Trek Thursdays: Trekking Towards Sixty #27 — “The Best Of Both Worlds” And “In The Pale Moonlight”

On September 8th, 1966, an intrepid crew of explorers boldly went where no one had ever gone before on television. At that moment, Star Trek was born. A series that launched a franchise that has kept a firm grip on audiences for decades.

As the sixtieth anniversary approaches, we here at Comicon are ready to celebrate one of the greatest science fiction franchises. While Star Trek has graced the silver screen, most of its life has been on our television screens. So, that’s where our focus shall remain.

Every week through September, we’ll be spotlighting two Star Trek episodes, from any and every iteration, that we feel are some of the greatest. At this point there are over 950 episodes of Trek, so it goes without saying some favorites won’t make the cut for this list of 60.

As this column winds down, there are only a few episodes left on the list to discuss. Some of the best have been saved for last. There was no way that this feature could be done and not touch on some of these particular episodes.

Chief among them an episode that charted history for the franchise leaving us on the edges of our seats for a summer (and creating a tradition for the entire television medium). Paired with it is another iconic episode where one man made choices to save lives while damning his own soul in the process.

Without further ado, let’s get into these big bold amazing episodes.

-RED ALERT: SPOILERS FOLLOW-

“The Best Of Both Worlds”
Star Trek: The Next Generation – Season 3 & 4, Episode 26 & 1 (06/18/1990 & 09/24/1990)

Synopsis: After their first fateful encounter, the Borg have arrived and are ready to invade Federation space sooner than expected. With their captain captured, and turned against them, the crew of the Enterprise must fight to protect their galaxy, even at the potential cost of their leader.

Holy cliffhangers, Batman!

Sorry wrong franchise. The sentiment stands though because this was the moment that everything changed, for the better, with this series and all Trek which followed. There had been a two-parter in Trek before with the original series episode “The Menagerie” but this was the first cliffhanger in the history of the franchise. Since then, numerous series have ended their seasons with cliffhangers and two-part, sometimes more, episodes a common occurrence.

We also were left wondering if a main character was set to be killed or removed from the series, with Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) becoming a Borg. At the same time, episode writer Michael Piller was deciding whether to stay on the series or not and this bled into the episode plot centered on Commander Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes). Once more Riker was faced with an offer to leave the Enterprise to become a captain. Clearly, the series creators didn’t want to lose the actor or character, so this episode touched on the struggle that Riker has and the reasons he’s ready but also not ready to command on his own.

Additionally, the Borg made their return here and cemented their place as one of the most prolific foes that the Federation has faced. While they have since become a bit too overused and too easily dispatched, this was at a point where they were formidable and scary. They could not be reasoned with and would turn friend into foe instantly with their assimilation, which we got to see in full force here for the first time. Not to mention, their iconic “Resistance is futile” line made it’s debut here as well.

Funny enough, the Borg would go on to be at the center of a few more season ending cliffhangers in the future, both in TNG and later in Star Trek: Voyager, the series which kind of began the overuse of them.

As most know, Trek has shifted between episodic presentations and more serialized presentations over it’s sixty years. Despite TNG being more of the former than the latter, this was one of the occurrences of things which carried into further episodes. The fourth season follow-up “Family” deals with the immediate aftermath, but Picard’s time with the Borg comes back multiple times. Mainly in the film Star Trek: First Contact and during the recent Star Trek: Picard series.

So too do references to the battle at Wolf 359 come back into play across the franchise. Most notably the series premiere of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. A moment which forever connected two iconic captains.

One shame of this all was how we never really got to see much more of Elizabeth Dennehy’s Commander Shelby. There was a bit in the final episodes of the aforementioned Picard series, where she was presumably killed shortly after her only reappearance. Those who read the Trek novels from Simon & Schuster in the ’90s and 2000s did get to see more of Shelby, as she went on to be a main character in the Star Trek: New Frontier series of books.

There is just so much about this episode that has made it such a legendary one. Every actor gives it their all and the drama, tension, and sense of family is strong from start to finish. At this point we know and believe these people are a solid crew and they are going to fight tooth and nail to end this threat and hopefully save their captain. Even as Riker gives the command to fire on the Borg ship where Picard is, the cliffhanger moment, we can see how much it pains him to do what must be done.

I wish we had gotten more of Riker as a captain, cause he is quite good at it. The chat between him and Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) is so powerful. Picard is gone, and right now Riker has to be the captain that he can and needs to be.

“In The Pale Moonlight”
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Season 6, Episode 19 (04/15/1998)

Synopsis: Things are dire as the losses are mounting in the Federation-Dominion war, with the specter of defeat looming large for the Federation. Their only hope lies in the Romulans joining the Federation/Klingon alliance. One captain must weigh betraying the very values he stands for in order to save everything.

There was no way this episode wasn’t going to be on this list.

In it’s own powerful ways, it’s just as iconic as the previous episode above.

As noted before, much of Trek before tried to focus on the idealized idea of the Federation and Starfleet being utopian. Threats and tension came from others outside of this group. While the idea that humans and others have grown beyond the petty squabbles and issues of the past, it’s not fully realistic, not that we’re seeking pure realism in a future set science-fiction franchise full of space ships and aliens.

What DS9 brought to the franchise was a harder look at both the Federation and Starfleet, but also those around them. We had some of that in the past series but it was usually outside characters and were issues mopped up in an episode or two. This was a moment where we could see the cracks in not only the institutions but the characters we love.

Captain Picard was the consummate diplomat, brought in to handle things of that nature. Were he on screen during the war, we might have seen an approach to recruiting the Romulans into the war that relied more on negotiation and meetings only. The day would have potentially been won out through words rather than anything underhanded.

War is a nasty brutal occurrence and no one actually wins wars. They just survive enough… more than their opponent… to claim a victory or spur a submission. Compromises have to be made and those who might otherwise be “good men” have to make choices which could damn them and others in the process. Everything of that nature is reflected in this perfectly crafted episode.

Andrew J. Robinson and Avery Brooks shine brightly in this episode as Garak and Sisko respectively — two men that are the furthest thing from each other in every measure, coming together to trick a long time enemy or neutral party into becoming an ally.

Garak knew what he was doing and that the only way to push the Romulans was to commit murder and underhanded things. As a society, the Romulans had perfected acting in this way and in some ways it was the only language they understood. While they might have had suspicions, they couldn’t risk not joining the alliance in case the Dominion had been trying to destabilize them. Better to help and keep the enemies you already know well over the supposed ally ready to stab you in the back.

Gripping the edge of the seat is a common feeling when watching this episode. Sisko is speaking to the computer about these events, but he’s looking and actually speaking to us the audience. Informing us of what has been done, and in that final chilling speech, what he was and still is willing to do for the Federation and the galaxy as a whole.

Seeing a Starfleet captain pushing all their morals aside to do the greater good was a gut punch of a moment. It’s one that is hard to argue with, and in many ways fits with the Vulcan “The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few or the one” sentiment. Sisko’s own needs to follow things were thrown out in order to serve the needs of others, who were dying en masse to this war. There would be no tomorrow if this move wasn’t made.

As Sisko stares us in the eyes declaring he could live with it, somewhere between convincing himself and us, I believe he can live with it and would do it again. That’s the kind of man and captain that he is.

That’s why he’s one of my top tier, favorite captains.

Come back next week as we dive into two more of Star Trek’s greatest episodes.