saucer or evacuate in lifeboats? Picard took the Conn to fly out of that asteroid field yet Riker would have teenage Wesley kill 1,100 people.

Smear Campaign

Although TNG doesn't totally hit the reset button after this one for the status quo, I think they really missed a trick by simply demoting Riker. He finally got a major character change and it was undone in the episode it was introduced. Part 1 was defintely stronger, but it's still the best season opener we've gotten so far. They really pulled out all the stops on this one with us getting a saucer seperation, new ship models and a stunt man eating shit when Locutus smacked him.

EnigmaticPenguin

Season 4 Captain Riker + Shelby would have been very interesting. I wouldn't have minded s4 Picard back as a recurring Admiral either. Of course, what we do get is nothing to complain about at all though.

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

We have no idea how many more seasons Picard will appear in TNG as we’re only at season 4.

Smear Campaign

Fun fact: the Borg originated on mid-21st century Earth when Elon Musk's Neuralink merged with Amazon's Mergers and Acquisitions department.

snthd

The ending scene (minus the ship in orbit which something they shouldn't have used), to me is one of the best moments of TNG up to this point (psychologically for me more powerful then Worf's discommendation in Sins of the Father, or Kirk's "let's get the hell out of here" ending line in City on the Edge of Forever.). How do you feel with this quite understated moment, for what to this point was Trek's biggest TV spectacle to date?

Mark Wood

Should probably edit Riker's fate out

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

My dude

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

There was a criticism of the resolution of the episode, that it was unrealistic of the Enterprise crew to have planted such a flaw in the Borg collective. As a tech professional who works in the security field, I deal with amazing, complex, advanced systems every day... that are vulnerable to the most basic, head-scratching security flaws. I thought this was a great way to end it. Also, this was the early early age of computers -- no one had antivirus software, most computers were not networked, security exploits were a new frontier. We're used to them now, but this was advanced stuff for pop culture in 1990.

Ian Westcott

Started when they assimilated a Samsung Galaxy Note 7.

Smear Campaign

Yeah, With Stewart confirmed and Shelby no longer on tap for a recurring position they stopped pushing her and the episode does suffer for that given how strong a character she was.

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

It must have been that Roadster that was shot into space couple of years ago. That would do it.

snthd

There is at least one exception to this

Mark Wood

Did you catch that one of the destroyed ships at Wolf 359 was the Melbourne - The ship Riker was offered command of right before all of this?

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

Absolutely sus. They knew the threat was coming and sent some ships and Captains to their deaths while others were conveniently late and held in a reserve that never materialized. Pretty suspicious they tried to get Riker in a ship that was slated to be destroyed in that battle isn't it? I wonder what admirals might want Riker gone and Shelby in his place? It certainly is convenient that the one non-corrupt TNG Admiral we've met so far got killed. (none of this is a spoiler, it's all hyperbolic fan shit posting)

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

Patrick Stewart's agent seeking out a well earned pay day for his client almost cost us season 4 Picard. Though it worked out here, that same zeal DID cost us Patrick Stewart as a voice actor in Gargoyles, however. They tried to get him as Goliath, MacBeth and King Arthur but never could meet the agent's ask. Damn you agent! We got Riker, Troi, Worf and Data, but no Picard!!

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

Exactly, he knew that Picard knew, and was betting that like with the deflector dish the Borg facet would assume predicting the course of action meant they had already won - The Borg adapt, they don't anticipate. Klingon guile and a strong poker face win the day.

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

Riker's combat style remains consistent - The man never comes at you straight. In Peak Performance it was all about trickery and 'guile', and once again we see misdirection instead of head on tactics. Will someone please give this man his own commission??

#MaxwellDidNothingWrong

Love the episode but I'd be hard pushed to think of a duller depiction of hacking on TV or Cinema. " ...Processing...Processing..."

Lincynity

Yikes I totally disagree, The whole sleep Data line gives me chills half the time I hear it.

Eric Wilson

I would absolutely watch a spin-off show about Captain Riker and Shelby on their own ship.

Gruzz

There's one that I think otherwise about. Obviously I'll mention it when it rolls around.

John

For some reason I thought he had stomach surgery. Could be wrong tho!

Column Meanie

So from neutral zone (s1) QWho (s2) and now BoBW (s3-s4) there has only been 1 borg ship do you think we will ever see any others or style of ship

Warpiggaming

He used Shelby's plan because Picard knew about it, as a diversion to trick the Borg.

JGoss

I have to say that like some other TA members I found that coming off of a big-banger closing episode for season 3 I was disappointed overall with this episode. It is still a good episode but does not measure up (imo) to part 1 by a long shot. I think Michael Pillar screwed himself when he wrote the crew into a tiny corner in part 1 and then had to scramble to come up with a way out for part 2, which, when you think about it, was not that unexpected.

Collin Freeman

The best one is the Cheyenne-class which used markers for warp nacelles

JGoss

IMHO that pattern holds for all the TNG two parters. Consistently great set up with Consistently weak payoffs.

Alexander McKechnie

Done 👍🏼

The Ninth Doctor

True for about half the ships. They did make some larger original components too.

Alexander McKechnie

Season 4! This is my favorite season. There is one episode I think is silly and one I just don't like and all the rest are bangers as far as I'm concerned! Really looking forward to the TA discussions coming up.

Alexander McKechnie

I would consider editing that post a bit to remove mention of more definitive things to come in future episodes.

Collin Freeman

I totally agree

Collin Freeman

always thought it odd they let Picard just go back to work at the end, i mean they dont know if he got PTSD or left over borg tech inside him that could be a threat, if anything he should have been sent to starfleet for a full evaluation

Dark Kronis

My one big critique of this episode is that I wish Riker gave the opening "Space, the final frontier..." speech instead of Picard. Really hammer the fact that he might actually be lost.

Elway Simpson

Didn't make it three weeks, I see.

Jeffrey P

While this episode is not a strong as part one I like seeing Captain Riker in this one. His conversation with Guinean is great. Also the fact he used Shelby’s plan shows a lot of growth. As Locutus, Picard did not believe Riker would separate the saucer (which was Shelby’s idea to protect the majority of the crew) let alone think Riker would use the saucer section to attack/distract to Borg.

marty63026

Well yeah, you talked about a future episode

Elway Simpson

I guess this helped the character a bit tho, since to this point he’s just the transporter guy, but they seem to ask him to do stuff and he seems pretty smart, like a decent engineer, so maybe this helped drive him more that way?

Sixto

Not sure how this, in any way, represents (or even hints at) any spoilers beyond what is seen at Wolf 359, and explicitly mentioned in dialogue by Shelby at the end.

The Ninth Doctor

"Your resistance is hopeless ..... Number One" was such an incredible, chilling line. The Borg didn't just take Picard, they became Picard.

JGoss

They said they were assembling every available ship. I guess that means training vessels and museum pieces.

Jeffrey P

Careful there... this may cross a line.

Michael Metrick

Careful there...

Michael Metrick

The ship models seen at Wolf 359 were assembled with various pieces of commercially available Star Trek models. Then they were smashed and set on fire to simulate battle damage.

Jeffrey P

The episode ends with the feeling that this will always be with Picard. Only someone with his strength of character could ever move on. Also, try to keep in mind that this was episodic tv. Every week they must come up with a brand new story. But to me, they hit it out of the park nine times out of ten. To fully enjoy the point of the stories, sometimes you you have to strain your suspension of disbelief. Serialized tv always has way too much filler bullshit to fill in the gaps created by stretching a story into a full season. It's way too boring for me.

Michael Metrick

Yes before season 4 began filming they did know he was coming back, but Patrick Steward was unsure if he wanted to return at the time when they were writing and filming the season 3 finale.

Angarl

What do you think is implied in the last scene? How do you think Picard’s experience will (or should ) impact his character, or future Borg appearances in Star Trek? (If there are any more)

Tim b

The Borg cube spontaneously exploded while charging their batteries. Clearly the Borg at some point assimilated a Tesla.

JGoss

The Borg Cube was clearly brought down by controlled demolition.

JGoss

You better watch it, I got hit by the spoiler hunters for saying the next episode is a better follow up than this episode

harrypothead42024

This episode kind of sucks. It is an obvious way to get to a conclusion without much imagination involved. Kind of bad for a season opener. I like it, but I don't know how much of that is just good faith or grace from the previous episode.

harrypothead42024

You know what's fun about having used Memory Alpha as a trivia resource for 20 years? You memorize a bunch of facts, take them as gospel, then when you actually go and click on the reference link cause someone asks a follow-up, you get hit with link rot. So I don't know. Oh dear.

Nolan

Good point I'll delete it and then alter my comment

harrypothead42024

It’s been pretty well documented that Stewart knew he was coming back well before they began filming season 4. The contract renewal has been a little overstated over time.

Column Meanie

The cliff hanger choice was made because even though STNG had been renewed Patrick had not signed in for the 4th season. They left the result in case they needed to make Riker the new captain. Always wondered how that would changed the rest of the seasons

John Carpenter

Did he throw his back out doing that tuck n tumble under the engineering door in Part 1?

Column Meanie

A bit of a let down from Part 1 but still a great episode. The 4th and 5th acts suffer from being overly talky. Would like to have seen the Borg once again try to invade the Enterprise. Give Shelby something to do: fight the Borg in the corridors outside Data’s lab, then we see the Borg fall asleep right there in front of us. Would’ve been more exciting than watching Data’s head lights. One note; Colm Meaney had a bigger role in this episode because Levar Burton had emergency surgery and was unavailable most of the filming of this one (you’ll notice that all of his shots are closeups and he never appears on screen with any other actor). As much as I like O’Brien, I do wish they had given Geordi’s lines to Shelby. Makes so much more sense to have her in that lab given her knowledge and experience. But you do see here how in an alternate universe a Picard-less Enterprise would’ve been a great show with Riker as captain and Shelby as his Ex-O.

Column Meanie

Would you consider the Battle of Wolf 359 an inside job, technically?

Elway Simpson

this spoils what they don't know about the next episode

Ramen Nudels

I think this is a spoiler for them

Ramen Nudels

Did you spot the Constitution-Class ship amongst the Wolf 359 wreckage? They used the destroyed Enterprise model from Star Trek III.

JGoss

Rip to the chillest Starfleet Admiral J.P. Hanson. Bro was a real one.

Ramen Nudels

Oh, and the reason O'Brien got to have such a highlight role in the scene in Data's lab rescuing Picard and stopping the Borg was not just because he is awesome, but because Levar Burton had had emergency surgery between seasons and had to take it easy.

Nolan

Notice how the last scene with Picard looking out of the window is a contrast to a similar scene in Encounter at Farpoint. A real “look how far we’ve come” moment for the characters and show.

Paul Rymer

Although it’s not major theme of the episode, I think this is the first time that the entire crew has come together to save the day. It really cemented the idea in my mind that this crew is a family and I think it’s a theme that carries through the entire series.

Lwaxana’s Poolboy

The crew proved resistance is NOT futile.

Paul Rymer

Will Picard be OK? He was more than a PoW, he suffered abuse to his core, and he (and others) must now deal with the many consequences of this event. As many victims of physical or mental abuse will confirm, a victory (or an escape) is only the first step out of the dark. How do you think this will affect Picard, and Starfleet?

The Ninth Doctor

Love the episode, particularly the Guinan/Riker scene. I'm just not sure if I find it believable that the Borg cube would self-destruct just because of a 'sleep command'. Plus, imagine if the cube were disabled by the command, but not destroyed, and now Starfleet has to very cautiously try to study the Borg with the looming tension of what happens if they were to wake back up while parked just outside of Earth? Could have potentially been used for a future story.

Forbidden Donut

You guys were speculating about the resolution to the "Riker moving up to Captain" plot. I imagine the ship he was in line for, The Melbourne, along with a good chunk of the fleet being demolished was not at all something you suspected.

Nolan

This was perhaps the most important episode in the Star Trek franchise... if for no other reason than it represented TNG surpassing TOS in number of seasons.

Darin Wagner

While this episode has bigger, more meaningful moments, some that will reverberate throughout the franchise, it's also not _quite_ as good as part one. Still great, just not as cohesive as the first half.

Nolan

harrypothead42024

Let’s face it the ultimate goal of this episode is to get things back to status quo and given there’s only 45 minutes to do so I think they done a good job but the real success was convincing the studio that the episode after this was badly required.

Martin Wilson

Wondering how Riker would do as captain after this example was rough. He did so well… but Picard gloomed so huge over him!

Sixto

Overall, the resolution to one of the top episodes of Season 3 is a little bit underwhelming to me. I still think it's a great episode, but I find this episode to be the lesser of the two parts of the two-parter. Still, there's plenty to like in this episode. (But there are definitely better episodes of Season 4, which is up and down, but much more up than down, like the last half of Season 3.)

John

What's your opinion of Captain Riker's command style as compared to Captain Picard's command style?

Christopher Dorn

The episode where Patrick Stewart wasn’t even sure he was coming back! How do you think Picard will deal with the trauma he faced? You saw how the back half of season 3 overall picked up, and that greatness continues into season 4. Strap in and set a course for awesome, warp 9.

Brian Moore