With the release of the new Star Trek film, there was bound to be a rash of releases of the stuff that went before. And, well, why not? With over four decades of material to choose from, all of those who hadn't gone before will likely want to catch up.
The Best Of Star Trek: The Next Generation, also known as Star Trek: TNG, contains three episodes (one of them in two parts) of what the producers say are the best of the original series. For those who are not familiar with much more than the new movie, from a timeline point of view, this series takes place at a point after the movie you saw, and 80 years after the original series. In our timeline, this series ran from 1987 to 1994.
The DVD comes with four episodes from the Next Generation series, but only three storylines. The episodes do not follow in their original release order so I have made note of both the air date and their sequential order.
"The Best of Both Worlds, Parts I & II" is truly a classic from Star Trek: TNG and in fact, while it can be debated if it is the best of the series, it shows what made this series so great. Not only is it a two-part episode that could make it as a small feature film, but it was one of those ultimate cliffhangers that spanned across two seasons.
The episodes presented here are classified as episode #74 which first aired on June 18, 1990, and #75 which aired on September 24, 1990. Along with being great entertainment these episodes added to the modern pop culture the phrases "Resistance is futile" and "You will be assimilated."
In this story, the Borg, who were first introduced in the episode "Q Who" during the second season, are now being blamed for the destruction of a colony along the Romulan Neutral Zone. Lt. Commander Shelby, a tactician and expert on the Borg, arrives to help with the investigation. It becomes quickly apparent that she is after Commander Riker's position as second in command, while he is being pressured to take command of his own starship.
When the Enterprise over takes a Borg ship that had been sighted in the vicinity, the Borg turn and lock the Enterprise in a tractor beam and demand that Captain Picard turn himself over to them. When he refuses, they board the ship and take him by force. After some failed attempts to rescue the Captain, he hails them from the Borg ship. He has been assimilated, and is now the Borg Locutus. This is where season three ended.
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