 |  |  |  |
| The detail in this episode was really something for its time. | Plus Borg Cubes fucking rule! | Q's in it too, although he doesn't steal the show. | It's such a tense episode that Riker doesn't have time to go on the pull. |
| (more images below) | |||
| | | |
| The detail in this episode was really something for its time. | Plus Borg Cubes fucking rule! | Q's in it too, although he doesn't steal the show. | It's such a tense episode that Riker doesn't have time to go on the pull. |
| (more images below) | |||
Overview: Q challenges Picard's boldness by sending the Enterprise light years into unknown space, setting up their first encounter with the Federation's most deadly enemy, the dreaded Borg.
Writer: Maurice Hurley
Director: Rob Bowman
Anon2: 10 out of 10.
Anon: Yep. Pretty close to it.
Anon2: That's the only thing I wrote down because basically I know this episode so fucking well. So well in fact that I got 3 cards to your 1, although there was probably a few more in there as well.
Anon: A few more perhaps, yeah. So, let's go through this episode. Basically, it starts off in Engineering with Geordi and Ensign Sonya Gomez. She had no moustache so she was fairly hot.
Anon2: Yeah, and she had a wet T-shirt competition during it as well.
Anon: Yeah, a wet T-shirt competition with hot chocolate. She burnt Picard's balls.
Anon2: She did, yeah, then she tried to rub him up. Brilliant!
Anon: The thing is, he was probably more interested in the horse from the previous episode.
Anon2: Yeah well, bestiality and all that. Fucking cool episode! No real qualms about this, I've got to say.
Anon: My only real qualm was why they didn't "run away" in a Monty Python style? I guess this was because of their desparation to explore new parts of the galaxy.
Anon2: Yeah.
Anon: Even though their only knowledge of the area comes from Q saying, "You're not ready for this" and Guinan saying "Get the fuck outta here!" Picard just ignores them so it's his fault that 18 people in the crew die.
Anon2: Yeah, but I kinda see the point in that they needed to know what they were up against.
Anon: Well, they certainly found that out. There's tense stuff in this episode. It's pretty dark.
Anon2: Yeah. It's the start of a series of future linked episodes.
Anon: It's the last good episode of this season, I think.
Anon2: I'd give it 10 out of 10. If you were going to compare it against everything that had gone before it, this was the top, I think.
Anon: It's either this or The Measure of a Man.
Anon2: Yeah. They're equal, I guess.
Anon: They're both great episodes, for very different reasons. This episode is not just a case of "if you don't like this episode, you're not a Star Trek fan," it's a case of "if you don't like this episode, you're not a fan of good TV." This is amazing!
Anon2: There are aspects of this... it's a prelude of what's to come. I think it's a good episode, but because we know what happens later in The Best of Both Worlds, or with Hugh or Datalore - basically everything before Voyager came along, this actually sets a precedent of how good the show actually is.
(He probably means Descent rather than Datalore.)
Anon: Yeah, I'd say so. In addition to the Borg, there's the Q stuff running into this. Now, Q is a darker guy in this episode, isn't he? He's playing with lives here.
Anon2: The thing is, at the end of the episode they say "Q did us a favour here." Now in actual fact I've always seen Q as a bit of an imp, but at the end of the day, he's obviously interested in the maintenance of the species. He's interested in them, yeah, but he's interested in them for the right reasons, which I think comes across not just in this episode. If you think about it, Q's doing them all a favour. He's like a guardian. He doesn't do these things because there's no reason to do them. Q's not in enough episodes basically.
Anon: Yeah, but I think the fact that Q appears so infrequently makes him more interesting.
Anon2: Yeah.
Anon: One of the Q things in this episode that I didn't really get was there was a bit where he's in the shuttlecraft with Picard at the beginning and then he says, "No, the scene will be set here" and he clicks his fingers and then they're in Ten Forward. Now, why exactly does he choose Ten Forward? First off, he doesn't have a beer there. Secondly, he doesn't appear to be aware that Guinan's going to be there, who he doesn't like seeing for whatever reason.
Anon2: Hmmm... I don't know. That's a puzzle, that.
Anon: A little later, Picard asks Guinan to observe the scene from her viewscreen. So Guinan leaves Ten Forward and goes to this little room around the corner which apparently is her viewing room and all it's got is a viewscreen.
Anon2: Yeah, and she can see exactly the same thing as if she looked out of the window in Ten Forward anyway!
Anon: Exactly, yeah.
Anon2: Anyway, fuck it - brilliant episode!
Anon: One other thing - there was a Borg nursery in this as well which doesn't really play into any of the other Borg episodes. It's a bit of curiosity, isn't it?
Anon2: Well, I could argue that they don't know enough. Those beings that they see could be beings that they've taken and assimilated. They're not necessarily Borg. We're making assumptions there without enough facts.
Anon: Well, they've had no dialogue other than, "Fuck off."
Anon2: They can only summise on what they see. And they see babies having been assimilated. Now, it gives the assumption that they're being born with that purpose but they could easily have been kidnapped and used as such.
Anon: Why do they steal all those kids but don't steal Wesley though? Maybe Wesley's incompatible with the Borg DNA.
Anon2: I think The Traveler's got something to do with that, I don't know. Anyway, great episode. It sets a precedent for what's going to come at the end of season 3 in probably one of the best episodes ever. That's the thing - we know they're coming. That's the statement that Guinan makes, that the Borg know of their existance now.
Anon: They do refer back to the episode The Neutral Zone too.
Anon2: Yeah, so if the Borg have been in the Neutral Zone, they pretty much know about the Federation anyway, don't they?
Anon: To an extent, I guess, yeah. Although when Picard introduces himself to the Borg as being from the United Federation of Planets in this episode, they don't seem to care. They collectively don't give a shit.
Anon2: (laughs) They don't even answer, do they? It's like a guy when his missus is telling him about some fucking shopping expedition. We just don't give a fuck!
Anon: Yeah. Like the girl goes,"Oh, I just bought a pair of shoes" and the guy goes, "Oh really?" before dozing off again.
Anon2: Yeah, the guy would just nod appreciatively. The Borg don't even nod. Human girls are all, "Blaa blaa blaa shoes blaa blaa blaa handbags blaa blaa blaa more shoes blaa blaa blaa haircut blaa blaa blaa you don't notice these things blaa blaa blaa shoes blaa blaa blaa shopping blaa blaa blaa you don't pay me any attention." Well, fucking hell! No shit!
Anon: (laughs) If there was less talk about shoes and handbags and more talk about The Godfather trilogy or The Deer Hunter, it'd be easier for a guy to listen.
Anon2: (laughs)
Anon: Well, there's not much more to say about this, but if for any reason anyone hasn't seen this episode, check it out! It's great.
Anon2: 10 out of 10. If you're anything of a Star Trek fan, the show starts here in many ways. Certainly for Next Gen anyway.
Anon: Okay, the next episode, when we get around to it, is Samaritan Snare and erm... I don't remember what that's about. Oh, hang on, it might be the Pakleds one - "Make us go!"
Anon2: Has it got Romulans in it?
Anon: This isn't going to happen again, much like the rest of this commentary.
Anon2: Do they have a phaser battle?
Anon: (pause) Yeah, why not? They have a great big phaser battle that lasts for 40 minutes.
Anon2: Oh, okay. Are the Klingons in it then, apart from Worf?
Anon: Yeah, they throw bat'telths around Holodeck 3 then they fly a shuttlecraft into the sun like that bit in Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Then they finish off by raping some zombie corpses.
Anon2: Oh right. The Borg aren't in it, are they?
Anon: Yeah, the Borg are actually in the very next episode. They try to assimilate the Pakleds.
Anon2: Oh, get in there!
Anon: Q's back as well. Quark turns up.
Anon2: Oh great. I like Quark.
Anon: Who else is in it? Jimmy Nail's in it.
Anon2: Jimmy Fucking Nail?
Anon: Yeah, and Meat Loaf and Alan Stubbs are in Ten Forward.
Anon2: Is Shearer there?
Anon: Yeah, Alan Shearer turns up too.
Anon2: What about Sol Campbell with a mobile phone and a condom up his butt?
Anon: (laughs)
Anon2: Oh sorry. Ashley Cole, I mean.
(For the record, Mr. Cole won an apology for that sex slur.)
Anon2: By the way, Thierry Henry is still a cheating fuck!
Anon: Yeah, that was fucking dirty! That was something else, man!
Anon2: Poor Bowdy and all of his friends!
Anon: Okay. We'll be seeing you soon. Later bye.
Anon2: (burp)
- Anon & Anon2, 19-Nov-2009
 |  |  |  |  |
| Battle Bridge side deck! | A little-known fact is Guinan has 3D chess skills. | Another effects shot to point out again how great this episode was. | Wet T-shirt time! | The forgotten Borg nursery. |