🖖Star Trek: The Next Generation 3x26 The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 REACTION

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00:00 Intro
00:10 Star Trek TNG S3 Ep 26 The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 Commentary
15:00 Star Trek TNG S3 Ep 26 The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 Review

[@jenmurrayxo]

We're on Season 4 ep 18 over on Patreon! And Early Access up to S04E04! www.patreon.com/jenmurray And Channel Members get early access too up to S04E04! www.youtube.com/@jenmurrayxo/join TNG Playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PLQHhQlj8i5dqskzLNqeSNyMGa1rBWe3h1

[@TheNoiseySpectator]

Jen has made it this far! 👏👏👏👏👏 I will have to watch this video later, I just wanted to stop over and congratulate you, for now.

[@toyota420xp]

Couldn't anytime the shields not up couldn't the borg just Beam up generically any life forms they scan for

[@dipperjc]

I hope you've given yourself a field promotion to Lt JG by now. :) You should totally just go up in rank as you go through the shows, so that by the time you get to the finale of Voyager, you're a Captain in your own right. ;)

[@alvarolozano711]

@@jenmurrayxo thanks jen ,please comment episodes of Deep Space 9 and Voyager, two amazing TV shows of Star Trek

[@aedryk]

@@dipperjc 2 pips after ds9 3 pips after voyager 4 pips after enterprise

[@Dillpicks95]

“The Best of Both Worlds” is one of the best episodes ever 🖖. I remember how much torture it was having to wait 4 months for the next episode.

[@harveylee51]

@Dillpicks95 I recall that feeling as well bloody hell how did we endure that !! Always happy to be here Sunday with Jen and a cool chat community watching TNG Now it's time to ENGAGE the day 😉 Cheers .

[@mr.joshua6818]

Fr. Star Trek at its best.

[@MrTbk1701]

My sister had her dance recital this Saturday when it came out so I had to tape it and watched it when we got home around midnight and I screamed out loud at the end and my mom came out of her room and was making sure I was OK. The only time in my entire life I wanted Sumer vacation from school to be over because I needed to know what’s gonna happen🖖

[@darthken815]

@Dillpicks95 I saw this when it first aired (I was about 8&1/2) and can definitely vouch for that feeling.

[@ruckboger]

I was expecting Miley Cyrus in this episode

[@ammaleslie509]

There were rumors all summer that Patrick Stewart was having contract negotiation problems and was not coming back for season four so the script was deliberately written to be ambiguous in case they had to continue the series with Riker as Captain and Shelby as his first officer. So everyone in the fan base was FREAKING OUT.

[@paul1979uk2000]

No surprise, I mean, Picard was a big part of the success of TNG and I can't imagine the show without Patrick Stewart and I'm sure one of the actors of TNG once said that Patrick Stewart accounted for around 50% of the success of TNG, so without him, it wouldn't have been the same and TNG might have actually started to go downhill, which likely would have meant, no DS9 and VOY after it, being that they came about because of the massive success of TNG. So whatever was going on that summer, could have had a massive impact on Star Trek as we know it.

[@TheNoiseySpectator]

And, don't forget that was when Stewart began doing the voice fir Buick commercials. Further giving the impression he had moved on.

[@zzzkoszzz]

I remember that rumor at the time. Stewart was a stage actor and by his own words TV took him a bit to get used to. * 1987 At the time, the show's 47-year-old star, Patrick Stewart, was described by the Los Angeles Times as "an unknown British Shakespearean actor." "It was somewhat discouraging to me at the time because I'd done no series television, certainly not in Hollywood," Stewart, 83, tells Q's Tom Power in an interview. "But the whole feeling about it changed when the next morning, I arrived at my trailer - which was a very modest trailer, not a first class leading actor trailer that we eventually had - and pinned to the door of my trailer it said in large letters, 'Beware: unknown British Shakespearean actor.' Oh, it didn't take me long to work out this was the fun and games of Brent Spiner, who, of course, played Data, the android."

[@pascalrottier4783]

And yet, I think the show with Riker and Shelby would have worked as well. The Trek that never was.

[@Faye_L]

😱 I'm so glad I was spared the knowledge of those rumors as a wee'un! I would have cried for months! 😅

[@stevenmcgowan8344]

"Mr. Worf...fire"...That was the precise moment TNG stepped out from the shadow of the Original Series. This was one of the best episodes of TNG. Definitely the best cliffhanger in all of Trek.

[@shrapnel77]

i honestly thought it could have been a movie at the theater.

[@cloudwatcher608]

Not even of Star Trek, this was momentous in all of television. We are so used to season ending cliffhangers now, but back then it wasn’t something that happened much.

[@makasete30]

I got a call from a friend in my answerphone raving and telling me to watch Star Trek right that minute! I missed it the call because I was watch it!

[@JGM154]

There's a story Patrick Stewart sometimes tells, where he was driving around Los Angeles during the 1990 summer hiatus period and stops at a two-lane traffic light. The family in the car next to him recognizes him and screams, "YOU HAVE RUINED OUR SUMMER!" before driving off. Such is the power of this cliffhanger!

[@user-be7tc2bd6e]

COOL story.thanks for sharing.

[@padoco73]

@@JGM154 There's also the story of him running out of gas in a seedy part of LA. He was afraid to leave his car after a biker gang rode past, then they circled around... One of them recognized him, he signed a few autographs, they siphoned gas from their bikes before giving him directions and escorting him to the freeway.

[@silverfischdotnet]

30 years later and I've watched this episode hundreds of times. The line "Mr. Worf.... fire." still brings tears to my eyes.

[@paulhewes7333]

“He IS a borg!”

[@Arthezius]

I'm wiping tears from the full body chills off my face now.

[@johndb1860]

@@Arthezius Still get the chills too

[@ammaleslie509]

@@silverfischdotnet the MUSIC always gets me. The score is amazing.

[@solidbronze]

They shamelessly stole it from the Blakes 7 Season B finale... :) (quite right too - it's great both times)

[@swanronson173]

"Mr Worf, fire!" How to serve up your audience a stunning cliffhanger in 3 simple words.

[@rexmundi2986]

Best line delivery is worf "he IS a borg!" He literally sounds like he just found out his dog hit by a car.

[@shanedaley6236]

It has so much emotion in those 4 words like he's close to crying or yelling

[@pauld6967]

As someone who saw the original airing with a group of friends (we took turns going to each other's house each week) that collectively yelled "No!" at the fade-to-black "To be continued".....I truly appreciate your decision to wait a week.

[@christopherconard2831]

@@pauld6967 I remember checking the clock with about 10 minutes left. I realized there wasn't going to be a quick resolution, so accepted it as part 1. Still wasn't happy about having to wait.

[@kathyastrom1315]

My sister and I were sharing an apartment at the time and addicted to TNG. When that “To be continued…” appeared, we had a collective freak out.

[@s.henrlllpoklookout5069]

Yeah, this was the early 90's version of Infinity War

[@enterprise1701e]

Fans had to wait months before the second part came out. This cliffhanger truly cemented TNG as a force to be reckoned with and is one of the best cliffhangers in all of television, not just Star Trek.

[@mego73]

Words can't describe how electrifying this was and the thought we would have to wait 3 months to see how it turned out. This was TNG's "Who shot J.R.?"

[@paul1979uk2000]

Yeah I do remember hearing about this being compared to who shot JR at the time and it was a big deal because no one knew if Patrick Stewart would come back.

[@citizenbrain8065]

I was 8 years old, but I'm also a nerd, and waiting for part 2 was absolute torture for me.

[@ripley_hicks_newt_86]

3 months is very long. I would have lost interest after 3 weeks, to be honest, no matter how good the show is.

[@3Rayfire]

@@ripley_hicks_newt_86 Honest Inquiry: About how old are you?

[@whophd]

Good call

[@DarthTach]

"Inform Admiral Hanson. We have engaged..the Borg." that always give me chills.

[@user-be7tc2bd6e]

AGREED.This episode and the first introduction episode of the-BORG-made them a formidable adversary for Starfleet,the Enterprise and the Federation.

[@jsharp3165]

This episode was basically writer Michael Piller working out his own struggle with his career. Like Riker, he was part of a great team of producers but he was being tempted with offers to run his own show as executive producer. He ended up creating one of the best Trek stories ever.

[@TheTaelus]

Me, my brother and my cousin, all aged between 8 and 11.. walking in front of the TV and stopped, EXACTLY, at the moment Picard turns to camera. We never heard a more disturbing scream from all the adults present. Lighthouse moment in my memory.

[@Alexandrashepiro]

"MR. WORF.......FIRE!". Dun Dun Dun...Dun Dun Dun....Duunnnnnnnnnnnnnn Best Trek Cliffhanger EVER!!!

[@chrisash]

Thank you for honoring the Elders among us by waiting a week to watch the conclusion. It was murder waiting for months with no information in those pre-internet days. I don't remember the wait for this particular cliffhanger because right after it aired I had the best summer of my entire life. Thank you for watching TNG and giving us old nerds something to enjoy every week (I love Sunday Morning Star Trek with Jen!)

[@joeeyaura]

it is a cool think to do that, most would have watched them back to back

[@jbuhlmax]

you wanted to know how much we were affected by this. When the 2nd part FINALLY aired, I was in college renting a house with 10 friends. The night of the episode, we locked all the door and unplugged the phone just so we wouldn't be interrupted.

[@monsterlair]

It's hard to overstate how well received this episode was. It's on countless lists of Best TV Episodes and Most Memorable TV Moments. As late as 2009, the episode was ranked #36 on TV Guide's list of "TV's Top 100 Episodes of All Time".

[@s.henrlllpoklookout5069]

Jen: "Don't show me his body!" Producers: "We won't show you his *dead* body..."

[@martinbraun1211]

I come from Germany. We were lucky; Both parts ran on two consecutive days when they first aired.

[@Yora21]

I just looked up the original airing dates for the show, and it was really weird. First one episode per week, later four per week, then five per week. Also they did air in blocks, but they didn't start and end them at the first and last episode of each season. So part 2 right the next day after part 1 happened. This was way back in 1993. Back then, we wouldn't really have been able to look up any information about season 4 before it aired.

[@nealsterling8151]

Coming from Germany, i watched it via British Sky ONE back then.

[@TheNoiseySpectator]

@@nealsterling8151 What language was it in? Are there versions of this show with the dialogue converted into German, or just translations in the closed captions?

[@StefanLoferer]

Basically everything, movies and tv shows, are dubbed into german here. But it's done extremely well and professionally. It's funny when I hear the german voice actor of a certain actor, let's say Brent Spiner, in a completely different movie or show then I always picture Data speaking in this moment😂 But now I prefer the original english versions of most movies.

[@Yora21]

@@StefanLoferer I think it's because the German market is so big that it's financially more viable than with most other languages. Some 100 million people in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Compared to say 10 million in Sweden or 25 million speaking dutch. You just reach a much larger potential audience that makes the cost of dubbing worth it.

[@fusionaddict]

RedLetterMedia did a great analysis of these episodes. They’re probably the quintessential Riker story. Riker has ambition, but he also feels a deep connection to the Enterprise. When Picard is assimilated, Riker gets the ultimate opportunity: a captain’s chair, **and** it’s the Enterprise. “The best of both worlds.” All he has to do is shoot the cube, and it becomes permanent…aaaaaaand CLIFFHANGER.

[@Sol_Black]

"We Have Engaged the Borg" 34 years after first hearing it, it still sends a shiver down my spine

[@STNeish]

The Best of Both Worlds remains the high water mark for ALL of Star Trek. Everything fell into place magnificently... story, effects, performances, the MUSIC... Absolute perfection.

[@MrEvers]

that cliffhanger will never not give me chills

[@angelus4282]

Met Jonathan Frakes at a convention about ten years ago. Didn't even have to ask him to say his iconic final line. All I had to do was mention that this is my favorite TNG episode, and out came "Mr. Worf.... Fire!" Every bit as chilling/awesome as the first time I heard it way back in 1990.

[@JohnWebb-tz2uc]

I'm so overwhelmed with emotions just reading all the comments and going back to that time. Truly one of the best episodes of television ever.

[@brom00]

One of the best cliffhangers of any series, let alone Star Trek. Also considered the turning point of TNG to the classic series it became.

[@MatthewBrown-bf5lz]

14:30 One of the most iconic moments in all of Star Trek! "I am, Locutus of Borg". 😮😢

[@meganega123]

I am the cutest of Borg

[@Vyrexuviel]

@@meganega123 With Respect: Jeri Ryan was the Cutest of Borg. ^^

[@laurencaulton103]

A very important episode. The best villain in years. And a great performances by Stewart. And Guinan.

[@ssj4megaman]

This is the episode that forced everyone to turn their heads and tune in to TNG. This is also considered one of the greatest cliff hangers of all time and MANY shows have tried to emulate it. This is where TNG became Star Trek for most people.

[@TheNighthawke502]

Fun Fact: The head writer was at the end of his contract and at the time he also wasn't expecting to return for next season, so he didn't have any idea of how this cliffhanger would be resolved either! LOL. Thankfully he returned the following season and figured it out though! 😊

[@chrisnielsen9885]

I love that. What a sh*t sandwich to leave for the new guy lol

[@DrummingWriterTrekfan84]

I saw an interview of that head writer. Michael Pillar I believe. He also said he wrote Rikers predicament of staying or going to command another ship as a reflection 🪞 or picture of his own real life predicament of if he would come back or not pending his contract as head writer.

[@johnpooky84]

A reminder to everyone: Please no spoilers for Jen. Thank you.

[@Valkyrie77]

she is on episode 18 in season 4. I don't think that's a problem anymore.

[@Billinois78]

Unfortunately, some people have their own ideas of what isn't a spoiler. "No spoiler, but... here's a spoiler" Or, "Oh, you're not gonna be prepared for (episode title)" , or "You're gonna want tissues for this one". Building things up is a spoiler in itself.

[@firedoc5]

Something I was going to say.

[@asmrhead1560]

@@Billinois78 Neurotic obsession with spoilers is a spoiler.

[@Billinois78]

@@asmrhead1560 👌🤡

[@ericstarkey551]

Best two parter ever. The most intense, edge of your seat storyline. I really hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

[@gong63]

The internet in 1990 wasn't really anything to speak of, so it was hard to find information when this happened. I remember a rumor of Patrick Stewart's contract renewal being uncertain, so we really didn't know what the show was going to be when season 4 started.

[@christopherconard2831]

@@gong63 It was contract renewal that created the modern cliffhanger in TV shows. Larry Hagman and CBS were butting heads over his contract for Dallas. There were a few others up for renewal too. So the show's producers and writers created "Who Shot J.R.?" Hagman renews his contract and J.R. survives. If someone else doesn't, they pulled the trigger and their character is dragged off to prison and never seen again. To Hagman's credit, he refused to sign until everyone else did, and got a raise.

[@belperite]

A few nerds on USENET, BBSs and mailing lists but that's it I imagine!

[@commander515]

I was an 8 year-old member of a family of Star Trek fans back in 1990 when this aired. My younger brother and sister and my parents ALL watched TNG together as our family Friday night ritual, it was appointment TV. This was possibly the creepiest and eeriest episode of TV I had ever seen at that point...the Borg were freaking SCARY and the music and the visuals all just enhanced that fact. This was also the first time I experienced the mental frustration of a true cliffhanger episode of television...having to go the entire summer not knowing if Picard (or anyone) was going to come out of this alive. The zoom-in close up on Jonathan Frakes as he just drops that final line with such pitch-perfect finality, and then fade to black...I've probably watched this episode close to a dozen times since, and to this day, the "Mr. Worf...Fire." still gives me chills.

[@freddiefan1973]

TNG was one of the few sci fi shows my dad watched when I was a kid, along with Dr. Who (PBS carried it in the US back then, so it was a couple of years behind the BBC broadcast, hence my favorite Doctor was Tom Baker as a kid, being my first, and still is one of my favorites as an adult). To this day TNG is one of the few versions of Star Trek my dad will watch regularly (DS9 and Voyager he would watch occasionally)

[@andyastrand]

That music. Throughout. So brilliant in maintaining the tension, S tier stuff.

[@CarletonLee]

The fact that you waited a week for Part 2 shows your respect for TNG. And YES the original wait was like torture. You are one of a kind!

[@rofl0rblades]

Imo the most chilling line in ST history "We would rather die than to bow down to..." "Death is irrelevant!"

[@niymeh342]

"Resistance is futile" may be the line that became famous and everyone quotes, but to me "Death is irrelevant" is definitely the most terrifying thing the Borg say, and it's so often overlooked.

[@lavoixdelasagesse2837]

The episode that makes Next Generation famous!

[@JMUDoc]

"Cool music!" Rick Berman: "and I took that personally."

[@donutwindy]

Waiting a week. Not many would, love this channel. Back in the day we just spent months guessing his they would resolve this. We came up with nothing! They are screwed. One of the top 5 cliffhangers of all television. Seen it a dozen times and still love it.

[@cloudwatcher608]

This is peak television. I’ve heard before that this was the first time a major television series ended a season on a cliffhanger. I was so young when this aired, but I can only imagine how torturous it was for people to have to wait months to know if Picard was going to live or die.

[@darthmaul13]

Great reaction Jen!!! We named our cat Locutus. I have seen this episode countless times. And every single time riker says “fire” says at the end I get so many goosebumps.

[@richardstarkey2247]

It’s good you experienced the cliffhanger in part! It’s part of the experience!

[@tigerbread78]

Yup, when bobw 1 and 2 were shown as a feature length special it just didn't have the same feel to it

[@CharlesP2009]

They botched the Blu-ray release of "Best of Both World's" because they stitched the two episodes together and removed the "To Be Continued" (and the end credits). Riker says "Mr Worf, fire." and then the deflector begins to charge. Totally deflates the moment and removes most of the tension.

[@hawkmaster381]

Riker wasn't feeling threatened by her - she was stepping on his toes.

[@BrianD0313]

The music and ambiance of this episode were absolutely spot on. This is probably the best episode of TNG. I love how it ends so abruptly.

[@KMallinson]

Not a Part 2 spoiler, but they hadn't renewed Stewart's contract. The showrunners didn't know whether they were about to kill Picard off! Part 2 is the answer. Our hearts were all in our throats.

[@chaddubois8164]

If Patrick Stewart didn't renew his contact, Riker would have made a good Captain.

[@humanvideosponge4529]

Yes. Waiting for months to find out what was going to happen was agonizing! It was a huge deal at the time but we didn't have the internet and back then, you didn't really brag about it if you watched Star Trek. So even though I personally loved it at the time, I probably would never have believed people would still be talking about it and loving it 30 years later. And I did not really realize at the time that TNG was getting as popular as it was. I was just getting used to the idea that it might be able to end up being as iconic as TOS. "Mr. Worf, fire" Epic.

[@StefanLoferer]

Excellent reaction Jen! And I think it's absolutely the right decision to keep a cliffhanger just like it was intended back in 1990. I'm definitely in for the upcoming ride. Have a wonderful sunday and till next week!❤

[@katequick3602]

My family was in shock. I think we all gasped. And then had to wait months for Part 2. I still feel that echo everytime I see that ending.

[@purcascade]

"Mr.Worf... fire" has lived rent free in my head for 34 years.

[@NoMiedo1]

Good call on leaving the conclusion for next week in homage to the original schedule. Great reaction!

[@Arthezius]

The Best of Both Worlds absolutely floored me. I was 15 when it came out, had just went to my first and only Star Trek convention and not only was it amazing and 100% drew me in, but the cliffhanger ending was not a normal thing then. In fact, it was the episode that truly set off the cliffhanger despite a few other shows having previously done it. I've been waiting for you to see this one and am not disappointed.

[@kevinschultz5678]

I absolutely love the Family Guy episode that ended with a cliffhanger using the same music and font on "To be continued". Extra neat because Ron Jones scored both the TNG episode and the Family Guy one.

[@dandaintac388]

I remember this well--1990--a good year for me. I had initially been a little slow to accept TNG, having been raised watching TOS as a child. But I was hooked by the end of the 1st season, and by the third season, I was loving it, and never missed an episode. And Fox aired episodes twice a week, which was awesome if there was something else you wanted to watch either day. Often I rewatched the episode the second time. The Riker/Shelby subplot actually added to the tension. Often subplots distract and detract from a good story, but in this case, it helps add even more tension to an already rip-roaring sci fi thriller. At my office the next day, EVERYONE was talking about this episode non-stop!! Not a lot of work got done! One of the greatest cliffhangers in TV history IMHO. THANKS TO JEN--alone of all reactors that I've watched for this episode, has the thoughtfulness to go through a week to get a taste of what it was like for the rest of us--who agonized for months waiting for the conclusion! After this, TNG became a pop culture phenomenon. People really embraced the characters, and it helped when they had episodes that were Data-centric, or Worf-centric, etc. to let us see deeper into characters that became well-developed. BOBW also started a practice by the producers of ending the season with a two-part cliffhanger, which were high points in the series, all very good, but none quite as good as BOBW. Even the movies, were not as good as BOBW. With season 3, TNG finally busted out of TOS' shadow, and became, and has remained, the high point of the entire franchise.

[@eepruls]

Everything about the cliffhanger was done perfectly. The camera movement. The music. The dialogue. Going to black when Riker says, "Fire!" It was all perfect.

[@lazyperfectionist1]

1:17 "This is the third time we've pulled out the captain's chair for Riker. He just won't sit down." I think I ought to state, for the record, there's nothing wrong with that. In the modern-day Armed Forces, every single one of them, many more people retire as an O-5 (Riker's rank) than as an O-6 (Picard's). This is necessary in order to keep numerous, redundant, fully qualified commanders, all set to go, in the upper ranks.

[@stopgeorge]

This episode was a master class in storytelling in the 90's. The subtle threads that are woven into the structure of this show culminates in one of the most iconic moments in television history. The music, acting and directing, as I'm sure you agree Jen, were the icing on the cake. Music swells to a rising crescendo with an amazingly dramatic dolly shot to Riker. "Mr. Worf.... FIRE!" (Cut to black) ...DA...DA..DA...BOOM....DA...DA...DA...BOOM....DA...DA..DAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" Our minds were absolutely freakin' blown!!

[@Ian-xx1xb]

beam us aboard for more next Jen fun with our lovely starfleet officer lady Jen 🔥💙🔥💙 make it so 🖖 but to get us on our way another trek joke - A young man was applying to join Starfleet: "Where were you born?" asked the recruiting officer. "Earth, sir." "What part?" "All of me, sir." 🙂

[@tommc4916]

Denise Crosby (LT Yar) and Elizabeth Dennehy (LCDR Shelby) were good friends. Crosby suggested Dennehy (daughter of film star Brian Dennehy) for the part.

[@christopherconard2831]

Oh no, not the Börg! Who knew Sweden could become such a threat.

[@polytropos1.1]

It’s their lovely telephone system!

[@humanvideosponge4529]

Borg? Sounds Swedish!

[@jerryward3311]

Mind you, moose bites can be pretty nasty.

[@3Rayfire]

@@humanvideosponge4529 Definitely not Swedish.

[@colormedubious4747]

Yet they don't seem like they'd be good at tennis...

[@colormedubious4747]

Some people say it's optional, but this two-parter is definitely a homework assignment for "First Contact." You can't fully appreciate Picard's motivation in the movie without having watched this.

[@txlyons2937]

And First Contact is definitely the best TNG film. Jen is going to love that one.

[@colormedubious4747]

@@txlyons2937 I would say it's the second-best of all Star Trek films.

[@countgeekula9143]

Yes this was a HUGE deal. One of the greatest two part episodes of TV and greatest cliffhanger ever. Also a brilliant Riker story and Frakes kills it.

[@Carnage1975]

If you're wondering why the episode is called "The best of both worlds" it's because it's a Riker episode as he finally gets to not only be captain but to be captain of the Enterprise.

[@Warp10x]

And Picard/Locutus is the best of humanity/Borg.

[@ChrisReise]

6:02 I just KNEW you were going to love the music in this episode.

[@dangerousdavescott]

Just like "City On The Edge Of Forever" from the original series always shows up on entertainment media lists of the greatest individual episodes of television in history, "The Best Of Both Worlds" is always on lists of the greatest season-ending TV cliffhangers of all time. Proof that Star Trek is more than just a niche science fiction show.

[@scottallen6160]

This is one of my favorite episodes of TNG. I admire your resolve to wait a week like we did when it originally aired. Love you Jen. 🖖🥰

[@armandomartinez2291]

YEEEEESSSSSSS I'VE BEEN DYING FOR YOU TO GET TO THIS EPISODE. I hope you enjoy. Yes I commented before watching

[@izzonj]

Tough to be left hanging, but we had to wait several months!!!

[@davidareeves]

First aired in 1990, OMG the wait for the second part was real. What a difference technology makes over time. 34 years later, you only need to wait a week, OMG, you are so advanced :P

[@suproliver]

I do remember when this was first aired. It was torture to have to wait for part 2. It was a big deal for Star Trek fans. Very big. -OG

[@matthewtarpley7613]

Jen, I remember very well watching this cliffhanger. I had just graduated from high school, and I was in pins and needles all summer waiting for the conclusion, which started right after I started college.

[@joepolymath2308]

How big a cultural phenomenon? IT WAS HUGE. You can't even begin to imagine what it was like for those of us who watched when it first aired. We'd never seen anything like this before. THEN, to dial it up to 11 -- we had to wait THE ENTIRE SUMMER to find out how the story was going to conclude. You'll have to watch the second part to experience the full reaction, but I think you can already see how this became one of the top episodes of all time, of the entire Star Trek franchise.

[@aaronhusk]

You can probably tell that the nebula effect is the exact same one from “Wrath of Khan”. Cost saving.

[@sabin97]

anyone else loves the way she says "commercial break"?

[@IronicTonic8]

This was a huge cultural phenomenon when it happened. It skyrocketed the popularity of TNG and brought a lot of new viewers in the fall. At the time, Patrick Stewart's contract had expired and he hadn't renewed yet, so there were rumors that he'd be written off the show. I remember people talking about this all summer in anticipation of season 4.

[@3Rayfire]

And during the summer we got reruns so, people who hadn't watched during the main season could catch up with reruns and be ready to go for season 4 and to see "The Conclusion".

[@alexspindler1]

Exasperated "commercial break!" Is one of the many wonderful contributions you have made to humanity. : ) I'm so glad you're on this TNG journey.

[@kevinburton3948]

14:10 "He *IS* a Borg!" That line was just as powerful as Riker's "Mr. Worf... Fire!" And in 1990 that was a LOOONG summer to wait for part 2!

[@vermithax]

"Even if he's rescued and goes back on the Enterprise it'll change him somehow you would think!" You certainly would.

[@WereMike]

I remember being back in college, watching this episode with all of the corridor roommates packed into the one room with a wide-screen TV (a big deal back then). When Ryker gives the order to fire and then the screen cuts to black for the cliffhanger, we all howled in frustration. What a great television moment.

[@sl0507]

Kudos for waiting, Jen. It's part of the experience to live with it for a while. Back when it happened I was worried about the contract negotiations. This story made it easy to write out Picard and/or Riker so it really was a cliff hanger whether the actors would come back. Depending on if they got new contracts we might not see either of them again.

[@SilentBob731]

And Next-Jen Sunday rolls on. We had to wait a whole Summer back in the day, but I still appreciate Jen making herself wait a week to resolve this fairly epic cliffhanger. 👍 The Lady has character (aside from being a bit of a character herself...nyuk, nyuk, nyuk). Alright, you don't have to push...I'm going. 😁

[@leistico]

The summer of 1990 was one long tense summer for me (the summer I graduated HS, so I was occupied, but still) Rumors flew, but information was sparse (no internet to send rumors, dial-up BBS's with scant discussions, only Entertainment Tonight for timeliness), and heresay was rampant and impossible to confirm. It was truly the hardest of hardcore geeks who felt it all most acutely. You could tell who they were as they parked themselves by the newsstands in the B.Dalton and Waldenbooks stores in the mall combing over every Starlog and Sci-fi magazine that hit the shelves. As a general pop culture phenomenon, it didn't make a huge ripple, but it was definitely felt.

[@3Rayfire]

^^This. We were on the periodicals and Locutus was on every cover of every issue produced after it.

[@alvarolozano711]

George Murdock has one appearance in this episode like the admiral J.P. HANSON, Rest in peace, i remember your role in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA .

[@RantingBrummie]

Also played 'God' in Star Trek V.

[@davidhart6291]

Still one of the all-time best Star Trek episodes ever, and one of the biggest cliffhangers I’ve ever seen, to this day. All of my fellow Trekkies & I were just freaking out all summer!

[@randallwong7196]

The actress for Shelby was not into Trek before auditioning for the role, nor experienced in TV. In her theater life she'd get a script then have some hours before her scenes were performed. For TNG there was a short time between getting the script and filming. She didn't ask how things are done, nor did anyone tell her. From an interview on a YT Trek-fan channel.

[@j.chappel1160]

JR being shot… and “Mr. Worf, fire!” Two of the best cliffhangers I’ve ever seen.

[@DC_Prox]

This became one of the most iconic and impactful cliffhangers in TV history. The only one that came close before it was "Who Shot J.R.?" from the show Dallas in 1980, and that was a mystery about something that had already happened, but this was an even bigger deal because the tension was about what's going to happen next.

[@themikeshowlive]

Almost closed the store early to go home to watch this. But I guess I can wait until my shift is over. Been looking forward to this for a while ❤

[@Briansgate]

That cliffhanger was one of the best ever! Those 4 months of waiting was torture. Oh, and O'Brien, still a lieutenant...

[@hjermsted22]

My two favorite reactors, Jen and Jules (each watching a different favorite show of mine), hit series-defining episodes within two days of each other. ST: TNG "Best of Both Worlds, Pt.1" BTVS "The Body" What a weekend! I've never had it so vicariously good. Thank you for the great reaction, Jen. There's great stuff ahead. See you in season 4! :)

[@ListerDavid]

Best Story Best Cliffhanger Best 2 Parter Best Soundtrack The Best of Both Worlds!

[@Daniel-kx3xs]

Jen said, "TOOOBEEECONTINUUUED!!! 😂😂 I miss the olden days when you had to wait forever and a day to get the next episode. We grew up watching a show for 7 years! I watched tng all through high school and college. Now you just binge a show in a week or two.

[@SilentBob731]

4:05 Douses self in parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme...then realizes her meaning. 🤔🙄 5:57 A truly Cinematic moment. Old-Timey Announcer Voice: "These kids are headed for the Silver Screen, I tells ya!." 14:27 Truly one of the greatest cliffhangers in TV History (though we were all pretty sure he was gonna be ok, even back then). 15:45 Kobayashi-Maru, Mother-Forkers!

[@thomasalbion1834]

So glad you're watching this in two parts as per the original broadcast :)

[@Paul_Waller]

I was a US Army brat living in Heidelberg, Germany in the 1980s. So on US Army TV, Armed Forces Network "AFN" (our only English channel), and at US Army movie theaters... as usual, we get movies and TV shows 6 months to a year later than the rest of the world. So my Uncle taped each season of ST:TNG for us on VHS tape and mailed them to us in Germany from Texas. The first time I ever binge-watched anything and this was the late 1980s. I still have some VHS tapes floating around here somewheres full of TNG episodes. I used to have the Best of Both World soundtrack on CD. Love it! I guess the KZbins would have it if one were interested. 🖖

[@Anson_AKB]

Living in Berlin, we had AFNTV available via antenna (the sixth station overall, after ARD/ZDF/SFB from the west and DDR1/DDR2 from the east, many germans at that time could receive only 2 or 3 stations), but only after buying a new tv or modifying our tv sets since afntv was not only in NTSC instead of PAL (i had only a b/w tv anyway), but most importantly because of 50 vs 60 hz. After doing the modification myself, i watched a lot of movies and series on afntv (learned english words and grammar in school, learned reading english by reading manuals and doing textadventures on the computer, and learned listening and understanding real spoken english from afntv :-) and although they might have been "old" by up to one year (as Paul described), they all were new to me since it usually took a lot longer (2 to 4+ years) to have them in cinema or on tv over here, eg the mini series "V" was available on afntv years before it came to us on VHS, and some more years until we got it on a new private tv station. The main source of information that we got "on time" were some tv and movie guides from specialized comic/scifi shops that imported them in english. and thus for most people, series like TNG or the movies were pretty much a secret while the world or at least the USA already knew about them for years.

[@RussellCHall]

The next episode is amazing, but the one after it is my personal favorite, there are others about lights that are in the running to be sure but Family to my mind is Stewart's finest TNG performance.

[@nicholasgarratt5646]

Love the music by Ron Jones in this two parter. I was lucky enough to have set of 14 TNG music CD's all done by him. I still get chills when the Borg appears.

[@kevinL5425]

When this first came out, a local bar was doing “Breakfast with the Trekkies”. We would all get together every Saturday morning and watch one episode of the original series, and then the current episode of “The Next Generation” that aired that week. I still remember the shocked silence in the room at the end of Part 1. I think they had the biggest crowd ever THREE MONTHS LATER when Part 2 aired.

[@citizenbrain8065]

I am really happy you decided to embrace the cliffhanger and wait a week. Having it pop into your head at random times and speculating is part of the fun. Now, we get to experience it vicariously through you again. Thank you for going through all of this with us. I hope you decide to go through DS9 as well. The episodic nature of the writing allows for a lot of twists and turns like this.